Frontier's PMF procedure...

[ubermick]

Heya folks. So am getting a new squadron up and running, and have submitted an application for a PMF, but am having a helluva time getting it approved. My application keeps getting knocked back because of the faction description, the reason for which alternates between "Not descriptive enough" and "Too descriptive". There seems to be a sweet spot that I have yet to find.... if anyone has any tips on what to write/what not to write, I'd appreciate it!

Also, once it is approved, how long does it usually take to appear in-game? The submission form says (if I recall) "up to seven days" but heard mention of "hahaha, nope, it takes AGES"

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Just put the lyrics to Fleetwood Mac's Little Lies.

Any support person who knocks that back deserves a jolly good thrashing!

Oh, you wanted constructive?

Sorry, fresh out of ideas.

 

[ubermick]

Sorry, fresh out of ideas.

THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS.

The latest knockback was actually the lyrics to Justified and Ancient. FDev specifically wanted to know the make/model of the ice cream van in question, without referring to lore.

 

[Screemonster]

lol

Meanwhile the guys that moved into my old hangout after I left have literally three factions, all named variations of each other, one of which has a home system that doesn't have a starport?

I mean, no ill will towards them and all but it tells you everything you need to know about how rigorous fdev are when it comes to checking the actually important things instead of nitpicking text descriptions.

 

[Nepeta Uchiha]

FDev adds in too many DOA PMFs. It really sucks because they force systems into 8 factions and when you want to expand into that system you need to murder two factions instead of one lol

 

[Screemonster]

FDev adds in too many DOA PMFs. It really sucks because they force systems into 8 factions and when you want to expand into that system you need to murder two factions instead of one lol

I've said it before, but there's definitely a place for a squadron-level (ie. smaller than powerplay) flag-planting and territory-building game layer in elite - but I don't think the BGS or minor factions are the correct place. Certainly not in the state the BGS exists in now.

 

[ubermick]

Yeah. I wholeheartedly back the notion that if a faction is dormant for an extended period of time, they should be just retreated back to their home system. If they’re still dormant after, say, 6 more months just remove them.

Problem is, you never know when people apply what their intentions are.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Yeah. I wholeheartedly back the notion that if a faction is dormant for an extended period of time, they should be just retreated back to their home system

How would you define dormant? A faction in control of multiple systems will certainly be getting transactions for it fairly often.
(And if it's not actively supported, anyone who wants to can retreat it themselves fairly easily in lower-traffic systems without having to wait six months)

The majority of space isn't being taken up by the dormant factions, though - or at least, not only by them. At the weekend:
- 17277 systems had at least one PMF present
- 16570 systems had at least one system-controlling PMF present, which it would be impossible to automatically identify as dormant.

The top 10 factions alone control 5% of the bubble and rising, add the 11th and their combined size is larger than the entire Alliance ; the top 50 factions control 20% of the bubble. PMF presence and control expands at about 30-50 systems a week, so in about a year all the space will be used up (hopefully you can get your application successfully processed before then) and then the complaints will really start...

 

[Screemonster]

The top 10 factions alone control 5% of the bubble and rising, add the 11th and their combined size is larger than the entire Alliance ; the top 50 factions control 20% of the bubble. PMF presence and control expands at about 30-50 systems a week, so in about a year all the space will be used up (hopefully you can get your application successfully processed before then) and then the complaints will really start...

and this is why removing universal states without finishing the job and implementing the happiness mechanic for expansions was a bad idea.

Without a brake on larger factions just blobbing out without consequences, the end result was naturally a few large player groups who, while themselves only making up a fraction of the playerbase, end up taking over a disproportionate area of the game's territory.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Without a brake on larger factions just blobbing out without consequences, the end result was naturally a few large player groups who, while themselves only making up a fraction of the playerbase, end up taking over a disproportionate area of the game's territory.

Agreed - though, that said, the counter is that a big faction without the numbers to properly manage that territory could easily end up trying to fight twenty simultaneous wars and retreats if a large enough coalition decided that they wanted them gone.

In the old system, it took a bit longer to get to that size, but you also couldn't be conflicted or retreated out of it more than a system at a time either. One of those mega-factions would have taken four or five years to push back, able to bring their entire force to bear each time on the crucial system ... now, they could lose the whole lot in a month, in theory.

Once space actually runs out that's when we'll see which of them aactually have the numbers to manage those giant territories.

 

[Chaparral]

Adopt one. Park an FC in the home system with a squad name of the pre-existing PMF and it is yours all day long.

 

[Disemboweled Ego]

We tried getting a PMF for around a year after Odyssey launch and got rejected for similar reasons, but the PMF application site was also down for several months and had various bugs (just 503 due to some login issues, no helpful error message when the form fails to post because the description is too long if it contains unicode characters, etc).

We still don't have our PMF and the last series of rejections were due to there being a PMF in the system we picked (there isn't), meanwhile we've been forced to try to keep a PMF deadzone around that system while seeing a superpower aligned PMF get inserted into a nearby independent system trying to move in on our territory.

 

[ubermick]

So fair play to Frontier - I fired in the updated application on Wednesday, got an email Thursday saying it was approved, and when I was able to get into the game on Friday was already waiting for me in the home system (with Civil War pending!)

We give 'em a lot of stick for the things they get wrong, but credit to them when they get it right.

 

[SasaThargoidsHunter]

Heya folks. So am getting a new squadron up and running, and have submitted an application for a PMF, but am having a helluva time getting it approved. My application keeps getting knocked back because of the faction description, the reason for which alternates between "Not descriptive enough" and "Too descriptive". There seems to be a sweet spot that I have yet to find.... if anyone has any tips on what to write/what not to write, I'd appreciate it!

Also, once it is approved, how long does it usually take to appear in-game? The submission form says (if I recall) "up to seven days" but heard mention of "hahaha, nope, it takes AGES"

As we send it back in the days, after the confirmation it was one week later implemented. Some pmf use their description in inara our old squadron too, which was named phoenix rising, perhaps it’s available, should be a good hint how long they mean with, to long or to short.