Regarding the OP.. I have to agree that the destruction of an interdicting enemy agent should be worth something. Let's reverse the tables... If I am an enemy agent undermining a system, flying around, racking up bounties for the murder of Kumo crew (cry pardon, pirate-folken) and someone were to destroy me.. they would at the very least find a nice sizable bounty on me in the system that I've been ravaging. If enemy agents aren't worth merits they should at least generate that bounty income when they interdict me and I blow 'em outta the vacuum of space.
Powerplay Why isn't defeating a PP opponent who interdict a you worth a merit?
- Thread starter Rashhaverak
- Start date
Giving a bounty between 1k-350k (depending of the ship type and rank, like for any NPC wanted ships), on the Power agent ships would be fair...very easy to implement and, as usual, unlikely to happen.
Half the PP players are already Arissa because she gets bonuses on two of the most popular activities and best BB rewarded missions in the game, that is Combat and Smuggling when she has plentiful access to Slaves. That's the reason, not the merit reward balance.
Undermining and Expansion are well rewarded, fortification is not, is a chore, can involve players waiting for stocks to supply (usually avoided by doing a local mission) so why not let players get some extra merit candy while they wait, variety in options is always good.
Killing those in a Home system won't affect PP (it can't), only give players something to do while they wait for the next batch to drop because not everyone can afford to throw money at it. The only current alternative is to bb mission and if I trade more fish I will probably cry.
Any of these kills in a Control System however, should count towards PP by way of Fortification as that's pretty much what you're doing, taking out the trash and 5 merits is not an awful lot. It would be something you would do on your way in or out, just a nice bonus because as mentioned above, there's a clear disparity between what Fortification gains and Undermining and it's ridiculous currently.
The benefits, if tied to the BGS would mean less interdictions for those returning to pick up more. This would make the whole thing make more sense and players might actually feel like they're doing some good. It adds depth to one simple thing, protecting your systems which should be important.
When one thing is easier than another then people flock to the easiest way possible, that is time honoured in gaming and why everyone eventually hits turmoil every 3 or so weeks, maybe squeeze through to the 4th then turmoil again. They're chasing the merits for the rewards and not playing the game and that is bad.
The imbalance between Fortication and Undermining / Expansion are key factors in this.
If you want it balanced then Fortification needs to be as viable as Expansion and Undermining. It really is that simple.
I'm not opposed to Undermining being promoted as the best way to overthrow a power but the current gap between it and Fortification is far too much. Especially in how it rewards a player.
When all things are equal then players will start thinking about the game and not so much about where the best rewards are to be made.
Then you have player interaction on a level beyond solely merit farming.
Then FD can start thinking about levels of undermining on systems and where that goes.
They could also consider capping systems that are clearly being exploited by Fortification farmers to stop that.
Then players may actually start playing the game, rather than just exploiting it for the 50 million.
And that brings me to the piles of money thing you mention, the rewards need stepped back a bit, the jump from 5 to 50 million is way too much.
I can see this going down well but what do.
Also, Fortification should be easier, it should be harder to Undermine, and even if fortified, if there's a concentrated effort on a system then it should invoke some kinda "war / power struggle" when the threshold is met.
Just thoughts.
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Giving a bounty between 1k-350k (depending of the ship type and rank, like for any NPC wanted ships), on the Power agent ships would be fair...very easy to implement and, as usual, unlikely to happen.
It's only unlikely to happen because, as mentioned previously, there are those who would exploit it which sucks, but what do.
If however, there was a reward, albeit a lesser one for players who aren't involved in PP then fair enough. It's just a bit sad that the value would probably have to be nerfed to make farming such things worthless...and that'll not be a great amount.
PP players would have it tied to merits, not credits as they would be working for their power and basically paid by Merits, not by Creds. They get the weekly salary for their efforts which would kinda make them employees as such.
If you are NOT involved in PP then you A: Won't get pulled out of super-cruise, for PP valid reasons and B: Any targets that do try, would be pirates any way, so your income would increase, due to this.
It would be most logical, IMO if you got merits for fortification in a control system where you destroyed enemy agents. Also, since they are actively undermining you'd really expect them to build up significant bounties in the system they operate in. I know I do.
I would Undermine enemy systems if there was even a chance that an enemy CMDR was defending it. Killing NPC postal workers is about as boring as it gets in ED. Except maybe Fortifying, which is so boring I could fall asleep just thinking about it.