Will, after we brought this up on Lave Radio last night (25:40) you and Sally told me that you always appreciate feedback and report it to the dev team frequently. Here is some.
Powerplay needs some urgent attention.
What’s wrong?
The problem is not that Powerplay is boring, ill-conceived or too simple. It’s a cleverly complex grand strategy game played out amongst the stars, ruined by perverse incentives. At present, and since inception, the most effective way to support your chosen Power is to pledge to that of your enemy, and work against their interests from within. The consolidation vote did not solve this problem.
Moreover, this isn’t something that roleplay enemies like the Empire and Federation do occasionally to get the edge on each other - it’s something that routinely happens to every Power, suggesting that roving trolls armed with bot accounts are causing at least some of the damage.
What to do?
In May 2018, Sandro made this Forum post suggesting some thoughtful changes. They sparked debate but were broadly welcomed. It generated 105 pages of comments. He held long discussions with the Powerplay groups on Discord, discussing how to address this. Before anything got done, however, he abruptly moved to another game - leaving nothing changed at all. It’s now nearly a year later.
The fixes needed are not huge. Powerplay does not need a large, feature-rich overhaul the likes of exploration or mining have just had. It needs some tweaks to its rules - primarily to disincentivise sabotaging a Power you wish to destabilise. The changes floated in Sandro’s thread back in May would do the trick.
Please make time in the development schedule to fix this. It’s causing many people to not engage with Powerplay who would otherwise do so, and players who formerly engaged with it to drop out of the game.
They’re not huge changes and they’re well overdue.
Powerplay needs some urgent attention.
What’s wrong?
The problem is not that Powerplay is boring, ill-conceived or too simple. It’s a cleverly complex grand strategy game played out amongst the stars, ruined by perverse incentives. At present, and since inception, the most effective way to support your chosen Power is to pledge to that of your enemy, and work against their interests from within. The consolidation vote did not solve this problem.
Moreover, this isn’t something that roleplay enemies like the Empire and Federation do occasionally to get the edge on each other - it’s something that routinely happens to every Power, suggesting that roving trolls armed with bot accounts are causing at least some of the damage.
What to do?
In May 2018, Sandro made this Forum post suggesting some thoughtful changes. They sparked debate but were broadly welcomed. It generated 105 pages of comments. He held long discussions with the Powerplay groups on Discord, discussing how to address this. Before anything got done, however, he abruptly moved to another game - leaving nothing changed at all. It’s now nearly a year later.
The fixes needed are not huge. Powerplay does not need a large, feature-rich overhaul the likes of exploration or mining have just had. It needs some tweaks to its rules - primarily to disincentivise sabotaging a Power you wish to destabilise. The changes floated in Sandro’s thread back in May would do the trick.
Please make time in the development schedule to fix this. It’s causing many people to not engage with Powerplay who would otherwise do so, and players who formerly engaged with it to drop out of the game.
They’re not huge changes and they’re well overdue.
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