My opinion of SC is completely different...
Or if you don't want to be that well allied you could decide to be a freelance agent doing jobs for them. Now I know you can already do this by accepting BBS missions, but completing them should matter. They should respond to you, give you some feeling that you're interacting with an actual entity and the game isn't just getting its responses from a database. Dealing with factions in ED is about as rewarding as trying to have a conversation with my PC and about as interesting. The game needs some variety, some characterisation. I'm not talking about quests or silly 2d faces on "com screens" but something that makes the faction feel like it's something other than a bunch of stock responses in a database. Even if they made it like "All anarchy systems respond like this. All high tech systems respond like that, etc" at least you'd have some difference in personality between systems....
I won't re-quote your whole post, but that little snippet pretty much does some up one of the issues. Even the original Elite had huge differences between Anarchy systems, corporate systems etc. Fly into an Anarchy system, and you'd better hope you had military lasers, a few missiles, an ECM, and retro rockets...
Dropping into an anarchy system should see you trying to shake off pirate wings pretty much every single time. Being interdicted in a hi-tech, high security system should result in system authority vessels dropping in to rescue you before your FSD is back online. You should be seeing tens of authority vessels just cruising around all the time to make the point.
I quite like your naval career idea too, and, it feels like that is what Powerplay is trying to be, and yet, it seems disconnected to the rest of the game. I can get 15% off bits in the territory of one power, but don't really need to do anything for it (and why the discount is greater than at Founder's world, I'll never know, but I digress...).
Having said that, a lot of things look to me like "placeholders", or, "stage 1" implementations, to be constantly updated and tweaked until there is a meaningful purpose.
So far, I'm quite enjoying the game, and the best part is usually to do with interaction with other players, though bounty hunting in RES zones, zipping between asteroids is fun, too. I'll never understand why combat zones are not located in asteroid belts...
Though, one of my hopes for CQC was that it signalled the coming of conflict zones around space stations - pilots wishing to dock at a station in the middle of a battle would have to do so at their own risk - though potentially with higher payouts (perhaps if you enter the zone, the ONLY way to dock with the station is to declare yourself for that faction - thus making you an instant target.Declaring for the attacking factions means you've lost the ability to dock, as the station simply won't let you).
Seeing a station and a capitol ship in battle, with all sorts of ships buzzing around taking part would be quite cool - it would also be a reminder as to what the pilots are fighting for. The station is right there!
Anyway, as I said, I have hope that more immersive experiences, ones that make you feel like part of the ED galaxy are on the way - perhaps slowly, but still, on the way.
Just remember, compared to a certain other space game, we actually have a game we can play and do stuff in, and we are getting constant updates and tweaks. Not to discredit the other game, which, in all honesty, I hope delivers on it's promises. I want to play it, too, after all...
I, personally, have a lifetime update pack, so I don't have to pay for updates anymore, however, FD can still ge plenty of money out of me. The longer they keep me playing, the more ship skins I am happy to buy - perhaps, like some new Anaconda skins *hint hint*, I'm enjoying ED now, but there will need to be more depth if I am to stick around for the years that are planned. As I said, though, I do have hope.
Z...
