Understanding Territory Conquest

OVERVIEW
To progress on the strategic scale and ultimately drive your opposition into the ground, territories will need to be captured across the Lost Universe.  While territories may be secured and maintained de facto through gunship diplomacy, they will not be legally conquered until the local FTL Relay Station is captured.  

This is accomplished via direct flagship or drone rendezvous with the structure and initiating the capture procedure—an operation which will require the spacecraft to remain docked for a day and thus vulnerable to direct weapon fire without the ability to fire offensively in return.  For this reason alone it is always a good idea to clear the territory of hostiles and establish a solid blockade before attempting a relay capture, but the territory can only legally change hands when the defending force possesses less than half as many warships in local space as the attackers.



CONSEQUENCES OF CAPTURE
Perhaps the most significant consequence of relay capture is the changing of all orbital structural ownership; all docks and stations in local space will become property of the new territory holder.  By extension, any goods stored there will become free spoils for a hard-earned victory.

In addition to asserting territory-wide ownership over a sector, relay stations also serve as nodes for the global FTL network.  Any broadcasts to properties in remote territories will have to be transmitted through relay stations to bypass the restrictions of lightspeed.  What this means on the tactical level is an opportunity to inhibit enemy communication.