Hey guys! I posted these ideas a few months ago, but on re-reading, I realized I hadn't written it as well as I had wished. While the ideas here are broadly similar, hopefully this is a lot more clear!
This is pretty long, so first, I'll summarize the core ideas, and then go back and add some extra detail. If I'm not entirely clear in the summary, try skipping down below and it might explain what I'm hoping for in greater depth!
The goal, however, is very simple: To make Powerplay fun and engaging for players of of all kinds. So please, give it a read, and hopefully we can create something great.
I don’t like that. Powerplay should be the way Elite offers perpetual value, and should have something to offer to all players, and all activities, by giving them a place in a larger world.
I, for example, enjoy mining – but mining no longer has any value to me, because I have more than enough credits. But if mining could help my powerplay faction, which in turn helps me, then I could happily mine indefinitely.
At its core, Powerplay should give all players a reason to participate, even if only tangentially. The question is: how?
I’ll tell you.
First, I’ll cover Merits.
Currently, Merits are gained by hauling powerplay commodities or killing powerplay ships. Merit activities are almost completely unrelated to normal, non-powerplay activities, and aren’t very much fun.
In my suggestion, Merits will be gained by playing the game. Doing any ingame activity will gain merits. Added to this, players should be able to gain merits faster by doing certain activities, determined by that Power’s gameplay focus. For example, pledges to Torval(who has the largest interest in mining) should get a merit multiplier for mining, gaining them merits faster while doing that activity, but should still get merits for doing anything else. Combat should offer increased merits to combat-related powers such as Utopia, Hudson, and Lavigny-Duval. Additionally, playing inside your Power’s controlled space should further multiply your merit gains, encouraging players to play there, meet and make new friends, and form new communities.
As a side benefit, this will largely prevent 5C(or Fifth Column) attacks, since voting power will be based on playtime, not pledge time, and most 5C attacks are done with low-playtime, high-pledgetime alts.
Next, I’ll cover Player Benefits.
The current player benefits for Powerplay are limited and poorly implemented. Modules encourage players to swap powers constantly, rather than encouraging any sort of loyalty to a single power. Pledge rank bonuses encourage players to acquire merits as quickly as possible, often in ways that are harmful to the Power, rather than actually supporting their power effectively. And Power Rank bonuses are largely irrelevant, since it’s almost impossible to change. Torval will never get more than the basic bonus, for example, so there’s no incentive for their players to compete at all.
Powerplay Modules
Powerplay Modules need to be uncoupled from pledging. Unpledged players should be able to work for other powers to earn reputation with that power, allowing them to buy modules without needing to change power, from new Power-based Tech Brokers. This will encourage greater Power loyalty, by removing the need to re-pledge constantly, and remove painful arbitrary wait times.
Pledge Rank Bonuses are fine as-is, with the new way of gaining Merits.
Power Rank bonuses, on the other hand, should be almost completely reworked. Their problem is that changing your Power’s rank is an extremely long-term goal, one unrealistic to work towards in the short term. This discourages players from trying at all. Instead, Powers should be able to use power's CC(Command Capital, the currency of Powerplay) to buy additional player bonuses. The more CC your power has, the more bonuses your Power can buy. This encourages short-term competition, which naturally leads to long-term competition.
To accomplish this, Powers should be given a monthly list of potential bonuses to purchase. Players can vote on what particular bonus they want, with larger Powers getting more bonuses, but with each successive bonus costing progressively more, to discourage the largest Powers from becoming too attractive. Powers will always have the choice to select their default bonus, but can also swap it out for other options, if that’s what they want to do(especially useful for Powers with useless bonuses, like cheaper ammo; I’m looking at you, Patreus). These bonuses will be purchased with Command Capital(or CC).
This will allow Powers to shed bad bonuses, and establish good bonuses that match the playstyles of their players. Mining Powers will accumulate mining bonuses, while different combat powers will establish different combat focuses; Aisling might focus on Shield bonuses, such as greater resistance to phasing damage, while Hudson might focus on greater damage, and so on. Over time, players will self-sort into the Power that matches their desires, playstyles, and interests.
Command Capital
Command Capital is currently used to purchase new systems, which in turn reward more CC. This is a terrible system, as it inevitably leads to a point where earning more CC is impossible due to the Maintenance Costs of additional systems. Before the Thargoid War, many Powers were stagnant for years.
Removing Maintenance Costs
First I’ll talk about removing Upkeep. There should never be a case where players are fighting the system more than their actual enemies. Upkeep needs to be removed entirely, at least in its current state. However, removing upkeep would allow Powers to expand without limit. Expansion must be curtailed in a new way. This will be achieved in several ways.
First will be Infrastructure Improvements. Players can spend their credits to improve systems controlled by their Power, increasing its CC value and income. It should be more efficient to improve a new system than capture a new system, slowing the rate of Power expansion. Eventually, further improvements will start to see diminishing returns, encouraging eventual expansion, but slowing down the rate at which expansion occurs. Powers will always want to consolidate their assets before expanding to new ones.
The opposite of Improvements will be Looting. When a hostile power causes an enemy system to be lost, they will Loot some of the accumulated System Improvements as an immediate CC bonus. This will encourage powers to fight with one another, and poke at each other’s weaknesses. Taking a poorly-defended enemy system might be worth ten times the value of taking an unimproved system, encouraging constant conflict.
Last will be NPC Attacks. This will be the closest thing to upkeep, but rather than a simple statistical cost, it will be a random chance for Pirates or Thargoids to attack a system or cluster of systems. This can be an opportunity for smaller Powers to launch an offensive, with the enemy distracted. These must be fought off physically, by killing pirates or Thargoids. Bonuses can be purchased that will make these easier to fight off.
Structural Changes in how Powerplay is played.
Next, I’ll talk about the structural changes to Powerplay, largely how Systems are captured. Currently, taking a new system requires a vote. The main reason a voting barrier was important was to prevent fifth-column attacks, which could result in highly-harmful systems being claimed, which can take months to remove. With Upkeep removed, 5C attacks will become essentially impossible. As such systems will have no need to be voted in anymore, and the vote can be scrapped, and replaced with a more organic system; anyone can attack or capture any system at any time. The new Looting and NPC Attack systems will keep this in check; if a solo player goes to the effort to claim a system, but has no support from other members, the system will shortly be Looted by hostile powers. This will encourage cooperation and teamwork.
Next up are changes to Fortification.
Basic Fortification will be very similar to the current system of Fortification, but will be achieved by simply playing in the controlled system, doing power-related activities. Attack takes place in the same way, by playing in the target system and attacking the controlling power’s assets. This is simple, clear, and easy to understand, and is a great way for players to get into Powerplay.
For more advanced players, there should also be Complex Tactics available. This is where the tactical and strategic game of Powerplay will be played.
This will largely be about correctly organizing the Power. Adjacent Controlled Systems will support each other, making them more difficult to take, up to a limit. Different Powers’ systems can be Fortified by different numbers of adjacent systems, making every different Power play slightly differently from one another. For example, Hudson systems might be able to be supported by up to six adjacent systems, while Delaine might be only three, making them easier to defend but with a lower maximum defense.
Furthermore, these shapes will be actively adjusted by ongoing BGS states, creating opportunities for attack. For example, a Public Holiday might dramatically extend the range of a Control System, while a Pirate Attack(the BGS State) might dramatically reduce the range of a Control System. When both states occur simultaneously, an opportunity might open for one power to attack another while largely undefended.
Lastly, there should be Colonization. Colonization would be a highly-expensive activity, which should be largely an activity of last resort, but for a pricetag in the hundreds of billions of credits, players should be able to colonize new systems wholesale. This would allow the gameboard to change dynamically over time, and keep the game perpetually fresh.
The entire system should be quite complex, allowing for near-infinite creativity.
Finally, there should be PVP Integration. This would occur via Convoys.
Convoys would be Open-Only Content. They would be hosted by the Fdev servers, and there would be only one instance. These convoys would be launched from the Power’s Headquarters, and jump from system to system until reaching the target system. On reaching the target system, it would dispense huge amounts of merits, massively fortifying the system. Hostile players would want to attack and destroy the ships inside along the way, while friendly players would seek to defend them. Allied players could use healy beams and repair limpets to keep them alive, while Hostile players could use Torpedoes and massive firepower to attempt to destroy them. Once a Convoy reaches the target system(or is destroyed), a new convoy will be dispatched. Convoys should attempt to depart during peak player hours.
These convoys would not make or break a conflict, but would play a significant role in it. This would make PVP an equally meaningful activity compared to other activities.
What will all of this achieve?
Powerplay will encompass all styles of play in the game; rather than being a separate activity, it will give context to all activities.
5C attacks will be impossible. There are no longer any bad choices to make, only lesser or greater degrees of good. What choices remain will be chosen by the players who play the most, rather than by alts who simply have longer pledge time. The power will always be controlled by the players who play in it.
The game will be more focused on directly fighting enemy Powers, rather than on fighting upkeep and the game itself. PVP will also matter for the first time. This will be fun.
A new focus on more short-term benefits will encourage more regular participation. This will also be fun.
Overall, Powerplay should be a much deeper and more entertaining aspect of the game, and will appeal to all players.
If you were happy with the above, you can stop here and we can talk about it, but if you want some extra detail and explanations for the choices I’ve made, I’ll try to explain them now in greater detail!
2a: Who is Powerplay For?
This is an important question. You could argue that Powerplay should be improved with the current powerplay playerbase in mind, but I think that Powerplay has the potential to appeal to all players, and it would be a darn shame if it didn’t. One of the main reasons games like EVE online are endlessly entertaining is because the content is provided and created by other players. By making Powerplay actually good, and making it appeal to all players, Elite could get nearly infinite replay value.
But what is it that makes this entertaining? Why is the current powerplay only used by a small portion of the playerbase, while EVE Online’s politics gets mass participation?
Ultimately, it comes down to having your actions matter. In EVE, taking a station has direct and tangible benefits, not just to your Power, but to you, personally. If you steal a blueprint or claim a station, you get better ships, better tech, more cash – direct benefits to you. Elite, by contrast, is the opposite. Helping your power has no real benefits to you, and the real benefits come from playing in ways that are useless or even harmful to your Power.
So the first thing to do is make sure that players benefit from Powerplay, and in turn, what they do directly benefits their power. This creates a feedback loop, that generates infinite content.
But how can Powerplay do this? It starts with Merits.
2b: Merits
The current Merit system has several issues. Here’s a brief synopsis.
Players don’t do anything related to the rest of the game; instead, they travel to their Power’s HQ, and collect large quantities of a unique Merit commodity, which they then haul to any system controlled by their Power. They turn them in there, and then collect a second type of Merits, which are hauled to a system their Power can potentially capture. After dropping them off, they return to the HQ and do it again.
This results in players hauling to the closest controlled system(which inevitably is dramatically over-fortified for no good reason), and then hauling to the closest unclaimed system from there(which is almost always a bad move for the Power). Net result; their actions almost always harm their Power. But these players don’t care, because all they want is either rank 3 or 5, to get the Powerplay Modules and/or Powerplay Bonuses. Not only that, it’s extremely boring, so people do it as little as possible.
Instead, I want gaining Merits to be engaging and entertaining in and of itself.
Firstly, Merits should be gained by doing any activity. Just by playing the game, you should earn merits, and those merits should help your Power.
Players should be able to increase their merit collection rate by doing certain activities that match their Power’s ethos. For example, a Torval player could get more merits per action mining than any other Power. A Delaine player could get more merits per action doing Piracy, and so on.
Players should also increase their merit collection rates by playing inside their Power’s controlled space.This will encourage players to play there, automatically gathering them in the same space and helping them to cooperate and form friendships.
For example, if a player goes out and mines, they might accumulate ten merits for every ton mined. If they are a Torval player, they might instead get 15 merits for every ton, and if they are a Torval player, inside Torval space, they might get 30 merits per ton.
This will also almost completely prevent 5C attacks. 5C attacks are largely carried out by attempting to expand to bad systems, and then using ‘trojan horse’ characters inside the Power to vote to allow them to succeed. Since it only takes 10000 merits to get full voting power, it only takes about two hours to get the same voting power as a player who has played 40. By changing Merits to be based on playtime, dummy alts will become virtually useless for 5C purposes, and the Power will be controlled by the regular players.
Furthermore, this will tend to gather players who enjoy the same things into the same powers. Miners will tend to become Torval supporters; Pirates will tend to become Delaine supporters, and so on, organically creating communities around these things.
2c: Player Benefits
That doesn’t explain why players would want to gain merits, however. The reason would be the benefits offered by their Power.
The current system works like this: All Powers offer a basic bonus, available at rank 1(zero merits), a module available at rank 3(750 merits), and a more powerful bonus available at rank 5(10000 merits). Unfortunately, most powers have terrible bonuses. Torval, for example, gives +50% Rare Goods Profits – but since Rares haven’t been worth trading in years, this bonus is never used, so players have no reason to get to rank 5.
Additionally, Powers offer a module at 4 weeks pledged and 750 merits. These offer unique and powerful effects, that are extremely useful. However, because they require pledging, most players have to pledge to every single power. It should be immediately apparent that this approach destroys any loyalty to a specific power, and destroys the concept of treason. Everyone has to commit treason a dozen times to get access to all content in the game.
Lastly, the powers can gain increased bonuses for being rank 3, 2, or 1. Unfortunately, control over this is almost impossible to change. Many powers have never had it, and even if they suddenly gained an influx of new players and tried as hard as they could, it would be months or years before they could take enough systems to change their rank. This makes it a useless motivator.
Instead, Powerplay needs to encourage regular participation and competition, even if that doesn’t change their rank at all.
2c.1: Modules
The first and easiest change is to Modules. Needing to pledge to each power encourages treason and discourages loyalty and camaraderie. Players need to be able to acquire these modules, however.
So, the solution is Power-based Tech Brokers. By taking certain missions in another Power’s space, you could be rewarded with tokens that would allow players to buy that Power’s modules. Delaine, for example, might give Pieces of Eight; get eight of them, and you could buy a single Cytoscrambler with it. You could also sell it back for the same value, if you want to save module storage space. Naturally, if you’re hostile with that Power, those Brokers would become temporarily unavailable.
Being a mercenary for another Power seems reasonable, and would allow players to stay loyal to their chosen power, while still acquiring modules from other Powers. This would also avoid needing to buy a dozen ships to store powerplay modules long-term.
2c.2 Putting Bonuses in Player Control
The two big problems with the Power Bonuses are this; that many of the bonuses are worthless, and that players can’t improve them in a reasonable timeframe. Players should be able to see the next goal in sight, not far over the horizon and out of view.
Here’s how the new system would work.
On the first day of every month, there would be an auction, where random bonuses are presented, purchased with Command Capital, the currency of Powerplay. Players can vote on which bonuses to pick, adding those bonuses to their Power. Players could always vote to preserve their Power’s standard bonus, or they could choose to expand in a different direction, choosing different bonuses entirely. Torval, for example, could choose to skip the Rare Goods bonus, and instead spend their currency on something else.
The cost of these bonuses would be based on the preferences of the Power. Again, Torval might get discounts on mining and trade bonuses, and Delaine towards piracy, etc. There would be multiple auctions, until all available CC has been spent. CC can also be spent to maintain existing bonuses.
Here’s an example of what it might look like.
Round 1: Which of the following bonuses would you like to maintain?(pick any or all)
A: +100% Combat Bond Value (Default: 50CC)
B: +10% Missile Speed (Neutral: 100CC – Max of 1 months remaining.)
C: +3% Ship Speed (Neutral: 150 CC – Max of 3 months remaining.)
D: +25% Collector Limpet Speed (Torval 50% Discount: 100CC – Max of 4 months remaining)
Round 2: 250 CC Remains. Which of the following bonuses would you like to purchase?
A: +10% Mining Laser Rate (Torval 50% Discount: 125CC)
B: +100% SLF Shield Integrity (Neutral: 250CC – 3 months)
C: +100% Cargo Capacity on size 1, 2, and 3 Cargo Racks (Neutral:250CC – 6 months)
3. Command Capital.
Like I said, Command Capital would be the currency of these auctions. But what is Command Capital? Command Capital is the currency of Powerplay.
Here’s how it works in the current system. Command Capital is rewarded for taking new systems, which provide a weekly income of CC. It is then used to ‘buy’ new systems. The more CC you have, the more systems you can claim. However, each additional system that is claimed increases the base cost of maintaining additional systems.
For example, the first system you take might cost 2 CC to maintain, and give 10 CC.
The second might give the same 10CC, but now it costs 3 CC to maintain.
The tenth gives 10CC, but costs 10 CC to maintain. Now you can’t buy any more.
The problem with this is, eventually, you reach a point where it costs more CC to maintain systems than they give. This creates a point beyond which further expansion is impossible. This means that instead of fighting other players, Powerplayers end up spending most of their time fighting the game, trying to build their Power into the perfect optimal pattern to maximize CC income. Why should players engage in a game that only achieves stagnation?
How it should work.
This is getting trickier and more mechanics-heavy, but I’ll try to make it simple and clear.
The goal of CC should be to encourage player participation, and to encourage Powers to fight each other. If it’s not achieving that goal, it needs to be reworked, or even removed entirely. Otherwise they’re just hurting the game.
The first step is to make all merits directly contribute to CC totals. Simply by playing the game, players should be able to earn additional CC for their Power, directly encouraging players to play, play, play!
The next step is to remove passive upkeep.
This might sound a bit drastic at first, but this really is the only way to fix the stagnation problems of the game. This also has the benefit of permanently fixing 5C. Fifth-column attacks rely on the possibility of bad moves, moves that can hurt a power for weeks, months, or even years. If there is no such thing as a bad move(merely less-good moves), then 5C instantly becomes impossible.
But why is this necessary? Here’s how systems are currently lost. Controlled systems have a Fortification Cost, which grows higher the further from the Home System they are. Players haul merits to that system to fill up that requirement, and when it is filled, the upkeep is dramatically reduced for that week. However, if an enemy Undermines that system(which is to say, attacks it), then that system goes back to its normal upkeep, and the defending players need to fortify it twice as much to fortify it again. If enough systems are undermined without being double-fortified, the defending Power will go negative in CC, and will lose their most expensive system.
The strange thing about Undermining a system is, it doesn’t necessarily cause the attacked system to be lost. The system they lose, the most expensive one, could be on the opposite side of the Power. A power attacking another Power could easily end up giving another hostile power multiple systems, completely unintentionally, as the defending power loses systems on a completely different border.
The removal of upkeep does fix this problem. With no upkeep, there is no ‘most expensive system’ to lose.
This does create its own problems, however.
The biggest issue with removing upkeep is that expansion will be completely unchecked; Powers will naturally expand to claim every single available system, filling the entire bubble. It also means a new way of losing systems is needed. With no upkeep, there is no most expensive system to lose. First, I’ll fix Unchecked Expansion.
System Improvements.
The first way unchecked expansion will be fixed is by slowing it down. Currently, excess Fortification Materials are simply lost each week. Instead, any excess Merits should go towards Improvements to the system, increasing CC income. As the system improves, new assets should be generated to indicate this; powered-down installations and settlements should be reactivated, and new Installations and POI’s should be randomly generated.
At first, over-fortifying/improving systems should be more valuable than claiming new systems. Only after a significant amount of excess merits have been hauled should claiming a new system become more valuable than fortifying an old one. Even then, it might be a better strategic choice to fortify a more easily defensible system, rather than taking a potentially-vulnerable system.
But why should enemies attack in the first place? If there are still systems to claim, why attack enemies at all?
Looting.
Hostile Powers, when they cause an enemy’s system to be lost, should be able to steal anything not bolted down, gaining an immediate and significant CC bonus. For example, a system that normally produces 10CC per week might reward 50CC on being Looted. It will always be better to loot a weak enemy system than to claim or fortify a new one – IF you can win. If you lose, then it’s wasted effort.
If multiple Powers work together to cause a system to be lost, the rewards will be split among them based on the effort they’ve contributed.
This will naturally limit expansion, especially uncoordinated expansion, and encourage Powers to fight each other.
Pirate and Thargoid Attacks
This is essentially a new form of Upkeep, but implemented in a more enjoyable way. If Powers haven’t been fighting enough recently, there will be randomly-generated Pirate or Thargoid Attacks, most often attacking the largest and strongest powers. This will provide opportunities for weaker Powers to attack them. These attacks will be fought off by blowing the pirates up. Thargoid attacks would be more dangerous; left unchecked, they could even result in a new Thargoid Maelstrom being deployed, which will rapidly attack nearby Powers as well, so Powers will need to choose between their ambitions and the good of the bubble as a whole. Looting an enemy power is fine until the Thargoids are knocking at your own door!
This broadly fixes unchecked expansion; now I’ll fix system loss. This is actually very simple to fix, and will be much easier and better than before.
System Claims and Losses
Thanks to 5C, a complex voting process was necessary for claiming new systems, to make sure no bad systems are claimed. With 5C eliminated, Preparation and Voting can be removed entirely. If a Power wants a system they simply do enough Powerplay activity there, and the next week, they’ll claim the system. In a single move, Powerplay becomes much faster and more dynamic.
Of course, this also works in reverse. In the new system if a system is undermined more than it is fortified, it is lost the next week.
Systems can be lost or gained very rapidly, encouraging a fast-paced and dynamic style of play. But it shouldn’t all be tactical fortifying and undermining; there need to be dynamic and interesting strategic choices, as well.
This would be via passive fortification.
One of the big things many current players seem to enjoy is trying to structure their Power into the perfect form, resistant to enemy attack and with the maximum possible CC income. This could be preserved in spirit by the new system.
Passive fortification is relatively simple. If a system has nearby systems(within a certain range, slightly larger than the system’s range of influence), they will passively and automatically fortify each other. A system with multiple adjoining systems will be much more difficult to Undermine than a system that has none. However, having too many adjoining control systems will create lots of extra fortification for players, so the defending Power will need to carefully structure their power to maximize their efforts. (While random players could claim inefficient control systems, the leaders of the Power would direct their members to ignore those and they would be lost; since they’d still be inside the influence of other Control Systems, their income would be preserved.)
Different Powers would allow different types of passive fortification. Some powers would allow many nearby systems to fortify them, but would be less fortified without any. Others would be stronger by default, but would have lower maximum passive fortification, and might instead find it easier to take new systems. Archon Delaine would naturally have different approaches to his space than, say, the Federation, who would have a different approach to the Empire, or Utopia. Each playerbase would need to learn to maximize their unique system of control. The Federation might allow fortification by up to six systems, encouraging dense blocs of systems with full control inside, while others might instead max out at 4, encouraging flat planes, encircling other Powers.
On the flipside, being adjacent to enemy systems would render those systems weaker to attack, allowing for both strategic aggression and defense. Archon Delaine might rapidly capture several nearby systems to weaken a target system, and then loot a single enemy system before retreating.
BGS states would also play a role, most notably in the range of fortification. Negative states would reduce it, while positive states would increase it. This could allow for careful and tactical attacks. If a system could be pushed into a Bust state, then its fortification capacity would be sharply diminished; if at the same time, a hostile power pushed one of their own nearby systems into a Public Holiday and Boom, it could increase the range enough to attack the now-vulnerable system that was formerly being supported by the Bust system.
Lastly, some BGS factions would synergize with the Power, boosting CC income and fortification range. For example, Federal systems would want Democracies and Corporates. As untended systems shift factions in control, this would lead to an endlessly-changing game board.
And the final touch; players should be able to colonize new systems, making them available for powerplay, bgs, and so on. This should be phenomenally expensive(500b+), but should allow some fun options for naming and what kind of economy and government is in control by default. The reason for this is to allow slow, permanent changes to the playing field, and especially to create provisions for more players entering the game. If the playerbase should ever grow so big that powerplay factions are able to completely fill the bubble, the bubble could simply expand, and the game could continue indefinitely.
All together, this would create nearly unlimited complexity.
Last of all, PVP Integration via Convoys.
People have wanted more pvp in Powerplay since the beginning. I think that powerplay should be for everyone, not just pvpers, so I can’t support any open-only proposal, but I do think offering some meaningful place for pvp is a good idea.
My best idea is Convoys.
Once per week, each controlled system would be sent a large convoy of NPC trade ships from the Power’s headquarters. If they reach their destination, they will immediately and massively fortify that system. On success or failure, the HQ would then prepare another convoy and dispatch it, until all systems have had a convoy.
These convoys would exist within a universal, open-only instance.
Basically, the Fdev servers, not any particular player, would host these instances. As a result, there would be only one instance, and all players inside would see each other. Allied players would defend the ships and heal them; they would be considered winged, and so could use healy beams on them, which would add significant niches for otherwise-rare experimental effects like Reverb Cascade and Phasing. Meanwhile, enemy players would attempt to destroy them before they reached their target. They would need to fight off the healers and kill the ships, giving them enough time to destroy the convoy.
For the first time, this will make PVP actually matter to the game. While the merits carried wouldn’t be enough to win on their own, they would make a large difference, and if one power has convoys making it through regularly, while others do not, they will have a significant advantage, roughly equal to if those pvpers were instead generating merits inside the controlled systems.
---
So, what has all this accomplished?
Powerplay would finally matter. It could be the lynchpin that gives Elite life for years or decades to come.
It has too much potential to let it languish like it has been. Let's work together to make Powerplay as awesome as it could possibly be!
So if you see any issues, post'em below, and hopefully we can work them out and figure out how to get this done, and create a blueprint for Fdev to move forwards!
This is pretty long, so first, I'll summarize the core ideas, and then go back and add some extra detail. If I'm not entirely clear in the summary, try skipping down below and it might explain what I'm hoping for in greater depth!
The goal, however, is very simple: To make Powerplay fun and engaging for players of of all kinds. So please, give it a read, and hopefully we can create something great.
Powerplay For All
Part 1: Summary
Powerplay has long been ignored. There are some steadfast groups who continue to fight back and forth, but in every place I’ve asked, most players are in it just for the modules, and occasionally the pledge bonuses(mostly the bounty multiplier).I don’t like that. Powerplay should be the way Elite offers perpetual value, and should have something to offer to all players, and all activities, by giving them a place in a larger world.
I, for example, enjoy mining – but mining no longer has any value to me, because I have more than enough credits. But if mining could help my powerplay faction, which in turn helps me, then I could happily mine indefinitely.
At its core, Powerplay should give all players a reason to participate, even if only tangentially. The question is: how?
I’ll tell you.
First, I’ll cover Merits.
Currently, Merits are gained by hauling powerplay commodities or killing powerplay ships. Merit activities are almost completely unrelated to normal, non-powerplay activities, and aren’t very much fun.
In my suggestion, Merits will be gained by playing the game. Doing any ingame activity will gain merits. Added to this, players should be able to gain merits faster by doing certain activities, determined by that Power’s gameplay focus. For example, pledges to Torval(who has the largest interest in mining) should get a merit multiplier for mining, gaining them merits faster while doing that activity, but should still get merits for doing anything else. Combat should offer increased merits to combat-related powers such as Utopia, Hudson, and Lavigny-Duval. Additionally, playing inside your Power’s controlled space should further multiply your merit gains, encouraging players to play there, meet and make new friends, and form new communities.
As a side benefit, this will largely prevent 5C(or Fifth Column) attacks, since voting power will be based on playtime, not pledge time, and most 5C attacks are done with low-playtime, high-pledgetime alts.
Next, I’ll cover Player Benefits.
The current player benefits for Powerplay are limited and poorly implemented. Modules encourage players to swap powers constantly, rather than encouraging any sort of loyalty to a single power. Pledge rank bonuses encourage players to acquire merits as quickly as possible, often in ways that are harmful to the Power, rather than actually supporting their power effectively. And Power Rank bonuses are largely irrelevant, since it’s almost impossible to change. Torval will never get more than the basic bonus, for example, so there’s no incentive for their players to compete at all.
Powerplay Modules
Powerplay Modules need to be uncoupled from pledging. Unpledged players should be able to work for other powers to earn reputation with that power, allowing them to buy modules without needing to change power, from new Power-based Tech Brokers. This will encourage greater Power loyalty, by removing the need to re-pledge constantly, and remove painful arbitrary wait times.
Pledge Rank Bonuses are fine as-is, with the new way of gaining Merits.
Power Rank bonuses, on the other hand, should be almost completely reworked. Their problem is that changing your Power’s rank is an extremely long-term goal, one unrealistic to work towards in the short term. This discourages players from trying at all. Instead, Powers should be able to use power's CC(Command Capital, the currency of Powerplay) to buy additional player bonuses. The more CC your power has, the more bonuses your Power can buy. This encourages short-term competition, which naturally leads to long-term competition.
To accomplish this, Powers should be given a monthly list of potential bonuses to purchase. Players can vote on what particular bonus they want, with larger Powers getting more bonuses, but with each successive bonus costing progressively more, to discourage the largest Powers from becoming too attractive. Powers will always have the choice to select their default bonus, but can also swap it out for other options, if that’s what they want to do(especially useful for Powers with useless bonuses, like cheaper ammo; I’m looking at you, Patreus). These bonuses will be purchased with Command Capital(or CC).
This will allow Powers to shed bad bonuses, and establish good bonuses that match the playstyles of their players. Mining Powers will accumulate mining bonuses, while different combat powers will establish different combat focuses; Aisling might focus on Shield bonuses, such as greater resistance to phasing damage, while Hudson might focus on greater damage, and so on. Over time, players will self-sort into the Power that matches their desires, playstyles, and interests.
Command Capital
Command Capital is currently used to purchase new systems, which in turn reward more CC. This is a terrible system, as it inevitably leads to a point where earning more CC is impossible due to the Maintenance Costs of additional systems. Before the Thargoid War, many Powers were stagnant for years.
Removing Maintenance Costs
First I’ll talk about removing Upkeep. There should never be a case where players are fighting the system more than their actual enemies. Upkeep needs to be removed entirely, at least in its current state. However, removing upkeep would allow Powers to expand without limit. Expansion must be curtailed in a new way. This will be achieved in several ways.
First will be Infrastructure Improvements. Players can spend their credits to improve systems controlled by their Power, increasing its CC value and income. It should be more efficient to improve a new system than capture a new system, slowing the rate of Power expansion. Eventually, further improvements will start to see diminishing returns, encouraging eventual expansion, but slowing down the rate at which expansion occurs. Powers will always want to consolidate their assets before expanding to new ones.
The opposite of Improvements will be Looting. When a hostile power causes an enemy system to be lost, they will Loot some of the accumulated System Improvements as an immediate CC bonus. This will encourage powers to fight with one another, and poke at each other’s weaknesses. Taking a poorly-defended enemy system might be worth ten times the value of taking an unimproved system, encouraging constant conflict.
Last will be NPC Attacks. This will be the closest thing to upkeep, but rather than a simple statistical cost, it will be a random chance for Pirates or Thargoids to attack a system or cluster of systems. This can be an opportunity for smaller Powers to launch an offensive, with the enemy distracted. These must be fought off physically, by killing pirates or Thargoids. Bonuses can be purchased that will make these easier to fight off.
Structural Changes in how Powerplay is played.
Next, I’ll talk about the structural changes to Powerplay, largely how Systems are captured. Currently, taking a new system requires a vote. The main reason a voting barrier was important was to prevent fifth-column attacks, which could result in highly-harmful systems being claimed, which can take months to remove. With Upkeep removed, 5C attacks will become essentially impossible. As such systems will have no need to be voted in anymore, and the vote can be scrapped, and replaced with a more organic system; anyone can attack or capture any system at any time. The new Looting and NPC Attack systems will keep this in check; if a solo player goes to the effort to claim a system, but has no support from other members, the system will shortly be Looted by hostile powers. This will encourage cooperation and teamwork.
Next up are changes to Fortification.
Basic Fortification will be very similar to the current system of Fortification, but will be achieved by simply playing in the controlled system, doing power-related activities. Attack takes place in the same way, by playing in the target system and attacking the controlling power’s assets. This is simple, clear, and easy to understand, and is a great way for players to get into Powerplay.
For more advanced players, there should also be Complex Tactics available. This is where the tactical and strategic game of Powerplay will be played.
This will largely be about correctly organizing the Power. Adjacent Controlled Systems will support each other, making them more difficult to take, up to a limit. Different Powers’ systems can be Fortified by different numbers of adjacent systems, making every different Power play slightly differently from one another. For example, Hudson systems might be able to be supported by up to six adjacent systems, while Delaine might be only three, making them easier to defend but with a lower maximum defense.
Furthermore, these shapes will be actively adjusted by ongoing BGS states, creating opportunities for attack. For example, a Public Holiday might dramatically extend the range of a Control System, while a Pirate Attack(the BGS State) might dramatically reduce the range of a Control System. When both states occur simultaneously, an opportunity might open for one power to attack another while largely undefended.
Lastly, there should be Colonization. Colonization would be a highly-expensive activity, which should be largely an activity of last resort, but for a pricetag in the hundreds of billions of credits, players should be able to colonize new systems wholesale. This would allow the gameboard to change dynamically over time, and keep the game perpetually fresh.
The entire system should be quite complex, allowing for near-infinite creativity.
Finally, there should be PVP Integration. This would occur via Convoys.
Convoys would be Open-Only Content. They would be hosted by the Fdev servers, and there would be only one instance. These convoys would be launched from the Power’s Headquarters, and jump from system to system until reaching the target system. On reaching the target system, it would dispense huge amounts of merits, massively fortifying the system. Hostile players would want to attack and destroy the ships inside along the way, while friendly players would seek to defend them. Allied players could use healy beams and repair limpets to keep them alive, while Hostile players could use Torpedoes and massive firepower to attempt to destroy them. Once a Convoy reaches the target system(or is destroyed), a new convoy will be dispatched. Convoys should attempt to depart during peak player hours.
These convoys would not make or break a conflict, but would play a significant role in it. This would make PVP an equally meaningful activity compared to other activities.
What will all of this achieve?
Powerplay will encompass all styles of play in the game; rather than being a separate activity, it will give context to all activities.
5C attacks will be impossible. There are no longer any bad choices to make, only lesser or greater degrees of good. What choices remain will be chosen by the players who play the most, rather than by alts who simply have longer pledge time. The power will always be controlled by the players who play in it.
The game will be more focused on directly fighting enemy Powers, rather than on fighting upkeep and the game itself. PVP will also matter for the first time. This will be fun.
A new focus on more short-term benefits will encourage more regular participation. This will also be fun.
Overall, Powerplay should be a much deeper and more entertaining aspect of the game, and will appeal to all players.
Part 2 – The Nitty-Gritty
If you were happy with the above, you can stop here and we can talk about it, but if you want some extra detail and explanations for the choices I’ve made, I’ll try to explain them now in greater detail!
2a: Who is Powerplay For?
This is an important question. You could argue that Powerplay should be improved with the current powerplay playerbase in mind, but I think that Powerplay has the potential to appeal to all players, and it would be a darn shame if it didn’t. One of the main reasons games like EVE online are endlessly entertaining is because the content is provided and created by other players. By making Powerplay actually good, and making it appeal to all players, Elite could get nearly infinite replay value.
But what is it that makes this entertaining? Why is the current powerplay only used by a small portion of the playerbase, while EVE Online’s politics gets mass participation?
Ultimately, it comes down to having your actions matter. In EVE, taking a station has direct and tangible benefits, not just to your Power, but to you, personally. If you steal a blueprint or claim a station, you get better ships, better tech, more cash – direct benefits to you. Elite, by contrast, is the opposite. Helping your power has no real benefits to you, and the real benefits come from playing in ways that are useless or even harmful to your Power.
So the first thing to do is make sure that players benefit from Powerplay, and in turn, what they do directly benefits their power. This creates a feedback loop, that generates infinite content.
But how can Powerplay do this? It starts with Merits.
2b: Merits
The current Merit system has several issues. Here’s a brief synopsis.
Players don’t do anything related to the rest of the game; instead, they travel to their Power’s HQ, and collect large quantities of a unique Merit commodity, which they then haul to any system controlled by their Power. They turn them in there, and then collect a second type of Merits, which are hauled to a system their Power can potentially capture. After dropping them off, they return to the HQ and do it again.
This results in players hauling to the closest controlled system(which inevitably is dramatically over-fortified for no good reason), and then hauling to the closest unclaimed system from there(which is almost always a bad move for the Power). Net result; their actions almost always harm their Power. But these players don’t care, because all they want is either rank 3 or 5, to get the Powerplay Modules and/or Powerplay Bonuses. Not only that, it’s extremely boring, so people do it as little as possible.
Instead, I want gaining Merits to be engaging and entertaining in and of itself.
Firstly, Merits should be gained by doing any activity. Just by playing the game, you should earn merits, and those merits should help your Power.
Players should be able to increase their merit collection rate by doing certain activities that match their Power’s ethos. For example, a Torval player could get more merits per action mining than any other Power. A Delaine player could get more merits per action doing Piracy, and so on.
Players should also increase their merit collection rates by playing inside their Power’s controlled space.This will encourage players to play there, automatically gathering them in the same space and helping them to cooperate and form friendships.
For example, if a player goes out and mines, they might accumulate ten merits for every ton mined. If they are a Torval player, they might instead get 15 merits for every ton, and if they are a Torval player, inside Torval space, they might get 30 merits per ton.
This will also almost completely prevent 5C attacks. 5C attacks are largely carried out by attempting to expand to bad systems, and then using ‘trojan horse’ characters inside the Power to vote to allow them to succeed. Since it only takes 10000 merits to get full voting power, it only takes about two hours to get the same voting power as a player who has played 40. By changing Merits to be based on playtime, dummy alts will become virtually useless for 5C purposes, and the Power will be controlled by the regular players.
Furthermore, this will tend to gather players who enjoy the same things into the same powers. Miners will tend to become Torval supporters; Pirates will tend to become Delaine supporters, and so on, organically creating communities around these things.
2c: Player Benefits
That doesn’t explain why players would want to gain merits, however. The reason would be the benefits offered by their Power.
The current system works like this: All Powers offer a basic bonus, available at rank 1(zero merits), a module available at rank 3(750 merits), and a more powerful bonus available at rank 5(10000 merits). Unfortunately, most powers have terrible bonuses. Torval, for example, gives +50% Rare Goods Profits – but since Rares haven’t been worth trading in years, this bonus is never used, so players have no reason to get to rank 5.
Additionally, Powers offer a module at 4 weeks pledged and 750 merits. These offer unique and powerful effects, that are extremely useful. However, because they require pledging, most players have to pledge to every single power. It should be immediately apparent that this approach destroys any loyalty to a specific power, and destroys the concept of treason. Everyone has to commit treason a dozen times to get access to all content in the game.
Lastly, the powers can gain increased bonuses for being rank 3, 2, or 1. Unfortunately, control over this is almost impossible to change. Many powers have never had it, and even if they suddenly gained an influx of new players and tried as hard as they could, it would be months or years before they could take enough systems to change their rank. This makes it a useless motivator.
Instead, Powerplay needs to encourage regular participation and competition, even if that doesn’t change their rank at all.
2c.1: Modules
The first and easiest change is to Modules. Needing to pledge to each power encourages treason and discourages loyalty and camaraderie. Players need to be able to acquire these modules, however.
So, the solution is Power-based Tech Brokers. By taking certain missions in another Power’s space, you could be rewarded with tokens that would allow players to buy that Power’s modules. Delaine, for example, might give Pieces of Eight; get eight of them, and you could buy a single Cytoscrambler with it. You could also sell it back for the same value, if you want to save module storage space. Naturally, if you’re hostile with that Power, those Brokers would become temporarily unavailable.
Being a mercenary for another Power seems reasonable, and would allow players to stay loyal to their chosen power, while still acquiring modules from other Powers. This would also avoid needing to buy a dozen ships to store powerplay modules long-term.
2c.2 Putting Bonuses in Player Control
The two big problems with the Power Bonuses are this; that many of the bonuses are worthless, and that players can’t improve them in a reasonable timeframe. Players should be able to see the next goal in sight, not far over the horizon and out of view.
Here’s how the new system would work.
On the first day of every month, there would be an auction, where random bonuses are presented, purchased with Command Capital, the currency of Powerplay. Players can vote on which bonuses to pick, adding those bonuses to their Power. Players could always vote to preserve their Power’s standard bonus, or they could choose to expand in a different direction, choosing different bonuses entirely. Torval, for example, could choose to skip the Rare Goods bonus, and instead spend their currency on something else.
The cost of these bonuses would be based on the preferences of the Power. Again, Torval might get discounts on mining and trade bonuses, and Delaine towards piracy, etc. There would be multiple auctions, until all available CC has been spent. CC can also be spent to maintain existing bonuses.
Here’s an example of what it might look like.
Round 1: Which of the following bonuses would you like to maintain?(pick any or all)
A: +100% Combat Bond Value (Default: 50CC)
B: +10% Missile Speed (Neutral: 100CC – Max of 1 months remaining.)
C: +3% Ship Speed (Neutral: 150 CC – Max of 3 months remaining.)
D: +25% Collector Limpet Speed (Torval 50% Discount: 100CC – Max of 4 months remaining)
Round 2: 250 CC Remains. Which of the following bonuses would you like to purchase?
A: +10% Mining Laser Rate (Torval 50% Discount: 125CC)
B: +100% SLF Shield Integrity (Neutral: 250CC – 3 months)
C: +100% Cargo Capacity on size 1, 2, and 3 Cargo Racks (Neutral:250CC – 6 months)
3. Command Capital.
Like I said, Command Capital would be the currency of these auctions. But what is Command Capital? Command Capital is the currency of Powerplay.
Here’s how it works in the current system. Command Capital is rewarded for taking new systems, which provide a weekly income of CC. It is then used to ‘buy’ new systems. The more CC you have, the more systems you can claim. However, each additional system that is claimed increases the base cost of maintaining additional systems.
For example, the first system you take might cost 2 CC to maintain, and give 10 CC.
The second might give the same 10CC, but now it costs 3 CC to maintain.
The tenth gives 10CC, but costs 10 CC to maintain. Now you can’t buy any more.
The problem with this is, eventually, you reach a point where it costs more CC to maintain systems than they give. This creates a point beyond which further expansion is impossible. This means that instead of fighting other players, Powerplayers end up spending most of their time fighting the game, trying to build their Power into the perfect optimal pattern to maximize CC income. Why should players engage in a game that only achieves stagnation?
How it should work.
This is getting trickier and more mechanics-heavy, but I’ll try to make it simple and clear.
The goal of CC should be to encourage player participation, and to encourage Powers to fight each other. If it’s not achieving that goal, it needs to be reworked, or even removed entirely. Otherwise they’re just hurting the game.
The first step is to make all merits directly contribute to CC totals. Simply by playing the game, players should be able to earn additional CC for their Power, directly encouraging players to play, play, play!
The next step is to remove passive upkeep.
This might sound a bit drastic at first, but this really is the only way to fix the stagnation problems of the game. This also has the benefit of permanently fixing 5C. Fifth-column attacks rely on the possibility of bad moves, moves that can hurt a power for weeks, months, or even years. If there is no such thing as a bad move(merely less-good moves), then 5C instantly becomes impossible.
But why is this necessary? Here’s how systems are currently lost. Controlled systems have a Fortification Cost, which grows higher the further from the Home System they are. Players haul merits to that system to fill up that requirement, and when it is filled, the upkeep is dramatically reduced for that week. However, if an enemy Undermines that system(which is to say, attacks it), then that system goes back to its normal upkeep, and the defending players need to fortify it twice as much to fortify it again. If enough systems are undermined without being double-fortified, the defending Power will go negative in CC, and will lose their most expensive system.
The strange thing about Undermining a system is, it doesn’t necessarily cause the attacked system to be lost. The system they lose, the most expensive one, could be on the opposite side of the Power. A power attacking another Power could easily end up giving another hostile power multiple systems, completely unintentionally, as the defending power loses systems on a completely different border.
The removal of upkeep does fix this problem. With no upkeep, there is no ‘most expensive system’ to lose.
This does create its own problems, however.
The biggest issue with removing upkeep is that expansion will be completely unchecked; Powers will naturally expand to claim every single available system, filling the entire bubble. It also means a new way of losing systems is needed. With no upkeep, there is no most expensive system to lose. First, I’ll fix Unchecked Expansion.
System Improvements.
The first way unchecked expansion will be fixed is by slowing it down. Currently, excess Fortification Materials are simply lost each week. Instead, any excess Merits should go towards Improvements to the system, increasing CC income. As the system improves, new assets should be generated to indicate this; powered-down installations and settlements should be reactivated, and new Installations and POI’s should be randomly generated.
At first, over-fortifying/improving systems should be more valuable than claiming new systems. Only after a significant amount of excess merits have been hauled should claiming a new system become more valuable than fortifying an old one. Even then, it might be a better strategic choice to fortify a more easily defensible system, rather than taking a potentially-vulnerable system.
But why should enemies attack in the first place? If there are still systems to claim, why attack enemies at all?
Looting.
Hostile Powers, when they cause an enemy’s system to be lost, should be able to steal anything not bolted down, gaining an immediate and significant CC bonus. For example, a system that normally produces 10CC per week might reward 50CC on being Looted. It will always be better to loot a weak enemy system than to claim or fortify a new one – IF you can win. If you lose, then it’s wasted effort.
If multiple Powers work together to cause a system to be lost, the rewards will be split among them based on the effort they’ve contributed.
This will naturally limit expansion, especially uncoordinated expansion, and encourage Powers to fight each other.
Pirate and Thargoid Attacks
This is essentially a new form of Upkeep, but implemented in a more enjoyable way. If Powers haven’t been fighting enough recently, there will be randomly-generated Pirate or Thargoid Attacks, most often attacking the largest and strongest powers. This will provide opportunities for weaker Powers to attack them. These attacks will be fought off by blowing the pirates up. Thargoid attacks would be more dangerous; left unchecked, they could even result in a new Thargoid Maelstrom being deployed, which will rapidly attack nearby Powers as well, so Powers will need to choose between their ambitions and the good of the bubble as a whole. Looting an enemy power is fine until the Thargoids are knocking at your own door!
This broadly fixes unchecked expansion; now I’ll fix system loss. This is actually very simple to fix, and will be much easier and better than before.
System Claims and Losses
Thanks to 5C, a complex voting process was necessary for claiming new systems, to make sure no bad systems are claimed. With 5C eliminated, Preparation and Voting can be removed entirely. If a Power wants a system they simply do enough Powerplay activity there, and the next week, they’ll claim the system. In a single move, Powerplay becomes much faster and more dynamic.
Of course, this also works in reverse. In the new system if a system is undermined more than it is fortified, it is lost the next week.
Systems can be lost or gained very rapidly, encouraging a fast-paced and dynamic style of play. But it shouldn’t all be tactical fortifying and undermining; there need to be dynamic and interesting strategic choices, as well.
This would be via passive fortification.
One of the big things many current players seem to enjoy is trying to structure their Power into the perfect form, resistant to enemy attack and with the maximum possible CC income. This could be preserved in spirit by the new system.
Passive fortification is relatively simple. If a system has nearby systems(within a certain range, slightly larger than the system’s range of influence), they will passively and automatically fortify each other. A system with multiple adjoining systems will be much more difficult to Undermine than a system that has none. However, having too many adjoining control systems will create lots of extra fortification for players, so the defending Power will need to carefully structure their power to maximize their efforts. (While random players could claim inefficient control systems, the leaders of the Power would direct their members to ignore those and they would be lost; since they’d still be inside the influence of other Control Systems, their income would be preserved.)
Different Powers would allow different types of passive fortification. Some powers would allow many nearby systems to fortify them, but would be less fortified without any. Others would be stronger by default, but would have lower maximum passive fortification, and might instead find it easier to take new systems. Archon Delaine would naturally have different approaches to his space than, say, the Federation, who would have a different approach to the Empire, or Utopia. Each playerbase would need to learn to maximize their unique system of control. The Federation might allow fortification by up to six systems, encouraging dense blocs of systems with full control inside, while others might instead max out at 4, encouraging flat planes, encircling other Powers.
On the flipside, being adjacent to enemy systems would render those systems weaker to attack, allowing for both strategic aggression and defense. Archon Delaine might rapidly capture several nearby systems to weaken a target system, and then loot a single enemy system before retreating.
BGS states would also play a role, most notably in the range of fortification. Negative states would reduce it, while positive states would increase it. This could allow for careful and tactical attacks. If a system could be pushed into a Bust state, then its fortification capacity would be sharply diminished; if at the same time, a hostile power pushed one of their own nearby systems into a Public Holiday and Boom, it could increase the range enough to attack the now-vulnerable system that was formerly being supported by the Bust system.
Lastly, some BGS factions would synergize with the Power, boosting CC income and fortification range. For example, Federal systems would want Democracies and Corporates. As untended systems shift factions in control, this would lead to an endlessly-changing game board.
And the final touch; players should be able to colonize new systems, making them available for powerplay, bgs, and so on. This should be phenomenally expensive(500b+), but should allow some fun options for naming and what kind of economy and government is in control by default. The reason for this is to allow slow, permanent changes to the playing field, and especially to create provisions for more players entering the game. If the playerbase should ever grow so big that powerplay factions are able to completely fill the bubble, the bubble could simply expand, and the game could continue indefinitely.
All together, this would create nearly unlimited complexity.
Last of all, PVP Integration via Convoys.
People have wanted more pvp in Powerplay since the beginning. I think that powerplay should be for everyone, not just pvpers, so I can’t support any open-only proposal, but I do think offering some meaningful place for pvp is a good idea.
My best idea is Convoys.
Once per week, each controlled system would be sent a large convoy of NPC trade ships from the Power’s headquarters. If they reach their destination, they will immediately and massively fortify that system. On success or failure, the HQ would then prepare another convoy and dispatch it, until all systems have had a convoy.
These convoys would exist within a universal, open-only instance.
Basically, the Fdev servers, not any particular player, would host these instances. As a result, there would be only one instance, and all players inside would see each other. Allied players would defend the ships and heal them; they would be considered winged, and so could use healy beams on them, which would add significant niches for otherwise-rare experimental effects like Reverb Cascade and Phasing. Meanwhile, enemy players would attempt to destroy them before they reached their target. They would need to fight off the healers and kill the ships, giving them enough time to destroy the convoy.
For the first time, this will make PVP actually matter to the game. While the merits carried wouldn’t be enough to win on their own, they would make a large difference, and if one power has convoys making it through regularly, while others do not, they will have a significant advantage, roughly equal to if those pvpers were instead generating merits inside the controlled systems.
---
So, what has all this accomplished?
- Powerplay now directly encourages players to play the game. Every time a player plays, they boost their power's CC totals, which feeds back directly into more bonuses for them, personally.
- Powerplay also encourages players to play Powerplay directly, to increase those bonuses even further.
- Powerplay encourages Powers to fight, to attack each other, and also encourages players to fortify and reinforce their own power, which in turn makes them a more tempting target for enemy attacks.
- Powerplay has a complex and ever-changing playing field, which offers near-infinite variety for high-level players to play with.
- Powerplay allows the bubble to slowly expand, giving players an infinite way to spend all the credits they could possibly earn.
- Powerplay finally gives meaning to pvp, putting it on equal footing with every other activity in the game, for the first time ever.
Powerplay would finally matter. It could be the lynchpin that gives Elite life for years or decades to come.
It has too much potential to let it languish like it has been. Let's work together to make Powerplay as awesome as it could possibly be!
So if you see any issues, post'em below, and hopefully we can work them out and figure out how to get this done, and create a blueprint for Fdev to move forwards!
