A Guide to Minor Factions and the Background Sim

[CMDR Endincite]

Patch notes for 2.1:

War now only needs a 5% influence difference to win. Civil War and Elections remain at 3%

Unlike some other things, this one is pretty damned solid from our observations, excluding the overtly broken situations (usually occurring when the winning % is reached for a day, then lost, then gained again).

Elections are funky in that way, its based off a similar government type it seems.

There's little mystery to elections. Several people have pieced it together and observations essentially never differ IME.

"Categories" are those faction types which will always have elections with one another:

Social: Democracy, Communist, Confederacy, Cooperative (I've heard tell of a Republic type in this category, but never actually seen one).
Authoritarian: Dictatorship, Patronage, Feudal, Prison Colony
Corporate: Corporate (category of one type).
Anarchy: Anarchy (another of one type, though they never have elections).

Ignore faction type names in the cockpit panel. All are just flavour text for one of the above types under a given allegiance. System map gives true type (apologies if you're already aware, just being thorough ;-) ).

Observation is leading me to believe entire categories have additional assigned effects (e.g. black market open/closed, prevalence of certain mission types), but I can't call any of that concrete yet. We'd need better inter-group data sharing to make these observations more rigourous. I've begun several E: D subreddits now, but am becoming a tad too "veteran" to start another (or equivalent) for BGS collaboration.

And yet from Different sources [...]

As I'm sure a few dozen old timers here will tell you, there's a tremendous amount of krap that flies around regarding the BGS. I'm pretty sure some have stopped participating mainly because of the irritation and time investment of having to shoot down the endless stream of wishful thinking, unfounded conclusions and (sometimes seemingly deliberate) misinformation.

Believe me if you like, but I'll never get irritated if you ask for properly-tested proof. I would.

 

[Ace Rimzy]

Thanks for the heads up Fella. BTW your a bit of a permit collector aren't you CMDR Limoncello Lizard.

 

[AndrewCrisp]

Question concerning pending wars; it's possible someone else has already asked this, but 460+ pages of comments is a tough slog, even with the search function to help.

If a faction is preparing for war, would any change in influence alter its chances of winning the war once it's underway?

 

[M. Grey]

Question concerning pending wars; it's possible someone else has already asked this, but 460+ pages of comments is a tough slog, even with the search function to help.

If a faction is preparing for war, would any change in influence alter its chances of winning the war once it's underway?

You can increase the influnce during the countdown/pending period. This increases the chance to win the conflict.
It's the gap at the end that matters NOT just what happens during the active war.

 

[Several]

Question concerning pending wars; it's possible someone else has already asked this, but 460+ pages of comments is a tough slog, even with the search function to help.

If a faction is preparing for war, would any change in influence alter its chances of winning the war once it's underway?

The more influence you have at the end of a war, the better. So accumulating during preparation should help already.

Edit: Meaning by "more" - you still need to surpass the other faction by %5 influence during "war" in order to win the war

 

[Starwolfe]

In regards to a Failed Expansion;

I have observed a Pending Expansion cancel because a Civil War triggered on the same day.

A daily news recounted the failing Expansion on the same day the Civil War took.


It appears an Expansion will fail by default if a conflict is triggered to go active the same day as the expansion.
During the pending Expansion day 3 the pending Civil War took, so both went active on the same day.
The controlling Faction's influence dropped below 75% a few days before and is at 67.5% on the day of failure in the expansion system.

 

[Sentenza]

In regards to a Failed Expansion;

I have observed a Pending Expansion cancel because a Civil War triggered on the same day.

A daily news recounted the failing Expansion on the same day the Civil War took.


It appears an Expansion will fail by default if a conflict is triggered to go active the same day as the expansion.
During the pending Expansion day 3 the pending Civil War took, so both went active on the same day.
The controlling Faction's influence dropped below 75% a few days before and is at 67.5% on the day of failure in the expansion system.

Yes, I experienced the same with War.

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

Just wondering.

There's a war about to start in Crom. But there are no planets or other bodies in the system except the star and the one outpost.

Where is the CZ going to be?

Or do I need to win the war before it starts? Which I'm planning on doing anyway.

 

[Starwolfe]

I have not seen a conflict in a system with no planetary bodies before.

I would hope it will spawn around the outpost.


To be safe, always stack the deck if possible and gain a lead ahead of time.

 

[M. Grey]

A conflict going active on same day as expansion making it fail...It used to be an immediate expasion...Was this changed recently?

Guess better plan a conflict to go active one day after the expasnion started to be sure.

 

[Walter2]

Just wondering.

There's a war about to start in Crom. But there are no planets or other bodies in the system except the star and the one outpost.

Where is the CZ going to be?

Or do I need to win the war before it starts? Which I'm planning on doing anyway.

Is that from Galnet news or some other source?

 

[Jmanis]

Just wondering.

There's a war about to start in Crom. But there are no planets or other bodies in the system except the star and the one outpost.

Where is the CZ going to be?

Or do I need to win the war before it starts? Which I'm planning on doing anyway.

There was a specific fix for that particular issue a while back. CZ's should be within 1000Ls of the star/outpost.

 

[Walter2]

There was a specific fix for that particular issue a while back. CZ's should be within 1000Ls of the star/outpost.

I didn't think Limoncello's the sort of chap to forget something like that - that's more my role.

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

The war in Crom has started. But no CZ to be seen yet, not near the star or outpost.

There is some random spot in space where NPCs all seem to fly to. I'll try that later.

 

[Schlack]

The war in Crom has started. But no CZ to be seen yet, not near the star or outpost.

There is some random spot in space where NPCs all seem to fly to. I'll try that later.

2-6 hours is normal, check every mode

 

[Vow]

A quick question if some one can answer. Is it possible to increase the security level for example from "Low Security" to say "High Security" or is that something that's hard coded in for each system.

 

[Starwolfe]

The only way it changes that I am aware of so far is as a by-product of Powerplay effects.

Hudson for example increases security in Federal systems, but decreases security in Independent, Alliance and Empire systems.

 

[Vow]

The only way it changes that I am aware of so far is as a by-product of Powerplay effects.

Hudson for example increases security in Federal systems, but decreases security in Independent, Alliance and Empire systems.

Darn feared as much thanks for clearing that up.

 

[Starwolfe]

I would like to think it could be tied into the crime/bounty reports, but so far as I have observed it doesn't change by that.

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

There was a specific fix for that particular issue a while back. CZ's should be within 1000Ls of the star/outpost.

CZ are there, but not within 1000ls of either the star or the outpost.

"Follow the spiders"