This is your Season 4 preview for EVE Galaxy Conquest, as the first servers—those that launched with the game back in November 2024—are about to conclude their Season 3 and transition into a new era: the Veteran Season. These original “Pioneered” servers have carried players through every phase so far—Season 1, 2, and now 3—and will soon be merged for the next stage of the game. In this post, I’ll break down what’s coming next and share everything I’ve learned about the features and changes ahead.
Update: The newly merged servers have gone live—and their names still include a Season 3 tag (e.g., S3005). So while it’s technically the fourth season for those playing since November, it’s actually a replay of Season 3, now rebranded as the Veteran Season. Ship icons have also changed, replacing the “S3” label with an infinity symbol (∞), suggesting a simplified seasonal cycle: Season 1 → Season 2 → Veteran Season. The original Fanfest announcement may have been inaccurate—or plans simply shifted right before launch.
Update 2: A quick correction—some details were off. The level 45 PvE EXP cap applies to all servers, not just the new Veteran ones. Also, the level 10 commander boost and other features are rolling out a day later than the season start. Looks like the situation evolved at the last moment, making accurate previews tricky. Thanks for bearing with the chaos!
Table of Contents
Not a Recap, But Here’s My Season 3 Mess
In my previous recap, I shared a few thoughts about the season’s outcome, but the feedback was… let’s say, not entirely positive. Some readers felt I was too biased, so this time, I’m steering clear of the politics—no hot takes on who won, who lost, or why. Maybe one day, we’ll revisit that in an interview format with the actual decision-makers. My goal remains the same: to help build a healthy and informed community—not to chase hype, controversy, or hate.
But hey, that doesn’t mean I can’t vent a little on a personal level, right?
Most of my characters ended up in server S3002. I spent the early part of the season grinding influence and building fleets—solo, without corp support—and managed to push over 50k influence. That earned me a spot in Imperium, where I finally got access to combat logs and some rewards to fuel future recruitment and research.
And then came the implosion.
Following internal drama among leadership, all my characters were booted. My tiles were nuked. Homebases captured. I walked away from Season 3 with no rewards, low conquest kredits, no gold boxes, and no ability to purchase much from the seasonal store. That means no new ships or commanders for me at the start of S4, and no extra Nova for pulls.
I’ve tried to play fair and low-profile, to experience the game like an average player—no shortcuts. But yeah, I fumbled. So if you’re wondering why my Season 4 content comes in a bit slow, now you know. Luckily, I still have a few volunteers who help test and verify things, so we’ll manage.
Season 3 Community Feedback – Impressive
There was an official feedback thread on official Discord, and I went ahead and measured the pulse of the community. Here’s the result:
Some might look at this and say, “Wow, that’s a mess.” But I actually think it’s amazing. It shows the community is deeply engaged—complaining, suggesting, brainstorming. That’s the real sign of a living game. The real trouble starts when players stop complaining altogether and show signs of indifference—that’s when you know something’s wrong.
What CCP Games will do with it, though? No clue. Maybe they’ll toss it to ChatGPT to measure sentiment or turn it into a backlog. I saved the full 45-page thread and plan to read through everything. There’s value in those voices. I’ll see if any trends emerge and turn them into something useful. Should be fun.
Season 4 Breakdown – Let’s Set Expectations
Here’s the official announcement text:
Veteran Season Highlights
A larger, more dynamic battlefield!
Commanders from both Season 2 and the Veteran Season will enter a unified, expanded matchmaking pool—face off against more opponents and adapt to evolving strategies. Server 2008, 3001, 3002 will be the first servers to enter the Veteran Season.Rapid development, instant readiness!
All Commanders will start at level 10, directly entering combat-ready.
Two fleet slots (including Deputy Commanders) will be unlocked by default, for faster development and expansion.
A large boost in starting resources helps build your Homebase faster and secure a head start.Battle is the only path to progress!
After reaching Commander level 45, EXP can only be gained through PVP battles—hone your combat skills to climb further!Update Preview | Sneak Peek at Upcoming Features
We’re also excited to preview two brand-new systems coming in future updates to make your battlefield strategies even deeper:◆ Rally Platform – Strategic Focal Point for Teams
A new structure, the Rally Platform, is coming soon! Exclusive to corps, it functions within a 2-grid radius centered on a structure. It automatically adapts its form based on the terrain it’s placed on, making it ideal for critical chokepoints like Stargates or narrow passages —focusing the battle and intensifying the standoff. Upgrading the platform unlocks buffs for corp member fleets stationed on it—especially effective for defense.◆ Grid Requisition – Enhanced corporation coordination
To help corps better organize battlefield construction, we’re introducing the Grid Requisition system. Designated grids can be pre-assigned for future corp structures. Once captured, they automatically become available for corps to use. If the grid has already been captured by a corp member, the system will request consent for transfer to its ownership to the corp—enabling the construction of key strategic structures.Smoother Season Progression
Based on player feedback, we’ve shortened the durations of certain slower-paced seasonal missions, helping you focus more on engaging battles and cooperative gameplay for a tighter, more rewarding seasonal rhythm.Update Time: 2025.05.27 UTC 3:00 AM Servers Affected: All servers
Balance Adjustments:
When you are a Starter, Your Commanders can instantly equip Implants/Rigs when acquiring them, and you can change Implants/Rigs for commanders/ships even while in a moving fleet.Deep Space Data Archaeology: Reduced the drop rate of Industrial Materials. Increased the drop rate and quantity of Data Core Fragments.
Second Assembly Array: Cooldown of replacing the Reserve Fleet reduced to 8 hours. Significantly increased components manufacturing speed.
Chief Commanders who join the Veteran Season from S2 universes for the first time will receive a +10,000/hour bonus to all four core resource yields.
Optimized the tooltips of using Construction Speed-ups.
We will gradually enhance some ships and commanders from Season 1 and Season 2. The specific list will be announced in future updates.Event Updates:
After the update, all Chief Commanders with Headquarters Level ≥ 5 will gain access to the Capsuleer Commemoration Week event for 2 weeks (see event announcement for details soon).
And let me cut through the marketing right away: phrases like “Command the New Battlefield” or “A larger, more dynamic battlefield!” do not mean a new or bigger map. The map will remain exactly the same—static layout, with all your favorite tiles sitting right where you left them.
What the devs actually mean is that new strategic opportunities are being added—fresh layers of interaction and conflict, not geographic expansion.
Veteran Season – aka Season 4
Speaking of the Veteran Season (which most just call Season 4), that name showed up in promo materials, and honestly, it makes sense. This is the fourth season for many of us early players, and the devs seem to be following a seasonal model familiar from other games.
Effectively, the first two seasons act as a long tutorial arc—around 2-3 months in total. I expect they’ll shorten that duration over time. During these early stages, you gradually learn the game (or catch up by reading my guides, hehe), and as a F2P player you can rack up about ~100k Nova, which is enough to build a few solid 2–3 star fleets.
Related: Looking for proven setups? Check out my top 10 fleets from each season
Then comes the real game—the veteran field. Sounds intimidating, but it’s not as bad as it seems. Since ships cap out at 5 stars, veterans don’t have uncatchable advantages. Their edge lies more in the variety of ships and commanders they’ve accumulated—not power creep. Plus, I’m confident new units will keep entering the rotation, shaking up the meta and leveling the field between newcomers and long-timers.
Season 2 Server Merges with Season 3
Now this has been the hot topic on Discord the past few days. The decision to merge Server 2008 (Season 2) with S3001 and S3002 caused quite a stir. Some players from 2008 are understandably worried about being overwhelmed and missing out on rewards.
While I can’t speak for the reward outcomes, there’s one thing worth highlighting, passive resource income will get a significant buff: +10k/hour across all resources. Yes, that’s a pretty strong advantage in the early days. Add to that the announced reductions in manufacturing times and the new season-specific buffs, and you’ve got a much faster growth curve than previous seasons had.
Let’s clear up the structure: yes, it’s a single merged server combining S2008, S3001, and S3002. I reached out to the devs for clarification on why S2 was slotted between two heavy-hitting S3 groups, and here’s what they said:
“In server mergers like this, we do not simply combine one S2 server with one S3 server. This helps avoid direct confrontations between S2 and S3 servers. When multiple S2 or S3 servers are involved, S2 players actually gain more strategic flexibility—such as choosing allies or timing their entry into the battlefield. Our intention is also to ensure that S2 players won’t have to wait too long for a suitable merger with another S2 server. We hope players can understand and appreciate this consideration.”
So effectively, S2 is positioned as a wildcard—a potential kingmaker that could tip the balance for either of the S3 power blocs. While some might worry about a “let’s crush the rookies first” scenario, the reality is more nuanced. I peeked into one of the major S3 corp discords and saw that a top S2008 representative is already sitting in diplomatic channels, actively participating in the planning phase. They’re not being sidelined—they’re being welcomed.
For now, the general stance from many S3 leaders seems respectful: treat the new arrivals as partners, not targets. Of course, once the season actually starts, anything can happen. And who knows—maybe the first to unlock the lowsec gate won’t be a veteran at all, but that “rookie” from 2008 with the boosted stats.
Fast Start, Hard Stop
You’re getting more than just a fresh start this season. Players will kick off with extra starting resources (number unknown), two fleets with deputy commander slots unlocked, and all commanders starting at level 10. On top of that, rigs and implant slots are fully unlocked right from the start—no need to reach level 20 or construct your Homebase before things get going.
Update: this will be applied on a next day, 27.05.2025., after season’s star.
At first, this boosted start felt a bit much. I even grumbled about the early game bonuses—reduced component production time and stamina discounts were great in Season 1 for learning the ropes and fixing mistakes. But in later seasons, they ramp up the pace so much that you end up glued to your screen for hours, just trying to hit resource caps before you can pause.
That said, when you break it down, level 10 commanders only save you a few captures. It’s really just skipping the easy parts. You’ll get to level 6 tiles quicker—and probably lose, because you don’t have a control tower up yet hahaha.
In other words, you hit the wall sooner. Fewer clicks, quicker losses, and maybe even time for a quick bathroom break. Silver linings.
Also, my ridiculous strategy of stretching the starter bonus to a full 240 hours (yes, 10 days) just got even better🤪
No More PvE Cheese – Time to Bleed for EXP
Another major change: PvE progression now caps at level 45. To reach level 50, you’re forced into PvP.
The grind is real. You’ll need 47.44 million EXP to go from 45 to 50. An average win gets you about 140k EXP, while a loss gives 10k. Let’s round it VERY optimistically to 120k per match.
That’s 395 PvP victories. About 6,000 stamina. For 2 commanders…
Now multiply that if you want five commander pairs to hit level 50. You’re looking at over 2,000 wins and deleting at least 60 million ships from enemy fleets. Since EXP is tied directly to damage dealt, no shortcuts with draw-Vexor fights—you’ll be lucky to get 8k EXP from those.
Update: Players from other servers and earlier seasons have reported that this feature has been released on their realms as well—not just on the newly merged Veteran servers.
New Toys, New Rules – Season 4 Starts Here
New season, new mechanics. Here’s what’s on the radar.
Rally Platform: Your New Forward Operation Base
Rally Platform—is a new corp structure that functions within a 2-grid radius. It dynamically adapts to the terrain where it’s placed, making it useful for controlling chokepoints like Stargates or narrow map passages.
It’s still unclear whether you can place it over existing structures or merge it. Here’s what it looks like:
Dev confirmation: you can transfer fleets to it, so it’s not just decorative—it can serve as a mobile staging ground. Think of it like a forward operations base (FOB). Drop one about 8 tiles from an enemy structure and launch waves without the hassle of building fields of outposts, handy!
Costs and timers haven’t been revealed yet, but corps can have two active platforms at once. Fleets stationed there will gain buffs as the platform is upgraded. While it’s marketed more for defense, we’ll see how it functions once live.
Comrade, That Tile Now Belongs to the Corp
There’s nothing worse than seeing a mess of outposts blocking a proper strategic gate buildup. Players often build with zero coordination.
To help clean up the battlefield, devs are introducing the Grid Requisition system. Corps can now pre-mark key tiles for future structure use. Once the tile is captured (by anyone), it automatically begins the preselected corp construction.
If the tile is captured by an individual member, the system will request a transfer (aka expropriation) to corp ownership—allowing for proper use in strategic builds instead of personal clutter. A small but important step toward structured warfare.
Across the past seasons, I’ve created a bunch of strategic layouts for building up defense lines or offense camps—like this one:
Now that we have much smoother corporation coordination tools, maybe it’s time to put together a proper guide and share some of these layouts in detail. If you think that’s something worth doing, let me know in the comments.
Control the Clock, Control the War
Moving on—some good news. The devs have shortened the duration of certain slow-paced seasonal missions. No details yet on which ones, or by how much. My guess? It’s the level 9 Stargate unlocks and the Jita station capture—those missions used to last around 9 days and often led to long turtling or players just dropping activity altogether.
Personally, I think developers should go even further and hand partial control of season pacing to the players. Imagine if capturing a regional station gave the CEO the ability to propose ending a mission early. If all corps holding regional stations agreed, the timer could be skipped. That would introduce a new layer of political gameplay—your vote becomes leverage. You could stall for time, trade that vote for favors, or even spark a new war—just cap someone’s regional to press that blasted button. Why not?
Regionals are no longer just about passive income—they’re now key strategic assets that can influence how the season unfolds.
New Ships, Commanders, and Global Event
There’s not much detail yet, but a few things have leaked. The “Trailblazer tribute” commander (in your character profile photo picker) is apparently just a placeholder, so we’re definitely getting someone new.
More importantly, a new event called Capsuleer Commemoration Week is coming soon. It’s a 2-week event, and anyone with a level 5+ Homebase will automatically trigger it. The reward is a new ship: the Tornado. My Slavic New Eden friends used to joke, “Tornadoo naaadooo?” No idea what it means—but hey, try it and see what happens! The best part is that this event will be available on all servers and seasons.
Another ship is expected during Season 4: the Megatron. No official info yet, but given the “Veteran Season” theme, my guess is it’ll also arrive via a special event. Fanfest hinted at this—maybe intentionally, maybe not. Just speculation, but worth keeping an eye on.
150 Seats, 250 Players – Good Luck With That
Unfortunately, we got confirmation: the Season 4 server starts with the same 150-player corporation limit. Which means everything players built over the last season—team formations, agreements, and coordination—gets shattered in just four days.
I’ve seen this happen twice already—it brings massive overhead, endless corp management, and a load of frustration for those in reserve groups. Those 100 extra players miss out on major corp gifts, Nova rewards from station captures, capacitor penalty, mining juicy 8s, and corp-based resource boosts.
Community sentiment is pretty clear: set a limit, sure—but make the end-of-season cap match the start-of-season cap. Otherwise it just penalizes active corps who organized well.
So when does the new Season 4 or Veteran Season start?
May 26, 2025, Monday at 10:00 UTC is the official launch time for the newly merged server that combines S3001, S3002, and S2008.
Not exactly ideal timing. The first 72 hours of the new season are absolutely critical—progression bonuses, tile rushes, Nova grinding, and early positioning battles all hit at once. Launching this right at the start of a work week? Bit of a misfire. Make it Friday evening instead, and players could at least burn through a sleepless Saturday night and use the weekend to hit all caps and limits.
Final thoughts
So what do we have here? Over the last three weeks—especially post-Fanfest—I’ve seen a lot of promising changes. We’re heading in a good direction. Sure, a few things still need work, but we’re getting there.
Season 4 promises to be engaging. Many elements are still in players’ hands, and the outcome depends heavily on how we use the tools provided and manage social dynamics.
Before warping off, check my seasonal guides to refresh your memory and make sure you’ve collected all the rewards and are ready to roll. Here’s a list of guides you might find handy:
- Everything about Seasons Resets in Eve Galaxy Conquest
- Maximize your seasonal rewards
- Early Season Fleets Guide
- Tile Capture Strategy by Levels
And if any of this helped you out, feel free to support my work—it keeps this whole operation running.
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