Powerplay ETA for pp data theft.

[CMDR Nathan Atterlein]

Any info when the Odyssey element will be turned back on for Powerplay?

With the exception of whatever that exploit was, that deleted not only dozens of systems (from SH to unclaimed to ALD Fort ) for non-data thieving PP flags, but Kumo systems as well, the general balance of the offensive game loop was still nothing significant compared to the nowadays 150~ system claims by a single PP flag in a single cycle. Which is still ongoing btw.

So I'm just curious when are we handful of Pirates going to get our buffed activity back, finally. People aren't feeling the current balance system too hot if we're selectively disabling strengths for some, but not others.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

They've not given any hints on that. Since escape pods are still disabled almost nine months on and rares took four months to bring back, I wouldn't expect anything quick, though.

 

[CMDR Nathan Atterlein]

They've not given any hints on that. Since escape pods are still disabled almost nine months on and rares took four months to bring back, I wouldn't expect anything quick, though.

That's pretty depressing, as personally I loved having Odyssey gameplay finally inserted into the broader happenings of the Galaxy. But you've a point, I totally forgot about escape pods by now.

 

[Shurimal]

I believe the devs confirmed a few updates back that escape pods are officially off the Powerplay menu and won't be coming back. I suspect the same would happen with the data, unless they find a way nerf them sufficiently so they can't be used for sniping without them becoming completely infeasible.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

I believe the devs confirmed a few updates back that escape pods are officially off the Powerplay menu and won't be coming back.

They never specifically said that, as far as I remember - they just switched the ethos bonuses for them to other activities, strongly implying that they don't expect to bring them back any time soon.
(Since "salvage" can't be used for Acquisition and escape pods still clutter up over half the cargo in the Power signal sources, this just makes that whole part of the game a lot worse. It used to be good enough to Undermine a weak system with, if the other side wasn't paying attention...)

Of course, even though they switched the ethos bonuses, they didn't take them off the weekly tasks. Whether that's because they expect to bring them back eventually some year or because that would be too much effort, I don't know.

I suspect the same would happen with the data, unless they find a way nerf them sufficiently so they can't be used for sniping without them becoming completely infeasible.

The easiest way to stop sniping with data would be to have it score when you download the data, not when you hand it in.

 

[CMDR Nathan Atterlein]

I believe the devs confirmed a few updates back that escape pods are officially off the Powerplay menu and won't be coming back. I suspect the same would happen with the data, unless they find a way nerf them sufficiently so they can't be used for sniping without them becoming completely infeasible.

They might as well remove rare trading by that analogy.

When we collapsed bubbles like Paesi via data, it was all because the local power didn't bother to have fortified systems along their single point of failure. Sniping is countered by competence.

Also, the solution to multi-cycle data gathering is easy: give it an expiration date. Not exactly rocket science imo.