I think we are doing a lot of confusion, everybody: we use to mix the "open play" factor with the "5C" one.
Open Only is something all the game mechanics should benefit: as somebedy wrote before, the all c&p system, the PvP criminal activities AND bounty hunter activities NEED to be Open Only. Open Only would change how people fit their ships, no more paperthin-hulled traders, or jumping ships, turreted kinetic weapons, mines etc would find a purpose finally.
5C is a totally different problem, and it's a "bad design" kind of problem. The fact is that Powerplay was meant to be a decentralized game, but the very nature of the maths behind Powerplay need strictly organised groups and actions to avoid collapse (not the collapse Frontier promised, but an impossibility to keep on with the game).
So we should discuss the 5C problem WITHOUT talking about Open Play. And don't get me wrong: I WANT Open Play so bad, an Open Only server would be perfect, I'd gladly start from a new CMDR if requested.
But 5C is a different kind of problem and we need measures to make it pointless.
I will post (again) my proposals to change Powerplay keeping it as it is right now.
- No Overhead
- Higher Upkeeps
- Competitive Triggers for Fortification/Undermining (when both above the triggers, +100% = fortified, -100% = undermined)
- Single systems go turmoil if they go negative (upkeep for far systems should be very high, making you forced to fortify them to keep them), the week after there's a conflict to decide if it's lost
- Considering that underminers would be advantaged, make power commodities far less expensive (would be awesome to have other activities too, like missions, but I can't ask that much
)
- Preparations only until tuesday, wednesday is a "voting only day", yes/no votes for each remaining preparation, 5 weighted vote for rating 5 CMDRs, 2 for rating 4, 1 for rating 3, rating 2 and 1 CMDRs can't vote
- Powerplay modules available to tech-brokers too (we don't want shoppers!
)
- weekly salary proportional to the total CCs of the Power (similar to community goals), so that the mor systems you control, the higher the potential CCs, the higher the reward for the Players
- BGS and PP linked by Superpower and not Governments as they are right now
- closest control systems to the headquarter have priority on overlapping systems: doing so it would be easier to "defend" the CCs from overlapping systems, because the trigger to fortify them would be higher
- no more Allied Powers: if minor factions of the same superpower can go war against each other I can't see why the Powers shouldn't behave the same
- even if it's not enough: open only
-if open only: undermining merits are counted in REAL TIME, not when redeemed, but ONLY if this game is becoming Open Only
- regular measures taken against bots and cheaters, checking the control systems of each and single power and the expansion systems too, if a bots is spotted by the devs their merits should be erased from the total amount and that account banned for good (not 72 hours ban), or at least banned from Powerplay
All these things could be done in a really short time, and would solve most of our 5C problems. We should discuss about this, of course I'm positive my proposal would be the best possible solution because I made that, but please, let's talk about something "real" for once, let's try to understand what we can actually do for Powerplay, elaborate a common proposal, a common technical proposal, or maybe we are all just talk about taking measures against 5C, bots and cheaters, because it's easy to say that "we do not like them too!" when we do not take actions against that.
Rules MUST change. Even if these rules would not benefit some groups. We have to seek for FAIR rules. Not the best for our group. Because the actual rules are not fair, and who's winning is clearly exploiting them, so again: cut the crap, nobody cares who's winning, the game as a whole is losing.
