Crystal Ball gazing : Rubicon

This is a speculative post, with all the risks and rewards inherited in that.  Let the industrialist beware.

The higher up the list, the more confident I am that I know what I am talking about.  Conversely, by the time we get to the bottom of this list, the more likely you are to find speculative waffle.

Lets look at what we know about rubicon features

• Highsec Customs offices
• Sisters of eve faction ships
• Warp Changes
• Depots
• Tractor Units, 
• Warp changes
• Interceptor
• Interdictor
• ISIS (ship guide)
• Certificate overview
• SMA changes
• Marauder
• Siphon Units 
• Ghost sites 
• Electronic attack ships 
• Cynosural Inhibitor

Highsec customs offices.

Lots of semi at keyboard battleships and steath bombers; going mental bashing out customs offices.  Large T1 ammo consumed. SB torps consumed.

Lots of players with experience in structure bashes; and much less likely to want to take part in the future bashes because of this.

Demand for Customs office gantries and then the upgrades needed.  Somewhat countered by a large stockpile already gathered.  Has more been stockpiled than will be needed?  I don't know.

New higher NPC tax initially, eventually countered by pilots learning the new Customs code expertise skill.

A drop in taxable values by 20% for basic, 11% for advanced.  For P1 items easily found in highsec PI (Biofuels, bacteria), this will almost entirely end up being passed on.  For P1, highsec limited items (industrial fibers, chiral structures), this will make no difference.

For highsec manufactured P4 (Integrity response drones), were roughly 10% of the cost, and about 1/2 of the profit.  With more highsec barren/temperate planets being used for manufacture, will have a dropped price even further.

Pirate corps will own some customs offices.  Highsec industrialists beware; Pirates can see who, where and when expensive PI transport is performed.  There will be more highsec ganks on epithals holding 100m +.

Short term : Increased demand; increased supply via stockpiles.
Long term : Demand to return to before the announcement of Rubicon. Probable decreased highsec taxes. Probable increased highsec supply. 

Sisters of eve ships

Lots of ground out sisters of eve LP turned into sisters ships.  Lots of demand for ships.  I will be buying several frigates for lowskill scanning alts

A temporary peak in demand for covops cloaks. Probably a demand for more sister launchers and probes.

Lots and lots more covops visitors to wormhole, lowsec and null. 

Warp changes

Lots of pilots will be trying out small fast ships.  They will be 'fun'.  Also moving pods into different parts of eve just got a lot faster, assuming you wrap your pod in a suitably small ship.  Should be a small spike in the buying of frigates of most varieties.

For WH based planet gooers; it is more important than ever that you always warp to customs office via a safespot, and never travel directly from customs office to customs office. 

Depots

I expect these will see a lot of use in wormhole space, and potentially low/null systems where either (A) there are no stations, or (B) players have been locked out of stations.

We have used both small POS and Orca's as refitting services before.  This will be a lot more convenient and cheaper.  I expect to see quite a few of these around.

Tractor Units

I would not want to be a tractor beam manufacturer.  Sell your stock and blueprints for whatever you can get for it.  Consider reprocessing.

Interceptors

An improved cloak and sisters core scanner probe is not what everyone would think about with interceptors.

We will have  a few of these on hand in case of another wormhole blockade.  One favourite trick of WH evictions is to control wormholes and prevent the locals escaping by setting up bubbles on the gates.  Now this can be somewhat overcome by covops frigates, but covops frigs can be decloaked inside a bubble (but not by the bubble). 

Racial Frigate 5
Evasive Maneuvering 5
CPU Management 4
Interceptors 1
Hull Upgrades 1
Cloaking 3
Astrometrics 4
Astrometric Acquisition 3
Astrometric Pinpointing 3
Astrometric Rangefinding 3
Total time: 32 days on a newbie pilot, no implants or remaps


For bonus points: a covert ops frigate for
Electronics Upgrades 5
Covert Ops 1
Cloaking 4
Total Time 49 days on a newbie pilot (including the interceptor), no implants or remaps

Isis ship guide and certificate overview.  

Some players that could know better, will use this.  I use the existing certificate system to guide skill choices.  I also have trouble recognising what a ship is; this should help.

SMA changes

Ship maintenance arrays can drop ships again.  This makes Foo a sad panda; as we are far more likely to receive an eviction attempt than make one.  For the record; nothing to see in our SMA; just a fleet of warp core stabbed Epithals.  Please move along.

Fortunately for us, there is going to be so much structure bashing with highsec customs offices, that everyone is going to be worn out from bashing until the next expansion comes along.  (That is; you feel like bashing something?  Look - just over there in highsec, there is a gold rush happening - you know you want to beat up on those wicked interbus customs offices ... and look, they don't even have warp core stabs fit)

Marauders

Some new interest simply because they changed.  And maybe the bastion mode will make them appear overpowered for a while (in which case there will be a huge interest).

Siphon units

I assume that the aim of this is to encourage POS owners to pay attention to their systems.  I just hope it means that Wormhole gas reactions become profitable again.  (No; not terribly interested in a system full of double reaction towers)

Ghost sites

Ghost sites appear to be interesting; the ability to source new implants.  One day I will run some more sites and see if I am up for fast DPS races.   Or then again, maybe I have another PI planet to update.

Electronic Attack Ships

Umm buffs mean more of these get bought, flown and sold?  Who flies ewar frigates anyway?  I thought frigates were for their scanning bonuses?  Nothing to see here??  ( I did say that the further down the list, the more speculative waffle)

Cynosural Inhibitor

Umm.  I give up.  You don't see many of these dcinosaur things in wormholes.



Maybe I am starting to get a hang of parts of this game I spend too long playing.  I am actually in a position to consider patch notes, and understand what some of them might mean.

Fly well.  I hope to not see you in those sister cloaky ships; and that is because you entered someone else's wormhole, rather than just the new covops cloak you can now use.