CCP has announced the release of EVE Online: Tyrannis, the 13th consecutive free expansion for its massively multiplayer online game EVE Online. The update is available when you log on to EVE Online from your Mac or PC, and will automatically be installed.

EVE Online is an MMO set in outer space, where you are a “capsuleer” – the pilot of an interstellar spacecraft allied with one of four human factions occupying different parts of a galaxy on the far side of the Universe, in a time many millennia from now. You can harvest minerals from asteroids in space; carry out trade missions; manufacture goods; command armadas in pitched battles against other players and much more.

Tyrannis makes significant game changes to EVE Online, for the first time making it possible for capsuleers to control what goes on on the surface of the planets they orbit around. Players can now scan surfaces of planets, place structures on them, and develop resources that they can then use to profit from.

EVE Gate also makes its debut commensurate with the Tyrannis release. EVE Gate is a Web-based front end and social interaction framework for EVE Online players. Initially EVE Gate will let players review mail sent to them from other players (or non-player characters) in the game, and also lets players check calendars and post updates to contacts, along with corporations and alliances.

CCP also plans to provide more options for software to access the EVE Online application programming interface (API), to further the development of applications that connect with EVE, such as the already-available monitoring apps that help users check on what’s happening in-game from a Mac, PC, iPhone and other devices.

Other changes include the expansion of in-game landmarks, the return of live events, and more.