Powerplay - Really? - aka: The Fascinating Quest for Prismatic Shields

[Rubbernuke]

There really needs to be in-game bulliten boards for the various powers, mirrored to Frontier's in-game (all but dead) PowerPlay subforum, so that core players can communicate with more casual players.

This would be an excellent move. Ironically the original Powerplay intro video hinted at this but it never did materialize.

timbero: It would entail an even bigger grind, little to no reward, no way to organize in game, crappy pp feedback, more enduring of the programmers UI.. yadda yadda yadda yadda.

I then continue my shortest possible route to the goal.

'It would entail an even bigger grind' - 3 more jumps either way, sometimes as little as 1 to actually help.

'little to no reward' - because the meat and potatoes of Powerplay are about helping the Power and not yourself. See the last point for more.

'no way to organize in game' - granted, but it takes < 1 minute to check the Reddit or Discord to see what needs doing- or even in these boards that usually have a mirror post.

'crappy pp feedback' - I assume this is the delayed updates to Powerplay activities on the boards?

'enduring of the programmers UI' - not exactly objective.

'I then continue my shortest possible route to the goal' - the crux of the problem: many powers are slaves to the trinkets they have. The biggest improvement to PP would be to decouple power specific modules from rank and allow them to be bought. Then, those who simply want the module can get it, and those playing that part of the game get left to play properly.

 

[Crash1099]

I probably should point out that I know just as much as any Newbie about Powerplay, as I really don't care much about this aspect of the game. However, those prismatic shields really look sexy and the benefit of using a one class smaller slot for the same shield power is really attractive (so 6A prismatic would equal 7A regular).

So, as a noob in Powerplay, I looked at what I needed to do to get them:

1. Pledge to the blue-haired princess - OK
2. Wait three weeks - well, WTH, whatever
3. Gain 750 merits after the third cycle of PowerPlay to gain rank 3, allowing me to get my paws on those prismatic shields after week 4.

So three weeks have passed, I can finally do something (that helps with the shields)!

Options available:

• Prepare - deliver "Aisling materials" to certain systems
• Fortify - same as above
• Undermine - destroy enemy faction ships in Undermined systems

Prepare and Fortify

• What the heck were they thinking regarding "Aisling materials"? In the year 3,303 we are really distributing paper (plastic?) pamphlets by the metric tonne? 750 tonnes to be exact, to reach rank 3. Even more than 1,000 years earlier, almost all propaganda happened over electronic media. Cannot say that this does much for immersion.
• Prepare and Fortify are exactly the same, not really intriguing gameplay
• You get only 10 tonnes of that Aisling stuff free every 30 minutes - and I thought rares were bad with the 10 minute wait. Graciously, Miss Aisling allows me to buy additional propaganda packs of 10 units for a measly 100,000 CR each. To do this, exactly four clicks are needed. Then you do it again, for a total of 164 clicks to fill the hold of my Cutter. Watching paint dry is fascinating by comparison.
• Now you fly to a destination system in the right state ("Fortify"). Most Aisling Systems are over-fortified several 100% with zero points on undermining from an opposing faction. Your contribution feels really special here.

Undermine

• Well, interesting option, if it was actually available. The powerplay map did not reveal a single Aisling system currently being undermined by somebody. A look at the forum section for Duval confirmed this: nothing is happening, it is as quiet as a graveyard for Aislings followers

So only option was to haul 750 tonnes of pamphlets, yeah! Everything else I did in game so far has been white-knuckle intense and riveting by comparison to my hour of Powerplay. I have no inkling how anybody could stand this grind up to level 5 and I do not want to imagine.

Good things is: next Thursday I can buy my Prismatic Shields, in any size and with spares - and happily unpledge, trying hard to forget about Powerplay as soon as I can.


Conclusions:

• The lead designer responsible for Powerplay must have been a sadist, enjoying the agony of players being tortured to death by boredom and arthritis in their mouse-finger
• How FDev ever thought that this adds anything to the game is beyond me
• I cannot imagine a real newbie to the game being drawn in by this "dramatic" game play element, much more likely it would cause somebody to give up on Elite before giving it a real chance (which would be a pity, considering all the game elements that work and are fun)
• At least Duval's power play faction appears to be almost dead, except for shield grabbers like me. Nothing happening, nothing going on. Some expansion candidates have been "prepared" to the tune of 23,697 tonnes of pamphlets (out of 50 needed), but will not be targeted for expansion as they are money-losing propositions. This indicates that either Aisling supporters are extremely bored or these pamphlet deliveries are made exclusively by guys that want the Prismatics and don't give a hoot about Powerplay otherwise. Same for the non-undermined systems with several hundred percent fortification.

Powerplay seems to me like something that is more likely to scare off new players than anything else. It either needs to be put out of its misery or reworked from the ground up.

Again, these are my observations as an experienced player (1000 hours+) trying Powerplay for the very first time. I may, of course, have missed something. But if that is the case, I suppose that any real newbie would miss it as well.

I know this sounds silly. But with engineers can't you just use reinforced shields on normal shields and be close to the value of prismatic shields. Huge shield boost and crap recharge like prismatics.

 

[Tarman]

This would be an excellent move. Ironically the original Powerplay intro video hinted at this but it never did materialize.



'It would entail an even bigger grind' - 3 more jumps either way, sometimes as little as 1 to actually help.

'little to no reward' - because the meat and potatoes of Powerplay are about helping the Power and not yourself. See the last point for more.

'no way to organize in game' - granted, but it takes < 1 minute to check the Reddit or Discord to see what needs doing- or even in these boards that usually have a mirror post.

'crappy pp feedback' - I assume this is the delayed updates to Powerplay activities on the boards?

'enduring of the programmers UI' - not exactly objective.

'I then continue my shortest possible route to the goal' - the crux of the problem: many powers are slaves to the trinkets they have. The biggest improvement to PP would be to decouple power specific modules from rank and allow them to be bought. Then, those who simply want the module can get it, and those playing that part of the game get left to play properly.

Basically everything I saw that I didn't like about the implementation of PP right at the start came true, especially the primary focus of PP for most players being to jump in and hoe themselves out to get a goodie by whichever path gets to said goodie, and then ditch the system entirely. The only reason I haven't done it yet myself is because I am not even enamoured with most of the goodies in the first place. I am mildly tempted by packhounds because of a tangental interest in anime-style missile spreads but the actual execution of the PP game elements are imo abysmal when attempted to connect to any other Elite political game elements.

I was hoping for something much more dynamically involved than what came up. As my comment stated earlier, the only appreciable long-term effect I notice in my own gameplay is that the colourey blobs I accidentally see on occasion have become slightly different shapes. The turning of these wheels affects little else in the grand scheme of things; despite tons of system-level changes, the sheer number of systems makes black market closings and such an irrelevancy and travel nuisance at best. I can also join or make independent player groups too to get PP stuff done with more fun involved, but that's far and above more fun because groups of people are more fun, not because the game elements are of any value per se.

 

[Rubbernuke]

Powerplay is far, far from perfect. It has many flaws but at the same time it gives a framework for stuff to happen on. 11 powers exist, and have well established groups that support them. What I'm arguing really is that those people who hate Powerplay (which is fine) don't treat it like some toilet for those who do play it.

 

[Tarman]

Powerplay is far, far from perfect. It has many flaws but at the same time it gives a framework for stuff to happen on. 11 powers exist, and have well established groups that support them. What I'm arguing really is that those people who hate Powerplay (which is fine) don't treat it like some toilet for those who do play it.

I get where you're coming from, but ultimately that's decided by the implementation, not the end-user. Currently there's no way for the system to not function like it does except by world-wide good graces. Considering the latest fun is for people to poop out mines on landing pads, 2.4 hopes may be in order rather than counting on humanity to not do what it does.

 

[Rubbernuke]

I get where you're coming from, but ultimately that's decided by the implementation, not the end-user. Currently there's no way for the system to not function like it does except by world-wide good graces. Considering the latest fun is for people to poop out mines on landing pads, 2.4 hopes may be in order rather than counting on humanity to not do what it does.

It comes down to the player, and there as you rightly point out lots of inconsiderate idiots playing. One example was a well known streamer who wanted Packhounds- he did his time with Powerplay in the most destructive way possible, ruining the experience for the group even after the group leaders repeatedly asked for him to stop (showing him the Reddit/ Discord weekly tasks that needed doing). His response was to urge his followers to simply dump all over and do what they liked to get the launcher.

In the end you can design a straightjacket to a game and people will complain things are too restrictive. Leave it too open ended and you get what happened above. Powerplay requires that everyone pull in the same direction, even if that pull is just a tug.

 

[Taranis Dekker]

I probably should point out that I know just as much as any Newbie about Powerplay, as I really don't care much about this aspect of the game. However, those prismatic shields really look sexy and the benefit of using a one class smaller slot for the same shield power is really attractive (so 6A prismatic would equal 7A regular).

So, as a noob in Powerplay, I looked at what I needed to do to get them:

1. Pledge to the blue-haired princess - OK
2. Wait three weeks - well, WTH, whatever
3. Gain 750 merits after the third cycle of PowerPlay to gain rank 3, allowing me to get my paws on those prismatic shields after week 4.

So three weeks have passed, I can finally do something (that helps with the shields)!

Options available:

• Prepare - deliver "Aisling materials" to certain systems
• Fortify - same as above
• Undermine - destroy enemy faction ships in Undermined systems

Prepare and Fortify

• What the heck were they thinking regarding "Aisling materials"? In the year 3,303 we are really distributing paper (plastic?) pamphlets by the metric tonne? 750 tonnes to be exact, to reach rank 3. Even more than 1,000 years earlier, almost all propaganda happened over electronic media. Cannot say that this does much for immersion.
• Prepare and Fortify are exactly the same, not really intriguing gameplay
• You get only 10 tonnes of that Aisling stuff free every 30 minutes - and I thought rares were bad with the 10 minute wait. Graciously, Miss Aisling allows me to buy additional propaganda packs of 10 units for a measly 100,000 CR each. To do this, exactly four clicks are needed. Then you do it again, for a total of 164 clicks to fill the hold of my Cutter. Watching paint dry is fascinating by comparison.
• Now you fly to a destination system in the right state ("Fortify"). Most Aisling Systems are over-fortified several 100% with zero points on undermining from an opposing faction. Your contribution feels really special here.

Undermine

• Well, interesting option, if it was actually available. The powerplay map did not reveal a single Aisling system currently being undermined by somebody. A look at the forum section for Duval confirmed this: nothing is happening, it is as quiet as a graveyard for Aislings followers

So only option was to haul 750 tonnes of pamphlets, yeah! Everything else I did in game so far has been white-knuckle intense and riveting by comparison to my hour of Powerplay. I have no inkling how anybody could stand this grind up to level 5 and I do not want to imagine.

Good things is: next Thursday I can buy my Prismatic Shields, in any size and with spares - and happily unpledge, trying hard to forget about Powerplay as soon as I can.


Conclusions:

• The lead designer responsible for Powerplay must have been a sadist, enjoying the agony of players being tortured to death by boredom and arthritis in their mouse-finger
• How FDev ever thought that this adds anything to the game is beyond me
• I cannot imagine a real newbie to the game being drawn in by this "dramatic" game play element, much more likely it would cause somebody to give up on Elite before giving it a real chance (which would be a pity, considering all the game elements that work and are fun)
• At least Duval's power play faction appears to be almost dead, except for shield grabbers like me. Nothing happening, nothing going on. Some expansion candidates have been "prepared" to the tune of 23,697 tonnes of pamphlets (out of 50 needed), but will not be targeted for expansion as they are money-losing propositions. This indicates that either Aisling supporters are extremely bored or these pamphlet deliveries are made exclusively by guys that want the Prismatics and don't give a hoot about Powerplay otherwise. Same for the non-undermined systems with several hundred percent fortification.

Powerplay seems to me like something that is more likely to scare off new players than anything else. It either needs to be put out of its misery or reworked from the ground up.

Again, these are my observations as an experienced player (1000 hours+) trying Powerplay for the very first time. I may, of course, have missed something. But if that is the case, I suppose that any real newbie would miss it as well.

I feel your pain, CMDR.

I went through the whole PP discomfort over the last few months, getting prismatics, before defecting for Imperial Hammers, then yet again for Packhounds. I didn't powerplay as such, but I tried to make sure I was delivering stuff to planets that actually needed it for fortification, rather than dumping it on the nearest friendly rock.

By the time I'd finished, I felt like I hated ED, and took a couple of weeks off to recover.

 

[Rubbernuke]

I feel your pain, CMDR.

I went through the whole PP discomfort over the last few months, getting prismatics, before defecting for Imperial Hammers, then yet again for Packhounds. I didn't powerplay as such, but I tried to make sure I was delivering stuff to planets that actually needed it for fortification, rather than dumping it on the nearest friendly rock.

By the time I'd finished, I felt like I hated ED, and took a couple of weeks off to recover.

Hating the design is fine, but thank you for being considerate to those who play Powerplay.

 

[jasonbarron]

I've never tried PP beyond just pledging to get the goodies, but that by itself isn't the big deal so many people make it out to be.

For Prismatics I pledged and promptly forgot about it for three weeks, waited for the time to expire, went to Bunda and destroyed 30 Federal Agents or similar aligned vessels, flew to the Blue Princesses capital and cashed it in, then enjoyed my sweet new modules. Pledging was absolutely passive, and farming the Fed ships took me less than an hour.

 

[Crank Larson]

I joined Aisling at the same time as you OP, and for the same reasons. I also have many hours in the game already, and had never touched PowerPlay before. However, I'm rather enjoying it. It gives me more things to do during normal mission running (I'll load up media materials during normal cargo runs), and really doesn't take much extra time at all (though this is because I am now based out of Cubeo, so don't need to go out of my way to collect media).

While I agree that PP could do with some more work (though I suspect this is unlikely), it isn't as hugely awful as people like to make out. It might be a huge time sink if you want to aim for level 5 pledge, but to maintain tier 3 (which is all that is needed for the Power's goodies) is really quite easy. Especially as half your merits carry over from one week to the next, so you don't have to move more than 400 materials a week. Can do that in one journey in my Cutter, or two in the Python (which is what I'm usually flying).

 

[Taranis Dekker]

Hating the design is fine, but thank you for being considerate to those who play Powerplay.

No worries, CMDR. I could see some planets many times over 100% - one or two ridiculously so. When PP first came out, I did play it, but it felt like an uphill struggle sometimes to not go negative every cycle, and efforts were often hampered by over-dumping onto already fortified planets. I remember how annoying it was then, and I didn't want to contribute to making it that way for anyone else now.

 

[timbero]

'little to no reward' - because the meat and potatoes of Powerplay are about helping the Power and not yourself.

Yeah, that's not a good incentive for most people. Grinding countless hours to help a fictitious character in a game gain 2% of a system, and you get zilch for it. Tell me again what difference it makes if ALD has control of 52 or 57 systems, what's the importance of this? 5% more bounty profits?

'crappy pp feedback' - I assume this is the delayed updates to Powerplay activities on the boards?

Well that is a fair point too, but I was talking about the mess of information given and trying to understand what is the best course of action.

Hardly intuitive.

'enduring of the programmers UI' - not exactly objective.

I challenge you to watch the entire video, and say this is good gameplay.

[video=youtube;YC9axIsAoVw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC9axIsAoVw[/video]

Do you think it was a programmer, or a gamer that decided it should function like this?

 

[Crank Larson]

Why can't a person just be a rogue trader/hunter/pirate or whatever and get access to these items via the black market?

Conversely, why should everything be available on the Black Market? The Power Play goodies are tightly controlled. Because it takes four weeks to actually get access to them, when people do have access they want to keep things to themselves - so they aren't going to be selling their modules on any market.

 

[Deleted member 115407]

I dont think you have missed anything, powerplay as a concept is fine but the implementation of it wasnt thought through too well with the activities around it. Hopefully after 2.4 when FD work on the core gameplay that they can actually make pp fun rather than a dull chore which is only really used for 4 week bursts to snag the pp mods.

Yep, minge pretty much nails it right here.

 

[Darkfyre99]

The main problem, at least from my point of view, is that it is largely divorced from the rest of the game's systems. Because of this, most players inevitably face a choice: you either play Powerplay, or you play the rest of the game, or you try to do both, badly. It doesn't help that Powerplay has only two activities: kill ships, and A-B cargo runs.

I enjoy playing the BGS, and I would love it if BGS activities earned you merits, and credit towards undermining, preparing, or fortification. If I go into a system and support a faction that is favorable towards my Power, that should be just as important as delivering 10 tons of... say... corruption reports.

 

[Rubbernuke]

Yeah, that's not a good incentive for most people. Grinding countless hours to help a fictitious character gain 2% of a system in a game, and you get zilch for it. Tell me again what difference it makes if ALD has control of 52 or 57 systems, what's the importance of this? 5% more bounty profits?

It would mean they would go up the rankings if they overtook another power. And perks are dependent on being 1, 2 or 3 sometimes.

Well that is a fair point too, but I was talking about the mess of information given and trying to understand what is the best course of action.

Hardly intuitive.

This I can't argue with, as Powerplay is overwhelming to new players- hence the importance of asking the right people who do know and explaining it better than FD. Nearly all the Reddits have extensive and understandable guides. But then, thats true of all of ED.

I challenge you to watch the entire video, and say this is good gameplay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC9axIsAoVw

Do you think it was a programmer, or a gamer that decided it should function like this?

Fast tracking and gating are one of the core UI irritants to Powerplay, this is true. I can't and won't defend FD on this one.

The real fun and gameplay with Powerplay is when you have the groups interacting and then it all moves beyond what Powerplay superficially offers.

 

[MottiKhan]

I've never tried PP beyond just pledging to get the goodies, but that by itself isn't the big deal so many people make it out to be.

For Prismatics I pledged and promptly forgot about it for three weeks, waited for the time to expire, went to Bunda and destroyed 30 Federal Agents or similar aligned vessels, flew to the Blue Princesses capital and cashed it in, then enjoyed my sweet new modules. Pledging was absolutely passive, and farming the Fed ships took me less than an hour.

I had a blast with it back in the day. Got into the RP part while supporting Hudson. Maintained rank 5 for months. Got to understand some details under the hood.

But those were different times. First, there was a bug, unbeknownst to me, that we were getting over 400% bonuses on our BH kills. ALD was getting the same. I got rich so quickly, it made my head spin.

We also had real leadership. Ant_Solo and A_Honcho were exceptional leaders and made it fun. They, and their lieutenants explained our objectives and the reasoning behind them. The rank and file were never kept in the dark.

The bonus bug has been squashed and the leadership has changed several times over. Now, it's just a mini detour to grab those goodies. When I do, I undermine those areas that make no difference to the "enemy". I hear rumors that there are still almost a dozen people who care about PP.

 

[Crank Larson]

I then continue my shortest possible route to the goal.

I think I've worked out the problem. E: D isn't about the shortest possible route to anything. In fact, some things are meant to take a very long time.

 

[timbero]

I think I've worked out the problem. E: D isn't about the shortest possible route to anything. In fact, some things are meant to take a very long time.

I see.. well I better start shipping CG commodities 1 at a time then, instead of 750 at a time like I'm doing now.

I better extend the trade route too, adding more jumps between stations. I shall have to arc my trade route around instead of going in a straight line.

I better downgrade my weapons too, I wouldn't want to destroy ships as fast as possible. That qualifies as the shortest route to destroying a ship doesn't it? Dangit ..

Elite Dangerous, why you no short route? :S

 

[Johnny Cyclops]

You've experienced what many have, powerplay is mechanically poor. And even worse, due to the cost of expansion it seems to have reached a near stalemate.

The potential of powerplay is to provide some much needed context and structure to the galaxy, a reason to fight, a reason to flip systems. That stuff can actually be quite fun.

I tried PP a year or more ago when it first came out. It didn't grab me. I do play the BGS a lot, and spend my time flipping systems but I don't see that connected at all to PP (or I'm just missing the connection). My two main fields of play for BGS have both (randomly) been on the border of PP space, so a mix of PP-controlled and uncontrolled systems. Other than bumping into PP aligned NPCs I've never noticed any difference.

So, does PP have any impact on flipping systems, or vice versa, does my flipping systems for BGS reasons have any impact on PP?