Faction warfare

This page should be updated due to game changes.
Reason: System upgrades and all rewards details need updates according to the significant changes from the Loyalty to Lowsec and Uprising updates, and the Allegiance Update Version 21.03 March 14, 2023.

This page deals primarily with the mechanics of faction warfare. For tips on how best to take advantage of these mechanics, see Faction warfare strategy and tactics.

Faction warfare (FW) is a game mechanic whereby you can sign up to fight for one of the four empire factions (against its enemy faction) for control over certain areas of low-sec space. It was first introduced in the Empyrean Age expansion (2008) to offer players a stepping-stone into player-vs-player (PvP) gameplay. In 2022, the Uprising expansion made sweeping changes across many Faction Warfare mechanics, and the Havoc expansion (2023) added the ability to enlist with the Guristas and Angels pirate militias to fight against the empires and participate in Insurgencies.

Faction warfare is primarily centered around two war zones (areas of low-sec contested by two empires): the Amarr-Minmatar war zone and the Caldari-Gallente war zone, which each are located on the border of the two respective empires. In these war zones, players who participate in Factional Warfare attempt to conquer star systems for their empire, and are rewarded with loyalty points and increased faction standings for their efforts. Additionally, as players who participate in Factional Warfare are effectively at war with one of the four empire factions in the game, they can therefore attack (and be attacked by) players fighting for the enemy faction anywhere in New Eden, as well as fight the enemy NPC faction navies (who patrol the high-sec star systems belonging to their faction). In addition to fighting their rival empire militia, players who participate in Factional Warfare are also at war with one of the two pirate militias as part of the Pirate Insurgency. Members of the Amarr and Minmatar militias are at war with the Angel Cartel, while members of the Caldari and Gallente militias are fighting the Guristas Pirates. In insurgency warzones, empire militia members can capture plexes to increase Suppression, and pirate militia members can capture plexes to increase Corruption.

Joining Factional Warfare

There are two ways to join Factional Warfare (the game calls this "enlisting"): join as a solo player, or join as part of a player corporation or alliance. You do not need to be a part of Faction warfare to fight those who are enlisted.

EVE University is now able to participate in Factional Warfare!!

Joining as a solo player

Join Factional Warfare through the Militia Office window in a station belonging to the empire you wish to fight for (in this example, the Caldari).

Any player can join Factional Warfare provided that their standings towards the empire faction (e.g. the Gallente Federation or the Caldari State) they wish to fight for are 0.0 or greater. Note that only raw, unmodified standings (i.e. without taking the effects of skills like  Social into account) count; you can check your standings on your character page.

You can enlist at any station belonging to the empire or pirate faction you wish to fight for by opening the "Militia Office" window (from the NeoCom or the Station Services window) for empire militias, and by opening the Insurgencies window (from the Activities section of the Neocom) for pirate militias. Note that even though the Khanid Kingdom and the Ammatar Mandate are affiliated with the Amarr Empire, they do not count as being a part of it, and therefore you cannot join Factional Warfare from their stations.

A player enlisting while a member of an NPC corporation will leave that corporation, and automatically join one of the six faction militia corporations (NPC-run corporations which are populated exclusively by other players enlisted in Factional Warfare for a given empire):

• Amarr: 24th Imperial Crusade
• Caldari: State Protectorate
• Gallente: Federal Defence Union
• Minmatar: Tribal Liberation Force
• Angel Cartel: Malakim Zealots
• Guristas Pirates: Commando Guri

Joining as a solo player happens immediately. These militia corporations have NPC agents working for them, which offer missions to pilots enlisted with their respective faction.

Direct Enlistment

An unaligned corporation may allow individuals to Direct Enlist in Factional Warfare without enlisting the entire corporation. If corporation settings allow for it, members of the same corporation can join opposing factions, becoming legal Militia War Targets to each other. Corporation leadership can limit the factions that members are able to join in order to prevent corpmates from becoming war targets to each other, to focus on aiding a specific faction, or for any other reason. With Direct Enlistment enabled, corporation members may enlist and unenlist in faction warfare at will with any faction that their corporation allows for and that they have sufficient standing to enlist with.

Enlisting or retiring individually using Direct Enlistment happens immediately. Once you have Retired from a FW militia you may not enlist in FW again for 24 hours, after which time you may re-enlist at will.

Joining as a corporation

The CEO or Director of a corporation can enlist their entire corporation (i.e. all their members) to Factional Warfare, and the executor of an alliance may do so on behalf of the alliance. If part of an alliance the corporation retains the decision to join Faction Warfare, so an Alliance can not prevent a member corporation from joining. However, due to wars being shared between alliances and their member corps, if a corp joins a militia, the entire alliance is enlisted as well. It is recommended that, if the alliance does not wish to be enlisted, corps who want to participate in Faction Warfare should either leave their alliance or enable Direct Enlistment so their members can freely join a militia. While individual pilots can join and leave the militias at any time, corporations and alliances will have to wait some time before they are joined into the warfare and may fight on behalf of their chosen empire. As with solo players, the corporation must have a standing of 0.0 of greater towards the empire they wish to fight for (corporation standings are an average of its all members' individual standings, see corporation standings for more details). Enlisting a corporation takes effect after the next downtime.

Players must be in a corporation flagged for Factional Warfare to participate. There is no way for an individual in a FW corp to opt out – if the corporation changes their flag to join the militia, every member of that corporation automatically joins with the corp.

Third-partying

It is possible for third parties (those not enrolled in Faction warfare directly) to fight those who are. Sliding into a complex or aggressing a capsuleer enrolled in faction warfare will generally give a Suspect Timer (see that page for exceptions). It will also decrease security status and decrease standing with the targeted faction. Third-parties will not receive Faction warfare rewards like Loyalty Points (LP).

Third-partying on faction warfare is a common way to find PvP content in lowsec space for those not enrolled in Faction warfare themselves, such as EVE University members.

A long, long time ago...

The Amarr and the Caldari fight against the Minmatar and the Gallente. Before the Allegiance update (patch notes 2023-03-14.1), the Amarr and the Caldari were allied (as were the Minmatar and the Gallente), which meant that pilots fighting for (for instance) the Gallente were able to help their Minmatar allies fight against the Amarr (with the exception of infrastructure hubs), and attack (and be attacked by) pilots fighting for the Amarr as well as the Caldari. Additionally, that same pilot was attacked by the NPC faction navies of the Amarr and the Caldari when entering their high-sec space.

War zones

Factional Warfare revolves around two conflicts, one between the Amarr and the Minmatar, and the other between the Caldari and the Gallente. The majority of the actions take place in two areas of low-security space, each of which is contested by two empires, known as "war zones".

The Amarr-Minmatar war zone extends into parts of the Devoid, Bleak Lands, Heimatar and Metropolis regions, while the Caldari-Gallente war zone extends into parts of the Black Rise, Citadel, Essence, Verge Vendor, and Placid regions. The high-security systems on the borders of the war zones are often used as staging areas (as players fighting for the enemy militia cannot enter them without being attacked by friendly NPC faction navy ships), although many player corporations also use systems inside the war zones themselves as home bases. The core Factional Warfare gameplay of capturing systems and running missions takes place exclusively within the war zones. Dotlan has very useful maps of the war zones.

	Region	Constellations
	Devoid	Semou and Jayai
	The Bleak Lands	Sasen, Tandoiras, and Vaarma
	Heimatar	Hed and Huvilma
	Metropolis	Essin, Tiat, Eugidi, Angils, and Aldodan
	The Citadel	Ieyama and Isoma
	Black Rise	Inolari, Ishaga, Kurala, and Okakuola
	Essence	Jeon and Vieres
	Verge Vendor	Obray and Woenckee
	Placid	Amevync, Pegeler, and Serthoulde

Capturing systems

An illustration of how to capture (or defend) a star system in Factional Warfare (using a system contested by the Amarr and the Minmatar as an example).

The core mechanics of Factional Warfare revolve around capturing and holding star systems in the war zones. This occurs in two steps:

• Attacking and completing complexes ("plexes") in a system to make the system vulnerable to capture.
• Once the system is vulnerable, attack and destroy ("capture") the system's infrastructure hub (also known as an "i-Hub") to capture the system.

A system starts off as "stable" (or "uncontested"). The attacking faction (for instance, pilots flying for the Gallente attacking a Caldari-held system) must first attack and complete complexes in the system (this is known as "offensive plexing"); for each completed complex, the system becomes ever more "contested" (commonly quoted from 0% to 100%, sometimes also measured in victory points). Once a system has become 100% contested, it is listed as "vulnerable", and the attacking faction can then attack the system's infrastructure hub. Once the infrastructure hub is destroyed, the system is considered "lost" and will switch to the attacking faction's control after the next server downtime.

During this time, the defending faction can also complete complexes in the system (this is known as "defensive plexing"); for each completed complex, the system becomes ever less "contested" (or, if it's currently "vulnerable", it will revert to being "contested"), all the way back to "stable".

While a system is "vulnerable" or "lost", the attacking faction may still capture complexes, but they will not get any reward nor affect the system's capture. Additionally, once a system is "vulnerable", the defending faction needs only to capture a few complexes to revert the system to "contested" (and therefore render the infrastructure hub invulnerable again); the attacking faction only create a small "buffer" against this by capturing more complexes while the system is "vulnerable". Similarly, once the defending faction has captured enough complexes to revert a system to "stable", the attacking faction only needs to capture one complex to put the system back to "contested".

Obviously, in addition to the mechanics above, pilots can (and should!) attack the other faction's pilots to stop them from completing their objectives!

Complexes

The layout of a complex. To enter a complex, you must first activate the complex' acceleration gate, which will warp you into the complex at its beacon. In order to capture the complex, you must stay within 30 km of the capture point.

Complexes can be found via the probe scanner.

An overview showing typical Factional Warfare objects.

• Red: Infrastructure hub
• Light blue: Complexes (one medium and one small) which have already been visited
• Orange: Enemy mission beacons

Factional Warfare Complexes, commonly known as "Plexes" (not to be confused with PLEX) are small areas of Deadspace in war zone star systems. They are a type of Cosmic Anomaly, which means that they show up on the system scanner (but do not need scan probes to find), although once someone has warped to a complex, they will also show up on the Overview (even if someone initiated a warp to them, but canceled it immediately).

Like most other Deadspace Complexes, you cannot warp directly into them, but must first use an acceleration gate, after which you will land at the complex' beacon (Open Complexes (see below) do not have an acceleration gate, but are still a deadspace grid); you cannot light a cynosural field inside or on grid outside a complex. As of the Loyalty to Lowsec Update in March 2020, pilots who are not active Faction Warfare participants will have to go suspect in order to take the gate. The gate may be activated from up to 100km away (but warpins are measured from the beacon and may vary as all warps do, so warping at 100km does not guarantee you will be able to slide immediately).

At the center of each complex, a few kilometers away from the beacon, is the capture point (sometimes called a "button"). An NPC ship belonging to the faction controlling the star system defends the complex.

Capturing complexes

In order to capture a complex, you must first clear the area (radius: 30 km) around the capture point of enemy ships. If you're the attacking faction, this includes killing the defending NPC; if you're the defending faction, the NPC will obviously not fire on you, and therefore you shouldn't destroy it (even if it appears as "hostile" on your overview)!. Then you must stay inside the capture radius (within 30 km of the capture point) until the complex' timer has counted down to 0 (you can see how much time is left by selecting the capture point), at which point you will have captured the complex!

An Amarr pilot capturing an Amarr complex ("defensive plexing"). The timer on the capture point shows how much time is left before the complex is captured.

Additional ships from your faction will not make the timer count down faster; if you leave the complex or the capture radius, the timer will pause (but will not reset). If an enemy ship enters the complex, the timer will also pause until ships from only one faction are present in the complex capture radius, and then it will resume counting down. Note that the timers for both factions are additive - so if a Caldari pilot has spent three minutes capturing a complex, and is then destroyed by an incoming Gallente pilot, the Gallente pilot would have to spend an extra three minutes in the complex in order to capture it (in order to "undo the capturing" previously done by the Caldari pilot, so to speak).

No ship can cloak within the capture radius of a complex. Neutral pilots (i.e. pilots who are not enlisted in a militia) can enter a complex, but cannot capture it (their presence doesn't affect the complex' timer).

Once a complex has been captured, it disappears from the scanner/overview and despawns after a few minutes. A new complex of the same size will spawn about 30 minutes after the previous one was captured. On average, there will be one or two complexes of each type in a system. However, if many players have been active in a system recently, it may be the case that, for a brief time, there are no complexes available to capture.

A long, long time ago...
Before the Kronos expansion, ships could cloak within the capture radius of complexes. This not only led plex farmers to fit cloaking devices to their ships (allowing them to cloak and escape at the first sign of danger), but also encouraged players to sit in a cloaked Stealth Bomber inside a complex (to ambush incoming ships).

Complex types

Complexes come in a variety of types. They vary in:

• What kinds of ships are allowed to enter
• What NPC defends them
• How long it takes to capture them
• How many capsuleers the reward scales to

The name of a complex contains all information about its type. Names are formed as:

“

[Rank / Size] + [ADV / NVY] + "-"[Number] OR [Open Complex]

”

• NVY - Short for "Navy". Indicates site only allows T1 and Navy ships to enter, no pirate faction, T2, or T3.
• ADV - Short for "Advanced". Indicates site allows T2 and Pirate Faction ships, and T3 ships in some circumstances. SoCT and Triglavian ships are limited to these complexes.
• Number - This number indicates the number of characters the site reward scales to before reducing loyalty point payout, either 1 or 5.
• Open Complex - This is an open site, a site without restrictions or an acceleration gate, and has a similar defending NPC to large complexes.
• Rank/Size - Controls which ship sizes are allowed in, capture times, and the NPC defenders, according to the following table.

Type	Capture time	Allowed ships	NPC defender
Scout	10 min	Frigates and smaller	Frigate
Small	10 min	Destroyers and smaller	Destroyer
Medium	15 min	Cruisers and smaller	Cruiser
Large	15 min	Battleships and smaller	Battlecruiser
Open	15 min	Unrestricted	Battlecruiser

• As of 2022-12-01, there is conflicting text between patch notes, some in-game site beacon descriptions, and in-game descriptions on acceleration gates. The above sizes come from the patch notes should be correct for T1/T2 pirate/navy/empire ships of all sizes. Strategic Cruisers, Tactical Destroyers, and more esoteric classes like Flag Cruisers may have in-game mechanics that conflict with the patch note descriptions of what can slide.

• Ventures are no longer able to capture Faction Warfare Complexes.

T3 ships are even more limited in their ability enter complexes, only able to enter ADV plexes of a larger size and Open plexes. (For example, a T3 destroyer can enter a Medium ADV or Large ADV plex, but it cannot enter a Small ADV plex like other destroyer-sized ships can. Along this same line, T3 cruisers can only enter Large ADV plexes and Open plexes.

For example, Amarr Medium NVY-5 would indicate a site in an amarr-owned system where the rewards scale to 5 capsuleers, and Tech 1 or Navy ships of size Cruiser or smaller are allowed inside.

While each type of complex contributes the same amount to capturing a system (measured in victory points), capturing larger complexes result in higher rewards. Additionally, capturing complexes in enemy-held systems (offensive plexing) gives higher rewards than capturing complexes in friendly-held systems (defensive plexing).

Complexes are defended by a single NPC (in rare cases, two); it's designed to be killed without too much trouble by a player ship of similar size. Once killed, the NPC defender will respawn after between 90 and 180 seconds for novice and small complexes. In medium and large complexes, the NPC respawns after between 90 and 300 seconds.

Which systems have complexes and which complexes a system has available can both be found in the Agency window under Encounters > Faction Warfare.

Battlefields

Along with normal Complexes, there are also much larger Factional Warfare sites called Battlefields.

Battlefields have a number of unique capture mechanics:

• Battlefields include three separate capture points on grid with each other, with one point in the top middle and the other two approximately 80km on either side.
• Holding a capture point earns capture points for your faction when it ticks down. Reaching 100% progress completes the battlefield.
• Enemy faction NPCs and enemy militia players within 30km of the capture point pause the capture progress.
• Pods cannot capture or hold a point.
• Winning a Battlefield provides 150k Loyalty Points to the winning side up to 30 people, with decreasing amounts of Loyalty Points if over 30 people for that side are on grid.
• Winning a Battlefield provides a very large amount of Advantage to the winning faction's Advantage system level, as well as 2000 Victory Points.

Battlefields also have unique mechanics for capsuleers sliding in. The inside and outside are both full, normal deadspace. The acceleration gate is further off the beacon than normal FW complexes (10-20km), and only allows T1 and Navy ships.

In contrast to normal Faction Warfare complexes, capture points are typically about 75-125km from the landing point for capsuleers who are not enrolled in Faction Warfare. Those enrolled in Faction Warfare may land closer to capture points. There are three landing points: one for each faction, and one for neutral capsuleers.

Battlefields only spawn in frontline systems. There can be up to two battlefields present at any given time. A new battlefield will spawn three hours after one is completed.

Infrastructure Hub

An infrastructure hub ("I-Hub") in space.

The Infrastructure Hub (or "I-Hub") is a structure in space that the attacking faction needs to destroy in order to capture a system. The I-Hub can be found (and be warped to) from the Overview, but can only be damaged if the star system is in a "vulnerable" state, and then only by pilots of the attacking faction (pilots of the defending faction, pilots in an allied militia, or neutral pilots cannot damage the I-Hub).

The I-Hub has 25 million hitpoints (HP), with 7.5M HP each in shield and armor, and 10M HP in structure. This means that a medium-sized fleet is needed to destroy an I-Hub in a reasonable period of time (keeping in mind that its peak shield recharge rate is around 1,700 HP/s, which is the absolute minimum amount of DPS needed to break through its shields). Once the I-Hub is destroyed (technically, once it reaches 1% structure), the system will be "lost" and will switch to being occupied by the attacking faction after the next server downtime.

As explained above, if a system is "vulnerable", and if the defending faction can capture enough complexes, the system will revert back to "contested". The I-Hub will then become invulnerable again, and any damage which the attacking faction has so far managed to do to it is reset. Therefore, while attacking the I-Hub, the attacking faction must also prevent the defending faction from capturing complexes.

The I-Hub is also the place where pilots of the defending faction can donate loyalty points to upgrade the system.

Victory points

Formally, how "contested" a system is is measured in how many victory points have been accumulated by the attacking faction for that system. If the attacking faction has not yet accumulated any victory points for that system, then the system is "stable". Capturing a complex rewards victory points according to the size and type of complex completed; conversely, if the defending faction captures a complex, victory points are subtracted based on the size and type of complex. In order to bring a system to "vulnerable", the attacking faction must accumulate 75000 victory points. Once a system is vulnerable, the attacking faction can continue capturing complexes until they have a "buffer" of victory points; this is to give themselves some breathing room while they attack the I-Hub .

Complex Type	Victory Points Awarded
Scout NVY	25
Small NVY	50
Small ADV	75
Medium NVY	150
Medium ADV	175
Large NVY	250
Large ADV	300
Open	350
Battlefield	2000

A long, long time ago...

Prior to the overhaul to Faction Warfare during the Uprising expansion (2022), capturing a complex (regardless of its size) for the attacking faction rewarded 20 victory points or subtracted 20 victory points for capturing a complex for the defending faction. In order to bring a system to "vulnerable", the attacking faction had to accumulate 3000 victory points (i.e. capture 150 complexes more than the defending faction). Once a system was vulnerable, attackers could continue to earn victory points up to a "buffer" of 100 victory pointsPatch notes: ; the cap on this "buffer" is not documented for post-Uprising Faction Warfare. The Uprising expansion increased the number of victory points needed to accumulate by the attacking faction from 3,000 to 75,000 and changed the number of victory points awarded by completing complexes based on complex size.

Advantage

Advantage in a system makes it easier to capture and defend a system. Having the advantage increases the number of victory points gained when capturing complexes in that system; thus the side with the higher advantage can more effectively defend or capture that system. Advantage can be increased by winning Battlefields, successfully deploying Propaganda Broadcast Structures, or completing Rendezvous Point combat sites. It is also possible to reduce the enemy's advantage in a system by destroying enemy supply caches/depots or successfully deploying Listening Outposts.

Supply Caches

Supply caches, also called supply depots, are NPC faction structures that, when destroyed, will remove 2% advantage in the system from that faction. These structures are guarded by a small NPC fleet of frigates, destroyers, and cruisers. Each faction has their own supply caches that will spawn in frontline systems in friendly and enemy faction warfare space.

Supply caches grant roughly 10,000 LP to every player who damaged the structure. There is no limit on the amount of time between damaging the structure and the structure being destroyed for you to qualify to collect the reward. In other words, every pilot who had ever damaged a supply cache would get an LP payout if the supply cache were destroyed. One method of generating LP is to warp to a supply cache, damage it, and warp off before the NPCs can kill you, leaving the job of finishing off the structure to a bigger fleet.

For Example: If a Gallente Supply Cache is destroyed every pilot who damaged the Supply Cache will be granted the full LP payout and the Gallente faction will lose some advantage in the system.

Rendezvous Points

Rendezvous Points are combat sites found in frontline and occasionally command operations systems, and awards loyalty points and 2% advantage in the system for that faction. The sites must be scanned down and will appear in the probe scanner as level I combat anomalies named for the faction NPCs contained in it, ie. "Amarr Rendezvous Point". Sites for both empire factions will be present in system with a 15-20 minute respawn timer after a site is completed.

To complete the site, destroy five waves of NPCs. Each of the first four waves contains 3-6 NPCs, although a battleship NPC may spawn instead for the third wave. The fifth wave will spawn an officer battleship NPC; when this NPC is killed, any NPCs remaining will leave the site, and the site is completed.

A well-fit T1 cruiser or better is recommended, as the battleship NPCs in particular can do over 1000 DPS per volley from over 70km away.

Propaganda Broadcast Structures

Propaganda Broadcast Structures are deployable objects that when deployed, start a countdown timer for 10 minutes. Waves of NPCs will periodically spawn, pausing the timer, and must be killed to resume the countdown. At the end of the timer, the site is completed and ~1% advantage is awarded in the system for that faction. If the Propaganda Broadcast Structure is destroyed, either by the NPCs or players, before the timer is finished, no advantage is awarded.

The Structure can be obtained by trading 100 LP and an Encoder Splice from the opposing militia's Operation Centers in the LP store. Deploying the item requires the Anchoring skill trained to level 3. Once the item is deployed, it shows up as a warpable beacon on the overview, allowing anyone in system to warp directly to the Structure. Up to three Propaganda Broadcast Structures can be deployed in a system at a time.

A well-fit T1 cruiser or better is recommended.

Listening Posts

Similar to Propaganda Broadcast Structures, Listening Posts are are deployable objects that when deployed, start a countdown timer for 10 minutes. Waves of NPCs will periodically spawn, pausing the timer, and must be killed to resume the countdown. At the end of the timer, the site is completed and ~1% advantage is removed in the system from the opposing faction. If the Listening Post is destroyed, either by the NPCs or players, before the timer is finished, advantage is unchanged.

The Listening Post can be obtained by trading 100 LP and a Decoder Package from the opposing militia's Operation Centers in the LP store. Deploying the item requires the Anchoring skill trained to level 3. Once the item is deployed, it shows up as a warpable beacon on the overview, allowing anyone in system to warp directly to the Structure. Up to three Listening Posts can be deployed in a system at a time.

A well-fit T1 cruiser or better is recommended.

Operation Centers

Operation Centers are level 3 data sites that can only be found in the Rearguard systems of Faction Warfare Lowsec space. The sites can be scanned down by any capsuleer, but only participants in the opposing faction are able to hack the cans.

Operation Centers are named for the empire whose system they are in, such as "Caldari Operation Center".

Each site contains 5 cans, one in each direction beside the landing point. The cans are mostly sleeper difficulty and can be failed as many times as necessary without consequences. If a can is successfully hacked, strong NPCs will arrive 5-10 seconds later and attack the hacker. The site will despawn about 20 minutes after a successful hack.

The most important loot in Operation Centers are the Encoder Splices (e.g. "Caldari Encoder Splice") and Decoder Packages (e.g. "Caldari Decoder Package"), because these sites are the only way to obtain them, and they are required to purchase the Propaganda Broadcast Structure and Listening Outpost, respectively. As such it is recommended to use a cargo scanner to find which can has the Splice and Decoders, and obtain them first.

Neighboring Systems (Passive Bonus)

In addition to various sites that can effect system advantage, frontline systems gain a 10% native advantage bonus for each neighboring faction warfare system controlled by defending or opposing forces. A frontline owned by the Minmatar, for example, with two adjacent Minmatar-held systems and one adjacent Amarr-held system will reward an additional 20% advantage to the Minmatar and 10% advantage to the Amarr, for a net 10% advantage gain to the Minmatar for that frontline system.

System Upgrades and warzone tier

This section is outdated and need to be rewritten. The Uprising expansion replaced the Faction Tier of a system and the possibility to upgrade it by the mechanic of the frontlines.

Since Uprising, the rewards scales depending on how close to a system controlled by the opposing faction you are. System are classified as Frontlines (adjacent to an enemy system), where the LP gains are the highest, Commands systems (adjacent to a frontline) and Rearguards systems (adjacent to a Command system or another rearguard).

System upgrades

A system can be upgraded by donating loyalty points (LP) at the system's infrastructure hub. This system is currently at Level 3, nearing Level 4.

Players participating in Factional Warfare can donate the loyalty points (LP) they earned with their militia corporation to "upgrade" the star systems that their faction currently controls. To do this, they must fly to the system's infrastructure hub, right-click on it, select the "open system upgrade panel" option, and select how much LP they would like to donate. This window also lists the benefits of upgrading a system:

• lower broker fees for contracts and market orders (-10% per system upgrade level)
• lower costs for industry activities in NPC stations (-10% per upgrade level)

When you donate LP, a part is lost as a "maintenance tax" (for example, if you donate 1,000 LP, and the maintenance tax is 5%, then only 950 LP are actually counted towards upgrading the system). The maintenance tax starts at 0% and increases the higher their faction's tier is, up to about 75%. The LP you donate is put into a pool with the LP donated by other players from your faction in that system, and the size of that pool determines the system's upgrade level. A system can be upgraded up to level 5.

In the screenshot on the right, Caldari militia members have donated a total of 129,360 LP in that system, which equates to an upgrade level of 3. In order to each level 4, they would have to donate an additional 10,640 LP to bring the total to at least 140,000 LP.

The total amount of LP required to upgrade a system is:

• Level 1: 40,000 LP
• Level 2: 60,000 LP
• Level 3: 90,000 LP
• Level 4: 140,000 LP
• Level 5: 200,000 LP
• Buffer: 300,000 LP

The system information display.

You can check the current upgrade level of a system (along with the associated benefits) through the system information display at the top-left of the screen. Here you can see who currently controls the system, the system state (stable / contested / vulnerable / lost) and its upgrade level.

The amount of LP in a system's pool is reduced every time a player from the attacking faction captures a complex in that system; 10% of the LP reward they receive is subtracted from the system's LP pool.

A Gallente pilot captures a novice complex in a Caldari-held system. The Gallente pilot is rewarded (say) 10,000 LP for her efforts, and hence, the Caldari LP pool for that system is reduced by 10% of that (1,000 LP in this case).

If the amount of LP in the pool drops below the threshold required for the current system level, then the system's upgrade level will drop accordingly. The defending faction can counteract this by donating more LP to the pool; even if the system is at level 5, they can continue donating LP into a so-called "buffer" (i.e. more LP than is needed to reach level 5) to stop the system dropping to level 4 as soon as one enemy pilot captures a complex.

If a system is captured by the attacking faction, then all the upgrades are lost and the system reverts to its base (i.e. "un-upgraded") state.

With the removal of the pre-Uprising tier system, upgrading faction warfare systems is rarely done outside of local market or industry centers in the warzones.

A long, long time ago...

Faction tier The state of the Caldari-Gallente war zone in December 2013, as seen from a Caldari station. This window shows the number of systems controlled by the Caldari, their upgrade levels, and the resulting tier. The more systems in a war zone a faction controls and the more those systems are upgraded, the higher the rewards the pilots who fight for that faction receive. This is represented by the "faction tier" mechanic: each faction receives a point for each system they control in their war zone, plus an additional point for every system level upgrade (so an un-upgraded system is worth 1 point, a system upgraded to level 1 is worth 2 points, a system upgraded to level 2 is worth 3 points, a system upgraded to level 3 is worth 4 points, and so forth). The number of points a faction has is then compared to the total number of available points in a war zone (which is equal to the number of systems in the war zone multiplied by 6 (as a system can be upgraded up to level 5, and a level 5 system is worth 6 points)). Amarr-Minmatar war zone: 70 systems (420 points available) Caldari-Gallente war zone: 101 systems (606 points available) Hence, the number of points a faction has determines its tier: 0-20% of the total number of available points: Tier 1 21-40% of the total number of available points: Tier 2 41-60% of the total number of available points: Tier 3 61-80% of the total number of available points: Tier 4 81-100% of the total number of available points: Tier 5 The main effect of faction tier is that it affects how many loyalty points you receive for various activities you do in Factional Warfare; the higher your faction's tier, the higher your rewards. Tier 1: -50% LP rewards Tier 2: (no effect) Tier 3: +75% LP rewards Tier 4: +150% LP rewards Tier 5: +225% LP rewards For example, the base reward for capturing a novice complex in an enemy-held system is 10,000 LP. If your faction is at Tier 1, then you will only receive 5,000 LP, while if your faction was at Tier 4, you would receive 25,000 LP for capturing that same complex! This bonus affects capturing complexes and running missions, but not ship kills. If you open the militia window in a station then you can see the tier of that faction's war zone (so the militia office at a Minmatar station would show the tiers in the Amarr-Minmatar war zone), as well as the number of systems (and their upgrade levels) currently controlled by that faction. Dotlan also shows the system occupancy and the system state (stable/contested/vulnerable), but not the system upgrade level or the faction tier.

Factional Warfare missions

Main article: Factional Warfare missions

Each of the four Factional Warfare NPC corporations ("militias") have a number of agents which offer missions to pilots enlisted with their militia (and their allied militia). These missions are similar to the encounter missions offered by agents of Empire corporations, but they are run exclusively in the war zones (although they do not contribute to capturing or defending star systems in those war zones). You are rewarded with ISK and loyalty points (LP) for completing these missions.

Rewards

While the primary reason for Factional Warfare is to encourage PvP in low-sec, players are also rewarded directly for participating in the Factional Warfare mechanics.

Complexes and i-Hubs

The recent update to system dynamics has altered LP payouts, so the information in the below table is no longer accurate.

If you capture a complex you are rewarded with loyalty points (for your faction's militia corporation, so a pilot flying for the Gallente would receive LP for the Federal Defense Union). The LP rewards for capturing a complex in an enemy-held system ("offensive plexing") depend on the size of the complex and on the system's status (Frontline, Command Operation or Rearguard). A Rearguard system has a -99% LP multiplier, while other status are shown in a table below. You have to be within the complex' capture radius at the moment it's completed (i.e. when the timer runs out) to receive a reward; if there are multiple pilots within the complex at the moment it's completed, the LP reward is split evenly between them (irrespective of how long they have been there). You get no rewards for partially completing a complex!

The LP rewards for capturing a complex in a friendly-held system. This example is based on a novice complex at tier 2 (base reward: 10,000 LP).

Complex type	Command Operation (base)	Frontline (+50% LP)
Scout NVY-1	10,000 LP	15,000 LP
Scout NVY-5	12,500 LP	18,750 LP
Small NVY-1	15,000 LP	22,500 LP
Small NVY-5	18,750 LP	28,150 LP
Small ADV-1	17,500 LP	26,250 LP
Small ADV-5	20,000 LP	30,000 LP
Medium NVY-1	20,000 LP	30,000 LP
Medium NVY-5	25,000 LP	37,500 LP
Medium ADV-1	25,000 LP	37,500 LP
Medium ADV-5	30,000 LP	45,000 LP
Large NVY-1	25,000 LP	37,500 LP
Large NVY-5	30,000 LP	45,000 LP
Large ADV-1	25,000 LP	37,500 LP
Large ADV-5	30,000 LP	45,000 LP
Open	30,000 LP	45,000 LP

If you capture a complex in a friendly-held system ("defensive plexing"), you receive a reduced reward based on how contested the system is. The formula for this is:

[math] \displaystyle \color{wheat} \text{LP reward } = \text{Base reward of complex} \times ( \text{Contested percentage of the system} / 100 ) \times 0.75 [/math]

This means capturing a complex in a friendly-held system will pay out, at most, 75% as much as capturing an equivalent complex in an enemy-held system, and the closer the system is to "stable", the lower the reward.

The base reward for destroying an infrastructure hub ("i-Hub") is 40,000 LP, split between all the pilots who damaged the i-Hub.

	Tier 1 (-50% LP)	Tier 2 (base)	Tier 3 (+75% LP)	Tier 4 (+150% LP)	Tier 5 (+225% LP)
Infrastructure hub	20,000 LP	40,000 LP	70,000 LP	100,000 LP	130,000 LP

Missions

Missions in Factional Warfare, just like missions anywhere else in EVE, pay in both ISK and loyalty points (LP). The rewards from these missions depend on both the mission level (i.e. their difficulty) and the security rating of the system where the agent is located (the lower the security rating, the higher the rewards). Any levels of the  Negotiation and  Security Connections skills you have trained increase the ISK and LP rewards, respectively. In addition (just like with capturing complexes), the LP rewards are also affected by your faction's tier (so if a mission normally pays, say 1000 LP, but your faction is at tier 3, you would receive 1000 + 75% = 1750 LP). Since these different bonuses stack, the LP rewards from high-level missions (when combined with a high faction tier and a few levels of the Security Connections skill) can be very high indeed.

Note that, unlike missions in Empire space, the NPC enemies you kill in Factional Warfare missions do not have bounties on them and drop very little loot (other than Navy tags, which can be sold or used to buy items in the LP store).

Destroying enemy player's ships

The recent update suggests that the LP reward is approximately equal to Tier 5 level rewards (+225%). A flat 3.25 multiplier has been added to the equation, but testing is needed to confirm that this is the exact value.

In addition to any loot you may recover from the wreck of any enemy player's ships you destroy, you will also receive loyalty points based on the value of the ship you killed (including modules and the contents of their cargo bay):

[math] \displaystyle \color{wheat} \text{LP reward} = 3.25 \times ( \text{value of ship hull} - \text{value of ship insurance} + \text{value of modules/rigs/subsystem/cargo ) / 10,000} [/math]

As with capturing complexes, if several pilots are involved in killing a ship, the reward is shared equally between them. The LP reward scales with faction tier, but is capped at 50,000 LP per kill.

Factional Warfare LP store

As with all corporations which reward loyalty points (LP), the four faction militia corporations each have a LP store where you can buy implants, modules, ships, blueprints and skillbooks with the LP you have earned. These stores stock a similar range of items to their respective faction navies' LP stores, but at a discount (for example, the Apocalypse Navy Issue costs 600,000 LP from the Amarr Navy LP store, but only 250,000 LP from the 24th Imperial Crusade LP store).

A long, long time ago...
Before the Inferno expansion, the faction tier directly reduced prices in each militia's LP store (so an item would be cheaper the higher the faction tier). This led to a massive see-saw as the factions earned their LP at lower tiers, then made a massive push to tier 5, cashed out all their LP into items (promptly crashing the markets for those items), before letting their tier drop again.

Standings and ranks

Main article: Factional Warfare Standings

Participating in Factional Warfare can impact your standings towards, notably, the militia corporations and the empire factions. High standings towards your faction militia corporation not only grants you access to higher-level mission agents, but also awards you "ranks" (which are visible on the "decorations" tab in your character sheet). You are promoted to a higher rank every time your standings reach an integer number (i.e. 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 - unmodified); when you are promoted, you also receive a one-off bonus to your standings with your faction, and a one-off decrease to your standings with the opposing empire faction. Otherwise, your rank is purely cosmetic. Promotions are notably the only source of standings loss with the opposing empire faction, although faction police of the enemy faction will still attack you in hisec space of the opposing empire faction while you are enrolled in factional warfare.

Factional Campaigns

Beginning with the Faction Warfare "Allegiance" Patch (Version 21.03, March 14, 2023), a series of Factional Campaigns have occurred, allowing pilots to support one of the four Empires in a series of events, leading to rewards for participation in furthering that Empire's goals in the campaign.

The following Campaigns have occurred:

Shipcaster Shadow War - March 14, 2023 - June 20, 2023.

Permanent war

Being enlisted in a Factional Warfare militia (be it as a solo player or as a corporation) means that you are constantly at war with:

• the players enlisted in the enemy militia, and
• the enemy NPC Navy faction.

The first of these is similar to being a member of a player-run corporation which is at war with another player-run corporation. You can attack pilots who are enlisted in the enemy militia anywhere in New Eden (CONCORD or sentry guns will not interfere) without impacting your security status (and, of course, they can also attack you!). This effect is most felt in high-sec, where you now have to be on the lookout for enemy players.

The second of these restrict your movement through high-sec systems controlled by the enemy faction. If you enter one of these systems, you will get a text warning on your screen; if you don't leave the system promptly, you will be attacked by NPC faction navy ships. These ships are more powerful the higher the security rating of the system you are in, and will use electronic warfare against you (such as neuts/nos and webs). They will not point you, but they will web you, meaning if you warp off immediately it requires a very slow ship to be caught. They also do not scram, so if you are caught, you can still MJD to escape. Unlike CONCORD, it's certainly feasible to survive encounters with them and with specifics fitting to sustain the NPC DPS it's even possible to "camp" in enemy space to catch opposing militia players - but they make travel through enemy-held high-sec a hassle at the least). The in-game star map (or a third-party site like Dotlan) can help you to plan safe routes.

Additionally, you cannot dock with a ship in stations controlled by the enemy NPC factions in the war zones (but you can dock at enemy NPC stations in all other parts of space). This means that if you have items or ships in a station that is now held by the enemy faction you cannot access them until your faction takes the system back (although, in a pinch, you can create a contract to a neutral player, alt, or hauling service to get your items out).

Leaving Factional Warfare

You can leave Factional Warfare at any time through the Militia window if you joined as a solo player (or, for an entire corporation, the CEO or Director can do this). You will keep any loyalty points you have earned, but will no longer be able to participate in the formal Factional Warfare mechanics (capturing complexes and systems, or running missions). Additionally, you can re-enlist at any time (provided you meet the criteria).

If at any point your (unmodified, i.e. without taking skills into account) standings towards your faction drop below 0.0, you will receive a warning mail to raise them back up at the next server downtime. If you have not recovered your standings until the downtime after that (i.e. two downtimes after the standing drop), you will be instantly kicked out of the FW militia. The same rules apply for a corporation that join FW, except that in that case, it's the corporation's faction standings that counts.

After you leave Factional Warfare the navies of your enemy factions will still attack you for several hours (even if you join the opposing faction militia!) Your status as an "enemy of the state" does not show up in your standings, so be careful when you attempt to travel. Either re-logging into your character or waiting up to 16 hours is enough for the enemy navies to forget about you, though this mechanic remains unexplored as to whether it is functioning as intended or in any form of consistency.

Frontlines report

The Frontlines report page provides live updates on the state of Factional Warfare in New Eden. The page features maps of conflict hotspots, information on the warzones, and a new video outlining how Factional Warfare works. The API for this tool is available at https://www.eveonline.com/api/warzone

External links

• GamerChick42: The Beginner's guide to Faction War Plexing (2013)