Make me care about the BGS, please.

We are going to see some big changes coming up. But insofar it helps with perspective, there are some good outlines of the fundamental mechanics like Vaders' notes here...

https://siriusinc.enjin.com/home/m/35379595/viewthread/29164127-background-simulator-tldr

And I pulled that link from Jane Turners awesome compilation post on the forums here....

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/400110-List-of-BGS-Guides

It does get interesting if you find a faction that you like.

With the new squadron mechanics coming up... I'll be interested to see how some squads might be supporting factions that were not actually inserted via player requests, and which factions those might be.

Cheers, Cmdr... and all the best on your flights. o7
 
If its really like football, deep down you'd rather see someone else come a cropper than win yourself

Being Welsh, winning is generally ruled out.

Fortunately, our dear neighbours provide enough losses to keep us happy :D


On topic:

OP, it's an exercise in spreadsheets and vanity.

Many of us dress it up with all sorts of fancy reasoning, motivations and agendas in order to play diplomats and conquerors.

But ultimately, that is what it distills down to :)
 
Being Welsh, winning is generally ruled out.

Fortunately, our dear neighbours provide enough losses to keep us happy :D


On topic:

OP, it's an exercise in spreadsheets and vanity.

Many of us dress it up with all sorts of fancy reasoning, motivations and agendas in order to play diplomats and conquerors.

But ultimately, that is what it distills down to :)

Being welsh, please talk about rugby instead of soccer. More legit ;)
 
OP, it's an exercise in spreadsheets and vanity.

Many of us dress it up with all sorts of fancy reasoning, motivations and agendas in order to play diplomats and conquerors.

But ultimately, that is what it distills down to :)
Hey there! I check my spreadsheets every morning on my ipad with my morning coffee and i like to think that i do it in a cool way!
BOSOn0k.jpg
 
firstly, you are always participating in the background simulation system. it is the system that determines what missions are available, whether there are combat zones or haz res sites to your liking. want to pirate low temperature diamonds for some loot? yeah, the bgs controls that. like trading? guess what controls the prices you pay and the profit you make. every NPC ship that flies around, what kind of ship it is and what they are carrying controlled by the bgs.

secondly, would you rather be played by the bgs or assume control of it?

lastly, i can agree that having passion for some random minor faction can be a bit fruitless. i have one minor faction in game i support because its the only democracy in the brightest star of my birth constellation and its where i learned and tested all of my bgs knowledge. if that doesn't float your boat then add your own personal minor faction to the game and try to nurture it to a place of prominence among the stars.


'playing the bgs' also adds context to your playstyle by giving you story to supplement the things you are already doing. scenarios should add even more depth to that mechanic. e.g., you can spend a hour mining because 'you have to grind something for an engineer' OR you can do that same mining for both the engineer and for a minor faction that will gain them enough influence that will push them into war with a rival offering you a chance to supplant their power in the system with a faction that will reopen the black market which you want to take advantage of to put pressure on another minor faction in the neighboring system where your player faction is trying to amass power.

so yeah, it just adds some story and flavor and a new challenge and skillset to master.

i suggest going to a system with a population of about 1 million or less and try to flip the power structure. once (if) you accomplish see what you think. if you don't like it move on with the knowledge that you can now make any system into what you want rather than chasing youtube secrets about where the 'hot missions are'.
 
I have 6 close friends that play. I submitted a request for a minor faction. I was then told I need my own minor fraction thread which I do not have, so my request was rejected. My friends are not forumites. The barriers to creating a pmf are intentionally obscure and unfriendly. 400 billion stars, but none for you buddy.

In my opinion, the BGS is the absolute worst thing about the game. It restricts mission availability, manipulating it involves non-real world edge condition mechanics (ex. killing cops, forcing elections, blocking actions, shipping in biowaste), and not about things like authentic player driven markets do. You don't choose to go to war, you create conditions that make it a possibility. It isn't Rome Total War, MOO2, X, or Stellaris that's for sure.

I understand that by completing missions affects the BGS, but I really don't give a d a m n. I care about plying my trade (whatever I choose that to be), and getting missions that pay a fair and consistent wage from novice to elite skill and gear levels. The artificial restriction on mission diversity, and quantity in systems with BILLIONS of people is stupid on it's face. The BGS dictates it so throw logic out the window.

At this point, I enjoy engineering - and a bit of pew pew - but that is the extent of the niche. There is no base building, no hangar personalization, the BGS offers zero permanence, and bots are unrestricted.

I'm afraid that I will be seduced by so many other game alternatives before BGS play would be attractive in any way for me.
 
I have 6 close friends that play. I submitted a request for a minor faction. I was then told I need my own minor fraction thread which I do not have, so my request was rejected. My friends are not forumites.

To be fair, if you and your mates can't get a forum thread together, then BGS is not going to be your thing.
 
To be fair, if you and your mates can't get a forum thread together, then BGS is not going to be your thing.

So posting on the forum is a requirement of participating in the BGS. We use discord, (like most normal people).

You're kind of making my point. Being in the PMF club isn't meant to be for all players. It follows that BGS isn't either.

By the way, how is growing a faction / pg ever going to be a thing if the price of entry is 10 players committed to post on the forums as a start?
 
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By the way, how is growing a faction / pg ever going to be a thing if the price of entry is 10 players committed to post on the forums as a start?
You don't need ten people who post on the forums, you need ten players. From tonight I expect a squadron with 10 members would be sufficient evidence, for example.

There are lots of threads in the Groups section which don't have ten distinct posters.
 
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