Award Powerplay Merits for Supplying Construction Sites in Player-Aligned Systems

[Zrakamir]

Hello CMDRs and Frontier Devs,

while investing in infrastructure clearly supports a Power's expansion, I noticed something that might deserve a second look when it comes to how Powerplay rewards are distributed...

TL;DR at the end

The Problem:
Supplying construction sites—often with large quantities of valuable industrial goods—clearly strengthens the economic and strategic value of the system. If that system is being acquired or already controlled by a Power (e.g., via Acquisition or Stronghold status), then logically, the act of construction does support the expansion and influence of the Power.
However, players currently receive no Powerplay Merits for these investments. This is counterintuitive and potentially discouraging for Powerplay supporters who actively colonize space.


Suggestion:
Allow players to earn Powerplay Merits for delivering goods to Construction Sites within Acquisition, Stronghold, or Control systems of their aligned Power. Merit gain could follow the same principles used for trade-based assignments:

• Only award merits if the goods generate a certain profit margin (e.g., +40% over purchase price)
• Only apply when an active Powerplay Assignment related to system development or expansion is active
• Possibly cap merits per construction site or per day to avoid exploitation

Benefits:

• Aligns BGS-driven construction with Powerplay systems, creating synergy between both gameplay layers
• Rewards committed players who invest time, credits, and logistics into colonizing space for their Power
• Encourages more organic and strategic expansion of Powers, driven by player action

Conclusion:
Giving merit rewards for construction deliveries in Power-occupied systems would help integrate colonization with Powerplay and give players a deeper sense of contributing to their Power’s growth—both narratively and mechanically.

TL;DR:
Powerplay-aligned players should earn Merits for delivering high-margin goods to Construction Sites in systems being acquired or controlled by their Power. This would better integrate colonization with Powerplay mechanics and reward players who actively expand their Power’s territory through infrastructure development.

fly safe out there and o7, CMDR Zrakamir

 

[Elliot Coleman]

As a completely unofficial non-representative of the non-existent unaligned independent pilots' coalition, we don't want your politics on the frontier.

Other than that, I believe your suggestion has merit...pun intended.

 

[Cemenotar]

I'd love if buiding up the systems I've architected contributed to their control score, would save me some headaches.

 

[aRJay]

Are there any colonies actually being hijacked by the powers?

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Are there any colonies actually being hijacked by the powers?

Sure, plenty. A very large number of colonies are in-fill of the spaces in the existing bubble essentially within the existing Powerplay regions.

+------------------+----------+
| power            | colonies |
+------------------+----------+
| A. Lavigny-Duval |       99 |
| Aisling Duval    |      142 |
| Archon Delaine   |       16 |
| Denton Patreus   |       23 |
| Edmund Mahon     |       60 |
| Felicia Winters  |       73 |
| Jerome Archer    |       67 |
| Li Yong-Rui      |      130 |
| Nakato Kaine     |      149 |
| Pranav Antal     |       78 |
| Yuri Grom        |       56 |
| Zemina Torval    |      104 |
+------------------+----------+

(Data via EDDN, will probably have missed a few here and there)

• Only award merits if the goods generate a certain profit margin (e.g., +40% over purchase price)
• Only apply when an active Powerplay Assignment related to system development or expansion is active
• Possibly cap merits per construction site or per day to avoid exploitation

I don't see a need for a specific cap here - you can haul most goods into an NPC market of even moderate size indefinitely without seriously affecting the profit margin, get much better profit margins than the construction site provides, and the construction site is already itself capped in that it only needs 1234t of Steel or whatever, and if that runs out it runs out.