Wow.... never thought I'd see the day Martin said to kill it. I had thought he'd been assimilated and was one with Mahon PP by now, just a memory of his human self and merely a data mashup of spreadsheets, programs, and Elite.Kidding aside, I do respectfully disagree on the Kill it part...
I've got over 3k hours in this game myself over two years across the XB1 and PC. I've helped lead Hudson to where he's at now with the help of a tremendous leadership team. We've faced immense opposition in 5c and constant exploits that has worn on our player base. Even over this continuous abuse of the game by other players against us (and against other powers) we've stood steadfast against allowing our players to utilize the same exploits and have never, and will never entertain those thoughts.
We've stood by and helped other powers to combat 5c, and always held out hope about changes and fixes would be on the way. The open-only discussion, the acknowledgment of bots and other exploits like 'turret boats' and promises of fixes. Direct discussions with Sandro by us in 'leadership' of the powers. All suddenly gone and hope is fading fast.
What happened? I had to stop playing, even stepped away for a few months multiple times lately, to the point I avoided the game, discord, Reddit, and here. All to the detriment of some of the communities I helped to grow and shape. Hudson PP endured on with a great leadership team without missing a beat thankfully, the EliteCG Reddit suffered for a little bit, but fortunately I had brought in some additional mods there that quickly took up the reigns and kept the community growing and engaged. (I had grown that from about 1500 users to over 9k now.)
PP NEEDS to change; it NEEDS to be either significantly improved or completely revamped. If you take away any biases and look at it from the outside, it was one of the ONLY aspects of the game where it was indeed a fully immersive and player-driven narrative. Yes, there were occasional stories in Galnet about the powers, but nothing that affected the layout and structure of the universe. There were 10 (and eventually 11) groups that were run by players, that were commanded by players, whose actions (defensive and offensive) were decided by players. All the changes within the powers were the result of player actions.
We theorized, tested, and implemented strategies that affected Powerplay actions, learning the most efficient methods, developed scouting plans and attack strategies to counter those, we researched and coordinated BGS with even non-PP PMF's and helped to build and grow that aspect of the game (the alliance the most in that regard as they were indeed a mishmash of PMFs). The only other aspect of the game that is even close regarding a player-driven activity is BGS. PP involved BGS, trading, exploration, behind the scenes number crunching, massive logistical challenges to bring players together into our communities without any in-game tools to communicate widely or to recruit. We utilized BGS, expanded interest and stories by submitting Galnet articles and CGs, and creating PMFs. PP involves combat, trading (running trades to make credits on the return trips from fortifications). Trading, combat, exploration, passenger hauling, etc. ALL were utilized to advance BGS strategies to strengthen our powers. There is NO other aspect of the game that allows player groups the options that PP did. BGS is the closest, with PP being a much larger scale with additional elements added in.
PP had that potential at being the most crucial aspect of the game, the one that players could truly join a group and play as any number of roles and contribute to a larger goal. It was flawed, but if it had been given the attention and resources to be developed, changed, and updated from the start, would be the shining star of this game. Instead, it's the ugly red-headed (sorry to the red-heads out there) step-child, being viewed by anyone outside our communities as a pointless grind fest.
FDev needs to stop, take a step back, and realize the potential of what they have here (maybe that's what they're doing, and some massive overhaul is coming (I can dream can't I? I am an eternal optimist after all)). Fix it, change it, make it live up to the potential it has. Just COMMUNICATE with us about it! On the Powerplay/Leader discord as well as let the public discussions be seen out here on the forums as well.
Please, don't let PP die, 5c is devastating powers, having almost killed off participation entirely in a few already. Step up FDev, see the goldmine you have here, commit to improvements and a massive revitalization and overhaul of PP!
I want to hug you.
