Powerplay Arissa Lavigny-Duval Power Play Cycle 22

[aspiringexpatriate]

Dispatch from the Kamadhenu Herald

29 October 3301

Six systems previously pledged to Emperor Lavigny-Duval have petitioned her councilors in Kamadhenu, demanding their grievances be heard. How, exactly, is the Emperor on Achenar going to handle her political influence machine in Kamadhenu, some sixty light years away? Her Majesty has already been splitting her time between the Lavigny Palace on Topaz and distant Kamadhenu, but she recently took on far more responsibility, the entire Empire. The clamoring from these distant systems echoes all the way to the halls of Achenar. Gossip shoots across the parsecs with possible reasons: some say they’ve seen one too many media campaigns in favor of the Emperor’s niece; others whisper these border systems detest the Emperor’s coronation gift of unregulated slaves; more claim that the Emperor’s promised justice and stability isn’t present, with an uncountable number of cargo ships destroyed and governments entering states of lockdown; and still others whisper that these governments might be secretly supporting cells of Emperor’s Dawn. Most Imperial citizens decry these local governments as special interests, expecting their own concerns to trump those of the entire Empire, which now rests solely on her shoulders.

The Emperor’s infrastructure in Kamadhenu has truly stumbled into a state of turmoil. Sources from within the Kamadhenu council claim their figures for deliveries of garrison supplies looked promising. Yet, clearly, something is amiss. Sources from the Nyalayan Observatory, a frontier system, and distant Shatrites, on the Federation border, describe something equally upsetting: “Far too long has the political machine of Kamadhenu catered to minimally populated and practically deserted systems' whims and desires. When nearly thirty of the sycophantic patrons and their ‘spheres of influence’ return less influence back to Kamadhenu than they expend in an effort to appease them, it is no wonder that our citizens are dissatisfied.” As the interview ends, Danielle Lavogez, the CEO of Latobici Silver Energy Inc, whispers: “Just what does Guathiti Legal PLC do with hundreds of thousands of tonnes of garrison supplies? Are they building an army?”



Elsewhere in the galaxy, Shadow President Winters also hit a rough patch, with the citizens of Kappa throwing off the concept of Liberal Aide, and Lumbla alongside four other systems voicing their dissent with her current policies. The Pirate Lord, Archon Delaine, has once again defeated the resistance of a Federation system, pushing forward his criminal domain. This week is looking like a breakout, with seven active expansion attempts, two of them into Imperial systems. Prime Minister Mahon, President Hudson, and Aisling Duval made gains this week, possibly lending some credence to the rumor that her media campaign spreads her public relations beyond her systems of influence. Someone in Lambda-1 Tucanae must be doing something with those media packets. Citizens rejoice in Namarii, Tabaldak, and LTT 874 as Senator Patreus confirms the total destruction of three bases of the terrorist group, Emperor’s Dawn.

With six systems in turmoil, the Emperor’s Logistics Division has tough choices ahead of them. Try again, full throttle, to spread supplies to every system in an effort to save them all? Or cut their losses, protect the systems worth protecting?



Research claims they should leave the frontier and sparsely populated systems to fend for themselves, as it steals valuable resources from systems far more crucial to Emperor Lavigny-Duval’s political survival. Deliver to systems which actually have a chance of returning vital command capital back to Kamadhenu, so the Emperor can extend her will via her loyal subjects. The cycle priorities will follow this directive.

---

Current Diplomatic Status

According to sources close to the Emperor’s Kamadhenu-based councilors, she currently has an adhoc allied or neutral status with three power-brokers: Sirius Gov, Pranav Antal, and Prime Minister Mahon. Additionally, Senators Patreus and Torval, along with Aisling Duval, have supported and embraced our new Emperor as an ally. These are not Imperial decrees, but active diplomatic work on behalf of the Emperor's best interests has procured non-aggression pacts and otherwise beneficial arrangements.

The Emperor’s personal fleet of loyalists from the Pilots’ Federation holds open hostilities with Archon Delaine (Pegasi Conflict), Federation President Hudson, and Shadow President Winters as well.

Now that you know the lay of the land, what can a single pilot or group of pilots do about it?

Here is Research's take on Emperor Lavigny-Duval's prospects for the week. For a quick look at the results of their analysis, check the cycle priorities sheet.

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Preparation

Tutorial can be found here.

Due to systems in turmoil, no systems will be prepared this week. All parties hope that Sirius Gov prepares to expand its control over Af Leporis again, if only to stymie the blood split and ships destroyed on all sides of the prolonged confrontation.

---

Expansion

Tutorial can be found here.

Krinbea is the sole system welcoming Crime Sweeps this week. It is near to Kamadhenu, closest to Teliadjali, HIP 21778, and Jura.

Opposition

Tutorial can be found here.

Kumo Crew’s Pirate Lord is staging a breakout from the Pegasi Sector, with seven active expansions. Only two of them are in Imperial space: Dhak and Bipera.

Shadow President Winters is pushing two expansions this week: Hez Pef and Xiriwal. Hez Pef sits roughly 40Ly from Shatrites. Last week, her Liberal Aide pilots were not able to deliver enough supplies for her campaign of Liberal Aide to take hold, or at least to overcome the staunch opposition.



President Hudson has five active expansions, a couple of them contesting systems of Sirius Gov and Senator Torval’s spheres.

Additionally, CMDRs from Sirius Gov have approached pilots pledged to Lavigny-Duval about opposing Chuanabosso. This system is light years from our space, on the other side of Aldebaran, but our allies have asked for our assistance this week.

---

Fortification

Tutorial can be found here.

Pilots pledged to the Lavigny-Duval Logistics Division once again delivered enough garrison supplies to meet their demands. Unfortunately, absurd of levels of criminal activity led to only seven systems being fortified. With the six dissenting systems in the balance, Research expects another week of mass undermining.

According to the Kamadhenu Herald’s Research Department, the dissenting systems are a mixture of good and bad, and with high levels of criminal activity, comparable to last week, there is no mathematical chance to save any of these systems, and Research states it’s better off to secure the high population systems, those that return command capital back to Kamadhenu, and let the rest stand alone for the week.

For a detailed look at fortification tasks this week, Research presents its fortification tracker spreadsheet.

Undermining

Tutorial can be found here.

The top five undermining targets of each hostile power are readily available on the cycle priorities sheet. These priority systems and their status should be updated daily.

Commander Mira Alluvion, an Aisling loyalist, works diligently to gather intelligence on all hostile powers, though her primary focus is the Pegasi Pirate War. The Kumo Crew’s expansion of Jormor succeeded last week. Another Federation system fell to the pirate onslaught. The White Templars, a group of space-faring knights pledged to Emperor’s personal fleet, consistently campaign against the Kumo Crew. Their stalwart actions have helped the Imperial cause in the Pegasi Sector, and elsewhere as the situation requires.

Another group of fuedal loyalists, Los Centinelas, contributes to undermining efforts in systems loyal to hostile powers. Last week, their target was Shadow President Winters. Elsewhere amongst powers hostile to us, co-ordinated and well placed undermining sent the Liberal politician into turmoil.

The three powers currently opposed to the Emperor’s political goals, Hudson, Winters, and Delaine, all experienced a large amount of criminal activity, with twenty systems reaching an undermined status between them. GalNet appears to be readying a new statistic to credit those undermined targets, but it does not appear to work at the moment. The Herald's Research department will make the top five targets for undermining available on its cycle priorities sheet, and it should be updated regularly. Remember pilots, undermining a system over 100% does not help anyone’s cause, and winging up spreads the full merit voucher to every pilot.

Lavigny's Legion, the Velite Squadron, and the Carthage Auxiliary Corps have all seen action this week, though their operations tend to be shrouded in secrecy. Other groups of Pilots' Federation commanders campaign throughout hostile territory. Some are fairly secretive in their activities, like Les Corsairs de l'Empire, yet others have never made their activities known to the Kamadhenu Herald.

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The Kamadhenu Chapterhouse of Inquisition

On the home front, this week's Chapterhouse Lantern showcases six conflicts, with the control systems of HIP 32812 and HR 571 taking priority. A victory for Prahlang PLC in HIP 32812 could reduce the garrison demands of the system, but a defeat of Emperor’s Grace in HR 571 could drastically increase its required allotment of garrison supplies. Additionally, the Inquisitor out of Teliadjali asks for assistance in HR 1856 for the ruling party, the local Patron’s Principles. Combat pilots and all those friendly to the cause of the new Emperor are requested to assist Prahlang PLC, HR 571 Emperor’s Grace, and HR 1856 Patron’s Principles.

The Chapterhouse of Inquisition offers opportunities to help lower fortification triggers, raise undermining triggers, and serve as a distraction from hauling cargo. Pilots are encouraged to defend their home systems by supporting local patrons and lords, and they may find eager support if they announce their intentions to protect their homes. Valiant commanders looking to make their home system benefit Emperor's cause are encouraged to sign up and help in any way.



Reddit post.

Good luck and godspeed.

Quick Links:
Cycle Priorities
Pegasi Pirate Conflict
Chapterhouse Lantern

 

[edgar]

666 deficit for the Halloween Cycle seems appropriate, at least

 

[Backelaer]

But how did this actually happen? Even when you fortify everything, you can go into turmoil? Is there a difference then in cc between systems that have been fortified and systems where undermining was cancelled? Pff really hard to wrap your head around this sometimes..

 

[Brimstone]

Everything was fortified, so I don't really understand how we went into turmoil, nor do I have the patience to sit and read through all of the techno-babble regarding it. Oh well, better luck next week I guess.

 

[Zerashk]

Everything was fortified, so I don't really understand how we went into turmoil, nor do I have the patience to sit and read through all of the techno-babble regarding it. Oh well, better luck next week I guess.

I'd sure like a techo-babbling explanation of HOW in the HELL ALL ALD systems had either hit the fortification trigger, or were more fortified than undermined.... Makes absolutely ZERO sense!

 

[Backelaer]

I'd sure like a techo-babbling explanation of HOW in the HELL ALL ALD systems had either hit the fortification trigger, or were more fortified than undermined.... Makes absolutely ZERO sense!

Something tells me you are not a member of the Emperor's ranks
But seriously, fortifying all systems can be possible. Don't forget the playerbase is still growing as far as I'm aware. Also players get wealthier, so fewer players are obligated to wait for their next fortification batch; they just buy them. I know I do.
Now that I think about it, fortification will get increasingly easy. I wonder if FD will raise the triggers in the near future.

I'm not saying they shouldn't balance the rewards by the way. Pledging to ALD gives you a bonus that is way too high.

 

[Zerashk]

Something tells me you are not a member of the Emperor's ranks But seriously, fortifying all systems can be possible. Don't forget the playerbase is still growing as far as I'm aware. Also players get wealthier, so fewer players are obligated to wait for their next fortification batch; they just buy them. I know I do.Now that I think about it, fortification will get increasingly easy. I wonder if FD will raise the triggers in the near future.I'm not saying they shouldn't balance the rewards by the way. Pledging to ALD gives you a bonus that is way too high.

Sorry i guess I cant keep a fluid thought on my phone... I am pledged to ALD and I want to know how we had six systems fall into turmoil when everything had been either reinforced or was not under threat.... I totally butchered communicating in my previous post...

 

[Phil^]

Sorry i guess I cant keep a fluid thought on my phone... I am pledged to ALD and I want to know how we had six systems fall into turmoil when everything had been either reinforced or was not under threat.... I totally butchered communicating in my previous post...

not all the systems are profitable - there are many which actually cost CC to keep. When undermined they cost even more - so fortifying those just minimises the potential losses.

There are more negative ones than there are positive ones in ALDs case, so its possible to fortify everything and still end up with a negative balance. It just depends on how many profitable systems are actually cancelled - which is what happened this week to ALD.

iirc, these systems were either the default ones from when FD created the power, or the systems gained in the early few rounds when there was extreme expansion by several imperial powers due to a very high CC balance.

Getting rid of those systems however is damn tricky to do due to the way powerplay was "designed" and how each power acts to each other. Its also made harder by "merit farmers" who pick the closest system to fortify over and over - regardless of if its a good system or not.
Its also what makes so-called 5th column actions as potent as they are. Once they have managed to push a bad system on you - its very difficult to get rid of it again. Its the penalty that keeps applying over and over.

If you try to get the unprofitable ones into turmoil - you have to also be very careful about how many profitable ones you fortify too, in order to keep a careful balance between fortified income and undermined system losses.

If you don't fortify enough then you can be sent into a further round of turmoil where profitable systems get undermined. Since undermined systems dont give you income this can keep you in the red for multiple rounds as each profitable system is lost, resulting in you having a negative balance and remaining in turmoil. This repeats over and over until your balance can actually be positive.

This of course also relies on the volume of hostile action - and powers have in the past pushed each other into turmoil and then moved on elsewhere. Similarly they have held onto their merits until the last few hours of the round so that you would have no time to respond in time and thus enter a deeper turmoil.

if you fortify too much, then you exit turmoil while keeping those unprofitable systems so the same cycle of actions can begin all over again. As an added kick to the gut, you are compelled to expand to as many systems as you can really afford each round if you have a positive balance - even if all of the systems you can expand to are terrible. As such, overfortifying can harm your power just as much as underfortifying can should others take advantage of this and hold back on their merits until the final hours.

In a better world - the systems which enter turmoil would take into account their profitability as well as their overhead costs - as then you would lose costly systems and not the profitable ones which are only costly because they were undermined or cancelled - but thats not how it was built.

There was also a very short beta for it (about a week or so) from what I remember, where rounds were accelerated and I don't think the mechanics of how things worked were figured out in their entirety - that took several rounds after release of experimenting and trying to figure out how on earth the numbers worked out the way they did.

Its also probably too late for any fixes to be made to powerplay imo. Too many rounds have passed - and to change something fundamental like how systems are determined for turmoil would really need an ingame lore reason for doing so.

 

[Lord of the Isles]

What Phil^ said in the previous post.

In short: we have too many crap systems and so every cycle our fate is determined by our enemies, depending on how much they undermine us.
Solution: no easy ones but we can make a good start this cycle by not fortifying the 4 poor systems in Turmoil; that is, the ones below the line in the spreadsheet. We would be happy to lose them.
In fact: don't fortify any systems below the line (even more important this cycle than usual).
Also: I'll be taking directions from the spreadsheet as usual. How far down we fortify may depend on how much undermining we seem to be getting from enemy factions.

 

[Backelaer]

I know we have lot of crap systems, and I know about how it is bad to fortify certain systems.

But last week we managed fine, while not even all systems were fortified then. This cycle, everything is fortified and we go into major turmoil?

 

[aspiringexpatriate]

Its also probably too late for any fixes to be made to powerplay imo. Too many rounds have passed - and to change something fundamental like how systems are determined for turmoil would really need an ingame lore reason for doing so.

The good news is that this is not true. FDev has and likely will massively alter the basic mechanics of Power Play as Season 2 releases over the course of 2016. Hopefully, they'll be able to package it as a *new feature* instead of an exploit fix/balance pass.

As for how Turmoil systems are determined, and revolted, they're pretty much getting it right, forcing a player base to be intelligent and pro-active. The problems stem when most of the player base is, but enough of them who aren't wind up all pushing one or two systems to maintain Rating 5 bonuses, and it truly skews the curve.

What Phil^ said in the previous post.

In short: we have too many crap systems and so every cycle our fate is determined by our enemies, depending on how much they undermine us.
Solution: no easy ones but we can make a good start this cycle by not fortifying the 4 poor systems in Turmoil; that is, the ones below the line in the spreadsheet. We would be happy to lose them.
In fact: don't fortify any systems below the line (even more important this cycle than usual).
Also: I'll be taking directions from the spreadsheet as usual. How far down we fortify may depend on how much undermining we seem to be getting from enemy factions.

I don't think we can 'stop' fortifying above the line, as we may be subject to last hour sniping, which would really screw with the controlled turmoil tactic. We just have to hope that we are undermined enough, and that grinders don't cancel the systems below the line, as they always seem to.

- - - Updated - - -

I know we have lot of crap systems, and I know about how it is bad to fortify certain systems.

But last week we managed fine, while not even all systems were fortified then. This cycle, everything is fortified and we go into major turmoil?

Yes. We have a standing deficit of around 300cc. Default upkeep costs would leave us in deficit. The organized cancellation of nearly every fortified system means they pay default upkeep costs. Hence the deficit.

 

[_Flin_]

Everything was fortified, so I don't really understand how we went into turmoil, nor do I have the patience to sit and read through all of the techno-babble regarding it. Oh well, better luck next week I guess.

Overhead = 62.1 CC.
Every system with less than 62.1 CC profit = loss without successful fortification
More loss than profit = turmoil.
Canceled undermining = standard income.
Bad system structure = default turmoil when undermined, regardless of fortification.

 

[Dingus Maximus]

Because they managed to cancel enough systems to force us into deficit. DO NOT FORTIFY BELOW THE LINE

 

[Pepe]

This leads to...

that.​

I mean... What kind of players need to push on after 100%? Why deliver mere 2527 supplies (which is enough for fortify trigger) and supply next system, if game rewards us all the same if we deliver 18013 to just one? Who cares if other systems will be under 100% because of that?

Well, I do. I feel stupid to be a part of this. I'll gladly defect, but what faction is not doing this same stupidity?

 

[aspiringexpatriate]

I mean... What kind of players need to push on after 100%? Why deliver mere 2527 supplies (which is enough for fortify trigger) and supply next system, if game rewards us all the same if we deliver 18013 to just one? Who cares if other systems will be under 100% because of that?

Well, I do. I feel stupid to be a part of this. I'll gladly defect, but what faction is not doing this same stupidity?

It certainly would be interesting in any undermining or fortification delivery over 100% only gave you a half merit. The tonnage and credit return would be the full amount, but the merit given to the trucker would be half.

 

[SciTrekker]

I mean... What kind of players need to push on after 100%? Why deliver mere 2527 supplies (which is enough for fortify trigger) and supply next system, if game rewards us all the same if we deliver 18013 to just one? Who cares if other systems will be under 100% because of that?

Well, I do. I feel stupid to be a part of this. I'll gladly defect, but what faction is not doing this same stupidity?

It certainly would be interesting in any undermining or fortification delivery over 100% only gave you a half merit. The tonnage and credit return would be the full amount, but the merit given to the trucker would be half.

Or why not let CMDRs take supplies from over-fortified systems instead of from the headquarters system only? How is it corruption reports can be printed and then taken from any control system but fortification supplies can only be manufactured and shipped from one system? The immersion gets lost in the over-complicated mechanics of the game so CMDRs simply opt to take supplies to the nearest system, 5th columnists aside. When fortifying systems listed in-game as needing fortification cause harm to the faction when actually fortified, the game itself screams of something missing.

How about letting me vote on systems to NOT fortify just as I can vote on systems to expand to?

Having the sacred spreadsheet outside the game is ludicrous design, imo. Bungie's MMO-wanna-be game, Destiny, suffers (from a lack of story) for the same reason: out-of-game aspects. If I had a real vote, I'd vote it's time to reboot PP.

 

[fergal]

Overhead = 62.1 CC.
Every system with less than 62.1 CC profit = loss without successful fortification
More loss than profit = turmoil.
Canceled undermining = standard income.
Bad system structure = default turmoil when undermined, regardless of fortification.

Don't forget the default upkeep costs of every control system too.

 

[Pepe]

take supplies from over-fortified systems

Good to see some light of reason, mate. Rep 4U!

That'd work perfectly in combination with merit penalties for over-supplying already triggered system (my rep for aspiringexpatriate dude too). We must think about players that would deliver and then load again (personally, or by friends) to get double merits for one supply run. I'd say over-supplying system A should provide only 35% merits and 65% for supplies loaded from over-supplied system and delivered to not triggered system B.

And trading between two already triggered systems (A and C) should be refused by supplies origin check, ofc. Over-supplied system should accept only supplies coming directly from Kamadhenu.

I hope game would cut over-supplying waste this way, but not spoil the fun to players that obviously like it for some reason.

EDIT 1: ah, I just noticed tons of threads about over-supplying. Oldest ones date to June this year. I guess devs will not change anything about game rewarding over-supplying. If it's doable - they'd do it already, imho.

EDIT 2: lol, Guathiti is at 860% already with 43500 supply units delivered (at Friday 12:30h GMT). 43500 units needs like 1100 hours of waiting for supply allocation (for average player). Obviously, we didn't do it. But what did we do to make Guathiti behave like this? Hunting in it's nice and lucrative RES a lot?

And better question: what shall we do to make some rich systems go fortify themselves like Guathiti?

 

[SciTrekker]

I don't know how the Galactic Powers screen for ALD works in the PC version because I play on the XB1. For me, I can scroll through all the systems listed in any of the tabs (Prep, Expansion, Control) and not see the existence of Triggers. I played my 1st week of PP with zero knowledge of them. I have to press my controller's green/A button to see any data for the selected system. I figured if they were in the list, they must need the supplies. Why not choose the closest one to make the greatest number of merits/time? I wonder how many new players to PP have that same ignorance.

From a performance & programming perspective, it doesn't make sense to load that information simply on the "highlighting" of the system as the player scrolls through them (which is already somewhat slow despite no UI updates other than the list scrolling when reaching the last one in the display). But from a UI design perspective with a complicated game concept (perhaps not to everyone - convoluted a better term?), I think it'd be more intuitive and informative to the new players to see those triggers without having to "select" the system beyond its highlighting as I scroll to it. Just one example where I think improvement could be made in the game for new players with what I think would be a rather simple programmatic change. Does FD have an expert UI staff member? I don't know, but they should if they don't - at least for the console versions where interfaces tend to be "simpler."

 

[aspiringexpatriate]

I don't know how the Galactic Powers screen for ALD works in the PC version because I play on the XB1. For me, I can scroll through all the systems listed in any of the tabs (Prep, Expansion, Control) and not see the existence of Triggers. I played my 1st week of PP with zero knowledge of them. I have to press my controller's green/A button to see any data for the selected system.

That's how it works on the PC, too.

From a performance & programming perspective, it doesn't make sense to load that information simply on the "highlighting" of the system as the player scrolls through them (which is already somewhat slow despite no UI updates other than the list scrolling when reaching the last one in the display). But from a UI design perspective with a complicated game concept (perhaps not to everyone - convoluted a better term?), I think it'd be more intuitive and informative to the new players to see those triggers without having to "select" the system beyond its highlighting as I scroll to it. Just one example where I think improvement could be made in the game for new players with what I think would be a rather simple programmatic change. Does FD have an expert UI staff member? I don't know, but they should if they don't - at least for the console versions where interfaces tend to be "simpler."

Basically, what is needed is a quick update to the UI. Right now we have three states a Control System can be in:

• Fortifying
• Under Threat
• Canceled

What needs to happen is a simple addition of two more states:

• Fortifying/Trigger Reached
• Under Threat/Trigger Reached

This should clear up any problems in users who don't click buttons for further information.