Open Letter to the Prime Minister: Please clarify today's revelations

[CMDR Zadian Lichtfrost]

Out of Character I understand that, and I don't even oppose that, my problem is more when a complete lack of content and disregard for our faction (including not mentioning storywise - and content wise, and ship wise and so on and so forth - the great lengths the Alliance has changed the galaxy so far) is followed only by a tidbit of content that's completely out of line with the Alliance's purpose/ideals. …

But I still expect player actions to have an impact in the story, I want it and I want it now. Not just through events or CGs (we all know how that went), but look at the BGS, visualize how the galaxy is changing over time and write for that. …

A lot of Alliance aligned players claimed the Alliance is this or that without any support from the lore (in ED). The Alliance was never portrait as the "good guys" in ED. The lack of content just resulted in players projecting their own ideas, hopes and ideals into the Alliance.
There are hints that the Alliance isn't as good as its propaganda claims to be (just like the propaganda of the Federation and the Empire), all those things just got constantly ignored.

The amount of BGS work from independent CMDRs - players who aligned themselves to the Alliance - doesn't matter as they aren't part of the Alliance. They are just outsiders working for whoever is in power in the Alliance. Just like any other player in this game.

As players we are not the Alliance or the Federation or the Empire, we are not some organization of those superpowers. FD made a huge mistake by allowing player groups to think they are part of any superpower, because those player groups aren't part of a superpower.

Players have an impact on the story, just not the power to change "protagonists" that are outside of the control of the players.
In essence a lot of Alliance aligned players tried to "godmod" the Alliance - thinking that they are the ones who define what the Alliance is and what the Alliance does.
(Not only Alliance aligned players did this)

 

[Schlack]

A lot of Alliance aligned players claimed the Alliance is this or that without any support from the lore (in ED). The Alliance was never portrait as the "good guys" in ED. The lack of content just resulted in players projecting their own ideas, hopes and ideals into the Alliance.
There are hints that the Alliance isn't as good as its propaganda claims to be (just like the propaganda of the Federation and the Empire), all those things just got constantly ignored.

The amount of BGS work from independent CMDRs - players who aligned themselves to the Alliance - doesn't matter as they aren't part of the Alliance. They are just outsiders working for whoever is in power in the Alliance. Just like any other player in this game.

As players we are not the Alliance or the Federation or the Empire, we are not some organization of those superpowers. FD made a huge mistake by allowing player groups to think they are part of any superpower, because those player groups aren't part of a superpower.

Players have an impact on the story, just not the power to change "protagonists" that are outside of the control of the players.
In essence a lot of Alliance aligned players tried to "godmod" the Alliance - thinking that they are the ones who define what the Alliance is and what the Alliance does.
(Not only Alliance aligned players did this)

In the absence of any FD alliance storylines we are forced to create our own. For more than 2 years. FD completely ignoring any of that or anything that alliance player groups have done to shape the politics of the galaxy via power play and the bgs makes one question fds commitment to player driven storylines.

 

[Noctover]

I also heard he's trying to privatise the NHS also :/.

 

[CMDR Zadian Lichtfrost]

In the absence of any FD alliance storylines we are forced to create our own. For more than 2 years. FD completely ignoring any of that or anything that alliance player groups have done to shape the politics of the galaxy via power play and the bgs makes one question fds commitment to player driven storylines.

Players can shape their own story line, they can help move the story line of FD controlled entities (factions, superpowers…), but they can't define or control the story line of FD controlled entities.

 

[Schlack]

Players can shape their own story line, they can help move the story line of FD controlled entities (factions, superpowers…), but they can't define or control the story line of FD controlled entities.

So mahon dominating powerplay and the alliance more than doubling in size is not worth a single lore mention in 2.5 years?

This isn't about one player group this is about the aggregate actions of the alliance player base. What do we get? An offshoot of the salami story and and ex fed president.

 

[William J Smith]

As a fairly independent pilot who supports nothing but making a quick credit, I'm not surprised by the Alliance revelations.
Just as I've run into player groups who support each power and dont care about us lone wolf commanders out to make money.
I could go on about how EDF run smugglers out of their area, or EIC using an illegal blockade of a system, or how 2 alliance groups signed deals with their fed/impie opponents only to renege on them within a week

All 3 superpowers are in the thargoid story upto their collective necks, they've known for over 30 years what is coming, why else would sector 70 be off limits (which means the pilots federation themselves are in on it)? why the exploration ships sent out to the rift to mark a line of earthlikes/ammonia worlds, then kill the crews before they can return and spill the beans on whats been going on.

Plus all the frantic build up in the pleiades, and the station building, and the new weapons development.
The engineers must come into this, because they all work for one of the 3 powers, heck 3 of them are based in Sol, Achenar and Alioth.. the capital systems...

Something bad is coming, and the thargoids aint going to be it, because they know, when push comes to shove, we'll beat them by any means we can.

Bill

and as a post script I'll leave you with 4 letters I N R A

 

[CMDR Zadian Lichtfrost]

So mahon dominating powerplay and the alliance more than doubling in size is not worth a single lore mention in 2.5 years?

This isn't about one player group this is about the aggregate actions of the alliance player base. What do we get? An offshoot of the salami story and and ex fed president.

The Alliance should have gotten a more fleshed out story line.
And after reading Premonition I suspect that the Alliance will get a bit more spotlight in the coming months, but maybe not the spotlight some players aligned to the Alliance might like.

As a sidenote - Powerplay has nothing to do with the superpower power struggle. Anybody working for Mahon is just working for Mahon and not (directly) for the Alliance.

To be honest, I don't like all that galactic wide conspiracy of "The club" of 5. It's too simplistic. An "evil" group of super powerful individuals controlling the fate of humanity for centuries - boring.

 

[CMDR Zadian Lichtfrost]

…
The engineers must come into this, because they all work for one of the 3 powers, heck 3 of them are based in Sol, Achenar and Alioth.. the capital systems...
…

A tiny spoiler: The so called engineers are deep into this.

 

[Arkadi]

I like the questions aksed by OP. Answering them could give some more depth to the game-lore and politics going on. Being a bit more involved with this story wouldn't harm.

I would like to add another question: What exactly is the Alliance about in the California Nebula Fungus Laboratorys? What direction is this research taking? The fight over the domination of the barnacle sites have started very soon after theire descovery - but the fungus? No one really notices it - only the Alliance is researching there all silent and unnoticed. Neither Feds nor Imps are even mentioning it ... strange ain't it?

 

[CMDR Zadian Lichtfrost]

I like the questions aksed by OP. Answering them could give some more depth to the game-lore and politics going on. Being a bit more involved with this story wouldn't harm.

I would like to add another question: What exactly is the Alliance about in the California Nebula Fungus Laboratorys? What direction is this research taking? The fight over the domination of the barnacle sites have started very soon after theire descovery - but the fungus? No one really notices it - only the Alliance is researching there all silent and unnoticed. Neither Feds nor Imps are even mentioning it ... strange ain't it?

It's only strange if you assume that the superpowers are working against each other. The moment you accept they work together everything makes sense.

Feds and Imps building huge fleets of combat ships.
Engineers supplying independent pilots with advanced modules for combat.
Alliance - furthest away from the pleiades - can reverse engineer certain ships they have access to and provide the results to everybody else.

Meanwhile the general populace gets distracted from what's really happening by all the drama and charades and fake warmongering between the superpowers.

 

[SubitusNex]

The amount of BGS work from independent CMDRs - players who aligned themselves to the Alliance - doesn't matter as they aren't part of the Alliance. They are just outsiders working for whoever is in power in the Alliance. Just like any other player in this game.

As players we are not the Alliance or the Federation or the Empire, we are not some organization of those superpowers. FD made a huge mistake by allowing player groups to think they are part of any superpower, because those player groups aren't part of a superpower.


Players have an impact on the story, just not the power to change "protagonists" that are outside of the control of the players.
In essence a lot of Alliance aligned players tried to "godmod" the Alliance - thinking that they are the ones who define what the Alliance is and what the Alliance does.
(Not only Alliance aligned players did this)

Apologies in advance, writing this from my phone. I take no issue with the first part of your message, in fact I agree that the vaccum of content is mostly responsible for the problem. But I absolutely disagree with you on the second part. Everything in game design seems to claim your actions are supposed to greatly influence factions.

Feds and imps have not only reputation but actual ranks, meaning you are part of the fleet for that super power. You also have powerplay which is clearly supposed to be about who are the main powers and players in the galaxy. And you have the BGS which is supposed to be how you directly influence the galaxy. That's the extent of our influence in the game. Because it is a game, I expect that game design to play out storywise. Otherwise why is it there? For the aparence of interaction without any real thing happening? All these things point to a big alliance role in galactic politics and yet nothing in FDev story points to that. The main IP for Elite Dangerous is supposed to be the game, all I'm asking is that they follow what their own game design seems to indicate.

Edit: You also had early CGs which defined a lot about the main players in the Empire and Fed.

For the Alliance there is nothing. No ships, no ranks, no story. It's a big big bias.

Edit 2: It's not even godmode as you say, it's literally their game design.

 

[Schlack]

Last official word on alliance content from Mr braben last year was: not that soon. Not even soon (tm). I seriously doubt we will see much in 2.4 and perhaps beyond.

 

[SP_Predicador]

"In the political press, attention has focused on the fact that Halsey has become a close confidante of Alliance Prime Minister Edmund Mahon – another moderate voice on the intergalactic stage."

https://community.elitedangerous.com/en/galnet/uid/59561f8afcc60860da1da171

 

[SubitusNex]

I expect something after they go back to core. One can only hope.

 

[Schlack]

"In the political press, attention has focused on the fact that Halsey has become a close confidante of Alliance Prime Minister Edmund Mahon – another moderate voice on the intergalactic stage."

https://community.elitedangerous.com/en/galnet/uid/59561f8afcc60860da1da171

Ex fed President= alliance content.....

 

[CMDR Zadian Lichtfrost]

… Everything in game design seems to claim your actions are supposed to greatly influence factions.

You can influence position the factions and superpowers, but you can't influence their intentions and motivations.
As players we can't decide what the superpowers and factions do and why they do it. We just can increase their influence and help them without actually knowing what they really want.

Feds and imps have not only reputation but actual ranks, meaning you are part of the fleet for that super power.

No, players are not part of the fleet/Navy of a superpower, players are part of the auxiliary navies of those powers.

You also have powerplay which is clearly supposed to be about who are the main powers and players in the galaxy.

Powerplay is not about the main powers, it's about the different "celebrities". Working for Mahon is not the same as working for the Alliance, or working for Hudson the same as working for the Federation.
Players participating in power play are volunteers working for individuals - like volunteers working for a political party without being members of that political party and without any influence on the political party.

And you have the BGS which is supposed to be how you directly influence the galaxy. That's the extent of our influence in the game. Because it is a game, I expect that game design to play out storywise. Otherwise why is it there? For the aparence of interaction without any real thing happening? All these things point to a big alliance role in galactic politics and yet nothing in FDev story points to that.…

I agree with you that the Alliance should play a more visibly important part in the story.
The BGS is important for low level things. The day to day business of the galaxy if you want. For the current "it's all a big conspiracy" story the BGS is unimportant - and I agree with you that this is isn't really way to tell the story.

For the Alliance there is nothing. No ships, no ranks, no story. It's a big big bias.

Massive amounts of tinfoil required:
What if FD tried to discourage players to align themselves to the Alliance by not giving them the cool toys, because they intent to set up the Alliance as the really bad antagonists?
That would make it a bit interesting, but I suspect it is just "Alliance working secretly while Feds and Imps provide a human shield for the Alliance to create the humanity saving tech".

 

[Apos]

Massive amounts of tinfoil required:
What if FD tried to discourage players to align themselves to the Alliance by not giving them the cool toys, because they intent to set up the Alliance as the really bad antagonists?
That would make it a bit interesting, but I suspect it is just "Alliance working secretly while Feds and Imps provide a human shield for the Alliance to create the humanity saving tech".

Not as tin foil hat as someone would presume. Almost every long time alliance supporter has thought at one point or another: "Maybe FD just doesn't want us to grow this into something."

But well...if that's true they failed. And they have to accept that and act accordingly. They are the ones advertising of a player driven galaxy, they should adhere to their words.

Or we will just keep pushing until their galaxy makes no sense whatsoever and the dissonance between the galaxy map and what's happening in their railroaded storyline just makes even the most casual of players wonder what is going on and whether FD is out of their minds.

 

[CMDR Zadian Lichtfrost]

Not as tin foil hat as someone would presume. Almost every long time alliance supporter has thought at one point or another: "Maybe FD just doesn't want us to grow this into something."

But well...if that's true they failed. And they have to accept that and act accordingly. They are the ones advertising of a player driven galaxy, they should adhere to their words.

Or we will just keep pushing until their galaxy makes no sense whatsoever and the dissonance between the galaxy map and what's happening in their railroaded storyline just makes even the most casual of players wonder what is going on and whether FD is out of their minds.

The thing is, the galaxy makes sense. The Alliance is a superpower and a very influential one.

The players can help the Alliance to gain as much power and influence they want, but they will never have influence what the alliance does with that power and influence. Just like the Federation and the Empire the superpower are not player controlled entities.

A lot of players aligned to a superpower just assume that they are something special and that they somehow have control over the superpower they have themselves aligned to.

If the Alliance thinks it's good for them to cooperate with the Federation - why are players upset about it?
Looks to me like some players got carried away with their own story and now realize that their own story doesn't match the story told by FD.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Every single cmdr who has supported any of the superpowers will some come to realise the extent to which tney have been manipulated and exploited. The power bases you think you have expanded or just empty shells. The wealth you have accrued, meaningless. All your efforts, for nothing.

Now is the time to rise up, and never surrender.

 

[CMDR Zadian Lichtfrost]

Every single cmdr who has supported any of the superpowers will some come to realise the extent to which tney have been manipulated and exploited. The power bases you think you have expanded or just empty shells. The wealth you have accrued, meaningless. All your efforts, for nothing.

Now is the time to rise up, and never surrender.

You forgot to say "always remember".

Now what effect would it have to rise up and bring the superpowers to their knees? Would it result in anything good for humanity or is it just chasing a dream, and ideal of "truth" just for the sake of it?