Elite Dangerous | Powerplay 2.0 Questions and Answers

[serakfalcon]

Ah, that makes more sense, thank you for the clarification. I guess it really depends on what you're looking for from the system. I personally don't have an issue accepting whatever hassle comes from another power when in their space on other business, that's just a consequence of publicly declaring an allegiance, in a game that has very few consequences, so it's a nice change of pace for me. I can see it frustrating some players significantly though, but I'd like to see a middle-ground if placing a pledge "on-hold" where you don't reset to zero, but you still lose some progress, or there's a delay on when the pledge reactivates, for example a full PowerPlay cycle before you start earning merits again.

From my experience so far, as long as you're not hostile to the local minor faction you're fine, but if you're hostile they will "invite" the rival ships to prevent you from docking with the space station and the station will refuse entrance. considering you have to be actively picking a fight with a minor faction to have that happen it's not as big a deal as people are making it out to be, at least in current state imo

 

[Cmdr Sylveste]

Is it just me or are the genders of Power Contact images and their names mixed up?
I seem to get male faces with female names, and vice versa.

 

[aRJay]

Is it just me or are the genders of Power Contact images and their names mixed up?
I seem to get male faces with female names, and vice versa.

It is the 34th century the practice of associating names only with certain genders was starting to die out back in the late 20th early 21st centuries.

 

[Darkfyre99]

It is the 34th century the practice of associating names only with certain genders was starting to die out back in the late 20th early 21st centuries.

^^^
This.

In fact, I can think of quite a few names that were once distinctly male, moved to neutral in the early 20th century, and are now distinctly female today. Like Carol, Leslie, Dana, Ashley, and Madison.

 

[SergMx]

I turned in combat vouchers to a representative of a power and my reward points did not increase. Is that a mistake?

 

[Ian Skippy]

I turned in combat vouchers to a representative of a power and my reward points did not increase. Is that a mistake?

I have no clue, never gotten any merits for combat bounties so no clue gow its suppossd to work.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

I turned in combat vouchers to a representative of a power and my reward points did not increase. Is that a mistake?

Bounties (if collected in an appropriate place) give you merits instantly when you kill the ship which grants them and don't need cashing in.

You don't need to turn in the vouchers at all (though you do get a 20% credit payout bonus for giving them to a friendly Power contact)

 

[Wily Rites]

A bit like scanning ships only hotter and with more boom.

 

[Darkfyre99]

Bounties (if collected in an appropriate place) give you merits instantly when you kill the ship which grants them and don't need cashing in.

You don't need to turn in the vouchers at all (though you do get a 20% credit payout bonus for giving them to a friendly Power contact)

And that whole “appropriate place” thing is poorly documented and sometimes contradictory. Seriously: “Flood markets with low value goods.” Means merits… yay! Floods same market with same commodity from the same source ten hours later… no merits? What the? Where’s the threshold, and is it purchase price or profit?

 

[Ian Doncaster]

And that whole “appropriate place” thing is poorly documented and sometimes contradictory. Seriously: “Flood markets with low value goods.” Means merits… yay! Floods same market with same commodity from the same source ten hours later… no merits? What the? Where’s the threshold, and is it purchase price or profit?

The threshold on that one is sale price - it must be under 500 credits and the lower the better.
Additionally the commodity must be traded by the station (demand or supply; I have no idea if that's a bug or not, given the rest of it and how difficult it is to find a demanded good below 500 credits at all at some stations)

 

[Zandhond]

with all the funky colored snakes, can we finally once and for all get rid of this message that nowadays keeps popping up every time you have to re enter the game?

 

[Nowski]

with all the funky colored snakes, can we finally once and for all get rid of this message that nowadays keeps popping up every time you have to re enter the game?

My most wanted feature in PP2 was an "unsubscribe" button, I admit. Seconded!

 

[SergMx]

Bounties (if collected in an appropriate place) give you merits instantly when you kill the ship which grants them and don't need cashing in.

You don't need to turn in the vouchers at all (though you do get a 20% credit payout bonus for giving them to a friendly Power contact)

I finally found the system as you advised, the circle with the sabers crossed over it. The system is contested.
Arrived 2 conflict zones, within one someone from the empire and someone from the federation. (although it is contested between two Imperials)
It's weird, I joined the Empire and closed the zone. I think it's the wrong zone. How do I find the right one?

 

[Kallipar]

Can I, as someone who wants no political affiliation play PP2.0. I have no need for the modules and I care little for the reward structure. Please correct me if I am wrong, are there no game loops in PP 2.0 for an independent player?
Seems a bit of an oversight, that there is no allowance for people like myself in this radical reworking of the Galaxy.

I am open to suggestions...

 

[Shadowsnog]

Can I, as someone who wants no political affiliation play PP2.0. I have no need for the modules and I care little for the reward structure. Please correct me if I am wrong, are there no game loops in PP 2.0 for an independent player?
Seems a bit of an oversight, that there is no allowance for people like myself in this radical reworking of the Galaxy.

I am open to suggestions...

there are 4 independent superpowers that you can pledge to if you dont want to associate yourself with neither alliance, empire nor federation.
if you mean participating in powerplay without pledging to powerplay then no, you have to be part of a superpower to take part in the superpower conflict.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Can I, as someone who wants no political affiliation play PP2.0. I have no need for the modules and I care little for the reward structure. Please correct me if I am wrong, are there no game loops for an independent player?
Seems a bit of an oversight, that there is no allowance for people like myself in this radical reworking of the Galaxy.

You can take part in most of the Powerplay activities anyway, as they're mostly just normal game activities - bounty hunting, trading, mining, exploration, search and rescue, scanning, etc. You won't get any PP merits for them but you will get the normal rewards (if any) associated with that activity. Similarly the extra signal source types should all be accessible for additional S&R etc. opportunities.

You can probably still steal Powerplay materials and data from Odyssey settlements to sell to the normal bartender. You can't upload Powerplay data but you can take Odyssey missions to upload non-Powerplay data for the same gameplay loop.

I'm not sure what happens if an independent player tries to hack a holoscreen advert (probably nothing so exciting that you'd do it twice, though) but all the other activities are either available anyway or so close to an existing activity that you're really not missing out (e.g. "transport Power commodities" is basically "trade" except you don't get paid)

 

[Kallipar]

there are 4 independent superpowers that you can pledge to if you dont want to associate yourself with neither alliance, empire nor federation.
if you mean participating in powerplay without pledging to powerplay then no, you have to be part of a superpower to take part in the superpower conflict.

I don't think that answers my question, but thank you. I am an old school player I.e since 2014. Seems like a missed opportunity not to have mercs Unless of course all PP 2.0 players are mercs lol.
I really don't care about the super powers, only stayed with them in PP1 to get the shinies. Only one ofc is the concord cannon and meh.
I would be nice to be hired by squadron members to pull off some shady heists.

Which brings me to the death of non aligned squadrons. I think that's a real possibility. You can't have everyone pulling every which way, or can you?

Not sure if it was considered? My opinion is that in many cases it will not help squadrons who own their own faction.

 

[Kallipar]

You can take part in most of the Powerplay activities anyway, as they're mostly just normal game activities - bounty hunting, trading, mining, exploration, search and rescue, scanning, etc. You won't get any PP merits for them but you will get the normal rewards (if any) associated with that activity. Similarly the extra signal source types should all be accessible for additional S&R etc. opportunities.

You can probably still steal Powerplay materials and data from Odyssey settlements to sell to the normal bartender. You can't upload Powerplay data but you can take Odyssey missions to upload non-Powerplay data for the same gameplay loop.

I'm not sure what happens if an independent player tries to hack a holoscreen advert (probably nothing so exciting that you'd do it twice, though) but all the other activities are either available anyway or so close to an existing activity that you're really not missing out (e.g. "transport Power commodities" is basically "trade" except you don't get paid)

Thanks, that's a help in my musings

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Which brings me to the death of non aligned squadrons. I think that's a real possibility. You can't have everyone pulling every which way, or can you?

It really depends what the squadron is up to.

There's no mechanical penalty for having players pledged to different Powers (or none at all), and if the Squadron is aligned to one Power the players in it don't have to be. If the players are in different Powers then they're probably not going to be organising many Powerplay-focused events as a Squadron (though they could all team up to undermine a Power that none of them belonged to) but it mostly won't affect other sorts of events.

Not sure if it was considered? My opinion is that in many cases it will not help squadrons who own their own faction.

I think the reasonable choices for a squadron built around BGS play are:

1) Ignore Powerplay as a group entirely. If you're not pledged, it makes little to no difference which Power is dominant in your systems - the days where Powers had preferred government types are over, it makes basically no difference which minor faction is in charge of a system. Individual members can pledge if they want, of course, and can probably find a way to get some merits without interfering with (and in some case for the same action as) their BGS work.

2) Because of the moderately-strong overlap between Powerplay reinforcement activities and things which increase the influence of the system/station owner, if your faction's territory largely falls within one Power, then if you all pledge to that Power you can get merits as a side benefit while doing faction work. Some of the Power bonuses (increased bounty or exploration payouts, faster reputation gain) can be useful for enhancing BGS work too - but only generally apply in your own Power's space. Promote a local system to Stronghold for a chance at a Stronghold Carrier and your own personal Shinrarta-class outfitter in your chosen system.
(If your territory falls between multiple Powers, pick one and gradually flip the rest)

3) Because most Powerplay undermining activities either don't directly harm the controlling faction, or can be directed against secondary factions instead, you can take a "kick them out" approach and try to make your space fully independent. You'll need to temporarily pledge to a Power as a flag of convenience while you do this (but you don't all need to pick the same one) and as you don't care about rank, you can just unpledge when you're not working the Powerplay side of it, or even switch pledges whenever convenient [1] to maximise your ethos bonuses. Mainly target Fortified and Stronghold systems for this because the Exploited ones can't survive without them.

All of those should be viable options.


[1] e.g pledge to Delaine just before you go on a murder spree of Power enemies, then switch to Kaine before handing in the escape pods you picked up along the way, then over to Torval for a bit of Odyssey settlement work. Though ... be very aware of the location requirements for each activity if you're going to do this, as the travel requirements you give yourself might make the 50% ethos bonus you get for it not worth the hassle.

 

[Kallipar]

It really depends what the squadron is up to.

There's no mechanical penalty for having players pledged to different Powers (or none at all), and if the Squadron is aligned to one Power the players in it don't have to be. If the players are in different Powers then they're probably not going to be organising many Powerplay-focused events as a Squadron (though they could all team up to undermine a Power that none of them belonged to) but it mostly won't affect other sorts of events.


I think the reasonable choices for a squadron built around BGS play are:

1) Ignore Powerplay as a group entirely. If you're not pledged, it makes little to no difference which Power is dominant in your systems - the days where Powers had preferred government types are over, it makes basically no difference which minor faction is in charge of a system. Individual members can pledge if they want, of course, and can probably find a way to get some merits without interfering with (and in some case for the same action as) their BGS work.

2) Because of the moderately-strong overlap between Powerplay reinforcement activities and things which increase the influence of the system/station owner, if your faction's territory largely falls within one Power, then if you all pledge to that Power you can get merits as a side benefit while doing faction work. Some of the Power bonuses (increased bounty or exploration payouts, faster reputation gain) can be useful for enhancing BGS work too - but only generally apply in your own Power's space. Promote a local system to Stronghold for a chance at a Stronghold Carrier and your own personal Shinrarta-class outfitter in your chosen system.
(If your territory falls between multiple Powers, pick one and gradually flip the rest)

3) Because most Powerplay undermining activities either don't directly harm the controlling faction, or can be directed against secondary factions instead, you can take a "kick them out" approach and try to make your space fully independent. You'll need to temporarily pledge to a Power as a flag of convenience while you do this (but you don't all need to pick the same one) and as you don't care about rank, you can just unpledge when you're not working the Powerplay side of it, or even switch pledges whenever convenient [1] to maximise your ethos bonuses. Mainly target Fortified and Stronghold systems for this because the Exploited ones can't survive without them.

All of those should be viable options.


[1] e.g pledge to Delaine just before you go on a murder spree of Power enemies, then switch to Kaine before handing in the escape pods you picked up along the way, then over to Torval for a bit of Odyssey settlement work. Though ... be very aware of the location requirements for each activity if you're going to do this, as the travel requirements you give yourself might make the 50% ethos bonus you get for it not worth the hassle.

Lots of valuable insights there Thank you Ian. It's still as clear as mud to me, but it at least assuages some of the doubts I have. Still don't like the powers, the anarchy is still strong in me.

Down with Omni, and the Clans. Power to the Neuts...wonder how many will get that. Still Alive.