Powerplay 2.0 Activities

Is the only choice just to hang onto it in case the system falls back to Acquiring
Yeah, I think that's all you can do if you want to earn merits for them. But that's probably pretty unlikely.

If you want to just get them out of your inventory, though, bartenders will buy them for credits.
 
Yeah, I think that's all you can do if you want to earn merits for them. But that's probably pretty unlikely.

If you want to just get them out of your inventory, though, bartenders will buy them for credits.
My translator malfunctioned, it translated the phrase as: wait for the system to return to the acquisition state.
I'm a little confused. Isn't our goal to consolidate and expand the area?
 
My translator malfunctioned, it translated the phrase as: wait for the system to return to the acquisition state.
I'm a little confused. Isn't our goal to consolidate and expand the area?
Yes - but if you were to fail and someone else undermined the system, it would then be back to being an acquisition target.

It's unlikely to happen for most systems and really not worth hanging onto the data just in case.
 
I'm a little confused. Isn't our goal to consolidate and expand the area?
That is indeed the goal.

It's just that those items he was talking about are only able to earn merits if the system they came from is in Acquisition state, even though you may still collect them when the system is in a Reinforcement state. So, if you have collected them from a settlement inside a Reinforcing system, the only way you could turn them in for merits is if progress rolls backwards. Which is undesired (and also pretty unlikely).
 
Has mining been discussed?

Yesterday I spent some time in a Fortified Reinforcement system, mining in a Icy ring (all hot spots were for cores and none were Tritium or LTDs).

Starting with 100 limpets, I managed to eke out 47 Tritium, 1 LTD and a few Bromelite.

The latter two were unremarkable when selling them at the primary station (Industrial) in the system, but the 47 units of Tritium gained 2300 merits...

Sadly my journal file containing that data appears to be missing...
 
I can provide a bit of data about mining. I did three mining sessions yesterday and today, and this is the result:

Mineral​
Amount​
Profit​
Profit / t​
Merits​
Merits / t​
Merits / 1000Cr​
Platinum​
1​
264230​
264230​
196​
196,00​
0,741778​
Platinum​
17​
4491910​
264230​
3376​
198,59​
0,751573​
Monazite​
16​
5555600​
347225​
4176​
261,00​
0,751674​
Painite​
34​
15523448​
456572​
11672​
343,29​
0,751895​
Rhodplumsite​
27​
21069855​
780365​
15844​
586,81​
0,751975​
Serendibite​
14​
6031242​
430803​
4532​
323,71​
0,751421​
Session length​
70​
merits earned​
39796​
Alexandrite​
73​
51048097​
699289​
32600​
446,58​
0,638613​
Alexandrite​
5​
3496445​
699289​
0​
0,00​
0,000000​
Bromelite​
24​
1713888​
71412​
1180​
49,17​
0,688493​
Void Opal​
15​
7332615​
488841​
5512​
367,47​
0,751710​
Session length​
65​
merits earned​
39292​
Alexandrite​
85​
57094075​
671695​
37376​
439,72​
0,654639​
Void Opal​
33​
18527883​
561451​
9288​
281,45​
0,501299​
Session length​
51​
merits earned​
46664​


I am pledged to Kaine, and everything was mined and sold in a Stronghold system in boom. Things of note:

  • in the first session, the merits per profit rate is very constant
  • in today's sessions it's significantly lower and fluctuates; possibly because today I sold larger quantities and was hit with the sales tax?
  • the minerals you refine after you cleared your cargo didn't give merits. Seems it not only counts in which system you mine / refine, but also if you do it in the ring or outside?
  • if you insist on a merits per hour rate: I earned 39,796 merits in 70 minutes, 39,292 merits in 65 minutes and 46,664 merits in 51 minutes - that's from undocking to finishing the last sale each times. So the rates are 34,110 merits/h, 36,269 merits/h and 54,898 merits/h. Yes, my third run went very well, I found loads of core asteroids very quickly.
  • my first session was in the metal rich A ring of the planet I was mining in, the second and third at the same planet but obviously in the icy B ring.

If you enjoy core mining, it's a damn good way to make merits. If you don't, it still is, but it might be a grind for you, and it also requires some skill instead of being a mindless bore.
 
Looks like an enemy SLF in a Power wreckage zone is worth 32 merits now. Would anyone know if the stronghold SLF's are still pegged at 14 merits per fighter?
Tested just now. Confirmed 56 Merits for SLFs at Stronghold Carriers; scanning with a KWS makes no difference. I'm pledged to Arissa Lavigny-Duval; your mileage (and Merits) may vary.
 
Has mining been discussed?

My power has a reinforcement (now stronghold) system with a platinum hotspot. Takes me about 3 hours to fill a cutter with platinum and osmium, which I then sell to a station in system for around 80,000 merits, after the 4x adjustment. Do that nine or ten times and you're pretty much completely done with the rank grind.
 
Tested just now. Confirmed 56 Merits for SLFs at Stronghold Carriers; scanning with a KWS makes no difference. I'm pledged to Arissa Lavigny-Duval; your mileage (and Merits) may vary.

Thank you 😊 Looks like FD has scaled it down just to the point where it's not the goto option for undermining strongholds. I'll try raiding Tionisla and see what kind of figures I get. Mahon pledge here btw.
 
I can provide a bit of data about mining. I did three mining sessions yesterday and today, and this is the result:
...
If you enjoy core mining, it's a damn good way to make merits. If you don't, it still is, but it might be a grind for you, and it also requires some skill instead of being a mindless bore.
I'm sorry I don't quite understand you, probably because of the translation.
I checked mining in the same system as selling (I mean RS), I checked.
So 1T of platinum costs about 45k, you have 262k for some reason, how come?

Looking at your spreadsheet it seems simple enough, but it really isn't. The man above wrote a real picture.
And yes, I understand a little bit about mining, because when I started FC I was earning by mining.
 
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I'm sorry I don't quite understand you, probably because of the translation.
I checked mining in the same system as selling (I mean RS), I checked.
So 1T of platinum costs about 45k, you have 262k for some reason, how come?

Looking at your spreadsheet it seems simple enough, but it really isn't. The man above wrote a real picture.
And yes, I understand a little bit about mining, because when I started FC I was earning by mining.
I am not sure I understand what the question is, sorry. The station I sold my goods at bought Platinum at 264230 per tonne. The first sale of 1t was the very first sale I did to test if I would get merits at all. After that was confirmed I sold everything in bulk.
 
I am not sure I understand what the question is, sorry. The station I sold my goods at bought Platinum at 264230 per tonne. The first sale of 1t was the very first sale I did to test if I would get merits at all. After that was confirmed I sold everything in bulk.
As far as I understand, you can only sell in the system where you mined.
 
As far as I understand, you can only sell in the system where you mined.
I did. It's Ritila, a Stronghold in boom right in the center of Kaine space. Here is the current market data for the station I sold at.
 
With rares and escape pods nerfed and megaships hard to find, the best merit earning I can find ATM is bounty hunting in a Res. Just like old times.
 
I'm finding patrolling in a strong hold to be pretty good, you get great bounties on power USS's particularly the threat 5 ones, some fun fights. If you pick up the black boxes and wreckage, that soon all adds up.

Interdicting any enemy in sight who is also wanted, those get good merit payouts, and also the convoys give you a decent balance just for very quickly blipping though all the ships in the convoy with the next target select, and then killing any enemy power ships that also instance.

Honestly I find it a fun and immersive activity, playing the game rather than grinding. I'm not sure how much fun those threat 5 enemies would be, if I'd not had any PvP training though. They seem to have upped the anti somewhat on those, way harder than pirates in the asteroids, I've found anyhow.

... On my todo list is tracking down the powers most wanted from the stations local galnet news, I was surprised to find that they can be quite a distance off, which means it is not so nice to do in an FDL which is also kind of cool. [That said, I've also just learned that there is a way to temporarily boost the FDL's jump range from the right hand console, and have not tried with that yet.]

My phantom is now also proving to be quite successful for combat, and is a lot of fun to fly with the extra range and better super cruise handling.
 
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My power has a reinforcement (now stronghold) system with a platinum hotspot. Takes me about 3 hours to fill a cutter with platinum and osmium, which I then sell to a station in system for around 80,000 merits, after the 4x adjustment. Do that nine or ten times and you're pretty much completely done with the rank grind.
Interesting … surface or core mining?
 
I'm finding patrolling in a strong hold to be pretty good, you get great bounties on power USS's particularly the threat 5 ones, some fun fights. If you pick up the black boxes and wreckage, that soon all adds up.

Interdicting any enemy in sight who is also wanted, those get good merit payouts, and also the convoys give you a decent balance just for very quickly blipping though all the ships in the convoy with the next target select, and then killing any enemy power ships that also instance.

Honestly I find it a fun and immersive activity, playing the game rather than grinding. I'm not sure how much fun those threat 5 enemies would be, if I'd not had any PvP training though. They seem to have upped the anti somewhat on those, way harder than pirates in the asteroids, I've found anyhow.

... On my todo list is tracking down the powers most wanted from the stations local galnet news, I was surprised to find that they can be quite a distance off, which means it is not so nice to do in an FDL which is also kind of cool. [That said, I've also just learned that there is a way to temporarily boost the FDL's jump range from the right hand console, and have not tried with that yet.]

My phantom is now also proving to be quite successful for combat, and is a lot of fun to fly with the extra range and better super cruise handling.
Absolutely. I think the mix of activities and the way they can all roll into one flight/patrol works vary well. I’ve found I’m refitting several ships to ensure they’re multi functional whereas before they were far more optimised for a single role.

There may still be work to do on some balancing and bugs but the overall experience, particularly if you’re role playing more than grinding for a result, is very enjoyable. I’m finding the merits simply from scanning ships, which I’ve always done for the data, rack up surprisingly quickly considering it’s a virtually zero effort activity - clearly, that doesn’t count for much if you are desperate to push through the ranks.
 
Absolutely. I think the mix of activities and the way they can all roll into one flight/patrol works vary well. I’ve found I’m refitting several ships to ensure they’re multi functional whereas before they were far more optimised for a single role.

There may still be work to do on some balancing and bugs but the overall experience, particularly if you’re role playing more than grinding for a result, is very enjoyable. I’m finding the merits simply from scanning ships, which I’ve always done for the data, rack up surprisingly quickly considering it’s a virtually zero effort activity - clearly, that doesn’t count for much if you are desperate to push through the ranks.

Exactly.

Personally, I've found that what I consider a normal game session, flying a ship I enjoy flying, and doing the things I enjoy doing, have been providing me around eight to ten kilo-merits per hour, or about one rank. More importantly, it's been an interesting challenge balancing profitability with merit generation. I've never taken advantage of the various "gold rushes" over the years, nor had any desire to grind for either credits, ranks, or materials, so it's much more fun to do.

More importantly as far as I'm concerned, I find it a lot easier to squeeze brief sessions under PowerPlay 2.0 than I did before. That's important to me, because one of the chief sources of friction towards playing this game was how much time and attention it demanded. These days, if I have fifteen or twenty minutes to spare, I can hop in, grab a few retrieval/donation missions for the system I'm focusing on, and complete them in time. Manipulating the BGS for fun and profit required much more time than that to be effective.

Edit: fixed conflating credits and merits again
 
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