Only an alliance can claim sovereignty over solar systems and ultimatelly over entire constellations.

System sovereignty has several levels, and different advantages are provided with each level, that are gained through time and stability of the claiming rights.

The process is rather straightforward to begin with : at least a single control tower, anchored and online, set to claim sovereignty (given the claim sovereignty option is activated, see image) for a definite period of time (7 full days in most cases).

The claim settings interface of a control tower.

Though sovereignty can be nullified and contested as only no more than one alliance can be sovereign over a system or constellation, which are two different things.

Constellation sovereignty goes one step forward and involves the control of outposts and/or conquerable stations within the systems in addition to multiple high levels of sovereignty over several systems in that constellation.

Sovereignty levels

As explained above, Sovereignty has several levels which holds benefits for the conquering alliance, though further requirements are needed for each level.

Sovereignty 1 : Territory

One or more control towers need to be in place, online and contributing claiming rights for a definite set time :

• seven days for contesting or starting a Sovereignty claim,
• one day for contributing an installed constellation sovereignty.

Then sovereignty should be gained after the following server downtime.

• The successfully claiming alliance is visually represented on the star map as being the sovereign of the solar system.

• Control towers get a 25% bonus to their fuel efficiency.
• Capital shipyard production facilities can be anchored within the controlled system, thus enabling the construction of capital ships and other larger ships.

• Conquerable stations and Outposts can not be captured or attacked if their owner maintains sovereignty.
• Outposts can only be deployed by the sovereign alliance.

Sovereignty 2 : Protectorate

Requirement : Territory level Sovereignty undisrupted for fourteen days.

• Cynosural field generator arrays can be anchored within the system (Note: Only one may be anchored per system).

• Outposts can be upgraded up to tiers 1 (fundation upgrade platform).

Sovereignty 3 : Province

Requirement : Protectorate level Sovereignty undisrupted for fourteen days.

• Twinned jump bridge structures can be anchored (Note: Only two may be anchored per system).
• Cynosural field jammer structures can be anchored (Note: Only one may be anchored per system).

• Outposts can be upgraded up to tiers 2 (pedestal upgrade platform).

Sovereignty 4 : Constellation capital

Requirement : Province level Sovereignty undisrupted for thirty days and constellation sovereignty established for the alliance.

Only one system per constellation can be set as its sovereignty capital, and thus reach this level.

• All control towers within the system are invulnerable and can not be locked by weapon systems.
• Sovereignty of the system can not be contested, and is locked into place until the constellation sovereignty is cancelled.

• Outposts can be upgraded up to tiers 3 (monument upgrade platform).

Sovereignty rules

There are a few important rules to keep in mind when attempting to claim Sovereignty over a solar system.

Contesting

If another alliance is already claiming sovereignty, then the following is required:

• If a large control tower is used to claim sovereignty, any sovereignty claims from any small or medium control towers are not counted.
• If a medium control tower is present, any claims from small control towers are also not counted.
• If using the same size control tower, then the same number of starbases after the seven day waiting period will result in sovereignty changing to a neutral status, more starbases than your opponent will result in your alliance taking sovereignty of the system.

Contributing

• A corporation leaving an alliance can cause sovereignty to be lost for that alliance if no other alliance members have towers in the system, or if the exiting corporation causes the alliance's tower count to become less than another alliance's tower count.
• A corporation joining an alliance will immediately start having its towers contribute to sovereignty for that alliance if the towers have the checkbox selected and have been online for a minimum of 7 days prior to joining the alliance.
• A corporation without an alliance can not contribute to sovereignty.

Constellation sovereignty

In order to acquire constellation sovereignty, the following is required:

Requirements

• At least three outposts and/or conquerable stations within the constellation, with a minimum of one outpost present.
• At least one system with sovereignty level three, with the two following added requirements:
  • An outpost located in the system.
  • This outpost set to be the constellation capital under the station management tab.
• sovereignty level one or above held in the majority (at least 51%) of the systems in that constellation.
• All of these conditions need to be met for 14 days.

Once all of these conditions have been met, constellation Sovereignty will be enabled for that constellation after the following downtime.

Benefits

There are several benefits to constellation sovereignty:

• Fuel bonus is upgraded from 25% to 30% to all starbases in the constellation belonging to the sovereign alliance.
• Faster claim – in 1 day – to Sovereignty 1 in the constellation for unclaimed systems in favor of the sovereign alliance.
• Capital system.

• All outposts within the constellation can receive further upgrades. For more information, refer to the outpost upgrades article.

Warfare

If one of the following requirements are met, constellation sovereignty will change to a contested mode:

• The alliance holding constellation sovereignty loses sovereignty control of the majority of the systems in the constellation.
• The alliance holding constellation sovereignty loses control of the minimum of three outposts or conquerable stations in the constellation.
• The alliance holding constellation sovereignty loses control of the capital outpost or conquerable station.

Step-by-step examples

For examples of how sovereignty mechanics work, see these fictitious case studies :

• Flash devblog demonstrating a sample alliance building sovereignty and associated benefits over days.
• Flash devblog depicting two sample alliances warring for constellation control.