As EVE Online’s Galatea release goes live, New Eden is still reeling from one of the most dramatic events in its rich history.

Just last week the leader of the Amarr Empire, the controversial Empress Jamyl Sarum I, was confirmed assassinated at the hands of the mysterious Drifters following several major standoffs between the Amarr Navy and the powerful wormhole-dwelling forces.

Players have since held their own vigils and said their remembrances. While the mourning period will last longer, there has been much discussion amongst capsuleers of the newly announced Succession Trials.

Set for a grand finale at EVE Fanfest 2016, the Amarr Championships are part of the Succession Trials. The series of battles will feature players fighting on behalf of the heirs of the royal Amarrian houses to pick the next ruler of the largest of EVE’s major empires.

However, while anticipation may grow for that event, the Drifter threat is not over and only seems to be intensifying, as their forces have begun all-out war with the Amarrian Navy in a new feature in the Galatea release—Defense of the Throne Worlds.

Galatea isn’t solely focused on the happenings in Amarr space, and offers several other big improvements for EVE players.

  • The EVE team remains committed to evolving the Sovereignty system introduced in the Aegis release. Changes include reducing the base capture time of Command nodes, giving defenders 60% control at the beginning of a capture event, reducing the cap on total nodes and the spawn rate of new ones, and replacing the Entosis Link mass penalty with a 4000 m/s speed limit when fitted.
  • Updated animations and effects for many combat and support modules, including the devastating Doomsday weapons
  • The first Designer SKINs have come to New Eden with the blood red “Raata Sunset” line for Caldari ships. More bold new styles will be coming in the following weeks and months.
  • A more satisfying killshot: the camera will now linger over the ship you just reduced to scrap so you can enjoy your victory just that much more
  • The iconic workhorse of the Gallente Federation, the Dominix, went back to the shipyards for a redesign which evolves its original utilitarian design into a truly inspiring battleship

Full patch notes, which cover dozens more improvements, can be found here.