Territory Siege

Territory Siege turns system conquest into a multi-stage campaign instead of a single raid. An alliance must clear stages at the system center: the opening Contest has no wait, then each later stage opens a short Vulnerable window after a reinforcement gap. Ownership changes only on the final stage.

Requires the Territory Siege feature to be enabled. Classic instant conquest still applies when the feature is off. You must also have System Conquering and use FCS (Fleet Coordination System) for system-center assaults. See Alliances → Territorial control. Bastions, doctrines, connected territory, and the caps referenced below live on the Alliance Territory page.

Contents

• Why sieges exist
• The flow
• Stages by target
• Timers & defence window
• How long a campaign takes
• Contest (stage 1)
• Vulnerable windows (stages 2+)
• Takeover success
• Bastion clusters
• Defending
• Economy while Contested
• Ship losses & Ship Graveyard
• Building penalty
• Limits & cooldowns
• Map & UI signals
• Diplomacy
• Quick reference

Why sieges exist

Under instant conquest, one FCS win could flip a Division while defenders were offline, and full permanent capital losses made serious territory wars feel suicidal.

Sieges keep wars meaningful while:

• Giving both sides notice before ownership changes
• Scheduling later stages around the defender’s alliance defence window (EVE-style), so attackers adapt to the holder’s timezone
• Softening hull loss through the Ship Graveyard with phase-specific debris rates

The flow

Neutral / Division / Bastion child     Bastion root
        │                                    │
        │  FCS Contest (stage 1)             │  FCS Contest (stage 1)
        ▼                                    ▼
   Contested ──(≥24h + defence window)──► Vulnerable (2h)
        │                                    │
        │  FCS stage 2                       │  FCS stage 2 → Contested again
        ▼                                    ▼
   ownership flips                      Contested ──(≥24h + window)──► Vulnerable
                                                                │
                                                                │  FCS stage 3
                                                                ▼
                                                          ownership flips
                                                                (whole cluster)

        └── Headquarters cannot be sieged

Ownership never changes on Contest or on intermediate Bastion stages — only on the final Vulnerable clear.

Stages by target

Target	Stages	Scheduled waits
Neutral system / Division / Bastion child	2	1
Bastion root	3	2

Stage 1 is the opening Contest attack (no wait). Stages 2+ each have a Vulnerable window.

Timers & defence window

After a stage is cleared, the next Vulnerable window is scheduled as:

1. Wait at least minReinforcementGapHours (default 24h)
2. Take the defender’s next 8-hour defence window that starts at or after that point (alliance-wide start hour UTC, default 17:00)
3. Place a random 2-hour strike slot inside that envelope

The window must start after the gap — a window already half-elapsed when the gap runs out is skipped, so the defender always gets their full envelope of warning. Each wait therefore spans 24–54 hours, expected ≈ 39h.

For example, with a 17:00 UTC window and a stage cleared at 20:00: the next day's window has already opened by the time the 24h gap elapses, so the slot lands in the following day's window — 45–51h after the clear.

Defence window rules:

• Only the start hour is player-chosen (deputy/leader); length is fixed at 8h
• 168h cooldown between changes; blocked while the alliance has any open siege (attacking or defending)
• If no alliance member has been active within 7 days, the defence-window benefit is skipped and the 2h slot opens as soon as the gap elapses

Attackers may land the FCS anytime in the 2h Vulnerable window. You do not need to sit and DPS for two hours — Regna resolves one battle when the fleet arrives.

Why the defender picks the hour. Making attackers adapt to the holder’s clock is the point. Fixing timers relative to the attack is what produces timezone tanking — hitting sleeping alliances on purpose — and fully randomising the window does not fix that either: it re-creates the same unfairness with the blame moved to chance, while making defensive organisation harder. Randomising only the 2h slot inside a known 8h envelope keeps attacks unpredictable without making them unanswerable.

How long a campaign takes

	Division / child (1 wait)	Bastion root (2 waits)
Best case	1.0 day	2.0 days
Expected	1.6 days	3.25 days
Worst case	2.25 days	4.5 days

There is no campaign timer and no cross-stage retry: you either clear each stage inside its own 2h window or the whole siege ends. Multiple attack waves within a window are fine. Both sides are mailed when a stage is cleared, when the next window is scheduled, and when it opens.

Contest (stage 1)

1. Scout the Stellar Nexus / rival Division or Bastion center.
2. Launch a coordinated FCS attack on the system center.
3. On victory (and if gates pass), the system becomes Contested and stage 1 is cleared.

Contest does not:

• Transfer controlling ownership
• Wipe remaining NPC garrison beyond battle losses
• Raze alliance buildings

Gates (high level): active alliance, System Conquering + Territory Siege enabled, not your own system, not an HQ, not NAP/Ally with the holder, under territory hold cap (cluster-aware for Bastion roots), not over Bastion archetype instance cap when Contesting another root of that type, system not already sieged / not in re-contest cooldown, and your alliance has fewer than 5 open Contests.

Only the alliance that Contested the system may clear later stages.

Vulnerable windows (stages 2+)

When Contested ends, the system becomes Vulnerable for 2 hours.

• The contester must win another FCS fight at the system center during that window.
• On a Division / child / neutral: that clears the final stage → ownership flips.
• On a Bastion root: the first Vulnerable clear advances to the next Contested wait; the second Vulnerable clear takes the cluster.
• If they lose, hit a gate failure (e.g. territory cap) on the final stage, or never show up, the siege resolves as defended / expired and the holder keeps the system (with cooldown). Failing any stage ends the whole campaign — there is no cross-stage retry.

Takeover success

On a successful final Takeover:

• Ownership transfers to the contester.
• Center military and resources are cleared as on conquest.
• For a PvP take of a held system: buildings take a level penalty (see below) instead of a full raze when Territory Siege is on.
• The usual 2-day grace to build Headquarters / Division Center / Bastion main still applies after a real conquest of an unanchored system.
• Harvest / survey / pool income returns to normal once the siege is resolved.

Bastion clusters

• Capturing a Bastion root transfers the entire cluster (root + all attached child Divisions), keeping archetype, doctrine, parent links, and buildings (subject to the penalty).
• Capturing a child Division alone transfers only that system; it becomes an unattached Division (parent cleared). It may auto-join the conqueror’s HQ blob if adjacent, or need a manual attach to a Bastion.
• Open sieges elsewhere in the cluster are cancelled when the root changes hands (or when the cluster is abandoned).
• A stunned Embassy captured by another alliance becomes a clean, active Embassy for the conqueror.

Defending

Layer	Role
Station Guardians	Park fleets on the system center before Vulnerable windows; they fight in stage battles and earn harvest security cuts in peacetime
Defense Yard turrets	Cheap regenerating layer; participate in combat and partially auto-repair
Fortress doctrine	The strongest adjacent Fortress projects 50% of its held defence into the fight — borrowed, never consumed from the projecting colony, and never costing the defender more units than it owns (details)
Alliance research	Armor / shields / weapons / garrison capacity strengthen defenses
Defence window	Set your alliance’s UTC start hour so Vulnerable slots fall in your waking hours

When Contested mail arrives: form Guardians, refresh station durations, and watch the countdown on the galaxy map, system details, Alliance Systems list, and HQ/Division/Bastion building modal.

Economy while Contested

While a system is Contested or Vulnerable:

• That system’s contribution to the alliance daily pool is reduced (×0.5)
• Harvest and Survey mission yields from that system are reduced (×0.5)

Contesting hurts the holder’s economy without giving the attacker free ownership.

Ship losses & Ship Graveyard

Winner of each fight is still decided by the normal battle simulation — not by who lost more ships.

Destroyed player hull (attackers and stationed Guardians) uses the Ship Graveyard pipeline with siege debris overrides:

Phase	Debris (gone / salvage field)	Graveyard buyback
Contest / intermediate stage	~15%	~85%
Final Takeover stage	~30%	~70%

NPC protector ships do not enter the Graveyard. Planetary defenses use normal damage + auto-repair (no Graveyard).

Building penalty

When Territory Siege is on and you successfully Take over a held system:

• Each alliance building on the center loses 3 levels
• If the new level is below 4, the building is removed — except Headquarters, Division Center, and Bastion mains, which are never deleted and floor at level 1
• A main building that was still under construction (never finished its first level) is removed instead of being handed over finished — the conqueror does not inherit a main nobody paid for, and the system stays free to anchor again
• If your alliance lost this system recently and retakes it within 7 days, the −3 pass is waived (you keep buildings as they currently are)

Mains are protected because a Bastion whose main was destroyed would have no archetype anchor and children pointing at a parent that no longer exists.

Neutral first takes have no player buildings to penalize. When Territory Siege is off, rival takeovers still use the older full building wipe.

Limits & cooldowns

Rule	Value
Max open Contests per alliance (Contested + Vulnerable)	5
Re-contest cooldown after fail / expire / cancel	24 hours on that system
Headquarters	Cannot be Contested or Taken
Who can clear later stages	Only the Contester
Bastion archetype cap	Cannot Contest another root of a type you already hold at cap
Territory cap on a cluster take	Checked for the whole cluster; nets exactly +1 slot

Both caps are checked when a Contest starts, never at the final stage — you should not discover a block after a three-stage campaign. Being at archetype cap still lets you besiege that cluster's child Divisions.

Map & UI signals

Signal	Meaning
Amber / warning system border	Contested
Red / danger system border	Vulnerable
Alliance Systems list flags + countdown	Per-system siege status + stage
HQ / Division / Bastion building modal	Live countdown + defend hints
Alliance bottom-nav red border + !	Alliance system under inbound threat and/or under siege
System details popup	Contested / Vulnerable status with live timer

Long-press the Alliance button to open the Alliance Systems selector.

Diplomacy

• You cannot Contest a system held by an alliance you have a NAP or Ally treaty with.
• If a protective treaty is formed mid-siege between contester and defender, the open siege is cancelled and the holder keeps the system.

Quick reference

Thing	Value
Division stages	2 (1 wait)
Bastion root stages	3 (2 waits)
Min reinforcement gap	24h (12h is the approved shorter fallback)
Defence window	8h envelope; start hour alliance-chosen (default 17 UTC)
Defence window change	Deputy+; 168h cooldown; blocked during any open siege
Vulnerable strike slot	Random 2h inside the envelope
Span per wait	24–54h (expected ≈ 39h)
Total campaign	Division ≈ 1.6d · Bastion ≈ 3.25d
Max open Contests	5 per alliance
Failed siege cooldown	24h
Contested income factor	×0.5 (pool + harvest + survey)
Contest debris / Graveyard	~15% / ~85%
Final Takeover debris / Graveyard	~30% / ~70%
Building penalty	−3 levels; remove if < 4 (mains floor at 1)
Previous-owner waiver	7 days
Feature flag	systemSiege (with system conquering); Bastion tiers additionally need allianceTerritory

Related

• Alliance Territory — Bastions, doctrines, connected territory, caps, territory effects
• Alliances — territory, HQ/Divisions/Bastions, harvest, diplomacy
• Player Classes — FCS and harvest/survey class bonuses
• Resource Protection — general PvP loot context
• In-game: Settings → Quick Guides → Alliance Territorial Control