I found the official Powerplay manual to be...confusing, so I wrote my own.
I hope it makes sense.
The quick & dirty of Powerplay (PP)
- PP runs in cycles. Each cycle is 1 week real time
- each cycle, a Power can do 3 things:
Phase 1| Prepare a star system for Expansion
Phase 2| Expand a star system
Phase 3| Control & Fortify control zones
Phase 3 requires Phase 2 to be completed, which in turn requires Phase 1 to be completed. In all, it takes 3 weeks to turn a star system from nothing into a control zone.
What is a control zone?
- a control zone is a bubble in space with a radius of 15 light years. Every star system in that bubble belongs to the Power. The center of this bubble is a star system that was Prepared in Phase 1
Before new control zones are even formed though, the Power must manage their Command Capital (CC):
- Total CC Income is gained from all the exploited star systems in a control zone the Power owns. The higher a star system's population, the higher the CC income. The distance between the star system and the Power's HQ also matters
- CC Upkeep is what the Power spends to maintain all it's exploited star systems within the control zones
- Total CC Available is what is left after the Upkeep is subtracted from the Income = Net CC
Phase 1| How to Prepare a star system?
- at the start of every weekly cycle, a list of 10 possible star systems for Preparation is automatically generated by the game (shown in the left pane). These are the 10 most potential profitable systems nearest to your Power's territory.
The list of possible star systems is ordered 1-10 from most currently prepared to least currently prepared
This 1-10 list is also shown on the Galaxy Map:
- the Power must spend CC at the end of the Preparation phase in order to advance a Prepared star system to Phase 2, which is Expansion. Total CC available is shown above the list (112), and the cost is to the right of each star system in the list
- multiple systems can be prepared in the same weekly cycle, but only if the Power has enough CC to cover the total cost. If the cost is white, it's affordable. Star systems with a cost in red can't be afforded for the current cycle
- players can Prepare systems by doing 2 things:
1. Completing missions for that Power. Some Powers will have you transport stuff from point A to point B, or kill ships and turn in bounty vouchers, etc. It depends on the power. For Pranav Antal above, Utopian Publicity (fancy name for propaganda) must be transported from any exploited star system in a control zone the Power owns to a star system that is being Prepared.
These missions are found in the Station Services, under Contacts:
2. Using Preparation Nominations. These are gained by advancing in Rank within the Power. You gain rank by completing missions and activities for that Power.
For example: transporting 10 tons of Utopian Publicity in your cargo hold will net you 10 Merits.
At 100 Merits you advance to Rank 2, where you get 2 Preparation Nominations (higher ranks give more rewards):
** NOTE: Two Powers can both try to prepare the same star system during the same weekly cycle, but only the Power that contributes the most (missions/Nominations) is awarded the system for expansion in Phase 2. **
** NOTE: A prepared star system does NOT automatically turn into a control zone after Phase 1 **
For that to happen, it must be Expanded, which is Phase 2.
Phase 2| How to Expand a star system?
- systems can be expanded by doing missions. In this case, it's killing ships in Violent Protest zones (found out in space similar to Unidentified Signal Sources) and turning in the bounty vouchers
- to successfully expand the system, your Power needs to meet a Trigger target (shown as a white diamond with a target line):
- if your power (yellow bar) contributes enough points to raise the yellow bar above the Trigger line, you will successfully Expand the star system at the end of the weekly cycle
- other Powers can try to Oppose your expansion (the red bar), and they also do this through missions in the star system to be Expanded. To successfully Expand the star system, your Power must raise the yellow bar above BOTH the Trigger and the red Opposition bar
- your Power has strengths and weaknesses against certain types of Government when Expanding:
Phase 3| How to Control & Fortify control zones?
- after a star system is successfully Expanded, it becomes a control zone and can now be Fortified
- Fortifying a control zone reduces it's CC Upkeep cost to 0 for the next weekly cycle only. Control zones must be Fortified each week to maintain 0 Upkeep cost
- players can Fortify by doing missions, also gained from the Power Contact in the Station Services
- other Powers can try to Undermine your efforts to Fortify, which is similar to Opposing Expansion:
- if the enemy Power reaches their Trigger line for the red bar, both the Fortify and Undermine actions cancel each other out and the CC Upkeep cost doesn't change for the next cycle
- Wrap Up -
So what can you do in PP?
A player can do the following:
- do missions to Prepare star systems
- use Preparation Nominations to help shape which star systems will be Expanded in Phase 2
- do missions to Expand star systems
- do missions to Oppose another Power's attempts to Expand
- do missions to Fortify control zones your Power owns
- do missions to Undermine control zones an enemy Power owns
Why do you want to do all this? Because gaining rank in the Power gives you benefits, like bonuses to bounty voucher turn-ins or bonuses to exploration data turn-ins.
There's a bonus for everyone.
You could also possibly do things that aren't specifically written into PP, like going after players doing missions for the Prepare phase (i.e. killing trader ships transporting propaganda cargo).
Multiple strategies can be employed against an enemy Power to stop them from expanding their territory, or you can just focus on expanding your own or defending and Fortifying what you currently own.
Hopefully this helps some.
(I have no idea how to get rid of this ugly attachment below)
I hope it makes sense.
The quick & dirty of Powerplay (PP)
- PP runs in cycles. Each cycle is 1 week real time
- each cycle, a Power can do 3 things:
Phase 1| Prepare a star system for Expansion
Phase 2| Expand a star system
Phase 3| Control & Fortify control zones
Phase 3 requires Phase 2 to be completed, which in turn requires Phase 1 to be completed. In all, it takes 3 weeks to turn a star system from nothing into a control zone.
What is a control zone?
- a control zone is a bubble in space with a radius of 15 light years. Every star system in that bubble belongs to the Power. The center of this bubble is a star system that was Prepared in Phase 1
Before new control zones are even formed though, the Power must manage their Command Capital (CC):
- Total CC Income is gained from all the exploited star systems in a control zone the Power owns. The higher a star system's population, the higher the CC income. The distance between the star system and the Power's HQ also matters
- CC Upkeep is what the Power spends to maintain all it's exploited star systems within the control zones
- Total CC Available is what is left after the Upkeep is subtracted from the Income = Net CC
Phase 1| How to Prepare a star system?
- at the start of every weekly cycle, a list of 10 possible star systems for Preparation is automatically generated by the game (shown in the left pane). These are the 10 most potential profitable systems nearest to your Power's territory.
The list of possible star systems is ordered 1-10 from most currently prepared to least currently prepared
This 1-10 list is also shown on the Galaxy Map:
- the Power must spend CC at the end of the Preparation phase in order to advance a Prepared star system to Phase 2, which is Expansion. Total CC available is shown above the list (112), and the cost is to the right of each star system in the list
- multiple systems can be prepared in the same weekly cycle, but only if the Power has enough CC to cover the total cost. If the cost is white, it's affordable. Star systems with a cost in red can't be afforded for the current cycle
- players can Prepare systems by doing 2 things:
1. Completing missions for that Power. Some Powers will have you transport stuff from point A to point B, or kill ships and turn in bounty vouchers, etc. It depends on the power. For Pranav Antal above, Utopian Publicity (fancy name for propaganda) must be transported from any exploited star system in a control zone the Power owns to a star system that is being Prepared.
These missions are found in the Station Services, under Contacts:
2. Using Preparation Nominations. These are gained by advancing in Rank within the Power. You gain rank by completing missions and activities for that Power.
For example: transporting 10 tons of Utopian Publicity in your cargo hold will net you 10 Merits.
At 100 Merits you advance to Rank 2, where you get 2 Preparation Nominations (higher ranks give more rewards):
** NOTE: Two Powers can both try to prepare the same star system during the same weekly cycle, but only the Power that contributes the most (missions/Nominations) is awarded the system for expansion in Phase 2. **
** NOTE: A prepared star system does NOT automatically turn into a control zone after Phase 1 **
For that to happen, it must be Expanded, which is Phase 2.
Phase 2| How to Expand a star system?
- systems can be expanded by doing missions. In this case, it's killing ships in Violent Protest zones (found out in space similar to Unidentified Signal Sources) and turning in the bounty vouchers
- to successfully expand the system, your Power needs to meet a Trigger target (shown as a white diamond with a target line):
- if your power (yellow bar) contributes enough points to raise the yellow bar above the Trigger line, you will successfully Expand the star system at the end of the weekly cycle
- other Powers can try to Oppose your expansion (the red bar), and they also do this through missions in the star system to be Expanded. To successfully Expand the star system, your Power must raise the yellow bar above BOTH the Trigger and the red Opposition bar
- your Power has strengths and weaknesses against certain types of Government when Expanding:
Phase 3| How to Control & Fortify control zones?
- after a star system is successfully Expanded, it becomes a control zone and can now be Fortified
- Fortifying a control zone reduces it's CC Upkeep cost to 0 for the next weekly cycle only. Control zones must be Fortified each week to maintain 0 Upkeep cost
- players can Fortify by doing missions, also gained from the Power Contact in the Station Services
- other Powers can try to Undermine your efforts to Fortify, which is similar to Opposing Expansion:
- if the enemy Power reaches their Trigger line for the red bar, both the Fortify and Undermine actions cancel each other out and the CC Upkeep cost doesn't change for the next cycle
- Wrap Up -
So what can you do in PP?
A player can do the following:
- do missions to Prepare star systems
- use Preparation Nominations to help shape which star systems will be Expanded in Phase 2
- do missions to Expand star systems
- do missions to Oppose another Power's attempts to Expand
- do missions to Fortify control zones your Power owns
- do missions to Undermine control zones an enemy Power owns
Why do you want to do all this? Because gaining rank in the Power gives you benefits, like bonuses to bounty voucher turn-ins or bonuses to exploration data turn-ins.
There's a bonus for everyone.
You could also possibly do things that aren't specifically written into PP, like going after players doing missions for the Prepare phase (i.e. killing trader ships transporting propaganda cargo).
Multiple strategies can be employed against an enemy Power to stop them from expanding their territory, or you can just focus on expanding your own or defending and Fortifying what you currently own.
Hopefully this helps some.
(I have no idea how to get rid of this ugly attachment below)
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