Sovereignty

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There are three primary types of space in New Eden: high security, low security and null security. The first two together are also referred to as "empire space", because every high and low security system is claimed by one of the four empires: Amarr, Caldari, Gallente or Minmatar.

Null security (or nullsec) space is not claimed by the empires, and can be split into three distinct types:

• Wormhole space (a.k.a. w-space, j-space, Anoikis) cannot be claimed by anyone and is only accessible through wormholes. Except in Thera, there are no stations in w-space.
• NPC nullsec regions (Curse, Great Wildlands, Outer Ring, Stain, Syndicate and Venal) are claimed by a number of different NPC factions, either pirate or corporation. These factions allow capsuleers to dock at their stations in the same way as low or highsec stations.
• Sovereign Nullsec - the subject of this article - comprises the rest of the nullsec regions, which can be claimed by any capsuleer (player) alliance. Stations in these areas will be owned by a player alliance, and will usually only allow the owning alliance (and perhaps their allies) to dock.

All nullsec areas are essentially lawless: neither CONCORD nor the empire navies respond to aggression, there are no gate or station guns, and aggression will not result in the loss of security status.

Sovereignty Structures

Each system in Sov Null can potentially have one of each of the following structures associated with it.

• Territorial Claim Unit (TCU)
• Infrastructure Hub (I-Hub)
• Station

Each of these structures provide benefits to the owner.

Territorial Claim Unit

Main article: Territorial Claim Unit

Territorial Claim Units or TCUs are essentially flags put up by an alliance. Whoever owns the TCU in a system will be listed on the starmap as the owner of the system.

TCUs do have one tangible benefit, though, by way of a 25% reduction in fuel consumption to any Player-Owned Starbase owned by the same alliance in that system.

Infrastructure Hub

Main article: Infrastructure Hub

Infrastructure Hubs or I-Hubs are used to upgrade the system, allowing it to spawn more Combat Anomalies, Ore Sites, or Signatures, or allowing the owner to set up more advanced POS structures such as Jump Bridges or system-wide Cynosural Field Jammers. Maintaining an I-Hub costs an upkeep bill which is charged to the alliance wallet.

Each upgrade, which is a physical item that must be produced and delivered to the I-Hub for installation, is unlocked by achieving a new System Index level.

Station

Main article: Station (Player-Owned)

Stations are very similar to the ones found in high-sec, but with a few exceptions. The owner of the station can choose who is allowed to dock at the station. Maintaining a station costs an upkeep bill which is charged to the alliance wallet. Station services such as fitting and cloning can be disabled by attackers by activating an entosis link on those services. Station owners can re-activate the services by using an entosis node on the disabled service.

Claiming Sovereignty

The mechanics of capturing and defending structures is based around the use of an Entosis Link.

Placing structures

If a system does not currently have an I-Hub, TCU or Station, a player may place one. Deploying a station requires the players alliance owning the TCU in the system.

Deploying an I-Hub or TCU involves buying or making one, and then launching it in to space (right-click and "launch" or dragging the structure to space). Once this is done the structure is in a neutral state and owned by the SCC. To gain ownership of the structure, a player must activate an entosis link on the structure to capture it. Other alliances are free to attempt to capture the structure while it is in this state.

Stations work differently; once deployed and after the next downtime, the station will belong to the corporation that deployed it.

Capturing existing structures

To capture or disable a structure, attackers must first use an Entosis Link on the structure during its Vulnerability Window. Once the link has completed its first cycle, the capture process begins and the alliance owning the structure is notified of the attack. Once the entosis link has been active and uncontested for a certain amount of time, the structure enters reinforce mode and a reinforce timer begins. The timer depends on the type of structure attacked and the ADM of the system.

The base timer for each type of structure is:

• Structure (I-Hub, TCU, Station): 10 minutes
• Command Node: 4 minutes
• Station Service (fitting, cloning etc.): 4 minutes.

ADM is explained below.

There is no speed benefit to having more than one entosis link active on a structure, the time to capture a structure is the same whether the attacker has 1 or 100 links active. If both the defender and attacker have an entosis link active on the structure, all capture progress is paused. If only the defender has an entosis link active, the timer counts up towards its starting value. A structure that was attacked but not fully captured will slowly regen; eventually the timer will return to full.

The reinforce timer length will be approximately 48 hours. Once the timer expires, command nodes will begin to spawn in the same constellation as the captured structure.

Command nodes are objects that appear in space. They are shown on the overview and it is possible to warp to them directly. These nodes can spawn in any system within the constellation, regardless of the owner of that system. Their name in the overview identifies the system they are connected to as well as the structure in that system. They also have a unique ID to help identify which node in a system players are referring to. For example, a command node for the TCU in O1Y-ED may spawn in X36Y-G with the name "O1Y-ED Territorial Claim Unit Command Node N17".

Command Node control

• Once the reinforce timer for a structure hits 0, command nodes spawn randomly within the constellation. Initially X of these spawn, with a further X spawning later.
• As the command nodes spawn, a progress bar for the structure appears. It starts at 60%. If it reaches 100%, the defenders have won. If it reaches 0%, the attackers have won.
• Capturing a command node moves the progress bar by 5%. This means that attackers need to capture at least 12 command nodes. The defenders need to capture 8.
• If an attacking force does not attempt to capture the command nodes, they will automatically regen for the defending team. An unattended capture node event will self-complete in < 196 minutes.
• Any entosis link activated by a player not in the defending alliance is counted as attacking. This means that and alliance can not enlist other entities to defend their structures with entosis links.

After the event

If the defender wins the command node event, the structure being fought for becomes invulnerable and will remain that way until the next vulnerability window occurs. If the attacker wins, the next steps depend on the type of structure being attacked. For I-Hubs and TCUs, the existing structure explodes. This allows anyone to anchor their own structure in space to replace the old one. If a station is attacked, it enters Freeport mode. This allows any player to dock at the station. It remains in this state for 48 hours, at which point a new command node control event begins. The winner of this event gains control of the station.

The full flow of structure contesting is shown here:

Activity Defense Multiplier

The length of time it takes to reinforce a structure, capture a command node or disable a station service depends on and Activity Defense Multiplier (ADM) for the system. This rewards an alliance for holding and being active in the system, making it easier for them to defend.

The base timer for the structure is multiplied by the ADM to give the total amount of (uncontested) time required for an attacker to reinforce a structure or capture a command node. The time taken for a defender to regen a structure, capture a command node or enable a station service is unaffected by the ADM.

The ADM is calculated based on the value of 3 defensive indices:

• Strategic Index: Automatically increases as you hold control of the I-Hub over a continuous period.
• Military Index: Increases in proportion to the number of NPC ships killed in the system.
• Industrial Index: Increases in proportion to the volume of ore mined in the system.

Each of these indices has a level between 0 and 5. To work out the current ADM, the contribution of each index is found in the table below and added together. A base value of 1 is then added. The maximum value for ADM is 6, which would extend the time taken to reinforce a structure to 60 minutes, or capture a command node to 24 minutes for an attacker. As 6 is the maximum ADM, if the calculation produces a value above 6, the ADM for the system will be 6.

Below is a partial list of possible total multipliers based on different combinations of system indices:

Military Index Level	Industrial Index Level	Strategic Index Level	Total Activity Multiplier	Time to reinforce a structure	Time to capture a command node / disable a station service
0	0	0	1x	10 minutes	4 minutes
0	0	5	2x	20 minutes	8 minutes
5	0	0	3.5x	35 minutes	14 minutes
0	5	5	4.5x	45 minutes	18 minutes
4	2	2	4.9x	49 minutes	19.6 minutes
3	3	5	5.4x	54 minutes	21.6 minutes
4	4	4	6x	60 minutes	24 minutes
5	3	5	6x	60 minutes	24 minutes
5	5	5	6x	60 minutes	24 minutes