The Powerplay discussion thread.

[Cadoc]

I'm more of a wait and see type. I think there are things afoot that players haven't fully grasped yet... especially relating to the so-called "Empire bias"... i'm convinced there is something deliberate with that, and its going to reveal itself in the coming months, either through story or through the mechanics of having the empire player base split between them.

This "so called Empire bias" has been going on since launch. At this point nothing they could have possibly planned justifies it.

Not necessarily. We are empire first faction second, and there is good communication between the factions so we dont end up going for the same thing (happened in cycle 3, but we learnt from that). The key driver at the moment is some powers are over stretching, so a period of consolidation will be called for. A system may also be controlled by one faction and yet still have allegiance to another. So the future (at the moment) is still bright with a lot of not knowing. Also the handouts will occur this cycle, so a lot of people may grab their freebie and defect to another power.

It's easy to be "Empire first faction second" when the game mechanics themselves discourage conflict between Imperial Powers. I'd bet you a thousand tons of palladium that you would see very significant opposition and undermining between the Imperial Powers the moment it would make sense for merit-farming. The lore in this game is very, very shallow and scarce even by online game standards. Give players an incentive to disregard the lore - like, indeed, Imperial players deciding the storyline about Imperial strife and in-lore peace between Empire and Federation means nothing because merits - and they won't give a single crap about factions or Powers or lore and they'll go for what's profitable.

 

[Ben Ryder]

The number of Utopian's has roughly doubled in the last week, using the reddit figures as a guide.

 

[Cadoc]

The number of Utopian's has roughly doubled in the last week, using the reddit figures as a guide.

Ha ha, I wish! I don't see us getting any significant increase in numbers until FD rebalances perks and bonuses... and I'm starting to wonder if that will ever happen.

 

[Herik]

I saw a post showing David Braben with a Empire coffee cup or something and a comical post about him being a Empire fan, and I can't help but going back to that when I look at the power's page, when I see 4 Empire factions, the way the system is. I cannot imagine this being an accident.

Imagine the story writers, developers, and David Braben all at a conference table together discussing Powerplay, someone stands up and says there are going to be 4 empire factions all clustered together, we're going to put 2 beautiful women leading 2 of the powers, in strategically the best place, then the federation is going to have only 2 powers sandwiched between the Alliance and Empire. And after that horrible idea nobody says a thing, and lets it FD invest tens of thousands into this system.

You open up the map, and it looks like Germany(Federation) world war 2 vs Russia(the empire) and England, Canada and every other country fighting Germany representing every other faction, it's terrible, no other faction can touch the Empire so everyone just es on the Federation.

I feel like this has to be part of their plan and there is something in store but I need to know if I should even bother to keep trying to support a faction that's doomed.

Perhaps Thargoids will begin slipping in to 'Empire' space.

 

[Whiterose]

The future is bright and bathed in fire.
The future is the glorious Empire.

 

[smiths121]

Hi All,

As a Fed supporter Hudson leaves me cold, in fact I do not have the vocabulary to describe my hatred of Hudson and not be banned from this forum. Anyone with the catch phrase "we did not fire the first shot, but we will fire the last shot", deserves to go down in fire, so part of me hopes he gets taken out by the Empire factions. Alas that would lead to the collapse of the Fed which would be rubbish!

I would like to join Winters but she is the other side of the power map to me, given the location of my home systems, an empire power expanding towards them, pledging just increases the chances of people shooting at me with no real safe zone (after the empire power expands into my home turf). At the moment my theory is to become a democratic freedom fighter (or terrorist depending on how you have pledged), that at least give me some fun out of powerplay. Curiously the rest of my group think I am bonkers, they are busy maximising income, and will either ignore powerplay or move when the empire power arrives.

I do think the Empire needs more powers than the Feds, the political system lends itself to more powers, there are more players supporting the Empire (this was evident at Lugh/Khaka community goals as well). To discourage them from interfering with each other seems a little daft given the advantage of more factions give more expansion possibility, this is probably my main gripe.

I think PP has more balancing to go, and I even think going forward that PP awards will change as the back story develops, so I am some what optimistic for PP, but while Hudson is around, and with the current balacing it is not for me, and actually is starting to interfere with my game.

Simon

Simon

 

[Gormadoc]

Interresting reading

How do you get the end of turn results

Or are you taking it from ingame 2 minutes to closing time?

 

[Cadoc]

Interresting reading

How do you get the end of turn results

Or are you taking it from ingame 2 minutes to closing time?

I collected the results between midnight and 2 AM BST on the night of Wednesday/Thursday. I did mention in the post that the figures might be a bit inaccurate because of that, as players surely do some last-minute pushes.

 

[bend_r]

Why would I even want to stay at rank 4 (PowerPlay)

Greetings Commanders,

I was sick in bed for a couple of days, including over the weekend. I'm pledged to Arissa and have been at Rank 4 the last two rounds.

Last evening it became clear to me I was not going to reach Rank 4 again this round. First I though 'well, that sucks'. But after a quick round of bounty hunting in a res with my clipper
it became clear that the 5 million credits will not be missed, and as you get the weapon unlocks at rank 3 I can casually stay at rank 3 and leave it at that.

I have yet to find out what the 'nominations' are for, anyway. Usually by the time I get to use them, they have so little meaning I can just as well forget they exist.

see you all out there,

Commander Benderson

 

[Jericho]

Making PowerPlay More Accessible.

As it is currently implemented, PowerPlay is either In or Out, Hostile or Not.
You are essentially signing up as a regular soldier in their crusade.
For me this is a problem. I am a Mercenary, and my commitment is occasional, but its still there just not 100% of the time.

My suggestion is that CMDRs are able to lower (or Hide) their Power’s flag without abandoning their pledged Power.
I am suggesting allowing for the existence of Privateers.

Obviously, while their flag is lowered they can’t gain Merits for a Power, but they are also not flagged as Hostile while in other’s territories.

In order to deactivate/reactivate the Pledge the Privateer has to visit a control system and renew the mission.
The decay remains the same, even while the flag is removed, and really nothing is lost from the real diehards because they’re simply accruing more merits and ranking faster anyway because eof their level of dedication.

This constant Hostile marker is the major detail that is preventing me (and I suspect many others) from participating in PowerPlay.


About Privateers, from Wiki:
"A privateer (sometimes called corsair or buccaneer) was a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign vessels during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having vessels be commissioned into regular service as warships. The crew of a privateer might be treated as prisoners of war by the enemy country if captured.

Historically, the distinction between a privateer and a pirate has been subjective, often depending on the source as to which label was correct in a particular circumstance.[1] The actual work of a pirate and a privateer is generally the same (raiding and plundering ships); it is, therefore, the authorization and perceived legality of the actions that form the distinction. At various times, governments indiscriminately granted authorization for privateering to a variety of ships, so much so that would-be pirates could easily operate under a veil of legitimacy.

During Queen Elizabeth's reign, she "encouraged the development of this supplementary navy."[7] Over the course of her rule, she had "allowed Anglo-Spanish relations to deteriorate" to the point where one could argue that a war with the Spanish was inevitable.[8] By using privateers, if the Spanish were to take offense at the plundering of their ships, Queen Elizabeth could always deny she had anything to do with the actions of such independents. "
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privateer

Historically speaking Privateers were motivated by a mix of loyalty as well as monetary gain....


Thoughts?

Suggestions?

 

[Hanako Seishin]

Yeah, when Antal's CG started, at first I thought about taking part, but then realized I'll probably just get shot for being 'hostile'even if I actually mean good for them.
Then again, it is said no one can serve two masters.

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

The "problem" with E: D is that you must find a way to play your own style while setting your expectations in terms of reward.

I find trading (nearly 5000 cr/ton/journey is the best I could find lately) and RES bounty farming (around 2 millions per hour) repetitive, unrealistic (cm'on, one single dude, without any superpower, massacring Anacondas one after the other?) and boring.

I never go for the easy way, I never grind the easy profit. That's why I fly some Cobras, configured for specific tasks and never trade or bounty hunt outside of CGs. Oh and I always play open mode of course.

5 millions weekly reward at rank 4 is fine to me. Now, if only there could be anything else than undermining (at 15 merits per power ship kill) worth doing to get there, that would be great.

 

[Elrose Rishworthy]

Powerplay newbie

Hi people

I have pledge allegiance to one of the powerplay leaders but unfortunately I'm surrounded by independent and federation systems, Im running out of fuel and I'm too scared to fuel up in a hostile system in case my ship get destroyed. I have found my leaders control area on the galaxy map but its so far away. Any help would be great. thank you

 

[Mr_Zeno]

You can still stop at stations and refuel regardless of your faction, just make sure you're not wanted by the group controling the station. Look at the system map and click on a station, it will tell you if you are wanted. If not wanted the station it is safe to use.

 

[Elrose Rishworthy]

Thanks, I am still gonna have to spend ages travelling to my leaders area. I find the galaxy map hard to use as a lot of systems higher up or lower down from where you are you cant click on, well I can't

 

[CMDR Beltane]

Would support that idea. Either that or FD developes a more believable mechanic where actual events determine the relationship between factions. The way it is now is a bit weird in my opinion.

 

[Mr_Zeno]

Use the course plotter, input your destination and set it to fastest or most economical route. If it shows a dotted line along the path then you need to refuel before you get to that point.

 

[Ben Ryder]

As it is currently implemented, PowerPlay is either In or Out, Hostile or Not.
For me this is a problem. I am a Mercenary, and my commitment is occasional, but its still there just not 100% of the time.

My suggestion is that CMDRs are able to lower (or Hide) their Power’s flag without abandoning their pledged Power. Obviously, while their flag is lowered they can’t gain Merits for a Power, but they are also not flagged as Hostile while in other’s territories.

In order to reactivate the Pledge the Merc has to visit a control system and renew the mission.
The decay remains the same, even while the flag is removed, and really nothing is lost from the real diehards because they’re simply accruing more merits and ranking faster anyway because eof their level of dedication.

This constant Hostile marker is the one thing that is preventing me (and I suspect many others) from joining PowerPlay.

Thoughts?

Suggestions?

"As it is currently implemented, PowerPlay is either In or Out, Hostile or Not. " Its not the case.

Power Play - HOSTILE Explained and some other myths


https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=159940&highlight=myths

I like your suggestion but it just does not seem to fit with Pledging. I Pledge allegiance to Jeff Jeffity Jeff Jeff unless someone else is around.

 

[Elrose Rishworthy]

Ill have a go at all that. Thanks for the input, never really played space sim before but its so addictive and immersive

 

[dead_rock]

+1 to OP

I agree that being hostile to most of the galaxy is what absolutely keeps me away from Power Play.

The whole thing does not make any sense to me but your idea would at least participate me for the hell of it...