Capsuleers,
The Equinox expansion is imminent, and with it come new changes to nullsec infrastructure. This blog will explain the mechanics of the new Upwell structures that will be introduced, including the new sovereignty hub, sovereignty upgrades, orbital skyhook and the resources that those structures will both generate and consume.
Check out this overview of the structures and ships from Upwell:
Introducing a new set of resources, all while making changes to sovereignty, is no small endeavor. New upgrades will require new resources, and those new resources take time to acquire. To ensure that everyone has a smooth and equitable transition period, different elements will be released gradually to avoid the overburdening of your logistics networks.
Out with the IHub, In with The Sovereignty Hub
The new sovereignty hub is a modular structure dedicated to governing a star system and the colonies and infrastructure within. Replacing the infrastructure hub (IHub) and territorial claim unit (TCU), the sovereignty hub structure will be the center of operations for alliances for the control of nullsec systems. It is located around the star and will be the central location for installing and managing sovereignty upgrades, enabling authorized capsuleers to interact with and allocate colony resources to installed upgrades.
Sovereignty hubs and upgrades do not have any ISK maintenance, however all the new sovereignty upgrades require some of the limited supply of power and workforce to be allocated to them, with some of the new upgrades additionally requiring one of the new reagents as fuel to operate. Deploying, reinforcing, and capturing sovereignty hubs works the same way as with the infrastructure hub.
You Get an Upgrade! You Get an Upgrade! Everybody Gets an Upgrade!
With the new sovereignty hub come upgrades, some of which are remarkably familiar, like the strategic upgrades that serve the same role as their existing counterparts. These are:
- Supercapital Construction Facilities
- Advanced Logistics Network
- Cynosural Suppression
- Cynosural Navigation
Conversely, the combat anomaly and mining upgrades have gotten a bit more of a facelift. The combat anomaly upgrades offer two different tiers: the Minor Threat Detection Arrays, which provide lower difficulty PvE content intended to be accessible to a wider range of player experience levels, and the Major Threat Detection Arrays, which provide higher difficulty PvE content, including a new higher tier Sanctum site with increased rewards.
The mining upgrades provide mining sites in the system, with one upgrade for each basic mineral type. Each of those upgrades will provide mining sites that predominantly focus on ores containing that mineral.
Introducing the Orbital Skyhook
Orbital Skyhooks are a new structure that can be deployed around planets in conquerable nullsec systems. They do not require sovereignty to be deployed, but they provide crucial colony resources to the sovereignty hub.
You and your alliance will want to be tactical about where you deploy your skyhooks because the resources they provide will depend on the types of planets they are placed around, the details of which were covered in the Reinvigorating Nullsec in Focus article.
Not all planets are created equally, and some will have more resources than others. Additionally, Skyhooks will also act as an upgraded version of a player owned customs office (POCO), filling all the same roles as the POCO does for planetary industry.
Lava and Ice planet skyhooks can be raided by hostile capsuleers to steal stored reagents. This raiding requires a ship to link to the reagent silo on the skyhook for 10 minutes during which it must remain close to the structure and is prevented from warping away or travelling above 1000m/s. When a skyhook theft is in progress, players in nearby systems are notified so they can respond. Unlike attacks on citadels, these notifications are not alliance wide.
There are some limitations to these new orbitals - only one skyhook or POCO can operate in orbit around any given planet. However, if a planet already has a POCO in orbit, members of the corporation that owns the POCO can deploy a skyhook to replace the existing POCO. When that skyhook finishes onlining, the old POCO automatically transports all stored Planetary Industry materials to the new skyhook and copies all PI taxation settings to the new skyhook, then self-destructs. If you want to deploy a skyhook around a planet that already has a POCO owned by someone else, you will need to destroy that POCO first.
When you first place your skyhook on a planet it will begin gathering raw materials. It will take 3 days for the first reagents to be produced, so don’t panic if you don’t immediately see reagents!
There’s Resources in Them Planets
Sovereignty hubs are powered by resources and orbital skyhooks generate them, but what are resources really?
Power is generated by stars and specific planets and is localized to each system. Larger blue stars provide the most power, while smaller white stars provide the least. Different planets also provide different amounts of power, with plasma planets generally providing the most and gas planets generally providing the least. The sovereignty hub will harvest power from the star automatically, and any planetary power from orbital skyhooks will be automatically routed to the sovereignty hub in that system. Power always remains in the system it is gathered in.
Workforce is provided by skyhooks orbiting temperate, oceanic, and barren planets and can be transferred across systems through connected sovereignty hubs, as long as they belong to the same alliance. Temperate planets yield the most workforce, while barren planets yield the least.
Reagents are produced by skyhooks and are used as fuel for sovereignty upgrades. These are tradable, transportable, and lootable items. The reagents introduced in Equinox are:
- Magmatic gas from lava planets, used to fuel the Metenox moon drill, as well as the Cynosural Navigation (Pharolux Cyno Beacon) and the Cynosural Suppression (Tenebrex Cyno Jammer) upgrades.
- Superionic ice from ice planets, used to fuel the Advanced Logistics Network (Ansiblex Jump Gate) and the Supercapital Construction Facilities upgrades.
Unlike power and workforce, reagents must be moved into a sovereignty hub. Skyhook access can be set by an access control list (ACL), and the sovereignty hub can accept inputs from anyone, ensuring that residents of that system can fuel your structures. A new interface, accessible to select members, will show the fuel status of sovereignty hubs that an alliance controls.
It’s Not Just a Phase
Introducing a new set of resources alongside new deployables, and making changes to sovereignty, is not insignificant. New upgrades will require new resources, and those resources take time to acquire. Due to this, a transition period from the legacy system to the Equinox system is being implemented during which sovereignty hubs will be able to operate in either a legacy “IHub mode”, or in the new “Sov Hub mode.”
On Equinox release day, 11 June, all existing infrastructure hubs will automatically convert to sovereignty hubs in legacy IHub mode. Note that if a system has asynchronous TCU and IHub ownership, it will be the IHub that converts to the sovereignty hub, moves to a new location in orbit of the star and will be represented by the new sovereignty hub visual model. The location is chosen so that it is not near any existing Upwell structures, nor will new Upwell structures be allowed to be anchored near sovereignty hubs.
While in legacy IHub mode, the sovereignty hub will continue to provide all the benefits from its old IHub upgrades and will continue to generate ISK bills for maintenance. When the sovereignty hub is transitioned to the new Sov Hub mode, it will enable the new upgrades and begin consuming power, workforce, and reagents.
As the role of the TCU becomes redundant post-conversion, no new TCUs can be deployed after 11 June. Any sovereignty campaigns for TCUs that are in progress during the Equinox patch downtime will be canceled, and it will no longer be possible to start new entosis campaigns for TCUs. The new way to remove TCUs from space will be to either convert the sovereignty hub in the system to Sov Hub mode or deploy and claim a new sovereignty hub in the system.
Thursday 20 June will mark the beginning of the transition period from legacy IHub mode to the new Sov Hub mode, where your logistics and planning will come to fruition. During this transition period, directors in corporations that own sovereignty hubs can choose when to convert these hubs to the new Sov Hub mode via a menu option. This is a one-way transfer; once a sovereignty hub moves to Sov Hub mode, it cannot revert to legacy IHub mode. Upon conversion, old infrastructure hub upgrades contained in the hub will be automatically transferred to the owning corporation HQ station, and any TCU in the system will be removed and similarly relocated. The transfer period will end with the next expansion, when any sovereignty hub operating in legacy IHub mode will be automatically transitioned into Sov Hub mode.
Seize Control with Equinox
With new sovereignty hubs, orbital skyhooks, and an array of new resources, Equinox gives you greater control of your systems, while adding new strategic depth and providing all new conflict drivers. There is complexity in this transition and a phased rollout gives you time to adapt to these changes, plan carefully, and deploy strategically, all of which are crucial.
Here's a detailed recap of the transition plan and key dates:
11 June: All existing infrastructure hubs will convert to sovereignty hubs in legacy “IHub mode.” These will be repositioned around the system's star, away from existing Upwell structures. Skyhook and new infrastructure BPOs will become available, and existing IHub BPOs will convert to sovereignty hub BPOs.
20 June: The transition period begins. Directors can convert sovereignty hubs from legacy “IHub mode” to the new “Sov Hub mode.” This is a one-way process; once converted, it cannot be undone.
Fly safe, and happy planning!