On 26 September, EVE: Valkyrie is expanding to become EVE: Valkyrie – Warzone. We’ve been working hard over the past year to radically improve the game you all love, and the result is this major expansion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEU3nqgo1I0

The big news is that once Warzone hits, you won’t need to have a VR headset to play EVE: Valkyrie. We all know just how immersive virtual reality is, but because not everyone has a headset, so many potential friends and foes are missing out on all the frantic space dogfighting fun.

We’ve designed EVE: Valkyrie - Warzone to be perfectly playable on a TV or monitor as well as in VR on both PC and PS4, so pilots will be able to fly, fight and die together both in and out of virtual reality.
Better still, everything in the Warzone expansion will be a free download for existing pilots. Plus, to make Warzone even more appealing to rookie pilots, it’s also getting a significant price drop. It’ll launch at just $29.99 (SRP) - that’s definitely something you’ll want to tell your non-VR friends about.


• NEW modular progression system, giving you more control over how you evolve your ships

• NEW maps: ‘Fleet’, a Sisters of EVE space station, and ‘Outpost’, a mysterious Drifter base

• NEW game mode: ‘Extraction’, which mixes combat and navigational challenges, forcing pilots to use the environment to their advantage

• NEW reward system: Earn Reward Capsules to unlock a hangar full of personalization options

For full details on all the incredible things arriving September 26, check out our devblog (coming soon).

Don’t worry; we have a plan for rewarding and recognizing our current pilots. You can get the full details of how Warzone will affect you here19.


There’s a lot more to reveal before 26 September; and we’ve got a ton of awesome stuff lined up for you stay tuned for more details, and prepare to #ENTERTHEWARZONE!

As we head into this weekend it’s a particularly hearty “A-Harrr” we extend to our merry band of pirates.

Normally we would spend our time off with a mix of gaming, socializing with family and generally going about the business of chilling the heck out.

Not this week. Quality time with the family will have to be rain-checked on this occasion, because EVE: Valkyrie’s latest weekly Wormhole Event is a doozy, and for regular Wormhole participants it will be pleasantly familiar, for reasons we will explain shortly.


If you’ve only just joined us as a fledgling flyer in the ranks of the Valkyrie, allow us to explain what wormholes are, and why they have proven to be one of the most popular of EVE: Valkyrie’s features.

A wormhole is a strange and highly unstable galactic phenomenon that, for a limited time, offers us a glimpse of an alternate universe. While the wormhole is active, pilots are able to travel through a conduit and explore versions of Valkyrie’s maps that have been corrupted and distorted in bizarre and unexpected ways.




For example, the hub of bustling activity known as the shipyard will, in the alternate universe, be plunged into near total darkness leaving players with the tricky task of hunting their enemies using the glowing emissions from their engines alone.

The differences experienced through a wormhole are more than cosmetic, though. The laws of physics are altered and, as a result, the performance of ships and weapons can be severely affected. You may find yourself only able to pilot a limited roster of ships, shields may become inoperable, missile effectiveness can be greatly enhanced and your craft may experience a super boost of speed.

Each week the conditions present a complete surprise to our pilots. At least, that has been the case until this week.


Several weeks ago, we posted a poll on our forums asking you, our pilots, which of the previous wormholes you liked the best and that you would like to see return. There was a choice of three:

• Wraiths only, with no shields on the Crossroads map
  
• Super boost rainbow trails on Nightyard
  
• Friendly fire, Heavies only on Cathedral

The result was overwhelmingly in favour of the Wraith-only option, so this weekend it’s back!

The map you will experience for the next 72 hours is the distorted version of Crossroads that has come to be known as Goldenroad. Its warped structures are bathed in a golden shimmering light and it’s quite something to behold.

If you want a quick taster of the Goldenroad map before going in, no problem. Ace pilot and prolific game streamer SalsaKetchup has been chronicling the weekly Wormholes from week one, via the medium of video, and you can see his exploration of the glittering Goldenroad area below. Thanks for that Salsa.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n21KUAKPLQ


We hope you enjoy the return of this hugely popular wormhole. Head through the conduit and when you’re getting blatted repeatedly thanks to the lack of shields, remember… you voted for this!

Hello Pilots,

Today, Wednesday, July 12, we have made a patch available to EVE: Valkyrie players [2017_R3] that introduce a raft of balance changes designed to make your combat experience better than ever. We’ve done this using internal data, personal experience and, crucially, community feedback.

Included are changes to the leading reticule and crosshairs to improve accuracy and visual overheat feedback, respectively. Also, we’ve tweaked the stats of several ships in each of the three ship classes to improve overall balance.

In addition to all the gameplay changes in today’s update, we’ve worked with NVIDIA to take PC virtual reality game visuals to a new level with EVE: Valkyrie’s “Ultra” graphics setting.

Head over to CCP Roo's full patch notes here for all the juicy details.

We hope you enjoy the changes we’ve made. Your feedback has been invaluable in helping us to deliver the experience you all want.

On that note, please let us know, not only what you think of the latest patch, but also what sort of tweaks and improvements you would like to see in the future. We’re listening, so head over to the forums and get your voices heard.

Fly safe!

CCP Redcape

Hello pilots. How are ya doing?

We’ve been watching you. Not in a creepy, stalker-y way, but watching what you’ve been up to in the galaxy, looking on, in awe, at your spectacular achievements.

And we feel the need to share.

Each month, from here on in, we’re going to showcase the finest Valkyrie action taking place in New Eden.

On this occasion, we’re plucking the best of the best video clips based on our internet trawling efforts. Next month, we want to see your submissions. Take down your enemies, post the results and let us know about it over on the forums. The EVE: Valkyrie community is a friendly place, but when it comes to the monthly top takedowns, all bets are off. It’s time to get brutal.

It’s kicking off, five times over. Enjoy!




Clearly YouTuber Evocations Adhera has been practicing his use of missiles, judging by the efficiency of this attack.




Regular community contributor Goatan shows us how to take down a carrier in style.




Our French friends at Soluce PsVr put on a good show, but here they're on the wrong side of a brutal takedown.




There's no soound on this clip but majesky84's carrier takedown happened just seconds before the ship's shields came back up. Good work.




Bellator VR gives us a solid lesson on how to turn on a dime and take out the bad guys. Slick!

Awesome action there from our pilots. Join us again next month for some more top takedowns. Don't forget to share your best bits.

Fly safe!

Welcome pilots! This is the first in a brand new monthly round up of the best stuff that’s happening in New Eden and the EVE: Valkyrie community. Read on to discover what’s going down and how to get involved.




We admit, the majority of a Valkyrie pilot’s time is spent living the life of a pirate, seeking fame, glory and riches in the far reaches of New Eden. That said, our community of flyers are far from being simply a band of hard-hearted buccaneers and often like to give a little something back.

In the time since EVE: Valkyrie first launched there have been drives to make money for deserving causes. With that in mind, we thought we’d give you a heads-up on a charity event that CCP’s Emily Knox (aka CCP Starbug, she's on the left in the pic above) and John Nejady (aka CCP Bosun) are in training for.

The charity is Special Effect, an amazing organization that brings together creative talent and technology experts to enable young people with disabilities to play videogames that would otherwise be beyond their reach. You can find out about the incredible work they do on their official website.

The event is the Great North Run. It’s a half marathon challenge that takes place every year in Newcastle upon Tyne, starting at the Tyne Bridge and finishing up towards the South Shields coast. It’s been running (no pun intended) since 1981 and it’s the biggest half marathon event in the world.

The run is happening in September but you can make a real difference right now by scooting over to John and Emily’s Just Giving pages and throwing some dollar in their direction. It doesn’t have to be much, but anything you do contribute will go towards bringing the joy of gaming that we are all passionate about to those who are missing out.

Emily’s page is here. John’s is here.

We’ll bring you more news on the event, and Special Effect, in the coming weeks and months.




We have a truck-load of awesome articles lined up for July here at the official EVE: Valkyrie website.

First up, the month of July is when we give players a couple of helping hands to achieve 100% completion on Valkyrie’s single player Scout Mode. In the first instance, we’ll be revealing the location of every single piece of salvage on all seven of the game’s maps. It’s booty-licious (see what we did there?).

Then we’ll swiftly follow up with a guide to how to find all the echoes in Scout Mode. If you’re not familiar with echoes, they are fragments of recorded audio detailing the events leading up the situation in which you find yourself in present day New Eden. There are several echoes on each map and they give a dramatic and fascinating insight into the game’s backstory.

We’ll also be bringing you tips from ten of the galaxy’s finest pilots, presenting a Gif gallery of the month’s top takedowns and taking a look at footage of the best competitive play that has been taking place. It’s going to be a cracking month so keep your browser pointed right here.


LINK

If you’re new to the wonderful world of EVE: Valkyrie you’ll be unaware that on occasion, we invite you, our devoted pilots, to receive a kicking at the hands of the game’s creators in what has become known as a Battle the Devs. Admittedly, it’s normally us who receive a humiliating defeat, but that’s OK, we can take it, and what’s most important is that it’s always massively good fun.

There have been three battles so far. Two taking place during game’s alpha phase of development and the third after launch in May 2016.

This is, we think, the perfect opportunity to introduce you to the most recent events and enjoy some of the fierce battling that went down. Click on the YouTube vid above to see the action from the point of view of ace fighter pilot and regular community contributor General Stargazer.

And below we have some stunning footage from the second event courtesy of one of the best pilots in the galaxy, Wan5.

LINK

We’re hoping that’s got you pretty fired up, because we’re planning another dev battle real soon. We haven’t finalized the details, but keep checking back here for more info as it becomes available. We very much look forward to you testing our mettle.

In the meantime, fly safe and have a great July.

Welcome to the third and final guide in our Carrier Assault series, celebrating a year of EVE: Valkyrie’s greatest play mode.

It’s the turn of the Supports and you guessed it, we have ace Support pilot Anska on hand to deliver the definitive guide to flying the healers.

Lights, camera… Anska.

First of all, let me just say that anytime I play Carrier Assault mode and my team gets to attack the core, the little Star Wars fan in me goes “Squee”. And I swear anytime I’m able to destroy the core myself with missiles I am grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Let’s get on with the subject at hand.




The other pilots have probably covered this but it’s worth repeating. The mode itself is very simple. As with Control matches, you have three control points but you only have to take control of two of them to bring down the enemy carrier’s shields.

Then you can go attack the carrier. Both the Valkyrie and Schism have their own carrier. Your job is to get those points so you can attack the other carrier, while at the same time stopping the other team from doing the same to you.

When you are defending or attacking, you will see a holographic model of the carrier on the left side of your cockpit. The white dots represent the carrier nodes and when they are being attacked they turn yellow. This is a great way of staying ahead of the game. When you’re attacking, you can see which nodes your teammates are going for and therefore choose different ones. When defending, you can see where the enemies are concentrating their attack.

The carrier itself also has guns turrets, so watch out for those. Fun fact: If you take out all of the turrets in a single pass, the community has dubbed this a Ramsay Bolton maneuver.

Finally, once all nodes are down, you move into attacking the core. The core is in the belly of the carrier and a large “Attack” message will highlight its location for you. Be aware that the tunnel leading to the core also has gun turrets, so it’s a good idea to take them out in advance if you can.

So, to summarize, the three phases of play are control two points, attack or defend carrier and attack or defend the core.


The line-up of ships in a squad will vary depending on whose playing. To keep it simple, though, I’ll concentrate on my favorite Support ships to take into action.

The great thing about Supports is that they are fast and good for getting to the control points quickly, making them highly effective drone droppers.




This is a great ship to use. Its mines can be highly effective when placed in the trench and around the core. Its guns are good to use on nodes, drones and the core. Plus, it can help heal or boost damage if needed.

Strategy-wise, who doesn't love a minefield? Use them near control points to great effect. A top tip is also to place them in the warp gates near the carrier to surprise anyone trying to traverse the map quickly.

As I mentioned above, a minefield around the core can be brutal. I once saw pilot Vega take out three people in one go with mines at the core.

While I’m talking about the Revenant, fellow pilot Goatan has produced a great video on using the ship and mine placement, so be sure to check it out.




The Guardian is a solid choice thanks to the fact that it sports the best healing beam. On top of that its, primary weapon is decent at taking down drones, nodes and the core. When your team is attacking the core, the Guardian can keep everyone alive while also having a pop at any turrets and nodes where possible.




The faithful Banshee is particularly good when operating inside the core room, whether attacking or defending. That’s because its spiderbots can cause havoc for the enemies in the confined space and also heal your buddies. Just bear in mind the Banshee’s phaser is not so great against drones and nodes, so instead, make it your role to travel rapidly to control points, laying down drones rather than attacking enemy ones.




This ship’s great strength is its EMP mines. This holds true when your core is being attacked, or when you're attacking the enemy. Opponents under the EMP effect are stunned, leaving you to either take them out or, when attacking, inflict maximum damage on the core. Dropping them close to nodes can be amusing too. People run into them when they’re frantically busy trying to take down the nodes.




Finally, as I’ve mentioned in previous guides, even though it’s in the Fighter tree, I like to use the Displacer sometimes. It can heal and strip shields with its beam, and of course, it has the offensive advantages of a Fighter. Try it for yourself.




Without sounding like a broken record about the Com Alerts, it bears repeating that it’s essential you utilize them in Carrier Assault. It’s a great way of letting people know if you need help on a control point, or where you'd like the team to head to. Pick two control points at the beginning and try to stick to them.

Carrier Assault maps have warp gates and they can be very useful, but be aware that it’s quite possible to emerge from one and slam right into the surface of a large EVE ship. It’s happened to me a few times, so learn the maps and the objects in them in Scout Mode.

It’s always worth taking down the turrets inside and around the outside of the core trench. It makes it so much easier when you only have to worry about the enemies killing you.

That's it! But before I go, if you’re interested in how the carriers sit within the EVE universe, have a read of General Stargazer's fascinating and fun little article over on the forums. You can find it here.

Cheers Anska. No doubt our pilots will now be heading out to plant some sneaky mine traps as per your advice.

Do check out our previous Carrier Assault guides on Fighters and Heavies.

Fly safe, pilots!

A new wormhole event has occurred in the Lonetrek region of the galaxy. As you know, this busy region is a major industrial center for the Caldari State and as such, it is of great strategic importance.

Pilots who have operated near Saranen will already be familiar with the Shipyard. However, on the other side of the wormhole’s conduit, they are experiencing a strange and oppressively dark version of the facility that we’re calling the Nightyard.

Pilots returning from the Nightyard have reported being involved in intense Deathmatch situations, rendered particularly difficult by the low light conditions. However, one of the side effects of this wormhole is to produce dazzling rainbow trails from our ships’ engines. The effect is both useful for the location of enemy ships and, we are led to believe, quite beautiful.

In addition, we are experiencing a super-boost effect. The only ships operable through Wormhole 13B/745-54JD6 are the Dominator and Aegis, both Fighters and particularly suited to the ‘Deathmatch’ style of engagement occurring.

Of paramount importance is the fact that there is an abundance of salvage to be collected in the area. This is why we need your involvement. We can significantly boost our resources by spending as much time in the Nightyard as possible.

Good luck out there, pilots. Let’s get rich, or die trying.

It’s seems only right that when talking about everyone’s favorite EVE: Valkyrie play mode, we should turn to the galaxy’s favorite ace fighter pilot General Stargazer for advice. Take it away, General.

Using a fighter on Carrier Assault is near nirvana for me because it's everything I dreamed of when it came to proper space dogfighting! Carrier Assault in Eve: Valkyrie as a fighter pilot is one of my favorite things. It's always challenging for a few different reasons. For the purposes of this guide, I've broken down the battle into four different phases.


The huge carriers have shields stronger than yours and we first have to take these down.

Our first task here is to take and hold two of the three control points. If you're acting as team leader, it's usually a good idea to call out which two you're going to go for to better help your team coordinate.

Personally, at the start of the game, I typically go and drop a drone at the point closest to my own carrier as it's typically uncontested (the enemy hasn't been able to fly across the map yet). Then, I hard burn myself to one of the other two points.

This is where a bit of personal judgement will come in. Look at the two other points and assess likelihood of success. If you see the entire enemy team en-route to Point B of the map, go for the point closest to the enemy carrier as it'll only be lightly defended, if at all. Swoop in, kill the enemy drones and drop one of your own drones.

Meanwhile, the battle will be raging on at Point B, so the enemy team will have to disengage from Point B to come and prevent you from stealing the point. That reduces their numbers at the middle point and helps your own team control the map better. I do enjoy doing all this in the Wraith; its large amount of capacitor helps with getting around the map and its forward firing Gatling Guns helps to tear apart drones quite effectively.




With the shields down on the enemy carrier, take a look at the enemy carrier image in the cockpit to see the location of all the white nodes. Next, look up at the carrier itself and take into consideration any of the enemy team that have retreated back in defense.

The carrier is very vulnerable to fighters taking a poke at it. At typical cruising velocity, you can evade most of the incoming fire from the turrets. It’s a good idea to go for the back of the carrier. With the Wraith’s forward firing guns, you can line up your shots on approach to the carrier to hit some of the easier nodes on the externals of the ship.

Once you’re in close, the pirouettes begin. The Wraith’s great turning speed, fire control and ship profile make it great for ducking and diving all over the ship. Keep in close and the flak cannons and missile launchers will have a hard time tracking you. Meanwhile, you'll be able to hit the nodes with everything you have.




In most normal cases, unless you’re super coordinated and the enemy team isn't, you’re not going to kill the carrier in a single run.

So, Phase 1 comes back around and you have to capture those points again. Now, I normally flip my previous positioning here. It's not uncommon for pesky heavies to head out to a point just before they come unlocked, so bear that in mind on approach to any point now.

When it comes to re-assaulting, typically go for the point closest to the enemy carrier (and closest to you, post-attack phase) plus the point in the middle of the map. You'll have no doubt been boosting to get around the enemy carrier, so you might not have a huge amount of capacitor. If that's the case, head to the closest point, try and capture it or defend it. It'll give you time to get your capacitor back. Hopefully, you'll get it in time to assault the enemy carrier as you move onto the final phase.




Once all the nodes are down, it’s time for the attack on the carrier’s power core. Although you can enter from the rear of the ship, invariably a lot of people (myself included) enter from the top of the ship and give ourselves a short run onto the enemy carrier’s core. This also enables you to attack any enemies that are sitting just outside the core from above.

Whatever you do, don't fly into the core itself! It's very easy here to get caught up in the moment and fly into the core in a hail of gunfire, which inevitably leads to your death. Instead, break off and swing around behind the core. Fighters are great in this small area for maneuvering around, whereas heavies have a real hard time in here and you'll often see them bounding off the walls.

So, keep it tight to the walls again, look where you're going and get the shots in on the core and you'll no doubt be escaping a giant ball of fire as the enemy explodes.

Top tip: don't forget to pick up some salvage on the way out. Even if you don't need it, fly back through the remains of the carrier and grab it. Remember, it’s distributed team-wide and someone else on your team might need it.

One final piece of advice. Outside of the battle, it’s a good idea to load up Scout Mode. Each map gives you a carrier. Go and take a look at it in a fighter, fly around it and learn its workings. It has so many nooks and crannies you can exploit to avoid incoming fire. You'll soon learn its shape and where you can go.

Thanks General, amazing advice as always.

So, there you have it pilots. How to ace Carrier Assault in a fighter. Now you can go off and put all those tips into practice.

Be sure to come back here tomorrow when we’ll do it all again in a heavy craft.

Fly safe!

Today’s the day! It’s exactly a year ago today the EVE: Valkyrie’s Carrier Assault Mode was launched, and true to our word, we’re going to celebrate it in some considerable style.




First up, as we promised last week, today is going to be all about Carrier Assault with the play mode being available all day in multiplayer mode. It all kicked off this morning and it’ll run up until 08:00 UTC tomorrow (21st Jun).

Primarily, we want you to just get out there and have a blast, taking down as many carriers as possible and generally honing your skills.

That said, we would also like you to share your leviathan-downing antics through the magic of videos and screens. We want it to be a visual celebration of the skill, heroism and general epic madness we encounter during a Carrier Assault battle. Use today and the rest of the week as an opportunity to capture your best moments (or if you’ve previously posted some Carrier Assault footage, we want to see that too) and share the results via #ValkyrieCADay.

We’ll come back in a week or two with a magnificent visual montage of all your finest moments.

Ace pilot VegaNavarre has already got in on the act with his Revenant Reaping Quadkill video, where he plays with fellow pilots Anska and Simpology. The footage can be found on Twitch.TV right here.




As part of the celebrations today, we have published part of EVE: Valkyrie’s soundtrack on Soundcloud for your listening pleasure. It’s titled Tempest and it's pretty darn cool, so put your headphones on and give your ears a treat. You can find the track here.

That’s not all. We spoke to Rich McCoull, producer and engineer at the UK-based Post Production Studio The East Wing, to find out how someone gets into making music for games and what the process was with EVE: Valkyrie.

First off, can you tell our readers a little about yourself

Like most people, I started playing in a band and studied music at college and uni. All the way through school and college, I was what I called 'clinically unemployable'. I'd go for jobs in bars with friends where they'd get something and I wouldn't. I tried shops when they needed extra staff at Christmas... nothing. So, when I applied for an assistant engineer’s job at a little recording studio where my band rehearsed, I didn't expect in any way to get the job. The competition for those things is insane, but that's how it started. I just seemed to keep getting jobs in sound when I applied for them. From then on, I produced bands, worked as a broadcast engineer and began writing more and more. I found a way into the world of advertising and writing music for TV commercials, which is when I set up The East Wing in 2012. My background as a composer started in advertising, film and television and has only moved into games in the last couple of years.

How did you get involved in this project?

I was asked to come down for a chat early 2016 by Andrew Willans, who I'd worked with previously. We share a lot of similar ideas musically and we'd talked a lot over the years about working together on something. The right project had just never come up.

What are the specific challenges of writing a piece of music for a game?

Challenges change project to project. I think the most important barrier to break early on is trying to develop a common language with the developers, so I can clearly understand what their requirements are. On Valkyrie, I came in really late in the day with a group of guys who had been working religiously with this game for, like, two years.

As creative types, they had each developed really specific opinions about how the game should sound. The interesting part was that these ideas didn’t necessarily match everyone else’s ideas.

Luckily, in this case, the team at CCP were all pretty open to a discussion and I really enjoyed that part of the process where we worked out exactly how this project was meant to be scored. One of the descriptions or buzz words that kept coming up was ‘dark’ and I asked everyone what they thought 'dark' meant in the context of music. I think there were about four different interpretations of what that could mean as a description of music or musical style.

But, as with most situations, this is resolved when you start writing. Jon and Ash (EVE: Valkyrie sound team) provided some great stylistic ideas, so once I had some initial demos to listen to, then everyone involved had something to comment on.

Clearly the main inspiration for the music comes from the game, but are there other sources of inspiration for your work? Movies, sci-fi, other composers?

I love sci-fi films. Even some of the really bad ones. I frequently argue the merits of Alien 3 being a seriously underrated work… which might not be true, but the sound track is awesome.

There are composers I love listening to, like James Newton Howard, Trent Reznor, Harry Greggson-Williams or Hans Zimmer, that have influenced the way I have developed as a composer. I love for a soundtrack to feel cinematic.

There’s loads of bands I’ve grown up on that undoubtedly will have had an effect, like The Prodigy, Rage Against the Machine or Crystal Method.

I even think what sort of music I’m into at the time I start a project will influence what I’m writing, even if not in a conscious way. So, the playlist I have on in the car on the way to the studio could impact what I write.

What’s the process? You start with a blank sheet… take us through the steps

Sometimes it’s not really a step by step process, I’ll just get an idea from the brief, or playing the game, and it’s almost a race against time to get it out of my head before I forget it… which is problematic if I’m driving or on the bus.

But, assuming there isn’t that spontaneous combustion moment, I’ll start by playing the game, or watching the visuals I’m working to. Then, I really try to establish what the narrative of the piece is. The music needs to tell the story, or support, say, an increased threat level. It needs to feel seamless.

Next, passing round YouTube links with developers and others involved in the project helps it to become a more collaborative process. I think it’s important to try to get into other mind-sets in relation to the project. Without this stage I could completely miss a really interesting angle on the sound that hadn’t occurred to me.

Then it’s about creating a palette of sounds, followed by looking for feedback to make sure it is in right ballpark. The beauty of Valkyrie has been the relationship with Jon and Ash at CCP. They have been amazingly concise with feedback and also introduced me to some soundtrack references I hadn’t come across before.

Once that direction is signed off, then it’s about writing as much music as possible to fit the requirements. It's way easier to remove layers later if there are too many than to not have enough. Finally, sometimes there’ll be some specific tweaks once the music is in situ.

A big thanks to Rich. That’s a fascinating insight into creating killer game music

Before we go, we just want to remind you that throughout the rest of the week we will be staying with the Carrier Assault theme. We will be bringing you a series of play guides, written by the best pilots in the galaxy and educating us on how to survive Carrier Assault in the three ship classes.

We’ll kick off with the fighters tomorrow, then supports and heavies on the subsequent days.

Right, we're outta here! Have fun!

Three words. Team, death and match. The first we like. The second… not so good. And the third is open to interpretation depending on the context.

Put them together, however, and you get Team Deathmatch, which in the case of EVE: Valkyrie amounts to the most immediate, frantic and competitive play mode available.

It’s like that scene in Anchorman when the opposing TV news crews face-off with an assortment of weapons. Things escalate quickly.

In previous articles, we’ve discussed how to handle fighters and support craft in a TDM, but when engaged in a schoolyard scrap, it’s always good to have some muscle on your side. Let’s take a look at the role of the heavies.


Choose a ship. Any ship. They’re all good, but if you need to pin us down on it, here are a few favorites.

The Spectre



This is the first heavy ship you get to take out for a spin. It’s armed with a flak cannon, a Microwarp drive (MWD) and an electromagnetic shield (EMS).

As you might expect, it’s a well-balanced ship and perfect as an introduction to the heavies’ handling, abilities and weapons.

The thing to remember about the flak cannon is that it’s an area of effect weapon (AoE). This means you don’t need pinpoint accuracy to inflict damage. This gives you an advantage in combat because you don’t have to engage in endless cat and mouse chases. Instead, you can offload in the general direction of your enemy.

The Rhino



This is a great ship. For many heavy pilots, this is the go-to ship for progressing through the ranks and unlocking the later ships. The Rhino’s primary weapon (flak cannon) has a high fire rate. It also has countermeasures to deal with missiles. When piloting the Rhino, use the MWD to get into the thick of a battle, let fly with the flak, then MWD back out again. Sublime.

The Maelstrom



OK, so this fella is the last unlockable ship but, boy, it’s a good one. It’s not easy to master, but the payoff for piloting it well is enormous.

What's the big payoff? It’s equipped with the Mortar.

If you aim your shot right, the Mortar can take down most ships with a single shot. The rate of fire is slow, however, and there is little AoE. This means if you hit your target, brilliant. If you miss… not so good.

In general, you should use your MWD to warp into a battle, trigger the EMS and let fly with the Mortar. One word of warning though: remember, when you are using the EMS offensively, you will be vulnerable to missile attacks and auto-aiming weapons during the recharge time. So be aware of your surroundings before you use it.


We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, after launching hang back. In TDM, you don’t need to head for a carrier or a particular control point, so just let the fight come to you and use that time to identify your targets.

Support ships are crucial to a team’s success, so it’s wise to take out the enemy’s healers. If you’re relatively new and haven’t unlocked many heavies, a good bet is the Rhino, as it’s very effective against the support ships’ shields. One word of warning though, if you’re up against a Revenant, you might want to steer clear or seek assistance instead of taking it on one-to-one. Its combination of Gatling guns, buff beam and mines makes it a formidable foe.

It’s crucial that you use the environment to your advantage. Take the time to familiarize yourself with all the maps in Scout Mode, making sure you know where all the best structures and enclosed areas are situated. Your opponents will probably have done the same, but knowledge is power and if you can position yourself in a cave, hangar or confined space, you can dish out more damage when someone crosses your path. Also, when pursued by a support with beams and phasers, you will need to use structures to break their lock-on.

When it comes to a TDM, you have to make choices. How are you going to spread out your team? If there is an enemy pilot who is clearly very skilled and is laying waste to your team, target him or her. Take them out of the equation. More often, though, teams will be equally matched. In this case, you need to swarm the enemy with the fighters circling the battle, the heavies acting as a mainstay and the supports staying as close as possible to the heavies. If you’re playing with friends, it’s a good idea to discuss your tactical approach even before you put on your HMD.

In closing, we’ve mentioned this sneaky heavy tactic before, but it merits retelling. It’s always easier to take out an enemy if it’s close up. With this in mind, use the MWD to lure hostiles in close. The MWD takes a few seconds to spool up. Start spooling. Your enemies will think you are trying to make your escape. Then, when they approach, stop spooling and take them out. It’s the ultimate sucker punch.

Join us later in the week for tips on Carrier Assault mode.

In the meantime, checkout our previous Team Deathmatch guides for fighters and supports.

Fly safe!