I'm sure I'm not the only person that's noticed that activities that, logically, should count towards powerplay system progress do not, just due to the way merit-gaining activities have been defined with such limited scope.
There's a number of changes I'd like to see so that more gameplay loops can earn system control points just by playing. As Curtis said in one of the powerplay videos, the goal is to show the people of a system that your power is good for them. With that in mind:
1. "Aid and Humanitarian missions" should have a MUCH expanded definition. Currently it refers solely to ship Support missions. But why, in a system at war, does transporting refugees and aid workers not count as aid/humanitarian? Currently passenger gameplay is 100% excluded from powerplay. Coming from doing evacuations during the Thargoid war, this is such a glaring oversight.
2. Missions in general! Trade contracts, data delivery, pretty much any legal mission should be seen as "showing the system you are good for them". Illegal missions could have benefit in undermining too. Fdev tried a more general approach, with merits for kills, "crimes" (murder), bounties and trade, but this leaves out a number of mission types. Some balancing should be done here.
3. Better BGS integration - in the past, government types had a stranglehold on how PP1 functioned. To this day alliance space is full of federal factions as their government types benefitted Mahon more than alliance factions did. I'm glad this mechanic is gone, but there's no reason why a simple "BGS actions against/for superpower aligned factions have increased effect against superpower powers". Give power players reasons to push their superpower minor factions into new territory to prepare for expansion. Fortify your minor factions to allow for easier defending against undermining. It makes so much narrative sense in that PP is something of a series of proxy wars.
I'm sure there's some more ways PP2 could better integrate into existing mechanics (crime having its definition expanded is an easy one). But those are a few things I'd really like to see.
There's a number of changes I'd like to see so that more gameplay loops can earn system control points just by playing. As Curtis said in one of the powerplay videos, the goal is to show the people of a system that your power is good for them. With that in mind:
1. "Aid and Humanitarian missions" should have a MUCH expanded definition. Currently it refers solely to ship Support missions. But why, in a system at war, does transporting refugees and aid workers not count as aid/humanitarian? Currently passenger gameplay is 100% excluded from powerplay. Coming from doing evacuations during the Thargoid war, this is such a glaring oversight.
2. Missions in general! Trade contracts, data delivery, pretty much any legal mission should be seen as "showing the system you are good for them". Illegal missions could have benefit in undermining too. Fdev tried a more general approach, with merits for kills, "crimes" (murder), bounties and trade, but this leaves out a number of mission types. Some balancing should be done here.
3. Better BGS integration - in the past, government types had a stranglehold on how PP1 functioned. To this day alliance space is full of federal factions as their government types benefitted Mahon more than alliance factions did. I'm glad this mechanic is gone, but there's no reason why a simple "BGS actions against/for superpower aligned factions have increased effect against superpower powers". Give power players reasons to push their superpower minor factions into new territory to prepare for expansion. Fortify your minor factions to allow for easier defending against undermining. It makes so much narrative sense in that PP is something of a series of proxy wars.
I'm sure there's some more ways PP2 could better integrate into existing mechanics (crime having its definition expanded is an easy one). But those are a few things I'd really like to see.