The Powerplay discussion thread.

NeilF

NeilF
random_tangent said:
The thing is, my current "in game goal" is to save up for a combat load-out for my Python. I have no desire to trade, I've done a bit of exploration (until I got bored), but got almost no money for it, so combat is generally my preferred profession (yay, alliteration!). Now that RES are fixed, I'll probably go back to a mixture of that, pirate kill missions, and CZ. I was just wondering whether i'd be better off earning 1250 merits a week and working up to that 50M salary instead.

I'm getting to the point where I feel I've seen all ED has to offer for the time being, but I don't want to leave a bare-bones Python sitting in a hanger for when more content is added and I return. I'd rather fit it out now then I have a choice of well kitted out ships to choose from. I imagine the bounties aren't too much of a problem outside of the system being undermined, given the new bounty system?
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Join the club. A month or so ago, I was in a RES and the bubble quite literally burst for me. As yet another Wanted flew into the area for no other reason than to commit suicide so I could earn CR, my brain gave up. I'd had enough!

I've done some exploration, but it's all so paper thin that I can't bring myself to do anymore until more content is added. And the question, will more content ever be added now? Will we see lightening storms or aurora borealis on planets? Or more strange phenomena to witness/discover? I'm beginning to fear not, and likewise the grind gameplay will similarly not progress to anything more intelligent.

Military Strike Zones have brought some enjoyment back into the game for me as you can pretty much always find another CMDR to fight there. But that's about it.


Powerplay to me has just taken the grind mentality of the game and seemingly (worryingly) embraced it. The fact people are working out how they can *grind* away for x points each week just really worrys me when absolutely no depth has been added to add more fun and reward skill. Generally people aren't really doing any of this for the supposed tactical Power battle going on behind the scenes, but instead just as another grind mechanic (for CR) :(
 
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Dbrn47

Dbrn47
NeilF said:
Join the club. A month or so ago, I was in a RES and the bubble quite literally burst for me. As yet another Wanted flew into the area for no other reason than to commit suicide so I could earn CR, my brain gave up. I'd had enough!

I've done some exploration, but it's all so paper thin that I can't bring myself to do anymore until more content is added. And the question, will more content ever be added now? Will we see lightening storms or aurora borealis on planets? Or more strange phenomena to witness/discover? I'm beginning to fear not, and likewise the grind gameplay will similarly not progress to anything more intelligent.

Military Strike Zones have brought some enjoyment back into the game for me as you can pretty much always find another CMDR to fight there. But that's about it.


Powerplay to me has just taken the grind mentality of the game and seemingly (worryingly) embraced it. The fact people are working out how they can *grind* away for x points each week just really worrys me when absolutely no depth has been added to add more fun and reward skill. Generally people aren't really doing any of this for the supposed tactical Power battle going on behind the scenes, but instead just as another grind mechanic (for CR) :(
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FD must be really sad that a lot of people around here don't find value in the strategic layer they added. I found it and I really enjoy it.. There are a lot of opportunities for player interaction and are actually quite necessary for the progression and fall of powers. Great credit earning potential as well. It's too bad the full potential may never be realized since people just want to keep griping about and focusing on the grind.
 

[HJ]-RedRaven

[HJ]-RedRaven
Maxulic said:
Seems to me that a bunch of people with absolutely zero sense of strategy are playing this game... It's not much an issue of numbers but the fact that people have no clue what to do...

I just came back yesterday to try out this new patch, I guess there is no point since people are beyond clueless.
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Not all of us - I'd be in there with you (but I'm not pledged to your power) :D

If the systems could be sorted by "% to beat opposition etc", it'd be easier for the clueless masses to get an idea of where to go for maximum effect.
Or units i.e. how many tons of garrison supplies, tons of intel etc... ships to destroy in Military Strike zones etc - whatever is applicable to that system.
 

Sabalias

Sabalias
Dbrn47 said:
FD must be really sad that a lot of people around here don't find value in the strategic layer they added. I found it and I really enjoy it.. There are a lot of opportunities for player interaction and are actually quite necessary for the progression and fall of powers. Great credit earning potential as well. It's too bad the full potential may never be realized since people just want to keep griping about and focusing on the grind.
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Perhaps the problem for me is that I'm not into strategy type games (Risk) or politics, so there isn't the enjoyment to outweigh the perceived grind.
 

Mack Winston

Mack Winston
Sabalias said:
Perhaps the problem for me is that I'm not into strategy type games (Risk) or politics, so there isn't the enjoyment to outweigh the perceived grind.
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Don't do Power Play then.

Think of it this way: Power Play adds a new profession to the existing ones (the existing ones, trading, pirate, bounty hunter, miner etc). You can take it or leave it. If the strategy part of it doesn't interest you, don't do it. It hasn't made the other things in Elite cease to exist.
 

NeilF

NeilF
Dbrn47 said:
FD must be really sad that a lot of people around here don't find value in the strategic layer they added. I found it and I really enjoy it..
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I'm glad you're enjoying it.

For me what colour blob a system belongs to has no significance really. At the end of the day my main importance is the amount of enjoyment and interest I can get from the game while flying around doing stuff. Doing the same thing over and over and over, especially when it's not challenging, doesn't tick that box. Hence I'm hoping FD can add more depth/intelligence to their gameplay (eg: missions). Simply finding new ways to employ and reward the same grind really worries me!

Dbrn47 said:
Great credit earning potential as well. It's too bad the full potential may never be realized since people just want to keep griping about and focusing on the grind.
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But there we have it... To get your 50m a week, people actively have to go and *grind*. They will most likely go off and ship stuff around over and over and over, or go and blow up ships in Controlled systems over and over and over, knowing it's basically mindless, accepting its grindy gameplay.

Is it too much to instead expect something deeper and more interesting than this? Why has so much effort gone into creating yet another system to promote and reward grind?

And then consider that during these people's dedicated grinding, they are almost certainly ducking away from ONLINE mode to do it; Why make things harder for themselves? So how does this help the "community" aspect of the game by actively rewarding people from working away from it?


Would I like to get 50mCR a week? Of course... Could I bring myself to do the *grind* necessary to get it? Not a hope! Not sure whether to congratulate or feel sorry for those that can TBH.

And what would be ironic is if no one could be bothered to grind enough to earn that 50m... to then see FD lower the bar. Why are FD so fixated on these simplistic grind mechanics? Where's the deeper more rewarding stuff we all hoped for? My worry is we'll never see it while FD thing they can simply keep us busy (happy?) with simple grind mini-games.
 
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Sabalias

Sabalias
winston said:
Don't do Power Play then.

Think of it this way: Power Play adds a new profession to the existing ones (the existing ones, trading, pirate, bounty hunter, miner etc). You can take it or leave it. If the strategy part of it doesn't interest you, don't do it. It hasn't made the other things in Elite cease to exist.
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You're right of course, I can chose not to do PP (and indeed have chosen not to play that part of the game because of my preferences and very limited time available); however, I have to confess that the "don't do PowerPlay" argument is beginning to wear a bit thin. Is it really good practice to issue a huge update that only appeals to a portion of the player base (acknowledging that, for many, PowerPlay is the panacea for the game)? If it had been a pay for DLC I wouldn't have bought it and I find myself wondering how many people feel the same (quite a large number I would think from the voices on he forum). My own opinion tallies with many others in that the time developing PP would have been better spent providing depth and wonder instead of breadth.....

Sabalias
 
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jgm

jgm
From the complete lack of response it appears that no-one knows what overheads are, where they come from and how they impact the game. Let's just hope they aren't important.
 

NeilF

NeilF
BTW, let's quantify the gameplay being promoted/endorsed by Powerplay for those wishing to use if for earning credits. If a player wishes to reach level 5, a logical approach might be to turn in 4000 points for 4 weeks... (I think this is right?)

Let's assume you take that "job" on using the most effective means (I believe) of destroying another Power's ships at a controlled system (for which you get 15 points per ship).

4000/15=267 kills required
267/7=38(ish) kills per day
assuming each ship takes you 2 minutes to track, interdict and destroy? = 76mins. I'd suggest it will take longer (even taking wings into account)!

(Note: those 267 kills will cost you over 1.6mCR in bounties per week)

So FD would like you do spend an hour and a quarter every day of every week for a month, dedicated to earning PP points, during which you will dedicate yourself to interdicting typically poorly defended ships who will likely not even make a dent on your shields, yet alone offer any reasonably challenge.

Yes, after this effort, you will be rewarded with 50mCR, and from then on, as long as you turn in 1250PP a week, you'll continue to get 50m per week.

But really? Is this the gameplay we want to be rewarded for playing? Is this the pinacle of gameplay mechanics in 2015? Wouldn't you rather get a fraction of those CR but instead be doing more interesting activities/missions based more on intelligence, variety and skill, rather than simply seeing how much repetition you can endure?


Note: Over the course of a month you've spent about 35hrs to get your 50mCR (& accrued 6+mCR in bounties). If you have a sizable vessel already, you'll be able to earn 3-5 million an hour via trading. So you could have earned 100mCR for example.
 
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Sabalias

Sabalias
NeilF said:
But really? Is this the gameplay we want to be rewarded for playing? Is this the pinacle of gameplay mechanics in 2015? Wouldn't you rather get a fraction of those CR but instead be doing more interesting activities/missions based more on intelligence, variety and skill, rather than simply seeing how much repetition you can endure?
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Yes please - what is this game that you speak of? ;) [duck and cover]
 

jgm

jgm
Cmdr NXS Tripp said:
Since the distance from the HQ seems to be a factor in the CC generated how exactly does that one liner explain the question?

Or is the distance shown not calculated but is left for us to figure out on our own?
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Distance from HQ determines the upkeep cost. I'm sure there's some sort of exponential formula for it but it's roughly:

  • <31.6ly - 21cc
  • <44.5ly - 22cc
  • <54.7ly - 23cc
  • <63.2ly - 24cc
  • <70.7ly - 25cc
  • <77.4ly - 26cc
  • <83.6ly - 27cc
  • <89.4ly - 28cc

And so on up to the maximum distance you appear to be able to expand to, 140ly from your capital, at 40cc.
 

random_tangent

R
NeilF said:
Join the club. A month or so ago, I was in a RES and the bubble quite literally burst for me. As yet another Wanted flew into the area for no other reason than to commit suicide so I could earn CR, my brain gave up. I'd had enough!

I've done some exploration, but it's all so paper thin that I can't bring myself to do anymore until more content is added. And the question, will more content ever be added now? Will we see lightening storms or aurora borealis on planets? Or more strange phenomena to witness/discover? I'm beginning to fear not, and likewise the grind gameplay will similarly not progress to anything more intelligent.

Military Strike Zones have brought some enjoyment back into the game for me as you can pretty much always find another CMDR to fight there. But that's about it.


Powerplay to me has just taken the grind mentality of the game and seemingly (worryingly) embraced it. The fact people are working out how they can *grind* away for x points each week just really worrys me when absolutely no depth has been added to add more fun and reward skill. Generally people aren't really doing any of this for the supposed tactical Power battle going on behind the scenes, but instead just as another grind mechanic (for CR) :(
Click to expand...

I had a similar experience with Eve back in the day. One day I just asked myself: why? Why am I spending all day every day mining to get a battleship? What am I going to do with it when I get it?

I agree on all points really. I've just narrowed my objectives down to "gear up" before I move on for a bit. I suppose I've reached the point where I hope ED grows into the great game it could be, but I've accepted that there are no guarantees.

I know we've chatted at length about exploration elsewhere, but it really is the best exemplar of what's wrong for me. The greatest irony is that in the profession of exploration, there is almost NOTHING to discover. There is nothing unusual or unpredictable out there, unless your concept of discovery encompasses "planets with slightly out of the ordinary properties" - i.e. a larger-than-average water world. There is nothing dynamic or eventful, nothing mysterious or inexplicable. And on top of that, there is no game-play. Just point my ship at something, get close enough and wait.

There is an overwhelming lack of content in ED. There are a series of self-contained, simplistic game-play choices at the moment, which feel like place-holders. In my humble opinion, interesting content is long long overdue. That FD are investing development resource on things like PP when the core game has so little meat on the bones is very troubling. The simplest explanation is usually the most likely: they don't plan to flesh out the core game significantly. If they did, how could they prioritise content like PP over it? It's like buying a football before you've planted the grass for the pitch. Sure, we can play headers and vollies against that brick wall over there, but we can't play a real game until the pitch is laid. We can't get the most out of the ball til then. We'd rather you have spent the last 3 months sorting out the turf, then whilst we're running around on it, getting used to it and making up our own games like tig, spend the next 3 months finely crafting the perfect ball for our first game.
 

Cmdr NXS Tripp

Cmdr NXS Tripp
jgm said:
Distance from HQ determines the upkeep cost. I'm sure there's some sort of exponential formula for it but it's roughly:

  • <31.6ly - 21cc
  • <44.5ly - 22cc
  • <54.7ly - 23cc
  • <63.2ly - 24cc
  • <70.7ly - 25cc
  • <77.4ly - 26cc
  • <83.6ly - 27cc
  • <89.4ly - 28cc

And so on up to the maximum distance you appear to be able to expand to, 140ly from your capital, at 40cc.
Click to expand...

So is that figured into the upkeep cost or do we need to keep this chart?
 

Snarfbuckle

S
Powerplay - Preparation VS Fortification neeed Improvement

One thing that I soon found out in PP is that it's far easier and less time consuming to prepare a system for takeover than it is to keep it.

I think this should be reversed or at least values changed a lot.

When we can easily see how systems have a few thousand percent preparation points all over the sector the aproximately 10 owned system a side might have only have a few hundred percent at most in fortification - while one or two systems are overfortified.

One factor is that for some reason we have to go to THE HQ of our faction to even find supplies to the troops on the frontline.

The other factor is that preparation supplies are abundant in each owned system and easily picked up.

The third factor is that both of them are locked to the same 30 minute timer.

And fourth, even if we prepare 10 systems we can only take over up to 3.

This needs to change because I cant really see much of a conflict or civil war in any system.

ARISSA Proposed Change Example
1. Supplies are ferried from any OWNED system
2. Corruption reports are available at HQ

Might also be needed to raise the bar for preparation and fortification requirements across the board because I can hardly see much threat to owned systems.

Also, instead of only 3 systems targeted you have 3 MAIN targets and ALL other systems that are eligible for takeover basically go into a civil war footing.

After all, we have two powerful factions who stir up trouble within the system and the locals might not LIKE that.

Also, systems who are eligible for takeover should have NPC faction fleets roaming around in the system regardless of voting for 10 systems if there are 40 systems ready to take over.

It would also open up for players to strike out on their own with friends and try to take over a system deep within enemy lines.
 
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