Ending a Civil War?

[CMDR Kyle Donovan]

Fast background: recently me and a group of friends got together in some little backwater, got our group put in, and started our path to getting a station.

Except...

Our faction got put in last week, and a NPC faction in system declared war on us that Thursday. We were on equal footing at 7.5%. We did some buildup, ran some missions, and were at 12% by the time the combat zones went up the following Monday. Within 2 days of war we were 20% ahead of them in system influence and high-intensity combat zones were gone. By day three, they were down to 0%, and we were at 36%. It's day 4, they're still at 0%, we're still in a Civil War state with them, and I'm wondering: when do they throw up the white flag? I thought Civil Wars were ended when you beat them by a certain margin of system influence. (I've seen various numbers thrown around, but whatever the influence criteria is, we've beaten them decisively)

What am I missing? Is there cooldown? Is there a mandatory minimum time? (I thought that's what the three days were)

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

Civil war needs 3% to win War 5%. They will usually be pending for 3 days, then war/civil war for 4 days. If your opponent has any assets, you'll win the best one on day 3.

 

[GilliganTX]

3 day minimum, IIRC.

 

[CMDR Kyle Donovan]

3 day minimum, IIRC.

That's what I thought too. The war started Monday afternoon, and by Thursday afternoon... three days if I'm counting right... we were at 36% and they were at 0%

Now we're at 29 and they're at 3, but we should still have wrapped up the war, I thought, since we were well beyond the win criteria by the end of day two.

Thus my confusion.

 

[GilliganTX]

That's what I thought too. The war started Monday afternoon, and by Thursday afternoon... three days if I'm counting right... we were at 36% and they were at 0%

Now we're at 29 and they're at 3, but we should still have wrapped up the war, I thought, since we were well beyond the win criteria by the end of day two.

Thus my confusion.

Wait for the next tick. BGS roll-over times are inconsistent. Sometimes it will roll on to day 4 or so for no real reason. You guys should have it in hand, just be patient, do some damage control. Fighting a war/civil war can tank your influence in other systems, if you have any other holdings it would be a good opportunity to shore up your influence there.

 

[CMDR Kyle Donovan]

Wait for the next tick. BGS roll-over times are inconsistent. Sometimes it will roll on to day 4 or so for no real reason. You guys should have it in hand, just be patient, do some damage control. Fighting a war/civil war can tank your influence in other systems, if you have any other holdings it would be a good opportunity to shore up your influence there.

The good news there is that we have zero influence in other systems. Wheeeeee! We /just/ started out and some knucklehead declared war. Go figure XD

And from your mouth to Braben's ears. Civil War is over. Now comes the trade flurry.

 

[GilliganTX]

Nice. I'm glad it worked out for you.


As a reminder: Anytime your influence is equal to another faction in system, it WILL kick off a BGS event. What event depends on your government type. The event will typically be an Election, a war, or a civil war, depending on the factions in conflict.

The only way to skip your way to the top, and become the controlling faction as quickly as possible, is to do as ya'll have done here:

Trigger a war, and while that state is active, Jump your influence up by scores of %. Depending on how well you do, you could come out much closer to the top, vs having to fight a war against each faction in the system to climb the ladder.

Be forewarned, however, that if you do skip ahead to the lions share of system influence, side stepping the 5 or 6 civil wars along the way, you will not win any properties/assets from those factions.
That can be a good thing, or a bad thing, depending on the asset.

 

[CMDR Kyle Donovan]

Yeah. The current assets are an outpost, a coriolis, and a ground base (do little planetary outposts and installations count as properties to win, or does it need a landing pad to count?) The ground-based starport and the coriolis are owned by the big power, so there's that. And thanks to their newfound boom state, they pulled ahead again. Which means we get another shot at the big stuff. The minor faction that started the first war, they're down in the single digits and even the local pirate faction is doing better than they are. In a system built on mining and bounty hunting...

 

[GilliganTX]

Yeah. The current assets are an outpost, a coriolis, and a ground base (do little planetary outposts and installations count as properties to win, or does it need a landing pad to count?) The ground-based starport and the coriolis are owned by the big power, so there's that. And thanks to their newfound boom state, they pulled ahead again. Which means we get another shot at the big stuff. The minor faction that started the first war, they're down in the single digits and even the local pirate faction is doing better than they are. In a system built on mining and bounty hunting...

Yes. Planetary outposts and installations count and can be won through an election or a war. I consider them to be liabilities and not desirable properties, however. They would be value neutral if it weren't for the skimmers, which count as "ships" for the faction controlling the outpost/installation, and can be easily bombed, repeatedly, with no risk to the bomber or recourse by any system authority. If enough ships (skimmers) of your faction are destroyed, it will negatively effect your influence in that system.

Properties where you can land and interact with the game, adding value to your system via trading, handing in data or bounties, will help your faction gain influence. There are other tactics that players can use to hurt your influence, even at stations/outposts/planetary bases, like for-loss-trading or engaging the black market. Typically the positive influence effects will outweigh the negative, unless someone is really working against you.

The fact that the controlling faction owns the two ports where large ships doc means they will ALWAYS, as long as they control those assets, be passively gaining influence. You want to control those.
You can only win one at a time, so if you want both you will need to instigate two wars with them.

This will mean that you will have to work against your own faction (maybe having a planetary outpost to bomb skimmers isn't such a bad thing, then, eh?) to lower its' influence, and re-reaise the influence of the faction controlling the asset you want to annex.