Yup, Winters would have been my first choice - was, actually, in the beta (way back when). After fooling around there though, I left PP alone for a good long while on the live game.
Recently I've joined the forces of ALD, mostly as a means of making some credits, and oh boy. It works. Even too well.
Few technicalities, as I haven't seen an answer to your question regarding the effort required.
Keeping rank at 5 (5k merits) takes about 6 hours of gameplay and say 45 mil credits if you're fortifying. Spending less cash means it'll take more time - I don't think you can make it much faster by spending the remaining 5 mil (4.5 mil to be exact) though. Maybe 4 and a half or 5 hours with a T9. Mind, you have a whole week to do it.
Until recently, undermining was a very lucrative alternative to go merit-wise. However with the new changes to interdiction, I'm not too sure how the merit/hour looks like now. I did get to rank 5 with undermining, and I did do it in a single day's game session just a week before 1.4 came out. Since this is the first PP-week of the release, I guess the jury is still out.
I also find that larger powers have a tight community core as well - it's just that your individual actions do not count as much as for the smaller ones. You can find some really dedicated players at the heart of every single power - I guess it's natural. The question is, would you want to be part of a thousand-strong community, or rather you'd like to share efforts with only a few dozen people, where you have a chance to know everyone.
Recently I've joined the forces of ALD, mostly as a means of making some credits, and oh boy. It works. Even too well.
Few technicalities, as I haven't seen an answer to your question regarding the effort required.
Keeping rank at 5 (5k merits) takes about 6 hours of gameplay and say 45 mil credits if you're fortifying. Spending less cash means it'll take more time - I don't think you can make it much faster by spending the remaining 5 mil (4.5 mil to be exact) though. Maybe 4 and a half or 5 hours with a T9. Mind, you have a whole week to do it.
Until recently, undermining was a very lucrative alternative to go merit-wise. However with the new changes to interdiction, I'm not too sure how the merit/hour looks like now. I did get to rank 5 with undermining, and I did do it in a single day's game session just a week before 1.4 came out. Since this is the first PP-week of the release, I guess the jury is still out.
I also find that larger powers have a tight community core as well - it's just that your individual actions do not count as much as for the smaller ones. You can find some really dedicated players at the heart of every single power - I guess it's natural. The question is, would you want to be part of a thousand-strong community, or rather you'd like to share efforts with only a few dozen people, where you have a chance to know everyone.