Hands up if you’re new to EVE: Valkyrie… Whoa, there are loads of you. Good, then this article is for you (and anyone else who wants a refresher course in the wonderful world of galactic battling in virtual reality).
If you missed the first part of our comprehensive Valkyrie A to Z, go check it out now.
Done that? Quick work! So, what we have in part two is everything you need to know about the ongoing shenanigans inside and outside of New Eden, this time with a focus on the letters ‘I’ through ‘P’. Let’s start with something cool and refreshing.
I is for Ice
Solidified water plays an increasingly large role in the Valkyrie experience.
First off, you will no doubt already be painfully aware that space is a pretty cold place. Every time you get pummelled to death by an enemy, your cockpit shatters and you are treated to an unsettling sequence in which all the air is sucked out of your ship, leaving you lifeless, frozen and alone in the icy void. Brrrrr!
It’s not all bad on the ice front though. Following last year's major EVE: Valkyrie update, Gatecrash, a fancy new environmental feature was introduced with the new Gateway map. The map’s main feature is a huge warp gate, but off to one side of this central structure is the brilliantly entertaining iceteroid field. Littered with huge chunks of chilliness, the iceteroid field makes a great place to find cover, shake off missile attacks and engage in some frenetic dogfights.
Most recently, one of the weekly wormholes took place on the shiveringly sub-zero Ice Forge map. To find out more about the wormholes, head over to our recently published article.
J is for Joint Strike
Joint Strike was a major free update to EVE: Valkyrie that launched last October and brought an enormous goodie bag of new features to the game. Far too many to list here in fact, but it was Joint Strike that first introduced our pilots to cross-platform play, allowing players using different VR systems to seamlessly play together… a VR first!
The Com Alerts system, since improved and updated in a more recent update, was introduced in Joint Strike and enabled players to quickly access short messages to improve a team’s ability to issue instructions, coordinate their attacks and call for assistance.
Add to that the addition of two new Recall missions plus daily challenges and you had an event that substantially upgraded the whole Valkyrie experience.
K is for Knowledge
We’re all familiar with the phrase ‘knowledge is power’ and as such this website, the very one you’re browsing right now, is an endless source of great power for aspiring Valkyrie pilots. It’s like a big, bottomless bag of jelly babies in which each baby is a deliciously nutritious morsel of great advice. It’s true! Have a rummage around and you find a bunch of handy video tutorials to bring rookies up to speed, play guides from the best pilots in the galaxy to help you significantly up your game and an official beginner's guide to EVE: Valkyrie over on our forums… more on that later.
L is for Launch
This entry is really just an opportunity for us to take a moment to celebrate EVE: Valkyrie’s stunning launch sequence and reminisce about our first time out of the tube.
We all remember our first time. Sitting there in the pitch darkness in nervous anticipation, Rán’s authoritative tones echoing in our ears. Then as the lights begin to flicker on, we get our first look at the inside of the cockpit and, remarkably, our own space-suited bodies mimicking our real movements. The countdown begins, the launch tube lights thunk into life and we are pressed back in our seats as we hurtle out of the carrier ship into the void.
It's a stunning moment and certainly something that persuaded countless players that VR and EVE: Valkyrie was for them. Also, launching into space just never gets tired.
M is for Maps
Ah yes, EVE: Valkyrie’s multi-player maps. Far from being an empty void, space is literally ‘littered’ with stuff and each of the game’s six complex maps offers up a decidedly different challenge. Whether it’s the wreckage-strewn wastes of the Necropolis, the asteroid-dense Crossroads, the sweeping majesty of Cathedral or the most recently added Gateway, featuring a vast under-contruction warp gate… every environment is unique.
It’s no simple task creating Valkyrie’s maps and as you will discover in our interview with CCP Newcastle designer Emily Knox, the game’s landscape is constantly changing. The latest new Valkyrie feature, Wormholes Mode, presents players with bizarre variations on the regular maps where the scenery has been corrupted and the regular rules no longer apply.
As for the future, well, no spoilers, but it’s safe to say that more of New Eden’s wonder will open up for exploration in the not-too-distant future.
N is for Neuromancer
We are talking about the 1984 science fiction novel by William Gibson that introduced readers to the idea of cyberspace, a virtual reality dataspace. But we could also be talking about any number of sci-fi classics, movies, novels and games that explore similar themes. EVE: Valkyrie forms part of this sci-fi tradition and you can find out all about the game’s science-fiction ancestry in our two-part feature, starting here.
O is for Outside
It doesn’t always feel like it for the committed pilot, but there is a life outside of EVE: Valkyrie… Shocking, right? But wait! Fortunately, a lot of the life outside of the game is still ‘about’ the game. Namely the vibrant EVE: Valkyrie community and the various organized events surrounding the goings-on in New Eden.
Your first port of call should be our official forums. Sign up and you have the means of sparking up a conversation with other like-minded pilots, all keen to share their experiences and expertise with you.
We would also urge you to head over to the official EVE Fanfest 2017 website. This is a huge annual event for players of EVE Online and latterly EVE: Valkyrie, held in Reykjavik, Iceland where passionate fans can get together, take part in discussions with the developers and generally party into the wee small hours. Keep checking back here over the coming week as we’ll be bringing you details on the Valkyrie presence at this year’s event, along with ways you can enjoy Fanfest even if you can’t physically attend in person.
P is for PlayStation VR
PlayStation VR gamers are the relatively new kids on the New Eden block, but since they joined the existing Oculus and Vive gang back in October they have proven themselves to be a force to be reckoned with. Their arrival helped us achieve our goal of enabling all three major VR systems to play together using cross-platform play and the Valkyrie community has never been the same since.
Following the launch on PlayStation VR, we have added enhancements for those with a PS4 Pro console, functionality for Thrustmaster’s T.Flight HOTAS 4 controller and been consistently delighted with the screens and videos that our PSVR pilots have been creating via PS4Share. Keep up the good work!
Time to take another break. Join us again tomorrow for the final part of our A to Z, when we will be exploring such delights as the Quartermaster, Rán Kavik and something beginning with ‘X’ (wish us luck with that one).