A Guide to Minor Factions and the Background Sim

[Walt Kerman]

well played, I spent ages finding and reading all the old threads when I was trying to flip a system a while back, great to have it in one place.

Trading – During trade CG’s as of 1.3 we noticed that the station owners of the host station would lose influence as massive amounts of goods were bought by the station. Later we were able to demonstrate that buying goods from a station raises influence (ever so slightly), and selling goods to a station hurts the owning factions influence (again slightly). We have seen this used successfully by an ally to lower influence in one war where a station only offered elite exploration missions (out of most players reach).

I didnt quite understand this , do you mean that buying from a station raises influence with the station's faction? and selling to a station lowers it ?

Correct.

Could you elaborate on that please? We are stuck in Boom state with 87% and no clue how to disrupt it and continue to Expansion. Any suggestions?

BTW, thanks for sharing your knowledge. Great work!

Boom can help prices I believe. But for us the end game is expanding. Do as the advanced strategy suggests and start a war, or civil war which will interrupt the economic state.

- - - Updated - - -

Thank you !

One question :

You did not mention Powerplay influence bonus for minor factions, do they really work ?

EDIT : I mean ratings 2+ for winters, aisling and pranav

We have not tested whether or not the power play bonuses work. A simple modifier like that would be hard to screw up I imagine.... but then again...

 

[Walt Kerman]

With directing expansions it sounds like total influence within a system has a quantity. That it can be lowered but the only part we can see is the % each faction has. So what exactly does keeping influence down mean?

If you didn't know influence is a value, you might want to stay away from the advanced strategies right now. Trust me, the one you mention is a lot of work with spread sheets. But to answer your question, you keep all influence values below the threshold that causes expansion in every system except in the system you want to expand from. In the system you want to expand from you will have it above the expansion threshold. In this way you can ensure you expand from the system you want.

 

[Don Alvarez]

nice post. I'll need to bookmark this one. +rep.

A few questions, since I and my group are just getting into this as of 1.4. I've learned a lot, but there is much that is just not clear and I'm after going trough the patch notes more will be rewritten in the future.

1-Have Mercs ever, in your experience, seen any population swings in a system that you could attribute to gaming the BGS?

2-We have an invading faction in our system from a nearby one that controls no ports, anywhere. I want it gone. I'm thinking by boosting our faction's influence and picking up counter missions to undermine theirs, they will eventually shog off. Any truth in this?

3-In the OP states that only player actions can impact influence. Did a dev confirm that? In the month or so we've been tinkering in our system we've seen a lot of radical influence swings that either don't seem to be commensurate with the effort we are putting forth and too large judging by the traffic reports to be attributed a concerted unseen player effort, I'm wonder if these seemingly random results may be related to the "Scenario rebuilds" mentioned in the 1.4 patch notes.

 

[Walt Kerman]

nice post. I'll need to bookmark this one. +rep.

A few questions, since I and my group are just getting into this as of 1.4. I've learned a lot, but there is much that is just not clear and I'm after going trough the patch notes more will be rewritten in the future.

1-Have Mercs ever, in your experience, seen any population swings in a system that you could attribute to gaming the BGS?

2-We have an invading faction in our system from a nearby one that controls no ports, anywhere. I want it gone. I'm thinking by boosting our faction's influence and picking up counter missions to undermine theirs, they will eventually shog off. Any truth in this?

3-In the OP states that only player actions can impact influence. Did a dev confirm that? In the month or so we've been tinkering in our system we've seen a lot of radical influence swings that either don't seem to be commensurate with the effort we are putting forth and too large judging by the traffic reports to be attributed a concerted unseen player effort, I'm wonder if these seemingly random results may be related to the "Scenario rebuilds" mentioned in the 1.4 patch notes.

1) Population does not change ever at the moment. Unless you colonize a new system, which we did once, but that involved dev intervention.

2) We have not been able to get rid of another faction by bottoming out their influence. We believe that expanding into a system that is already full will boot out the lowest, but this is pure speculation so I didn't include it in the guide.

3) Extremely certain. We have seen systems that stay untouched on the Frontier keep their influence for weeks on end. Sometimes months... simply because no one cares to visit.

 

[sirius42]

Nice to have you still around here Walt

 

[DNA-Decay]

Can't rep more.

- Have space pic that was also figured out by experiment over a long time.

 

[the100thmonkey]

1) Population does not change ever at the moment. Unless you colonize a new system, which we did once, but that involved dev intervention.

2) We have not been able to get rid of another faction by bottoming out their influence. We believe that expanding into a system that is already full will boot out the lowest, but this is pure speculation so I didn't include it in the guide.

3) Extremely certain. We have seen systems that stay untouched on the Frontier keep their influence for weeks on end. Sometimes months... simply because no one cares to visit.

Question about (3) - have you run a controlled experiment on this? Some systems seem to drift. I.e. there is a trickle of traffic through the system. Visiting a system seems to force an update on the galaxy server.

Have you checked what happens of you force the update but take no other action, and instead jump out of the system immediately?

 

[Walt Kerman]

Question about (3) - have you run a controlled experiment on this? Some systems seem to drift. I.e. there is a trickle of traffic through the system. Visiting a system seems to force an update on the galaxy server.

Have you checked what happens of you force the update but take no other action, and instead jump out of the system immediately?

I dont think so, but maybe.

 

[The Tick]

Here's some input regarding the trending arrows:
In my experience, they are correct in 99% of cases. However, the influence figures in the right hand ship panel are incorrectly rounded. More exact figures can be found in the System Map, when moving the cursor away from any object. I use only these for tracking.
Your case with 7 uptrends could be caused by rounding errors.

 

[Walt Kerman]

Here's some input regarding the trending arrows:
In my experience, they are correct in 99% of cases. However, the influence figures in the right hand ship panel are incorrectly rounded. More exact figures can be found in the System Map, when moving the cursor away from any object. I use only these for tracking.
Your case with 7 uptrends could be caused by rounding errors.

Its often right. But its often not correct too, therefore its unreliable. I will watch it again though. I haven't payed attention to it sometime as a result. If it was correct 99% of the time I wouldnt have noticed the issue. Its incorrect way more often for us.

Edit: I changed my wording to less strong words in the OP.

 

[Jane Turner]

we only use the system ap data for tracking for this very reason.

Re Charity missions. In 1.3 we had very strong (nay irrefutable) evidence that they were positive. In 1.4 we have not tested them but they do show alarimingly negative indicators - usually bust up or lockdown up.

 

[Walt Kerman]

we only use the system ap data for tracking for this very reason.

Re Charity missions. In 1.3 we had very strong (nay irrefutable) evidence that they were positive. In 1.4 we have not tested them but they do show alarimingly negative indicators - usually bust up or lockdown up.

All missions are a little weird right now to be honest...

 

[Jane Turner]

In our main system bounty hunting missions have always had a negative effect on lockdown (until 1.4 the home of weird stated mission effects). You also got wanted for destroying wanted pirates marked as missions targets. One tip I'd give is go gently for one server tick, or start just a little time before one and make sure the outcome is as intended before pursuing any activity too hard. The very occasional unintended effect can then be caught early before you have too much work to undo.

The prize of these unintended outcomes was a war zone where fighting for the other side was the only way to win!

Its worth adding (and if its there I apologise for skimming over it) that influence updates once a day so don't worry if you don't see an effect straight away and that states update sometime prior to that - usually 2-3 hours. Influence updates on the system map before it shohws in the HUD too.

 

[Walt Kerman]

For right now don't do bounty hunting missions, just bounty hunt and turn in bonds. That seems to be working.

 

[Thormagog]

Thank you for this guide +1 rep

So if i understand this correctly .. let's say, i want support "Future of LHS 3447". They own Trevithick Dock in LHS 3447. Currently, there is another faction in charge of the system (LHS 3447 CO something ...). What can i do to turn it around, and see my faction in charge?

Missions - currently, the faction has so low influence, there are barely any missions from them. And if there are, its about killing civs, smuggling, or another type, that i just don't want to do

Exploration - are you sure, that selled exploration data affects influece only of those faction, who is in controll of said station? Because i was clearly gaining REP point with both factions allieganced with major faction

Trading - no way .. there is no commodities market on Trevithick Dock

Smuggling, killing civs, or feds - no, i just don't want to do that

The only way to increase influence for them is bounty hunting? And what about if i'm a peacefull explorer/miner/trader ?

Sorry for my english

Bounty hunting

 

[Jmanis]

Difficult to scope if this is relevant to the guide or not, but;

I did hear somewhere along the line that factions offer more missions when they have more credits. They have more credits when they sell more commodities. For at least the last couple weeks we've been trying to support a faction by doing only their missions, but we haven't been doing any trading. Over that same week, the BB's have been full of missions for other factions given we haven't been doing them, but not our chosen faction. We'd be lucky if there was one or two.

I came on tonight having been UA hunting the last three days and observed the same scenario back home (few missions for our chosen faction) then remembered this rumour, so I decided to not run missions, but trade, buying up from a station owned by my chosen faction and selling elsewhere for profit, and returning with a diverse range, usually four or five different types, of goods to sell for profit at my chosen faction's station. I've bought roughly 6 million worth of goods from my chosen faction. There's now at least a half a dozen missions at every station for my faction.

Just a one-off observation, but wondering if A) anyone can corroborate this, and B) if it's relevant for this guide as a means of generating missions?

 

[Walt Kerman]

Thank you for this guide +1 rep

So if i understand this correctly .. let's say, i want support "Future of LHS 3447". They own Trevithick Dock in LHS 3447. Currently, there is another faction in charge of the system (LHS 3447 CO something ...). What can i do to turn it around, and see my faction in charge?

Missions - currently, the faction has so low influence, there are barely any missions from them. And if there are, its about killing civs, smuggling, or another type, that i just don't want to do

Exploration - are you sure, that selled exploration data affects influece only of those faction, who is in controll of said station? Because i was clearly gaining REP point with both factions allieganced with major faction

Trading - no way .. there is no commodities market on Trevithick Dock

Smuggling, killing civs, or feds - no, i just don't want to do that

The only way to increase influence for them is bounty hunting? And what about if i'm a peacefull explorer/miner/trader ?

Sorry for my english

Bounty hunting

If you are a peaceful miner and trader why would you chose a faction with no commodity market? You will have to explore, or wait for a mission you like, but it seems like you chose a faction that doesnt fit your personality, especially with the missions they are assigning.

 

[Walt Kerman]

Difficult to scope if this is relevant to the guide or not, but;

I did hear somewhere along the line that factions offer more missions when they have more credits. They have more credits when they sell more commodities. For at least the last couple weeks we've been trying to support a faction by doing only their missions, but we haven't been doing any trading. Over that same week, the BB's have been full of missions for other factions given we haven't been doing them, but not our chosen faction. We'd be lucky if there was one or two.

I came on tonight having been UA hunting the last three days and observed the same scenario back home (few missions for our chosen faction) then remembered this rumour, so I decided to not run missions, but trade, buying up from a station owned by my chosen faction and selling elsewhere for profit, and returning with a diverse range, usually four or five different types, of goods to sell for profit at my chosen faction's station. I've bought roughly 6 million worth of goods from my chosen faction. There's now at least a half a dozen missions at every station for my faction.

Just a one-off observation, but wondering if A) anyone can corroborate this, and B) if it's relevant for this guide as a means of generating missions?

Wealth may very well have an effect on missions but its sort of hard to test, since you cant see the value. You are welcome to try and prove it though. I would be very interested. It would of course be relevant.

 

[goemon]

great thread... i will send a "thank you, walter!" via PM ... NOT! thank you!
___

question:
a) is there a hidden influence/reputation bonus in trading rare goods to a station?
b) or is profit or value of goods traded to a station taken into account for influence or reputation?

does anybody know? (just to explain: in the good old times of 45t of diso corn, i more or less flipped a small system by selling rares... and it felt much more efficient than selling performance enhancers....)

 

[Thormagog]

If you are a peaceful miner and trader why would you chose a faction with no commodity market? You will have to explore, or wait for a mission you like, but it seems like you chose a faction that doesnt fit your personality, especially with the missions they are assigning.

A few weeks ago, when i just started to play ED, this faction was in control of LHS 3447 and they had bunch of "normal" missions for me - classic courier missions, or "bring us some tons of this" and they even had some mining missions later. But then there was a civil war and they probably loose and lost control of LHS 3447. Now i don't know how to support them without bounty hunting, smugling goods, or killing civs/feds.