Part of the Alliance Series:

  • Hive and Alliance Territory: Territory buildings, relocating in, and the Assembly Point (You Are Here).
  • Alliance Guide Hub: Ranks, help, and picking an alliance worth your time.
  • SvS Guide: Why territory matters during warfare.
  • PvP and Rally Guide: Rallies, scouting and shields.

Quick Answer

A hive is the cluster of settlements your alliance packs together inside its own territory. It isn't a game feature with a button — it's the shape an organised alliance takes on the map.

How territory works:

  • Your alliance needs an Alliance HQ (Wasteland or Plains Headquarters) before it can hold territory.
  • Alliance Towers extend it. A Tower must be placed adjacent to existing territory and claims 3 squares out on each side (a 7×7 block).
  • Members move in with an Alliance Relocator, which teleports them to the Alliance HQ.

Why it's worth doing: territory grants stats and buffs, gathering boosts, protection from someone porting on top of you, and a safe haven for troops during Kill Stages or while you're under attack.

Overview

New players hear "join the hive" and assume it's a menu somewhere. It isn't. The hive is just what happens when thirty alliance members relocate their settlements into a tight block inside alliance territory instead of scattering across the map.

What you'll find is that the difference between a hive and a scattered alliance is enormous during warfare. Reinforcements arrive in seconds rather than minutes, rallies form faster, and an attacker has to fight through a wall of defended settlements rather than picking off isolated targets.

Here's the practical framing: your position on the map is a strategic decision, and most players make it by accident.

Territory Buildings

Territory expansion is gated by the Territory branch of Alliance Tech, and reaching the Plains requires Alliance Members II first.

Alliance buildings come in several kinds — a Headquarters, Towers, Honor Buildings, Special Buildings, and Resource Buildings. The two that create territory:

Alliance Headquarters. Wasteland HQ and Plains HQ are the territory anchors. Your alliance must have one before it can expand at all, and it's the destination members arrive at when they use an Alliance Relocator.

Alliance Towers. The expansion tool. Unlike headquarters, a Tower must be placed next to existing territory — you can't leapfrog it out into empty map. Each Tower claims a block extending three squares to each side, so a 7×7 area becomes yours on placement.

That adjacency rule is what makes territory planning a real exercise. Expanding toward a contested resource area or an Analysis Center means building a chain of Towers to reach it, and each link is exposed while you do.

[!IMPORTANT] Territory expansion is a leadership decision with real costs. If you're not R4 or R5, your job is to relocate where you're told rather than to plant yourself wherever looks convenient.

What Territory Gives You

Benefit Why it matters
Stats and buffs Applies while you sit inside your own territory
Gathering boosts Compounds across every march you send
Port protection Stops hostile players teleporting on top of you
Safe haven for troops Matters during Kill Stages and while under attack
Alliance Resource Nodes Produce alliance resources automatically once land is fully occupied
Analysis Center access Can only be contested if your territory connects to it

That last row is the one alliances underestimate. Analysis Centers give alliance-wide benefits and can only be fought for if your territory reaches them. An alliance that never expands has locked itself out of a whole reward layer, regardless of how strong its members are.

Relocating Into the Hive

The mechanics of actually moving in:

  1. Get an Alliance Relocator. This is the item that ports you to your Alliance HQ specifically.
  2. Use it and you arrive inside alliance territory.
  3. Fine-tune your position with ordinary relocators if leadership wants a specific arrangement.

Ordinary relocators move you anywhere; the Alliance Relocator is the one that targets your alliance's HQ. Keep one in reserve — if you get bounced out of position during warfare, being able to get back quickly matters.

[!WARNING] Teleporting directly into another alliance's territory within your own state is blocked from state 242 onward. Don't buy relocators expecting to drop into someone else's hive.

The Assembly Point

Frequently confused with the hive, and a different thing entirely.

The Assembly Point is the building where alliance members' troops rendezvous. It houses troops sent to you by alliance-mates, and it's the sending point for troops you reinforce others with.

Two practical consequences:

Reinforcement capacity is a real stat. How many allied troops you can hold depends on your Assembly Point, which matters enormously if you're the account absorbing attacks. See the traps guide.

Upgrade it if you're in a defensive role. If your alliance expects you to hold a position during SvS or Reservoir Raid, a low Assembly Point caps how much help you can actually receive.

For Bunker and Facility contests, coordinate staging with the Fortress Fight plan. After a merger, follow the alliance rebuilding checklist before members spend relocators on an unconfirmed hive location.

Positioning Well

The same adjacency logic drives Nexus Struggle, where only cities connected to your territory can be occupied.

Practical habits once you're in:

  • Sit inside territory, not on the edge. Edge positions are the first attacked and the last reinforced.
  • Keep an Alliance Relocator spare so you can return if displaced.
  • Don't wander far to gather during warfare windows. Marches outside territory lose the protection.
  • Shield when offline regardless. Territory helps; it isn't a shield. See the PvP guide.
  • Follow leadership's layout. A hive works because it's tight, and one person parking three squares out weakens the whole shape.

F2P vs Spender

F2P accounts benefit most from hive membership, because the gathering buffs and reinforcement speed are free power and the protection reduces the losses a free account can least afford to replace.

Spending accounts are usually the ones holding the perimeter and contesting Analysis Centers, since that's where defensive investment pays off for the whole alliance rather than just the individual.

Common Mistakes

Looking for a "hive" button. There isn't one. Fix: get an Alliance Relocator and move to your Alliance HQ.

Planting yourself wherever's convenient. Weakens the alliance's shape. Fix: relocate where leadership asks.

Never upgrading the Assembly Point. Caps how much reinforcement you can receive. Fix: upgrade it if you hold a defensive role.

Assuming territory replaces shields. It doesn't. Fix: shield when offline anyway.

Sitting on the territory edge. First attacked, last helped. Fix: move inside.

Buying relocators to port into another alliance's territory. Blocked from state 242 onward. Fix: don't.

Before Building Toward a New Objective

If an HQ or Tower is blocked by resources, distinguish personal inventory from the alliance warehouse. The alliance funding guide explains the Alliance Gold conversion option available in relevant state interfaces, including where officers should look after transferring.

For an Analysis Center, check the target's level, existing bonus duplicates and capture window before building the tower chain. Maintaining a valid connection matters after capture as well.

FAQ

What is the hive in State of Survival? The cluster of settlements an alliance packs into its own territory. It's a formation rather than a game feature.

How do I join my alliance's hive? Use an Alliance Relocator, which teleports you to your Alliance HQ inside alliance territory.

How does alliance territory expand? Through Alliance Towers, which must be placed adjacent to existing territory and claim three squares on each side — a 7×7 block.

What does alliance territory give me? Stats and buffs, gathering boosts, protection from hostile teleports, and a safe haven for troops during Kill Stages or attacks.

What is the Assembly Point? The building that houses troops sent to you by alliance members, and the point you send reinforcements from. Different from the hive.

Can I teleport into another alliance's territory? Not within your own state, from state 242 onward.

Do I still need shields inside territory? Yes. Territory provides protection and buffs; it is not a shield.

Key Takeaways

  • A hive is a formation, not a feature: alliance settlements packed inside alliance territory.
  • Territory needs an Alliance HQ; Alliance Towers extend it and must touch existing territory, claiming a 7×7 block each.
  • Move in with an Alliance Relocator, which ports you to the Alliance HQ.
  • Territory grants buffs, gathering boosts, port protection, and a safe haven for troops.
  • Analysis Centers can only be contested if your territory reaches them.
  • The Assembly Point is separate — it holds reinforcements sent to you and sends yours out.
  • Territory is not a shield. Shield when offline anyway.