EVE: Equinox Patch Notes: Sovereignty Hubs And The Transition Period

EVE Online's Equinox expansion, set to launch on 11 June 2024, is the game's fourth full expansion since the return of the content format in November 2022. The patch notes are fairly extensive and dense. I find reading lengthy patch notes rather boring, so I also like to go to other sources for information. For both the Viridian and Havoc expansions I wrote a series of posts based on the patch notes with other information added to hopefully make absorbing all the information less painful. This second post in the series for Equinox will cover sovereignty hubs, what happens to territorial control units (TCU) and sov upgrades..

The introduction of the sovereignty hub combines two structures, the territorial control unit (TCU) and the infrastructure hub (iHub). The sovereignty hub provides several advantages over the previous system.

1. Simplified Management: The Sovereignty Hub is a modular structure that centralizes the operations for controlling a star system, making it easier for alliances to manage their space.
   
   
2. Reduced Complexity: By replacing the IHub and TCU with a single structure, the game reduces the complexity and redundancy in the sovereignty system.
   
   
3. No ISK Maintenance: Sovereignty hubs and upgrades do not require any ISK maintenance, which can be a significant cost saving for alliances.
   
   
4. Resource Allocation: The Sovereignty Hub allows authorized capsuleers to interact with and allocate colony resources to installed upgrades, providing a more direct and efficient way to manage system improvements.
   
   
5. Strategic Upgrades: The new system retains familiar strategic upgrades and introduces new ones, enhancing the strategic depth of sovereignty.

But I am not a part of the Upwell Consortium's marketing department. What happens on launch day with the existing structures?

• The Sovereignty Hub is placed around the star in a system and is the central location for installing and managing sovereignty upgrades. Authorized capsuleers can interact with the Sovereignty Hub to allocate colony resources to installed upgrades.
  
  
• On expansion day, all existing Infrastructure Hubs will be replaced with the new SovHubs graphics, name and description, and their location will automatically be moved 2,000,000km from the sun.

The late, perhaps unlamented TCU has the final resolution.

TERRITORIAL CLAIM UNIT

• TCUs will continue to represent the legacy claim in a system that hasn't yet had a Sovereignty Hub deployed, or where the IHub hasn't yet transitioned.
  
  
• New TCUs can no longer be deployed or captured if they were previously deployed but not captured.
  
  
• Any ongoing TCU campaigns will be cancelled.
  
  
• TCUs can no longer be targeted by entosis and so cannot be used to remove a claim.
  
  
• Instead, an attacker must usurp the claim by capturing the Sovereignty Hub in the system.

While the date the transition period for sovereignty hubs is listed as 20 June, an earlier dev blog explained what the developers intend to happen in the first nine days of the expansion.

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.

Beginning on 20 June, alliances can begin switching to the new Upwell system. The patch notes go into more descriptive detail.

The Sovereignty Hub’s capabilities grow as upgrades are added for coordinating defense, industry, resources, and logistics. Each dedicated upgrade requires a mix of colony resources in the form of workforce, power, and reagents, and apart from the base power generated from the stellar flux, these must be provided by planetary exploitation through the new Orbital Skyhooks.

Alliances must follow the following steps for the conversion to take place.

• The Sovereignty Hub will generate some amount of energy for the system. The amount of energy generated by this structure is determined by an attribute on the star.
  
  
• When a SovHub registers the claim (either a new one, or due to transition) any TCU in the system will be destroyed.
  
  
• Once an alliance has deployed a new Sov Hub in Sov Hub mode or chosen to transition their Sov Hub from IHub Mode to Sov Hub Mode, they are then able to install the new upgrades listed in the Sov Upgrades section.
  
  
• Upgrades cannot be installed if the energy cost of installed upgrades (regardless of state) would exceed the potential energy which the system could produce (assuming all planets had skyhooks installed).
  
  
• Upgrades cannot be uninstalled once installed, they can be turned offline, but the only way to remove them is to have them self-destruct which capsuleers with the appropriate roles are able to do.
  
  
• Upgrades can be prioritized, capsuleers with the appropriate roles can do this. Higher priority upgrades are served first for available colony resources (energy, population and consumables). This gives the player control over which upgrades go offline first in case of resource shortfall where all installed upgrades do not have the necessary resources to run. An example of where a shortfall could happen would be a skyhook being destroyed.