Powerplay Arissa Lavigny-Duval Power Play Cycle 15

[aspiringexpatriate]

Dispatch from the Kamadhenu Herald

Update 15 Sep 3301: Another update from Research has been added to the discussion.



Update 14 Sep 3301: All of the systems above the line are fortified to at least 100%. Great work, commanders. Research says that there is no amount of further fortification that will get us out of deficit. If we fortify systems below the line, the deficit-causers, we risk 'saving' systems which we would rather lose at the cost of our highest upkeep systems, which includes profit-makers like Ida Dhor and Pancienses.

Research, the Herald, and many prominent spokespeople for the Senator are in discussions to come up with more options. There aren't a lot of viable options if we want to start removing our starting deficit. For now, if you need to continue earning merits, look into undermining and opposition. Research will post a list of suggested undermining and opposition targets over the next 12-14 hours.

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10 September 3301

Disaster struck the political machinations of Senator Arissa Lavigny-Duval this week. Fourteen of seventy two systems that professed loyalty to the Senator were undermined. Most of them didn't report the depths of their situations until the last 40 minutes of the week. GalNet's statistical system apparently experienced a backlog and at least a half dozen of these systems' reports were not even visible to the public until GalNet's buzzer rang and the week's measurements ended.

All of this mayhem and crime resulted in the Senator's reserves of command capital being unable to cover the week's costs. The current GalNet prediction has the Senator falling short by -1406 units of command capital.



Looking at GalNet's details of control, we can see that only half of the undermined systems devolved into a state of turmoil.



Accordingly, none of the usual command capital received from these systems can be included in GalNet's predicted weekly status. Effectively, these seven systems are still maintained by the Senator's political machine, but will not receive any return from their operations.



Unfortunately, many of these are some of the most rewarding systems in the galaxy.

So far, no organisation has claimed responsibility for this massive and coordinated criminal undertaking. Keep your ears to the ground, dear readers, this required massive co-ordination.

Preparation

With seven control systems in turmoil, that's 94 total systems, the Senator's political machine refuses to expend the effort to prepare corrupt governments for justice.

Expansion and Opposition

Tutorial can be found here.

What the tutorial doesn't tell you is that Crime Sweeps will form around planetary bodies within the system. If you don't see any, keep searching those planets. Most ships can identify them 900Ls out.

While both of the hugely beneficial expansions from last week met their goals when fighting the in-system corruption, once the local governors saw other systems in turmoil, they declined the Senator's invitation to pledge their loyalty. Maybe they will still be available in a few weeks, but the galaxy is full of powerful suitors.

While there is an active expansion this week in Af Leporis, it will only go forward if the Senator reverses the turmoil and recovers her power base.

Since Sirius Gov was upset with Af Leporis appearing on the docket for expansion, many commanders pledged to Senator Lavigny-Duval hope this expansion doesn't fully succeed, if only to ease the tension currently found in the embassy systems of Sietae and Heverduduna.

From the Pegasi Pirate Conflict, reports are coming in that the Kumo Crew's expansion into 77 Aquarii failed due to overwhelming opposition. Imperial citizens throughout the sector celebrate in the streets.

This week, opposing Delaine's expansion into the system of HIP 106072 is the primary focus of Imperial High Commands efforts in the Pegasi Sector.

EDIT: Operation Janus is now live. Refer to the Lavigny's Legion documentation to find further information.

Fortification

Tutorial can be found here.

The fortification spreadsheet appears to still be accurate to GalNet's numbers, though Research is double checking to see if there are any discrepancies.

EDIT: Double-checked and verified. The sheet works fine.

The intrepid space truckers of Senator Lavigny-Duval worked diligently last week and reacted very ably to the system reports. Unfortunately, it appears that GalNet's system reports are less accurate than exit polling for democratic elections. We finally had an enemy undermine our deficit-causing systems last week. Eight deficit-causing systems were undermined. It was a gift. Unfortunately, we failed to fortify our profit-making systems, and six of those were undermined as well.

Due to effort required in calming highly populated systems which are in turmoil, those systems which have the highest upkeep (and income when undermined) are the first to enter turmoil. Thus, while we finally had eight deficit-causing systems undermined, there is zero benefit to be had, as they did not enter turmoil.

What do we do now?

Frankly, the course of action is to proceed as Research has always insisted we proceed. Start from the top of the spread sheet. Fortify the highest income systems to 100%, and move on to the next one down. Systems that are currently in turmoil can be fortified. The one good news about the GalNet system reports is that turmoil systems are finally showing their fortification and undermining numbers.

EDIT: Use the fortification tracker and its associated hitlist to get the most bang for your buck.

At this point, Research implores pilots to fortify every profit-making system. Of course, since there is no projected income from systems in turmoil, if we wish to retain them, we have to finish the week with a surplus without counting their income. Once we fix the spreadsheet, we will be able to know whether or not we need to fortify the deficit-causing systems.

Undermining

Tutorial can be found here.

The Pegasi Pirate Conflict continues. IHC's priorities have shifted towards opposition instead of undermining.

Inquisition

The Kamadhenu Chapterhouse of Inquisition experienced a few set-backs this week, namely the cancelation of Operation Dreadnought in Facece. Several of the system conflicts involving patronage governments did succeed. As always, check the Chapterhouse Lantern for current conflicts whose outcomes could benefit the Senator's cause.

Senator Arissa Lavigny-Duval's current Dominion of influence:


Reddit Post

Good luck and Godspeed, commanders.

 

[Ilich]

FD aware of the problem for a long time , but did nothing. Try to deal with this vulnerability is useless. We can not fortify everything. But we can play in this game too. Let's burn the galaxy . Maybe then FD pay attention . I remember one TURMOIL, when they have been able to fix the problem for the day.

 

[aspiringexpatriate]

In any case, this is an example of mass using of "Ninja Undermining bug". FD aware of the problem for a long time , but did nothing.

I don't think it's a bug, but a feature. If there is a bug, it's in the massive delay between vouchers being turned in and the result displaying for every player. Apparently, clearing the cache didn't even work for Arkhanist last night.

Try to deal with this vulnerability is useless. We can not fortify everything.

If we can't fortify everything, then it deserves to be undermined like it was this week. Without fortification, these control systems will not remain loyal to the Senator. A result like this is precisely what FDev has always hoped Power Play would be. Not solid control blocks, but massive turmoil every week.

 

[Kroy]

Interesting report thanks for writing and sharing.

Cmdr Kroy Mortlach
Winters Wolves

 

[Iori]

If we can't fortify everything, then it deserves to be undermined like it was this week. Without fortification, these control systems will not remain loyal to the Senator. A result like this is precisely what FDev has always hoped Power Play would be. Not solid control blocks, but massive turmoil every week.

Archon Delaine has most of his systems undermined every week and he always ends up in the blue.

 

[aspiringexpatriate]

Archon Delaine has most of his systems undermined every week and he always ends up in the blue.

His Overheads are calculated on the minimum side of the equation. Basically, Power Play is built so that a Power with any size-able player contribution cannot be collapsed. But those Powers which overstretch (over 42 systems), will have a hell of a time to maintain a stable sphere of influence.

 

[Apos]

Archon Delaine has most of his systems undermined every week and he always ends up in the blue.

Archon Delaine also has 1/3 of the systems.

It was a clear fail of the Empire that they claimed to want Delaine to collapse and then proceeded to focus on undermining more than opposing his expansions after they reached the point where undermining doesn't get Delaine in turmoil anymore.

It was clear from the start that lack of expansions is what causes a collapse, not turmoil. And yet he was allowed to expand.

Noone else to blame but yourselves here on dropping the ball.

 

[Iori]

His Overheads are calculated on the minimum side of the equation. Basically, Power Play is built so that a Power with any size-able player contribution cannot be collapsed. But those Powers which overstretch (over 42 systems), will have a hell of a time to maintain a stable sphere of influence.

Yes, but thats poorly designed, expanding should make you stronger not weaker, if not, what is the point?

 

[aspiringexpatriate]

Yes, but thats poorly designed, expanding should make you stronger not weaker, if not, what is the point?

Expanding smartly does make you stronger. Over-expanding or poor expanding makes you weaker. Of the 14 systems undermined last week, 8 of them were deficit-causing systems. If we had fortified the profit-making systems like we should, we would have had controlled turmoil, and it would've been awesome.

 

[Trafalgar Law]

Expanding smartly does make you stronger. Over-expanding or poor expanding makes you weaker. Of the 14 systems undermined last week, 8 of them were deficit-causing systems. If we had fortified the profit-making systems like we should, we would have had controlled turmoil, and it would've been awesome.

We simply don't have enough 'players' for that (I don't count the grinders which make up most of our faction). The fact that we didn't even manage to fortify a system like Caria, which is patronage and has a really low trigger, really highlights how relatively little fortification was done in the final hours last night (I logged off at around 11.30 BST). Tewi and Birite are somewhat understandable as they only have medium pads, but even so Birite was 60% fortified when I logged off and I would have thought it would have been covered with 7 hours to go.

 

[Araviel]

may i suggest that we turn some attention to Hudson.
having a federation power surpassing us and taking the 2nd place is unacceptable!

he is expanding into 2 systems this cycle - Bhotho and Nurundere
i think we should give him a run for his money and go on a full assault on his expansion attempts.

 

[aspiringexpatriate]

We simply don't have enough 'players' for that (I don't count the grinders which make up most of our faction). The fact that we didn't even manage to fortify a system like Caria, which is patronage and has a really low trigger, really highlights how relatively little fortification was done in the final hours last night (I logged off at around 11.30 BST). Tewi and Birite are somewhat understandable as they only have medium pads, but even so Birite was 60% fortified when I logged off and I would have thought it would have been covered with 7 hours to go.

We almost never fortify Caria. Everyone seems to ignore it in favour of other systems. I believe the concept is that 'we can rush it in the last minute if we have to'. Of course, now that we're aware that the system report screens cannot be relied upon for accuracy within 3-5 hours of the cycle flip, we can't fortify reactively anymore.

There's a core group of fortifiers here that work throughout the week, but I think there are a lot more of us out there who have relaxed the work during the week in favour for last minute rushing. If those of us who have resorted to rushing can get back out and fortify regularly, we should manage alright.

Birite and Tewi were both very nearly fortified. However, opposition to them was under 20% until the last half hour of the cycle, so no one thought it was a priority.

 

[Trafalgar Law]

@ Araviel: Agreed, we should never have taken the pressure off Hudson in order to attack the pirate faction (an operation which was doomed to failure due to the way the game is designed). We need to make sure that Hudson and Winters both have to worry about fortifying their systems from our ninja undermining rather than attacking us.

@ Aspiringexpatriate: I think there were a lot of the regular fortifiers absent this week. Not many posts in the forum thread for last week and not much on the reddit either regarding fortification. I don't know if people are taking part in the beta or are just away or even burned out.

 

[Lord of the Isles]

There's a core group of fortifiers here that work throughout the week, but I think there are a lot more of us out there who have relaxed the work during the week in favour for last minute rushing. If those of us who have resorted to rushing can get back out and fortify regularly, we should manage alright.

I expect you are right but I'm not going to beat myself up about it (and neither should you feel guilty). We would also have looked silly if we'd overfortified early and ended up with a huge surplus if the ninja undermining hadn't happened. Then we could have faced 6 or more Preparations, which would be hard to control ourselves, and some terrible systems would get through Prep (again). Aiming for something in the region of a 200-500 surplus was a good plan, it is just almost impossible (as you have noted) to predict what will happen at the last moment.

Anyway, starting without so many good systems in turmoil makes this week easier to plan: fortify, fortify and fortify. I'm pew-pew-ing just now to work off some frustration (and build up cash reserves) and will get to grinding garrison supplies later today and for the rest of the week. And rather than second guess the opposition, I'll take your sensible advice and do top-to-bottom on the spreadsheet.

 

[Iori]

Expanding smartly does make you stronger. Over-expanding or poor expanding makes you weaker. Of the 14 systems undermined last week, 8 of them were deficit-causing systems. If we had fortified the profit-making systems like we should, we would have had controlled turmoil, and it would've been awesome.

I spent 12 hours and 120 million in fast tracks in a single day fortifying profit making systems to completion (money that I probably wont make back because of how sick I am of this borked system).

When you conquer a territory, you use the resources and the people to increase your army size, but here the player count doesn't increase with conquest, so you get weaker the more you expand, because your effective strength remains the same, you put overheads on top of it, and on top of that, decrease activity from commanders trying out the 1.4 BETA or screwing around in Hutton and you get the perfect storm. Each system you expand to is a little more pressure on the few useful CMDRs aligned to the power.

Then you have the ability to undermine a system in the last minute, that throws the possibility of reaction out of the window.

 

[fergal]

Archon Delaine also has 1/3 of the systems.

It was a clear fail of the Empire that they claimed to want Delaine to collapse and then proceeded to focus on undermining more than opposing his expansions after they reached the point where undermining doesn't get Delaine in turmoil anymore.

It was clear from the start that lack of expansions is what causes a collapse, not turmoil. And yet he was allowed to expand.

Noone else to blame but yourselves here on dropping the ball.

The empire is doing fine, they don't need any of your advice

 

[Kroy]

edit: nm I'm enjoying the Empire Tears. They shoud be put in game as a new rare.

 

[Apos]

The empire is doing fine, they don't need any of your advice

They won't listen to it anyway, I'm an Alliance peasant.

Keep ridiculing them boys! You have my unofficial, out-of-RP support!

 

[Kroy]

I don't think it's a bug, but a feature. If there is a bug, it's in the massive delay between vouchers being turned in and the result displaying for every player. Apparently, clearing the cache didn't even work for Arkhanist last night.

Powers are able to fortify systems 100% each or 101% or there abouts. It's effective, because they know that to get the actual figures of where a system is at, you have to drop 1 package at that system. You can't rely on the "lag-map" as many in the coordinated team I participate in call it. The coordination of some powers is clearly superior to what ALD has achieved this week.

If we can't fortify everything, then it deserves to be undermined like it was this week. Without fortification, these control systems will not remain loyal to the Senator. A result like this is precisely what FDev has always hoped Power Play would be. Not solid control blocks, but massive turmoil every week.

Absolutely. If you've lost some of your efficient player-base, then you're going to shrink until you can control things. Granted, I'm taken aback by the level of losses, but it's a great thing for PowerPlay. Short of some powers collapsing entirely, I can't imagine a more interesting set of results to paw over than has happened this week.

 

[CMDR Geddy]

For me it is not a surprise that ALD could not keep up with fortification last week and some systems turned into turmoil. It is like a baloon. The more ALD supporters (like me) expand the territory the more we have to fortify. But... the more players and ships we need to keep up with fortifying. But we were not able to this week.

We should better concentrate on fortifying most profitable systems. I dont care if we lose some of the systems that already had a negative CC balance. I think, we should keep our ALD territory smaller but more profitable. The more we expand the more resources on human players and ships we need... that will not work. As I said, PowerPlay is like a baloon. You can not blow air in it endlessly, sooner or later the baloon will explode.

Another point I like to mention. In the initial post it is written that the public did not know of some systems to turn into turmoil until 40 mins before the bell rang. A good tactic is to NOT bring your undermining certificates to your control system. Hold it back! So the enemy does not know what the real progress of undermining is. I did that myself. I went into an Archon Delaine expansion system, collected lots of kills in resistance pockets but I did not immediately brought the certificates back, instead I waited for a few days. Figured that the percentage of underming made a nice and sudden jump. It is an old strategy to NOT show your enemy your progress. Try to stay secret until the last moment. Maybe we supporters of ALD should do too. To not show the enemy our own progress in undermining. Instead... the one who has the last laugh will win.