Added in the Havoc expansion, Insurgencies are a core part of Faction warfare gameplay and add a third faction to both the Gallente-Caldari and Minmatar-Amarr warzones by including the Guristas Pirates and Angel Cartel as active participants.
Insurgent Factions
| Faction | FW Corporation |  At War With
| |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Guristas Pirates |
Commando Guri |
Caldari State |
Gallente Federation |
Angel Cartel |
Malakim Zealots |
Amarr Empire |
Minmatar Republic |
Both the Guristas Pirates and Angel Cartel are participants in Faction Warfare alongside the 4 Empire Militia of New Eden's major Empires. Like the Empire factions, both pirate factions have an NPC Faction Warfare corporation that players can pledge themselves to. The Guristas fight under the Commando Guri and are at war with the Gallente Federation and the Caldari State. The Angel Cartel fights under the Malakim Zealots and is at war with the Minmatar Republic and the Amarr Empire. This means Guristas militia players and Angel Cartel militia players are fully legal targets in high security space without CONCORD intervention, for Gallente and Caldari militia players, and Minmatar and Amarr militia players, respectively. The pirate faction militia players will also be chased by Empire faction navy in high security space owned by Empires they are at war with.
Joining an Insurgent Faction
The enlistment process for either of the pirate militias works in the same way as Empire militia enlistment. Players may pledge themselves to a pirate faction by going to any station controlled by said faction. To do so, the character will need an unmodified standing of at least 0.0 with the faction.
The enlistment menu for the pirate factions can be found via the Neocom, under the Activities>Insurgencies tab.
Guristas Pirate stations can be found in the region of Venal.
Angel Cartel stations can be found in the regions of Curse and Fountain.
Insurgency
Insurgencies run their course in multiple phases and are centered around a central low security Faction Warfare system near a current frontline system. It is this Insurgency spawn system that acts as a hub for pirate activity due to the spawning of a pirate Forward Operating Base (also referred to as a Pirate FOB, or just FOB). From here, the pirate faction militia launches a daring raid into Empire space. Despite insurgencies originating in low security Faction Warfare space, it is possible for them to spread to nearby high security systems, inflicting a number of changes (see below).
The initial Forecasting phase of the Insurgency lasts for approximately 48 hours and will signal to all players where the pirate FOB will spawn and which 4 systems will be included as the starting point for the Insurgency. During Forecasting, no Insurgency sites will spawn and the pirate FOB is invulnerable. However, pirate faction militia players may still dock at the FOB or use the Zarzakh shipcaster to travel to it. This phase offers the pirate militia an opportunity to stage ships and material for their coming raid, and Empire militia the chance to shore up their defenses to beat back the coming storm.
Following the Forecasting Phase, the Active phase of the Insurgency begins and Insurgency gameplay content will start in earnest. Insurgency Faction Warfare sites spawn and players can increase Corruption or Suppression status (see below) of the Insurgency systems by completing gameplay content for the pirate or Empire militias respectively.
Victory Conditions
- See also: Ambition modifier
An insurgency lasts a maximum of 2 weeks from its start date. In this time, the Empire militias will strive to fully suppress enough Insurgency systems according to their Ambition modifier. If they succeed in this goal, the pirate FOB will become vulnerable and will be open to attack. The pirate FOB features a single 24-hour reinforcement timer (with some jitter). Should the FOB be destroyed after this reinforcement cycle, all affected Insurgency systems will immediately increase their Suppression by one level (up to a maximum of 5), and the Insurgency will be ended as a win for the anti-pirate Empire militias and enter its wind-down phase.
However, should the pirates fully corrupt enough systems according to their own Ambition modifier, they will take temporary control of the system in which the FOB spawned and win the Insurgency for the pirate side. Once the Insurgency ends and the pirates "surrender" their controlled system to its previous Empire owner, the local infrastructure hub will become vulnerable after 24 hours and one downtime, with an overtime jitter of a few hours. This presents the opportunity for either Empire militia of the warzone in question to quickly flip a previously hostile system to their own side following a pirate Insurgency victory, by destroying the infrastructure hub. As such, the Insurgency system offers opportunities for rapid and dynamic frontline changes at the heart of the warzone.
Any player who contributes to either Insurgency Corruption (as a pirate) or Suppression (as anti-pirate Empire militia) will receive a large payout of ISK and Loyalty Points at the Insurgency's conclusion if their respective side has won. If Empire or pirates do not reach their Suppression or Corruption goals, the Insurgency will end in a tie with no bonus payout for any side.
Winning an Insurgency for the pirate or Empire side will always add 1 to that side's Ambition modifier, making it so that side has to fully Corrupt or Suppress one additional system to achieve their win condition in the next Insurgency, up to a maximum of 20 systems (with an Ambition modifier of +15). Similarly, losing an Insurgency as the side with increased Ambition will take away 1 from the modifier, down to a minimum of 5 systems.
Corruption and Suppression
- Main article: Corruption and Suppression
Completing Insurgency activities for either the Pirates or the Empires will add to a system's Corruption or Suppression meter respectively. Each level of System Corruption or Suppression affects the system's security posture or adds effects to the system. Once a system reaches Corruption level 3, an adjacent system with a security status between 0.0 and 0.8 will become vulnerable to the Insurgency and will begin spawning sites. If there are no adjacent systems that are valid choices for Corruption or Suppression, then the Insurgency will spread to a random valid system adjacent to the Insurgency.
Insurgency Activities
| Activity | Description | Group Size | Spawns at Corruption Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate Outpost Raid | Players attack or defend corporate structures defended by Mordus Legion NPCs | 1-5 players | 0+ |
| Mining Op Ambush | Players attack or defend an ORE Rorqual that pirate forces have tackled | 1-10 players | 1+ |
| Ice Refinery Heist | Players must escort fuel tankers to either a pirate loading scaffold or an ORE fuel loading dock | 5-30 players | 3-4 |
| Pirate Laundering Facilities | Pirate-aligned players can submit special loot items for reward crates | 1 or more players | Pirate FOB system |
| Counter-Insurgency Outposts | Empire-aligned players can submit special loot items for reward crates | 1 or more players | War HQ system |
Insurgencies generate Insurgency Sites that influence a system's Corruption or Suppression.
Completing activities for the Insurgency or the Empires adds to a system's Corruption or Suppression level respectively. Some activities may only spawn at later corruption stages, in pirate FOB systems or in systems with an Empire Interstellar Shipcaster.
Corporate Outpost Raid
The Corporate Outpost Raid is similar to standard Faction Warfare Complexes. Pirate militia players can capture the site by destroying the Mordu's Legion NPC rats and remaining inside the capture point until the capture timer has fully ticked down. Anti-pirate Empire militia players can do the same by destroying the Pirate Faction NPCs and ticking down the capture point.
The Corporate Outpost Raid comes in a variety of complex sizes and is functionally equivalent to the Advanced sites of Faction Warfare. They allow appropriately sized Tech 1, Navy Empire, Pirate and Tech 2 hulls to participate.
Mining Op Ambush
The Mining Op Ambush sees a friendly ORE Rorqual tackled by pirate NPCs. The pirate militia players must fend off the Mordu's Legion Mercenaries that arrive to protect the Rorqual until the Rorqual NPC pays off its ransom, completing the site with an LP payout and added system Corruption. The Rorqual can be destroyed, removing an LP payout but allowing it to be looted and maintaining the system Corruption increase.
The Empire militia players must destroy the ransoming pirate NPCs harassing the Rorqual until it is able to warp off and leave the site, completing it with an LP payout and added system Suppression.
The Mining Ambush - while designed with well-fit cruisers in mind - is an open site, meaning any ship can enter. Its LP payout is shared up to 10 players, after which the reward is diminished.
Ice Refinery Heist
The Ice Refinery Heist has players escort automated Fuel tankers to their score zone while preventing the opposing team from doing the same. In this Insurgency Deadspace site, Empire- and Pirate-aligned players arrive near their respective scoring zones and must fly to the Ore Ice Refinery where the automated transports spawn. The transports must be escorted back to a team's scoring zone while the opposing team attempts to intercept and steal the transport for themselves.
The first faction that deposits/escorts 10 tankers to their base wins. NPC's do full damage. Capsuleers should be prepared to receive a high amount of damage. Upon defeating an NPC wave, repeated waves will follow until site completion. Pirates that get to close to the NPC Upwell Thunderchild ships will be destroyed.
Pirate Laundering Facilities and Counter Insurgency Outposts
Once an Insurgency system reaches certain Corruption or Suppression thresholds, roaming Empire or Pirate NPCs will begin warping around the system. These sometimes include rare named NPCs which can be killed for loot that is to be turned in for reward crates. Pirates can do so at Pirate Laundering Facilities found in the FOB system, while Empire players can turn in their loots at Counter Insurgency Outposts found in their faction's War HQ system. War HQ systems for the respective militias are Mehatoor (Amarr), Onnamon (Caldari), Intaki (Gallente), Amo (Minmatar).
Small Advanced 1-2 players (I.E Guristas Small Outpost Raid ADV-1)
10 Minute capture timer.
Open to: Tech 2 and below Destroyer-sized ships or smaller.
Pirate-Aligned pre-tax base reward is LP 29,000.
Small site completion contributes 0.2% to Suppression/Corruption.
Medium Advanced 1-5 players
15 Minute capture timer.
Open to: Tech 2 and below Cruiser-sized ships or smaller, as well as Tech 3 Destroyers.
Pirate-Aligned pre-tax base reward is LP 41,500.
Medium site completion contributes 0.5% to Suppression/Corruption.
Large Advanced 1-5 players
15 Minute capture timer.
Open to: All Battleship-sized ships or smaller.
Pirate-Aligned pre-tax base reward is LP 52,500.
Large site completion contributes 1% to Suppression/Corruption.
External links
- https://www.eveonline.com/news/view/havoc-expansion-notes - Introduced Insurgencies
- https://www.eveonline.com/news/view/havoc-update-set-goals-pull-off-heists - Added Ice Refinery Heists
- https://www.eveonline.com/news/view/equinox-expansion-notes - Equinox Expansion balanced Insurgency spawns towards Frontline systems rather than Rearguard systems
Patch History
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2025-09-09 Version 23.01 Release 2025-09-09.1 ( Legion Major Update) Patch notes
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