FDev could you unlock the BGS in Ratraii, please

[Just Paul]

The BGS in Ratraii is locked. Maybe it was done for a reason in the beginning of the colony, but idk.
Now that Colonia is established and the BGS is stable it doesn't make sense anymore for Ratraii to be locked.
Colonia has better outfitting nowadays and ship availability is better in many other systems.
The material trader can't be a reason either as the other 2 material traders are in unlocked systems.
Ratraii is now just a system like many others in the nebula, nothing special about it as far as I can see.
Recently a squadron aligned themselves with the controlling faction in Ratraii and this faction is now in perpetual expansion.
Other squadrons or player factions can only react after the fact and have no avenue to attack the faction in their home system.

All Interstellar initiatives and all recent community goals were in the bubble.
Combining the unlock with an II or community goal would bring some excitement into this neglected part of the galaxy.

Thanks for reading

 

[Rick6549]

But cl76 needs that so say they can tell people theyve never lost control of their home system

 

[Dillon Fallon]

Agreed. Whilst I can understand that superpower headquarters and important systems to the Federation, Alliance and Empire would need to stay owned by the relevant powers for lore reasons, I don't understand why this would be the case for an independent system with no history behind it beyond ED.

As this is the home of the one data material trader in Colonia, you'll never see any of the anarchist groups trying to take it over, but having an invincible faction when so many players are interested playing with the BGS to support a faction does take some of the fun out of it.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Agreed. Whilst I can understand that superpower headquarters and important systems to the Federation, Alliance and Empire would need to stay owned by the relevant powers for lore reasons, I don't understand why this would be the case for an independent system with no history behind it beyond ED.

Because of the history within ED. It's a very significant system for the Colonia region and history - having been until recently the best outfitting in the region, a host for some key development CGs, a major industrial producer - and is presumably locked for the same reason Colonia itself is. Having a couple of systems that PMFs can't get into is also useful for potential future CGs in the region, as it makes it easier for Frontier to run them without stepping on toes.

As a meta-game aside, the locking also is part of the compromise in the early days of settlement - players were united in saying that development in Colonia should be player-led, but very divided about whether this should involve the BGS at all - so keeping a couple of systems out of it was an attempt to provide something for both groups.

As this is the home of the one data material trader in Colonia, you'll never see any of the anarchist groups trying to take it over, but having an invincible faction when so many players are interested playing with the BGS to support a faction does take some of the fun out of it.

The lock doesn't prevent their influence being reduced locally, and if no-one wants an Anarchy faction in charge of the station, makes it safer to reduce their local influence, if you don't want the faction to expand further.

 

[Just Paul]

My first post was written after doing some BGS work late at night and in most systems my friendly EDDI voice was telling me Colonia-Co is in expansion.

Because of the history within ED. It's a very significant system for the Colonia region and history - having been until recently the best outfitting in the region, a host for some key development CGs, a major industrial producer - and is presumably locked for the same reason Colonia itself is. Having a couple of systems that PMFs can't get into is also useful for potential future CGs in the region, as it makes it easier for Frontier to run them without stepping on toes.

As a meta-game aside, the locking also is part of the compromise in the early days of settlement - players were united in saying that development in Colonia should be player-led, but very divided about whether this should involve the BGS at all - so keeping a couple of systems out of it was an attempt to provide something for both groups.

It makes sense that Ratraii was locked because of the outfitting and all the other things you mentioned, but now that somebody is taking advantage of the lock maybe it's time to look at it again. Looking at the influence graph for Ratraii on your awesome website it shows that up until February the 2 factions changed influence periodically but since then Colonia-Co is at almost 99%. Either something changed in the game or somebody is supporting Colonia-Co.

My thinking was if Ratraiis BGS was to be unlocked to do it through an II or CG. Something grand which could involve the bubble, escorted long range hauling and courier missions, and combat CGs comes to mind. Colonia should get some love too.

The lock doesn't prevent their influence being reduced locally, and if no-one wants an Anarchy faction in charge of the station, makes it safer to reduce their local influence, if you don't want the faction to expand further.

The problem is that any side opposing Colonia-Co's expansion into another system needs to work in at least 2 systems at the same time, Ratraii and the system which Colonia-Co expanded. Or you always have to work in Ratraii too to keep Colonia-Co's influence at a level below expansion. For the group supporting Colonia-Co it doesn't matter if their influence in Ratraii tanks as the assets are save anyways, giving them an unfair advantage.

If Ratraii can't or shouldn't be unlocked for whatever reason, maybe the max influence level should be capped at a percentage which doesn't trigger expansion or it should be locked in a similar way to the witch head sector systems.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

It makes sense that Ratraii was locked because of the outfitting and all the other things you mentioned, but now that somebody is taking advantage of the lock maybe it's time to look at it again. Looking at the influence graph for Ratraii on your awesome website it shows that up until February the 2 factions changed influence periodically but since then Colonia-Co is at almost 99%. Either something changed in the game or somebody is supporting Colonia-Co.

Something did indeed change in-game.

March 1st had a large BGS rebalance, which stopped some weird effects in high-traffic systems. You can see it even more clearly on the Colonia graph.

Going back further if you look at the Ratraii graph for before Dec 3304 CCoop was basically always around 90%+ influence except for the times they were in war elsewhere (back in the previous BGS that took away most of their influence sources in Ratraii too). It's the second-highest traffic system in the region, and attracts a lot of bounty hunters. As a result going right back to the beginning it's had a lot of expansions going on - though until the 3.3 rebalance Jaques expanded faster.

Arguably the problem with Ratraii is that unlike the other locked systems - especially the bubble ones - it also only has two factions, and one of those owns all the assets. (Compare with Colonia where the balance of assets between Jaques and CCouncil stabilises influence in a different position). Adding an extra faction and giving it a station would stop the perma-expansion.

...on the other hand, the perma-expansion capability may be somewhat intentional to provide a bit more "terrain" for the PMF activity - the original setup of the Nameless in Carcosa, while failing in practice due to really bad timing, was clearly to have an antagonist faction that spread with considerable effort needed to even stop it expanding. While CCoop might have supporters, they don't seem to be concerned with its influence and presence outside of Ratraii, for example.

For the group supporting Colonia-Co it doesn't matter if their influence in Ratraii tanks as the assets are save anyways, giving them an unfair advantage.

True - though as you say the need to protect the material trader would mean they could probably count on significant support if it did come to a war with the Thugs.

 

[Jmanis]

Do the Witch Head Nebula while you're at it.

 

[Dillon Fallon]

Something did indeed change in-game.

March 1st had a large BGS rebalance, which stopped some weird effects in high-traffic systems. You can see it even more clearly on the Colonia graph.

Going back further if you look at the Ratraii graph for before Dec 3304 CCoop was basically always around 90%+ influence except for the times they were in war elsewhere (back in the previous BGS that took away most of their influence sources in Ratraii too). It's the second-highest traffic system in the region, and attracts a lot of bounty hunters. As a result going right back to the beginning it's had a lot of expansions going on - though until the 3.3 rebalance Jaques expanded faster.

Arguably the problem with Ratraii is that unlike the other locked systems - especially the bubble ones - it also only has two factions, and one of those owns all the assets. (Compare with Colonia where the balance of assets between Jaques and CCouncil stabilises influence in a different position). Adding an extra faction and giving it a station would stop the perma-expansion.

...on the other hand, the perma-expansion capability may be somewhat intentional to provide a bit more "terrain" for the PMF activity - the original setup of the Nameless in Carcosa, while failing in practice due to really bad timing, was clearly to have an antagonist faction that spread with considerable effort needed to even stop it expanding. While CCoop might have supporters, they don't seem to be concerned with its influence and presence outside of Ratraii, for example.


True - though as you say the need to protect the material trader would mean they could probably count on significant support if it did come to a war with the Thugs.

An interesting read as ever.

I still feel that as we have seen a significant increase from the early days of the number of factions in the Colonia region, that having a system with only 2 factions doesn't marry up with the other systems. It feels like, aside from Ratraii, we are now beyond the stage of pioneering settlers and we're in that later frontier phase of many people coming in to grab their own space. Ratraii still feels like it's in that pioneer stage.

However, I'll accept that the devs may still have plans for this system which I would certainly not want to know about (no spoliers please!) so perhaps there is a reason. If there isn't, then as Paul says, it would be interesting to have a CG or even an II to see what players in the region wanted to do with this.

I'm sure plenty of lawful factions, who wouldn't affect the material trader, might want an opportunity at taking the system.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

I'm sure plenty of lawful factions, who wouldn't affect the material trader, might want an opportunity at taking the system.

Oh, if it were unlocked, then one of the nearby big players - HOTCOL, CCN, MCRN, PAEx or SECD are all expansionists and have systems in range, and a couple of others are in range - would probably take it within a couple of months. Some brief interest, and then back to the status quo.