CCP Games has announced EVE Online: Quantum Rise, a new expansion pack for its massively multiplayer online role playing game set in outer space. Like the eight other expansion packs that have preceded it, Quantum Rise will be a free add-on for all EVE Online subscribers. EVE Online costs $14.95 per month to play.

Set in the far reaches of the universe millennia from now, gold to wow EVE Online tells the story of humanity¡¯s colonization of a far-off galaxy. Mankind now occupies hundreds of solar systems, roughly divided into four playable factions who war and skirmish with each other, interact and trade, face off against pirates and more. EVE Online is a very open-ended game in which you, as the pilot of a massive starship, travel from point to point, running missions, hauling cargo, mining or manufacturing, or participating in sometimes massive fleet battles.

One thing that separates EVE Online from other online games is that all of the activities of users worldwide takes place on a ¡°single shard¡± server. Unlike World of Warcraft, for example, where players square off on individual servers that may house a few hundred players, eve isk every EVE Online player is part of the same online experience, and tens of thousands of gamers occupy the same space at the same time.

New to this expansion pack is the addition of new technology that CCP Games, the game¡¯s developer, says will reduce lag time. Also new is weapon linking, continuation of graphics updates first made in the Trinity expansion pack, and changes to autopilot routes and avoidance techniques.