Just because you can't see our backup plans doesn't mean they don't exist. And I don't think it's a coincidence that this would be the first time those systems had been fortified by randoms in ages. It's also the first time those systems had shown as "under threat" in the UI in ages as well.
Powerplay Faction: Felicia Winters Winters Cycle 361: Vampire Breath
- Thread starter dciskey
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I am so glad you mentioned that actually.
This is a big reason why I distrust federal squadrons...
Also enjoying watching Hudson get turmoiled, hopefully for many weeks to come.
I wouldn't even want to know what your backup plans look like, when plan A apparently relies on randos looking at "under threat" messages.
Do you personally think organized 5C is against the spirit of the game and condemn the actions of anyone who does that?
A lot of bad takes in this thread.
I'll say only what is public knowledge, so that you can understand my point of view:
Hudson leadership expected and planned for a blanket fort - but what's expected can still be disappointing, if just in regards to the state of powerplay as a whole: that's the case here.
And for the record, since it still seems to be a topic for debate: organized Hudson powerplay has never employed bots to earn merits. In those last few expansions where you seem to believe botting occurred, I can personally vouch that all merits redeemed were earned fairly.
Believe it or not, I do care about this community, and about powerplay as a whole, and I think many of you do too. I'm not happy to see discourse around it turn so bitter.
Anyways, that's all I have to say for now. Congratulations on your effort last week - no matter the circumstances, that's no mean feat. Hoping to see you out there.
I'll say only what is public knowledge, so that you can understand my point of view:
- Hudson was blanket fortified last cycle, against the will of organized Hudson powerplay.
- Hudson systems never touched in ordinary cycles, no matter the apparent threat to Hudson, were this cycle fortified rapidly and often before undermining numbers began to show.
- Had Hudson not been blanked fortified in this way, the undermining against Hudson would have resulted in a scrap broadly beneficial to us. In order to turmoil systems in a manner beneficial to imperial powers, imperial strategy had to rely on Hudson being fortified against his will.
Hudson leadership expected and planned for a blanket fort - but what's expected can still be disappointing, if just in regards to the state of powerplay as a whole: that's the case here.
And for the record, since it still seems to be a topic for debate: organized Hudson powerplay has never employed bots to earn merits. In those last few expansions where you seem to believe botting occurred, I can personally vouch that all merits redeemed were earned fairly.
Believe it or not, I do care about this community, and about powerplay as a whole, and I think many of you do too. I'm not happy to see discourse around it turn so bitter.
Anyways, that's all I have to say for now. Congratulations on your effort last week - no matter the circumstances, that's no mean feat. Hoping to see you out there.
I'm going to assume by this question, you already know the answer since I've been somewhat vocal lately on ADC about my opinions and we are well aware that you have spies in our pledged channels. I've been recently coming around to the idea that 5C is an intended mechanic of this game that Frontier has made for us within the Elite Dangerous universe. That responding to it and using it is part of the intended strategy aspect. However, that is a personal opinion and not one I share with any other coordinators that I'm aware of, and not one I've acted on in any way. I believe that all sides should be allowed to openly 5C each other instead of it being this shadowy thing that only seems to happen to whichever side you happen to be on. For us, it seems strange that we have to haul hundreds of thousands of merits of prep materials to get one expansion ready to go or just to stop a bad expansion from going through, when Winters can prepare 4 weaponized expansions with tens of thousands of merits. However, until that is the standard, I will abide by the customs that the community has agreed upon.
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I thought you people were big fans of free speech? Am I not allowed to have opinions that go against the grain? Am I going to get cancelled now?
No, I think it's good that you speak your mind. It's just that it's left me a bit speechless how candid you areI thought you people were big fans of free speech? Am I not allowed to have opinions that go against the grain? Am I going to get cancelled now?
It's because I have nothing to hide. I believe that as long as 5C is a non-bannable part of the game as FDev designed it, it should be an openly used mechanic instead of only being used by the worst of the worst. And perhaps maybe since I'm being so candid, maybe you can believe me when I say that we believe the fortifying of Hudson space was not an intentional 5C effort, and it was definitely not us that fortified Hudson space. We had way too much work on our hands already to also spend all that time fortifying Hudson space. We UMed 2.2 million merits last week! It's honestly flattering that you think we had the capacity to do that and also haul fortification to 35 Hudson spheres.
The sussy thing for me is that your admittedly impressive UMing effort relied on 5C'ers to fortify our crappy systems in order to be effective in the slightest. But even if you can't condemn the actions of 5C'ers, all 5C'ers no matter which power they sabotage, I'm glad we agree that they indeed are "the worst of the worst".
We have seen Aisling alone haul 2.5M to a profitable expansion, and 1.5M to a -2 loss-maker. Undermining has a much lower barrier to entry, just something like a combat Krait and a couple of rebuys (on the Imperial side you don’t even need to build it survive Open). And this op wasn’t limited to just Aisling. It would be foolish of us to underestimate your capacity, no?
There was zero reliance on systems being fortified. We hoped we could goad the randoms into fortifying, but we still were preparing snipes of course. But once it became clear we were safe to turn in, we did.
So basically both sides are pointing out "Randoms" for their grievances.
Wasn't Fed FUC players with type 10 turret bots. Was Randoms.
Wasn't Imperial 5c. Was Randoms (on whichever side).
This is probably actually the closest to the truth. With no-one really trusting each other simply because the possibility exists for both sides to employ less than honourable means.
Gonna go back to watching like Colin Robinson...
Wasn't Fed FUC players with type 10 turret bots. Was Randoms.
Wasn't Imperial 5c. Was Randoms (on whichever side).
This is probably actually the closest to the truth. With no-one really trusting each other simply because the possibility exists for both sides to employ less than honourable means.
Gonna go back to watching like Colin Robinson...
The nice thing with this is that most of the bad systems got undermined AFTER being forted. So it was not shown as "under threat".
Thank you for proving our points tho.
You've got your timeline a little wrong. Each of those systems were about 30% undermined first, then fortified, then fully undermined.
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Oh man, such bitterness, such sore winners 
. From whence comes such pain? What might it drive you to? 
Anyway I'm just going to carry on playing the way that allows me to enjoy the game - in open, empty blocklist, no logging from combat, playing "fair" as far as the broken mechanics allow, zero tolerance of botting, afking, 5C, etc. And glad I have a group, FUC, of like mind to do that with, win or lose and that at least sometimes, we win. And, like the turmoil of Edward "Moribund" Mahon, we have some people willing and able to pull big surprises, which is cool.
I guess maybe the Empire enjoy different things, and maybe that's why you play the way you (generalising wildly here) do, but it feels less and less my problem.
. From whence comes such pain? What might it drive you to? Anyway I'm just going to carry on playing the way that allows me to enjoy the game - in open, empty blocklist, no logging from combat, playing "fair" as far as the broken mechanics allow, zero tolerance of botting, afking, 5C, etc. And glad I have a group, FUC, of like mind to do that with, win or lose and that at least sometimes, we win. And, like the turmoil of Edward "Moribund" Mahon, we have some people willing and able to pull big surprises, which is cool.
I guess maybe the Empire enjoy different things, and maybe that's why you play the way you (generalising wildly here) do, but it feels less and less my problem.
Curious, since they're not doing it here, if anyone on your channels called you out for this approval of 5C? There are good, game-balance reasons why 5C is avoided. Or did it really take someone from FUC, just like with every other point of principle?
Also wondering if you have a leadership/veteran position and how you imagine publically stating these views might influence the mass of players in those channels, including any rogue elements that might go off-script, and what it feeds into the culture amongst your powerplayers as regards "community (of which you are part) agreed principles". I'd say don't underestimate group culture I guess, it's part of how you establish confidence in your collective principles, and build them without having to harshly enforce them.
I strongly suggest you spend time in powerplay servers of both sides if you want to come to a firmer idea of how equal and fair this dichotomy is. I confess I haven't, so can only speak for one of them (although I've seen screenshots of dialogues I found... dismaying, from over there). Would be interested to hear what you conclude.
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Okay, I can't let this one pass. I undermined nearly 20000 merits across 3 expansions in US/EU prime play time and didn't see a single ZYADA cmdr last week.
Oh, believe me, it's not a popular opinion in ADC. But on the other hand, 5C happens regardless of whether it's taboo or not. I don't think we've had a single week since I've joined where 5C prep hauling was lower than 100k merits. I'd rather be able to face my enemy than having to take a stab in the dark at guessing who is doing what, as you're doing in this thread and as we have done in the past. Now everyone's mad about it, and innocent people are getting accused. You may be able to relate. Or maybe your party is responsible for the 5C against us, and we haven't been falsely accusing you. I can't really know for sure since that's the nature of rules that function on the honor system, but from our side it looks like it's feds 5Cing us.Curious, since they're not doing it here, if anyone on your channels called you out for this approval of 5C? There are good, game-balance reasons why 5C is avoided. Or did it really take someone from FUC, just like with every other point of principle?
I don't know where you got the impression that we're bitter. I'm having a blast burning Hudson to the ground. I just want to be sure that false accusations don't go unanswered.Oh man, such bitterness, such sore winners
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