View source for Siege

<font color="red"><big>'''Sieges are available for testing on the PTU server ONLY.'''</big></font>

Siege battles allow launching attacks against space stations with military capital ships. During these fights it is possible to end up capturing the enemy structure, taking ownership of it.

= Initiating a siege =

There are many requirements for a siege to be possible:
* The attacking capital ship must be turned into a military capital ship from the station management UI
* The attacking capital ship must be of equal or higher size class than the targeted station
* The attacking capital ship must have 1 Capital Ship Shieldbreaker installed and connected to resource network per size class of target station
* The attacking capital ship must have a siege terminal installed
* The attacking capital ship must fulfill usual warp requirements for the siege warp. More details in [[Capital Ships|Capital Ships]] page
* The targeted station must have chosen their preferred siege times from siege tab -> schedule, and the chosen time must have updated to the servers. The update of schedules happens every monday 00:00 UTC+0. '''Note that this only updates times for the next coming week, not the current one!''' 
[[File:SiegeSchedule.png|thumb|800px|center|Choosing siege schedule from the siege tab]]
== Choosing the target station ==

To choose the siege target, you need a navigation chip saved within 200 kilometers of the station in question. Having such a navigation chip in your inventory while using the siege terminal will show possible target stations as a list. Your own stations or your company's stations will not show up as options. You can then proceed to choose one of the timeslots the station has allocated for the siege, and confirm it. '''Note that when a siege is confirmed, it cannot be prevented by any means!'''

A siege can be scheduled at minimum 24 hours from now, and maximum of 192 from now. There is a 4 hour break period after any scheduled siege where the station cannot be target of another siege.  

After a siege has been scheduled, players on the targeted station get a warning of the incoming siege and can prepare. Players on the capital ship can see a timer of when the siege warp will begin.

= Siege startup =

Once the siege warp countdown finishes, the capital ship begins it's warp to the siege location. After arrival, there is one minute before the safe zones of both the targeted station and capital ship go down and the fighting can begin! A large warzone area will also be created around the targeted station.

Players who are within the warzone can choose the side they wish to support from an UI popup, or choose to remain unaffiliated. Choosing a side will allow you to help them with capturing areas. You can change the side if you re-enter the area. Players sharing a side will have their names shown and colored, and same applies to non-company ship transponders that are on. 

Capital ships cannot queue warps inside the warzone, but already scheduled warps will happen normally. For the duration of the siege, military capital ships also cannot warp outside the warzone to escape. 

For the duration of the siege, station damage is enabled for the participating station and capital ship.

= Forming of capture zones =

The station and capital ship form capture zones based on a layer mechanic. First the center is defined: the center of the station is the zone with the foundation and Capital Ships center zone is the one with the siege terminal. Then, distance of different zones are counted to the center, and starting from the outermost zones, layers containing at least 4 zones area formed. If there are not enough build zones at a set range, they are instead added to the count of the zones 1 step closer.

For example, if the furthest zones of a station are 5 steps away from the center and there are three of them, and there are two zones at range 4, these layers would be combined and create 5 capturable zones.

The center zone is always its own single layer.

= Capturing process =
[[File:Starbase Siege Capture UI 4.4.2022.png|thumb|right]]
To capture a station, players go through the layers of capture zones. Once an entire layer has been captured, the next one unlocks. The defenders can however try to capture back the previous layer as well. Once the final, central layer of a structure is captured, that structure is now '''controlled''' by that side! If they keep the control until the end of siege, that side will gain ownership of the structure.

Capturing a zone happens by holding a majority of forces in there for long enough, signified by a meter in the UI. The capture speed varies based on the majority, with 60% being the lowest requirement and 90% ensuring fastest capturing. Amount of players also limits capturing speed: to be able to capture at the maximum speed, at least 4 players are required from a side to be present. 

If there are no opposing players in a zone, its capture state slowly returns towards the current controller of the zone.

= Siege time limitations and ending =

There are various time limitations in the siege battle. There is a minimum and maximum siege time, increasing with the size of the targeted station. While the minimum time is running, the siege victory countdown will not begin. Maximum time will end the siege eventually when it runs out.

'''Note that these values are a subject to change'''
* Siege minimum time: 40 minutes + 1 minute per size class
* Siege maximum time: 80 minutes + 3 minutes per size class
* Victory timer with full control: 15 minutes 
* Time for safe zones to go down after siege warp: 4 minutes
* Time for safe zones to return after siege ends: 4 minutes

Controlling the opposing structure while the minimum siege time has passed starts the victory countdown. If the side retains the control of the structure until the timer passes, the siege will end.

When the siege ends, ownership of each structure goes to the side who currently controls them (regardless if a victory timer had time to finish or not). After a delay, safe zones return to both structures and siege is officially over. At this point the warzone with its restrictions will shut down and station damage is turned off from participants.