What little details we've known about the upcoming Dominion expansion to EVE Online centered around changes to sovereignty gameplay. Today, those changes have been fleshed out with details on what sort of sovereignty system changes we can expect with the release of Dominion later this year in a dev blog posted on the game's official website, entitled "Sovereignty - Breaking the Chains".

The first, and possibly most important adjustment to the sovereignty system is one hardcore 0.0 players will surely appreciate: sovereignty will no longer be tied to starbases.

Other notable sovereignty changes mentioned include:

• Sovereignty levels will be no more. The system will be binary, you either have sovereignty, or you don't. Instead of levels, alliances will be able to "plant a flag" in system in order to gain control.
• As a result of controlling a system, its upkeep will now become your alliance's responsibility. This means things like stargates will be subject to maintenance fees for as long as you control them. The more you expand, the more you will be responsible for.
• Infrastructure is a new aspect of sovereignty being introduced with Dominion as well. Alliances will be able to develop the systems they control, giving value to systems that players may have viewed as worthless in the past. Now, you'll be able to invest in three different areas of insfrastructure: military, economic, and industrial. Players will be able to make improvements that allow them to discover valuable resources in systems that may currently be considered barren, for example.
• The introduction of a "Sovereignty Dashboard". This new feature will allow for higher level alliance or corporation members to monitor the happenings in controlled systems on a moment-to-moment basis.

Check out the official dev blog entry here for more details.