Planetside 2: Esacalation launches today and developer Daybreak is touting it as one of the biggest updates in the MMO shooter's seven-year history, focusing on the Outfit, Planetside 2's clan, with a new armament system, a new battlefield for three-way battles between Outfits, and most importantly, a giant ship they can deploy over Auraxis.

The Bastion Fleet Carrier is a beastly battleship that takes some doing to summon. Instead, the outfit must work together to gather the necessary resources by occupying and maintaining territory. These resources can be processed into ship parts, and once enough resources are committed, the carrier can be put into battle.

Every ship needs a captain, in which case the captain pilots the ship and the other players can operate the turrets or board the next battle. Up to 48 players can be crammed into the ship. The Bastion contributes to the Empire's war effort when flying over the battle zone, serves as a spawn point for the entire force, and is equipped with artillery systems and interceptor missile launch platforms. In addition, since it is limited to one aircraft per faction, you cannot summon your own Bastion if another outfit on your side has already called one in.

To defeat a Bastion, all of its eight weaknesses must be destroyed. The weak points are protected by a regeneration shield, but can be repaired.

Outfits can also fight offworld; in Outfit Wars, players can engage in a three-way battle on a map in the middle of an asteroid belt. Before they can do so, however, they must enlist and qualify for the battle by claiming territory and earning the most points.

The escalation will also introduce a new neutral hangout zone, Sanctuary, with a marketplace, rare weapons and items for sale, outfit services, and other things to browse when you want to get away from the incessant war. Speaking of constant war, Daybreak has adjusted how imperial power is gained as the war progresses.

EU servers will go down at 4 am GMT and are expected to be down for 16 hours. North American and Asian servers will go down at 9 am PDT but will be back up in 4 hours. Once the servers are back up, we will be able to fight for resources and summon warships. It has been many years since I died many, many times in the battle of Auraxis, but the lure of a large floating fortress armed with guns is very strong.