EVE Frontier kicks off Cycle 5 with $20 pass, $80,000 Sui hackathon, and more deep space death
Another three months have clicked by, so it’s time for EVE Frontier to wipe its universe once again and reset for Cycle 5.
Starting on Wednesday 11th March, the Shroud of Fear cycle will see the game updated with plenty of new features and with its underlying infrastructure moving to the Sui blockchain.
One key addition focuses on players’ clone bodies, or Shells. Players will be able to directly control their production, storage and enhancements using the Nursery manufacturing ability and Nest storage facility.
This will enable players to create new shells, and manage their skills through Crowns, specialised memories players equip to optimize what their shells can do in-game. In keeping with EVE Frontier’s unforgiving survival gameplay, however, when a shell is destroyed, its skills and memories are lost.
Base building also receives updates, enabling players to work collaboratively to generate materials faster, as well as building entire bases together.
Combat has been enhanced. Bases can now equip specialized defensive turrets, each designed to counter a different type of spaceship. Meanwhile, ship physics has been tweaked. This makes light ships more manoeuvrable and swift. Heavier ships get higher maximum speeds and passive durability, while the new Exclave frigate will offer a high-mobility option for pilots who favor precision.
There are more fundamental changes to the universe too, with distinct and persistent ecosystems being introduced across solar systems. These Orbital Zones will ensure that resources – including new types of rifts and crude matter – loot, and NPCs are distributed in a more naturalistic manner than previously.
However, the new cycle sees feral AI bots acting more dynamically in their patrolling and defensive behavior. But players will be able to passively scan their local environment before acting to counter this.
Aside from these gameplay changes, the start of the Shroud of Fear also coincides with the launch of CCP Games and Mysten Labs’ hackathon, which will see $80,000 distributed to builders creating the best in-game mods and external utilities on the dedicated Utopia server, which runs on Sui’s testnet blockchain.
Playing EVE Frontier requires players to get Founder Access, which starts from $40. However, a $20 option will be available from 11th to 31st March for players who just want access to the game, without any of the permanent account attributes.
Find out more here.
