Version 1.3.6

A territory-and-travel release: system conquest becomes a two-phase Territory Siege, alliances can stitch space together with Warp Gate hops, and Support Vessels finally repair hull mid-fight — plus smarter energy recovery when a colony goes dark, tougher (and clearer) pirate bosses, and richer pirate scout intel.

New to sieges? See the full Territory Siege guide, or open Settings → Quick Guides in-game. Alliance territory basics are in Alliances. Boss fights are covered in Pirate Bosses.

New Features

Territory Siege (Being tested)

• Capturing a Division is no longer a single FCS snap. Attackers must Contest first, wait a random Contested timer, then win a Takeover inside a short Vulnerable window before ownership changes.
• Contest (Phase 1): win an FCS at the system center → system becomes Contested. Ownership does not transfer; NPC garrison and alliance buildings stay.
• Contested timer: random 20–28 hours (nobody picks it — no defender “Defense Hour”).
• Vulnerable (Phase 2): exactly 2 hours. Only the contester alliance can finish Takeover with a second FCS win. Fail, miss the window, or hit a gate → defenders keep it + cooldown.
• Headquarters cannot be sieged.
• While Contested or Vulnerable, that system’s daily pool, Harvest, and Survey yields are cut to ×0.5.
• Siege ship losses use the Ship Graveyard with softer debris: Contest ~85% buyback / ~15% debris; Takeover ~70% / ~30%.
• PvP Takeover of a held Division applies a −3 level building penalty (buildings drop below level 4 are removed). Retaking a system you held within 7 days waives the penalty.
• Caps: 5 open Contests per alliance; 24h re-contest cooldown after fail / expire / cancel. NAP / Ally blocks Contest; a mid-siege protective treaty cancels the siege.
• Map and Alliance UI show Contested (amber) / Vulnerable (red) borders, live countdowns, and threat badges. Siege mails fire for Contest, Vulnerable, defended, expired, and cancelled outcomes.

Alliance Warp Gates & fleet hops

• Alliances can build a Warp Gate on controlled system centers. Member fleets launch from a personal moon Warp Gate, exit through the best available own or alliance gate, then fly the short remaining leg.
• Fleet send can Use nearest warp gate; ETA includes a warp readiness delay (180s at Warp Technology 8, −8s per level above that, floor 60s) plus the short hop flight.
• Gates only help when the exit is meaningfully closer than a direct flight; stale routes refresh before send.

Support Vessel field repairs

• Surviving Support Vessels restore combat ships each round after damage — field-repair capacity scales with vessel count, research, and monuments.
• Repair efficiency ramps from 80% early in the fight to 100% on the final round; restored losses are capped per round (also 80→100%).
• Battle reports, the combat simulator, and unit stats show field repair and ships repaired for both sides.
• The Halo Ring Core monument now grants shipRepairSpeedPct (+15%) toward support-vessel repair capacity (stacks with Fleet Preservation and related boosts).

Pirate boss combat research

• Mid-Bosses and Bosses now fight with a full combat-research profile (weapons, shields, defense doctrines, and more), applied consistently in battle and on scout reports.
• Faction flavor: Raider / Fortress / Tech bosses get +2 on their signature techs above the shared base (currently base level 1 for both tiers — tuned for gradual rollout).
• Scout reports on pirate strongholds and outposts now include strength, faction, and boss tier intel when applicable.

Improvements

• Negative energy on a colony now pauses ship and defense production until energy recovers (same pause/resume pattern as vacation). Resource mines can still be throttled via Production Rate to claw energy back.
• While energy is negative, you can still upgrade energy providers (Solar Plant, Fusion Reactor, Elerium Reactor). Other queued building upgrades on that colony are cancelled so recovery isn’t blocked.
• Moon defense yards contribute 75% of their level toward empire tonnage capacity (configurable), so moon yards still help — but less than planet yards.
• Trade offer UI and fleet overlays call out hop routes, readiness, and energy-stressed colonies more clearly.

Balance

• Pirate boss combat research landed soft (base 1, faction +2) after higher initial drafts — bosses are stronger than a naked stronghold, without jumping straight to late-game research walls.
• Support Vessel repair math favors bringing them to long FCS fights (bosses, sieges, prolonged PvP) rather than pure alpha fleets.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed ship/defense queues that could stick paused or lose completion timers after negative-energy pause/resume.
• Energy-provider upgrades no longer get wiped from the queue just because the colony is already in energy debt.
• Warp hop selection rejects mismatched or obsolete exit gates instead of launching on a bad route.
• Various siege mail, scout pirate-intel, and battle-report repair display edge cases cleaned up alongside the features above.