JITA — Nullsec logistics directors across New Eden logged in Tuesday to discover that every Ansiblex jump bridge in their territory now runs on capacitor charge, coalition partners are banned from using their infrastructure, and Fenris Creations (formerly CCP Games) expects them to adapt rather than complain.
The Force Projection overhaul went live in the Cradle of War major update, and the screaming began before downtime ended.
“I spent six months optimizing our jump bridge network,” said a logistics director for a bloc that requested anonymity because they are still reading patch notes. “Now I need to redo every spreadsheet, and half the fleet can’t come through anyway because they’re not in the alliance. This is fine. Everything is fine.”
The changes are dramatic. Ansiblex jump bridges now carry a limited capacitor charge that depletes with each jump. Different hulls drain different amounts, and distance matters more than ever. Once the charge hits zero, the bridge goes dark until it recharges. Alliance-only access means coalition partners must build their own bridges or rely on slower methods, like flying across space like a common capsuleer.
“We wanted to make force projection more strategic,” Fenris Creations Design Director FC Okami said in Tuesday’s dev chat. “Also, we have a bet in the Reykjavik office about how many spreadsheets will combust before Friday.”
Coalition diplomats are reportedly holding emergency meetings to discuss “infrastructure sovereignty realignment,” which is nullsec code for figuring out which alliance gets to keep the good jump bridges. The answer, increasingly, is “not yours.”
The update also accelerates Pirate Insurgencies, modernizes wormhole combat sites for the first time since most pilots were in diapers, and shifts Pochven again because Pochven has not been confusing enough. New mutaplasmids for drone support modules ensure that wormhole residents and Pochven enthusiasts will find fresh ways to spend ISK they do not yet have.
“My whole corp is sitting in a wormhole right now trying to figure out if the new NPC AI is smarter or just meaner,” said a Class 2 resident named Vex Ardent. “Either way, our Drake fleet is crying.”
FC Kestrel, the wormhole specialist on the dev team, confirmed during the chat that NPCs now make “smarter use of electronic warfare” and that capsuleers can bring energy neutralization to bear against them. The first part is already terrifying veteran pilots. The second part has sparked a rush on Nosferatu modules.
Ship balance changes hit marauders, black ops battleships, heavy assault cruisers, and assault frigates. Lower mass on marauders and black ops means easier wormhole transit, which wormhole corporations are treating as either a gift or a threat depending on which side of the hole they are on. The Deimos, Phobos, and Vigilant regain railgun range lost to earlier changes, restoring their ability to be expensive and still die to a swarm of T1 frigates.
The patch also introduces achievement tracking in the info panel, allowing pilots to follow up to five objectives at once. Market analysts report a corresponding surge in multitasking-related ship losses.
“At least the wallet exploit got patched,” said a highsec mission runner named Jorah Vale. “For eight glorious days, anyone could see how poor I am. Now it’s back to pretending I’m just frugal.”
Four accounts remain banned for exploiting the 0-ISK donation wallet sniffer that circulated earlier this month. Fenris Creations patched the hole in eight days, a response time that has some players suspiciously praising the studio on Reddit.
Meanwhile, the Alliance Tournament XXII preliminary bracket rolls toward its final weekend, unaffected by the patch because tournament pilots have already accepted that their billion-ISK fits will explode for entertainment. It is, organizers note, the only part of EVE where losing spectacularly is the entire point.
Fenris Creations has scheduled no further major updates before October, though analysts warn that Pochven will probably shift again anyway.
