Drifters

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Drifters

The Drifters are a somewhat mysterious faction that appeared in New Eden in early YC117 (2015). So far all attempts at communication with them have failed. They are seen by most as invaders and after attacking the Amarr empire and killing empress Jamyl I. the Amarr empire declared war on them. The behavior, fighting tactics and capabilities of the Drifters have been changing continuously since their appearance, so be weary of any changes to the status described here.

Apollo and Artemis Tyrannos, picture of Drifters released with the expansion highlights
Drifter Battleship concept art.
Unidentified Structure concept art.

Drifters

The Drifters faction is similar to that of other NPC organizations such as the empire and pirate factions. By default, no capsuleer has standings with them. As soon as you kill Drifter ships, you will quickly gain negative standings (12% per battleship kill). Negative standings don't seem to have any effect currently.

Evidence points to various connections of the Drifters to New Eden's factions:

  • Jove observatories have been decloaking in k-space and Jove corpses are floating in the Drifter wormhole systems.
  • Sleeper ships and installations also appear together with the Drifters in wormholes.
  • Fleets of Sisters of Eve ships can be seen as well in those wormholes and the alpha clone technology pioneered by the SoE may be connected to the Drifters as well.
Drifters Drifters

Emerging from the ruins of the Sleeper civilization spread throughout Anoikis – otherwise known as 'W-space' – the Drifters represent a tremendous challenge and perhaps a dire threat to the empires and capsuleers alike. Seemingly the inheritors of a legacy left behind by some of the most ancient Jove, the Drifters are unafraid to wield tremendous power in response to any who get in their way. In this regard, the Drifters are a very different conundrum than the relatively benign presence that was the Jove Empire.

Vigilant Tyrannos

The Drifters faction has one member corp, the Vigilant Tyrannos corporation. Their CEO is Tyrannos Strategos and so far four pilot names have been encountered: Apollo Tyrannos, Artemis Tyrannos, Hikanta Tyrannos and Arithmos Tyrannos. Hikanta is only found in Drifter wormholes, Arithmos only in C5 and C6 wormhole escalations. As the Drifters have been found to harvest capsuleer, Jove and sleeper corpses, one speculation is that all identically named Drifters are clones of each other. The name Tyrannos points to the long lost 2nd Jove Empire, which was erected and by the so called 1st Tyrant Miko Bour and later reigned by so-called Tyrants, powerful but not really tyrannical leaders.

Vigilant Tyrannos Vigilant Tyrannos

CONCORD intelligence reports indicate that Drifter military formations are operating under a single command structure represented by an enclave level organization with the designation 'Vigilant Tyrannos'. Despite monitoring the movements of ships broadcasting the identifier of this organization, no further information as to the motivation or goals of this force has been gleaned.

Ships

Little is known about the Drifters' ships, but so far capsuleers have encountered the following ships:

Drifter Battleship

Drifter Battleship Drifter Battleship

CONCORD's analysis of this battleship has been hampered by its advanced hull and shielding. The propulsion system is unfamiliar but tentative theories have suggested that the vessel somehow directly interacts with the fabric of space-time while moving. The standard weapon systems of this ship appear to be semi-autonomous and effective against a range of targets.
DED contact briefings suggest the free floating turrets are a secondary weapon, with an extremely dangerous primary weapon held in reserve against those this ship's commander considers a significant threat.
Threat level: Critical

Encounters with these ships have revealed several unique mechanics related to them alone. One such mechanic is that of an "overshield" - an additional layer of shielding coloured blue on the targeting display. When this blue shield has been depleted, target locks on the Drifter break, in the manner of ECM. Many have also reported that the Drifters' weapons deal massive amounts of damage, difficult for any sub-capital ship to tank without a specialised fit. Even capital ships are not immune, with many carriers being lost to Drifters, many by players attempting to test their capabilities. Drifters drop blue loot and Antikythera Elements.

Drifter battleships do about 1300dps of omni damage with their Lux Kontos suspended weapon system. Additionally they may use their doomsday-like weapon that does about 750000 damage. They scram with 5 points at 500km, web up to 40km and NOS up to 40km. Their maximum speed is 3500m/s, but their orbit speed is much lower at about 235m/s.

Detailed stats can be found at Drifter Battleship (chruker).

Circadian Sleeper

These appear to be cruiser sized scout drones that scan all installations and ships in New Eden. They are not hostile unless attacked.

They do about 76dps (EM/Thermal) at ranges up to 100km, have about 10kHP with high resists (73%-85% shield resists, weakest is EM). Their max speed is 1240m/s and they try to orbit at 45km with 155m/s.

Detailed stats can be found at Circadian Sleeper (chruker)

Note that the new player tutorial after Ascension (November 2016) also includes Circadian Seekers, but their stats are very different so they can be easily defeated by a Korvette.

Fighting Drifters

There are currently 3 tactics to take down Drifter battleships:

  • Capitals and a few subcapitals (e.g. Abaddon) are able to tank the doomsday at full health. This requires a very blingy tank on the primary and a support fleet with dps and logi.
  • A swarm of cheap high burst dps ships (with webs) will take a Drifter down easily, but loose at least one ship in the process.
  • Since the doomsday weapon has tracking and signature limits it is possible to survive the doomsday in a fast close orbit. Typically logistics ships with Halo implants are used since they are typically primaried by the Drifter. A fleet of 20-30 ships (dps cruisers and logi) can take down a drifter in seconds with careful piloting and timing.

For more details on ships and tactics see Drifter Hive Doctrines : History and Evolution (pdf)

There are groups organizing public fleets to run sites in Drifter wormholes:

  • The ingame channel "Consortium Operations" runs weekly NPSI fleets with a doctrine around T1 cruisers (mainly Caracal/Scythe). These fleets are PvE focused and newbie-friendly. The associated roleplaying channel is "Arataka Research Consortium".
  • The ingame channel "What Drifters?" runs weekly NPSI fleets with a doctrine around T3 destroyers (mainly Confessor). This group also looks for PvP.

Drifter Wormhole Systems

There are 5 known Drifter wormhole systems that are similar to shattered C2 wormholes with certain system effects. Although they are named by the typical J-type designations, they are often informally named after their predominant structure: Vidette, Redoubt, Sentinel, Barbican and Conflux. Note that the first four names suggest an advanced military fortification. All Drifter wormhole systems seem to have 20 connections to known space (k-space) plus a C2-C2 static. K-space connections always appear in system with a Jove Observatory. Their k-space connections are quite different from all other wormholes however:

  • On the K-space side the wormhole is marked by a beacon called "Unidentified Wormhole" and is thus visible on the default overview.
  • On the wormhole side the connections carry the usual K162 designation after being opened, but are deadspaced, so you will always warp in at 80km distance.
  • Drifter battleships regularly visit these connections and will attack anybody trying to approach or travel them. A cloak and/or MWD is highly recommended.
  • The k-space side connections carry unique signatures that are related to the type of wormhole:
Drifter System Name K-space signature J-Type System Effect
Vidette V928 J164710 Magnetar
Redoubt R259 J174618 Wolf-Rayet
Sentinel S877 J055520 Red Giant
Barbican B735 J110145 Cataclysmic Variable
Conflux C414 J200727 Pulsar

Each Drifter wormhole contains five unique combat anomalies. They are visited and defended by regular Drifter patrols. More detailed information is available via Drifter Hive Systems Anomalies (pdf).

Vidette Ship Graveyard Sleeper Engineering Station Spatial Rift Sleeper Enclave in Coral Rock Crystals and Stone Circle
Redoubt Ship Graveyard Caged Wormhole Spatial Rift Generator Sleeper Enclave Hollow Asteroid
Sentinel Monolith Wormhole in Rock Circle Opposing Spatial Rifts Sleeper Enclave Debris Crystal Resource
Barbican Wrecked Ships Unstable Wormhole Spatial Rift Heavily Guarded Spatial Rift Crystals
Conflux Monolith Caged Wormhole Rock Formation and Wormhole Particle Acceleration Array Guarded Asteroid Station

All Drifter wormholes contain a huge Drifter Hive protected by a sequence of deadspace pockets and connected via acceleration gates and warpable Rifts. The layout of these sites is slightly different in each of the 5 different Drifter wormholes, but the main rooms are the same.

  1. Entrance: Contains warp-in beacon. Warp at range is possible. The beacon is 50-80km from the acceleration gate.
  2. Lobby or Split: Contains two acceleration gates plus a warpable rift that leads back to the Entrance. Is protected by 5 Emergent Patrollers (sleepers). The acceleration gates lead to a number of Transfer and Access rooms whose layout depends on the specific system.
  3. Antechamber or Antichamber: Contains the gate to the final room, the Hive. Protected by various sleeper ships up to battleship size and webbing sleeper frigates.
  4. Hive: Contains the main hive structure. Protected by Hikanta Tyrannos (at 250-400km and aggros on warp in, moves at ~2km/s) plus sleepers up to battleship size. Contains Vault (access with index in hold to get 10 elements)

Additionally there are rooms that depend on the specific site:

  • Access Alpha etc: Contains access units - hackable by data analyzer - named according to the gate: Alpha, Beta, etc; up to Gamma depending on specific system. Protected by sleepers.
  • Transfer Alpha etc: Contains no specific installations. Protected by sleepers.

A detailed Drifter Site Overview (pdf) lists the rooms in their original state. Since then the parallel hacking that was required has been dropped.

Drifter wormhole sites are typically run with medium sized fleets (20-30 ships, dps and logi).

Drifter Incursions

For a while there were also Drifter Incursions into high sec systems. Multiple Drifter battleships decimated Amarr navy task forces and some capsuleers engaged the Drifters as well.

Drifters in C5 and C6 wormholes

Arithmos Tyrannos spawns at end of capital escalations in C5 and C6 wormholes in a Drifter battleship. He needs to be pointed (3 points WC strength) to keep him from warping away and his ship contains most of the value of the escalation. EVE forum post

Related links

Below are links to related pages about Drifters. The IKAME research reports are highly detailed but note their date as there may have been changes in Drifter behavior and sites since then.

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