Interesting suggestion. I don't think you are going to save PP by making it open-only, though. It's a half-baked feature that was left behind by FD along with the BGS system. The effects on the game world is mostly limited to price modifiers and text boxes in windows, even less than the BGS where you at least get to change the mood lighting on the stations and have fun debates in the RP forum on how your player faction's space ideology is better than that of the other faction's space ideology.
If you want to save PP, maybe the rewards should be inflated to the same hilarious amount that other 'updated' game features get. Then, the beginner player can join Li-Yong-Rui or whatever and fly some Sirius boxes to a system for a few hours, and then when the PP cycle happens they can get enough money for their A-rated Anaconda, look at pretty planets for a while, and stop playing permamently 10 gameplay hours later because 'there is nothing to do'.
Okay, I am sounding really whiny today, so I'm going to try to end this post on a lighter tone: I totally think these features can be salvaged. There is a lot of interesting things that can be done. I think the starting point is answering two questions:
- Is PP/BGS going to have a significant impact on the actual game world? Is it going to change things in a way that will cause CG's and GalNet articles to happen? Is it not? If not, it should not give off the false impression that it will do. If Frontier are not ready to deal with the consequences of Arcturus, a significant Federal core system, defecting to the Alliance because commanders propped up a fringe political faction, then it should not be possible for Arcturus to defect to the alliance, because of commanders propping up a fringe political faction.
- What is an adequate solution to the Open debate which has raged since before the release? In my opinion, such a solution will:
- Encourage community through player-player interaction
- Discourage players that prefer Open from turning to Solo in some situations, when it offers a gameplay benefit (often because of player-player interactions which are not beneficial to the subject, but without such interactions, there can be no risk from player interactions)
- Still include option of entering solo at any time. I consider this extremely unlikely to ever change, and so this must be a part of any realistic suggestion. However, it is possible that some features may be considered to be 'multiplayer-oriented' and only possible to affect when playing in open.
- Include features that, through in-game means discourage griefing and griefer-adjacent behaviours like random killing of innocent pilots, especially in high-security regions. This game still hasn't managed to implemented proper consequences for criminal behaviour. It needs to do that. (it also needs better reward for profitable criminal behaviours like piracy or smuggling, but that's another discussion for another time)
If we want to get really radical... remove PP. Remove conquest/expansion aspects of BGS, outside of FD events, either from story or from inspiration by player actions (like the Lugh war). Create a new system, a layer reusing PP assets (it can even be called Powerplay, no need for a new name). Here, the PP actors fight for soft power in the galaxy by aligning factions to their power. Factions with the compatible superpower allegiance and government can be directly aligned, tributing some of their economy to the PP faction. This income is then spent on rewarding the pledged pilots and also invested in strengthening the faction.
Squadrons that are instrumental in aiding a PP faction can be awarded a governorship in a system. This system then acts as a HQ for that squadron. Further expansion into nearby systems are possible (including ejecting other player governors), allowing squadrons pledged to a PP faction to build little fiefdoms inside the PP faction's sphere of influence. The rewards for this is a significant portion of the dividends from the aligned systems going directly to the squadron rather than being shared by all power-aligned players, and recognition: squadron name, maybe logo if possible to implement in a good way, visible on
PP-related (not ordinary or political) maps and interfaces. To me this gives the best of both worlds: you can have player-player conflicts, you can have map painting territorial conflicts, you can have drama and internal conflicts, and at the same time you can have a consistent universe where systems don't flip-flop between edgy player factions and randomly generated corporations that got all the influence because their station was closest to the hyperspace dropout point.
Reset political map (superpower allegiance and governments) to the way things were back when they were sane in 2015 (except for actual government changes from events, like Lugh). Active player factions that have carved out their little empires in the BGS can be given a headstart, being in control of those systems on the soft-power layer where possible.
Give powerplay factions a long-term agenda. Not just map painting or credit rewards: If Sirius Gov did well this month, maybe they can put their surplus resources into colonizing a frontier system (of course establishing a sirius-aligned corporate state). If the Kumo Crew succeded in furthering their cause, maybe time to raid an enemy system and cause some mayhem. Have these events generate CG's! Then you can get non-PP-players involved on both sides. This suggestion could be considered separate to what I wrote above. It could even work when implemented into PP as it is today!