A Guide to Minor Factions and the Background Sim

Just caught this snippet in the 3.0.3 notes:
  • Massacre missions now spawn for factions in a war state
I hope that fix is to make sure war missions generate for factions in war, not just fixing massacre missions. I have a bunch of stations selling battle/personal weapons I want to move more often.
 
I thought retreat ended when the faction got above 5%. The faction we don't want to leave was at 6.76% yesterday and over 11% today and they're still in retreat.
 
I thought retreat ended when the faction got above 5%. The faction we don't want to leave was at 6.76% yesterday and over 11% today and they're still in retreat.
No - retreat ends either when its duration runs out, or when a conflict state supersedes it. If the faction is under 2.5% at the end (regardless of where it was during) it leaves. If it is over 2.5% at the end, it stays.
 
No - retreat ends either when its duration runs out, or when a conflict state supersedes it. If the faction is under 2.5% at the end (regardless of where it was during) it leaves. If it is over 2.5% at the end, it stays.

Unfortunately not. I had a retreat fail because it went over 2.5% for a day, even if it was 1% at the end.
 
Unfortunately not. I had a retreat fail because it went over 2.5% for a day, even if it was 1% at the end.
Interesting. That's not the behaviour I see. For example:
https://cdb.sotl.org.uk/factions/79/history - in Poe between 2 March and 7 March are over 2.5% on 2 March and 3 March, retreated
https://cdb.sotl.org.uk/factions/69/history - in Morpheus between 26 Feb and 3 March are over 2.5% from 26 Feb to 1 March, retreated
https://cdb.sotl.org.uk/factions/35/history - in Helgoland between 17 Feb and 23 Feb, got above the 2.5% on 22 Feb, fell back below it on 23 Feb, retreated
 
There seems to be some other factors going on with retreat beyond a simple < 2.5% requirement, as there are many reports of factions failing to retreat even when held under 2.5% for the entire duration.

Not saying that the 2.5% isn't the main​ criteria, but that there does appear to be other things going on as well.
 
There seems to be some other factors going on with retreat beyond a simple < 2.5% requirement, as there are many reports of factions failing to retreat even when held under 2.5% for the entire duration.

Not saying that the 2.5% isn't the main​ criteria, but that there does appear to be other things going on as well.

Have you tried tea leaves and chicken bones? They're among the tools I use. Pretty good at predicting this stuff.
 
For all I know the other factors in retreat is simple RNG. Perhaps retreat isn't guaranteed even if you meet the criteria, it just has a chance of happening. It seems about as likely as any other factor suggested so far.
 

Jane Turner

Volunteer Moderator
No - retreat ends either when its duration runs out, or when a conflict state supersedes it. If the faction is under 2.5% at the end (regardless of where it was during) it leaves. If it is over 2.5% at the end, it stays.
Yes, however we have evidence that the decision day of retreat is actually counted by the BGS as the penultimate day of the state showing - a bit like conflicts.

Or it might just be patterns in the tea leaves :) Its one of those things that you don't want to fail a retreat or risk a retreat just to test the BGS parameters!
 
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Yes, however we have evidence that the decision day of retreat is actually counted by the BGS as the penultimate day of the state showing - a bit like conflicts.
The Helgoland example above has the faction retreating but only above the threshold on the penultimate day, so either that has changed or is not the full story.

With Retreat not being the highest priority state, determining in advance what the penultimate day is could be tricky.

...

That said, looking at some recent evidence, I think the conflicts resolution might also have changed recently. That no longer seems to use penultimate day values either.

https://cdb.sotl.org.uk/systems/31/history
Between 7 March and 10 March a system control war was fought. LGC started in control of the system, and were ahead on days 1-3. On the final day, MCRN moved ahead, winning the war and taking the station.

https://cdb.sotl.org.uk/systems/8/history
Between 13 March and 17 march a system control election was fought. ColResDept started in control of the system, and were ahead on the penultimate 16 March. On 17 March, the final day, GCDC took the lead and won the election.

So it seems the order of events is only dependent now on the final day of the election:
- tick updates influence levels
- tick checks for sufficient margin
- if met, tick changes asset ownership if applicable and starts ceasefire

As late swings like this would be rare in most intentional conflicts this may have been around a while without being noticed.
 
Yes, however we have evidence that the decision day of retreat is actually counted by the BGS as the penultimate day of the state showing - a bit like conflicts.

Or it might just be patterns in the tea leaves :) Its one of those things that you don't want to fail a retreat or risk a retreat just to test the BGS parameters!

Yeah we've observed the same thing too, seems to be the penultimate day that counts ....... was a while ago so may have changed as stated above
 
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hello, yon masters of the BGS... here I stand, another addict to the glorious manipulation of minor factions and the galaxy in general.

I humbly ask a question to the powers that govern this sacred space:

During my recent escapades I have noticed that a significant change has overcome the elite universe,
well, I hope this is a new change, otherwise I am comically unaware of the things that go on around me :p

I have noticed that in supercruise, in systems, the AI ships that are being spawned are not necessarily allied with the minor factions of that system.

to back-track.. as far as my knowledge on the subject goes, in the 'old' system, EVERY ship you see in supercruise in a system will be allied with one of the minor factions in that system.
killing those ships would count negatively towards the influence of the associated faction in that system.

but NOW I see ships that are allied with minor factions of NEIGHBORING systems, I also see ships belonging to native minor factions but for this question they are not important.

my question is this:

what happens if I kill a ship belonging to a faction NOT NATIVE to the current system... yeah it will get me wanted and with a notoriety point with a silly cool down... but how will it affect the BGS,
will it affect the BGS at all? considering the ship did not belong to any local minor faction,
will it effect the minor faction that the ship belonged to, even though my activities were conducted in another system?

okay.. that was more than one question... but you get the idea.

enlighten me please oh BGS oracles.
 
hello, yon masters of the BGS... here I stand, another addict to the glorious manipulation of minor factions and the galaxy in general.

I humbly ask a question to the powers that govern this sacred space:

During my recent escapades I have noticed that a significant change has overcome the elite universe,
well, I hope this is a new change, otherwise I am comically unaware of the things that go on around me :p

I have noticed that in supercruise, in systems, the AI ships that are being spawned are not necessarily allied with the minor factions of that system.

to back-track.. as far as my knowledge on the subject goes, in the 'old' system, EVERY ship you see in supercruise in a system will be allied with one of the minor factions in that system.
killing those ships would count negatively towards the influence of the associated faction in that system.

but NOW I see ships that are allied with minor factions of NEIGHBORING systems, I also see ships belonging to native minor factions but for this question they are not important.

my question is this:

what happens if I kill a ship belonging to a faction NOT NATIVE to the current system... yeah it will get me wanted and with a notoriety point with a silly cool down... but how will it affect the BGS,
will it affect the BGS at all? considering the ship did not belong to any local minor faction,
will it effect the minor faction that the ship belonged to, even though my activities were conducted in another system?

okay.. that was more than one question... but you get the idea.

enlighten me please oh BGS oracles.

Ships appearing from other systems is something new to 3.0.3:


  • NPCs have a chance to be affiliated with factions from nearby systems, and a smaller chance to be from further afield

As for BGS effects, specifically:

If the ship doesn't belong to a local faction, and they do not have a bounty, then destroying them would only have the same effect as any crime in the system would.

If the ship has a bounty, and you turn it in in the local starport, that may have a positive benefit for the local controlling faction of that starport.

I can't see how destroying the ship would affect the minor faction it belongs to though as there's no way to know what system it originated from. I'd suspect that for all intents and purposes it's "systemless" in that regard.
 
I can't see how destroying the ship would affect the minor faction it belongs to though as there's no way to know what system it originated from. I'd suspect that for all intents and purposes it's "systemless" in that regard.
For influence, yes. You might be able to push a faction to Lockdown or Civil Unrest, though, by destroying its out-of-system ships ... the trick would be finding more than one that belonged to the same distant faction.
 
For influence, yes. You might be able to push a faction to Lockdown or Civil Unrest, though, by destroying its out-of-system ships ... the trick would be finding more than one that belonged to the same distant faction.

I wonder if they actually added that level of detail. I'd suspect not.... but sometimes the programmers are sneaky and add subtlety that I didn't anticipate :)
 
Is Sandro's answer what you are looking for?

Influence loss for a faction due to their ships being murdered occurs in the system where the ship was murdered.

Influence gain for a faction due to bounty claims being handed in to their security contacts occurs in the system where the bounty claim was handed in.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/416165-Update-3-0-3?p=6536359&viewfull=1#post6536359

Murder bit doesnt make much sense to me as the faction is not in the system.....
Bounty thing we already know, influence effect is on system where bounty was handed in not collected
 
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Murder bit doesnt make much sense to me as the faction is not in the system.....
Bounty thing we already know, influence effect is on system where bounty was handed in not collected
Yeah, I would that if the faction is not in the system, there would be no inf change to that faction.

I say that because turning in a bounty to an IF, which is usually done when the faction bounty is for one that is not in that system, means no inf change. Speaking of which...IF's are inf black holes, right? No inf goes to the station owner of the IF, right?

Dav has to spend his nights as the Riddler. Has to.
 
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