A Guide to Minor Factions and the Background Sim

[Sentenza]

Speaking of bounties - bounty effect was supposed to be increased, probably to help compensate the loss in war. Well my limited experience shows the opposite, loss is greater than ever even with a very high number of bounties cashed. Anyone else sees this?

 

[Starwolfe]

Depends on the system's minor factions.

In my war I lost some by cashing in Federation bounties, but that's because there are other Federation factions so I only got a portion of it.

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Its that the way its suppose to work now?

Apparently. I want to do more tests and info to really decipher it specifically, but that is what it appears to be.

 

[Schlack]

2.3 Superpower Bounty effect;

Initial observation in a system is showing that the owner of the station (an independent Anarchy) no longer gains influence from Superpower bounties turned in at the station.

The local Federation minor factions have gained influence from the bounties.


I'll need to run more controlled tests, but I think it fits pretty accurately.

Our initial testing also confirms that it is working as described by FD! More will be done over time.

Any thoughts on the buffed bounty effect? Is it now OP causing unintended imbalances?

 

[Sentenza]

Our initial testing also confirms that it is working as described by FD! More will be done over time.

Any thoughts on the buffed bounty effect? Is it now OP causing unintended imbalances?

As I just said, I see way less effect. But it is a single observation in a single day, need more.

 

[Starwolfe]

Our initial testing also confirms that it is working as described by FD! More will be done over time.

Any thoughts on the buffed bounty effect? Is it now OP causing unintended imbalances?

Kind of.

It is hard for me to judge, but it does seem to pronounce the influence gains from it but it is often split in many systems of mine, so...

 

[Abil Midena]

Thanks Star. Just to be clear...in the system that retreat is happening, I WANT that to happen. So I'm running missions for the other factions to keep our inf as low as possible. No questions on that.

But, we're in other systems too, and I wondered if there were any restrictions/buffs in those other systems. For example, if you're in war in system A, and you are also in system B, the only way to gain inf in System B is with bounties.

I was wondering how that works for retreat.

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....However a 2.3 change to superpower bounties warrents some serious investigation.

The patch notes commented on Superpower Bounties only affecting related minor factions, so it might be possible that independent and more specifically anarchy groups will be at quite a disadvantage.

Yep. Independent factions take it in the shorts again.

And that's on top of the mindless rank grinders that have zero incentive to grind Alliance/Independent rep, since there really is no reason to (outside of trying to get access to an engineer or something).

I doubt FD even sees that as a problem. The Alliance/Ind factions are just fodder for the Fed/Imps.

If they did see it as undesirable, how would they fix it? After I thought about that, they will not try, since it would involve either removing rank walls for Fed/Imp ships, or adding All/Ind ships behind a rank wall.

 

[Starwolfe]

No, you got it.

I did alot of Murder of that faction ships at the time to push them down, while handing in bounties and missions for other factions to ensure the retreat.

 

[Alb]

So I'm supporting a minor faction that just went into Election state. I know from the OP of this topuic, peaceful missions are the order of the day for elections.

But now there are election based combat missions on the board, so does anyone know if these are actually able to boost our election influence or not?


Cheers,

Albert

 

[Schlack]

So I'm supporting a minor faction that just went into Election state. I know from the OP of this topuic, peaceful missions are the order of the day for elections.

But now there are election based combat missions on the board, so does anyone know if these are actually able to boost our election influence or not?


Cheers,

Albert

According to FD no, combat actions do not help, despite the mission tag. Its been so long I can't remember if we tested those.

 

[Starwolfe]

From what I have observed, Bounties do not help, but Missions do.

Combat Missions I think may help... but that does fall into the "needing confirmation" for me.

 

[SaliVader]

Well food for thought: I have a system with 3 factions, A, B and C. Population: 57k

A=2.8%
B=10.4%
C=86.8%.

I turned in 7.5m in bounties for faction C and 154k for A.

Influence after the tick:

A=10.1%
B=8.1%
C=81.8%


Beautiful example of diminishing returns when at high influence values if you ask me.

 

[dunnykin]

Well food for thought: I have a system with 3 factions, A, B and C. Population: 57k

A=2.8%
B=10.4%
C=86.8%.

I turned in 7.5m in bounties for faction C and 154k for A.

Influence after the tick:

A=10.1%
B=8.1%
C=81.8%


Beautiful example of diminishing returns when at high influence values if you ask me.

Can I ask did you hand in any superpower bounties in addition to the named bounties for the two factions and if so did the power align with Faction A or C?

 

[SaliVader]

Can I ask did you hand in any superpower bounties in addition to the named bounties for the two factions and if so did the power align with Faction A or C?

Nope, no superpower bounties and all 3 factions are independent non-anarchies. I didn't kill any wanted ships in that system, I got the vouchers in another system, and traffic is low, <5, and influence values had been stable for a few days until I turned in the vouchers.

 

[dunnykin]

Nope, no superpower bounties and all 3 factions are independent non-anarchies. I didn't kill any wanted ships in that system, I got the vouchers in another system, and traffic is low, <5, and influence values had been stable for a few days until I turned in the vouchers.

Thanks for clarifying for me, yeah it looks like diminished returns on the higher faction letting the lower one gain a little more easily.

 

[Starwolfe]

I'd say check the local traffic reports - sounds like someone did missions or the like for the other faction.

 

[goemon]

Well food for thought: I have a system with 3 factions, A, B and C. Population: 57k

A=2.8%
B=10.4%
C=86.8%.

I turned in 7.5m in bounties for faction C and 154k for A.

Influence after the tick:

A=10.1%
B=8.1%
C=81.8%


Beautiful example of diminishing returns when at high influence values if you ask me.

if you handed them in in 1 transaction, the effect for both factions will be around the same.

Nope, no superpower bounties and all 3 factions are independent non-anarchies. I didn't kill any wanted ships in that system, I got the vouchers in another system, and traffic is low, <5, and influence values had been stable for a few days until I turned in the vouchers.

in such a system a single mission can be 2,5% influence gain... any unknown traffic can be responsible for the numbers.

 

[toto66]

So I'm supporting a minor faction that just went into Election state. I know from the OP of this topuic, peaceful missions are the order of the day for elections.

But now there are election based combat missions on the board, so does anyone know if these are actually able to boost our election influence or not?

Such missions are impractical because they require you to kill clean ships.

You can use skimmer massacre missions during election state instead, they were effective in 2.2.03 despite of "combat" tag.

 

[Arka]

Hi I want to ask is the BGS fixed now? I read about the rollback yesterday I wonder if it's safe now.

Also was there any change in BGS from 2.2 to 2.3? Can't find any info on that at patch note so I'm guessing there wasn't?

 

[Schlack]

Factions

• Fix a rare opportunity for a conflict to start immediately after ending early
• Fixed faction influence change from smuggling weapons
• Faction influence change reduced from murder, interdiction and assault crimes
• Faction influence change increased from redeeming bounty vouchers
• Balanced faction effects from selling commodities with a zero purchase price
• Removed faction reputation gains from smuggling cargo at a black market
• Improved local news articles when faction conflicts end
• Distributed effects from redeeming vouchers from super powers amongst all minor factions in that system aligned to that super power

that's the bulk of the documented changes.

BGS seems back on track after the rollback. Some anomalies, but not the disaster the first day was!

 

[goemon]

Hi I want to ask is the BGS fixed now? I read about the rollback yesterday I wonder if it's safe now.

Also was there any change in BGS from 2.2 to 2.3? Can't find any info on that at patch note so I'm guessing there wasn't?

i posted an extensive list here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...ckground-Sim?p=5362642&viewfull=1#post5362642