Rivals & Territory
You are not the only operation in the sky. Rival factions hold their own airports, and the Rivals tab is where you watch them, see who controls what, and fight for ground. It unlocks at Level 10. The tab has three views: the rival factions, your territory and its bonuses, and any active turf wars.
Influence and control
Every airport carries an influence score from 0 to 100 for each faction, including you. Whoever leads takes control. As your influence at an airport climbs, you unlock stronger holds:
| Hold | Influence | What it gives |
|---|---|---|
| Controlled | 10+ | The airport is yours. Influence slowly decays if you stop visiting. |
| Strong | 40+ | Cheaper buying, better selling, and decay slows to half. |
| Fortified | 75+ | The best trade prices, an extra lab batch, no decay, and rivals cannot attack it. |
You can see all of this on the airport panel and the territory rings on the Map.
Building your territory
You take and hold ground simply by working an airport. Every landing there shifts the influence:
| Action | You gain | Rival loses |
|---|---|---|
| Fly a mission (your origin) | +10 | none |
| Fly a mission (your destination) | +15 | -10 at the destination |
| Crew run (origin / destination) | +3 / +5 | -5 at the destination |
Flying it yourself moves influence fastest; crew runs are slower but hands-off. See the Missions and Crew & Smugglers guides.
Turf wars
When a rival pushes hard on one of your airports, it becomes a turf war: the airport is contested and shows up in the Turf Wars view (and as a red ring on the Map). Winning is simple in principle: get your influence lead over the rival there to +30. Fly missions or send crew into that airport to build the lead. Flying a mission to or from a contested airport gives a bigger +20 defensive push.
Winning pays out:
- $500 for every one of your levels, plus XP.
- The rival takes an influence hit at that airport.
- The airport is hardened for 72 hours, so that rival cannot attack it again straight away.
A few rules keep wars manageable: a rival can only run one war against you at a time and waits 48 hours between attacks, active wars are spaced at least 200 nm apart, and rivals cannot attack a Fortified airport or one with a lab on it.
Rival attitudes
Each rival has an attitude toward you, shown on their card: Neutral, Wary, Hostile, or At War. Flying missions inside a rival's territory angers them and makes them more likely to move on your airports; working away from their turf cools them back down over time.
Hits
From Level 20 you can take out rival members directly. Hits are contracts (on the Tablet's Contracts app and the mission board) to fly to a target's airport and eliminate them. The bigger the target, the bigger the payout and the harder it hurts the rival:
| Target | Payout | Effect on the rival |
|---|---|---|
| Soldier | $15,000 | A dent in their influence and strength. |
| Lieutenant | $25,000 | A bigger hit that ripples to nearby airports. |
| Captain | $40,000 | A heavy blow felt across their whole network. |
| Boss | $100,000 | A crippling strike across everything they hold. |
Territory bonuses
Holding ground pays off everywhere, not just at the airport. The more airports you control, the bigger the bonus to your payouts, XP and lab production across the board. It starts small at a handful of airports and builds to a full package once you hold a large network. This is the real reason to keep taking and defending territory.
Decay
Influence you stop tending slowly bleeds away at airports that are not your base or a lab. A Strong hold decays at half speed, and a Fortified one does not decay at all. Every landing protects an airport for a while, so a regular crew run is enough to keep a hold alive. Rivals decay too, more slowly on their home turf, which is why chipping at them far from home works best.