CCP announced back on June 11th their intention to make some changes to black ops battleships, including giving them a new way to jump themselves and their companions as a single group to a covert cyno.
That was seen as an interesting change which got a lot of feedback and today CCP launched the changes under the banner Enter the Portal.
Black ops and other changes
The big change for black ops battleships is the new “conduit jump” option which jumps the anchor ship, the black ops battleship, and up to 30 companion ships in one jump operation.
The details for conduit jumps:
- Conduit Jumps provide a new group jump to a destination from the Anchor Ship (the Black Ops battleship) plus all nearby eligible fleet members in a single, instantaneous event.
- Eligible ships are any that are capable of travelling through a covert jump portal. Black Ops Battleship, Blockade Runners, Covert Ops Frigates, Force Recon Ships, Stealth Bombers, and Strategic Cruisers (with the covert subsystem)
- Up to 30 eligible passenger ships may be included in the conduit jump, at a cost of 1000 isotopes per light year.
- Travel via Conduit Jumps has similar requirements to normal portal travel (cannot be cloaked, warp-disrupted, or in a state of transition such as exploding etc.). Additionally, further restrictions apply for conduit jumps for passengers:
- Passenger Ship must be in same fleet as Anchor Ship.
- Passenger Ship must be within 10 km of Anchor Ship.
- If the Anchor Ship fails any of the required checks, the Group Jump cannot be activated at all. If a Passenger Ship fails any of the required checks, the Group Jump will proceed, but that individual Passenger Ship will be left behind.
In addition, black ops battleships all received the following updates:
- Increased the cargo capacity by 100m3. [More fuel!]
- Increased maximum target range by 30%.
- New Role Bonus: 50% reduction in Covert Cynosural Generator duration
- New Role Bonus: 650% bonus to ships maximum velocity when using a Cloaking Device (this was previously a Black Ops ship bonus and has been moved into a role bonus).
- Increased role bonus to 75% for reduction to effective distance traveled for jump fatigue.
And the individual black ops battleship hulls got the following changes:
Redeemer
- Increased the Capacitor Capacity from 5312 to 5912 GJ
- Updated Amarr Battleship bonuses (per skill level):
- Increased the bonus to Large Energy Turret rate of fire from 5% to 10%.
- Updated Black Ops bonuses (per skill level):
- Changed the 125% bonus to ship max velocity when using Cloaking Devices to 10% bonus to Energy Nosferatu and Energy Neutralizer drain amount.
Sin
- Increased the Ship Inertia modifier by 25%.
- Updated Gallente Battleship bonuses (per skill level):
- Increased the bonus to Large Hybrid Turret damage from 5% to 10%.
- Updated Black Ops bonuses (per skill level):
- Changed the 5% bonus to Ship Inertia modifier to 10% bonus to logistics drone transfer amount.
- Changed the 125% bonus to ship max velocity when using Cloaking Devices to 7.5% bonus to drone tracking and optimal range per level.
Panther
- Increased the ship Max Velocity by 25%.
- Updated Minmatar Battleship bonuses (per skill level):
- Incrased the bonus to Large Projectile Turret damage from 5% to 10%.
- Updated Black Ops bonuses (per skill level):
- Changed the 5% bonus to ship max velocity to 7.5% bonus to Large Projectile Turret tracking speed.
- Changed the 125% bonus to ship max velocity when using Cloaking Devices to 7.5% bonus to Large Projectile Turret falloff range.
Widow
- Updated Caldari Battleship bonuses (per skill level):
- Increased the bonus to Rapid Heavy Missile, Cruise Missile and Torpedo Launcher rate of fire from 5% to 7.5%.
- Updated Black Ops bonuses (per skill level):
- Increased the bonus to ECM Target Jammer strength from 30% to 40%.
- Changed the 125% bonus to ship max velocity when using Cloaking Device to 4% bonus to shield resistances.
Marshal
- Updated Gallente Battleship bonuses (per skill level):
- Increased the bonus to Large Hybrid Turret damage from 5% to 10%.
- Updated Minmatar Battleship bonuses (per skill level):
- Increased the bonus to Large Projectile Turret rate of fire from 5% to 10% .
- Updated Caldari Battleship bonuses (per skill level):
- Increased the bonus to Heavy Missile, Cruise Missile and Torpedo Launcher rate of fire from 5% to 7.5%.
- Updated Amarr Battleship bonuses (per skill level):
- Increased the bonus to Large Energy Turret damage from 5% to 10%.
Black ops battleships are pretty commonly used out in null sec, so it will be interesting to see how these changes, and especially the ability to jump a group of 30 and the battleship as well, will change up tactics.
In addition, covert ops frigates also received an update pass:
Helios
- Added 1 High Slot (current total: 3)
- Updated Gallente Frigate bonuses (per skill level):
- Changed the 5% bonus to Small Hybrid Turret damage to -15% capacitor need to initiate warp per level.
- Changed the 10% bonus to Scout Drone thermal damage to 5% bonus to cloaked velocity per level
Anathema
- Added 1 Low Slot (current total: 3)
- Updated Amarr Frigate bonuses (per skill level):
- Changed the 5% bonus to Rocket damage to -15% capacitor need to initiate warp per level
- Changed the 5% reduction in capacitor recharge time to 5% bonus to scan deviation per level
Buzzard
- Added 1 Low Slot (current total: 3)
- Updated Caldari Frigate bonuses (per skill level):
- Changed the 5% bonus to kinetic Light Missile and Rocket damage to -15% capacitor need to initiate warp per level
- Changed the 5% bonus to Light Missile and Rocket Launcher rate of fire to 5% bonus to scan deviation per level
Cheetah
- Added 1 Low Slot (current total: 4)
- Updated Minmatar Frigate bonuses (per skill level):
- Changed the 5% bonus to Small Projectile Turret damage to -15% capacitor need to initiate warp per level
- Changed the 10% bonus to Small Projectile Turret optimal range to 5% bonus to cloaked velocity per level
And EDENCOM ships got a bit of love. Their Voltron Projectors will now chain damage to 10 targets, up from the previous 5. We will see if that makes them viable for more than just meme fleets.
Of course, with a big update like this, CCP would like to sell you something. So they have a new black ops pack in the online store. For $230 you get:
- 180 Days of Omega Time
- 2,860 PLEX
- 500,000 Skill Points
- 6 Months of Multiple Character Training
- Expert Cerebral Accelerator
- Panther Fireblade Guerilla SKIN
- Widow Fireblade Guerilla SKIN
- Redeemer Fireblade Guerilla SKIN
- Sin Fireblade Guerilla SKIN
- Marshal Fireblade Guerilla SKIN
- Men’s and Women’s Blood Raider ‘Outlaw’ Clothing
That seems a bit pricey to me, but there is a lot of stuff there, so I am sure somebody will bite.
The update has been deployed, details are available at the links below.
- CCP – Enter the Portal Live announcement
- CCP – Patch Notes
- INN – Blops, Covops Changes Now Live
- Ashy in Space – Fit Kitchen: Black Ops
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