Outposts & SAP

On the open-PvP islands, outposts can be owned by player corporations. Control is measured by a stability meter (0–150) shown above the outpost in map view. The SAP (Service Access Point) system is how that meter moves — and how outposts change hands.

flowchart TD
    O["Outpost owned by a corporation\n(stability 1–150, shown on the map)"] --> S8["Every 8 h: a new SAP opens\n(passive / active / specimen / destruction)\nexpires after 2 h if unfinished"]
    S8 --> W{"Completing corp vs owner"}
    W -->|"owner"| UP["+ SAP points (10–15)"]
    W -->|"ally (standing ≥ 10)"| NO["No change"]
    W -->|"anyone else"| DN["− SAP points"]
    UP --> M{"Stability at 0?"}
    DN --> M
    M -->|yes| NEUTRAL["Outpost becomes neutral\nnext SAP capture takes it (starts at 1)"]
    M -->|no| O
    O -.->|no SAP for 5 days| DECAY["−5 stability per day"]

The rules

When the owning corporation completes a SAP, stability goes up by the SAP's point value.
When a corporation allied to the owner (mutual standing at +10 or higher) completes one, stability does not move.
When anyone else completes one, stability goes down by the same amount.
At zero, the outpost loses ownership and becomes neutral. Completing any SAP on a neutral outpost captures it (the completing corporation becomes the owner, starting at stability 1).
Decay: if no SAP is completed for 5 days, the outpost starts losing 5 stability per day until one is (or until it is lost).

The four SAP types

Every 8 hours an outpost puts up a new SAP — one of four types. Each type has its own point value and its own completion method:

Type	How it's done	Points	Reward flavor
Passive	Stand inside the SAP beam for 8 minutes. Progress is individual (each player's own continuous time in the beam); the single highest personal progress takes it over.	+10	Faction plasma (scales with stability), research kits, EP boosters.
Active	Target the SAP and keep a SAP hacking module running — about 120 module cycles (5 s each), i.e. ~10 minutes. Progress persists if you stop or leave; individual.	+15	Plasma, kernels, research kits, and reactor cores (robot production).
Specimen	Bring specimen items to the SAP (within 7 m) and submit the 5–6 it asks for. Each submit has a 90-second cooldown; progress is individual.	+15	Plasma, kernels, research kits.
Destruction	Shoot it down: 30,000 armor and 150 resistance to all four damage types (60% reduction), 6 m signature — small weapons hit it best. Damage progress is corporate, not individual, so whole fleets can chip away at once; the corporation with the most damage when it dies applies the result.	±15	Faction PvP ammo, plasma, kernels.

All four SAPs broadcast the current top scorers (top 10) to everyone nearby, and they expire after 2 hours if not completed.

Denying the enemy

Because destruction progress is corporate and the sign of the stability change depends on who wins, a common tactic is to deal enough damage to top the leaderboard but not enough to finish the SAP: if the owner's own crew then finishes it, your corporation is still the winner, and the stability change lands against the owner.

Watching and predicting

The intrusion scanner charge in a geoscanner, activated near the outpost, reports the time until the next SAP for outposts in range (on open-PvP islands the same charge reports NPC reinforcement status instead).
SAPs announce themselves to nearby players a short while before they open.
The SAP's top-scorer broadcast means you can watch a contested SAP in real time and decide whether to contest it.

Other ways stability moves

SAP relics — relic objects that spawn 90–350 m from the outpost (4-hour respawn, up to 12 hours old). Popping one applies ±1 stability instantly (for your corporation), flags you PvP, and pays EP plus a plasma container.
Guardians and invaders — the outpost's NPC bosses:
- Guard NPCs hold close to the outpost (~35 m). Killing one always reduces stability by 3, whoever kills it; they respawn in ~6 hours.
- Invader NPCs patrol out to ~300 m. Killing one raises stability by 2 for the killing corporation; ~6 hour respawn.

Why outposts matter

Owning an outpost gives the corporation its bonuses (production, defense facilities, effects) and is the backbone of open-PvP territorial play — see PBS for the structures that make an outpost an actual base of operations.