Cycle 47 link
Some raw data is out, the preparations list is from the very start of the current cycle, not the end of the last one again, so I haven't used any Preparation numbers.
Mahon probably had the most in Preparations, so he will be the main Power effected by not including these numbers.
Known Merits
Both Hudson and ALD had expansions last cycle, so again dominate the total merits.
You can see the continuing reduction in the expansion grinder merits for both of these powers (down from 2.5 million merits in expansions) and the gap growing between Hudson and ALD
Aisling has the most total fortifications, and Mahon was in the 4th position.
The other 6 powers were all very close together for total merits, more because of the middle tier powers doing less, than the bottom tier powers doing more.
On the effective chart Mahon just beat Aisling by 800 merits for the number one position.
Effective merits steadily reduce from Hudson down to Delaine, and Patreus has a very small amount of effective merits again.
Opposition
Mahon had very high total opposition again, split nearly evenly between his expansions and undermining.
Winters in the number 2 position, with Hudson a fair bit behind in 3rd most opposed.
Sirius and Delaine received a medium amount of total opposition, and the other 5 powers were barely undermined or opposed in any way.
On the effective chart Winters got a highish amount of effective undermining, but 250000 isn't usually enough for a power to be the most opposed, which shows that not only are the grinding merits much reduced, but effective merits are also on a downward trend.
Mahon was 2nd most effectively opposed, and Hudson got a medium amount of effective opposition.
Delaine was 4th with a low amount of effective opposition, and the other 6 Powers faced no effective opposition at all.
Speculation and Commentary
Mahon 94
The Prime Minister is again in the number 1 position, this week with a much increased score of 94%.
This is around where I thought he should have been last week as well, but there is still something elusive in the mystery box that calculates the weekly scores.
Mahons starting balance has plummeted down to 512cc, which is still the second best in the game, but a long way off the ~1400cc he was on before getting put into Turmoil a few weeks ago.
The federation certainly seems to be winning their war with the Alliance, but a large part of this is due to the 5th column preparations and expansions that Mahon has been getting.
When Aisling was subjected to these attacks Sandro made this post in March, but nothing is yet to be done about the problem, which will probably be the main cause of Mahons next Turmoil.
This week Mahon can afford 8-10 preparations, none have high number in them yet, but his expansions at BPM 89444 and Alkalid (obvious 5C) are already at 1300%, and 500%.
Mahons other 4 expansions are all losing at the moment, and his players will have to put a large amount of cr into them to make them win.
Mahon will again be in the number 1 position, winning the two 5c expansions will push him further ahead of Hudson in number of Control Systems.
Hudson 78
The President moved up one position to 2nd after winning 2 more systems, which takes his total up to 80.
This week he has one preparation in an ex-Mahon system, and one Weaponised expansion into ALD territory.
His expansion will easily win this week, but Mahon and Torval also have expansions that share the same area, so this will be a bigger loss maker than it looks like right now.
ALD will probably be Hudsons main target this week, and he should still be in 2nd position at the end of the week.
Winters 64
The Shadow President dropped one position down to 3rd, after not winning an expansion last cycle.
She continues to get the brunt of the undermining attack (presumably from ALD and Mahon) over Hudson.
Several weaponised expansions from Mahon won in her territory last week, but they had very little opposition, and were probably allowed to win to further hurt Mahons CC surplus, even though it also hurt Winters.
This week, ALD will probably be their main target, but Mahon might get attacked if their fortification efforts continue to drop.
Winters will still be in 3rd at the end of the week.
ALD 62
The Emperors players were a little bit lazy with their fortifications and was just put into Turmoil, with two profitable systems on the line.
As I have stated before, Turmoil has little to no effect on a powers score in the week it happens (which is just crazy) so ALD is only 2% behind Winters, and if she did actually expand, would have moved back up into the top 3.
There hasn't been a general increase in the undermining that the Federal Powers have faced since the start of their war with Mahon, which means either ALD has had a drastic reduction in their number of players, or Mahon has no underminers in his Power.
This week ALD has 5 expansions, one is winning easily, while the other 4 are currently closely contested.
If ALD fortifies out of Turmoil she may drop down a position or 2, if she loses a system to Turmoil, she will probably be back in the bottom 5.
Torval 56
I'll let one of the Torval players summarise her week: "Torval the sneaky old lady did it again"
Torval preped the system of Jamulax, which is in the highly contested area of the ex-Mahon system of Contien, the most valuable unclaimed area in the galaxy.
Mahon and Hudson also have expansions in this area, and its unclear as to how profitable Jamulax will be, if all 3 expansions win.
Torval moved up to 60 Control systems, giving her a 4 system lead over Aisling as the second largest Imperial Power.
Sirius also moved up to 60 systems, so things are still neck and neck for the 5th position.
Torval may move above ALD to 4th, or under Sirius to 6th depending on what happens this week.
Sirius 50
Sirius managed to win 2 more systems, to bring him up to 60, but there is a schism between 2 of his player groups as to which systems are wanted, and a large internal war (not to be confused with 5th columning) is currently being waged between his players over what type of systems to try to expand to should be used.
The term Profit on Demand has been coined by one of the groups as the different strategy to adopt, and the Sirius Board of Directors has issues a Burn Notice on all members of this other group.
This week another "Profit on Demand" system is being expanded, which has been listed as a SCRAP target by the Sirius Board of Directors.
Sirius might move up to 4th at the end of the week, or remain in 6th.
Aisling 41
Aisling moved out of the bottom 3, but is only 3% ahead of Patreus and Antal.
She again only faced undermining from collusion piracy on her low income systems, showing her player base is still un-unified in determining what's best for Aisling.
This week she has one expansion, which should win with no opposition.
She only has 2 more systems than Patreus and 3 more than Antal, so whoever wins the most expansions out of these 3 will probably be in 7th position.
Patreus 38
Patreus continued having a quiet PP week last cycle, and is again locked on the same score as Antal (and the same score as the previous week).
Aisling moved ahead of his after her turmoil ended, but with the number of systems she recently lost, there isn't much between Patreus and Aisling (and Antal).
This week Patreus has a weaponised expansion in Hudson territory, which will probably be defeated, but it is currently winning.
His next expansion will really hurt his starting CC balance, but it will bring him to the magic 55 number, and be in a vastly better position than both Aisling and Antal.
Its likely Patreus will be 9th at the end of the week, but he could be 7th to 10th.
Antal 38
The wacky Utopians (or Dystopians?) won their expansion into Maia, which has shut the black market there, earning them the wrath of the galaxies meta-alloy obtainers of alternative means.
They also won a second expansion, which has taken their total number of systems up to 53, only one less than Patreus.
These extra systems have shattered his starting balance, down to the second worst in the game, which means his players will be back to needing to fortify a large amount.
This week he has 2 expansions, and if he wins one or both of them he should move ahead of Patreus, and perhaps ahead of Aisling into 7th position.
Delaine 29
The Pirate Lord won his 44th control system last cycle.
With Mahons recent CC drop, he has the best starting balance of 848cc.
Undermining on him was greatly reduced, but still the 4th most of any power, as the Aisling/Alliance/PMF attacks on him continue.
This week he has 4 expansions, should all 4 win (which is very unlikely) he should move past Antal and Patreus, and probably Aisling.
It's more likely he will be in 10th place at the end of the cycle.
Some raw data is out, the preparations list is from the very start of the current cycle, not the end of the last one again, so I haven't used any Preparation numbers.
Mahon probably had the most in Preparations, so he will be the main Power effected by not including these numbers.
Known Merits

Both Hudson and ALD had expansions last cycle, so again dominate the total merits.
You can see the continuing reduction in the expansion grinder merits for both of these powers (down from 2.5 million merits in expansions) and the gap growing between Hudson and ALD
Aisling has the most total fortifications, and Mahon was in the 4th position.
The other 6 powers were all very close together for total merits, more because of the middle tier powers doing less, than the bottom tier powers doing more.
On the effective chart Mahon just beat Aisling by 800 merits for the number one position.
Effective merits steadily reduce from Hudson down to Delaine, and Patreus has a very small amount of effective merits again.
Opposition

Mahon had very high total opposition again, split nearly evenly between his expansions and undermining.
Winters in the number 2 position, with Hudson a fair bit behind in 3rd most opposed.
Sirius and Delaine received a medium amount of total opposition, and the other 5 powers were barely undermined or opposed in any way.
On the effective chart Winters got a highish amount of effective undermining, but 250000 isn't usually enough for a power to be the most opposed, which shows that not only are the grinding merits much reduced, but effective merits are also on a downward trend.
Mahon was 2nd most effectively opposed, and Hudson got a medium amount of effective opposition.
Delaine was 4th with a low amount of effective opposition, and the other 6 Powers faced no effective opposition at all.
Speculation and Commentary
Mahon 94
The Prime Minister is again in the number 1 position, this week with a much increased score of 94%.
This is around where I thought he should have been last week as well, but there is still something elusive in the mystery box that calculates the weekly scores.
Mahons starting balance has plummeted down to 512cc, which is still the second best in the game, but a long way off the ~1400cc he was on before getting put into Turmoil a few weeks ago.
The federation certainly seems to be winning their war with the Alliance, but a large part of this is due to the 5th column preparations and expansions that Mahon has been getting.
When Aisling was subjected to these attacks Sandro made this post in March, but nothing is yet to be done about the problem, which will probably be the main cause of Mahons next Turmoil.
This week Mahon can afford 8-10 preparations, none have high number in them yet, but his expansions at BPM 89444 and Alkalid (obvious 5C) are already at 1300%, and 500%.
Mahons other 4 expansions are all losing at the moment, and his players will have to put a large amount of cr into them to make them win.
Mahon will again be in the number 1 position, winning the two 5c expansions will push him further ahead of Hudson in number of Control Systems.
Hudson 78
The President moved up one position to 2nd after winning 2 more systems, which takes his total up to 80.
This week he has one preparation in an ex-Mahon system, and one Weaponised expansion into ALD territory.
His expansion will easily win this week, but Mahon and Torval also have expansions that share the same area, so this will be a bigger loss maker than it looks like right now.
ALD will probably be Hudsons main target this week, and he should still be in 2nd position at the end of the week.
Winters 64
The Shadow President dropped one position down to 3rd, after not winning an expansion last cycle.
She continues to get the brunt of the undermining attack (presumably from ALD and Mahon) over Hudson.
Several weaponised expansions from Mahon won in her territory last week, but they had very little opposition, and were probably allowed to win to further hurt Mahons CC surplus, even though it also hurt Winters.
This week, ALD will probably be their main target, but Mahon might get attacked if their fortification efforts continue to drop.
Winters will still be in 3rd at the end of the week.
ALD 62
The Emperors players were a little bit lazy with their fortifications and was just put into Turmoil, with two profitable systems on the line.
As I have stated before, Turmoil has little to no effect on a powers score in the week it happens (which is just crazy) so ALD is only 2% behind Winters, and if she did actually expand, would have moved back up into the top 3.
There hasn't been a general increase in the undermining that the Federal Powers have faced since the start of their war with Mahon, which means either ALD has had a drastic reduction in their number of players, or Mahon has no underminers in his Power.
This week ALD has 5 expansions, one is winning easily, while the other 4 are currently closely contested.
If ALD fortifies out of Turmoil she may drop down a position or 2, if she loses a system to Turmoil, she will probably be back in the bottom 5.
Torval 56
I'll let one of the Torval players summarise her week: "Torval the sneaky old lady did it again"
Torval preped the system of Jamulax, which is in the highly contested area of the ex-Mahon system of Contien, the most valuable unclaimed area in the galaxy.
Mahon and Hudson also have expansions in this area, and its unclear as to how profitable Jamulax will be, if all 3 expansions win.
Torval moved up to 60 Control systems, giving her a 4 system lead over Aisling as the second largest Imperial Power.
Sirius also moved up to 60 systems, so things are still neck and neck for the 5th position.
Torval may move above ALD to 4th, or under Sirius to 6th depending on what happens this week.
Sirius 50
Sirius managed to win 2 more systems, to bring him up to 60, but there is a schism between 2 of his player groups as to which systems are wanted, and a large internal war (not to be confused with 5th columning) is currently being waged between his players over what type of systems to try to expand to should be used.
The term Profit on Demand has been coined by one of the groups as the different strategy to adopt, and the Sirius Board of Directors has issues a Burn Notice on all members of this other group.
This week another "Profit on Demand" system is being expanded, which has been listed as a SCRAP target by the Sirius Board of Directors.
Sirius might move up to 4th at the end of the week, or remain in 6th.
Aisling 41
Aisling moved out of the bottom 3, but is only 3% ahead of Patreus and Antal.
She again only faced undermining from collusion piracy on her low income systems, showing her player base is still un-unified in determining what's best for Aisling.
This week she has one expansion, which should win with no opposition.
She only has 2 more systems than Patreus and 3 more than Antal, so whoever wins the most expansions out of these 3 will probably be in 7th position.
Patreus 38
Patreus continued having a quiet PP week last cycle, and is again locked on the same score as Antal (and the same score as the previous week).
Aisling moved ahead of his after her turmoil ended, but with the number of systems she recently lost, there isn't much between Patreus and Aisling (and Antal).
This week Patreus has a weaponised expansion in Hudson territory, which will probably be defeated, but it is currently winning.
His next expansion will really hurt his starting CC balance, but it will bring him to the magic 55 number, and be in a vastly better position than both Aisling and Antal.
Its likely Patreus will be 9th at the end of the week, but he could be 7th to 10th.
Antal 38
The wacky Utopians (or Dystopians?) won their expansion into Maia, which has shut the black market there, earning them the wrath of the galaxies meta-alloy obtainers of alternative means.
They also won a second expansion, which has taken their total number of systems up to 53, only one less than Patreus.
These extra systems have shattered his starting balance, down to the second worst in the game, which means his players will be back to needing to fortify a large amount.
This week he has 2 expansions, and if he wins one or both of them he should move ahead of Patreus, and perhaps ahead of Aisling into 7th position.
Delaine 29
The Pirate Lord won his 44th control system last cycle.
With Mahons recent CC drop, he has the best starting balance of 848cc.
Undermining on him was greatly reduced, but still the 4th most of any power, as the Aisling/Alliance/PMF attacks on him continue.
This week he has 4 expansions, should all 4 win (which is very unlikely) he should move past Antal and Patreus, and probably Aisling.
It's more likely he will be in 10th place at the end of the cycle.
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