The BGS and Me

[Zyferon]

So, being a lone CMDR, can I actually play the BGS in a meaningful way?

What I mean is... Now that I have all the ships that I currently want I was thinking a heading out to a fringe area of the bubble and try my hand at supporting any fledgling Federation Minor factions that were out there. Possibly moving them into the controlling faction to spread the light of the Federation. But, as it is just me, is it even possible?

I only ask because I have been watching the influence of the groups in my "home" system, and after running only INF+++ missions and there doesn't seem to be any difference in the percentages. I figure I just can't make enough of a difference.

Any players out there with a little first hand knowledge willing to share what they have learned. Thanks.

 

[the100thmonkey]

It's definitely possible.

The issue you're seeing in your home system is either population or traffic.

all systems have an influence cap, i.e. how much influence can move by per tick. Large population systems have lower caps than smaller ones. Big agris move by about 2% per day. Tiny systems can swing by up to 20%.

Every action in a system affects influence. In heavily trafficked systems, all the missions, kills and trade done by other players can drown out all the work you do. A small system on the edge of the bubble with little player traffic will let you see the effects.

 

[CMDR Endincite]

Can attest to the100thmonkey's advice.
My group operates deeper in the bubble and it can often be a struggle.
I moved out to one of the farther extents of the bubble, >250 ly from Sol, and now I can manipulate my own system and whatever I wish nearby (around 15 systems) by myself with ease as the highest average traffic any of them see is perhaps 4/day and the populations are all very low.

Do your homework though. Check traffic levels over a few days (especially comparing weekend levels to weekday), and survey all around to make sure one of the hundreds of player factions hasn't moved into the neighborhood. They're usually easily identifiable, as 99.9% of NPC factions have their home system name in their title. If it doesn't, it's probably a player faction. You can find abandoned examples of these though, so again check traffic levels.

Oh and if you find yourself looking at a system controlled or exploited by a given Power (e.g. Aisling Duval, Mahon, Antal and so on) check that the faction you want to support doesn't have a government type they would oppose.
The Powerplay BGS groups and teams have been at this a long while and can pretty efficiently crush small player factions, who whether they know it or not can cause significant harm in Powerplay terms just by controlling systems. Too often individuals or groups find themselves with opposition of this sort and few understand why.

 

[IamNickMan]

Could always team up with me and change the galaxy

 

[Zyferon]

Thanks for the replies. So a followup question...

When I see a mission with influence modifier of INF+++, are all of these missions the same with respect to the BGS or is it some kind of formula based upon the credits the mission is worth? For example (purely hypothetical for I have no idea of the formula that would be involved), a mission worth 1M credits and INF+ would arbitrarily give 1M units of influence, but a 400,000 credit mission and INF+++ would give 1.2M units of influence. Just trying to determine which missions I should run for the maximum effect.

Thanks again.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

So, being a lone CMDR, can I actually play the BGS in a meaningful way?

What I mean is... Now that I have all the ships that I currently want I was thinking a heading out to a fringe area of the bubble and try my hand at supporting any fledgling Federation Minor factions that were out there. Possibly moving them into the controlling faction to spread the light of the Federation. But, as it is just me, is it even possible?

I only ask because I have been watching the influence of the groups in my "home" system, and after running only INF+++ missions and there doesn't seem to be any difference in the percentages. I figure I just can't make enough of a difference.

Any players out there with a little first hand knowledge willing to share what they have learned. Thanks.

It's entirely possible to play the BGS as a lone commander.
I've taken control of the 4 systems my faction was already present it, expanded into 3 more (2 controlled) and have another expansion pending.

The important part is finding somewhere where there are few (or preferably no) other commanders - which you can do by checking the traffic reports. I'm 170LY from Sol, right on the very edge of the Bubble.

I'm mostly an explorer, so I keep influence high in controlled systems by regularly selling Universal Cartographics data.
To gain influence in uncontrolled systems I bounty hunt in Nav Beacons of systems I have control of (no Res in any of my systems yet) then cash the bounty in the system I want to boost. I find that 250k CR a day in a low population system will be enough to take that system over in around a week - and that only takes me an hour to get. But only cash in the bounty for your faction - sell the other factions to the ISF rep.
Mix that up with running some missions and you can keep things ticking over without it turning into a horrible grind.

 

[CMDR pollycough]

So, being a lone CMDR, can I actually play the BGS in a meaningful way?

What I mean is... Now that I have all the ships that I currently want I was thinking a heading out to a fringe area of the bubble and try my hand at supporting any fledgling Federation Minor factions that were out there. Possibly moving them into the controlling faction to spread the light of the Federation. But, as it is just me, is it even possible?

I only ask because I have been watching the influence of the groups in my "home" system, and after running only INF+++ missions and there doesn't seem to be any difference in the percentages. I figure I just can't make enough of a difference.

Any players out there with a little first hand knowledge willing to share what they have learned. Thanks.

It is possible that the faction you were supporting was in a conflict in another system, Whereby any action will have no effect.

It is perfectly possible to do it on your own, But as stated by my learned colleagues, Not in a big busy system.

 

[daman]

I started off playing the BGS flipping Anarchy systems practically by myself. It is certainly possible even in medium population systems. It just may be a bit slower.

Share info such as the size of the system you are in, traffic coming in, the current state of the factions. can give specific direction.

 

[metatheurgist]

The Galactic Academy is currently trying to grow it's own faction. It's not a Fed faction and it's a bit remote but if you want to see and learn how things work they won't object to another commander pitching in.

 

[Threeofseven]

Absolutely you can. I mess with BGS/flip systems a lot. 99% solo too. What state is the faction you are trying to adjust in? If they're in a war in any other system, missions will have zero effect. Also if they are in outbreak or famine only certain missions will have an effect.

 

[Range Roger]

It is possible. I have done it. I posted this story on another website:

'Recently I had been getting some great smuggling missions for slaves, weapons and drugs running at a system on the outskirts of the bubble (Motilekui). The missions had all been for a minor faction called the Purple Clan. All the other factions have only been offering donation missions. So, in my experience the whole thing was a bit weird compared to other systems.

Anyway, I thought, what if I could put this Purple Clan in power as the ruling faction. Get them to take over the system. They will have more power, be richer and offer me even better missions. Right?

So, I continue doing missions for them and the next thing I know the Purple Clan are at war with one of the other minor factions. So, I'm there at the CZ to help them out with my fully engineered Cutter completely fitted out with efficient pulse lasers. My Cutter was converted from a smuggler into a battleship that had the ability to cruise through the enemy firing all day without the need to return to base.

So, after a couple of evenings along with my Purple Clan pals, blasting away at the enemy we eventually win the war. Hooray! And as a reward the Purple Clan got control of an outpost in the system.

Therefore, I go back to my smuggling missions, happily making around 10 - 15m credits for a 150ly run. But about a week later the Purple Clan are at war again, but this time it's with the controlling faction. So out comes the combat Cutter and I'm back at the CZ again doing a couple more evenings of pew, pew, and yes you guessed it, we win the war!

And suddenly it all turns to crap. The Purple Clan is now the ruling faction, the system is in Anarchy and now the Purple Clan have not offered me a single mission for the past 4 weeks!

And the moral of the story is, if you are onto a good thing, don't f*ck with it '

Fly safe CMDRs o7

 

[Steph]

Yes, a lone CMDR can make a huge difference. I've developed my little area of space quite significantly over the years ;-)

 

[Zyferon]

Wow. Tried to reply to my own thread yesterday, and it never went through. Thanks for all the replies...

I believe that the issue I was having in my home system was a conflict in a neighboring system. But there have still been some times where I just don't seem to see an influence on the BGS. My home system right now is Rotanev, and in both open and Mobius PVE I maybe see one other hollow contact a week (I realize this is NO indication for how many CMDRs are in that system). After a year, Rotanev Energy Exchange lost control of the system to another Minor Factor. That faction seemed to appear from nowhere. I donated 3M credits worth of combat bonds to the ensuing war for control, and yet the opposing minor faction gained about 12% points during the war. Since then, I have been running INF+++ missions for REE and their influence in the system continues to drop.

Frankly, I am thinking of heading to a new area of space and starting over. Thanks again for the replies.

 

[Marra Morgan]

Wow. Tried to reply to my own thread yesterday, and it never went through. Thanks for all the replies...

I believe that the issue I was having in my home system was a conflict in a neighboring system. But there have still been some times where I just don't seem to see an influence on the BGS. My home system right now is Rotanev, and in both open and Mobius PVE I maybe see one other hollow contact a week (I realize this is NO indication for how many CMDRs are in that system). After a year, Rotanev Energy Exchange lost control of the system to another Minor Factor. That faction seemed to appear from nowhere. I donated 3M credits worth of combat bonds to the ensuing war for control, and yet the opposing minor faction gained about 12% points during the war. Since then, I have been running INF+++ missions for REE and their influence in the system continues to drop.

Frankly, I am thinking of heading to a new area of space and starting over. Thanks again for the replies.

Despite your best efforts, it seems that you're up against a determined group who are simply doing more.

There are many systems out there with low populations who are easy to influence. Just remember that any influence that is easy for you to move is just as easy for someone else to move