by EVE Online Team11:00am on Tuesday 14th May 2024
EVE Online: Equinox, the first major expansion of 2024, is coming soon. This second installment of the Equinox in Focus series gives you early insight into four new ships coming to New Eden when the expansion launches on 11 June. Read on for all the details and tune in to CCPTV on 16 May at 16:00 UTC to get even more in-depth information on the new ships.
The Equinox expansion introduces a formidable lineup of new Upwell industrial ships, enhancing the fleet capabilities of capsuleers venturing into the resource-rich expanses of nullsec. The new vessels are the Squall, a base Tech I hauler; the Deluge, a sleek Tech II blockade runner variation of the Squall; the Torrent, a robust deep space transport; and the Avalanche freighter, the largest ship from Upwell.
Each of these vessels is equipped with a large infrastructure hold, able to store various items essential for owning and upgrading sovereign space. This includes the new orbital skyhook, Metenox moon drill, sovereignty structures and upgrades, as well as other Upwell structures, resources, deployables, and more. Despite their primary role as industrial ships, all four boast considerable missile firepower for their size, allowing them to deter potential aggressors keen on plundering their valuable cargo. Two new skill books are being added to go with the specialized nature of these ships: Upwell Hauler and Upwell Freighter. These can be acquired at Upwell Consortium NPC stations.
Starting with the Squall, this ship serves as an affordable entry-level hauler, ideal for transporting infrastructure and reagents. Priced slightly above a Tech I cruiser hull, the Squall offers comparable cargo capacity, hit points, and defensive capabilities, enabling it to fend off smaller aggressors or participate effectively in larger fleet operations, such as skyhook raids. It has Upwell Hauler skill bonuses that will boost infrastructure hold capacity and missile damage, and a role bonus that dramatically reduces effective distance traveled for jump fatigue. In terms of slots, the Squall has a high/medium/low layout of 4/5/3, capable of fitting three launchers and three rigs.
The Deluge, a Tech II variation of the Squall, trades some cargo capacity and missile firepower for enhanced stealth capabilities, including the use of a covert ops cloaking device. Its improved mobility and warp speed make it the perfect choice for maintaining your infrastructure on the fringes of your space or operating behind enemy lines. The Deluge has similar Upwell Hauler skill bonuses to the Squall, boosting infrastructure hold capacity and missile damage, and also boasts Transport Ship skill bonuses to warp speed and warp acceleration, as well as a reduction in cloaking device CPU requirements. In addition, it has role bonuses to reduce effective distance traveled for jump fatigue, allowing the fitting of covert ops cloaking devices and a covert cynosural field generator, immunity to all cargo scanners, and a cloak reactivation delay reduction. The Deluge has a 4/4/2 slot layout, capable of fitting three launchers and two rigs.
Its big brother, the Torrent, is another Tech II variation of the Squall. It sacrifices some agility and speed for increased hit points, a larger infrastructure hold, more firepower, a fleet hangar, and substantial bonuses to overheating defensive and propulsion modules, as well as energy neutralizers. This ship is ideal for operations in high-threat environments where both capacity and survivability are paramount. The Torrent has Upwell Hauler and Transport Ship skill bonuses that boost ship infrastructure hold capacity and missile damage, as well as fleet hangar capacity and shield resistances. Its role bonuses add to the ship’s warp core strength, double the benefits of overheating several modules, as well as reducing the effective distance traveled for jump fatigue. The Torrent has a slot layout of 4/6/3 and is capable of fitting three launchers and two rigs.
The pinnacle of this new fleet is the Avalanche, an immense freighter that not only carries a vast amount of resources but is also the first freighter in EVE Online to feature high-power slots, with enough missile firepower to match most battleships. Unique among freighters, the Avalanche can equip capital shield flex hardeners and benefits from an enhanced bonus to auto-targeting missiles, making it a formidable presence in any logistic or combat scenario. It boasts Upwell Freighter skill bonuses to ship infrastructure hold capacity, missile damage, and auto-targeting missile damage, and role bonuses that dramatically reduce effective distance traveled for jump fatigue as well as capital flex shield hardener capacitor activation cost and powergrid requirements. In terms of slots, the Avalanche has a high/medium/low layout of 6/3/3, and a capacity for six launchers.
In the design of these ships, the intention was to make them not only appealing and useful for those involved in logistics gameplay and maintaining alliance and sovereignty infrastructure but also to ensure they were captivating for a broader audience of players. To this aim, the ships have been equipped with missile launchers that benefit from a substantial bonus to damage, setting them apart from other combat-capable industrial ships like the Procurer, Orca, Rorqual, and Nereus, which predominantly rely on drones. The goal was to enhance these vessels to be exciting and powerful enough to actively contribute to small gang skirmishes, ensuring they are more than just vulnerable targets laden with valuable cargo.
To ensure that these ships appeal not only to major corporations but also to individual industrialists, the infrastructure hold has been expanded to accommodate everything necessary for larger and smaller industry tasks. This includes a wide range of materials, such as fuel and planetary commodities, making these vessels an excellent choice for pilots seeking a superior alternative to the Epithal for carrying out their Planetary Industry operations.
Upon the launch of Equinox on 11 June, blueprints for the Squall and Avalanche will be accessible at all Upwell Consortium member NPC stations. The Deluge and Torrent must be invented from Squall blueprint copies. The invention jobs require new Upwell starship engineering datacores, which are available in the four empire Factional Warfare militia LP stores. Additionally, the construction of these new Tech II ships calls for new Upwell components, with blueprints available from all Upwell Consortium member NPC stations, using a mix of all the racial components.
Whether you are an individual industrialist or corporation member hauling valuable resources across the vastness of New Eden, or looking for a large holds to carry the loot and corpses of your overconfident victims, seeing what creative fittings you come up with is a thrilling concept, and sure to inject excitement into the cluster. Start gearing up for the adventure by catching the live stream on CCPTV on 16 May at 16:00 UTC.