Metaliminal Storms

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Metaliminal Storms are roaming environmental effects that slowly move around in nullsec space, applying bonuses and penalties to all ships in the affected systems.

Mechanics

Each storm is centered on one system. That central system and all systems exactly one jump away from that system in the stargate network form the storm's core. Those systems which are two jumps and three jumps away from the central system form the storm's periphery.

The core systems receive the strongest effects, while the peripheral systems receive a weaker set of the same effects. Additional PvE sites spawn in core systems, to incentivise players to enter the core and to provide a local benefit to balance out the disruption caused by the storm. These additional sites do not spawn in the periphery.

The central system at a storm's core is always a nullsec system. Since some nullsec systems border lowsec or are near highsec, it is possible for the periphery to include lowsec or highsec systems, and possible (but less likely) for the core to include lowsec or highsec systems.

Like real-life storms, metaliminal storms slowly move around. The central system of a storm moves once at some point between 24 hours and 48 hours from its last movement. When it moves, it moves one jump in a semi-random direction. The storms are designed to avoid retracing their steps unless no other route can be found.

It is possible for two storms to overlap. When they overlap, both storm effects are applied.

EVE-Scout maintain a Storm Tracker using player reports, which you can use to work out where storms are happening at present.

Storm Types

Presently, there are four different types of metaliminal storms. Their names and effects are listed below, with brief discussions.

Gamma Ray

Gamma Ray Strong Weak
Icon resist exp.png Explosive Resists -25% -10%
Icon shield.png Shield HP +25% +10%
Icon shield transporter i.png Icon remote armor repair i.png Remote Shield/Armor Rep Amount -90% -50%
Icon cap battery.png Capacitor Capacity +25% +10%
Icon ship sig.png Signature Radius -25% -10%
Logo faction rogue drones.png Spawns Extra Rogue Drone Sites Icon large green check.png

The capacitor capacity bonus and remote logistics penalty might encourage pilots away from remote support towards local active tanks. The signature radius reduction will help any small ships avoid damage by speed and signature "tanking". The explosive resist penalty is bad news for T1 armor tanks, which are already more vulnerable to explosive damage.

Electric

Electric Strong Weak
Icon resist em.png EM Resists -25% -10%
Icon capacitor recharger.png Capacitor Recharge Time -25% -10%
Icon data analyzer i.png Icon relic analyzer.png Virus Coherence +25 +10
Icon core scanner probe.png Scan Probe Strength +50% +20%
Icon cloaking device.png Cloaking Icon large red x.png Icon large red x.png
Spawns Extra Relic Sites Icon large green check.png

The blanket prevention of cloaking is possibly the single most dramatic of all metaliminal storm effects, and has the potential to shift tactics and ship choices. The virus coherence and scan strength bonuses, plus the spawning of additional relic sites, encourage players into exploration, but the cloak block will make explorers much more obvious as they go about their business. The scan strength bonus might make it more convenient to do exploration in atypical, more heavily-armed ships. The penalty to EM resists is bad news for T1 shield tanks, which are already more vulnerable to EM damage.

Plasma

Plasma Strong Weak
Icon resist therm.png Thermal Resists -25% -10%
Icon armor.png Armor HP +25% +10%
Icon turret.png Icon torpedoes.png Icon drones.png Weapon Damage +50% +20%
Icon tracking.png Turret/Drone Tracking -50% -20%
Icon ship sig.png Missile/Fighter Explosion Radius +50% +20%
Logo faction triglavian collective.png Spawns Extra Triglavian Sites Icon large green check.png

The headline in Plasma storms is the combination of penalties to damage application with bonuses to raw damage, which might encourage pilots to fit tools such as webs, tracking enhancements, and target painters to help their boosted damage apply.

Exotic

Exotic Strong Weak
Icon resist kin.png Kinetic Resists -25% -10%
Icon sensor resolution.png Scan Resolution +25% +10%
Icon miner i.png Mining Laser Cycle Time -25% -10%
Icon warp speed.png Warp Speed +100% +40%
Icon armor repairer i.png Icon shield glow.png Local Armor/Shield Repairer Cycle Time -25% -10%
Ore spodumain.png Spawns Extra Ore Anomalies Icon large green check.png

The boost to mining laser cycle times and the spawning of extra ore sites are good news for miners. The faster cycle time on shield boosters and armour repairers is a decidedly mixed blessing, increasing the power of active tanks but also increasing the burden they place on the capacitor. The warp speed bonus is subtler but might affect in-system hunting tactics: in an exotic storm's core, interceptors will move around a system at breath-taking speeds.

History

Metaliminal storms were announced on 4 August 2020 in a news post,[1] and were unleashed on 20 August.[2]

Within EVE's lore, the storms emerged amidst a Triglavian Invasion of empire space, with the Triglavian Collective seizing control of systems from the empires and transmuting stars, eventually severing the systems from their original connections to form Pochven. The storms are variants of the types found in Abyssal Deadspace, with added effects from their deadspace counterparts.

References

  1. ^ CCP Convict (4 August 2020). "Metaliminal Storms - New Update". EVE Online. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  2. ^ CCP Dopamine (20 August 2020). "Metaliminal Storms Update Now Live". EVE Online. Retrieved 21 August 2020.