I'm missing some very basic concept regarding Power Play. I just don't understand how a system can belong to the Federation and yet be controlled by the Emperor. That's like saying Putin runs New Jersey. Though considering the controversy surrounding the recent US election, maybe this is the model ED uses - control from "behind the scenes"?
Can someone explain to me the basic concept of PP? I've seen very detailed posts regarding the mechanics, so that's not what I need. Let me ask some specific questions to start the discussion. If Arissa (my pledged power) controls a Federation system, what does she get from that? Does the Federation care? Does this mean the system is in a state of war? Will that system ever become part of the Empire? If not, what's the point?
Related to this, do powers of the Empire ever "battle" for control of systems? I get a "Treason!" message if I shoot Aisling's NPCs because supposedly we're all on the same team. Yet it seems more logical to me that powers within the Empire would be "fighting" for control over all the systems, much like Clinton and Trump "fought" for support of the 50 states of America. If Arissa and Aisling are like Clinton and Trump, how do they gain control of systems if not through physical conflict?
Like I said, I get the mechanics, but I seemed to have skipped over the "Power Play 101" class.
Yeah, relating Power Play to the lore and storyline is problematic, because, frankly, FDev lore department only backed power play for about a month. I'm going to try and be succinct here, but I'm not especially good at concision.
Power Play and Galactic Power Standing are a relatively abstract system for measuring popular approval amongst galactic politicians. So when a system is Controlled by a Power, it does not mean the Power directly administers the system's government, it means the system's population is heavily influenced by and supportive of the Power's political approval.
The Powers and their organisations are not representative of the superpower or corporation they are related to in the lore, they are separate mercenary fleets that support their lore-driven overall causes, without representing the political organisation itself. The easiest example understood is that Li Yong-Rui and Siriu Gov are not a political arm of the Sirius Corporation. Though they have close relations, Sirius Gov is the Li Dynasty heir's attempt to bring a semi-corporate utopia for spacefarers of all sorts.
For an example of explaining power play mechanics into lore, let's look at Emperor Arissa Lavigny-Duval and the Shield of Justice. The Shield of Justice is a contingent of paramilitary vigilante bounty hunters who coalesced around then Senator Arissa Lavigny-Duval as she investigated the attempts on her biological father's life. Even though they are essentially ALD's personal fleet of pledged retainers, these vigilantes don't have any direct connection to the Imperial Navy. (They
can, but they don't necessarily have to have any.) When the Shield of Justice moves into a system, it clear corruption from the system authority and funding increases for the local security forces and covers the increase in fines. Presumably this funding and other garrison supplies come from Kamadhenu, but even though the Shield of Justice is pledged to the Emperor, the actions of the Shield of Justice are held against each individual pledged CMDR. The Emperor is not held at fault when you murder a Federal Agent, you are. So even though the Shield of Justice's garrison in the Control System converts the population of the surrounding (exploited) systems to the Emperor's 'Dominion', the Emperor herself does not administer the government. The political coterie who also support the Emperor advise and manipulate Control and Exploited systems so their populations remain loyal to the Emperor.
There's both a level of plausible deniability for the Power from the actions of independent pilots, and for the local system government if they're siding roughly with a political power they aren't aligned with.
Every Power can be broken down in this way, though admittedly the most confusing are going to be Patreus and Hudson, as their expansions are considered either 'military strikes' or 'security operations'. One argument is that Hudson employs private military contractors (pledged pilots), deputises them as Federal Agents, and increases local security after the PMCs move on to other targets. In this way I see Hudson as very similar to ALD, because it is divorced from leveraging the official Federal Navy. Senator Patreus had the same deniability, but now that he is Admiral of the Fleet Patreus, it's unclear how his private fleet can be divorced from the Imperial Navy. However, what is clear about Denton Patreus in Power Play, is that his expansions are military actions undertaken to reclaim outstanding debts from system governments which took personal loans. Once his private fleet 'controls' a system, the debtors become a burgeoning market for Imperial Slavery, while any Imperial Citizens within the system cease paying taxes to the Empire. Thanks to the loan money still flooding in and the garrison supplies, armaments and Gutamaya vessels have their prices reduced.
As far as the 'controlling faction' superpower alignment goes, it is worth noting that a Federally-aligned corporation or confederacy is not the same as an outpost of the Federal Navy. While a Federally-aligned faction can rely on the support of the Federal Navy when fighting a War and the Federal Security Service to augment their system authority, a Federally-aligned faction is still more of a banana republic than an explicitly controlled territory. (Finishing this thought makes me realise that this concept could be held up for very long and drawn out debate.)
Alright, so much for being concise. Is the image any more clear to you now?
As for internecine conflicts within the superpowers, murdering fellow Imperials is treacherous, but robbing them blind to undermine their authority in the region is just par for the course. You can interdict and hijack their ships and deliver their fortification supplies to your control systems to undermine the Power in that system. It doesn't happen in practice for the same reason that CMDRs undertaking a career of piracy doesn't happen very often. It's not easy and it can be a very dull uphill battle.
Basically, everything I've said here uses the lore that the game provides and elaborates and distills from it into something that makes sense to me. Most people aren't that interested in the lore of Power Play, but we exist, and we have numerous debates. You're welcome to join in.
