The Powerplay discussion thread.

[Herik]

Look at some YouTube videos. It's similar to games with command points an hold. The more system you hold the better your powers rating.

Prepare - Do this action action to prepare a sector for expansion
Expansion - Do this action to take control
Fortify Do this action so it harder to take by other factions once controled.


After a week if the criteria for the system is met for that action the action will take place opening up the other action and change the map. I am also guessing they will start patrolling the system if it is new making smuggling harder.

You can fight rival factions try to take there systems.

And of course you can do pretty much all this in Solo; and pretty much feel secure in any purpose you strive for.

 

[Herik]

Powerplay is something like another game within Elite.
PP Politics has nothing in common with the known politics (major/minor factions) and our options to manipulate them. E.g. The president of the Federation could control an imperial system. It also doesn't have a connection to the mission system or the commodities markets (only in one direction). So you can neither do bulletin board missions for your PP-faction nor can you help them by trading. Just by being the delivery-boy every 30 minutes or by bending to the dark side and killing innocents.

No, PP doesn't seem to have any other benefits for the gameplay success than the weekly cash bonus from the ranking (that won't help you with your elite-ranking). To intensively take part in PP, you need to spend more money than it brings.

So it is interesting, but not really integrated to the game. You can really leave it alone and ignore it, wherever possible^^

Well I like to learn it not because I enjoy it; but so I can do my part (passively) to stymie certain Faction/powers, this may be effective or may not. I look at it in a roleplaying way, I hate politics.

 

[Morne]

Am with hudson, you just go to another powers control system and blow up ships that belong to that power, you should get 15 merits per kill. if you attacked Lavigny-Duvals ships you shouldnt of lost 20 merits, its probally a bug.

 

[FuzzySpider]

I like it from an pure simulation perspective, and suggested something extremely similar prior to Powerplay. One thing that might be tricky for the player, however, is keeping track of the various states of play of all the minor factions in all the systems you might want to visit. At least the "board game" bit lets you see at a glance who is in charge of what and how likely a system is to be flipped. Also, I wonder how intensive in terms of processing and DB queries it would be to generate a real-time faction influence map.

With this system you wouldn't need to be keeping track, as long as the main galaxy map had your factions territories marked (as it does now).

As of now, the board game bit lets you see which systems need fortifying or undermining, but what difference has that made? When I played powerplay one of the systems in my power was fortified 500% more than necessary while others were left desolate. People were just farming merits - at least with this system there would be a point as merits could be another form of payment running concurrently with CR by the powers factions.

 

[Han Brannigan]

T
People want simple and evident effects. Background simulation is anything but that.

This. Ppl where complaining about it.

 

[Deyu]

I'm not currently engaged in PP, but I would play the OP's PP. Have some rep.

 

[Roybe]

The problem with Power Play is the same problem with the OP's post. Power play is not about controlling the local factions...it's about how a larger power would change the way things are done within those systems. Basically, if the OP's idea is followed...no one would be able to change influence within a local system...because as soon as someone started...the locusts would shut it down. Remember, the first commandment of this game is 'Thou shalt not own!' If NPC factions 'owned' a system, you just formalized guild play and control within the game.

Raf's point that these are not connected to the BGS is true at the command and control level...but it does affect markets, player interactions within systems...I know I've traveled to systems to trade and upgrade my weapons..lower my insurance costs, etc.

Power play cannot affect the command and control because of the idea of 'no control'.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

There have been loads of ideas on how to do this that were discussed in beta, this thread in particular gained traction for obvious reasons (that thread should be copy/pasted here as food for thought). But nothing got changed. Perhaps the game as it stands doesn't support it? Perhaps it's too much work to implement such a thing?

Well here is an alternative that might just work, that is definitely possible.

Get rid of the entire structure as it stands now. The tacked on board game, the merits, the command capital, and whatever else is going on. DEFINITELY get rid of the arbitrary "turn based" mechanics where things flip after a week. That's about as organic as a Ford Cortina, and screams "video game!" at my attempts at immersion.

Instead have minor factions affiliate themselves with the powers. So within each system currently within a powers territory have the dominant minor faction "owned" by the major power, depending on the major powers ethos (so for example Archon owns the unfettered powers, Hudson owns corporate and military, Patreus owns military factions etc). If the owned faction is the most dominant in the system then that power controls the system.

Spreading power territory could be handled like this: Have powers also affiliate themselves with the relevant faction on the borders of their space but outside their territory. So for example Archon could "own" the Blue Camorra in a system next door to one in his territory, but that faction should have its initial influence set to 0%. In order for Archon to spread into that system players for that faction should head to the system and start doing bulletin board missions for the Blue Camorra, working for them, aiding them however they can, until they become the dominant force in the system.

If that faction gains the biggest influence in the system the faction then takes over the system. Whatever the time of day or whatever the period of the week. And then the unfettered factions in the system near to that system would fall under control of Archon.

In the event of two powers with a similar ethos having borders you'd create a new faction of the same type (but a different name) which would become rivals in the system, perhaps even spawning CZs.

Advantages:

1. This would be mission based, and thus more fun than running leaflets around.

2. This wouldn't need a whole load of work to set up.

3. This is far more organic than what we have now.

4. It would be difficult for a single player to bring the influence of any minor faction up that fast on their own, thus this would encourage the teamwork that was supposed to be a part of powerplay.

5. It would give people a reason to carefully consider the power they align themselves with (people who want anarchy would have to go with Archon, people looking to spread corporate influence would go with Hudson etc), this would make people more invested in what they were doing rather than just feel like they were chasing a special module.

To be honest, that is exactly how i though it was going to work in the first place. They could still have the current powerplay but tie it together with the background sim. I just don't understand the logic of creating this ccomplex background sim, just for us to totally ignore it with powerplay.

 

[Colonel Kenney]

Example of what I mean..

imagine having everyones stats on the spreadsheet then we could come up with interesting stats going forward.

 

[GluttonyFang]

Uh, yes, you misread my statement.
If english isn't your primary language it's fine, but read it and understand it first.


None, since everybody will have everything anyway ? what it does do, however, is to force PP on everyone playing in open in order just to survive, which I'm pretty sure isn't the game design either.

Hah, I'll spoon-feed on this one, too I guess.

Saying that game designers that designed in a fashion you disagree with has innately low IQ doesn't really fall off the ad hominem scale, simple enough now, perhaps?

Strawman is fun and all, but I don't play with it for no good reason.

Also, why is it that PP players can't get perks/edge for putting in the effort and participating in PP? What kind of equality are you striving for here? The worst kind of equality is inequality.

Also, if players want to survive in Open and not participate in PP, there's this thing called high-wake that FD refuses to take out of the game.

So, what were you saying?

 

[Skuli]

Went on vacation, haven't played since before PowerPlay was released.

I see a lot of posts on reputation decay; have I lost my Federal and Imperial rep gains by not logging in?

Are missions improved for non-powerplay participants?

I think I'm prepared for the bounty hunting/RES/CZ changes, and I've looked over the new ships carefully, so not a lot of surprises there I hope...

 

[xhrit]

A power should not be able to have control over alliance, federation, alliance, independent at the same time. It would incite civil war.

It does. Systems that are controlled or exploited tend to be easier to flip.

People with money are really the only people who can make an impact on anything.

Just like real politics.

 

[Colonel Kenney]

Sarcasm aside. Does that system work? Is it fair? Is it really something we want?

 

[Elgered]

Kind of yeah. But then again many many other chose this game for the Multiplayer MMO experience and right now there is not much of that...

For me that's what Mobios and other PvE groups are for.

I loved playing WoW for years. But I loved PvE and did arena from time to
time, but really disliked PvP realms.

 

[Schmack]

FD should offer "bribes" if their goal is to populate open. This isn't the federal government (though some of you are federation officers no doubt) so bribing people to shift population to other areas is perfectly fine since it's open to anyone to take. There's more money in trading than in exploring on a min/max basis. That doesn't mean FD is bribing players to become traders, or discouraging exploration (though it does serve the same purpose it seems).

I'm ok with bribery. Bribe me. Offer me more Cr to do something I currently don't see as profitable enough to even outfit for it. Change my mind. I dare you.

- - - Updated - - -

You can't really do much unless you can reach everyone. There is a very obvious (and large) disconnect between players on a fundamental level. This forum (and Reddit and no doubt other, smaller communities) only have a very tiny representation of the player base. In order to make any real sense out of Power Play in these terms we need, first and foremost, in game communication channels.

Note: this is tottering precariously on the edge of the Guild Pit as well the Group Abyss.

In terms of PP PvP I think better integration of CQC, or similar, could be made. Power Play is primarily about strategy, what seems to be missing for a lot of people is the finer tactical elements (PvP being the prime example). Maybe there could be some layer of PP that plugs into CQC - PvP with no major (financial) consequences but with an impact on some element of Power Play. Say if there is a contested system you can jump into CQC separate from your main ship (you take over a Power NPC minion sort of thing) to battle it out. The outcome would have a small boost to some PP element e.g. if you win the event it's worth extra fortify or undermine or something. Not sure of the details, but just an idea to throw into the mix.

That comm ability would be ok but most would use it to talk to friends only. If you've ever played console games with sound and comms, you know you hear 12 year old kids cursing and laughing and eating chicken (Leeeeeroy ah Jaaaaankins) and their family talking in the background. So no thanks to any of that.

Wings are/were great. I might try Mobius to see how it works.

 

[DigitalMandalorian]

The biggest problem for me is that there are people that managed to use previous exploits (K-Warrant/C-Scan exploit) to make billions and now they can use that to alter the course of PP.

Also, Arissa is straight overpowered. It is completely unfair that I can't use her bounty bonus, but anyone can use Li Yong-Rui's ship/module discount or Torval's slave discount or Archon's smuggling bonus.

 

[lefty1117]

I agree that you shouldn't be able to fast track the quota. The down side is it makes large trading ships effectively pointless for powerplay, at least at the current quota levels.

 

[CH3WBACCA]

People with the most money should not have the most power. Merit earned based on pure time /effort spent in the game should reflect actual Nomination points and merits. Purchases to speed up allotments should not count toward nomination quanity

You mean the game shouldn't work like real life does? You don't want realism in a space sim?

 

[kirkkh]

It's icing over icing. Maybe one day we'll be able to eat the cake part.

 

[Lucatiel of Mirrah]

The absolute best thing about Powerplay is the emergent gameplay.

A Federal group and an Imperial group both head to the same system, one to expand and the other to stop them. They both meet at the same dock and an epic battle infront of the dock begins ( The station kills about 3 people lol). I receive the call to arms after the station fight, head there immediately and the following occurs. It is this kind of player driven emergent content that Elite needs more of and it just reminded me of how great this game is when everything just works perfectly.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzsrMwM5gYA&feature=youtu.be