Greetings Pilots!

It has been a few weeks since Corporation Citadels were available on the test server, and we have collected a lot of valuable feedback from players about this.

The Sovereign gameplay content we are looking to provide in the next version will still revolve around Sovereignty battles dealing with Citadels. We are trying our best to share the new gameplay related to Sovereignty Battles as soon as possible; the dev team have spared no effort working on Corporations, Citadels and other features related to Sovereignty mechanics for the past 3 months. Due to the high complexity of EVE Echoes itself, even for what appears to be a small amount of content, we are in the process of overcoming very complex and detailed technical problems, so we cannot complete the development of a large amount of content in a short time. For this reason, new content in this version might not fully meet the expectations of many enthusiastic players just yet. After careful evaluation, we have decided to let players have access to the core features of the Sovereign system first. In the new year, we plan to continuously add Sovereignty-related content (Structure mechanics and additional Sovereignty Battle mechanics).

Here's our plan on updating the Sovereignty system:

In EVE Echoes, construction in nullsec basically revolves around 2 areas of content: Corporation Citadels and Capsuleer Outposts.

The Corporation Citadels exists in systems acting as the core of that system and a proof of Territorial Claim. In the follow-up plan, we will introduce an upgrade feature for the Corporation Citadels and a series of space structures around it.

Corporation Citadels will provide some bonuses to Manufacturing Material Efficiency and Reverse Engineering Efficiency on its own, while extra features can be activated with add-on structures.

These add-on structures are exposed in space as individual structures. If they receive too much damage from attacks, they will lose functionality and will then be reinforced. Attacking these structures will be the fundamental method of raiding enemy manufacturing in nullsec. In the future, we plan to introduce more ways to interact with enemy structures.

The Capsuleer Outpost is another core gameplay of construction in nullsec, as it will still use modules and fittings. In the new year, we will continue to expand modules available for Capsuleer Outposts. These modules can help Citadel owners find Planetary Materials or even collect them automatically, search and discover Compressed Mixed Belts and find special Cosmic Anomalies.

New Structures Being Planned (Not Finalized)

Extra Modules for Capsuleer Outposts

Test Server (Mirror) FAQs

1. Why aren't Corporation Citadels visible during the anchoring process?
Currently, a Citadel must be anchored within 3AU from any planet, and visible to all players within 5AU. Only players with permissions to dock at that Citadel can view it wherever they are. The purpose of this design is to enrich the Citadel battle experience by adding the need to scout enemy Citadel location.

We have discovered an issue causing Citadels still being invisible to players within 5AU under some circumstances. We will fix it before the feature is officially online.

2. Why don't Corporation Outposts provide extra bonuses?

As we hope to introduce Sovereignty gameplay as soon as possible, we did not have enough time to complete the development of all add-on Structures, so it's not possible now to provide a lot of bonuses for Corporation Outposts. After listening to some player suggestions and after extensive internal discussions, we have decided to add an increase of 1% Extra Material Efficiency and 5% Extra Reverse Engineering Success Rate for Corporation Outposts. This might seem like a small number, but a great amount of materials can be saved whenever a Corporation concentrates in one place to mass produce ships.

3. Why can a Corporation anchor no more than 5 Outposts?

The max anchoring limit is to prevent giant corporations from snowballing their advantages and affecting the game's ecosystem negatively. Players can still expand their power through alliances and coalitions. When Sovereignty officially releases, we will also appropriately increase the limit of corporations in alliances to fit the current environment. We plan to develop a more dynamic and challenging mechanic based on the specific situation of nullsec to prevent snowballing.

4. What will happen to the nullsec systems claimed by NPCs?

For areas occupied by pirates such as Stain, Syndicate, Great Wildlands, Venal, etc., these will still be occupied by NPCs after the new version releases. NPC stations will become a neutral area where everyone can dock. The main reason is that removing all stations before the Sovereignty ecosystem is fully established will affect the circulation and use of resources. The transfer of resources hoarded by nullsec players in stations will also become a serious problem, so we will not remove the NPC stations for the time being. We will continue to observe the development of the nullsec ecosystem and adjust the NPC power in the nullsec at the right time according to the actual situation.

The above is our general development plan for Sovereignty for the new year. Players are welcome to share their opinions and insight into this!