Powerplay Lets see whos winning the race to the worst preparation list

[fergal]

As there are less and less high, or medium, income systems left, the race for keeping all the crap off everyone's preparation lists is heating up.

Lets just look at everyone's top prepared system so far:
Hudson, 75
Mahon -21
ALD 22
Sirius 46
Winters 77
Aisling No Preparation possible
Torval 80
Patreus No Preparation possible
Delaine -11
Antal No Preparation possible

So you can see Hudson, Winters and Torval are all winning at this stage.

Aisling, Patreus and Antal are doing the next best, by doing nothing thus not hurting their power.

And Mahon, ALD, Sirius and Delaine are all competing with each other to see who can harm their own power the quickest.

Of course this is only looking at each powers number 1 preparation target, but its not good news when its better to do nothing in PP, than something.

 

[Gran Solo]

This is pretty much the reason I don't do Power Play anymore. Well, that, and that other thing.

 

[Otto Von Grim]

A simple solution would be to not rank the preparation systems by their prep point total. Just adding the 10 most prepped systems to a list. And then give each faction member 1 vote per rating level to be spent on either up voting or down voting preparation candidate systems. With this sort of additional voting system the actual player numbers would be the deciding factor. If there are 10 5th Columnists all at rating 5, then they have 5 points to spend on up voting their 5C prepped system for a total of 50 points. It would then take just 10 legit Archon members to counter-act those 5C efforts and down vote the bad system.

Right now it comes down to whoever has the most credits to spare and the most time to spend on preparation. And since 5th Columnists do not have to bother putting any effort into fortification it frees up their credits and time for prepping and fighting for expansion of bad systems. There needs to be a way to resist this rot from within.

 

[Saool]

And Mahon, ALD, Sirius and Delaine are all competing with each other to see who can harm their own power the quickest.

Whilst there is some evidence of xbox players pushing the lovely Njikan system for some eclectic reason only they could possibly know, my money is still on an organised group of 5ths. I feel, now that we are starting to exhaust the available pockets of good systems, that this form of black ops will become more and more common, as well you know.

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

I won't spoil the thread with some depressive comments (though I assume my avatar picture suffices for that), but:
- has FD ever commented about 5th column activity?
- has FD even pointed that defecting to another Power, to mess it up from the inside, is an exploit?

 

[Antoniius]

A simple solution would be to not rank the preparation systems by their prep point total. Just adding the 10 most prepped systems to a list. And then give each faction member 1 vote per rating level to be spent on either up voting or down voting preparation candidate systems. With this sort of additional voting system the actual player numbers would be the deciding factor. If there are 10 5th Columnists all at rating 5, then they have 5 points to spend on up voting their 5C prepped system for a total of 50 points. It would then take just 10 legit Archon members to counter-act those 5C efforts and down vote the bad system.

Right now it comes down to whoever has the most credits to spare and the most time to spend on preparation. And since 5th Columnists do not have to bother putting any effort into fortification it frees up their credits and time for prepping and fighting for expansion of bad systems. There needs to be a way to resist this rot from within.

Very nice idea. I really think you can propone it to the Devs

 

[Saool]

I won't spoil the thread with some depressive comments (though I assume my avatar picture suffices for that), but:
- has FD ever commented about 5th column activity?
- has FD even pointed that defecting to another Power, to mess it up from the inside, is an exploit?

I know of no comment by F-DEV on the matter. And I don't think you could say it is an exploit. Bad form? Underhand? Yes. But one could also argue that this is legitimate black ops play. A great part of me hates it, however a small part of me would oppose making it impossible altogether. That would seem artificial. More difficult yes.

For me the issue is just part of the imbalance of PP. As some powers are vastly more attractive that others, they have much larger player bases. And just like all other aspects of PP, the more people you have, the easier it is to do anything, including sabotaging other powers.

Ultimately we can make as many spreadsheets as we like. And craft the perfect strategy. But ultimately if you throw enough people at it the shear weight of numbers will win in the end.

They took 22 weeks to realise something we where complaining about for months. If they do take action, it will probably be Christmas next year.

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

I know of no comment by F-DEV on the matter. And I don't think you could say it is an exploit. Bad form? Underhand? Yes. But one could also argue that this is legitimate black ops play. A great part of me hates it, however a small part of me would oppose making it impossible altogether. That would seem artificial. More difficult yes.

Thanks for summarizing the answers to my questions, which I wanted people to think about.

Infiltrating a Power and bringing it at mess from within is neither cheating, nor exploiting. I actually don't despise it, and feel that it brings another dimension to the strategy and interaction between Powers.

What saddens me is that nobody does anything about that but whining, while there are some solutions...solutions which people, who plan to quit Power Play out of frustration, should consider.

- - - Updated - - -

They took 22 weeks to realize something we where complaining about for months. If they do take action, it will probably be Christmas next year.

And yep, even in the eventually we would manage to have FD do something about the current 5C situation (there is also a solution for this to happen), I doubt it would get resolved in a timely manner...or in a way that would not impact the gameplay.

 

[Darth Ender]

If it were possible Antal would not expand hardly ever. Utopia is content and would rather improve and strengthen it's current systems before looking to bring new systems into the enclave. Systems need time to be introduced to all that Utopia has to offer and outside systems need to see the benefits. Then it wouldn't be a matter of having to expand but controlling the influx of systems volunteering to join.

Peace and Harmony through Technology.

 

[Darth Ender]

What saddens me is that nobody does anything about that but whining, while there are some solutions...solutions which people, who plan to quit Power Play out of frustration, should consider.

When the actions of players can be hidden away in non-shared game modes. What other recourse does anyone have? You can't stop their actions. You can't punish them. You can't even identify them. There is no strategy. It's just a numbers game at the time. Who has more to contribute (and potentially how fast it can be contributed). That's less of a strategy and more of a logistics problem, which individual players have little control over.

If players had an in-game mechanism to combat subversive gameplay, regardless of mode, then you probably wouldn't hear much whining. Like maybe a voting mechanism for final say over expansions to the players with say over 10 wks pledged, rank 4 and rank 5.

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

When the actions of players can be hidden away in non-shared game modes. What other recourse does anyone have? You can't stop their actions. You can't punish them. You can't even identify them. There is no strategy. It's just a numbers game at the time. Who has more to contribute (and potentially how fast it can be contributed). That's less of a strategy and more of a logistics problem, which individual players have little control over.

If players had an in-game mechanism to combat subversive gameplay, regardless of mode, then you probably wouldn't hear much whining. Like maybe a voting mechanism for final say over expansions to the players with say over 10 wks pledged, rank 4 and rank 5.

Don't get me wrong. I agree with you.
There have been a lot of very good suggestions about improving Power Play...hell, about improving the game in so many aspects! But it's no secret that none of this is going to be implemented, or at least not on time or not the way we want.

Sure, keep posting great ideas or complaints on the forum...
...but here we are, we want to play the game now. "Elite : Dangerous"? I'd call it "Elite : Deal with it"...I have dealt with it since release and am still quite happy about it.

However I'd be happier with Power Play if some people would actually take appropriate actions (about 5C) instead of posting on the forum.

 

[Rampant]

When the actions of players can be hidden away in non-shared game modes. What other recourse does anyone have?

This is what happens as a direct consequence if FD not making good on their promise of an off-line single player version.

The absolute and fundamental point is that FD forced all of us into a single living galaxy that is affected by every single player, regardless of play mode.

Everybody gets what very few people actually wanted.

Me? I'd prefer a static galaxy that didn't leave me behind over the last 8 months I haven't had the opportunity to play.

Others want everybody in Open and with no other mode available. (for their victims to hide away from them in?)

I love the sand box and the 3 player ratings of combat/trade/exploration, but it hasn't been without its trials...

Cheerz

Mark H