Ability to “pledge” to a minor faction and get an identifier.

[OnTheMinute]

I’m not talking like in the scale of powerplay with all the perks and whatnot. I’m talking for people who aren’t pledged to a superpower having the option to “pledge or join” a minor faction even if it’s superficial as in nothing changes except having an identifier showing the minor factions name where the powerplay would normally show up so that if you’re not pledged to a power player you can have something other than “no faction” as an identifier to at least express that your loyalties lie SOMEWHERE and you’re not just some nomad.

 

[OnTheMinute]

Maybe you could even add some other options in there like “bounty hunter” or “Trader” or even NOMAD. Maybe if you add other non faction options such as the ones I just mentioned, you could be able to be pledged to a power player and choose to have your identifier show a different title maybe a minor faction or something BUT in order to prevent trying to fly under the radar you could make it so that if you ARE pledged to a power player whatever title you choose to fly under would be color coded to your Powers respective color. Mahon green, Hudson red, winter orange, Arissa purple, et cetera.

 

[Misty_Dark]

I am totally waiting for this to happen, I have spent alot of time helping a minor faction, why I cannot I carry their name and colour?

 

[Marra Morgan]

I could pledge to someone else's faction and commit mischief in their name?

Sounds fun

 

[OnTheMinute]

I am totally waiting for this to happen, I have spent alot of time helping a minor faction, why I cannot I carry their name and colour?

It doesn’t even have to do anything! I’ll be happy with just the name.

I could pledge to someone else's faction and commit mischief in their name?

Sounds fun

You would have to get to allied with them first ofcorse and then yea knock your self out. NPCs do that all the time.

 

[zz9pa]

This is basically what squadrons should be...

 

[Marra Morgan]

You would have to get to allied with them first ofcorse and then yea knock your self out. NPCs do that all the time.

Getting to Allied is very easy these days. All good then - it'll be great to get a group of hooligans together, tag up with Player Faction A and go on a murder spree in Player Faction B's systems, then sit back watch the fall-out

 

[trollson]

I have wanted something like this since before PowerPlay came out.

I envisaged that after "Allied" there would be an exclusive "Member" status (with some entry and exit gates), which would allow more interactions with the Minor Faction.

Potentially much more more relevant than those remote "Great Powers".

In my sketch design you'd earn membership points while doing minor faction missions, and be able to spend them when at faction controlled bases - either to increase your reputation (self promotion), or buying extra "services", or "voting" on faction decisions.

The "voting" part was interesting - as it was really exerting your influence (reputation level) at each station you visited.

 

[hitchhiker54]

+1 nice idea

 

[Riverside]

I could pledge to someone else's faction and commit mischief in their name?

Sounds fun

5th Columning as a way to deceive PvPers? I like it

I do like the idea of being able to pledge to a faction, no benefits are necessary but a modest increase in mission rewards from that faction could be an incentive to do so.

Locally, you would have a better idea of who your friends & enemies were, for organised PvP & racing various factions could be used to denote teams too. For operations far from home it would give an interesting insight into where the players you meet normally hang out without the certainty of coming across an enemy that a powerplay pledge provides.

Yes please.

 

[OnTheMinute]

We asked for this in the Beta. They gave us Powerplay and thought they had answered us. They're not going to grow a third working brain cell now.

I’m not a programmer or even remotely close but in my non programmer brain logic it seems like the tools are already there. How hard can it be to have another pledge button somewhere.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

5th Columning as a way to deceive PvPers? I like it

I do like the idea of being able to pledge to a faction, no benefits are necessary but a modest increase in mission rewards from that faction could be an incentive to do so.

Locally, you would have a better idea of who your friends & enemies were, for organised PvP & racing various factions could be used to denote teams too. For operations far from home it would give an interesting insight into where the players you meet normally hang out without the certainty of coming across an enemy that a powerplay pledge provides.

Yes please.

I'll only agree with enhanced rewards for being pledged if there's a matching loss of rewards from all other factions.

There should also be some kind of waiting/proving period where you have to keep earning influence in order to get the bonus. That will prevent people constantly changing their allegiance to whatever faction is that week's gold mine.

 

[Riverside]

I'll only agree with enhanced rewards for being pledged if there's a matching loss of rewards from all other factions.

There should also be some kind of waiting/proving period where you have to keep earning influence in order to get the bonus. That will prevent people constantly changing their allegiance to whatever faction is that week's gold mine.

Would you lower the reward just for the other local factions in that system, or for all factions? I think in both cases that would discourage me from 'pledging', so I'd have to go with the no incentive option (if those are the only choices).

However with no incentive other than loyalty I could see this being less popular, I don't think the incentive would need to be large (eg 2.5% more cash/rep/influence, the number comes from the ship discount when you are Elite ranked).

Perhaps still popular enough to be worth considering adding to the game though

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

Would you lower the reward just for the other local factions in that system, or for all factions? I think in both cases that would discourage me from 'pledging', so I'd have to go with the no incentive option (if those are the only choices).

However with no incentive other than loyalty I could see this being less popular, I don't think the incentive would need to be large (eg 2.5% more cash/rep/influence, the number comes from the ship discount when you are Elite ranked).

Perhaps still popular enough to be worth considering adding to the game though

I'd probably do it something like this:

Pledged faction: + 10%
Other factions in systems with pledged faction: - 5%
Other factions elsewhere: - 2%

I think that would be appealing enough for casual players and RPers alike.

It could also be scaled, so that it grows over time - maybe +1% per week, to the max of 10%. Decaying back down at 1% per 2 weeks if you don't do anything to maintain Rep.
That wouldn't be too punitive to explorers who go out for a couple of months - they'd still be at +6% when they got back.

 

[Maymo]

Not only would I love to pledge to a minor faction, I’d like to actively work for them while out in their systems via an in flight mission board.
There’s got to be plenty of fun activities that can be done to support a factions interests without trundling back to the station every time. I believe most of the basic mechanics already exist in the game, minor factions can warn you of incoming danger or change your delivery locations in-flight...

 

[Marra Morgan]

5th Columning as a way to deceive PvPers? I like it

My mischief is not exclusive to any subset of players; all playstyles are mischiefed equally.

I'd probably do it something like this:

Pledged faction: + 10%
Other factions in systems with pledged faction: - 5%
Other factions elsewhere: - 2%

I think that would be appealing enough for casual players and RPers alike.

It could also be scaled, so that it grows over time - maybe +1% per week, to the max of 10%. Decaying back down at 1% per 2 weeks if you don't do anything to maintain Rep.
That wouldn't be too punitive to explorers who go out for a couple of months - they'd still be at +6% when they got back.

Nice balancing, I like this