Powerplay 2.0 Activities

[Ian Doncaster]

Narratively, Powerplay agents are working on off-the-books deniable tasks, so taking out the agents doing the same for the other Power is fair play, regardless of how much your respective leaders smile politely and shake hands and pretend everything is fine for the press - and "you shot our saboteurs" isn't going to get raised as a formal complaint, so that's all good.

In-game this doesn't really come across - in the same way that there's a contacts link for the Black Market where you say "I want to sell illegal goods" and it isn't just bait for the least awake members of the criminal underworld ... and the various concourse mission givers stand around shouting "Hey, any murderers around here? Looking to hire a murderer!" ... and so on. You just have to pretend everyone (including you) is being way more subtle than they are shown as, and all the prep work where you discover that a secret Mahon weapons convoy will be passing through this system at a particular time using these fake IDs happens off-screen while you're logged out, so your in-game time is then just the bit where you shoot them down and leave the scene before anyone notices.

 

[Dubz]

Yeah I never understood why Black Market exists on the official boards or why all stations have a plethora of people asking you to do illegal missions without fear of whatever station law enforcement might be. Didn't consider the off-the-books or black-ops aspects, which I guess is how it works. So it's like an unofficial war, one has to wonder though at what point such acts escalate to a full scale war.

 

[Rebel Yell]

I don't much understand why the Power Play directives to shoot an opposing leader or faction.

Because they are enemies.

 

[Dubz]

Because they are enemies.

I spoke of shooting at supporters of the rival political leader within same faction. It appears to be civil war.

 

[Jorge Icarus]

I am pledged to Nakato Kaine, and the last assignment for this week is to inject Malware into one of the Data Ports in a specific System's settlement. I have been "killed" 5 times already, and I am tired of hitching a ride from the penitentiary to the system where I am supposed to do this. Kind of frustrating. I have watched the videos on stealth and settlements online, but I still can't infiltrate without either being scanned by a guard while carrying the malware or without alerting the people in the room where the Data Port is. Any suggestions? I may just leave this assignment, but it'd be nice to succeed. hehe

 

[nemolomen]

... So it's like an unofficial war, one has to wonder though at what point such acts escalate to a full scale war.

A "cold war" so to speak where up front actions are few and behind the scenes actions are bountiful...

So I'm trying to understand the Power Play political dynamics. It seems that within the same faction but supporting one political leader over another means being sent out to shoot down anyone that supports the opposing leader. Which might be the way things are done in more nefarious, crime ridden factions, but seems rather uncivilized and extreme for any of the major factions. I can understand helping gain political favour for the candidate of your choice through delivering needed supplies, doing search and rescue, bounty hunting pirates, essentially making the system safer and more stable for the inhabitants. Shooting down the opposing political party supporters is essentially civil war and in the case of Alliance faction it doesn't appear the faction is actually in a civil war and hostile actions rather goes the ideas of what the Alliance stands for. For that matter, one major faction shooting down members of another major faction is essentially war and theoretically an enemy to a faction shouldn't be able to dock at any station or outpost in an enemy system, which I discovered recently that is in fact what happens when you visit a Stronghold Carrier of another major faction. I understand it gives players an opportunity to do more pew-pew but unless a civil war or a major war is announced and committed to I don't much understand why the Power Play directives to shoot an opposing leader or faction.

I disagree, especially regarding the Empire, who are all manipulating eachother and jockeying for power as part and parcel, IMO.

And the Feds are not better, just better at hiding it...

The Alliance, OTOH, I can see them being less confrontational due to the overarching ideologies behind the faction in general, but, this IS Powerplay, where everyone wants to be on top...no holds barred, take no prisoners, ruthlessness...

 

[Dubz]

Well I've been doing rescue missions, allied to Kaine. A rather passive endeavor however I get shot at by Mahon supporters for it. Mahon or Kaine we are still Alliance and Kaine is a political opponent not an insurrectionist, there is no civil war so shooting at each other seems extreme. I get shot at by Mahon supporters for picking up escape pods and if I shoot back I get a fine/bounty (not sure which I got recently, I saw the message flash briefly but was too busy battling it out) so the assumption is that I am breaking Alliance (as Mahon is official leader) law somehow for doing these rescue missions but I can't understand why. From my understanding it's not like Kaine or Mahon are so radically different that the supporters of each should be willing to go to war within the Alliance like we're opposing the Empire or Federation or Kumo Crew. Interestingly I do see Federation ships at some of these ship wreckage sites in Alliance territory, don't know why they are there or what they hope to gain by attacking Alliance ships in Alliance territory. Wouldn't such potentially spark a war between the Alliance and Federation? Maybe Power Play hasn't been thought through much as it was merely meant as a simple way to keep players engaged with pew-pew with a galactic version of the board game RISK.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

I get a fine/bounty (not sure which I got recently, I saw the message flash briefly but was too busy battling it out) so the assumption is that I am breaking Alliance (as Mahon is official leader) law somehow for doing these rescue missions but I can't understand why.

You get a bounty for shooting at a locally-Clean ship, same as you would for shooting at locally-Clean ships in almost any other circumstance.

In your own Power's space, suitable amounts of bribery by your Power mean that you don't get a bounty for shooting opposing Power agents.
(In enemy space, suitable amounts of bribery means they don't get a bounty for shooting you, meaning that they're still Clean when you return fire)

Powerplay kills do not give notoriety, however, so provided you've not picked any of that up elsewhere clearing those bounties is much easier than normal.

Wouldn't such potentially spark a war between the Alliance and Federation?

Remember that at the minor faction level there are probably hundreds of Alliance-vs-Federation wars (and even more Federation-vs-Federation wars!) going on all the time. And yet people rarely show up to systems like https://inara.cz/elite/starsystem/1174/ (correct at time of writing) and say "hey, Alioth Independents are at war with the Federal Lalande 37923 United Organisation faction - wouldn't this lead to a war between the Alliance and Federation" ... or for that matter https://inara.cz/elite/starsystem/21312/ for a war between two Alliance factions.

In terms of a larger scale war ... yes, that's what Powerplay is. That's why those Federal ships are there to recover downed pilots / take hostages / whatever they're doing with those pods that you don't want them to.

Maybe Power Play hasn't been thought through much

It's certainly fair to say that if you want a game with a setting which makes any sense whatsoever in social, political, legal or economic terms you should be playing a different game - but that long predates the current iteration of Powerplay.

 

[Markov Chaney]

It's certainly fair to say that if you want a game with a setting which makes any sense whatsoever in social, political, legal or economic terms you should be playing a different game - but that long predates the current iteration of Powerplay.

We should probably also note that if you picked any game that is supposed to be centred on that topic, and wasn't a space game at all, you would still find that if you went on that game's forum, there will be a million posts saying "make it make senssssssse" and "I would simply" and "Well actually in 384BC" and whatever.

 

[nemolomen]

A "cold war" so to speak where up front actions are few and behind the scenes actions are bountiful...



I disagree, especially regarding the Empire, who are all manipulating eachother and jockeying for power as part and parcel, IMO.

And the Feds are not better, just better at hiding it...

The Alliance, OTOH, I can see them being less confrontational due to the overarching ideologies behind the faction in general, but, this IS Powerplay, where everyone wants to be on top...no holds barred, take no prisoners, ruthlessness...

I guess i was wrong about the Alliance after all...considering the PP CG that started yesterday...(video is at time)

Source: https://youtu.be/wZESxwVEiqM?t=58

 

[Ashnak]

Hand in salvage - collect salvage in US (awarded when? hand in where?) (PA FW NK† A† EM†)

From US for LYR:
from my experience: collect black boxes and wreckage components in power wreckage POIs in US, hand in to the power contact in a friendly (reinforcement) system. Merits are awarded on sale. Black boxes Escape Pods (whole or damaged) only give creditrs, no merits.

From my log (yeah, I should update EDD... one of these days)

	Search And Rescue	Damaged Escape Pod, Num: 5, Reward: 85940
	Search And Rescue	Occupied Escape Pod, Num: 22, Reward: 675774
	Powerplay Merits	Unknown Event:{Power:Li Yong-Rui,MeritsGained:562,TotalMerits:225167}
	Powerplay Merits	Unknown Event:{Power:Li Yong-Rui,MeritsGained:491,TotalMerits:224605}
	Search And Rescue	Wreckage Components, Num: 21, Reward: 192675
	Powerplay Merits	Unknown Event:{Power:Li Yong-Rui,MeritsGained:562,TotalMerits:225318}
	Powerplay Merits	Unknown Event:{Power:Li Yong-Rui,MeritsGained:642,TotalMerits:224756}
	Powerplay Merits	Unknown Event:{Power:Li Yong-Rui,MeritsGained:1204,TotalMerits:224114}
	Powerplay Rank	Unknown Event:{Power:Li Yong-Rui,Rank:31}
	Search And Rescue	Black Box, Num: 7, Reward: 220318

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

hit a brick wall with some of my weekly tasks.

handing in escape pods in a named system is really killing me. I made sure I am handing in at the correct system (not the one I collect them from) but they are just not registering.

I have given up for this week I think

also I have yet to see a pledged enemy with a bounty which sucks. surely some of these wanted ships should also be pledged? yes I could go to anarchy and let rip or just get me a big bounty. but my role play will not allow this as my character tries to be a bit of a jack reacher type and only kill those who deserve it

 

[Ian Doncaster]

also I have yet to see a pledged enemy with a bounty which sucks

If they're in your Power's system, they'll have one.

If they're in another Power's system, they deserve it for picking the wrong side in Powerplay at least as much as someone getting a loitering bounty does.

 

[Ashnak]

get me a big bounty

Nah, killing a not-wanted enemy powerplay ship gets you a slap on the wrist. A few thousand bounty, no notoriety involved. In the few cases where someone killable[1] tried to interrupt me from plundering their wreckage sites, the bounty seemed to be limited to the local system. I just paid it off the next time I happened to pass by an IF.
But as my patron is (at least publically - seeing some of the weekly chores, I have my doubts) peaceful, I usually use the superior speed and agility of my ship to let them suck my contrails.

[1] No, I'm not going up against a 'conda or medium-to-high ranked Python in my Cobra Mk.V. The time needed for the kill and the expenditure in ammunition simply make this not worthwhile. Even worse, those big guns often have a couple of their friends in attendance.

 

[DemiserofD]

Unfortunately, per my testing today, multicrewmates do NOT get merits for bounty hunting, even if they're in your same power, regardless of whether they're in a fighter or not.

Sad

 

[Kliest]

I cant deliver power play Alliance Records. Two different sets. I make sure to pick them up in the correct system, and to transport them to the correct system. (both specified in the task). The Power Contact in the receiving system will not take them. I tried logging out and back in but no good. One set was Alliance Trade Agreements fro Cybele to Crucis Sector DR-V b2-5. The other set was Alliance Legislative Records from Cartoq to Winiama.
Am I missing something?

 

[nemolomen]

I cant deliver power play Alliance Records. Two different sets. I make sure to pick them up in the correct system, and to transport them to the correct system. (both specified in the task). The Power Contact in the receiving system will not take them. I tried logging out and back in but no good. One set was Alliance Trade Agreements fro Cybele to Crucis Sector DR-V b2-5. The other set was Alliance Legislative Records from Cartoq to Winiama.
Am I missing something?

How far apart are they, the sources and destinations?

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Note that a number of powerplay activities are being temporarily disabled for both merits and control points: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/sol-powerplay-update.638451/
(they're maybe still valid for assignment completion, but that remains untested)

 

[Nowski]

Note that a number of powerplay activities are being temporarily disabled for both merits and control points: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/sol-powerplay-update.638451/
(they're maybe still valid for assignment completion, but that remains untested)

Thanks for mentioning this. I've updated the initial post, erring on the side of including all power data activities. I don't have any spare time right now to test, but if anyone finds this is too inclusive I'll fix the post.

 

[DracoNB]

What are the requirements for trade? I got 0 merits for selling at 48k profit (bought from infrastructure failure, sold to high tech station) to an acquisition system.