I am right now sitting at Polansky City in a Li Yong-Rui exploited system. I was wondering if there was anyway as an independent pilot to turn the system into a contested system or any other mode so it isn't an exploited system. Is it possible to turn an exploited system as an independent pilot?
An exploited system is one that is within 20ly of a power's control system. If you want to change that to contested, you need to get another power to expand into a system close enough for the exploitation sphere to overlap. To get rid of the control system, you'll need to push LYR into turmoil. It takes a lot of people a lot of effort to do either of those things.
Read again?
That's not how it works
Powerplay is not the same as the BGS.
In Powerplay you have 'bubbles' that have a central control system and a bubble of exploited systems around it. When these bubbles overlap the overlapping area becomes contested if each bubble belongs to different powers. Contested systems do not generate CC (command capital). The same holds true for overlaps within the same powers territory (loss of CC).
Sometimes powers with lots of CC do this to drain another power of CC. This is Weaponized Expansion.
To force a power to lose bubbles you need to undermine them, lowering CC to a point where the power cannot afford to keep the systems they control. Generally the more distant go first.
You have to be pledged to undermine a power.
As an independent pilot you can 'flip' systems instead though. Each power is strong or weak against certain government types. If enough exploited systems in a bubble swap to either a favourable or unfavourable government the the amount needed to fortify goes up or down. So a neutral starting trigger (for example) can be 5000, with favourable being 2500 and unfavourable being 7500.
By making more work to do, you raise the chances (sometimes) that another power cannot fortify everything and make them more vulnerable.
How does a PP overlap into another's Exploited system to make it Contested?
Because each bubbles control system is in close proximity to the other, they share systems and since exploited systems cannot be shared they are contested and not counted CC wise.
Really? You don't like that 15% discount you're getting on ships / modules and ultimately, your re-buy? Can't please everyone, I guess...
its not like 15% is alot though and by end game its not worth the time to track down the all the parts just to get a 15% rebuy.
to make a power drop a specific system, you will likely need to undermine 50+ systems (so about a million merits) and hope they don't fort the system you want them to lose - and not have turmoiled systems with higher upkeep in turmoil, and hope they don't just fortify their way out of turmoil (so another million merits for a second week), and then that they don't self-snipe to lose systems they want to lose. In other words, you will need a group of 50 people or so to do a -ton of work for 2 or 3 weeks, and maybe more. Or, Join that power, join their discord, and make a bunch of friends and be happy that your system is exploited by all your mates