Finally an answer. I hope they either set the limit to something big like 200+ or no limit at all for deep space instances. I would still feed bound by an artificial limit. 500 tons isn't going to really screw up anyone's instance in deep space.
The Powerplay discussion thread.
- Thread starter Matt
- Start date
InMemoriamSirocco
Banned
If there really is a way to earn a steady income of 50 million credits a week without doing combat, me and my trusty Clipper will be at the Princess' service once I come back from my exploration voyage.
I hear what you're saying Neil, and all I can say is to repeat that I found the base concept so unappealing that I didn't even bother trying it. So thanks for confirming my suspicions...
But was it wasted effort by FDev?
I suspect not, as I suspect (and I've absolutely zero evidence) that PP is at least in part a manifestation of their reworking of how missions are controlled. As such, PP is just one aspect of this stepping-stone, with more to come.
Well, that's what I choose to believe, or if you prefer, hope.
Overall, since v1.3 I have found that space now feels much more alive, in and of itself. I can't put my finger on 'why', but for me it does, and this is a good thing.
Is there room for improvement, of course, is ED 'fundamentally broken' (by v1.3, or at base) of course not. (appreciate that you weren't saying that...)
Happy daze
^^ Agree with Henry 100%. I have played PP now for 2 days for a few hours a day (well Sunday played it for about 8 hours...lol). While in its current state it is a bit disorganized and very grindy, I do see it setting a very good foundational framework for something the devs can do great things with (but will they).
Two things I wish doing missions would do....
1) Pay more. Im loosing money doing missions, but make up for it running a trade run between PP allocations.
2) GIVE FACTION REP. If Im flying missions for the Empire...why wouldn't it give rep? Add that to the fact that Im already grinding for PP merits.... then I have to grind for Rep.... ughhh.
On a system by system basis I really don't care which colour blob (Power) it belongs too. And there lies the fundamental problem I guess for me.
Add to that the lack luster game play - just the same grind mechanics repackaged up with a progress bar - with the fact really (for most people) unless they grind their little hearts out, it will also lose them CR, I just see nothing to really inspire me about Power Play.
My only hope is in the coming months we'll actually see intelligent missions with more depth/variety that pit Powers against each other based on skill rather than who mindlessly grind the most. I'm beginning to fear FD are in love with grind though
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^^^^^All of this^^^^^On a system by system basis I really don't care which colour blob (Power) it belongs too. And there lies the fundamental problem I guess for me.
Add to that the lack luster game play - just the same grind mechanics repackaged up with a progress bar - with the fact really (for most people) unless they grind their little hearts out, it will also lose them CR, I just see nothing to really inspire me about Power Play.
My only hope is in the coming months we'll actually see intelligent missions with more depth/variety that pit Powers against each other based on skill rather than who mindlessly grind the most. I'm beginning to fear FD are in love with grind though
General question then - if you haven't got the money to spare how long does it take to get anywhere in PP? I ask because I get about 6 hours game play per week (at an absolute max) and I don't think that's enough to be able to get anywhere with PP - unless I'm going for the slow approach, in which case I'd rather be exploring (which is not benefitted by PP at all as far as I can see).
Sabalias
Powerplay - Comparing player activity across Powers
CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S THREAD
I've been trying lately to estimate the number of players supporting each Power by eyeballing the amount of Preparation, Expansion, Fortification, Undermining and Opposition done. Today I've collected the data and I think we can make some general estimations and assumptions based on those numbers. Update: here's the improved document courtesy of patherjd42 on /r/EliteDangerous . It's nothing fancy, but it should allow you to compare the absolute values across Powers without the tedious manual process of checking them one by one. A few notes before I try some analysis:
ANALYSIS
GUESSES AND ASSUMPTIONS
This section is just me pulling stuff out of my ass based on imperfect data. I just feel like sharing my opinions here and you can't stop me. Just skip this if you don't care.
CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S THREAD
I've been trying lately to estimate the number of players supporting each Power by eyeballing the amount of Preparation, Expansion, Fortification, Undermining and Opposition done. Today I've collected the data and I think we can make some general estimations and assumptions based on those numbers. Update: here's the improved document courtesy of patherjd42 on /r/EliteDangerous . It's nothing fancy, but it should allow you to compare the absolute values across Powers without the tedious manual process of checking them one by one. A few notes before I try some analysis:
- This is a very imperfect method of estimating player counts across Powers. There are many variables which distort the numbers. Some Powers, like Hudson, have "worse" methods of Preparation than other, bringing their values down. Some Powers might have more active players, while others might have more newbies and casual players. Powers with a higher proportion of PvPers in their ranks probably see numbers lower than their player count would warrant, if those PvPers focus on pew pewing other players rather than increasing Preparation, Fortification etc.
- Ideally this data would be collected on Wednesday evening. Time constraints make that impossible for me. Last-minute snipes and pushes, whether through legitimate tactics or 5th columning, might distort these numbers. However, I believe this is unlikely to have major impact on the data, and all Powers might attempt such last minute efforts equally.
- The data for Pranav Antal this week is mostly trash. The Power's only Expansion system has been bugged since Thursday. As such, the Expansion and Opposition numbers for Antal are lower than normal, and the other values *might* be higher, as players who normally would focus on Expansion instead do other things.
- In all cases, absolute values are used, not percentages. 'Opposition' in each table refers to effort made to stop that Power's Expansion. Similarly, the Undermining value refers to undermining done *to* that Power, not *by* it - obviously, since we can't know how much Undermining or Opposition the members of a given Power have done.
ANALYSIS
- As expected, Federation Powers see the bulk of the Opposition in the game, but the numbers are simply amazing. **Winters has seen more Opposition than all non-Federation Powers put together.** Hudson isn't far behind. Imperial Powers, with the exception of Torval, essentially see no Opposition. The only Independent Power to see any real Opposition is Sirius Gov.
- Undermining is more evenly spread, but some trends hold true. Federation still receives much more Undermining than non-Federal Powers. Hudson sees more undermining than all non-Federation Powers put together. Proportionally, Archon Delaine receives the most Undermining of any Power. There is very little Undermining done in Imperial systems, with the exception of Patreus space. Aisling in particular is subject to essentially no Undermining.
- Fortification values seem mostly related to the number of systems a Power holds, more than anything. Most people seem to have figured out that fortifying systems beyond 100% is useless. There are two exceptions to this rule. One, every single Power seems to have one system that's massively over-fortified, likely just a by-product of merit farming. Two, Hudson supporters waste massive amounts of work over-fortifying their systems, whether through lack of game knowledge, not caring or over-reaction to the massive amounts of Undermining (likely some combination of the three).
- Expansion seems to be quite evenly distributed. There's a trend to over-focus on Expansion across most Powers - as I'm writing this, Arissa has one system at over 6500% expansion to 16% opposition. Hudson, Arissa, Winters, Aisling and Mahon all see very similar values here.
- Aisling dominates Preparation so hard it's not even funny. I've checked her top systems and she faces absolutely 0 competition there as well. I'm not sure what to read out of those values, other than Arissa and Aisling seem to have either *lots* of supporters or supporters with very, very deep pockets.
- Federation Powers are the only ones even remotely at risk of their Expansions failing. Winters is especially vulnerable. It's extremely any other Power will have any of their Expansions not succeed any time soon, unless some concentrated effort is made. I'm not counting Pranav Antal since, again, bugged system.
GUESSES AND ASSUMPTIONS
This section is just me pulling stuff out of my ass based on imperfect data. I just feel like sharing my opinions here and you can't stop me. Just skip this if you don't care.
- Major Faction imbalance is pretty crazy right now. Imperial Powers likely have at least twice the combined number of supporters of Federal Powers. Mahon, the lone Alliance Power, is even further behind. Out of the Independents, Archon is doing surprisingly well, especially given their preoccupation with other activities at the moment, and Sirius should do well, having been given a very easy starting position. Pranav Antal is, as expected, much smaller than any other faction. In fact, there's probably player groups in the Empire larger than the entirety of Utopia.
- Power ranks will change, and change a lot. Arissa and Aisling will almost certainly end up #1 and #2, likely in that order. Hudson might cling on to #3 in the short to medium term, but will fall lower than that long-term. Winters will almost certainly end up in the bottom 5, and very likely in the bottom 3. Li Yong-Rui will certainly jump up at least a rank long-term, given his easy, unopposed access to high-CC systems.
- Imperial Powers without a doubt benefit immeasurably by having the Empire split into 4 Powers, as long as Undermining Powers of the same major faction is extremely unattractive. In general, most Powers seem to be in very little risk from rivals at this point.
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Excellent work commander and thanks for your hard work in putting this together. It confirms my thoughts that the federation is seriously under threat from the empire.
We did it guys... FD heard us!
Thank you all for who stuck with me since the first thread and those that joined me in this thread, I can finally stop being sober and go fill my stomach with rum!
*Random colleague tells me I have to update the Archon Delaine Power Play Discussion Thread*
#$^@$%@#%@$#@
;-;
But on a serious note, thank you all for contributing and helping us to make this happen. Regardless of the incoming fix's competence, we have FD's attention on the issue now.
Thank you all for who stuck with me since the first thread and those that joined me in this thread, I can finally stop being sober and go fill my stomach with rum!
*Random colleague tells me I have to update the Archon Delaine Power Play Discussion Thread*
#$^@$%@#%@$#@
;-;
But on a serious note, thank you all for contributing and helping us to make this happen. Regardless of the incoming fix's competence, we have FD's attention on the issue now.
Now all we can do is hope it doesn't take til 1.4 for them to sort it out.
Grinders transporting stuff to closest system. Even if its unprofitable for power, they don't care! They just want these SHIELDS!
Guilty as charged.
This is what I want to say as well. People are doing it in every faction. There's a lot of lazy players that are just doing what was close to them.
as a Hudson supporter i approve that message.. we are getting slapped from every other faction in each and every way. even from Winters supporters..Our Preparations get flipped, our expansions 50% fail and we get undermined on every single system we control. Jeez, now i know what a piñata feels like...
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To be fair, not even us Imperials like Patreus.
They will likely pop over to Arissa for the Rail Gun and bounty bonuses, since they'll likely go good with the shield and will be close by.
