The Downfall of The Tower of Legends

If you were looking for a moment to mark the end of the war, this might be as close at you’ll come.  It isn’t the end of the destruction or even the end of the fighting as the Imperium dogs TEST in its retreat to Outer Passage, but it is a significant milestone in the series of events.

The Keepstar that PAPI anchored in Delve named “The Tower of Legends” in the T5ZI-S system back in November, just one gate from 1DQ1-A, the capitol of the Imperium, was destroyed last night.  That was their staging point, the base from which they sought to assail the final stronghold of the Imperium.  That location that was on the same map I posted in the weekly update for so many weeks.  One more time won’t hurt I suppose.

O-EIMK Constellation – The situation before the PAPI retreat

That situation is now officially over.  The Anisblex jump gate connection to E-VKJV has been gone for a week now, and the ihubs and TCUs have been taken, and now their staging Keepstar is gone.  The Keepstar in YZ9-F6, the bubble wrap Keepstar, is gone as well.  But T5ZI was the main event.

The form up for the kill was a bit early, but not excessively so.  The rules were set out in advance, no capital ships, no alts, and no drones to be deployed.  The hope was to get as many people on the kill mail as wanted to be while not overloading the server to the point that the kill mail would fail to generate, the way it did with the NPC Delve fights or the Sotiyos in T5ZI earlier in the week.

Ten subcap fleets were announced, with a flavor for just about anybody.

• Rainbow Lazor (any laser ship with different crystals)
  • FC:‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ Asher Elias
  • OP 1
• Maelstrom> other Minmatar BS > Winmatar
  • FC Name:‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ Dave Archer
  • Comms:‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ Op 2
• Eagles
  • FC Name:‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ Xanos Xellos
  • Comms:‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ Op 3
• Ravens and Rokhs – Caldari Supremecy
  • FC:‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ Arakine Zamamammayid
  • Op 4
• Gallente best portraits – Megas and others – no drones no problem
  • FC Name Klexos
  • Comms:‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ Op 5
• Muninn fleet (the FC will SHOCK you)
  • FC:‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ Elo Knight
  • Op 6
• Can I bring my drake? YES
  • FC:‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ Kor Anon
  • Op 7
• GARBAGE DAY!!! Any old ship
  • FC:‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ Alterari
  • Op 8
• Cerb your enthusiasm
  • FC:‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ Kretin Valefor
  • Op 9
• Battle Badgers & Firework Noctis (no drones)
  • FC:‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ Vex Tsnipe
  • Op 10

I got a spot in Asher’s fleet, both out of Reaver’s loyalty and because I was happy enough to get my Bhaalgorn out yet again.  While I rarely used it during the war, it has become my structure bashing ship of choice.  Lasers with standard large crystals never need to be reloaded.

Bhaalgorns were pretty popular, with 48 showing up in his fleet, outnumbering the popular Apocalypse by a few.  There was a wide range of laser wielding Amarr ships, from Harbingers to Paladins going in with us.

We jumped from 1DQ, which was under heavy tidi with all of us logging in and undocking, to T5ZI, where a node reinforcement request had been placed in anticipation of the fight.  Then it was just a bit of a wait as the timer counted down.

Not long now

As the time got close, the fleets warped into range and we opened fire as soon as we were able.  A weave of beams and projectiles formed on the grid in front of the Keepstar, and tidi began to kick in, dropping down to close to 10%, before settling around 25% for most of the fight.  That is actually a pretty tolerable level of tidi.  The server had enough power at that point to be immediately responsive to most commands.

We open fire on the Keepstar

The shoot was not uncontested.  The Keepstar had a gunner and the weapons one can bring to bear can be quite formidable.   Bombs and missiles and fighters and the Arcing Voltron Projector, the Keepstar doomsday weapon, were all deployed against us.

The first time the doomsday reached out it zapped a series of ships, the effect bounces from one to the next randomly, blotting them out, including KarmaFleet DJ Mind1 in a Kronos.  The battle bard was down!

The Arcing Voltron Projector lances out

If that weapon hit you in a subcap, if you were chosen to “ride the lightning,” you were done.

The Keepstar reaching out to zap us again

Fortunately there is a fairly long recharge timer on the weapon.  It was estimated that it might be able to fire 6 or 7 times if the gunner got shots off right away.  I counted five, so he may have been careful with his shots.

The gunner seemed to be going for high ISK value targets rather than famous names, Mind1 aside.  There were any number of notable Imperium FCs on grid to shoot, and up above the Keepstar was The Mittani himself in a Megathron, who was left unscathed by the weapon.

The Mittani shooting from his perch

I thought at one point the lightning was going to get to me as it zapped through a couple of Paladins that were not far off, but my number did not come up.

That shot right past me

Overall the gunner was able to take out more than 500 ships and capsules, including an unfortunate bunch that got pulled into range of the point defense system and murdered before they could get clear.  The battle report shows that the gunner racked up more than 52 billion ISK in kills.  But that wasn’t much compared to the loss of a Keepstar.

Battle Report Header

The Keepstar was undervalued on the kill mail because TEST pulled the rigs, which can run into the tens of billions or more, before the structure was destroyed.  A petty move to save themselves a bit of face in the ISK war.  And then there was what was inside.

I wish CCP could give us a report as to how much stuff went into asset safety.  There were surely a lot of ships and supplies still left in the structure from which PAPI had staged for more than seven months.  Any time you settle down into a place it starts to collect junk.  And all of the junk that got left behind will be delivered via asset safety to an NPC station in the Irmalin system in the Khanid region.  That is a long way from the Dronelands and Outer Passage, where TEST is headed.  Individuals can always arrange to have things shipped to Jita or Amarr, though you have to actually go to the station where your stuff has landed in order to reclaim it and make it available to move.  I am sure somebody will be camping that station when the time comes.

With tidi in place the shoot took longer than it might have otherwise.  It would have gone more quickly if we had just used titans and supers.  But we wanted to go with subcaps for the reasons stated above.  And it worked out, a kill mail was generated with 2,354 of us listed on it.  We all get that on our record of the game.

There was a lot of built up emotion coming out as the moment of destruction came near.  Everybody got called to Op 1 on Mumble to try for a long, voice server crashing “Aaaaaaah” chain, where everybody keys up their mic and says “Aaaaaaaah” for as long as they can.  It was quite a sustained event.  I had to mute the channel after a bit… my wife was wondering what the hell I was doing… but if you want to listen to it, somebody recorded it and posted it up on Reddit.  Or there is a video of the explosion with our voice comms running over it.

 

And then the moment came and the Keepstar exploded, but the “Aaaaaah” chain went on and on, buoyed by our success.

The Tower of Legends brought down

We hung about as the core was scooped, held down by bubbles still lit by the afterglow of the explosion.

After the Keepstar went

Then, once GSOL had spirited away the core, the loot, and the salvage, a new structure was dropped in place of the now destroyed Keepstar.

A Fortizar deploying… some fireworks in the foreground

The Fortizar was not dropped for any sentimental or ceremonial reasons, though that spot will be a special point in space for the Imperium going forward.  As I understand it, any super or titan pilots who were in their big ships and logged off when the Keepstar went up will log back in and find themselves in space.  The Fortizar is there to be the hub of a camp that will probably end up destroying some more big ships over the next few months.

That done, we were able to head back through the gate to home.  There, on the Imperial Palace Keepstar, fireworks were being set off, lighting up the structure.  Fireworks might be one of the low key best things CCP has added to the game.  They get used a lot.

A celebration at home

The work isn’t done yet.  Not long after we got back more pings started going out.  There are more structures to kill in Delve, Querious, and Period Basis.  The Region Commander board is alleged to have over 200 targets that will require attention over the next week or two.

There is also the pursuit of TEST and the rest of PAPI as they return to their homes, old and new.

Then there is the rebuilding effort, the new Delve to create once we clear up the wreckage of the old.  But the pace will settle down eventually.  A new normal will be created.  We’re already headed there.  The intel channels are starting to be lively again, with reports of people… not PAPI, but third party groups… roaming through our space looking for targets, the way things were before the war.

Once things settle down, once our homeland is secure again, then there will be some revenge to take.  But that will be another war at a later date.

Related:

• INN – The Tower of Legends Falls

EVE Echoes Launches Giving Players a New Beginning

Today sees the launch of EVE Echoes, the NetEase built mobile version of EVE Online.  CCP has a press release out announcing that the game has gone live.

EVE Echoes

This launch brings EVE Online, or a facsimile thereof, to your iOS or Android phone or tablet.

The launch video promises a new way to experience New Eden, which is no doubt true.  (Also, is that Hilmar’s ‘rona hair or is he growing it out for a 70s revival?)

I signed up for the Alpha test early on and got to try it out.  My summary:  It is not for me.

I am not a big phone/tablet gamer to start with.  And a game as complicated as EVE Online, which is tough enough to play with a keyboard and mouse, does not lend itself to a mobile interface.  Or such is my opinion in any case.

I am sure that it will suit some people.  Lots of people apparently, as they are saying they have over five million registrations in advance of the launch.

Big number is big

Of course, it is a free to play mobile MMO based on an mildly famous/infamous IP, so there are no doubt a lot of people who simply want to kick the tires… and no doubt more than a few botters looking to get in early to start an illicit RMT business.

More interesting to me though is the thought of starting with a reset version of New Eden.  People have long be asking for a reboot of the game, a new server where everybody starts fresh.

CCP will never do this.  It would kill the game.

Unlike EverQuest or World of Warcraft, being on a single server is the life blood of the New Eden, and splitting that population could lead to the player world falling below a critical mass of sustainability.  There is a threshold below which the game fails to be able to support the specialization of roles we now enjoy.  Or so the theory goes.

But now there is a fresh version of New Eden being rolled out, one where everybody is going to start equal and new, with no huge skill point advantage, no piles of ISK, no T2 blueprint originals to give a production advantage, and no alliance tournament ships rattling around in hangars.

This is the reboot many have asked for.  Will they use it?

Will the game take off?  Will it draw players away from the original?

I know, it isn’t an exact duplicate of the PC version of the game.  It is quite different in many ways.  But it is still basically the same premise.  We shall see.

I will say that EVE Echoes certainly seems to have gotten to market more quickly than another NetEase mobile partnership, Diablo: Immortal, the status of which still seems vague.

Daybreak buys Cold Iron Studios

A press release went out from Daybreak on Tuesday announcing that they had purchased Cold Iron Studios.

It follows you as you move about the room!

To preserve it, since Daybreak has shown a willingness to re-write history at times, here is the body of the press release:

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – August 11, 2020 – Daybreak Games, global publisher and developer of large-scale multiplayer online games, today announced it acquired Cold Iron Studios, the San Jose based studio of veteran MMO, action and shooter developers currently working on a PC and console game set in the iconic Alien universe.

Cold Iron Studios co-founder Craig Zinkievich will continue to lead the studio and the development of the Alien game, reporting to Ji Ham, CEO of Daybreak Games. The game promises to deliver an action-packed, sci-fi shooter experience unlike any other game on the market.

“We’re incredibly proud and excited to be part of the Daybreak family,” said Zinkievich. “Daybreak and Cold Iron share the same passion and long history for delivering action-packed multiplayer games for audiences worldwide. In combining our decades of experience developing and launching globally successful multiplayer titles, we’re destined to make great games together.”

“We are delighted to have Cold Iron Studios join the Daybreak Games family and accelerate our next generation of growth,” said Ham. “Strategic investments in highly talented and proven teams that have outstanding leaders and a track record of developing awesome online games is an important part of our growth and strategy for Daybreak.”

Cold Iron Studios was established in 2015 by the creators of City of Heroes, Star Trek Online and Neverwinter. Under the new ownership, Cold Iron Studios will operate independently with Daybreak acting as publisher providing marketing, tech and operational support.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

There is nothing particularly startling in the text.  The terms were not disclosed because neither were publicly held companies, so what goes on is viewed as none of your business.  I guess we can confirm that Ji Ham is still the CEO, though I am sure Jason Epstein still owns the whole thing.  Or Columbus Nova.  Or whoever.

Cold Iron will operate independently, with Daybreak acting as the publisher the way they do with Lord of the Rings Online, a tidbit that once again brings up the “do they or don’t they” around who owns Standing Stone Games.

As the background image on their web site strongly suggests, Cold Iron is working on a licensed game based on the Alien franchise.  There isn’t much in the way of details on the site, save for a brief description of the company.

Cold Iron Studios was founded in 2015 by three industry veterans who had a goal of creating games they want to play and building a team they love working with. Since then, the team has expanded to 30+ awesome developers and we’ve moved into a downtown office in the heart of Silicon Valley. We’re a diverse group of passionate gamers with decades of experience developing and launching award-winning MMO and action titles. Currently, the team is working on a new PC and console shooter based on the Alien franchise.

So it is a shooter for PC and consoles based on the Alien franchise.  Oddly, when you click on the careers or apply links, they resolve to another game studio, Scopely, and to the Marvel Strike Force page specifically in one case. Scopely acquired the 20th Century Fox gaming studio Foxnet Games, which published Marvel Strike Force, earlier this year.  Cold Iron had apparently been a part of that deal, having been acquired by Fox previously.  Scopely has now turned around and sold them to Daybreak.  Four owners in five years is very Silicon Valley.

More interesting perhaps is the connection to another company, Cryptic Studios.

Cryptic, which made City of Heroes for NCsoft and Champions Online, Star Trek Online, and Neverwinter, has been part of Perfect World Entertainment since 2011.  It still has an office in Silicon Valley, over in Los Gatos just around the corner from Netflix. (The Cryptic sign was still up when I drove past a couple months back anyway.)

Cold Iron was founded in San Jose in 2015 by a group of former Cryptic employees.  That is close enough to Cryptic as makes no difference.

Meanwhile, over at Daybreak, Cryptic co-founder Jack Emmert now runs the Austin based studio for the company that runs DC Universe Online and operates under the name Dimensional Ink Games since the studio split announcement earlier this year, though he reports into Daybreak in San Diego, so their independence as a studio remains to be proven.

But the connection, a Cryptic founder being in place at a company that purchase a studio built on former Cryptic devs does incline one to try and draw a connection.  Yes, it is a small industry with a lot of cross-pollination, but Daybreak and/or Jason Epstein haven’t exactly been visibly keen to open the wallet and invest in anything.  Layoffs and shut downs and cancelled plans have been more the legacy of the last 5+ years.

But now they’re spending?

And Dimensional Ink Games, of the three Daybreak sub-studios, is the only one who has even hinted that they have a new title in progress.  Is Cold Iron going to be used to back that plan up?

Yes, I know the press release says they will be operating independently.  I also know that when somebody owns you, you’re exactly as independent as they say you are at any given moment.  I worked for an independent start up at one point and spent a few months working on things for another independent start up because the VC who bankrolled both companies liked their idea better than ours for a brief stretch of time.

Anyway, Daybreak spent some money, we know very little, and there is plenty of room for speculation and wild conspiracy theories.  Go crazy.

Other Coverage:

• GamesIndustry.biz
• VentureBeat
• WCCFTech
• MMO Fallout
• Massively  OP
• MMORPG.com

The EVE Online August Update brings Community Ship Fittings

It is August and in the midst of the vacation cycle, so there wasn’t any real expectation that something big would drop for this months EVE Online update.  That we got anything beyond fixes is a bit of a surprise.

CCP chose this image for the update, maybe it means something

The big item in the update, to my mind at least, is the community fittings feature.  Few items are as difficulty to pass on to new players as how to fit your ship.  People will toss out hull options, but modules drop you into a deep well of complexity.  As I have oft said, fantasy MMORPG have the advantage of being based on a model we all understand.  We know a helmet protects your head, a sword hurts your foe, a healing spell tends your wounds, and there is probably some number somewhere that lets you compare what you have now with another item so you can tell what is better.

With EVE Online and its myriad of choices it can be hard to know where to begin.  I mentioned module complexity as one of the big problems for new players previously, using just the example of light missiles.  Which do you choose new player?

Not shown, defender light missiles

And that is just the ammo.  Which launcher do you pick, what modules will make missiles more effective, what defenses does a ship need, what other modules should I consider or avoid, all of that and more goes largely unanswered by the game.  That means new players tend to just equip whatever they happen to come across in the classic “something is better than nothing” view of the world.  But is the cargo scanner that dropped off that belt rat worth the effort?

This gets all the more important if a player wants to go PvP.  Mission running can be fairly forgiving… you can often just warp off it things start going badly and start over again.  But other players, they will tackle you and blow you up and you’ll likely not know what went wrong or how to get better.

So the idea of suggested fits has been kicked around for a long time now, and the culmination is the community ship fittings feature.  What appears there will be based on some consensus being reached in the community fittings forum.  People will, naturally, complain that they fittings are not all they could be.  The fitting meta can be fluid.  But at least it might give new players some insight into what they ought to consider.

Community fittings aside, the rest of the update looks to be of a fix and tune nature.

There are some updates to how the war declaration system works.  The implants known as “Slave” will now be known as “Amulet” due to planned changes to which faction provides them.  And there are a whole bunch of little fixes.  I am kind of disappointed that kill marks will no longer blink on the Caracal hull.  Blinking kill marks sounds like a feature.  It would certainly make them easier to find.

There is one entry that might portend some change up with the Triglavian invasion event:

Triglavian Recon vessels have been sighted outside of Invasion zones

I suppose that means they will be going somewhere new to shoot capsuleers.  I do wonder if this is related to the news item about an increase in wormholes connecting to Drifter hive systems.  Will the Drifters be headed our way again?  Will they come to blows with the Triglavians?  We shall see.

The word has come that the update has been deployed successfully.  For details you should go check out the Patch Notes.  There is also an updates entry for today, but it mostly goes on about the already in progress Skilling Spree event and the coming Fanfest Home.

Trogdor Burninates Kickstarter

It is a victory for an internet sensation from 15 years ago.  Over on Kickstarter there is a campaign for a Trogdor board game.

I don’t need to ask you to go support it because it has already exceeded its goal.

When I look at Kickstarter campaigns I have my eye on a few things.  One of them is name recognition.  How well the person or potential product focus is known often dictates how much a campaign can expect to collect.  One of the rookie mistakes is asking for much more money than your popularity or publicity can possibly bring in.

My latest example on that front is the Codename Reality Kickstarter campaign where a group of unknowns with no listed game dev experience asked for half a million Euros to develop a medieval perma-death sandbox MMO.  They are in the midst of a 46 day campaign… hint, if you can’t make your total in 30 days, 16 additional days won’t get you there… and are closing in on seven thousand Euros.  I don’t know what level of optimism keeps a campaign like that going.

A fifteen year old Strongbad email gag from Homestar Runner though?  They asked for $75,000 and are currently past $1.2 million.  They may have the problem of being too popular.

There is still a day left on the campaign if you want the Trogdor board game.  Are you overcome by nostalgia yet?

And So We Begin to Battle for Azeroth

The time has come.  With the worldwide launch of the Battle for Azeroth expansion is set to go live semi-simultaneously world wide today, which in the US means 3pm Pacific Time.  My characters are set, my addons have all finally been updated, and I am otherwise set to go.

Battle for Azeroth is now

Since this is Blizzard, and not Daybreak, it seems likely that the appointed hour will be met.  When you’ll have access to the expansion is illustrated on a chart Blizz has put out.

When can you play?

That is also shows what time the blog post is scheduled to go live… well, the US times are correct.  Your mileage may vary elsewhere in the world.

As to whether or not you’ll be able to log in to your server at the appropriate time or just be stuck in a long queue is another story.

And speaking of story, we have had our last bit of the preliminary story.  Unfolding over the last three weeks, it has sought to set the tone for the Horde vs. Alliance conflict that is central to Battle for Azeroth, pretty much dumping the burden on Sylvanas Windrunner, current War Chief of the Horde.

Sylvanas is waiting for you…

After playing through the pre-launch events on both Alliance and Horde, I am still unclear on the “why” of her actions.  She keeps speaking of the survival of the Horde, but what that has to do with the world tree one way or another isn’t certain.  Her orders seem more designed inflame conflict than foster survival.

Nice tree..shame is somebody BURNED IT DOWN!

This provoked the Alliance just as we expected it would… mostly because it was featured prominently in the Battle for Azeroth cinematic trailer from BlizzCon last year.  Young King Anduin Wrynn takes the Alliance to the Unercity for a showdown.  The Alliance prevails, entirely because Jaina Proudmoore shows up at their moment of need. Jaina ex Machina.  And so Andiun seeks out Sylvanas.

I am so going to give Sylvanas a talking to!

But when the naive king goes to confront Sylvanas he is outwitted again.  She escapes and, in the final moments of the cinematic, she and her lieutenants are formed up in what I would consider very much the smug, bad guy lineup.

Sylvanas wins again, I think

The parallel cut to Andiun and his group shows a weary determination.

Duped again

And now the stage is set… for something.  There is, or course, dissent in the Horde leadership that makes me think that Sylvanas might be headed down the Garrosh Hellscream path.  Or maybe she just isn’t telling us everything yet.   We will see as this unfolds over the next eighteen months or so… once we can log in.

MER – How Much Does War Cost Delve?

CCP has released the Monthly Economic Report for July 2018 so we can see what impact moving off to war has on the Imperium’s economic engine in Delve.  So I will be comparing this to the June report which was the last peacetime period.

We might as well dive straight into mining output, as that is where Delve and the Imperium dominate every month.

July 2018 – Mining Value by Region

July saw a big hit to mining output in Delve, dropping from 14.7 trillion ISK in value in June to only 8.2 trillion ISK in value in July.  That is only 55% of the June output, a 6.5 trillion ISK reduction.  A lot of Rorquals were clearly docked up as capital and super capital pilots flew north to Cloud Ring.

And while, in the past, I have had to point out that changes in output might be related to the price in minerals from which the measure is derived, this month the economic indicators show that mineral prices were flat, even rising ever so slightly as the month moved on.

July 2018 – Economic Indices

So there is the cost of war.

Regions in northern null sec, where a lot of the war is occurring, suffered downturns as well, save for a few like Branch that stayed stable or even rose a bit.  There is no bar chart this month so we cannot see the relative rankings easily, but even a diminished Delve is still dominant.

Then there is the NPC bounty output to look at.

July 2018 – NPC Bounties by Region

As with mining, NPC bounties in Delve were down.  In June the number was 11.2 trillion ISK, but in July that number sank to 7.5 trillion ISK.  Unlike mining, which has to be sold or used in manufacturing to be turned into ISK, this drop saw 3.7 trillion ISK less flowing into the pockets of Delve pilots, with a corresponding reduction in taxes for corporations.

I wish that the bar graph for this data had been included… and I am too lazy to make one myself… because you could more easily see Branch, where many northern players have gone in order to escape the war and keep krabbing, creeping up in value compared to Delve.  July saw Branch hit almost half of Delve’s number, up from less than one third in June.

The reduction even saw a slight change in the sec status balance of bounty payouts.

July 2018 – NPC Bounties by Sec Status

Null sec dropped 0.8% causing the percentage for High sec space to rise just a bit.

Overall NPC bounties saw a mid-month dip.

July 2018 – Top 8 ISK Sinks and Faucets

War activity, move ops and battles alike, took people away from ratting.  Or, took some people away from ratting for a bit.  Even the bottom of that dip is still pretty high as an overall number.  And, ever so slightly, incursion payouts saw a dip at the same time while insurance payouts went up during the dip.

On the trade front Delve stayed steady.

July 2018 – Trade Value by Region

Instead it was Jita that saw the big boost, supplying the northern war front.  Trade in The Forge was up by nearly 50 trillion ISK in July.

July 2018 – Trade Value by Region – Bar Graph

At leas there we have the bar graph to illustrate the dominance of The Forge, home of Jita.

July 2018 – Trade Value by Region – Bar Graph, Forge Excluded

Without The Forge you can see Delve holding steady in third place behind Domain, home of Amarr, the second trade hub of New Eden.

When it came to contracts Delve again stayed steady while The Forge surged.

July 2018 – Contracts Trade Value by Region – Bar Chart

That surge may be related to the war, at least indirectly, but seems likely to be more about mutated modules from Abyssal space as they are becoming more readily available and can only be traded via contracts.

Then there is production.

July 2018 – Production Values by Region

Here again The Forge surged, but Delve sank some.  This may be due to a shortfall of minerals in the region.  I know we were already importing minerals from Jita to support production, but with the drop in mining there have been requests from leadership going out asking that we make sure and list minerals in the Delve market because they are needed.  This was a key speaking point for The Mittani during the most recent coalition fireside chat.  Minerals and ice products are in high demand.

And then there is the war time chart, destruction by region.

July 2018 – Destroyed Value by Region

Since the report lags by a month we are only now seeing the numbers for the battles at UALX-3 where a Keepstar was destroyed along with hundreds of capital ships in two consecutive bouts.  That boost the Tenerifis number by about 3.3 trillion ISK.

In Delve the numbers were up a bit as those who kept on ratting and mining while the super capital umbrella was elsewhere paid the price.  In The Forge however ganks were apparently down a bit compared to June.

And, as usual, I will close with the regional stats chart that puts a chunk of the data into one chart.

July 2018 – Regional Stats

The July numbers reflect only the start of the pan-null sec war, with the opening struggles in the south.  Already in August we have had two major battles with losses measured in trillions of ISK, so next month’s report should be interesting.

Meanwhile the shortfall in mineral and ice product production may send the prices upward.  Something to keep an eye on come next month’s MER.

You can find the July 2018 Monthly Economic Report and all of the charts it provides, along with the raw data from which they were made, over on CCP’s site under Dev Blogs.