Election+Influence and Infrastructure failure questions

[{SAS}Stalker]

Hello knowledgable people, I have a few questions to ask.

Election + Influence
We are currently in an election state which we are wining. The traffic in our system is ours so we don't believe we are being opposed and if we are its passive (trading most likely to the station we don't control). For some reason though our faction is losing influence regardless of the volume of election missions we have done, today for example we have lost 1% from yesterday whilst our election opposition have actually gained influence over the same time period,

1. Is this normal?
2. What is the reason for this?

Infrastructure Failure State
Along with being in an election state we are also in a state of Infrastructure Failure, we aren't really sure why or how this happened. The issue is we dont have any markets to trade to within our system thus we are unsure how to get our of this state or indeed how long it will take.

1. How long will we remain in this state with no market?
2. What effect does this state have on us, if any?
3. Would this state be the cause of the issue in the election + influence scenario above?

GOGOGOGOGOGOGOG and kisses in advance

 

[goemon]

yes, infrastructure failure comes with an influence penalty of usually ~2% each tick, so it is the cause of you loosing influence. it won#t affect the elections outcome - but you have to be ready for a surge after the election, in case you end up after the election too close in influence with your current opposition.

infrastructure failure is one of the states with a per chance to trigger, so it is not really clear whether there are factors to increase that chance or not. it's not having a player action cause only (differently to famine for exampel, which you get if you move the economy slider downwards all the time).

it is said to be countered by missions (or trading, if you have a market), but in my experience those states simply go away after some time, and doing something about them extra has no tangible effect. but to be sure, i'd suggest you do missions related to it (if you have any, and not all are themed by election).

 

[{SAS}Stalker]

Thanks mate, we are probably doing all we can currently then as we are basically emptying the mission board between us. I think we might have to be prepared for the fact that we'll win the election but end up with less influence than the current opposition, and thus end up re-running it again. It's a total PITA infrastructure failure.

 

[goemon]

Thanks mate, we are probably doing all we can currently then as we are basically emptying the mission board between us. I think we might have to be prepared for the fact that we'll win the election but end up with less influence than the current opposition, and thus end up re-running it again. It's a total PITA infrastructure failure.

yes, you should be prepared for it, but - you might be able with a surge to jump them directly after the election during election cooldown.

i think the thread on war/civil war and election has something on that.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Thanks mate, we are probably doing all we can currently then as we are basically emptying the mission board between us. I think we might have to be prepared for the fact that we'll win the election but end up with less influence than the current opposition, and thus end up re-running it again. It's a total PITA infrastructure failure.

You'll probably be okay if you're winning 4-0 - the Infrastructure Failure won't drain enough out to overcome the +/-4 split in that time, though you'll end up a bit closer to them than normal afterwards.

Infrastructure Failure lasts ~5-10 days total. Very unclear if you can do anything about that.

While active it'll harm your influence, economy and security: the work you're doing for the election will likely more than overcome the economy and possibly security effects, and would normally if your influence wasn't locked do the same to that too. It'll also increase the likelihood of other factions in the system suffering Infrastructure Failure - this can generate a rolling cycle of failures going around the factions (though a supported controlling faction has a decent chance of remaining "above" that effect)

Infrastructure Failure can be somewhat useful once you own stations in two systems, as it sets up a whole bunch of more-profitable than normal trade opportunities between the two, and the negative effects are relatively easily countered.

 

[{SAS}Stalker]

Thank chaps it's very much appreciated.

 

[{SAS}Stalker]

So the infrastructure failure lasted 11 days finishing around the 20th March and whilst we won the election things haven't gone that well since. Despite running endless missions for our faction, black market trading and even negative trading we've simply stalled with the ruling faction actually gaining a few percent.

We know there's no one running against us here, issued bounties are low and traffic is accounted for by us.

We are still in recovery from infrastructure failure as well, would that still be having an effect on us?

 

[Ian Doncaster]

So the infrastructure failure lasted 11 days finishing around the 20th March and whilst we won the election things haven't gone that well since. Despite running endless missions for our faction, black market trading and even negative trading we've simply stalled with the ruling faction actually gaining a few percent.

We know there's no one running against us here, issued bounties are low and traffic is accounted for by us.

We are still in recovery from infrastructure failure as well, would that still be having an effect on us?

No, recovering states don't do anything other than prevent new events showing up.

How much are you doing of positive trade, bounties, exploration data to the station you do control? That'll be more crucial in a low-traffic system than negative effects on the controlling faction.

 

[{SAS}Stalker]

No, recovering states don't do anything other than prevent new events showing up.

How much are you doing of positive trade, bounties, exploration data to the station you do control? That'll be more crucial in a low-traffic system than negative effects on the controlling faction.

Well it's pretty tricky because there's no market in the other platforms so positive trade for us is currently out. Exploration is a possibility and I don't understand how bounty hunting cashing in works, surely it will count for the bounty issuer rather than the station/platform holder would it not?

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Well it's pretty tricky because there's no market in the other platforms so positive trade for us is currently out. Exploration is a possibility and I don't understand how bounty hunting cashing in works, surely it will count for the bounty issuer rather than the station/platform holder would it not?

Exploration isn't the best source of influence in general, but if you're throwing that many missions at it and getting nowhere then it's good to diversify at least somewhat.

Bounties: yes, it'd count for the issuer. If you're a non-Anarchy faction then KWSing bounties for you is an option (or bringing them from another system if this isn't your only one) - remember to dump everyone else's bounties at an out-of-system Factor. If you're an Anarchy faction, then you can still get a few bounties from mission enemies by hanging around in the sphere of influence of your station.

 

[goemon]

surely it will count for the bounty issuer rather than the station/platform holder would it not?

correct.

It's very hard to analyse what is happening to you from afar.

here are some things which i would look into:

• difference between bountyreports and crime reports. It might be a lot of bounties are imported (if you have no interstellar factor).
• insystem bounty hunting. If you have res or comp nav beacons, a wing might camp the system. divide bounty report total by traffic number, if that number is unreasonable high?
• total bounty redeems divided by number of factions. if that is beyond ~15 mio, chance is, all factions are beyond diminishing returns, basically stalling each other.
• scenario gameplay, if there are installations or megaships in system. we had such a system where it looks as if people played them a lot withpu leaving the system. the right hand panels on security and economy can give you a hint.
• mission gameplay comes with traffic, and you say it is none. you are working with the ingame traffic reports, not witt those of inara i presume?
• maybe some of your group got some mechanics wrong. we have been countering friendly fire quite often (for exampel people redeeming other factions bounties at "our" stations believing it would help "us").
• easily massively stacked mission of a kind, which can be done with almost no traffic. for exampel stacking 20 massacre missions, go playing it, and returning for hand in (potentially even importing bounties).

.... and stuff like that. need to do that post on BGS forensics at some point...

 

[{SAS}Stalker]

correct.

It's very hard to analyse what is happening to you from afar.

here are some things which i would look into:

• difference between bountyreports and crime reports. It might be a lot of bounties are imported (if you have no interstellar factor).
• insystem bounty hunting. If you have res or comp nav beacons, a wing might camp the system. divide bounty report total by traffic number, if that number is unreasonable high?
• total bounty redeems divided by number of factions. if that is beyond ~15 mio, chance is, all factions are beyond diminishing returns, basically stalling each other.
• scenario gameplay, if there are installations or megaships in system. we had such a system where it looks as if people played them a lot withpu leaving the system. the right hand panels on security and economy can give you a hint.
• mission gameplay comes with traffic, and you say it is none. you are working with the ingame traffic reports, not witt those of inara i presume?
• maybe some of your group got some mechanics wrong. we have been countering friendly fire quite often (for exampel people redeeming other factions bounties at "our" stations believing it would help "us").
• easily massively stacked mission of a kind, which can be done with almost no traffic. for exampel stacking 20 massacre missions, go playing it, and returning for hand in (potentially even importing bounties).

.... and stuff like that. need to do that post on BGS forensics at some point...

Give me 15 mins to collate all that. I looked at the bounties paid info yesterday and it was under CR2m.

 

[{SAS}Stalker]

correct.

It's very hard to analyse what is happening to you from afar.

here are some things which i would look into:

• difference between bountyreports and crime reports. It might be a lot of bounties are imported (if you have no interstellar factor).
• insystem bounty hunting. If you have res or comp nav beacons, a wing might camp the system. divide bounty report total by traffic number, if that number is unreasonable high?
• total bounty redeems divided by number of factions. if that is beyond ~15 mio, chance is, all factions are beyond diminishing returns, basically stalling each other.
• scenario gameplay, if there are installations or megaships in system. we had such a system where it looks as if people played them a lot withpu leaving the system. the right hand panels on security and economy can give you a hint.
• mission gameplay comes with traffic, and you say it is none. you are working with the ingame traffic reports, not witt those of inara i presume?
• maybe some of your group got some mechanics wrong. we have been countering friendly fire quite often (for exampel people redeeming other factions bounties at "our" stations believing it would help "us").
• easily massively stacked mission of a kind, which can be done with almost no traffic. for exampel stacking 20 massacre missions, go playing it, and returning for hand in (potentially even importing bounties).

.... and stuff like that. need to do that post on BGS forensics at some point...

ok;

difference between bounty reports and crime reports.
insystem bounty hunting. If you have res or comp nav beacons
total bounty redeems divided by number of factions. if that is beyond ~15 mio, chance is, all factions are beyond diminishing returns, basically stalling each other.
Crime reports - None listed
Bounties paid - None Listed (There is a list of local bounties but none of them are actually in this system, they certainly don't appear to be local)

scenario game play, if there are installations or megaships in system. we had such a system where it looks as if people played them a lot withpu leaving the system. the right hand panels on security and economy can give you a hint.
I'm not sure where to look for this information?

mission gameplay comes with traffic, and you say it is none. you are working with the in game traffic reports, not with those of inara i presume?
In game, theres been 60 in the last 24 hours, I would say all were accounted for.

maybe some of your group got some mechanics wrong. we have been countering friendly fire quite often (for example people redeeming other factions bounties at "our" stations believing it would help "us").
No one is even refueling at the station

easily massively stacked mission of a kind, which can be done with almost no traffic. for example stacking 20 massacre missions, go playing it, and returning for hand in (potentially even importing bounties).
Its possible but most of that type of mission was being issued by our faction.


For additional information we are an Empire Corporate faction, in a High Tech Extraction system with a population of 12.3million, there is 3 stations of which we own 2 of them (platforms). The current tactic is to try to take missions for everyone other than the leading faction to see what happens then.

 

[goemon]

Crime reports - None listed
Bounties paid - None Listed (There is a list of local bounties but none of them are actually in this system, they certainly don't appear to be local)

this reads very much, as if it is definetly not bounties - that is good! it also reduces scneario options to some extend, as that means there are no crimes.

I'm not sure where to look for this information?

as for right hand panel, i'm referring to this:

how do the economy/security slider for the controlling faction and yours look like? mission gameplay affects those as well as scenarios around installations and megaships. but almost all scenarios come with bounties or crimes.

as for installations, megaships and non-dockable settlements. a nav beacon scan should reveal those, and if you target them afterwards from real space, it will reveal in almost all cases which faction controls them. there are a few cases, where a nav beacon sacn does not reveal all - in that case do a full FSS scan of the system, drop to real space for targeting to get ownership.

In game, theres been 60 in the last 24 hours, I would say all were accounted for.

we would never be able to track a traffic of 60. it's a relatively high number. if you can, stop traffic of your group for 25 hopurs, or all fly the same unusual ship for 25 hours (adders, federal dropships, asp scouts) - that should reveal more easily what the traffic out of your group is.

Its possible but most of that type of mission was being issued by our faction.

it might be a different type of mission, which you overlooked?

The current tactic is to try to take missions for everyone other than the leading faction to see what happens then.

which is a very good approach, and in fact you should see the controlling faction going down a few points each tick, even if the controlling faction puts in all they can. the problem here being, that due to high population the gain/losses are small, and it would be easy for the controlling faction to outlast the maximum gain by 3 trade runs plus something or so already.

plus

• there are no other factions locked in conflict?
• your faction goverment type does not conflict the local powerplay power?

 

[{SAS}Stalker]

So doing missions from everyone but the main faction and mostly our own has lowered the main faction by 0.6% but also lowered our own by nearly 2%. At a bit of a loss to be honest.

To answer the power question yes it does potentially damage a power (Aisling) who benefits from having either communism, confederate or Co-operative but we reached out to Aisling Angeles who were very accommodating and said they were happy for us to flip it and they would flip another to restore the balance. I suppose it's always possible that another group of Aisling supporters are doing something but I'm not sure we are seeing the evidence of it (unless I'm missing something), AA even checked with the player group who's faction is in control and they weren't bothered either.

With regards the state of the controlling faction, they seem to be perpetually in Boom.

For reference the system is here;

CD-72 190 - star system | Elite:Dangerous | INARA

The companion site for Elite:Dangerous with the game database, market data, trade routes, outfitting, engineers, blueprints, crafting, Thargoid war, squadrons, logbooks, galleries, galaxy information and much more...

inara.cz

 

[Ian Doncaster]

With regards the state of the controlling faction, they seem to be perpetually in Boom.

If they're maintaining that with negative/black market trade there's almost certainly someone else supporting them, even if not in a coordinated way.

If you're absolutely sure that all the traffic is accounted for - and you're not seeing Fleet Carriers around either - then it could be someone doing in-system mining, and/or missions which can be done entirely in-system.

(That said, someone grabbing a full stack of outbound missions, completing them, and returning would do a fair bit of influence for the controller and only show up a single time in the traffic report, so you'd really have to be absolutely sure you'd counted correctly)

 

[Abil Midena]

I thought combat actions didn't impact elections.

It looks like the other PMF is fighting him.

 

[goemon]

So doing missions from everyone but the main faction and mostly our own has lowered the main faction by 0.6% but also lowered our own by nearly 2%. At a bit of a loss to be honest.

To answer the power question yes it does potentially damage a power (Aisling) who benefits from having either communism, confederate or Co-operative but we reached out to Aisling Angeles who were very accommodating and said they were happy for us to flip it and they would flip another to restore the balance. I suppose it's always possible that another group of Aisling supporters are doing something but I'm not sure we are seeing the evidence of it (unless I'm missing something), AA even checked with the player group who's faction is in control and they weren't bothered either.

With regards the state of the controlling faction, they seem to be perpetually in Boom.

For reference the system is here;

CD-72 190 - star system | Elite:Dangerous | INARA

The companion site for Elite:Dangerous with the game database, market data, trade routes, outfitting, engineers, blueprints, crafting, Thargoid war, squadrons, logbooks, galleries, galaxy information and much more...

inara.cz

thanks for the link. controlling faction is a player backed minor faction - i suggest you reach out to them.

 

[{SAS}Stalker]

thanks for the link. controlling faction is a player backed minor faction - i suggest you reach out to them.

We have done, they are happy for us to flip it and have assured us they aren't countering us.

 

[{SAS}Stalker]

Ok another day another question. After an insane amount of work and possibly because of alpha we are finally seeing some movement and are within an 8% gap....BUT two of the other factions have just gone into an election state pending, is this going to stall us or can you have multiple states at once in a system so long as there's no cross over of factions?

Has the game shafted us again?