The Emperor Contest has long been one of the most prestigious and contentious parts of Star Sonata. Over the past few cycles, we have continued to iterate on Anatolia, Influence, Imperial Strands, and the overall structure of the contest.

With the next universe, we are preparing for another significant change: The Emperor Contest will begin at the start of the universe, and the contest itself will move into Wild Space!

A Wild Contest

The Anatolian Expanse was originally created as a dedicated contest space where teams could compete over Influence generation. We had good intentions when designing that system, and theoretically it was supposed to encourage people to fight each other over access to the AI they needed to kill in order to gain influence. In practice it separated the contest from the rest of the universe and concentrated too much of the experience into a PvE farming loop.

The Emperor Contest should primarily be about competing against other teams. Players should be fighting over meaningful territory, contesting valuable objectives, and making progress through ownership, coordination, and conflict.

To support that, Influence generating galaxies will now appear throughout Wild Space. These are normal Wild Space galaxies with a special Midas designation. They can be claimed normally using Command & Control stations, and while owned, they will generate Influence for the owning team. The current galaxy ownership system has consistently produced meaningful territorial conflict throughout the past few years. When valuable territory exists, teams show up to fight over it. We want to bring that same structure into the Emperor Contest.

This means teams will make progress by doing the following:

• Identify Influence generating galaxies.

• Stake a claim with a Command & Control station.

• Defend the claim and deny the galaxy to opponents.

• Generate Influence by maintaining ownership of the galaxy.

Influence Galaxies

Influence generating galaxies are normal Wild Space galaxies designated by Midas. They are not a separate galaxy type with special rules, special resources, or unusual ownership requirements. They are Wild Space galaxies that also generate Influence while controlled, and the quality of the galaxy does not determine the amount of Influence generated. Owning the galaxy is what matters.

During each reveal cycle of the contest a number of these galaxies will appear, creating new opportunities for teams to expand, contest, and deny territory. 90 of these galaxies are expected to appear over the course of the contest, and these galaxies will be visible on the map with a special indicator.

Imperial Strands

In the current structure, some of the most valuable rewards associated with the Emperor Contest are earned through activities that are not always connected to actually winning the contest. We want those rewards to come from doing the main objective well.

Going forward, a significant portion of Imperial Strands available per universe will be generated through ownership of Influence generating galaxies. When a team claims one of these galaxies, Imperial Strands will be generated on the Command & Control station in that galaxy. This can only happen the first time the galaxy is owned.

To keep the timing of the contest important, Strand generation will stop once the Emperor Contest enters overtime. Influence generation can continue, but no Strands will be created when a galaxy is owned for the first time once the contest enters overtime.

Winning The Contest

The Emperor Contest will last for at least 21 days, no team can claim victory before this period ends. During the contest, teams can continue gaining Influence with no restrictions of caps. When the contest period ends, the leading team must meet two requirements to claim the Throne:

• They must have at least 9,000,000 Influence.

• If another team is in second place, they must also lead that team by the required margin.

That required lead starts at 2,000,000 Influence.

If no team qualifies when the 21-day contest period ends, the contest enters overtime. During overtime, standings still matter, but the required lead begins to shrink. Over the course of 7 days, the lead requirement will decay until even a 1-point lead is enough to decide the winner.

Once a team wins, they become the reigning Emperor team.

Emperor Rewards

When a team wins the Emperor Contest, they gain control of the Imperial Palace.

The Imperial Palace will be assigned to the winning team and its leader, and the victory will be announced globally. The Palace will also receive its configured Emperor rewards, including 3 Imperial Ship Dry-docks, 3 Imperial Augmenter Retrievals, 150 Imperial Chests, and 8 Imperial Signets.

Members of the winning team will also receive Emperor win points, with higher-ranking team members receiving a larger share.

What About Anatolia

The Anatolian Expanse as a layer is being removed, but Anatolia itself is not going away. Anatolian themed content and rewards will continue to exist, and we will continue to add more rewards that can be earned by turning in Anatolian themed commodities. After the Emperor Contest concludes, Anatolian themed roaming bosses and AI will begin appearing throughout Kalthi Depths and Perilous Space.

These encounters will provide access to Anatolian Crests and Imperial Strands.

Anatolian Surges

Regular Anatolian rewards are not disappearing with the removal of the Anatolian Expanse. Imperial Strands will be earned through Anatolian Surges. During these events, Anatolian-themed AI and roaming bosses will appear throughout Kalthi Depths and Perilous Space.

Anatolian Crests will come from Anatolian Surges rather than from the old Anatolian Expanse. These surges will happen every few days, and will last until all Anatolian AI are defeated or despawned. You can turn in Anatolian Crests and Imperial Strands in Anatolia.

Why This Is Changing

The goal is to make the Emperor Contest a true struggle for territory and control. The previous structure gave players reasons to be in Anatolia, but too much of the contest came down to optimizing a PvE farming loop. By moving Influence generation into Wild Space and tying it to galaxy ownership, the contest becomes part of the broader universe. Teams will fight over territory, defend their holdings, and make progress by maintaining control over contested space.

We’re excited to see how this changes the shape of the next universe, and we’ll continue watching how the system performs once teams begin fighting for the Imperial Throne.

Note

The Anatolian Expanse and associated Emperor Contest is a labor of love by us to support an active PvP event that breaks up the day to day activities in Star Sonata. We appreciate the many rounds of feedback the community has given about this experience. We are committed to continuing to support this activity and monitoring its success and failures. This blog post includes all information on the current system used to ascend to the throne to become Emperor, but like with many things in Star Sonata, it changes often. This system will likely be iterated into the future to bring an experience that promotes competition. You can stay up to date on what is involved in the contest to become Emperor by visiting our wiki page on the topic. https://www.starsonata.com/wiki/index.php/Emperor