Incursion

What are incursions?

Incursions are automated events introduced with the Incursion expansion in which the NPC faction known as the Sansha's Nation, led by Sansha Kuvakei, invade space in an attempt to conquer it for themselves. Capsuleers must fight off Sansha's forces in order to return the contested space back into an area which can be more safely occupied.

Effects

When Sansha's forces place a constellation under siege, the nebula gets a brownish hue making it obvious that something is different. Beacons will appear in your overview and rats are replaced.

Constellation Penalties

During an incursion there are constellation-wide penalties. The strength of the tank and weapon penalties are tied to both the level of activity and how much influence Sansha's forces have in the constellation. As players run sites, the Sansha's influence drops, and most of the penalties drop along with it until they are effectively cancelled at zero influence.

System-wide cynosural field jammers are in effect.

Cynosural field jamming has no impact in high security space, but can be quite damaging for a nullsec alliance if one of their logistics hubs is locked down. This penalty is absolute and always in effect even at zero influence, but does not stop you from lighting a covert cynosural field.

Financial systems compromised. 50% reduction in CONCORD bounties.

The 50% reduction in CONCORD bounties is always in full effect and doesn't scale with Sansha's influence.

Vessel integrity compromised. Shield and armor resistances reduced.

At full influence, a ship in a Vanguard system suffers a 10% penalty to resists. In Assaults the penalty is 25% and in Headquarter systems the penalty is a whopping 50% cut in resists. Due to the way resists work, this practically means that a ship with resist of 73% drops to 70% in Vanguard, 66% in Assaults and as low as 59% in Headquarter sites. You do take up to 10%, 25% or 50% more damage depending on the type of system you're in and the level of influence.

Capsule interference detected. Turret, launcher, drone and smartbomb damage reduced.

At full influence, player ships deal 10% less damage in Vanguards, 25% less damage in Assaults and as much as 50% less damage in Headquarter sites.

Spawning and duration

While it is impossible to predict exactly where a new incursion may occur, or exactly how long it'll last, there are several aspects of their spawn mechanics that are systematic and easy to predict.

Number of incursions and respawns

There can be up to five incursions up at any given time, one in highsec, one in lowsec, and three in nullsec. When an incursion ends, a new one will spawn in the same type of security space as the one they are replacing. This means that whenever a highsec incursion is despawned, either by a Sansha withdrawal by players finishing the mothership site, a new highsec incursion will soon spawn somewhere else.

The delay between an incursion ending and a new one spawning is 12 to 36 hours according to CCP, but there have been reports of respawns delayed for longer.

Phases of an incursion

Incursions can theoretically last close to eight days, but practically last less long. They go through three different stages; Established, Mobilized and Withdrawing.

Incursion Established (up to 5 days)

Whenever an incursion spawns, this will be the first stage. Sansha Kuvakei's forces are trying to take control of the systems. While reducing Sansha's influence seems to increase the chance of a this stage lasting longer, the exact mechanics are unknown. This can be as short as a day.

Incursion Mobilized (2 full days)

The incursion has been in place for a bit, and Sansha Kuvakei's forces are either getting ready to finish off the incursion or they are losing ground and preparing to withdraw from the constellation. This phase always lasts 48 hours unless someone runs the mothership site prematurely.

Incursion Withdrawing (1 full day)

The incursion is ending, either due to Sansha Kuvakei's forces finishing with the constellation, or because the incursion community managed to keep them at bay. If the mothership site is not completed within 24 hours, the incursion simply disappears (and no loyalty points are paid out).

Mothership sightings

The mothership site can occur as early as within the first Established stage; all that is needed is that the influence falls to 0% and a single headquarters site is run. Once the mothership has been sighted, the incursion can be ended by destroying the mothership at any time. As such, there is no guaranteed longevity for incursions, other than the brief period before the mothership site is unlocked (which can be mere hours).

Incursion Squad

The Imperium have a squad that runs incursions when they are active in or near our space.

Interested in joining the Incursion Squad? Check out the recruitment thread here.