What makes a system "Independent"?

[RadiKyle]

What makes a system "Independent" and does it always stay Independent? Does it mean the controlling minor faction has no allegiance to any of the 3 superpowers? Does it mean some Power Play faction whatever controls it and they have no superpower allegiance (like Li Yong-Rui)? I have no interest in the PP stuff, just want to know in the basic game what makes a system Independent, and whether it always stays that way.

Here's an example I'm struggling to understand. I recently unlocked Sirius. The Permit comes from Sirus Corporation, a minor faction with no superpower allegiance, therefore independent. But the system isn't even controlled by them, it's controlled by Sirius Free. How does the permit-issuing faction not even control their own system and its main station??

On the System Map summary at upper left it says the allegiance is Independent. But down below for the Sirius Free faction and over on the station it says Federation. The Galaxy Map also shows as Federation. What?? :S

 

[drzdeano]

The sirus free faction is a seperate local faction to Sirius Corp. Both factions originated from the same system. However sirus free has overtaken. Sirus Corp and now controls the system.

It works that way because we could never get a permit for a closed system, if the Bgs was killing off the factions that hand them out.

Sirus free = Federation aligned faction.
Think of these as Federation backed rebels who have overthrown the independent corporate government of sirus Corp.

Sirus Corp. Independent corporation.

 

[RadiKyle]

Okay then why does the system map show "Independent" allegiance at the upper left? (and Federation everywhere else)

 

[Sapyx]

Each minor faction in the game has an "allegiance", either to one of the three superpowers, or to none of them. If "none", then they are an "Independent" faction. Factions never change allegiance - a Federal-aligned faction will always be Federal and won't switch sides or become Independent.

Whether a certain star system is Independent or not, depends on which faction owns the "controlling station" in the system. The "controlling station" is usually the one with the highest population. The faction in charge of the controlling station is usually the one with the highest influence in the system, though there are odd circumstances that can cause a "minority rule" situation.

As for the OP's questions:

I recently unlocked Sirius. The Permit comes from Sirus Corporation, a minor faction with no superpower allegiance, therefore independent. But the system isn't even controlled by them, it's controlled by Sirius Free. How does the permit-issuing faction not even control their own system and its main station??

Players, using the background simulation, have the power to change who the "controlling faction" is, via a war, civil war or election. Sirius Free is a Federal Democracy faction currently in control of Sirius, so would have had a Civil War with Sirius Corp at some time in the past, which Sirius Corp lost.

If you're looking for reasons why a large number of players became Allied with Sirius Corp (which they would have needed to do to gain the Sirius permit and then affect the Sirius background simulation) only to betray them and hand control of the system over to the Federation, I believe the answer is "Powerplay".

Powerplay does not directly affect the allegiances of controlled and exploited systems, but people involved in powerplay do try to manipulate the BGS of systems in their sphere of influence, to make their control cheaper and therefore easier. Sirius is in Hudson space, and Hudson finds it cheaper to control/exploit systems that are Federal Democracies, rather than Independent Corporations. So it was presumably a group of Hudson powerplayers who forced the switch, and presumably this same group (or others like them) who keep the Feds in power despite numerous attempts by players to give Sirius back to its original and rightful owners.

On the System Map summary at upper left it says the allegiance is Independent. But down below for the Sirius Free faction and over on the station it says Federation. The Galaxy Map also shows as Federation. What?? :S

The "flavour text" describing the Sirius system is a copy-and-paste from the old FE2/FFE map. Ignore it, as it is not updated whenever the actual control of Sirius changes hands. It is hand-coded, and dates from the original launch of the game before the concepts of "factions" and "systems changing allegiance" were invented.

However lore-breaking this fact is, Sirius is under the control of the Federation now, and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future. Unless the Mahon powerplay team actually manage to take it over.

 

[Vasious]

The Faction controlling the system not being aligned to Any of the three Super Powers, the Federation, the Alliance of Independent systems or the Empire, to be independent

Siruis was controlled by the Independent Sirius Corporation, and they control of issuing the permits for the system, but a Federation Faction controls the system now

 

[Sapyx]

Okay then why does the system map show "Independent" allegiance at the upper left? (and Federation everywhere else)

That I don't know. It's a bug.

 

[Jaiotu]

I believe that generally, if a minor faction takes over a system then the allegiance switches to whatever the new controlling faction's is. In the case of Sirius though you're dealing with a handcrafted system. It is very possible that the allegiance is hard-coded as independent due to the fact that Sirius Corp is "too big to fail".

 

[RadiKyle]

That I don't know. It's a bug.

I think so too. Alpha Centauri has same issue. Hutton Truckers control it and are Independent, but the upper left of the system map says Federation.

I should find an existing bug report then...

How this all came up was by using the galaxy map filter set to show independent systems only. I couldn't find Sirius on it, because it's apparently Federation now instead.


Edit: Opened a bug report: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/302626-System-allegiance-info-is-incorrect