Cradle of War
Rewires Force Projection

EVE Online
The Cradle of War Update

• Author:

  Watty

• Category:

  EVE Online

• Date:

  Sep 21, 2026

The Cradle of War major update lands on Tranquility on 22 September, and the headline change is aimed squarely at nullsec. CCP is reworking how Ansiblex jump bridges work, and with them how quickly an alliance can move a fleet from one end of its space to the other. It builds on the Cradle of War expansion that launched in July.

Ansiblexes get a capacitor

Each Ansiblex will hold a limited capacitor charge that recharges slowly over time. Every ship that goes through uses some of it, with different ship types costing different amounts, and the cost rises the further the destination sits from the owning alliance's capital system. Ansiblexes will also carry subcapital ships only, and only for pilots in the alliance that owns them. Coalition allies will need their own infrastructure or another way to travel.

CCP's own framing: "Alliances can still hold and operate across extensive territory, but rapidly moving large fleets across that territory will require more consideration." In practice, the bridge network that let a big coalition answer a fight on the far side of its space within minutes now costs something, and distance from home matters again.

Insurgencies speed up

Pirate Insurgencies are becoming faster and more dynamic, and Forward Operating Bases get changes to their reinforcement cycle to match. A new site aimed at battlecruisers starts appearing in Insurgency systems at corruption stage two and above. Payouts for the Ice Refinery Heist and Mining Op Ambush sites drop, and more of the reward moves to actually winning the Insurgency, so the incentive shifts from farming sites to pushing the conflict to a finish.

Wormholes and drone sites

Class 1 to 3 wormhole combat sites are being modernised, with NPCs making smarter use of electronic warfare and capsuleers able to use energy neutralisation against them. The Rampant Drone Fabricator sites we covered in August get quality-of-life fixes, including making interdictors easier to fit into fleets, and will pay out more Fabricator Data. The Pochven LP store will start taking that data for new rewards, including a Hybrid Drone skill book worth a 3% hybrid drone damage bonus per level.

Pochven and ship balance

Vigilance Points in Pochven now allow fleets of up to 12 pilots, up from 10. On the balance side, Marauders and black ops battleships lose some mass and get agility adjustments, the Deimos, Phobos and Vigilant get back some of the range they lost in the earlier medium railgun changes, and lancer dreadnoughts get stronger resistance profiles. A cheaper Zero-Point Field Manipulator should also bring down production costs across Tech II Triglavian ships.

Talking it through with the corp

An update like this changes the maths on how and where you fly, and it is easier to make sense of with other capsuleers. If you want to talk it through, our EVE corp The Exiled Titans is in the Discord, and the EVE Online hub has more on the corp. Newbros and returning capsuleers both welcome.

Further reading: EVE Online: Force Projection Revamped | The Exiles EVE Online hub