Powerplay kills the fun!

[Jmanis]

The draw is PP2 as a game. Why do people play chess?

And what is PP2 "as a game? " Because as far as i can tell there's nothing there.

Almost everything you do to contribute to Powerplay is the standard activities. There is one or two activities that are unique, but they're nothing to write home about (hacking billboards is about it... everything else seems to be the usual activities but "do it with a power widget". So it's just riding the coattails of everything else the game offers is not really stamping out PP2 as an activity in its own right.

Edit: and to the point... chess is a game with clearly defined mechanics, outcomes and effects. I enjoy chess. A Lord of the Rings chess set is just a reskinned chessboard. It offers nothing new... other than you checkmate saruman instead of a king.

Elite Dangerous offers a bunch of clearly defined mechanics, outcomes and effects. PP2 feels like the Lord of the Rings reskin... offering nothing new except the skins of the stations when powers come and go.

I can fully understand it doesn't float your boat, but just because you don't like it doesn't mean there is nothing there.

It can't "not float my boat" when there's nothing to assess. The way you do PP2 is by simply playing the games activities as they currently are, and those i have no problem with. So saying i don't like PP2 is a bit like saying "i don't like playing the regular game", because its literally just playing the game as usual, nothing more.

If i wanted to do PP2, i "sign up" and literally do nothing differently, and suddenly I'm getting extra rewards from my power.... ok... but that's it. End of story.

Ok, but the whole bent in PP2 is to do this stuff in particular systems, likely at the detriment of my rewards because i hang in my current area for its good opportunities. So, why do i want to sacrifice that to go help say, Li Yong Rui gain a new system?

Well, let's answer that with a different question.... why did i pick up to go fight the Thargoids in systems invaded by them? Many reasons.

- unique activities in a challenging environment. Granted, it recycles a bunch of mechanics (that's a good thing, sort of), but popping prisoners out of a titan needs very different fittings and tactics to subsurface mining.

- Good rewards and unique/ interesting cargoes out of those activities, some of which tie in to fittings or other items on offer.

- it changes the play environment... shifting economies and resultant activities as the war state changes from alert to invasion to controlled, and the maelstrom systems themselves (sounds pretty analogous to Acquisition, reinforcement and stronghold...), and provided some good opportunities for emergency supplies, evacuations and such over non-standard distances and with a persistent Thargoid threat.

By contrast, what changes when Archer has a stronghold rather than Thargoids? What's going to make me up and go to that system?

The truth is, not much. I pored through the Codex pages, and tbh i couldn't find anything about what effects Powers have on the domain they control... but i suspect that's because the answer is there is nothing.

In short, I don't think i can retort to "it doesn't float my boat" because i don't know what is meant to float my boat? The rewards? Everyone loves rewards, but that doesn't make Powerplay? Is it the competitive aspect that’s pretty much a glorified question leaderboard? My credit counter and, funnily enough, squadron leaderboards do that well enough. And the activities are essentially the base game activities... Powerplay just wants me to do it in different locations.

There needs to be a thing to dislike. You say "there isn't nothing"... so tell me what there is, because i don't see it.

If changing the face of the galaxy is what you are looking for then colonisation looks like it will be more up your alley.

Colonization will do nothing of the sort. It adds stations to the game (which is more than what PP2 will do, granted). It won't cause federal mining outposts to be highly undesirable in the middle of an Imperial domain. It won't make powerful criminals converge in a Delaine system. It won't triple payouts from covert activities against Archers enemies.

It will just expand more of the same terrain around the place. Terrain which PP2 could add colour to, but can't, because it doesn't. PP2 doesn't add anything.

I don't want to effect change, i want to play in an environment that changes. PP2 is the perfect vehicle for that, and does nothing of the sort.

 

[Crumly]

That's how it works. The stations don't care how Power you are. And you have to find the enemy ship, which isn't easy.

What do you mean "complained"? I asked if someone could give a short tutorial on using that website to earn lots of merits.

What exactly did I "complain" about, in your opinion? What was the complaint?

you added 3 dots after expressing dissatisfaction with how someone chose to help you.
" if someone wrote a brief tutorial rather than refer to an entire other discussion forum..."

 

[SergMx]

you added 3 dots after expressing dissatisfaction with how someone chose to help you.
" if someone wrote a brief tutorial rather than refer to an entire other discussion forum..."

In fact, I'm a little surprised at how it was done. I and many others in the neighboring forums expected it to be just regular missions from the mission board but with a note - for power.

 

[DjVortex]

I tried a slightly different tactic (which is likely closer to what experienced core miners do): Equipped a larger prospector limpet controller, allowing two simultaneous limpets, and just started prospecting bright yellow-highlighted asteroids for monazite cores (prospector limpet tells if it has any), ignoring everything else, at a quick pace, and only mining those. Asteroids with fissures are very rare, and among them the ones having monazite are rarer still, so you may well prospect 50 asteroids and not find a single one, but eventually you'll encounter one. After about an hour and a half I had this:

Core mining can be ridiculously frustrating at times.

I went to the same hotspot I have been mining in for over a week now, and I spent almost three hours checking yellow-highlighted asteroids for fissures. Can you guess how many I found in those three hours?

Three.

I checked literally hundreds and hundreds of asteroids, for almost three hours. Only three of them had fissures.

Where I'm normally getting about 35000 merits for 1.5 hours of mining, I now got 13000 for three hours. It's ridiculous. I don't understand what changed.

 

[SergMx]

Core mining can be ridiculously frustrating at times.

I went to the same hotspot I have been mining in for over a week now, and I spent almost three hours checking yellow-highlighted asteroids for fissures. Can you guess how many I found in those three hours?

Three.

I checked literally hundreds and hundreds of asteroids, for almost three hours. Only three of them had fissures.

Where I'm normally getting about 35000 merits for 1.5 hours of mining, I now got 13000 for three hours. It's ridiculous. I don't understand what changed.

For years on the forum I have been trying to prove the wave scanner wrong. But in response I only hear that I do not know how to use it.
Although this is how I earned my money on FC.

 

[Rubbernuke]

And what is PP2 "as a game? " Because as far as i can tell there's nothing there.

Almost everything you do to contribute to Powerplay is the standard activities. There is one or two activities that are unique, but they're nothing to write home about (hacking billboards is about it... everything else seems to be the usual activities but "do it with a power widget". So it's just riding the coattails of everything else the game offers is not really stamping out PP2 as an activity in its own right.

Edit: and to the point... chess is a game with clearly defined mechanics, outcomes and effects. I enjoy chess. A Lord of the Rings chess set is just a reskinned chessboard. It offers nothing new... other than you checkmate saruman instead of a king.

Elite Dangerous offers a bunch of clearly defined mechanics, outcomes and effects. PP2 feels like the Lord of the Rings reskin... offering nothing new except the skins of the stations when powers come and go.


It can't "not float my boat" when there's nothing to assess. The way you do PP2 is by simply playing the games activities as they currently are, and those i have no problem with. So saying i don't like PP2 is a bit like saying "i don't like playing the regular game", because its literally just playing the game as usual, nothing more.

If i wanted to do PP2, i "sign up" and literally do nothing differently, and suddenly I'm getting extra rewards from my power.... ok... but that's it. End of story.

Ok, but the whole bent in PP2 is to do this stuff in particular systems, likely at the detriment of my rewards because i hang in my current area for its good opportunities. So, why do i want to sacrifice that to go help say, Li Yong Rui gain a new system?

Well, let's answer that with a different question.... why did i pick up to go fight the Thargoids in systems invaded by them? Many reasons.

- unique activities in a challenging environment. Granted, it recycles a bunch of mechanics (that's a good thing, sort of), but popping prisoners out of a titan needs very different fittings and tactics to subsurface mining.

- Good rewards and unique/ interesting cargoes out of those activities, some of which tie in to fittings or other items on offer.

- it changes the play environment... shifting economies and resultant activities as the war state changes from alert to invasion to controlled, and the maelstrom systems themselves (sounds pretty analogous to Acquisition, reinforcement and stronghold...), and provided some good opportunities for emergency supplies, evacuations and such over non-standard distances and with a persistent Thargoid threat.

By contrast, what changes when Archer has a stronghold rather than Thargoids? What's going to make me up and go to that system?

The truth is, not much. I pored through the Codex pages, and tbh i couldn't find anything about what effects Powers have on the domain they control... but i suspect that's because the answer is there is nothing.

In short, I don't think i can retort to "it doesn't float my boat" because i don't know what is meant to float my boat? The rewards? Everyone loves rewards, but that doesn't make Powerplay? Is it the competitive aspect that’s pretty much a glorified question leaderboard? My credit counter and, funnily enough, squadron leaderboards do that well enough. And the activities are essentially the base game activities... Powerplay just wants me to do it in different locations.

There needs to be a thing to dislike. You say "there isn't nothing"... so tell me what there is, because i don't see it.



Colonization will do nothing of the sort. It adds stations to the game (which is more than what PP2 will do, granted). It won't cause federal mining outposts to be highly undesirable in the middle of an Imperial domain. It won't make powerful criminals converge in a Delaine system. It won't triple payouts from covert activities against Archers enemies.

It will just expand more of the same terrain around the place. Terrain which PP2 could add colour to, but can't, because it doesn't. PP2 doesn't add anything.

I don't want to effect change, i want to play in an environment that changes. PP2 is the perfect vehicle for that, and does nothing of the sort.

The problem with this is FD listened to those who detest any link between BGS and PP, cutting as many ties as possible. They also made it that the PP layer is the main way of attacking directly rather than UM via outright murder.

Its doubly ironic that PP1 via having to flip systems is closer to what you write about, because most often you had to use all your BGS knowledge to manipulate factions.

 

[SergMx]

The problem with this is FD listened to those who detest any link between BGS and PP, cutting as many ties as possible. They also made it that the PP layer is the main way of attacking directly rather than UM via outright murder.

Its doubly ironic that PP1 via having to flip systems is closer to what you write about, because most often you had to use all your BGS knowledge to manipulate factions.

Why did you listen? Maybe they're trying to show once again that they're done manipulating the BGS? And try to play the game as it was originally intended.

 

[Rubbernuke]

Why did you listen? Maybe they're trying to show once again that they're done manipulating the BGS? And try to play the game as it was originally intended.

The core issue (IMO) is that you have two competing camps: those who want the BGS in its entirety to allow any and all changes to influence each other and another who wants stratification because they like 'boxes'.

to play the game as it was originally intended.

And whats that? If you mean 'play the BGS', that ideal was burnt long ago when FD gave us the information to play it. PP1 was supposed to be the action layer but was left fallow while the BGS was developed. Now with PP2 we have the same dysfunction, because both the BGS and PP overlap (IMO) awkwardly (such as with C+P) and also superfically (with station livery).

 

[SergMx]

The core issue (IMO) is that you have two competing camps: those who want the BGS in its entirety to allow any and all changes to influence each other and another who wants stratification because they like 'boxes'.


And whats that? If you mean 'play the BGS', that ideal was burnt long ago when FD gave us the information to play it. PP1 was supposed to be the action layer but was left fallow while the BGS was developed. Now with PP2 we have the same dysfunction, because both the BGS and PP overlap (IMO) awkwardly (such as with C+P) and also superfically (with station livery).

The BGS game is an action made up by users, similar to SRV racing.

 

[Rubbernuke]

The BGS game is an action made up by users, similar to SRV racing.

To begin with, yes- because at the time the BGS was 'black box'. Then as BGS manipulation became more and more mainstream FD unboxed that secrecy and gave us a matrix of INF values so we could play it- and ever since thats been iterated on. In 3.X onwards you have explicit UI as well as new states, so the argument that its 'made up by players' is frankly nonsense these days.

Whats happened is that you have a hyper developed BGS that lacks a strategic UI, and an evolved PP which lacks the underpinning nuance that the BGS contains. Depending on perspective this separation is good, or is a drawback.

 

[Zador]

Core mining can be ridiculously frustrating at times.

I went to the same hotspot I have been mining in for over a week now, and I spent almost three hours checking yellow-highlighted asteroids for fissures. Can you guess how many I found in those three hours?

Three.

I checked literally hundreds and hundreds of asteroids, for almost three hours. Only three of them had fissures.

Where I'm normally getting about 35000 merits for 1.5 hours of mining, I now got 13000 for three hours. It's ridiculous. I don't understand what changed.

Cores are shared and have a week cooldown. If you are really really unlucky I guess someone else could have cleared out the area you are mining in. I tried core mining; laser mining is much more consistent and profitable, if less varied so I sold all the core mining equipment and laser mine in my Cutter while half-watching TV.

 

[nemolomen]

Honestly, it all comes down to setting your own goals, the underlying play system (BGS or PP2) is mostly irrelevant if you don't have goals. Goals can be simple (earning enough money to upgrade ship or buy a new larger/better ship) or complex (Promoting a BGS minor faction within a system to System Controller though a series of wars and other means or advancing a Power's standing in a system from uncontrolled to Exploited to Fortified to Stronghold).

Generally, in the BGS, goals can be realized, by an individual, in the right system(s), in a fairly short term.

Wheras, in PP2, goals are realized, by an individual, in the right systems, over a much longer period of time.

I've adopted 3 close Fortified systems, one of them has been, with a little help from some friends, elevated to Stronghold w/SH Carriers. I spend my days hauling PP cargo, scanning magaships, salvaging PP wreckage, scanning ships and wakes, completing missions, shooting ships and earning merits for all of these activities.

I'm having a lot of fun with PP2.0, manipulating the galaxy, earning ranks, unlocking modules, receiving mini care packages, etc...

 

[Tifu]

Wheras, in PP2, goals are realized, by an individual, in the right systems, over a much longer period of time.

Not necessarily, I had the luck of picking a home system that was of some importance to an organized bunch of players (probably a sub team of a larger Discord group). It was on the verge of tipping over to a fortified state when I lent a hand.

The immediate neighborhood provided several opportunities where a lone commander can make a difference - something difficult to find in an area where masses of players are throwing about tens of thousands of merits on a regular basis. Which is why I try to avoid hotspots.

 

[nemolomen]

Not necessarily, I had the luck of picking a home system that was of some importance to an organized bunch of players (probably a sub team of a larger Discord group). It was on the verge of tipping over to a fortified state when I lent a hand.

The immediate neighborhood provided several opportunities where a lone commander can make a difference - something difficult to find in an area where masses of players are throwing about tens of thousands of merits on a regular basis. Which is why I try to avoid hotspots.

I know a few individual players who are throwing about hundreds of thousands of merits daily...

 

[SteveWW57]

I know a few individual players who are throwing about hundreds of thousands of merits daily...

And they must be playing the game that they want and having fun.

 

[Tifu]

I know a few individual players who are throwing about hundreds of thousands of merits daily...

Mining for tons of merits won't work in this particular neighborhood alas

 

[nemolomen]

Mining for tons of merits won't work in this particular neighborhood alas

Mine either...no pun intended...

 

[SergMx]

Honestly, it all comes down to setting your own goals, the underlying play system (BGS or PP2) is mostly irrelevant if you don't have goals. Goals can be simple (earning enough money to upgrade ship or buy a new larger/better ship) or complex (Promoting a BGS minor faction within a system to System Controller though a series of wars and other means or advancing a Power's standing in a system from uncontrolled to Exploited to Fortified to Stronghold).

Generally, in the BGS, goals can be realized, by an individual, in the right system(s), in a fairly short term.

Wheras, in PP2, goals are realized, by an individual, in the right systems, over a much longer period of time.

I've adopted 3 close Fortified systems, one of them has been, with a little help from some friends, elevated to Stronghold w/SH Carriers. I spend my days hauling PP cargo, scanning magaships, salvaging PP wreckage, scanning ships and wakes, completing missions, shooting ships and earning merits for all of these activities.

I'm having a lot of fun with PP2.0, manipulating the galaxy, earning ranks, unlocking modules, receiving mini care packages, etc...

In PP2, the only goal is to get a rating of 100. After that, it's over.

 

[Rubbernuke]

In PP2, the only goal is to get a rating of 100. After that, it's over.

Depends. Its the only fixed personal goal but you also have the optional goal of helping your power where you see fit. The ranks and perks are (for some) bribes while you do this.

 

[nemolomen]

In PP2, the only goal is to get a rating of 100. After that, it's over.

For you maybe...

Are you aware that the ranks keep going, after 100?