(I am using my reply from another thread since I thought this deserves its own discussion)
Groups and commanders should be able to inform themselves easily about who is doing what in a system (at least the what part).
The current method is to guess what's happening based on tracking your input and the results, then there are of course hints given through traffic reports and the number of players encountered in Open. All of these are not necessarily reliable and can make it hard to actually "play" the BGS - sometimes even for experienced groups.
Just imagine when four groups and random players are active in the same system. No one is able to tell what difference was made by the individual input and what was caused by "enemy" action. That confusion can be particular annoying when there are multiple groups supporting the opposing side and only one of them is known, or perhaps even none.
The only somewhat reliable method right now is to manually track all actions by all the players and share them between all of the involved groups, so they can check the actual tick results and calculate the inputs based on their knowledge of how the BGS treats them. Don't get me wrong. The calculations involved can be fun, but in the end this is very inconvenient gameplay, which could be integrated much better.
Since the BGS is mostly seen as a PvE gameplay mechanic, there should be an option to track BGS inputs in the game. Allow players to inform themselves about the actions of other players in a system (like it is somewhat already the case in PowerPlay).
This information does not necessarily have to include who those players are (since covert operations should remain to be a thing), but it should at least make us able to tell what difference we made in a system through our own actions.
We no longer would have to fear under- or overestimating our own inputs (as an individual commander or a group), and we can easily tell when someone is working against us.
In case missions are reworked some day in the future, such a system would also open the way for a much more immersive mission types. "Covert" Missions could have the function to hide one's own activities and so on... I believe this method would be a good compromise in the "BGS Open Only debate".
Groups and commanders should be able to inform themselves easily about who is doing what in a system (at least the what part).
The current method is to guess what's happening based on tracking your input and the results, then there are of course hints given through traffic reports and the number of players encountered in Open. All of these are not necessarily reliable and can make it hard to actually "play" the BGS - sometimes even for experienced groups.
Just imagine when four groups and random players are active in the same system. No one is able to tell what difference was made by the individual input and what was caused by "enemy" action. That confusion can be particular annoying when there are multiple groups supporting the opposing side and only one of them is known, or perhaps even none.
The only somewhat reliable method right now is to manually track all actions by all the players and share them between all of the involved groups, so they can check the actual tick results and calculate the inputs based on their knowledge of how the BGS treats them. Don't get me wrong. The calculations involved can be fun, but in the end this is very inconvenient gameplay, which could be integrated much better.
Since the BGS is mostly seen as a PvE gameplay mechanic, there should be an option to track BGS inputs in the game. Allow players to inform themselves about the actions of other players in a system (like it is somewhat already the case in PowerPlay).
This information does not necessarily have to include who those players are (since covert operations should remain to be a thing), but it should at least make us able to tell what difference we made in a system through our own actions.
We no longer would have to fear under- or overestimating our own inputs (as an individual commander or a group), and we can easily tell when someone is working against us.
In case missions are reworked some day in the future, such a system would also open the way for a much more immersive mission types. "Covert" Missions could have the function to hide one's own activities and so on... I believe this method would be a good compromise in the "BGS Open Only debate".
