Powerplay - how would you improve it?

[Armour]

This is a thread to find out what additions and/or alterations you think would improve what already exists.

Just saying "The whole thing sucks", or "I don't want this specific thing" or "this mechanic shouldn't behave like it does" is not the point of this thread.

If you are going to contribute, please describe the alterations or additions you wish to make, and why, i.e. how you think it will positively impact the game as a whole. If your suggestion would solve your pet peeve, but screw up the game for the majority of the player base, it's unlikely to be a net benefit.

Also, please consider the practicality of what you are suggesting to the best of your knowledge. Expecting a complete redo is probably not on the cards, for example.

 

[Ironwolf]

It can only be improved by a complete re-do of the core mechanic.
Yes, this is unlikely, so it is unlikely that it can be improved.
The merits and rank 1-5 are just immersion breaking and poorly designed.
A dynamic Bulletin Board would've been much better, along with a more hardcore reputation / ranking system.
OP, I know this is not what you want in this thread, take it as a bump.
I'll watch your thread to see if anyone else has 'alterations or additions' that could possibly improve PP.

 

[FuzzySpider]

Get rid of merit decay, but get rid of the rewards as they are now too.

Give people a Cr reward simply for completing faction missions there and then, alongside the merits. Find another reward for getting more and more merits (those bonuses from the beta for example).

Give people a reason to feel connected with their faction - this is the biggest flaw from the point of view of immersion at the moment. Make the home system of that faction worth visiting for faction members. A 50% reduction in ammo, repair, wear and tear and fuel costs. Have them greet you differently at the stations, a proper and fitting welcome from the faction.

 

[bossbrigand]

The ability to assign yourself as a mercenary or loyalist. Mercenary gets bonuses to credit earnings because that's the key to his heart, but penalties to merit earnings, because you don't want someone who can be bought that easily holding much sway in your faction. Loyalist is the opposite - +merits, -credits. They willingly accept less pay, so they get extra nice treatment.

 

[Rottcodd]

Well. it seems like it is much to easy to oppose the growth of independent powers compared to Empire powers, some balancing maybe?
And powerplay shall really be for open only, if someone is opposing then give us a chanse to defend our power.

 

[Straylight0]

1) Fix bugs in what's there already before doing big new content upgrades
.
2) Don't rush, anyone mature enough to play the game can wait a bit, but would still rather the clock started on a weekday morning than when you get home on Friday looking forward to a game
.
3) In fact, things like the bounty system change or the limpets would be better implemented, discussed and debugged (and rolled back if necessary) one at a time where possible
.
4) Integrate the minor and major factions with the Powerplay in some way that's believable
.
5) Don't penalise people who can't play enormous amounts of hours during the week

 

[B33 ENN]

Like this:

...I think Powerplay has the potential to be something pretty great, and integral to the modern Elite experience, but it all depends on whether Frontier are prepared to listen to the feedback.

For me, I'd have preferred it if they'd made the system of joining a Power more meaningful. As in, take the rank system that Major Factions have (Empire and Feds) and get rid of that.

Now, create the new ranks as part of Powerplay replacing this confusing and volatile rating nonsense. The rank is also something that doesn't have any decay mechanic. It remains at whatever level you achieve, and gets upgraded with your success and productivity over time, but can be subject to demotion should you underperform or fail in missions.

Make it so you progress within your power by being promoted in rank as you do more activities to help achieve its goals, and the longer you are a loyal and trusted part of it. Each rank level you achieve unlocks privileges and bonuses, such as better pay brackets, access to faction specific weapons, faction specific ships, Power related bonues... All that jazz.

Each Power rank, like the Elite ranks, are progressively harder to get, requiring accumulation of more activity credits per level. So casual players will achieve the lower ranks quickly enough, but have to play for the long term to get to the higher ranks. More regular players will get there sooner, just like the Elite or Anaconda grinders do right now, if that's how they choose to play.

However, whatever time you have, and put into the game, is your time, is static, activity based, and doesn't decay.

 

[Vincent Starson]

1) Make participating rewarding. 1,000 credits for 10 tons delivered ~50 ly is a joke. What's more of a joke is that you can only do it every 30 minutes. What's even more of a joke is that you have to pay 100k credits for the privilege of taking 10 more tons earlier than the 30 minutes. I've heard killing Anacondas in CZ's is only 1 merit per kill. That should be X amount of credits and more merits per kill, imo. Right now it doesn't feel rewarding at all. I'm losing millions per hour by doing this instead of trading, so it would be nice if the rewards weren't garbage.

2) Add an adviser for each power that advises clueless players what to do. Each week, update the adviser's goals. As players get used to the system, they won't need to rely on the adviser and will be able to contribute more effectively. For example: Go here, then dock here, then take stuff there. OR Bring fortification supplies here from anywhere. OR Kill bad guys there, turn it in here. Maybe some sort of community goal per power available at the home base?

It's still in it's early stages so I'm still getting a hang of this. Overall it's a nice addition to the game, imo. I look forward to seeing how it plays out over the coming months.

 

[Mengy]

Add a little something for explorers to Power Play, something that will also enhance the overall game too.

Add a new faction to power play, a neutral faction that does not have any home planet nor territory, call it the Explorer's Guild or something. Basically it would be the corporation that runs the cartography centers that are on every station. If you pledge to this faction then you can take missions (randomly generated) to go explore uninhabited systems, both near and far, and very far away. Members would gain ranks and merits by submitting exploration data, and weekly members could "vote" on new uninhabited systems to expand into just like power play pledge members now pick systems to expand into. This would nominate candidate systems to expand civilized space into, which could then create missions to move supplies into those systems to build new space stations, thereby very gradually expanding manned space.

Of course the ten power play factions could eventually expand and take over these new systems as well once they were established....

 

[Straylight0]

This would nominate candidate systems to expand civilized space into, which could then create missions to move supplies into those systems to build new space stations, thereby very gradually expanding manned space.

.
I love this idea! A transcendent faction attempting to leave all the barbarity and conflict behind... bit of a chew to program though... would Yong-Rui go for it? +rep

 

[Krait_79]

This is a thread to find out what additions and/or alterations you think would improve what already exists.

Just saying "The whole thing sucks", or "I don't want this specific thing" or "this mechanic shouldn't behave like it does" is not the point of this thread.

If you are going to contribute, please describe the alterations or additions you wish to make, and why, i.e. how you think it will positively impact the game as a whole. If your suggestion would solve your pet peeve, but screw up the game for the majority of the player base, it's unlikely to be a net benefit.

Also, please consider the practicality of what you are suggesting to the best of your knowledge. Expecting a complete redo is probably not on the cards, for example.

Mercenary options:- You are not aligned to any faction and do not receive any perks. You can do power contracts for credit reward only.

Secondly the head of the power needs to give those that pledged to them a clear direction in what they should be doing. There needs to be reason for action other than a quick merit gain. Right now you pledge to someone and can do what you like, just doesn't feel right like that. Freedom for players needs to be balanced with believability.

Finally no offline merit decay. Merit should decay but the whole system needs a rework. You should not be punished for being a casual player or other situatuons which may be beyond your control.

 

[Matlok]

Whoops, made an own thread for just combat: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=154724&p=2368197#post2368197

 

[Senex VII]

• Much much better documentation and training material, written clearly and unambiguously for all levels of potential players, complete with walk-throughs.
• Publishing these training materials at least a week ahead of release date, and not days after when confusion has already set in.

(Full professional disclosure: I used to be training manager at a hi-tech engineering company.)

 

[Moosegun]

1) Make participating rewarding. 1,000 credits for 10 tons delivered ~50 ly is a joke. What's more of a joke is that you can only do it every 30 minutes. What's even more of a joke is that you have to pay 100k credits for the privilege of taking 10 more tons earlier than the 30 minutes. I've heard killing Anacondas in CZ's is only 1 merit per kill. That should be X amount of credits and more merits per kill, imo. Right now it doesn't feel rewarding at all. I'm losing millions per hour by doing this instead of trading, so it would be nice if the rewards weren't garbage.

Why does everything in this game have to come down to credits per hour, it is a GAME. The idea of PP is to advance your faction and claim the rewards given, if you want to earn credits, go back to trading....

 

[Armour]

The metaphors and terminology of Powerplay are a muddle IMO, that's what I'd change. You've got a thing called Powerplay, that involves the gaining and losing of power - and you base it all on something called "Command Capital"? Why not call it what it is, "Power"?

On a similar note, the "Powers" should really be called "Leaders". That's who we pledge allegiance to. It's their ethos that decides how things will proceed, ultimately. I don't know about how to change the other main terms, I haven't given it enough thought yet.

Rating seems fair enough, but I would probably omit any mention of merits...which might infuriate the lovers of progress bars, but it would allow FDEV to tailor the Rating/Status rungs to suit casual and hardcore players alike. That way, CMDR Dad doesn't feel like they have zero chance of getting that sweet megablaster without getting a visit from social services on the grounds of neglect, and CMDR Nolife with his urine bottle (to reduce the frequency of bathroom breaks) has a bit of a challenge on his cheeto-covered hands.

 

[Suul Vellumcore]

1) Base PP rewards on the advancement/standing of their Power at the end of a cycle; do away with merit/rank system. Keep prep/fort/undermin mechanics to determin standing at the end of a cycle.
2) Use merits as a means only to measure a player's percentage of effort during the cycle in helping to advance his Power's standing.
3) Advancement of a Powers standing at the end of a cycle means a baseline payout to ALL pledges - who have at least achieved a certain minimum of percentage of effort, so as not to allow anybody pledging, doing nothing, and gaining the baseline payout.
4) Based on percentage of effort for the cycle, reward tiered, appropriate bonuses on top of baseline payout.
5) Allow for mercenarys to be able to contract with Powers solely for the purpose of credit accumulation. All mercenarys give up the rights to baseline and bonus rewards given to members upon standing advancement.
6) Proprietary comms for Power pledges to discuss/develop strategy, or perhaps pledge-specific access bulletin boards.
7) Allow players to escort Power Cargo ships (players or NPC) using Wings mechanic. Also, allow players to join in wings (again, players, NPC, or mix) for patrol sorties in rival space (undermine)
8) All the above to focus on the player's feeling of accomplishment, fielty to Power and commeradery, rather than on merit/credit/rank grind/gain.
9) Somebody would need to figure out balanced consequenses of status quo or loss in standing for a Power at the end of a cycle.

 

[Anton Sugar]

Add a little something for explorers to Power Play, something that will also enhance the overall game too.

Add a new faction to power play, a neutral faction that does not have any home planet nor territory, call it the Explorer's Guild or something. Basically it would be the corporation that runs the cartography centers that are on every station. If you pledge to this faction then you can take missions (randomly generated) to go explore uninhabited systems, both near and far, and very far away. Members would gain ranks and merits by submitting exploration data, and weekly members could "vote" on new uninhabited systems to expand into just like power play pledge members now pick systems to expand into. This would nominate candidate systems to expand civilized space into, which could then create missions to move supplies into those systems to build new space stations, thereby very gradually expanding manned space.

Of course the ten power play factions could eventually expand and take over these new systems as well once they were established....

Yes, this would be great!

 

[Iskariot]

Some small PP improvements I would like to see:

Proposal A:
Currently I am transporting corruption reports from controls system A to station B in a preparation system.
In the other direction there is nothing to transport in connection with pp.
Why not make it a two way street?
I'd like to transport collected information from the prep station to the control system.
In the control system they make organized reports out of it and then I bring these back to the preparation system.

Proposal B:
I'd like to feel first hand that there is some opposition to what I am doing.
I want to be intercepted and attacked a few times by opposing forces.
Or someone could offer me a bribe not to deliver the reports.
Stuff like that.

Proposal C:
A bit more integration of PP with the existing game systems would be cool.
This could be achieved by, for example, adding some PP missions to the bulletin board and make them pay out good money and also merits. These missions could be more rare.

Proposal D:
It would also be cool if PP could become a bit more personal. This could be done by something simple as a popup screen after you docked at a station in which you are addressed personally with your commander name to do special/secret missions for your PP master.

Proposal E:
Why not make it possible to view control systems and expansion systems together in one view. Currently you have to select one or the other.

Proposal F:
Give us some feed back when we kill a target in the service of our PP master. I know we do not get bounty money, but the number of earned pp could be displayed where bounty money would be displayed at the top right.

 

[Julio Montega]

The current state of powerplay is very unbalanced.
The means of interaction with a faction are tied to the ethos,
thus making assaulting Expansion areas of Winters for example relative easy merit farms.
If the method is fix set, clearly those powers, whose expansion can only be opposed by stealing cargo
or entering risky "warzones" have an advantage at the expansion area of pp, which seems to be the heart of the whole construct
(fail to expand -> turmoil-> termination.).

This needs some thought and we see if it is shifted on a regular basis in the next cycle.

 

[DuQuesne]

PowerPlay missions available on the bulletin board to add more variety/challenge to the process would be a massive step in the right direction.