Eve Online's Navy ships to get a major overhaul

The navy hulls in Eve Online — Navy Battlecruisers, Navy Cruisers, Navy Frigates classes — will receive overhauls in its upcoming Odyssey expansion, according to a post by "CCP Ytterbium," on the game's developer blog.

The blog states that the changes are long overdue, as the last changes made to the navy vessels were back in 2009.

"... in term of Internet standards [it] may as well be the Bronze Age," Ytterbium writes. "Some of them, the Navy Cruisers especially, even go back way before that, and remain dinosaurs waiting to be put down by a giant smiling space rock."

The smaller Navy Frigates will receive less changes than the other Navy classes. Notably, the Republic Fleet Firetail will receive a 20 to 25 percent damage bonus and increased HP. The dominating Caldari Navy Hookbill will receive a decrease in mobility but will receive an increase in hit points.

As with standard hulls, the capability gap between the former tiers will be removed, but the "Tier 1" Navy Cruisers will stay as combat hulls and won't be turned into Navy Support Cruisers. Notable changes in the class include the weaponry changes made to the Scythe Fleet Issue.

The ship will get five launchers and five turrets, with a 10 percent bonus to medium projectile turret rate of fire and 10 percent bonus to missile damage per level. The blog says this "will allow the Fleet Scythe to have an exceptional element of surprise as opponents will never know what to expect until they see the ship arrive on the field of battle."

To fill the gap between Navy Cruisers and Navy Battleships, Navy versions of Combat Battlecruisers are introduced: Harbinger Navy Issue, Drake Navy Issue, Brutix Navy Issue and Hurricane Fleet Issue.

For instance, the Brutix Navy Issue will receive more maneuverability and a 7.5 percent medium hybrid tracking bonus per level, which was swapped out for the regular armor repairer amount featured on the regular Combat Battlecruiser.

For a full list of changes and tweaks, check out the Eve Online developer blog. Odyssey is Eve Online's nineteenth expansion and is due to roll out June 4.