Every year one of my New Year's gaming resolutions is to finish a single-player game I purchased through Steam. Back at the beginning of the year I thought that game would be Final Fantasy II. But for some reason I put the game down and never picked it back up. Instead I heard about a single-player game while writing a post about Amazon Game Studios. The game is published by Devolver Digital. The game? Ball x Pit which just surpassed 1 million copied sold. A promotional video was just published on Tuesday.
For those unfamiliar with the game, Devolver was nice enough to put a description of game play in the press release.
About BALL x PIT
This brick-breaking, ball-fusing, base-building survival roguelite is ready to chew you up and spit you into the pit. Build your home base, fuse ridiculous combinations of balls, and blast through hordes of enemies as you rebuild the legendary New Ballbylon.
Fuse Your Balls
The Ball Fusion system encourages explosive experimentation with over 60 randomized balls to equip and combine during your journey. Discover overpowered combinations and unexpected synergies from hundreds of possible outcomes. Load up, lean in and let the spit hit the fan.
Build New Ballbylon
Expand New Ballbylon with over 70 unique buildings that provide gameplay bonuses and unlock further power-ups, new characters and more. As your community grows, entrust homebound heroes with automated tasks to keep the resources coming while you dive deeper into the pit.
Discover New Realms
Face legions of diverse enemies within the pit, battling through barren deserts, frozen caverns, savage forests and more. Each region offers its own unique set of hazards on top of hordes of increasingly challenging foes and mighty, screen-filling bosses.
Recruit Fellow Hunters
As you explore the pit, you’ll encounter fellow treasure hunters eager to add their skills to your expedition. Each character has unique, upgradable mechanics that totally change the way you play the game. Experimentation and adaptation are crucial to the success of New Ballbylon.
I've set aside an hour every day to play the game, which is a type of game I probably haven't played since working my way through college working in a bowling alley with a rather large video arcade back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. And the pixel graphics match that era of video games as well. The music won't hit the charts like that of Expedition 33, but fits in well with the game play.
So far I've spent $16.60 including tax on the game. After playing for 35 hours, I think the 50 cents-an-hour I've paid is a good buy. I've unlocked 14 of the 16 playable characters and completed 5 of the 8 maps. I've only completed 23 of the 63 Steam achievements but most of remaining ones require completing the final map.
However, I do need to hurry up and at least complete the final map this year. Seems the developer promised free downloadable content if they sold 1 million copies. So I have expansions coming in January, April, and July. So technically I can keep my record of not completing single player games intact even if I complete the final map. But I have the feeling I might try to complete the DLC as well.
I'll try to work on my backlog of Steam games in 2026 instead of buying new ones. But I couldn't resist the videos I saw of Ball x Pit. The game lived up to my expectations.
Today I woke up to the news that CCP announced the dates for this year's Winter Nexus event. Running from 9 December to 12 January, EVE Online's annual winter event will run for 5 weeks. Like Final Fantasy XIV, EVE's developers will change the yearly seasonal events. This year, I thought I'd bring up some background information.
The events occur in systems containing Volatile Ice Storms as is tradition. The content is a little bit different.
Hunt Yoiul LADs (Logistical Automated Deliveries) and get Cryo Tech that allows access to even more within the storms, and don’t miss the Perseverance ice mining destroyer, currently only available through the Winter Nexus seasonal reward track.
The Yoiul LADs is an allusion to the real world group known as the Yule Lads.
The real Yule Lads
When looking at the arrival and departure dates of the Yule Lads, the event running for 5 weeks seems culturally appropriate, doesn't it?
This year InterBus is aiding the Yule Lads in their troublemaking in New Eden.
This year, InterBus is launching a cautionary campaign for travelers by dispatching Logistical Automated Delivery vessels (LADs) named after the legendary Yoiul Clones.
However, a whistleblower within Verity Enhancements, known only by the codename Yoiul Kattar, claims to have proof that the Yoiul LADs are not what they seem.
I need to interrupt CCP's narrative here because of the reference to Yoiul Kattar, aka the Yule Cat. Known as Jólakötturinn in Icelandic, the Yule Cat goes around the snowy countryside during Christmas time and eats people who have not received any new clothes to wear before Christmas Eve. So the developers better provide us some new clothing as a login reward before then.
Hunting down these automated vessels will give you Verity Cryo Tech that will unlock new challenges and rewards. For enforcers, this means access to more dangerous parts of the storms with stronger forces to fight. In highsec, marauders will need this Cryo Tech (specifically the Cryostorm Clarifier) to access combat sites. No such restrictions apply in lowsec or nullsec, however, depositing Cryo Tech will give access to more challenging and rewarding experiences in all Winter Nexus combat sites.
But the event doesn't just benefit combat pilots explorers and miners get some love as well.
Explorers can use the tech to gain access to relays normally scrambled by storm interference, which can then be hacked.
The tech will give miners additional recipes for mined ice, which will award enhanced salvage packages. Cryo Tech can be deposited in certain structures in and around the sites to unlock these extras.
So as players fly around New Eden this year they should keep their eyes out for trouble in snowy systems. Especially if they see a grump old man in a red suit.
I went to log into EVE Online this morning and noticed a new patch download. Two weeks after the launch of Catalyst came the first patch, concerning controlling access to freelance jobs. The news article describing the patch was pretty short.
The first update to Catalyst is here, bringing Access Control List restrictions to Freelance Jobs.
This allows project creators to decide who can and cannot see the listed job.
Want to blacklist your rival alliance? Done.
Want to make sure only members of a certain corporation see your posting? You got it.
Want to put out a hit on a rival capsuleer or corporation and make sure the target remains unaware? Mum’s the word.
A new Freelancing skill has also been added, allowing capsuleers to accept more than three Freelance Jobs at a time. Explore available Freelance Jobs via the AIR Opportunities interface.
At the same time, the costs associated with Freelance Jobs have been reduced. The duration fee is down by 25%, and the Broadcasting Fee is being cut by a third.
Basically a TL,DR for the patch notes. I was interested in the new skill, Freelancing, so I took a couple of extra minutes to gather some information.
I tried to find out what the market price is with no luck. Of course, I didn't have much time to search. Players can click on the blue "+" button to purchase the book remotely for 1.3 million ISK. I have the feeling that's how the skill will become available as the developers will want to place as few barriers to obtaining Freelancing as possible.
Below I'll include the full patch notes covering the updates to accessing freelance jobs. I have the feeling players interested in the feature will want to dig into the details.
Freelance Job Access Lists (ACLs)
Freelance Jobs now support Access Lists (ACLs), giving corporations and job creators the ability to define exactly who can view and accept the job postings. This update provides better control and privacy and a more tailored collaboration for corporations.
ACLs allow visibility restrictions at three identity levels:
Character – specific characters.
Corporation – all members of selected corporations.
Alliance – all members of corporations within selected alliances.
Creating Jobs with ACL:
You can select which ACL to use during job creation, and once assigned, a job’s ACL cannot be swapped, but the contents of the ACL may be edited at any time.
Changes to ACL affect job visibility and participation but will not remove existing participants.
If an ACL that’s attached to a freelance job is deleted, only the active participants of the job are able to contribute. No other capsuleers can accept the job.
Blocked characters can’t see or access relevant job listings, even with a direct link.
The job creator and corporation project managers always retain full access regardless of restrictions.
New Skill: Freelancing
A new Freelancing skill has been introduced.
Each level increases the number of concurrent Freelance Jobs a character can accept, up to maximum of 11.
Freelance Job Cost Adjusted
To make the job creation more sustainable, two cost reductions have been applied:
Duration fee reduced by 25%.
Broadcasting Fee reduced by 33%.
Freelance Job : Alliance Column in Participant view
A new Alliance column has been added to the Participant view for Freelance Jobs. Project managers will now be able to view and sort participants by alliance membership.
Clicking the Alliance column header sorts the participants alphabetically by alliance name and clicking again reverses the order.
If a participant does not belong to an alliance, a “-” symbol will be shown.
In November 2025 Cloud Imperium Games smashed records for revenue generated by its online cash shop. According to the CCU Game dashboard cash shop sales reached a record $31.9 million, a year-over-year increase of 57.7% over the $20.3 million generated in November 2024. The total was also 33.6% greater than the three-year average of $23.9 million. With one month to go in 2025 the CIG online cash shop has generated $140.4 million.
The $914.5 million displayed on the Roberts Space Industries funding page at the end of October was not a comprehensive accounting for all of CIG's revenue since the project's Kickstarter in October 2012. Overall, the company has recorded $1.039 billion in confirmed revenue (the funding page & the 2023 financial report).
Sales/Pledges: $914.5 million (through 30 November 2025)
Other cash shop revenue: $2.3 million (through 31 December 2023)
Subscriptions: $39.5 million (through 31 December 2023)
All other sources: $82.6 million (through 31 December 2023)
In addition, the company has received a total of $68.25 million in outside investment. According to the 2023 financial report, $4.8 million of the amount was returned to investors in 2020 and another $1.9 million in 2023. Including the outside investment money, the total amount raised by CIG to create Squadron 42 and Star Citizen is $1.107 billion, or $1.1 billion when excluding the returned funds. An additional $12.6 million in loans issued in March 2025 and due for repayment on 31 December 2027 are not included in the total.
Setting records - The $31.9 million in cash shop sales topped the previous single month revenue mark set back in May. The two months, powered by the Invictus and Intergalactic Aerospace Expo, resulted in $60.8 million in sales, or 43.3% of the total so far in 2025.
During November CIG also set a single year high, surpassing the $117.6 million generated in 2023. With one month to go, cash shop sales will go well beyond the $140.4 million recorded in the first 11 months of 2025.
A third record concerning a single sales was surpassed in November. This year's IAE so far has generated sales of $28.5 million. The previous IAE high of $24.5 million was set in 2023. This year's Invictus event generated sales of $24.2 million. The current IAE event still has three days to run.
New accounts - In November CIG recorded the second highest amount of new accounts in a single month in the company's history. Last month's 127,366 new accounts only trailed the 175,556 new accounts created in May 2022. So far in 2025 the number of new accounts created is up 42.7% year-over-year to 625,526. The record occurred in 2022 with 871,922 accounts created.
What to watch for - CIG should publish its 2024 financial statement to the corporate site near the end of December. Also, with the final three days of the IAE falling in December plus the upcoming Luminalia event held every year in mid-December should ensure the year's cash shop total should reach $150 million.
I haven't made my move to Final Fantasy XIV as my main MMORPG a secret. I maybe play EVE Online a lot for 2-3 months every year and then use the game to hone my programming skills. Or perhaps my skill at using AI to help program in Python. Yes, that's a thing I need to do at work. But this year's Black Friday sale was so good I wound up subbing another year. Which might not make a lot of sense since I'm now subscribed until November 2027.
A 25% reduction in the subscription price is pretty big. Through downtime on 3 December the effective price of a month of gametime not counting extras is:
1 month: $15/month
3 months: $12/month
6 months: $10.50/month
12 months: $9/month
24 months: $8.25/month
I normally grab my game time one year at a time, so the package I wound up buying also included 1000 PLEX, a $45 value. I don't know how to value the SKINR supply crate. I usually ignore that stuff and have a lot sitting around various hangars around New Eden. One day I might even have to look up how to use the system to make SKINs. But for now looks like I'll stick around another year.
Happy Thanksgiving! While a lot of game companies have had a down year, a couple studios I follow have a lot to be thankful for this U.S. holiday. Perhaps not Square Enix, which is engaged in a global reorganization pulling itself back into Japan. But both CCP Games and Cloud Imperium are witnessing good news over the past 3-4 weeks.
First, let's start with CCP. The month of November started off well with the news that its parent company Pearl Abyss experienced both an operating profit and net profit in the third quarter of 2025. The last time that had happened was the first quarter of 2024. Hopefully the news that Crimson Desert has a solid release date of 19 March 2026 will help squash any rumors of the South Korean game maker needed to sell off CCP Games for cash.
But that's not all. CCP released its winter expansion for EVE Online, Catalyst, on 18 November. If the average concurrent numbers are any indication, the mining and exploration themed expansion was well received.
The first week peaked at over 41,000 accounts logged in
While not precise, Chribba's EVE-Offline.net shows an average of 28,000 logged in at any one time over the past 7 days. The average before was approximately 23,000. The peak number of users logged in occurred on Sunday, with 41,322 accounts online at one time. Combined with the dissolution of Pandemic Horde Sunday saw the highest PCU since 41,562 were logged in on 10 May 2020.
Despite the nice episode of The Scope, I'm not really sure how much of a war the conflict really was. I get the impression the campaign was more chasing Pandemic Horde and shooting their structures more than a proper full-scale war. I did check to see that the bubble-camp of the R-AG7W keepstar occurred before the launch of the expansion because that would definitely have inflated the numbers. Which is a good thing because major null sec conflicts tend to reduce player counts in the long run. I'm not really sure what will happen if a major null sec leader just walks away. Bobby Atlas departing EVE was over a decade ago.
The other game company is Cloud Imperium Games. Depsite what white knights might claim, at this time last year things weren't looking too good. But at the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025 Chris Roberts instituted a leadership shakeup and a new software release schedule. Combined with an injection of cash from Keith Calder, CIG's second largest shareholder, CIG is once again setting financial records.
From the Roberts Space Industries website
On Tuesday the funding stats page on the RSI website passed the $900 million mark. As of 1800 UTC today the figure was up to $905.4 million. The surge in revenue is due to the Intergalactic Aerospace Expo, an annual event that begins the Thursday before Black Friday and ends the Thursday after perhaps the largest shopping day of the year.
If CIG exceeding the $900 million lifetime amount isn't enough, the company also surpassed its record yearly total with six weeks to go in the year. As of the end of the day Wednesday, the CCU Game dashboard showed $130 million in sales so far in 2025. The previous record for a single year occurred in 2023 with a total of $117.6 million in sales. The company has an excellent chance to end the year with $150 million in online sales.
The other thing going right for CIG is the success of the sales despite dropping patch 4.4 the day before the IAE kicked off. I know, the event has the expected lag when so many people log into the game at once. Server meshing apparently hasn't solved that issue yet. But through day 7 of the 14 day event CIG recorded $18 million in sales. The record, set in 2023, was $24.5 million. With today looking like another day of $2 million in online sales, I really don't think the IAE will average less than $1 million/day during the event's second week.
I'll end this post with the lifetime revenue numbers for Cloud Imperium Games. I usually provide them in my monthly post on CIG's sales but with all the numbers flying around I thought I'd add the ones I've come up with.
Overall, the company has recorded $1.030 billion in confirmed revenue (the funding page & the 2023 financial report).
Sales/Pledges: $905.4 million (through 27 November 2025 @ 1800 UTC)
Other cash shop revenue: $2.3 million (through 31 December 2023)
Subscriptions: $39.5 million (through 31 December 2023)
All other sources: $82.6 million (through 31 December 2023)
In addition, the company has received a total of $68.25 million in outside investment, making the total amount raised through all sources for the project as $1.098 billion. I expect to start using the figure $1.1 billion starting tomorrow.
EVE Online's winter expansion, Catalyst, introduced a new class of mining ship, the mining destroyer. Known as the Pioneer, the mining destroyer and its tech 2 and navy variants fill a gap in the progression from mining frigates to mining barges.
In a new way of thinking, the developers decided to introduce the ship and some new mining features with an epic arc. Well, I don't think that a series of three missions qualifies as epic, but the new set of missions, called Fractured Legacy, is found in the Epic Arc section of The Agency. I thought I'd give a short description of the arc.
First, players will need a Venture to run the first mission, The Missing Pilot. Since the mission arc is meant for all levels of players, I won't mention specific modules. I would recommend fitting the following:
2 mining lasers 1 prop module (afterburner or micro-warp drive) 1 medium shield extender 1 Data Analyzer I 1 mining laser upgrade
Also bring an extra mining laser and a nanofiber structure for when you get to fly the Pioneer.
To start the first quest, talk to Elias Peltonnen in the AIR Laboratories station above Kisogo VII. The system is located 3 jumps from Jita so picking up any items is easy if you don't want to fly to the system in a Venture. Elias is a level 1 agent for ORE, so there should not be an issue of accessing the mission series unless you have negative security standings as Kisogo has a security status of 1.0.
From the first mission
The first mission, The Missing Pilot, seems needlessly long. Players go out in a Venture and mine a lot of asteroids. No fair flying ahead and mining the Scordite, the game will not allow locking on the asteroid until all the Veldspar is mined first.
But, the length of the mission does have a purpose. Players are also granted a skillbook, Mining Destroyer, upon accepting the mission. For those who didn't already purchase the book and don't have extra skill points, immediately inject the skillbook and start training. Mining Destroyer I should be ready by the time a player is ready for the second mission. Completing the mission grants a Pioneer.
The second mission
The next mission is Pioneering Spirit, so named because the player has to fly a Pioneer. The player is granted a Basic Mining Survey Chipset to help determine which asteroids to mine. Players need to mine out the asteroids that only hold 2000 units. The ones that hold 3000 units are worthless. After gathering 4000 units of the good ore transfer the ore to an NPC's Odysseus.
The final mission
The final mission is Shattered Catalyst. The mission requires fitting the Data Analyzer I again and navigating through a field of proximity mines. The extra range of the Pioneer comes in handy to mine out asteroids blocking the way between the target structure and the mines. While I avoided the mines, the medium shield extender should help mitigate the damage from a mine if one makes a navigation error. But I didn't actually test the theory.
The final mission provided a nice new feature I hope is added to more items: a user manual.
Players get a 1-run blueprint for the item. Honestly with part of the rationale for the existence of the mission arc is to introduce players to the new mining features in Catalyst, I'm happy with the reward. Whether the reward, if not the arc itself, lasts the test of time really depends on how relevant the Pioneer remains going into the future.
Okay, I didn't begin the new mining epic arc in EVE Online yesterday. In my defense Kisogo is a very long way from where I usually play and when I logged out I was sitting in the agent's station in my Mastodon. So instead of a mining update I thought I'd take a look at PLEX prices on the global PLEX market.
From the start of the market to the launch of Catalyst
For everyone complaining about the price of PLEX being too damn high ... well, it's still high. But since the developers implemented the global PLEX market in early July the average price of PLEX has decreased from 6 million ISK down to 5 million ISK.
For those PLEXing their accounts, that's a savings of 500 million ISK per month. Of course, with the launch of an expansion comes expansion sales. In the case of Catalyst the following sale is occurring for game time in the New Eden Store running from 14-24 November.
1 month - 400 PLEX (down from 500 PLEX)
3 months - 1020 PLEX (down from 1200 PLEX)
6 months - 1890 PLEX (down from 2100 PLEX)
I'll just mention the sale for people with a little bit more money to spend than myself. Also until the 24th the cash shop lowered the price of 20,000 PLEX from $650 down to $458. I think that comes out to be $7.25/month for a little over 5 years if all the PLEX is spent on game time. Utterly insane.
The sales and expansion are having an effect. Up until a week ago the volume of PLEX sold on the market never exceeded 1.8 million PLEX. But over the last 8 days (week before the expansion plus launch day) the volume has exceeded that mark 6 times, with three of those days seeing over 2 million PLEX sold.
From the start of the market to the launch of Catalyst
How does that affect the real world value of ISK? Let's just say the South Korean won is not the only currency that has recently strengthened against the U.S. dollar. When the global PLEX market opened 1 billion ISK was worth $7.49. After the first day of Catalyst, the value had increased to $8.99, an increase of 20%. Of course, with a lot of the sales ongoing players purchasing PLEX today to convert to ISK aren't paying $8.99/billion ISK. But once all the sales end in 5 days I'll be interested to see if the price stays at that level.
I woke up this morning, logged into EVE, and began buying the new skills introduced in the winter expansion, Catalyst. Since I don't think a list exists yet, I decided to put one up with a little information.
First up are the skills that apply to mining. Both the Mining Destroyer and Mining Precision skills cost 100,000 ISK. The follow-up to the Mining Precision skill, Mining Exploitation, costs 20 million ISK. I found all 3 skills at a Republic University station so I am assuming any Empire school station will have these in stock.
Next up are the 3 new skills needed to fly and get the most out of the new Sisters of EVE ship, the Odysseus. The Expedition Command Ships skill is rather pricy at 55 million ISK. The other two skills, Expedition Command and Expedition Command Specialist, focus on command bursts and cost 100,000 ISK and 500,000 ISK respectively. These skills are only found in Sisters of EVE, The Sanctuary, and Food Relief stations.
Finally we get to the skill needed to mine and process the new Prismaticite Ore introduced in Catalyst. I wound up going to an Impetus station to spend 1,250,000 ISK to learn the skill. Hopefully no one saw me because I don't think Impetus has the greatest reputation.
Impetus is the main producer of holo reels in the world of EVE, producing anything from epic historical movies to cheap porn flicks. Impetus has in recent years led the development of instant news arrays, a technology that will revolutionize the news business once complete.
I should also add when I went into the station I didn't see the interior docking bay. I had to check around to see if I was really docked. But I did manage to find the station's inventory and learn the skill.
I probably need to find out more about the mining changes but for now finding out what I needed to learn before work helps when I get to play games this evening. I have two other characters I need to skill up as well so I can use this post to save some time. Hopefully others will find this helpful as well.
I really thought about using a title like "CCP Devs Can't Count" or "Math is Hard" for this post. I was watching the In Focus video for Catalyst and saw players were getting more ships than originally indicated. The segment was so out of the ordinary I embedded the segment below (If the code doesn't work for you, the segment ran from 28:34 to 33:17).
That's right, instead of the two ships indicated at the expansion's announcement on 21 October, the developers are delivering five ships in total: a new Sisters of EVE command ship and four new mining ships designed to fill in the progression gap between mining frigates and mining barges. In the interest of getting some information out, here's the latest lineup of ships players can get their hands on Tuesday.
I'm taking the ships out of order from the expansion notes because I believe the Odysseus, the newest SoE ship, was originally the highlight ship of the expansion. Here are the stats and descriptions where available.
Catalyst introduces a new exploration command ship from the Sisters of EVE: The Odysseus. It allows you to explore for longer, go further afield, and carry more loot back.
Exploration Redefined
The Odysseus has a number of unique features, including the ability to warp while cloaked, and a ship maintenance bay.
This means that the Odysseus can stay in space by itself for long periods, hidden when needed. It’s perfect for pilots who prefer solo exploration, but is also great at supporting group excursions.
Not only can it let friends refit on longer expeditions, but the unique expedition hold allows everyone in the fleet to store treasures found in relic, data, and gas sites.
Whether by yourself or supporting a larger group, you can therefore stay out for extended periods of time, and carry vast riches back.
Odysseus Skill Bonuses:
Amarr Battlecruiser: (per skill level)
4% bonus to Armor Resistances
Gallente Battlecruiser: (per skill level)
10% bonus to Light, Medium and Heavy Drone damage
Expedition Command Ships: (per skill level)
50% bonus to Data Analyzer and Relic Analyzer optimal range
5% reduction in gas cloud scoop duration
3% bonus to the strength and duration of exploration command bursts
1% bonus to the strength and duration of armor command bursts
Role Bonus:
100% bonus to the duration of Expedition Command Bursts
50% bonus to the range of command burst modules
50% bonus to Medium Energy Turret Optimal Range
50% Reduction in CPU cost of Gas Cloud Scoops
37.5% bonus to Scan Probe Strength
10+ bonus to Relic and Data analyzers
Can fit Covert Ops Cloaking Device
Can fit two command burst modules
Cloaking reactivation delay reduced to 15 seconds
Can fit Zero-Point Mass Entangler
This ship can recieve bonus effects depending on the environment.
Blueprint Copies for the Odysseus can be obtained from the Servant Sisters of EVE faction member corporations for the price of 250,000 LP and 250,000,000 ISK.
This includes The Sanctuary, Food Relief and the Sisters of EVE corporations.
The Pioneer, a new mining destroyer from Outer Ring Excavations, was the second ship originally announced.
Pioneering Industry Greatness
Level up your industry game with the Pioneer, a stepping stone between a mining frigate and mining barges.
The goal is for the cost of the Pioneer to be ten times greater than a Venture, but ten times less than a mining barge. It will therefore provide a good recovery point if a player loses their mining barge and can’t afford to replace it.
Mining For All Levels
Even rookies can obtain this new mining destroyer after only a few hours in New Eden, and fly it as Alphas, who can train the new Mining Destroyer skill to level 2.
There is even more to unlock for Omegas, who can train it up to level 5, so this vessel can scale as you level up your industrial ambitions.
Unparalleled Range and Options
The Pioneer will have the furthest mining range of any vessel, and can accommodate up to three mining lasers, giving it a unique advantage.
Pioneer Skill Bonuses:
Mining Destroyer: (per skill level)
10% bonus to Mining yield
20% bonus to Mining range
5% reduction in Gas Cloud Scoop duration
Role Bonus:
50% bonus to Mining yield
25% reduction in Gas Cloud Scoop duration
Blueprint Originals for the Pioneer can be purchased from Outer Ring Excavations (ORE) stations in Outer Ring.
Alpha Clones are able to train the new Mining Destroyer skill to level 2.
Now we get to what I am calling the 3 bonus ships for the expansion. First up the the tech 2 version of the Pioneer, the Outrider.
The Outrider Tech II variation of the Pioneer will be able to fit a micro jump field generator module, allowing it to reposition itself and nearby mining vessels rapidly. It is the first industrial command ship with this capability.
That doesn’t mean that the Outrider is solely a fleet mining ship. It will also have some solo mining capabilities, making it a great vessel for stealthy mining, with the micro jump drive as a form of escape.
The Outrider will be more affordable than the Porpoise, but without compression access. Furthermore, the Porpoise has stronger bonuses while using the medium industrial core.
Outrider Skill Bonuses:
Mining Destroyer:
15% bonus to Mining yield
10% bonus to Drone hitpoints and damage
6% bonus to all shield resistances
Command Destroyer:
5% reduction in Micro Jump Field Generator spool up time
2% bonus to Shield Command and Mining Foreman Burst effect strength and duration
Role Bonus:
95% reduction in powergrid requirements for Command Bursts
50% reduction in Microwarpdrive signature radius penalty
50% reduction in reactivation delay for Defender Launcher
Can fit Micro Jump Field Generators
Can fit one Command Burst module
75% bonus to tractor beam range
30% bonus to Tractor Beam velocity
Blueprint Copies of the Outrider can be obtained by performing Invention jobs on blueprint copies of the Pioneer.
Finally we get to the final two ships to fill out the ship tree. But instead of having a "Navy Issue", the ships are labeled "Consortium Issue" First is the latest update to the venerable Venture.
ORE Navy Mining Frigate - Venture Consortium Issue
Venture Consortium Issue Skill Bonuses:
Mining Frigate: (per skill level)
5% bonus to Mining yield
5% reduction in Gas Cloud Scoop duration
10% bonus to Shield Booster amount
Role Bonus:
100% bonus to Mining and Gas Cloud Scoop yield
2+ bonus to ship warp core strength
50% reduction in Industrial Cynosural Field Generator liquid ozone consumption
50% bonus to Mining critical hit chance
10+ bonus to Salvage Drone salvage chance
Blueprint Copies for the Venture Consortium Issue can be obtained from Upwell Consortium member corporations LP stores for the price of 10 million ISK and 10,000 Loyalty Points.
This includes Chemal Tech, Ducia Foundry, Eifyr and Co, Freedom Extension, Impetus, Intaki Bank, Mordus Legion, Propel Dynamics, Ytiri and Zoar and Sons corporations.
ORE offers a 60% discount in their LP store, at a price of 4 million ISK and 4,000 Loyalty Points.
Finally we get to the "Navy" version of the new mining destroyer, the Pioneer Consortium Issue.
Pioneer Consortium Issue Skill Bonuses:
Mining Destroyer: (per skill level)
10% bonus to Mining yield
20% bonus to Mining range
10% bonus to Shield Booster amount
5% reduction in Gas Cloud Scoop duration
Role Bonus:
50% bonus to Mining yield
50% bonus to Mining critical hit chance
25% reduction in Gas Cloud Scoop duration
10+ bonus to Salvage Drone salvage chance
Blueprint Copies for the Pioneer Consortium Issue can be obtained from Upwell Consortium member corporations LP stores for the price of 30 million ISK and 30,000 Loyalty Points.
This includes Chemal Tech, Ducia Foundry, Eifyr and Co, Freedom Extension, Impetus, Intaki Bank, Mordus Legion, Propel Dynamics, Ytiri and Zoar and Sons corporations.
ORE offers a 60% discount in their LP store, at a price of 12 million ISK and 12,000 Loyalty Points.
The dev blogs I saw didn't have a lot of information about the Consortium Issue ships. Probably because the developers didn't really plan to release them yet.
