Powerplay Help needed: How can I get powerplay items as fast as possible?

[schlowi123]

Hello fellow commanders.

I would like to purchase prismatic shields and the mining lance.
I'm not really interested in the petty politics of the bubble. Usually I'm out in the black. But due to the above wish I'm afraid that I have to work for a while for two of those power hungry murder hobos.

However, I've started reading some of the really great guides but they are not what I'm looking for.

Hence, I'm asking right out: what is the quickest way to get the items one can just get get by working for one of the powers?

I know that I'll still need to work for each of them 4 consecutive weeks but what are the most lucrative ways to gain the necessary points?
Out of personal reasons I'd like to avoid killing or doing illegal stuff. I don't mind doing trade or visitor missions.
Which missions give the most points?
Is there maybe a way to bribe someone to get the necessary points?
Once I have the necessary points, where can I pick up my stuff?
How do I "unfriend" a power hungry murder hobo, once I've got what I want?
Do I understand it correct, that I need to take the "influence" reward of missions for best progress?
Will my "earning of points" stop at one point and every additional mission for one of the powers won't count?
Is it possible to "transfer" points I had with one power to another? Probably not, but I thought that asking doesn't cost anything.

If there is a "How-to-get-powerplay-stuff-quick-guide" than I haven't found it and I would appreciate if somebody tells me where it is.

Thank you for your answers.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

You'd probably get better answers in the Powerplay forum. Powerplay is mostly separate from the BGS, and works in a completely different way. This may be why you haven't found the useful guides.

Hence, I'm asking right out: what is the quickest way to get the items one can just get get by working for one of the powers?

The quickest non-combat method is probably hauling - either fortification or preparation. Do 3 weeks of nothing, then 750 points of hauling before the Thursday morning cycle end, then wait for the fourth week to end.

Missions have absolutely nothing to do with powerplay - only BGS - and will not have any effect. And you have to haul the specific powerplay cargo to and from specific places or it doesn't count. And the interface for picking up that cargo is much worse than the conventional trade screen, and only lets you pick up a small amount at a time (or slowly bribe them to give you more)

It would be more polite to ask the power what it wants hauling where, but if you don't want to do that, fortifying somewhere which is already fortified to 100% is harmless. On the other hand, if you offer to haul stuff somewhere useful the power's regular players might help you out with any interface issues you're having and recommend the most efficient way to do it.

Once I have the necessary points, where can I pick up my stuff?

Any outfitting. Buy lots - in lots of sizes for prismatics - because you'll lose access as soon as you drop below rank 3 or leave the power, but keep any you've already bought.

How do I "unfriend" a power hungry murder hobo, once I've got what I want?

There's a "leave power" option. Use that and you leave basically safely.

There's also a "defect" option to go straight to another power. As Prismatics and Mining Lance are both Imperial powers, this is also safe to use and you'll keep half your points (though after four weeks, you'll be down to 1/16th of your points, so it's barely worth it)

(If you decide you want a third item and use "defect" to change superpower as well as power, they will try to hunt you down, though not particularly effectively)

 

[Ian Phillips]

Moved to Powerplay sub-forum

 

[Northpin]

Hence, I'm asking right out: what is the quickest way to get the items one can just get get by working for one of the powers?

I know that I'll still need to work for each of them 4 consecutive weeks but what are the most lucrative ways to gain the necessary points?

No, you dont need to work for them 4 weeks
You only need to pledge for 4 weeks
And in the 3rd week you need to gather 750 merits (only in the 3rd week)

How you gather those 750 merits? The easy way is to use a Cutter or a T9 with 750 tons of cargo space and check the requirements for Fortifications.
For Prismatics, you need to get to Aisling HQ, that is Cubeo, dock at a station, and load your cargo with 750 merits.
The process is painful. You will load 10t, then pay 100k credits to advance the timer, then load 10 more and so and so and so... 75 times.
When you finish loading check powerplay screen for Aisling and select a system that you will fortify - go there, deliver the merits and you will be set.
Wait till next powerplay tick - you will be grade3 and when the 4th week finally happens you can go at any station (preferably hightech and in LYR space) and stockpile your shields

I for example, got 2 of each size from 1 to 8.
I should had get 2 more from the most used sizes - that is 3-4-5-6 - guess i will have to repledge to Aisling soon.

Other ways to get 750 merits is by combat - you can get 10 merits per kill in a PP combat zone.
Some powers are Expanding by combat. Check Hudson Expansion or Grom (i think). If they are expanding to a system, in that system will appear special combat zones.
You go there, side with their Opposition and you get 10 merits per kill. So after 75 kills you go to an Aisling control system and get your merits.
Some other way of getting merits by combat is going into the nav beacon of an enemy power and kill their ships. You will get 30 merits per kill.
I personally prefer the PP CZ.

Things to consider:
After getting into the 4 week and having reached the Rating 3 to be eligible for specialty modules - go get them ASAP.
After the next tick (thursday morning), even if you are still pledged, you will no longer be at Rating 3 and you wont qualify for the modules - unless you keep getting merits for
that power, of course - the merits you got in previous week will get halved in current week, then halved again in next week and so on.
You dont need to defect. You can simply leave the power after getting the modules and pledge to another power next day.

 

[Masta Squidge]

1: Don't bother with the mining lance unless its for RP, giggles, or small ships for some reason. Oh, or POSSIBLY for an unshielded explorer to keep their distance in the black.


There's literally no net benefit to mining rates that I can find outside of small ships- and I have a lot of hours invested in testing various configurations to make it work. I did my time and farmed my merits for it thinking the added range could be leveraged despite the inefficiency. The problem is that it takes 3 of them to equal a single medium mining laser.

If it was 2:1 it would be worth it. If the limpets moved twice as fast it would be worth it. If it had a small bonus to mining speed over a regular class 1, it would be worth it.

In all cases its more efficient to simply fly closer and mine with a medium laser.

2: Pledge. Wait till it says 4 weeks in game. Fast track 750 cargo goodies for your faction by spending many millions of credits. Let the weekly reset happen. Takes like an hour of effort tops.

 

[schlowi123]

Moved to Powerplay sub-forum

Thank you

 

[schlowi123]

Thank you very much for the answers (so far).

@Masta Squidge: I intend to use them as "ruler". When mining I'm regularly bumping into asteroids or my drones get scrapped because I come to close, while approaching.
I shoot the prospector drones from quite far away so targeting them doesn't give me a more exact distance measure since they rotate around the asteroid. Thus, my thought is, I shoot with the mining lance and get already from 2km away a visible sign, that I'm getting closer.

I won't matter much, but enough to have a slightly more comfortable life as a miner … at least for me.

Also: you said BILLIONS, while 75 times 100,000 (as Northpin says) equals to millions. That is a bit confusing.

 

[Hossi]

How to get PP modules:
1- Pledge to power of choice
2- Wait three weeks
3- Accquire 750 merits by either*
3a) Hauling 750t fortifications from the capital of the power to a control systems. Take one that isn't completly fortified please, thats just a waste. You can fast-track these supplies (thats buying in PP-Speak) for 7.5MCr
3b) Destroy 75 hostile ships in a crime sweep (thats a PP-CZ) for 10 a piece. You can find these in expansions.
3c) Destroy 25 hostile ships out of a crime sweep for 30 a piece. You can find these in hostile control systems
4) At the end of cycle (thursday) you get promoted to rank 3, and if you have 4 weeks full you can buy
5) Buy as much as you think you will need. Store as much as neccesary. Remmember, big shields cost big money. Stockpiling prismatics can cost a billion.
6) Switch to the next power of your liking. You can keep everthing you bought, but you lose the ability to buy more at once.
* Not all activities available to all powers

 

[Masta Squidge]

Thank you very much for the answers (so far).

@Masta Squidge: I intend to use them as "ruler". When mining I'm regularly bumping into asteroids or my drones get scrapped because I come to close, while approaching.
I shoot the prospector drones from quite far away so targeting them doesn't give me a more exact distance measure since they rotate around the asteroid. Thus, my thought is, I shoot with the mining lance and get already from 2km away a visible sign, that I'm getting closer.

I won't matter much, but enough to have a slightly more comfortable life as a miner … at least for me.

Also: you said BILLIONS, while 75 times 100,000 (as Northpin says) equals to millions. That is a bit confusing.

Yeaaaah about that ruler... getting closer is how you maximize the limpet performance. Any farther than literally touching the asteroid rapidly causes them to take longer and longer to retrieve. If you are interested in learning more I would be happy to teach you. I can often reach 10 tons per minute of painite, exceeding 360 million credits per hour from undocking to selling the cargo. This beats the guys using mapped mining to reach what they claim is 400m/hr, but when you check their dock to dock time they are at about 350.

And I did not say billions. I did in fact say millions.

 

[CMDR Cknarf]

Align self with power

Do absolutely nothing for three weeks

Before the server resets on the final week, deliver 750 tons of powerplay cargo to the nearest system that you can.

Collect your parts, then defect lol. Wait another three weeks and do the same.

 

[Masta Squidge]

Align self with power

Do absolutely nothing for three weeks

Before the server resets on the final week, deliver 750 tons of powerplay cargo to the nearest system that you can.

Collect your parts, then defect lol. Wait another three weeks and do the same.

Yeah I was never clear on this until recently.

People kept telling me its "3 weeks" which implies 21 days. Which implies that after the third thursday reset I should have been able to get my 750 merits, wait to the next thursday, and then presto.

However since I started on a wednesday, after the 3 thursdays went by in game said I only had 3 weeks and 1 day, so I was not at "4 weeks" when the thursday reset occurred. Despite having more than 750 merits and having waited for 4 full weekly cycles, I didn't have an actual 28 days until the day before the 5th thursday.

Either I missed something greatly, or its a bit more complex than just "3 weeks".

 

[Hossi]

Yeah I was never clear on this until recently.

People kept telling me its "3 weeks" which implies 21 days. Which implies that after the third thursday reset I should have been able to get my 750 merits, wait to the next thursday, and then presto.

However since I started on a wednesday, after the 3 thursdays went by in game said I only had 3 weeks and 1 day, so I was not at "4 weeks" when the thursday reset occurred. Despite having more than 750 merits and having waited for 4 full weekly cycles, I didn't have an actual 28 days until the day before the 5th thursday.

Either I missed something greatly, or its a bit more complex than just "3 weeks".

Its not three weeks, its four weeks. 28 days.
But have to be rank 3, and the rank promotion happens on thursday, based on the merits of the last cycle.
So you have wait three weeks, then make 750 merits, then wait for the cycle tick which will bring you to rank 3, then wait for the 28 days to be over.

 

[Masta Squidge]

Its not three weeks, its four weeks. 28 days.
But have to be rank 3, and the rank promotion happens on thursday, based on the merits of the last cycle.
So you have wait three weeks, then make 750 merits, then wait for the cycle tick which will bring you to rank 3, then wait for the 28 days to be over.

Yeah. Every mook I asked about this just repeatedly screamed "THREE WEEKS" while smashing their faces into the keyboards. None of them bothered to clarify the last step.

I had the 750 merits after 3 weeks. And after 4. I got my goodies and answered the question for myself.

 

[schlowi123]

Thank you so much for the quick and to the point answers . Powerhungry murder smurf, here I come … .oO(anti slavery, my ass! As long as the means of production don't belong to the people it's still slavery just under a different nam! … lol )

I'm just unsure how many prismatic shields I'll need … so far I had one in mind for my Type-9 Miner/Trader

 

[Masta Squidge]

Thank you so much for the quick and to the point answers . Powerhungry murder smurf, here I come … .oO(anti slavery, my ! As long as the means of production don't belong to the people it's still slavery just under a different nam! … lol )

I'm just unsure how many prismatic shields I'll need … so far I had one in mind for my Type-9 Miner/Trader

Buy 2 of each 7 and 8. 3 of each 4-6, and 4 of each small one.

Twice.


Its the only way to be sure.

 

[schlowi123]

I just realized that I have to wait until after Christmas before I can start with that sigh. Because exactly when the 28 days are over I'm going on vacation.

 

[schlowi123]

Short update: pledged to Aisling Duval. Can I start at the 26th to earn points (which would be a thursday) and get my shield at the 2nd? Or do I need to wait three weeks until the 30th, get the necessary points and the shield at the 2nd?

 

[Northpin]

Short update: pledged to Aisling Duval. Can I start at the 26th to earn points (which would be a thursday) and get my shield at the 2nd? Or do I need to wait three weeks until the 30th, get the necessary points and the shield at the 2nd?

If you pledged today, you need to deliver 750 merits no later than 1st of January (edit: between 27th and 1st) and you can get your shields when you reach 4 weeks of pledging - that would be 5th or 6th of January.
But be careful, if you do not contribute with more merits, you will lose the ability to buy the shields in the morning of 9th

 

[Vetinari]

Wish I'd read this yesterday....managed to upset Grom and Mahon to the tune of 50K in bounties (not looking forward to Grom's devotees learning of that one lol) but didn't please Aisling at all and now I know why. Still it was fun if not productive.

Bumping as well as most useful thread I could find on the subject. Mods - Please consider it may be worth stickying.

 

[operant]

Just pledged to AD for the prismatics (I should have bought more size 6 and down first time round, years ago) and am confused by the interaction of PP with the ‘new’ crime and punishment system. The easiest is just to wait for the 3 week tick-over and pay 7.5M for 750 tonnes of merits, but if I want some fun too and go to a PP-CZ do I negate all the potential PP-bounty/crime-bounty considerations that seem to apply to killing hostile PP-ships in normal space? (I read a lot on this, but it was hard to tell what was bugs and what was current. All seemed ....er.... questionable, if not downright incomprehensible, from the viewpoint of encouraging participation in PP.).