User:Crimson herring

Upwell Structures are player-built structures that can be anchored in space to provide services to capsuleers. Beginning with Citadels in the Citadel expansion (April 2016), these new structures are intended to as a complete overhaul of the previous structure system, replacing Outposts and Player Owned Starbases. Ships can dock in a suitable large Upwell Structure, and Upwell Structures provide hanger space

Anchoring

Main article: Anchoring structures

Upwell Structures are anchored from ships with a packaged structure in its cargo hold. They can be anchored nearly anywhere in space, expect certain important systems, too close to to other structures or asteroid belts, or in deadspace pockets. To anchor a system, a player must have the Station Manager or Director role in their corporation. Once a position is selected, a structure takes 24 hours to anchor, after which it becomes vulnerable immediately for 15 minutes, and must be defended.

Fitting

Upwell Structures have a fitting screen much like ships. Each structure has a number of high, mid, low, and rig slots, which can be filled with station modules. Like ships, high slots are primarily for weapons and some remote assistance modules. Mid slots primarily fit electronic warfare and remote assistance modules, while low slots fit passive and engineering modules. Rigs offer bonuses that specialize the stations operation. In addition, Upwell Structures can fit new service modules, which provide station services to players docked in the structure, but require fuel to put and keep online.

Tethering

Tethering is a feature unique to Upwell Structures. Any players with dock permission will tether to the structure if they are within 10 km of the docking ring, preventing them from being targeted and repairing any damage to the ship or drones.

Combat

Vulnerability

Upwell Structures can be attacked and destroyed by other players or corporations. To offset the difficulty in constantly needing to defend a static structure, Upwell Structures can only be attacked in a specific vulnerability window. The size of this window varies with the type and size of the structure.

Once an attack is launched, the structure enters a "repair" state with a shorter timer than the vulnerability window. If the timer for the repair window ticks to zero, the structure reenters the vulnerability state. If the vulnerability timer also expires, the structure repairs completely, setting hull, armor, and shield layers to their maximum values.

If the attackers succeed in depleting either the shield or the armor layer, the structure enters an invulnerability state, allowing the defenders to reinforce. This reinforcement phase lasts 24 hours after destroying the shields, and in known space, another 6 days after destroying the armor. In wormhole space, the timer for both invulnerable states is 24 hours, to account for the increased difficulty in sustaining offensive operations. If the attackers succeed in depleting the structure hit points, the structure is immediately destroyed.

Weapons

While Upwell Structures will require a defense fleet to turn away most serious attacks, the structures themselves are not entirely defenseless, and can be fitted with a variety of offensive modules to assist the defending fleet.