Powerplay Impact of AI fortifications and dispatch algorithms?

[Sintering Steel]

Apologies if this is a naive question, but this has been puzzling me for a while and I don't see and discussion/answers...

If I deliver xxx tonnes of whatever to fortify a system, then I see the current tally for the system before I start unloading, and then the final tally for the system when I've finished. In some cases the difference between the two corresponds to what I've unloaded, but in other cases it varies, sometimes by as much as a factor of three.

So the first question is: is this just an update frequency issue, so that fortifications unloaded by other players have not yet shown up to me until I unload, or is it part of an algorithm for the dispatch of the AI supply ships that are so crucial to the whole operation of PP undermining activity.

I suspect the latter, but if so I would love to know more about the dispatch algorithm for the AIs - is it just a constant rate to each control system, distance weighted, player activity weighted, or something more intelligent based on demand?

 

[Carradin]

It is simply update lag. AI ships do not currently affect powerplay in any way, other than by their deaths. For powers with outbound fortification (HQ to control system), one can do the "1 ton test" to get fresh numbers by turning in a single ton of fortification documents and then checking, as that will force an update. For powers with inbound fortification (control system to HQ) there is no such workaround.

 

[Sintering Steel]

Thanks... that's very clear. So when it's getting close you don't really know the answer until you get there ;-)

 

[dciskey]

You can drop one ton of materials to get an up to date number, and then decide how much of the load to drop off. The only complication is that someone else could be doing the same thing in another instance or solo or on Xbox and you'll drop simultaneously. But that's pretty rare.

 

[Martin Schou]

You can drop one ton of materials to get an up to date number, and then decide how much of the load to drop off.

This only works for the powers that have outbound fortification, which means that Archon Delaine, Pranav Antal, Zemina Torval and Edmund Mahon do not have this highly advantageous fortification mechanic.