The Bubble isn’t Big Enough Anymore for Hardcore BGS Players

I thought about complaining to frontier but I decided to post here instead because they probably wouldn’t be able to do anything about it anytime soon.

Recently and after maybe a dozen rejections from frontier I finally found a system that they would allow me to choose as a home system for my newly established faction. Just 1 problem, the system I was placed in (literally my 100th choice and the last place I ever wanted to be in the first place) is heavily controlled and in constant war between 2 or 3 Huge hardcore BGS Squadrons. The moment they noticed my faction was in the system they immediately began working against me with full force and pushed my faction’s influence down to 1%. I literally have 0% chance of ever gaining any higher than like 5% influence even if I grind all day every day, even if I recruit 100 people it still wouldn’t be enough, I’m completely screwed.

I feel as if this is the same problem happening to every single player group now days who tries to start their own faction, every single inhabited system in the game is already heavily controlled or supported by a player squadron or multiple squads for the factions already there. Any new factions are at the mercy of all the insane heavily active enormous player squads that have already been around for years.

Request: Since the bubble is no longer big enough for any new faction to ever possibly have a chance to grow, Frontier needs to give us a way somehow to establish a base or to build a small planetary outpost somewhere on an undiscovered planet or just anywhere in a non inhabited system.

For this to work and not to get out of control I recommend maybe require it to be at least 20 players with a base starting cost of maybe 500 billion or a trillion credits shared by the 20 people maybe with like a couple hundred million of different supplies needed that would have to be delivered to a build site on the uninhabited planet and get it started with construction. I know this would be a lot of work but even if it took me 3 years to accomplish I would happily do it

Option 2: If the above will never be allowed by frontier then the Original person who requested a newly created player faction in the first place should at least be given an option within maybe like a 30 day window to request to move their home system somewhere else.

Option 3: Allow player factions in home systems to go in a state of retreat and be confined to a procedurally generated mega ship which will then open up a list of other available systems that a faction can relocate to within the galaxy...

I really hope and FDEV comes across this post and takes it into consideration.
 
Personally I think it would be more efficient if it were possible to just simply be able to permanently destroy a faction. Older and unused pmf factions could be cleared out to make room for new ones. Many of them were created by a small group that played and left the game years ago.
If they made it so PMFs could be retreated from their Home I guess that would be automatic. And it would be a motivator for some to go around 'cleaning' factions 😈
 
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Folks starting out in the BGS might not have enough knowledge or be very unlucky in their home system selection. Unfortunately, there's no relocation mechanic for a PMF that fails in their home system. I do think there should be something like that - a state that acts as both a retreat and an expansion so a native faction can try their luck elsewhere.
 
Personally I think it would be more efficient if it were possible to just simply be able to permanently destroy a faction. Older and unused pmf factions could be cleared out to make room for new ones. Many of them were created by a small group that played and left the game years ago.

I wonder if, as nice as it is to have a PMF to support, it was a mistake to allow them in the first place? I know I know, emergent gameplay and all that, but my impression is that the BGS was never meant to be a game of galactic Risk.
 
Could try talking to the big BGS groups, some may be amenable if you talk to them, but obviously they are trying to do what you are trying to do and it is conflicting.

I always thought it would be better to limit the size of any faction to a number of systems, say 20-50, its a reasonable size and more realistic that a handful of players cant constantly flip systems with billions of inhabitants all over the bubble....but I expect heavy resistance to that idea :)

The only other option is to have a constantly expanding bubble, and I like the fact that we are in an isolated spot and the rest of the galaxy is untouched and untainted by human hands.

Or burn the factions back to a smaller number in some warfare / invasion type event but that affects everyone not just the BGS players.

For some people BGS is the only or main reason they play so their only goal is to expand, tough for newer smaller groups but thats the way it is.
 
If they made it so PMFs could be retreated from the Home I guess that would be automatic. And it would be a motivator for some to go around 'cleaning' factions 😈
I would be fine with that actually. If the rest of us have to suffer upkeep costs on fleet carriers because "we need the sense of danger of loosing it" then BGSers should also have the possibility to permanently loose their faction if they don't play for years at a time. Granted I do think it should be made harder to do this than a normal retreat to give the defender a chance to respond.
 
Personally I think it would be more efficient if it were possible to just simply be able to permanently destroy a faction. Older and unused pmf factions could be cleared out to make room for new ones. Many of them were created by a small group that played and left the game years ago.
I am in full consent to the possibility to remove, disable or adopt an orphan faction. So there can be room for other active Factions to be placed and/or emerge.
Hindering is that we can't pledge to a faction in game. Nor player and nor npc driven, but this is essential to find orphan factions. I guess there are plenty in the bubble already.

Regards,
Miklos
 

rootsrat

Volunteer Moderator
All that PMF gives us really is the custom name of the PMF. There is literally no other benfit, they act and behave 100% as any other NPC faction. So I would add option 4) to OP's list:

4) Choose any other NPC faction in any other system and make it your "own" by working for them.

The current situation was inevitable, as all of: the game, playerbase and well established already existing factions - grow. It's been 6 years.
 
P.S. PP has some function (I dont understand it) that means its harder to maintain the more systems you have, maybe something like that would help smaller groups, but would also hinder other players and would need a complete overhaul of the BGS mechanics.

Does seem a bit 'off' that they reduced you to 1%, they could have allowed you to be 2nd, but thats the game at the moment and you 'invaded' their space in the first place although I do accept the 100th choice argument.

Maybe someone could start a thread suggesting the best place for new factions to start? May be on the outer edge of the bubble is a better place?

I would be fine with that actually. If the rest of us have to suffer upkeep costs on fleet carriers because "we need the sense of danger of loosing it" then BGSers should also have the possibility to permanently loose their faction if they don't play for years at a time. Granted I do think it should be made harder to do this than a normal retreat to give the defender a chance to respond.

Disclaimer - I dont do BGS. But there was a recent war in Carcosa and this week the retaliation of Explorers Nation being retreated solely back to their home system so it could easily lead to large groups bullying small groups and kicking them out of their homes when they just want to enjoy the game or are casual players. To be clear Im not saying bullying happened in either of those examples, just using them to show how it could be done by concerted efforts, there will be many more Im unaware of for sure, the Home system is the failsafe to stop it...although it may not be working as intended or how Frontier thought it would play out.

But dead factions do need some mechanism to remove them and free them up for new active factions I agree. Especially as some the leaders have left without passing on the mantle to someone else so everybody is stuck. (Edit, this is wrong as pointed out below but left here or wont make sense when corrected)
 
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Im a bit perplexed by this because I routinely visit systems in the bubble that seem entirely devoid of any player interest. A look at the traffic reports show 5 or 6 ships passed through in the last 24 hours. And the ships shown might be something like a sidewinder, 2 cobras, a DBX and 2 aspX. Theres parts of the bubble that are barely utilized at all.
Yes I have seen this too.
I don't have my own faction, but instead support an npc one. I have managed to expel two old player factions so far and take over the system and most of it's assets.
If I wanted my own faction, there are plenty of quiet systems to choose from, like you said.
 
I wonder if, as nice as it is to have a PMF to support, it was a mistake to allow them in the first place? I know I know, emergent gameplay and all that, but my impression is that the BGS was never meant to be a game of galactic Risk.
I think it was a good idea but they didn't follow through. Having a permanent faction in game sounds like an awesome idea until it's 5 years later and the landscape is cluttered with unused PMFs and no tangable benefit to supporting one
I am in full consent to the possibility to remove, disable or adopt an orphan faction. So there can be room for other active Factions to be placed and/or emerge.
Hindering is that we can't pledge to a faction in game. Nor player and nor npc driven, but this is essential to find orphan factions. I guess there are plenty in the bubble already.

Regards,
Miklos
I know this is off subject slightly but I think there should be some benefit to being allied with a faction. Like maybe when the system is in boom they offer 10% off in outfitting but only to sworn members. But yes swearing allegiance to a faction should be something we are able to do regardless.
P.S. PP has some function (I dont understand it) that means its harder to maintain the more systems you have, maybe something like that would help smaller groups, but would also hinder other players and would need a complete overhaul of the BGS mechanics.

Does seem a bit 'off' that they reduced you to 1%, they could have allowed you to be 2nd, but thats the game at the moment and you 'invaded' their space in the first place although I do accept the 100th choice argument.

Maybe someone could start a thread suggesting the best place for new factions to start? May be on the outer edge of the bubble is a better place?



Disclaimer - I dont do BGS. But there was a recent war in Carcosa and this week the retaliation of Explorers Nation being retreated solely back to their home system so it could easily lead to large groups bullying small groups and kicking them out of their homes when they just want to enjoy the game or are casual players. To be clear Im not saying bullying happened in either of those examples, just using them to show how it could be done by concerted efforts, there will be many more Im unaware of for sure, the Home system is the failsafe to stop it...although it may not be working as intended or how Frontier thought it would play out.

But dead factions do need some mechanism to remove them and free them up for new active factions I agree. Especially as some the leaders have left without passing on the mantle to someone else so everybody is stuck. (Edit, this is wrong as pointed out below but left here or wont make sense when corrected)
Honestly I think being able to remove your faction would be a benefit in that case. What if a person isn't too knowledgeable about BGS to begin with and they set up shop in a terrible spot? Or what if they make another faction or two mad and are forced back? Having the option to remove yourself would be a benefit to you as you could learn from your mistakes and start again elsewhere.
 
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