First Milestone Memories Part 2

I make no secret of the fact I enjoy mining in EVE Online. I find the logistics and time spent actually mining relaxing. People scoff or laugh at me for this but we all find joy in different aspects, just so happens Mining/Production is mine.

Mining Fleet Assemble

It took me about 8 months to get an Orca and I used that became a huge support to my mining in high sec. It was very profitable, I could easily make a billion ISK every couple of days but in late 2011 I was starting to find my feet in null sec and I did not fancy moving an Orca into Null sec via gates. I'd moved to Providence and the ores and ice available there was far richer than what I was used to.

Getting an Orca into Providence was possible but I really didn't want to do it but I saw the opportunity to really upgrade my mining fleet and I set my sights on the Rorqual.

Thar She Blows! Except she doesn't, if you're a miner this is the "ship to have"

Designed to support and sustain large-scale mining operations in null sec (like other non-Freighter capital ships it cannot go into high sec) the Rorqual and it's special Industrial Core module allow ores and ice to be compressed to save space and allow these to be transported easier and in high quantities.

The Rorqual is unique among Capital Ships in that when the Industrial Core is active it causes the ship to transform into a static facility. 

If you're using the Rorqual, you will activate the Industrial Core and you certainly don't want to be doing this in open space. So the normal habitat that a Rorqual's would be found is safely within a POS.

I always was safe in a POS, never did I leave with red's in system or visit a belt to collect ore but I did once have a scare after activating the Industrial Module. I would usually activate the Industrial Core after I had stopped but one day I didn't and I didn't notice myself, slowly, inching out of the POS over the course of my fleet. When I finally DID check on my Rorqual it was 70km off the POS in transformed mode and totally defenseless. Suffice to say that day on I made sure I was not moving when I activated the core.

I did have issue within some people who would warp their Rorqual to collect Ore or Ice products from cans in space but only because they were painting a big target on the rest of us, they only had to be caught once and it would result in a lot of camping of our pocket. They never were in Providence but I did take pleasure in seeing the killmail of the Rorqual several months later after they left.

Preparation and Training

Originally I was to get my Main character as the Rorqual pilot but this very quickly had to be revised when I did not join my other alts in the same corporation. 

Assembly of the Rorqual would take nearly 3 weeks (20 days 19 hours to be precise) so I didn't have time to rush and waste training points, I was able to plan what I needed (thanks to EVE Mon) and then stick to the plan. So I trained two characters almost side-by-side to use the Rorqual. One, with the best Jump skills would move it to it's new Providence home and the other would actually be using it.

Both characters were able to fly the ship within hours of each other on the 9th September 2011 and then the training diverged. I can't remember exactly what my main started training but the Rorqual pilot started with getting all support skills (Spaceship Command, Industrial Core and Support base skills) to Level 4 minimum, he would get Level 5 eventually but my plan was Level 4 everything then start Level 5.

It took a long time to get the skills to Level 4 which required at least 6 days training just for Level 4 (with optimum mapping). Level 5 skills were 30+ days and I literary forgot about them so I didn't stew in EVEMon watching what they were doing.. Still at least I didn't have to do the Warfare skills, I already had them at 5 after months of previous training.

Production

I was ready to use (that have the basic skills needed) the Rorqual from September 2011 but it wasn't until mid-October 2011 that we started assembly. I had no characters that could make the ship at the time (I have 3 now that can build Rorqual's) but I had a friend who could and he assembled it for me.

I spent a lot of enjoyable time mining (with my Orca) the minerals to create the components needed, then I had to move those to high sec and then to the low sec system of Iesa where we made the ship.

Each one is 10,000m3 and I needed three escorted Freighter trips to move it all

On the 13th November 2011 it was finally assembled and delivered.

I remember getting my main into the station and seeing the ship for the first time. I was smitten, she was beautiful and I undocked her immediately so I could see her in space.

New Home

Once assembled I packed the fit inside the ship, added fuel for jumping and setup a cyno in my new home.

This was well before jump engines were nerfed so I was able to make the journey in one jump, it would be two now but I'd have to travel through the Hive of Scum and Villainy known as Mai. And we don't travel through there unless we, no we don't travel through there at all. Period.

So I jumped, arrived docked and gave the ship to my new pilot. I fit the ship and undocked and started work. Where I was in Providence gave me several good mining systems within a short distance and this included Ice and Ore.

Times were very good for me at first as I was usually alone during my game-time and I only had to watch out for reds (enemies) and I'd safe up if any did come past. But over time more people were online when i was and we had regular camps from visiting reds that made mining quite frustrating, of course we never let them know that, but when times were lean in Providence I was able to continue with my Orca in high sec.

New Opportunities

I can remember Arkonor and Bisot sites that you had to scan down provided so much ore for my infant Manufacturing empire.

The Ore Arrays in the systems I had access to gave us a couple of different types of ore belts and I will never forget that 200,000m3 Spodumain asteroid that was always left until everything else was mined out. It was truly massive (at least a titan or two in size) and something that always was present, most people ignored it and if it was the only rock left it was left alone.

Eventually I learnt to mine Mercoxit, so much Mercoxit in fact that to this day I still have Morphite I mined in Providence that I use in my production runs when needed.

It was common at the time to share your boosts with, trusted, others in the same corporation/alliance in Providence and I was no different. Others charged a small fee (to cover fuel costs for the Industrial Core) but I never did as I'd always mine enough in 30 minutes to cover fuel for several days but everyone was welcome to join.

Never would they be able to access my POS but they would have access to my boosts and anti-NPC security (a cruiser I used to deal with rats that was kept near any active fleet). I can remember running fleets with only my characters active or at times ten or fifteen members. It was always different and there was always someone to speak to and pass the time, plus the extra eyes on Local were always welcome.

Expanding my Empire

The Rorqual allowed me to harvest what Providence had and through this and fund my burgeoning Empire. The Reaction Towers I had later in my time in Providence would never have been possible had I not had the ISK available to risk thanks to my Rorqual.

I'd mine ores and ice and then either refine and use what they gave me or I shipped them out for sale in the trade hubs. Dark Glitter for a period in 2012 was a massive profit for me, I could mine 10,000 blocks a week quite easily with the Rorqual and then I'd compress them and use a Jump Freighter to move them to high sec and then off to the trade hubs.

A lot of my initial income came from doing this and without the Orca it would have not been as profitable as it was. Without the Rorqual I think it would be fair to say I would not be where I am, a Net Worth of over six hundred billion in assets and ISK.

When Ice fields were changed in 2013 (Odyssey release) I had been been stockpiling Ice blocks like a madman. Most friends and fellow miners had a few hundred to a couple of thousand at the time Ice fields were changed I had a tad over 40,000 blocks in one system in Providence. After Odyssey was released I moved these to Jita and sold them for an extremely good profit (a couple of billion if memory serves), after all each ice field had a finite amount of Dark Glitter now but someone still needed a lot of it.

After Providence

I still love my Rorqual and she moved to Curse with me when I left Providence. She doesn't often have a run these days, passive income from Towers and Manufacturing has been more than enough for my activities but I have done mining just because I enjoy it. I really do.

I've been hopeful for changes to the Rorqual for a couple of years now, we've had some information but nothing confirmed but shes still my second favourite ship I own and I'm still proud I created her from scratch myself (with a little help to assemble).

First Milestone Memories Part 1

When I first started EVE Online I had very little experience with the different types of ship and what their pros and cons were. I used to look in the Market Browser at the different ships and decide what I wanted to fly.

First Cruiser 

I can remember my first cruiser was an Arbitrator and I loved the idea of being a support ship with drones. 

Arrrr... it's the Arbitrator

I didn't use it that often, I was not one for the Pirate Life as my friends were but I did secure two kills in the ship and it still lives in my hanger to this day used rarely for ratting.

First Battleship

The Abaddon was the first battleship I truly loved for it's looks as well as it's abilities. Armageddon's and Apocalypses were fun but the Abaddon was the whole show.

Brooding... the Abaddon sits waiting for prey

Bex used to run around in the Abaddon. It is a beautiful ship to look at but it was also an excellent mission runner for me when I moved into my first wormhole (before I was educated) and I learn the difference between Beam and Pulse Lasers thanks to this ship. 

I lost my first Abaddon whilst trying to close a wormhole, Bex managed to pass through a critical wormhole in his Abaddon and I got stuck in the Great Wildlands. My (for the time) "blinged out" Abaddon did not make it back to high sec, I was killed two jumps from safety by a gate camp a minute before DT. Still, I petitioned the loss and was refunded what I lost.

First Transport Ship

A toss up between the Providence and the Orca.

Not at all Cockroach like

I bought the Providence (which I nicknamed "the Roach" as I think it bares a little resemblance to a cockroach) from my then Alliance Leader for 750m ISK and I still have her to this day. She has moved tens of millions of cubic meters of cargo, she's survived ganks and recovered loot I can no longer remember.

Then it was the Orca.

All your Ore (or Ice) are belong to me

At the time I was mining (a lot) in high sec and the boosts and cargo capacity was something I wanted, I can remember buying the Orca in Amarr two weeks before I could fly it. Two weeks of staring at the ship in the Ship list and getting excited as I watched my skill queue slowly tick down. I've since expanded my fleet to have four Orca's (two of which I built) but I still have Willy ... but he has not had an outing for quite some time.

First Carrier

When I used to look at the Ships on the Market it was the Archon that I used to stare at the longest. She wasn't special, she was a line carrier ship, but I loved the look and the idea of her and what she could do.

Drones, Drones, Drones, Fighters, Drones, Drones, Drones

I'd been playing for nearly 2 years when I got my first Archon I used to ship spin her for no other reason that I could. The character was not well trained (Fighters III if memory serves and Spaceship Command and Support Skills all at II or III) but she was mine and I got to take her out for a POS defense in a little know system called Mai.

I can still remember that day, the POS we were defending died as I totally focused on killing the enemy rather than repair the damage but still. I got on three kill mails and my love for the Archon sky rocketed.

I still have Metropolis, when I lived in Providence she was a regular defending me in the ice belt from rats and it was a short jump to Mai or Curse from there. I could never sell her nor fit a Triage module recently when all Triage fitted carriers were converted to Force Auxiliary's.

First Jump Freighter

I purchased my first Jump Freighter, an Ark, off contract in exchange for 13 PLEX. At the time I was trading in PLEX and had a nice surplus but could not find a cheap enough Ark in Jita or Amarr. So I found a contract and offered the seller 13 PLEX which they accepted.

Arc De Triomphe and her Sister Ships

Still have her to this day, and her sisters (as seen above) and she's the most oft used vessel access my characters. 

Know Your Scams: Trade In Station

Setup

The scammer advertises in Local:

Checking the on the market you'll see the price the item is, usually, a couple of hundred million ISK more than what is being offered. In this case the Kronos is 1.27b ISK and the scammer is offering it for a flat 1 billion ISK

What Happens Now

The scammer states a trade in system because this is one way they can con a person by providing as little detail as possible, they can drag/drop a Kronos into the window and wait for the mark to enter the money then quickly swap it out for a Megathron (same hull, vastly cheaper ship at 177m).

By avoiding the use of the contract system the scammer can control the flow and easily show, with one hand, what is on offer then quickly substitute it with something else before accepting. Once complete there is no public trasnaction that shows the con, only the mark having less ISK and the scammer a larger wallet.

Confirming the Scam

There was a small, miniscule, possibility that this was a legitimate offer so I eve mailed the scammer and asked if they'd accept via contract and they said yes:

Except no contract was ever created and all of a sudden they "made a sale" and decreased the number available in their advertisement.

How Can You Protect Yourself

Rule #1 in Jita is: anything in Local is a scam to take your ISK.

If anyone offers you something but says they want to trade in station then this should instantly have alarms ringing in your head. Never, ever, do a trade within a station. Always insist on a contract where the details can be clearly set out showing what you will get in return for your money.

Block the scammer and move on.

SKINS

Coming soon are a whole raft of ship skins, these have story about them but I'm not really enthused about them.

The video gives lore behind the ship skin release.

People have requested for many years (probably from the time EVE was released) that CCP allow custom ship skins, seems they finally relented and have allowed a somewhat limited fashion. You can't create your own to paint your ship with but a lot of new skins are being released, representing a different in-game organisations/companies.

Whoop-de-fucking-do.

I just can't get interested in this at all, sure the game looks great and these will allow ships to change appearance and people can select what they like but its clearly micro transactions and must likely CCP hope will bring in more income.

It probably will be I really don't care, my ships look great in the stock configuration and unless I can use a SKIN that will modify my visibility or allow me to shake off lock attempts I don't care.

Give me new functionality or changes to existing things over cosmetic changes like this. 

Confessor Your Sins

Sorry about the title, it was funny in my head.

SiSi has been updated and the first look of the new Amarrian T3 Destroyer is available for all to see. Previously we had just a view/the model of the actual ship now we have some statistics and details of the bonuses the ship will have.

Traits, Attributes and Fitting

Thanks to Althanear for the screenshots.

With the introduction the new Modes the Traits page is one of the longest of any ship in game. Nicely laid out and easy to see what the ship has and each mode brings to the table.

tbh, defensive mode will be the go-to

                       - Apex Bex

Of course the stats are subject to change but with only a week til release I think its fair to say that the slot layout is fixed.

Seven high lots which can fit six guns and still has a utility high slot free for a neut or nos. Three mids is going to limit tackle options and five low slots seems rather anemic for both tank and damage modifiers. I think we'll see these ships in either a sniper (range ~80km to 100km) or a "heavy" tank variant with a prop mod and a scram/point with tank provided by speed so a DC II perhaps a Adaptive Nano Membrane and speed/agility mods in the remain low slots.

Fast Tackle

if this is for going through frig holes, people are going to want them to be heavy tackle and dps

                                                                                                                                     - Apex Bex

The Defensive mode looks to be the best option of the modes available, Speed is appealing but speed can only get you so far before you get into a tight orbit and if you're taking damage then speed really isn't going to help.

With a decent buffer and resists you're looking at 19,000 EHP (ingame) with DPS in the region of 350 (skill dependant).

The larger destroyer hull means you'll take more damage than a smaller interceptor or frigate, and the interceptor is designed to tackle where as this isn't. Its got three modes which means three purposes instead of one that most other ships have.

I've spoken to a few friends who think that the Confessor is going to be a white elephant and based on the statistics it has it looks like they may be right. It has nothing that makes it any better than a current ship that is dedicated to that role. 

So Whats The Point

Aside from its new and looks great I can't see a role or purpose for this ship.

Interceptors tackle better, T1 frigates and destroyers will be able to shoot just as well and (ignoring the sniper mode) range isn't an issue. Speaking of which I found it ridiculous that the ship can lock and snipe out to 100km but the guns could only go as far as 60km in the testing I did. 

Pitiful.

You can fit to get 500dps from the Confessor and include a local repair module but turns from a brawler into a glass cannon with anaemic defence attributes but I would not do this, it would be throwing ISK away everytime.

Sure other ships don't have the ability to switch modes on-the-fly but they don't need to. They (especially after rebalancing) have a singular role or purpose and (now) do it well.

I can see Confessors (and the other new ships) carrying Mobile Deports to refit but this isn't ideal. For one thing if you're in the middle of hostile space you've got to find somewhere to refit and then you may do so whilst being probed down. Not ideal circumstances for refitting.

What If You Changed This

mark my words, in its current form, it's a white elephant

                                                                 - Anon (I don't want to embarrass them)

I like the ideal of these smaller ships. I'm a capital pilot, I love my battleships and larger vessels but I do enjoy wathcing and (rarely) partaking in fleets of smaller and more nimble ships. A fleet of Confessors, supported with T1 logistics and a few interceptors/fast tackle would leave wrecks whereever it went.

But what if we made a small change to the confessor, in the defensive mode add the ability to increase the range and output of remote repair modules? Imagine a fleet of Confessors roaming that could spider tank and put out between 300 and 400 dps and could repair themselves. That would be a fun fleet and would certainly get fights where ever it went.

Edit: The idea for the logi bonus for spider tanking was first proposed by Apex Bex, happy now?

Enough, You've Rambled Long 

The Idea - 8/10

The Implementation - 4/10

I know it hasn't been released yet but playing with it on SiSi and getting feedback from people who have used it I want to love the Confessor but as it stands I cannot. 

Thar She Blows

Announced during EVE Vegas was that there would be a new ship coming in Rhea and I covered "The Tug" (as it was then known) briefly in my Pre-Phoebe post. 

We've finally been given more details and Rhea is set to see the release of the Bowhead, a frieghter sized vessel that contains a very large Ship Maintenance Array designed to carry assembled ships through New Eden. 

Learning To Fly

Being a new ship class means the chance to introduce a new skill for pilots to learn and this means we're going to see the introduction of the Ore Freighter skill. No details have been provided (outside of what bonuses the Bowhead gets from this skill) but I'd expect it to be the same training modifier level as the existing Racial Freighter skills and cost the same (~100m ISK).

Statistics

BOWHEAD

Ore Freighter Bonus:

5% bonus to inertia modifier per level

5% bonus to ship maintenance array capacity per level

Role Bonus: 

90% reduction in jump fatigue generation

Slot layout: 0H, 3M, 3L, 3R; 0 turrets, 0 launchers

Fittings: 1350 PWG, 215 CPU

Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 21000 / 11000 / 39500

Capacitor (amount / recharge) : 3900 / 235000 

Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / warp speed / align time): 65 / .0675 / 640000000 / 1.37 / 59.89s

Drones (bandwidth / bay): 0 / 0

Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 51.5km / 45 / 3

Capacity (cargo / ship maintenance array): 4000 / 1300000 (goes up to 1.6 something with ore freighter 5)

Sensor strength: 12 

Signature radius: 3200

Reasonable PG/CPU along with 3 each of mid, low and rig slots mean plenty of fitting options available. The Defense statistics suggest that Shield tanking might be viable, more likely a propulsion mod and maybe a shield extender or two, but I'm certain that Hull Tanking (as with Freighters) will be the fitting of choice.

The Forums Speak

The initial details resulted in a lot of feedback on the Forums, as usual some was constructive most was not but that that was constructive has already seen to have caused a change to the Bowhead. The per Level velocity bonus has changed to an inertia modifier and extra Defense added, mainly to the Shields and Structure.

The change to modifying inertia instead of velocity makes a lot of sense and I agree with it. When you're flying a Freighter/Jump Freighter it is the inertia that matters not how fast you can go. Sure if you're AP'ing 20 jumps having an extra 30m/s will make you do that 15km to the gate faster but you'll be losing out because you're going to be entering warp slower due to your inertia.

Gank Target

Ganks happen and happen a lot. Its not uncommon for me to browse through the kills in a major 0.5 high sec system and see dozens of catalysts or tornados lost to kill a single Freighter/Jump Freighter and most of the time these aren't well tanked and are fit for maximum cargo or maximum agility.

A lot of pilots do fit for tank and split their cargo up and take the time penalty for a couple of extra runs rather than risk losing the lot to a gank. Regardless a large cargo carrying ship is going to have a massive target recticle painted on it and the Bowhead will be no different.

Its been said that if a Bowhead is destroyed then anything that survivcs the loot fairy will be lootable by a player from the wreck. This will mean we are going to see Bowheads targeted by gankers not just because its a fat target but because the expectation is it will contain valuable cargo in the form of fitted ships.

Incursion runners are expected to be a major user of the Bowhead to carry their bling fit incursion ships and even just killing on Bowhead and having one blinged out ship dropped will be enough to fund dozens of more ganks.

Defence

With a hull tank fit the Bowhead is expected to have around 420k to 450k EHP and this should be more than enough for the average pilot. Depending on skills we may see this top out just around the 500k mark but if you're fitting anything but tank modules to this then you're asking for trouble in my opinion.

There is no need for cargo modifications, this is a ship carrying vessel not a cargo mover, and any cargo space should be for small modules and other things that cannot be put into a ship in an SMA and should not need increasing.

I'm certainly going to spend the ISK to hull tank any ship I get as well as looking at getting T2 variations of any rigs. The expense will be worth it if I can put off just one gank attempt.

Know Your Scams: Contracts for Fitted Ships

Setup

The scammer sets up a contract that appears to contain the modules and support items (e.g. Mining Crystals, Drones etc..) for an Orca in a mining support role. The contract is priced very competitively when you take into account the price of the ship, modules and any extra items.

Example contract setup

The scammer will then actively advertise the deal in Local with the contract linked with some favourable information on the contract.

Local advertisement by known scamming character 

What Happens Now

The mark clicks the link in Local, sees what appears to be a really good deal and clicks Accept.

Look closely at a scam contract and you'll see one thing is missing, the modules are present are as all additional support items but the critical item, the Orca, is no listed. 

The scammer is relying on the mark not checking the details in the contract under You Will Get, by putting often used modules and items they are hoping that they won't notice the lack of Orca.

Variations

There is another variation of this where instead of the missing Orca you will see one of the following:

• A large General Freight Container renamed to Orca
• An Orca blueprint copy

Regardless the scam is still the same, there is no Orca ship so you're overpaying for what is there under the belief that the contract is for an Orca with mining support accessories.

How Can You Protect Yourself

Spend a little time reading the details of the contract closely will help you. Verify that the green text shows you receiving what you're expecting. This type of contract implies a ship with rigs and fit, so verify not just that you can see the fit and rigs but also the ship is there.

If you see a contract make sure you block both the issuer AND the person who advertises the contract (they could be different).

Know Your Scams: Selling A Ship

Setup

The most often seen example of this scam is the substitution of the Charon freighter with a piece of Carbon. 

The advertisement in local will appear such as:

 "WTS Charon for 1.2b , i need isk now !"

Clicking on the link will show the contract which will contain a Pay section of 1.2 billion ISK but in the Get section will be a piece of carbon:

Yes, I'd like a cheap deal on a Charon

Along comes Mr (or Mrs/Miss) Mark... "oh a Charon for under market price, I've been wanting one of those for a while..."

What Happens Now

As you can see in the screenshot the Info by Issuer clearly states he wants to sell a Charon for 1.2b but looking at the details section there is no Charon only a piece of Carbon.

The price of a Charon at the moment is ~1.325b ISK so the contract advertisement looks like a good deal. The mark will be expecting to get a freighter and they'll see something beginning with C in the Get section so may just go ahead and clicks the Accept button.

Except they'll receive a piece of Carbon, worth 300 ISK instead and see 1.2b ISK in their wallet.

Variations

There is a variation of this, not often seen now due to the freighters being much higher in price, that swaps the Charon for a Onyx Heavy Interdictor and the Carbon for a piece of Onyx Ochre.

How Can You Protect Yourself

Rule #1 in Jita is: anything in Local is a scam to take your ISK.

Rule #2 in Jita is: See Rule #1.

A visual check, and a hold on pressing that Accept button, would easily confirm this as a scam. There is no complex UI to navigate or confuse you. The contract clearly states 1.2b will be paid for a piece of Carbon. Apart from the advertisement in local AND the Info by Issuer at the top of the contract nowhere is Charon mentioned.

Pass on the contract and add the person to your blocked list.

CCP Fozzie is Quackers - An Update

I had not intended to do an update but I was thinking more about the hint image and I realised that maybe I was reading too much into the image and had gotten it wrong.

 

Instead of being a "parent" and "child" relationship could it be an indication of lots of small objects shooting a larger object?

 

Over the my years playing one consistent thing said is that Super Capitals and Titans are too powerful and to effectively kill one you need more of the same. As such this situation has lead to an "arms race" of alliances and corporations who can field these ships and fielding as many as they have pilots for.

 

Could the new ship or ships we'll be seeing dedicated super/titan killers? Something with a medium to light tank but very heavy firepower vs capital class ships. T3 battle cruisers can do a lot of this now but they are (usually) paper thin and can be overwhelmed by even a small sub-capital fleet.

 

It's another 'out there' possibility but we won't know until next year.



CCP Fozzie is Quackers

At EVE Down Under 2013 CCP Fozzie announced the name and showed the new SOE battleship (the Nestor) but he also provided a visual hint of an new ship that will be introduced in the 2014 Summer Expansion.

 

Here is the visual hint that CCP Fozzie gave during his presentation:

 

Image from www.themittani.com

Firstly, Ducks are cool so credit to CCP Fozzie for the image but it is supposed to be a clue as to what is coming in Summer 2014.

 

So lets list the possibilities based on what we see from the above image as pertains to EVE Online:

 

New Ship Transporter

 

The image could represent a new ship type that allows the moving of large numbers of assembled ships. The Ship Maintenance Hanger provides this functionality but is really limited (in terms of useful space) to ships that exist outside of high sec or cannot use jump gates.

 

Could we be seeing the introduction of a new freighter type ship that will have a large Ship Maintenance Hanger that can travel through gates. This is something that has been asked for by players before and whilst a freighter can move ships the ability for it to move assembled ships is limited (the smaller the ship the more you can carry).

 

A very specialised ship for a specific and limited purpose, I think this unlikely is what the picture alludes to.

 

New Carrier

 

The use of the ducklings and a single duck could indicate drones and existing capital ships are classed as T1 so could we be seeing a new carrier, T2 class, for each race?  It certainly would be nice, again this is something players have asked for, I think it unlikely as just more drones are just what CCP wants on their nodes and we are still in the midst of the sub-capital rebalancing.

 

Adding a new capital ship seems an outside chance, it would be nice but I believe it to be most unlikely.

 

New Transport Mechanic for Player Ships

 

Ship Maintenance Hangers require that players exit their ships but could the image be showing a new way of moving within EVE Online? This new method could allow ships with SMH to jump and move with player piloted ships and instead of using Jump Bridging players exit the 'mother ship' when they reach their destination.

 

Really, I must have been smoking something (and I don't smoke) to come up with this. This is so far left field that I'm no longer in the same country, extremely unlikely.

 

Change to Drone Mechanics

 

For a long time, should you have the right skills trained and the limitations of drone bandwidth, you could deploy a maximum of 5 active drones. Could the image be alluding to an increase in the current 5 active drones per ship limit?

 

This is another long shot, drones at the moment are server resource intensive and as we saw recently that enough ships and drones can crash a server node. I really don't think this limit will change upwards because it could both negate the Guardian-Vexor's worth and utility but also add additional strain to server nodes.

 

Where would I put my money

 

At this time, selected from my limited list of possibilities I believe that a new carrier is the obvious front runner. However, as with all supposition, this may and probably will change over time as CCP release more information and/or teasers.

 

Still a new carrier is where I'd have my money at this time.