Have you checked out yesterday’s big Groundrush reveal yet? Of course you have. And now, like us, you’re probably on tenterhooks waiting for EVE: Valkyrie’s fifth major free update to go live.
So, to fill in the time while you’re waiting, allow us to tell you a little bit more about the Solitude map and where it sits in the EVE: Valkyrie story.
Solitude is the name given to the research base that features in this new snowbound and mountainous environment. It was formerly under the control of the Minmatar Republic’s Thukker Tribe, and as such, this is the first time the Minmatar have been represented in EVE: Valkyrie. However, all that remains of the former occupants is a landscape strewn with the wreckage of Minmatar ships.
The reason? The Solitude base is now controlled by Fatal and his Schism. They have modified and defaced the structure, re-branding it under their flag.
The secret base was formerly hidden away from prying eyes up until the construction of the warp gate seen in the Gatecrash update, which upon completion, provided a direct path to Solitude.
Gateway and Solitude, both of the game’s most recent maps, are inextricably linked through this story arc.
Solitude is unique in that it is EVE: Valkyrie’s only ground-based map. Expect a mix of open landscape, internal structures and subterranean caverns all offering their own challenges and opportunities. It’s is an environment that will test your piloting skills to the limit.
However, we won’t reveal too much specific detail right now as that would spoil the surprise come launch day.
Don’t forget to join us here again on Monday when we bring you more detailed info on the Groundrush update and its multitude of new features and content.
We’ll leave the last words to the Quartermaster, with an excerpt from his echoes in the new Solitude Map.
"What do I know of the Catacombs of Solitude? Come closer pilot and see here. Some secrets just between me and you… There is a network of subterraneous caverns blasted into the calcified rocks, stretching out like fissures in every direction from under the structure. Steam rises from the vents scattered across the landscape. Something is going on down there."