Guys, remember that surrendering can only be done after 1 week of war, minimum. However, a timer for surrendering would make sense since the other 2 also require a timer.

To be done ASAP (note that until this is done, the future laying of an HQ to BVB will be deemed an exploit):
Declaration of War (DoW) will take 24 hours to take effect. It is announced to both teams that there has been a declaration and how many hours until it takes effect. Reciprocal DoW's can be immediate and if done during the 24 hour wait time, can immediately start the war. Thus if team A wants to start stuff with team B, team B can choose any earlier start time it wants during that first 24 hours, allowing it to preemptively counter-attack neighboring galaxies.
BvB in an owned galaxy requires
a current active DoW from the team deploying the base in the owned galaxy and
the adjacent owned galaxy must have been owned for 24 hours before deployment in the victim's galaxy

f team A has had DoW against it for a total time of 1 week since the beginning of the universe, they get the new option in team control to surrender to that team. The surrender creates a 10% tribute similar to the imperial tithe and cancels the current DoW and prevents further DoW during this universe. Team A can cancel the tribute a week after it has started which will then reset the total DoW time counted against it, allowing the DoW team to DoW again for another week before team A can again surrender. The tribute only affects DoW and not any PvP or anything else at this time, though in the future, we may think about tying it to the emperor runs and having to get a certain percentage of the players to surrender to you. Surrendering to another team essentially puts you into their protection, in which case a DoW on you by another team will also be a DoW against the victors to whom you surrendered. This will prevent small teams from being DoWed by a lot of big teams for the tithe, since after 1 they will have protection. The tithe may be player set in a certain range (this has not been decided yet).

f team A has had DoW against it for a total time of 1 week since the beginning of the universe, they get the new option in team control to surrender to that team. The surrender creates a 10% tribute similar to the imperial tithe and cancels the current DoW and prevents further DoW during this universe. Team A can cancel the tribute a week after it has started which will then reset the total DoW time counted against it, allowing the DoW team to DoW again for another week before team A can again surrender. The tribute only affects DoW and not any PvP or anything else at this time, though in the future, we may think about tying it to the emperor runs and having to get a certain percentage of the players to surrender to you. Surrendering to another team essentially puts you into their protection, in which case a DoW on you by another team will also be a DoW against the victors to whom you surrendered. This will prevent small teams from being DoWed by a lot of big teams for the tithe, since after 1 they will have protection. The tithe may be player set in a certain range (this has not been decided yet).