Void Strongholds
New in v4.0. Each cluster now holds a tenth, Void-only galaxy — a stronghold. Nine Void planets that defend each other: attack one and you fight the entire galaxy.
Strongholds cannot be captured or colonised. They are the game's PvE raid bosses — you wear their strength down, everyone who did damage shares the breach reward, and the stronghold rebuilds.
The four tiers
One stronghold per cluster, at four difficulty tiers:
A stronghold's strength ceiling is scaled against the real players in the round — as they grow, so does the wall. Each tier is measured against players' total fleet (home fleet, fleets out, nebula and Dominion garrisons and what they have given to the alliance pool), so the four form a ladder from a single player to the whole top of the board:
| Tier | Ceiling | Who it's for |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The 90th percentile of players' total fleets | One strong average player |
| 2 | 5% of the largest total fleet in the round | One strong player alone |
| 3 | 25% of the largest total fleet | 2–3 players together |
| 4 | 1.5× the largest total fleet | The biggest players teaming up |
Every ceiling is at least 1 000 000 and follows the round as fleets grow. Higher tiers also rebuild faster after a breach.
The strength meter you see in the app is the galaxy's current fleet value as a percentage of that ceiling.
Attacking a stronghold
Send an ordinary attack fleet at any planet in the stronghold galaxy. The difference from a normal battle:
- The whole galaxy defends. Every neighbouring stronghold planet injects its defence into the battle as fixed installations. You never fight one Void planet — you fight nine.
- The injected defenders don't consume the neighbours' ships — the wall is worn down by killing the ships that live on the planets, attack after attack.
- Capture ships are pointless here (nothing transfers), but steal-ships hijack normally and every ship you destroy counts toward the breach ledger.
Your damage is tracked per attack window in a contribution ledger — the fleet value you destroy is your share of the breach payout. In a joint attack (several planets landing on the same tick), the damage is split between the attackers by the fleet value each one brought, so everyone in the strike gets their part.
Stronghold planets never join the Void's ordinary attacks during Void Awakens — they only strike back through mobilisation.
Breaching
When the galaxy's strength falls below 40% of its ceiling, the stronghold breaks:
- Everyone who destroyed fleet value during the window is paid by attrition share — the player who did the damage gets paid, not whoever landed last.
- The payout, split by your share of the damage:
- antimatter: 10 × tier
- a share of the stronghold's stockpile — 10% of what its planets hold at tier 1, 15% at tier 2, 20% at tier 3, 25% at tier 4 (taken from the stronghold)
- commander XP: 100 × tier
- Breaches pay no Valor Points, so solo players and alliance members are paid the same way.
- The window then resets: the ledger clears and the stronghold rebuilds. It can't pay out again until it has climbed back above 40% strength.
Because the ceiling tracks the strongest players, a stronghold broken mid-season comes back harder than it fell.
Mobilisation — the stronghold hits back
While the Void is awake (the Void Awakens window), a stronghold at 80%+ strength can mobilise: the planets in the galaxy launch a strike — everything except recon, Siphons and Engulfers included — at one target: the highest-scoring player within its reach.
- Within reach means a player whose home fleet is at least 30% of the stronghold galaxy's fleet value — someone who can fight back — with at least 50 orbitals, not under protection, and not already under Void attack.
- Strike size: about 1.5× the target's home fleet, up to the whole garrison. Each planet sends that share of its warships; capture ships always go in full.
- The Void never attacks without capture ships: a stronghold with no Siphons or Engulfers does not mobilise.
- Mobilisations are at least 24 hours apart (48 ticks in a normal season).
- A mobilised stronghold has emptied its garrison: it is measurably weaker and breachable by attackers who couldn't touch it at full strength. The strike window after a mobilisation is the best time to hit one.
If you're near the top of the rankings during Void Awakens: keep a home fleet.
The stronghold nebula
Each stronghold galaxy has its own nebula, and it plays by different rules:
- Open to everyone — no alliance needed, no adjacency ladder: any slot, any time.
- Nothing to hold. Control never transfers; clearing a slot pays its instant reward, then the Void respawns. No holding VP accrues here.
- It is a fight arena, not territory — a place for solo players and small alliances to farm Void battles without the politics.
Quick reference
| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Strongholds per round | 4 — one per cluster, galaxy 10, tiers 1–4 |
| Ceiling | Players' total fleet: T1 90th percentile · T2 5% of the largest · T3 25% of the largest · T4 1.5× the largest (min 1 M) |
| Defence | whole-galaxy injection — you always fight all nine |
| Breach threshold | strength below 40% of ceiling |
| Payout | 10 × tier antimatter + 10–25% of the stockpile + 100 × tier XP, split by damage share (joint attacks split by fleet brought); no VP |
| Re-arm | Pays again only after rebuilding above 40% |
| Mobilisation | Void awake + 80%+ strength + capture ships aboard → strike of about 1.5× the target's home fleet at the top player whose home fleet is ≥30% of the galaxy's, ≥24 hours apart |
| Colonisable | Never — stronghold galaxies are excluded from placement |
| Stronghold nebula | open to all, no adjacency, control never transfers, no holding VP |
Documentation reflects Orbitarion v4.6.4. Last updated: 2026-11-03.