Disclaimer: I am in ALD and stand to gain from these proposed changes. I believe that all powers will also gain from these changes as well and that the benefit for all is more significant than what ALD stands to gain.
The consolidation update was introduced in powerplay to combat groups of individuals aiming to damage a power from within. These “bad actors” prepared unprofitable systems for expansion that brought a power’s standing balance down, crippling them.
When a power has a negative standing balance, a new problem arises that can be exploited by bad actors in a power. If all of a power’s systems are canceled, systems turmoil based solely on upkeep. Systems gained through sabotage are designed to have low income and low upkeep which then forces more profitable systems to into turmoil first. This leads to a cycle that results in only the worst systems remaining. The major symptom of this problem is the difficulty of shedding unprofitable systems.
The consolidation vote prevented future bad expansions from occurring but the residual effects of having loss making systems remain. The proposed changes are not meant to solve the problem of bad expansions from occurring but to allow powers to recover from them.
These changes were designed so that minimal codework is needed to accomplish them.
Proposed changes:
Make fortifying profitable: Increase the amount of credits received when fortifying such that even if all tonnage was fast tracked it would still be profitable. The method to do this would be to increase the credits / ton of fortification delivered. The idea is to make it so that someone doesn’t have to acquire credits to fortify extensively but also so that fortification is not a significant source of income. This change needs to be done with the next proposal or issues such as fortification of loss makers would still be a detriment to powers.
Make systems turmoil by lowest radius income first.
The net result of these changes is that a power gains agency when faced with turmoil. The power can guarantee unwanted systems (low income systems) to be the first to be shed.
This also encourages powers to be more aggressive in powerplay, specifically with weaponized expansions. These types of expansions damage a power’s standing balance by reducing the income of the attacked control sphere. This has a similar negative effect on the attacker as the weaponized expansion system will have a portion of its maximum potential income reduced.
With turmoiled systems being dictated by lowest income, the strategy of using weaponized expansions will allow powers to target spheres to capture by reducing a control system’s income and then undermining a power to turmoil. It would be advantageous for an attacked power to do the same to hopefully force their attacker to shed systems first. These weaponized expansions have become focus points for PVP and community play to the point that at times they have become their own community goal. These changes encourage this to continue.
The consolidation update was introduced in powerplay to combat groups of individuals aiming to damage a power from within. These “bad actors” prepared unprofitable systems for expansion that brought a power’s standing balance down, crippling them.
When a power has a negative standing balance, a new problem arises that can be exploited by bad actors in a power. If all of a power’s systems are canceled, systems turmoil based solely on upkeep. Systems gained through sabotage are designed to have low income and low upkeep which then forces more profitable systems to into turmoil first. This leads to a cycle that results in only the worst systems remaining. The major symptom of this problem is the difficulty of shedding unprofitable systems.
The consolidation vote prevented future bad expansions from occurring but the residual effects of having loss making systems remain. The proposed changes are not meant to solve the problem of bad expansions from occurring but to allow powers to recover from them.
These changes were designed so that minimal codework is needed to accomplish them.
Proposed changes:
Make fortifying profitable: Increase the amount of credits received when fortifying such that even if all tonnage was fast tracked it would still be profitable. The method to do this would be to increase the credits / ton of fortification delivered. The idea is to make it so that someone doesn’t have to acquire credits to fortify extensively but also so that fortification is not a significant source of income. This change needs to be done with the next proposal or issues such as fortification of loss makers would still be a detriment to powers.
Make systems turmoil by lowest radius income first.
The net result of these changes is that a power gains agency when faced with turmoil. The power can guarantee unwanted systems (low income systems) to be the first to be shed.
This also encourages powers to be more aggressive in powerplay, specifically with weaponized expansions. These types of expansions damage a power’s standing balance by reducing the income of the attacked control sphere. This has a similar negative effect on the attacker as the weaponized expansion system will have a portion of its maximum potential income reduced.
With turmoiled systems being dictated by lowest income, the strategy of using weaponized expansions will allow powers to target spheres to capture by reducing a control system’s income and then undermining a power to turmoil. It would be advantageous for an attacked power to do the same to hopefully force their attacker to shed systems first. These weaponized expansions have become focus points for PVP and community play to the point that at times they have become their own community goal. These changes encourage this to continue.
