Archive for March, 2010

The first novel based on Star Trek Online, The Needs of the Many, is now available. The novel is available for $7.99 in either paperback or digital eBook format.

Read below for additional details:

Prior to the terror-filled times of the Long War—the seemingly endless struggle against the Undine, a paranoid, shape-shifting race once known only as Species 8472—enemy sleeper agents quietly penetrated every echelon of Federation society, as well as other starfaring civilizations throughout the Alpha and Beta quadrants. The ensuing conflict shook humanity to its very core, often placing its highest ideals against a pure survival instinct. All too frequently, the Undine War demanded the harshest of sacrifices and exacted the steepest of personal costs from the countless millions whose lives the great interdimensional clash forever altered.

Drawn from his exhaustive research and interviews, The Needs of the Many delivers a glimpse of Betar Prize–winning author Jake Sisko’s comprehensive "living history" of this tumultuous era. With collaborator Michael A. Martin, Sisko illuminates an often-poorly-understood time, an age marked indelibly by both fear and courage—not to mention the willingness of multitudes of unsung heroes who became the living embodiment of the ancient Vulcan philosopher Surak’s famous axiom, "The needs of the many More >

The commercial release of NHN Corporation’s free-to-play MMORPG Karos Online is just around the corner on April 9th, and NHN is kicking it off in style with celebratory events and goodies to drool over! Following the grand server re-opening on April 9th, players will be able to loot Celebration Cakes while hunting in Asmara, which can be consumed for super speed buffs, traded to other players and used to complete a quest for one of three fantastic items: a 12-slot Leather Bag, a handy Job Specialization Certificate or a rare White Tiger mount! There are also treasure-filled Gift Boxes waiting for those who fight to reclaim Tokens of Honor from the goblin hordes ravaging Lupinel, and that’s not all: throughout April, all characters on the new server will become eligible to win generous prize bundles containing potions, mounts and other items — just for leveling up! Finally, all new characters will automatically receive a special Newbie Potion Pack to get them off to a great start in the game.

April 9th also marks the opening of the shiny new Karos Online item shop, where players can choose from a selection of helpful items, including:

- Protection Stones which prevent the loss of weapons and armor from More >

CCP Chronotis discusses the issues of minerals and ship insurancs in a new dev blog over at the official EVE Online website. EVE's upcoming expansion "Tyrannis" will bring a number of important changes to minerals and ship insurance.

The crux of the issue is the fact that the mineral values that factor into ship insurance costs are static and have not been modified since the launch of EVE, even though the in-game prices shift all the time. CCP Chronotis explains more below:

Ship Insurance is our mechanic by which we compensate you for death, essentially.  By risking your ship in combat and giving you some compensation to allow you to get back in space and continue fighting whilst ensuring combat and death and the economy that springs from it, is both meaningful and relatively easy to recover from.

The core principle is you are compensated some of the ISK cost needed to replace your ship.  However that payment was based on static ship values decided at the launch of Eve when we set the value of all minerals on the market.  Since those days we removed those caps and relied upon the scaled potential supply and demand rates of each mineral source to More >