One city in each empire may be designated as the capital. To become the capital, a city must have a capitol building. Only the emperor or vice-emperor can designate a city to be the capital.

The capital city is an important and strategic part of an empire.

• An empire without a capital does not accumulate a treasury.
• An empire without a capital cannot levy taxes.
• Sensor consoles aboard spacecraft display a distinctive blip for a capital city.
• When players join the game, they are offered a list of empires to join. Only empires with a capital city and an open immigration policy are listed. Without a capital city, it is more difficult for new players to join an empire.
• The capital city has DNA implications for first-time players, as discussed on the page about Race.
• An empire must have a capital city to be tallied on the Empire Standings page of the Shores of Hazeron web site.
  

Cities levy taxes if the empire has a capital city. Taxes accumulate in the government account of local banks. Once per day, a portion of the government account is transmitted to the capital city.

Taxes are primarily used by the empire to pay for research and development. Higher technology levels must be developed at great cost. The government accumulates its wealth at the capital city. Technology research is often conducted at the capital due to the constant influx of tax revenue.

Taxes are also used to pay rewards to players. Rewards must be collected at banks holding enough money to pay the outstanding debt. The accumulation of money at the capital makes it an ideal location for collecting large government debts.

When a city is captured, the conquerers pillage the local banks of all their money and split the loot between themselves. The accumulation of money at the capital city makes it a juicy target for enemy empires.

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One city in each sector may be designated the sector capital. To become a sector capital, a city must have a capitol building. The emperor, vice-emperor, or sector administrator can designate city to be a sector capital.

An empire must have a capital city to have any use for sector capitals. For this reason, a sector capital cannot be declared if the empire does not have a capital city.

A city in a sector with a sector capital sends its daily tax levy to the sector capital. This allows the tax revenue from a sector to be concentrated by funneling it through a single city.

Sector capitals enable technology research to be distributed to different parts of the empire. By receiving the money first, sector capitals conduct local reseach with the money. When it is time to send their tribute to the capital, they send a portion of the cash they have on hand.

Sector capitals create more concentrations of money for players to collect large debts that are owed them. This may help to distribute the risk of losing the treasury due to the capture of a lone capital city.

Sector capitals provide alternate locations for the capital city, in case the capital city needs to be moved. There is no cost associated with moving the capital. Once the new capital is declared, cities and sector capitals will begin sending their tribute to the new capital city.

It is possible for a city to be both the capital city of the empire and a sector capital.