A Guide to Minor Factions and the Background Sim

[CMDR Endincite]

My faction and Controlling Faction both have 34% influence. On the News tab it says civil war is imminent. And I've read the first post, Civil war has 3 days countdown. So what I'm asking is what happened if during these 3 days period I keep pumping my faction influence and or reducing their influence, is that Okay to increase the influence gap?

Because I've read somewhere that Civil war requirement is both faction must be similar/close number in influence. I don't want it to be cancelled and lost my opportunity to fight for my station

100% fine to push all you want. Once pending, I've pushed the difference to >20% and the conflict still happened.

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

Because I've read somewhere that Civil war requirement is both faction must be similar/close number in influence. I don't want it to be cancelled and lost my opportunity to fight for my station

That's only to trigger the conflict. The days when the war is pending are the best time to push your faction, as all actions count. As soon as the civil war starts, only combat actions will work.

 

[Walter2]

I'm curious if anyone here has had a war last for more than 4 days since 2.2 came out? In our system, we've just had a second war between two factions who stayed within 2% of each other and it ended on the fourth day without anything changing hands. I've also been keeping an eye on wars and civil wars in neighbouring systems and they all appear to end on the fourth day regardless of the gap between the factions.

I can't help but wonder if FD have set 4 days as the duration of all wars/civil wars since 2.2 has come out.

Not sure about the length, but I've just observed a War concluding with the two parties at 1.2% and 4.5%. I thought it had stopped because the two figures weren't within the parameters for a conclusive finish, but I'm fairly sure it was before 5 days.

 

[Johnny Cyclops]

RETREAT - RETREAT

This might be buried in between pages 1 and 367 of this thread, so apologies if it's been asked before, but I couldn't see anything on the OP (updates) about Retreat ( nor on page 267 .

I've got a system with five minor factions, two are in Retreat state, including "mine" (that I helped expand into this system months ago). I took my eye off the ball for a month or two... and a'hem.

Anyway, when I jumped back into the system yesterday 'mine' was at 5% and in Retreat state, and the other retreater at 2%. System controller MF was ~70%, and two others.

I've managed to boost 'mine' up to 12% but it's still flagged as Retreat today. Is there any way to stop or cancel the retreat? I'm simply presuming running anough missions/passengers to boost the influence will help.

Recent Galnet news items from past two days, announcing the retreats, seem to indicate building influence should stop the retreat.

I think I need to act fast, so swift replies welcomed.

Regards
JC

 

[SaliVader]

RETREAT - RETREAT

This might be buried in between pages 1 and 367 of this thread, so apologies if it's been asked before, but I couldn't see anything on the OP (updates) about Retreat ( nor on page 267 .

I've got a system with five minor factions, two are in Retreat state, including "mine" (that I helped expand into this system months ago). I took my eye off the ball for a month or two... and a'hem.

Anyway, when I jumped back into the system yesterday 'mine' was at 5% and in Retreat state, and the other retreater at 2%. System controller MF was ~70%, and two others.

I've managed to boost 'mine' up to 12% but it's still flagged as Retreat today. Is there any way to stop or cancel the retreat? I'm simply presuming running anough missions/passengers to boost the influence will help.

Recent Galnet news items from past two days, announcing the retreats, seem to indicate building influence should stop the retreat.

I think I need to act fast, so swift replies welcomed.

Regards
JC

Yeah if you keep your influence above 2.5% the retreat will fail after its duration (5 days iirc, unless interrupted by a conflict elsewhere). You have nothing to worry about.

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

You have nothing to worry about.

Unless the retreat is for a different system entirely. Which is possible, as JC mentioned his faction was at 5%, which won't trigger retreat.

 

[SaliVader]

Unless the retreat is for a different system entirely. Which is possible, as JC mentioned his faction was at 5%, which won't trigger retreat.

That's true, although I figured they would have checked the faction summary to confirm it.

 

[Johnny Cyclops]

That's true, although I figured they would have checked the faction summary to confirm it.

Yep, this MF is in three systems, the original, plus two expansions. It's definitely this system I'm looking at where it's in Retreat, based on the local news items, and local status. The news saying it was Retreating was posted 2nd Dec. I happened to get lucky by finding the situation yesterday on 3rd (I'm off about 150Ly flipping systems in another backwater) so I've no idea why/when the Retreat was triggered, however Inf was 5% yesterday and 12% today, most likely due to me completing some missions.

Although I sort of knew that Retreat needed a low Inf % to trigger, I wasn't aware it was a threshold at 2.0%.

I guess I'll run a few more missions and see if I can get a further Inf boost and if that alleviates the situation.

Both these expansions were accidental soon after the game went live, as I was just based at a quiet station/system, and doing lots of trading, missions, bounties, exploratory data, etc. and just happened to push the controlling MF into expansion - twice. But I then followed up and helped the MF take control of its first expansion system, but never followed up on this second system, so not surprising it's now falling back into Retreat.

 

[Adhock]

Happened again.

War in my system ended today on Day 6.

Except the BGS reset.

I was leading by 3 points and was pushing yesterday to gain the lead and end the war.

I also learned hard lesson in that I just simply am not ready to pilot large escort vessels in a combat situation just yet. I need to stick to Gunships it seems. My skill in smaller fighter class vessels also seems to have atrophied since I lost a Viper 3 and am down to pennies.

It's been a very bad day.

In any case the BGS seems to have reset itself for some reason. Both my faction and the Controlling faction have been forcibly equalized and are back in a pending state of Civil War. Yet there are no arrows indicating any player induced trends of up or down. They just magically reset to equalize and lock us back in another civil war. Assets have also not changed hands.

Also for some reason, the other four factions in the system to include two more factions that have engaged in Civil War are all trending down.

So the only faction that's trended up today is the one faction that is displaying no movement what so ever.

It's as if the BGS automatically reset itself.

The hell is going on here?

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

The hell is going on here?

Can you start collecting the influence figures for all of the factions in the system each day?

Once you have a week or so recorded, a graph can make some of the things going on much clearer.

 

[Adhock]

. I can tell you what happened during the last war off the top of my head.

Pre-War: Influence levels were equalized 34 before the system corrected itself. Still locked in Civil War from the incorrect values.

Day 1: 30-35 in favor of the Allied Movement. This was after the correction and I was lagging behind before the war kicked off. HEF trends up, AM trending down.

Day 2: 32-34 In favor of the Allied Movement. I seem to be catching up. HEF trends up, AM trending down.

Day 3: 30-37 In favor of the Allied Movement. Massive snipe takes place. Traffic in the system has spiked to an all time high of 100 ships. Still betting multiples of the same ship so estimated players involved about 60. HEF trends down, AM trends up.

Day 4: 32-35 In favor of the Allied Movement. Thanks to two minor factions going hot in the system, they suck up some extra influence likely as players move to that war thinking mine was at an end. My efforts manage to push the HEF back into a fighting chance. HEF trends up, AM trends down.

Day 5: 35-32 In favor of the HEF. I've moved into a position for victory yet the system decides it's not quite enough. HEF trends up, AM trends down.

Day 6: 33-33 equalized. No victor declared. No assets change hands despite my lead. Nether side is trending up or down to despite my influencing HEF. All other factions trend down but there doesn't seem to be any movement from the 11-8-8-6 reported from yesterday. War ended.

Last time this equalization happened, the influence reported being locked at equalization until a day after the war when it finally detected the last minute snipe that wasn't recorded and displayed until after the war had ended.

 

[Schlack]

The hell is going on here?

We have seen this happen since 2.2 - we went pending election during an election, the cycle only broke when we went pending war during an active election.

It is either bugged, or a newly introduced unannounced mechanic tweak. You should report it.

 

[SaliVader]

When the 2.2 patch went live we had a war interrupted, went from being active to being pending. When that pending war triggered and we won it, we got 2 assets with that single war.

Patches can mess the BGS pretty badly for a few days :/

 

[Lee Ti]

We have seen this happen since 2.2 - we went pending election during an election, the cycle only broke when we went pending war during an active election.

It is either bugged, or a newly introduced unannounced mechanic tweak. You should report it.

We have reported something similar with Civil Wars https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/311461-Civil-War-ended-unexpectedly-without-a-winner

It almost appears that the Civil War limit of 28 days has been reduced, intentionally or not, to 4 days. Or that is what we are seeing with no change of assets and next tick back pending Civil War

 

[Johnny Cyclops]

Minor Factions Location List?

Quick question. Is there any place in-game I can see a list of all the systems that a named MF is in?

I ask, because in 'my' chosen MF's home system I do see news item posts from systems it's expanded into - most recently one announcing a Retreat. I've just visited a nearby system to buy some Foods and randomly discovered 'my' MF is also there, with a 4% Inf. As I said in a recent post, this was an area of systems I was active in many months ago, and have just returned. I did think the MF was in three systems, but now I've found a fourth, and I suppose there could be others. Wouldn't it make sense in their home system/station to have a proclaimation (sticky news item?) saying where else they have expanded to?

So, any 'magic button' or filter where I can click on an MF name and pull up a list of where it's currently situated, by system (and even, potentially, by station/outpost), please?

I do get the feeling this will probably turn into a game enhancement request.

JC

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

There is no way to find a particular faction. Even external tools aren't much use.
There should be a way of searching for factions, though I'd restrict it to ones you are allied to.

 

[Arka]

Are there background simulation regarding what kind of ships available to purchase in Shipyard as well as outfitting stocks?

I only heard about them being dynamic, I wonder what can I do if I want to improve this backwater station to provide little more stuffs on it.

 

[Adhock]

Are there background simulation regarding what kind of ships available to purchase in Shipyard as well as outfitting stocks?

I only heard about them being dynamic, I wonder what can I do if I want to improve this backwater station to provide little more stuffs on it.

Yes and no.

Swapping a faction between superpowers and independent will change what ships might be available... provided you have the right station economy.

I have an industrial station in my system which allows me access to a greater range of ships. When my faction was in control, because it was pledged to the Federation, three of the ships were changed out for the Dropship family. Between that and the small number of ships available from agricultural station. I had a wide variety of ships to choose from.

Sadly when I lost control of the system, the Dropship family was removed from the selection and replaced with the same selection it had before as the original controlling faction was Independent.

States can also influence what is available in the outfitters. Generally a Boom state will increase the number of modules available and push the ratings up into the A range.

Now the bad news.

Industrial and High Tech systems are the best for these kinds of things because they have the production capabilities to manufacture most of the parts and hulls. Industrials have the greatest number of ships available to choose from while High Tech systems have more and better rated modules.

System population also plays a factor as well. The higher the population, the better your selection.

So while you can change what is available, there are limitations to what is available anyway. So if you're not in an Industrial/High Tech system or have one of these stations in your system. You're SOL.

I choose my system because it was in proximity to some of the few industrial and a High Tech system so I didn't have to travel far when everything around me was all Extraction and Refinery Economies. My own system is an Agricultural system which is by far the worst system to settle in if you're looking for parts. But I make sure to be smart and pick it because it was so close to the other systems.

I just got lucky in that one of the stations was an Industrial economy.

Sadly while that's good news for me where ship choice is wide and varied, modules are harder to come by for some reason. Class 4's and higher are strangely absent and many of the modules are missing ranks from their classes so I still need to do a bit of searching.

I imagine if population changes ever become a thing in Elite, you'd be able to turn that backwater into a Hub to increase whats available to you.

But if you're anything other then an Industrial/High Tech system, you're SOL.

 

[goemon]

to improve this backwater station to provide little more stuffs on it.

the system stat accountable for that is "tech level" - there is no way to improve tech level permanently, but during boom and investement state, it is upped, and yu get more ships and better outfitting.

so - put your backwater system into perma-boom and expand into every system <21 ly, to trigger investment ;-)

___

or, as a player grup, you can ask FDEV for a CG to permanently improve shipyard and outfitting.

 

[dynamicbob]

the system stat accountable for that is "tech level" - there is no way to improve tech level permanently, but during boom and investement state, it is upped, and yu get more ships and better outfitting.

so - put your backwater system into perma-boom and expand into every system <21 ly, to trigger investment ;-)

___

or, as a player grup, you can ask FDEV for a CG to permanently improve shipyard and outfitting.

if only Fdev would expand that BGS to make it malleable.Id suggest if u want a CG, youll need to show Fdev there is player activity so it might be a good idea to get youre group shipping in lots of high tech goods if those are in demand, or just general activity levels in generaly, the more activity in a system or area the more likley Fdev are to give a player group a CG for an upgrade