Powerplay is not welcoming at all to new players. Most people will have no idea what it is until they start doing research outside of the game and find out about Powerplay modules, at which point they will probably join a few different factions for four weeks and then move on.
However, Powerplay is a great way to add depth to the universe, and for newer players to meet and learn from more experienced players. The game just needs to help a little.
So imagine; you're a new player in your new cobra, fighting some enemies in a medium resource extraction site. You attack a wing of three and bite off more than you can chew, and soon your shields are down.
Suddenly, a wing of three ships drops in and starts attacking the pirates! They draw aggro and help you to fight them off. It turns out they're from Zachary Hudson's personal fleet, and they post in local chat, "Good thing we were in the area. Always glad to help out a member of the Pilot's Federation. If you're interested, you should go to the Nanomam system and enlist, there are many perks you might find useful."
Alternatively, if you're carrying out an act of piracy, and get attacked by the cops, the same thing might happen with Kumo Crew members. They warp in and start to fight the police while you hatchbreak your target, and after you leave, they send you a message offering a place in the Crew and telling you that Kumo Crew black markets give the best prices.
Or if you're out mining, suddenly a Torval trader drops in and offers to buy your stock and sell you some limpets! Even if you decline, they still direct you to their home systems.
Home System Perks
This directs players to the home systems of the Powers, but it's not enough. You want players to stay there and get invested in the local space.
So I'd propose adding a second sub-station in close orbit to the primary station in each Power's home system, about 10km away. This station will reject docking requests from anyone not affiliated with the local Power. However, for those who ARE affiliated, it gives you access to every module in the game, similarly to Jameson!
Furthermore, it offers increasing discounts to players, depending on their rank in the power, and depending on what modules that Power prefers, with half that bonus for everything else.
For example, Zachary Hudson will offer 4% off per tier for weapons, armor, and hull reinforcements, and 2% off for everything else. Torval will offer 4% off for mining equipment, limpet controllers, and power distributors, and 2% off for everything else. And so on.
Home Territory Perks
Okay, so this encourages players to make their Power's home system their own home system as well. But how do you keep players invested in their power, even when they're not actively outfitting or ranking up?
Well, how about some active perks for the power?
Add a 'Power' mode for your wing beacon. When activated, different powers will occasionally drop in at your location to see what's going on, and they'll offer different services.
• Kumo Crew will offer missions to buy illegal goods in your hold for a decent price.
• Patreus will offer to rearm your ship for a nominal fee.
• Torval will offer to buy your minerals at mission rates and sell you limpets for a premium price.
• Sirius Corp will offer to refuel your ship, and unlike other Powers, has a small chance of showing up even far from the bubble. They also have ships equipped with AX weaponry.
• Aisling Duval will regenerate your shield with regenerative sequence lasers.
• And so on and so forth.
And, of course, all of them will stay to help fight off attackers in the area, caring about legality depending on which Power is involved. Kumo Crew might refuse to attack pirates, while Aisling will refuse to attack police. Grom forces might refuse to attack communists, I dunno.
This could lead to some interesting results in open scenarios where multiple players are fighting; even as they fight, multiple power ships will drop in and begin to fight as well, culminating in a full-scale conflict zone type area.
And, of course, the type and chances of a helper showing up will vary depending on your rank. A rank 1 pilot with a beacon on might call in a viper or cobra, while a rank 5 could call in an anaconda or corvette.
Making the universe feel real.
Lastly, players should always feel like part of their faction, even when not inside their faction. This could be accomplished quite easily by adding some NPC dialogue to the rotation, as well as potentially some behavioral changes.
For example, when you drop into a nav beacon while aligned with the Kumo Crew, the local NPCs might turn to scan you, say something like, "Holy crap, it's the Kumo Crew!" and deploy weapons or run. If you drop into a nav beacon in space controlled by the Kumo Crew, they might instead say, "Please, I have a family!" or, "I know how this works. Take your bribe and let me go. Please?" And then drop a few units of their cargo and boosting away.
By contrast, a member of Aisling Duval might get more appreciative comments. "Aisling Duval delivered food to my family during the Famine of 3302! Here; a small token of my thanks." They then will transfer you a small amount of credits. Alternatively, enemy factions might ask, "How's that blue bathwater taste, eh?"
And a more warlike faction like Hudson or Arissa Duval might make pirates run away in fear or attack you immediately on seeing your affiliation. "Please, I'll clear my bounty right away, just leave me alone!" or, "Your boys killed some of my best friends! Taste vacuum!" / "Down with the traitor empress! Long live the NMLA!"
TLDR
Being a member of a power should be more than just a name on your scan and a module in your cargo hold. It should be a broad-sweeping aspect of the universe with multifaceted changes to the universe. This wouldn't be enough to fully achieve that goal, but it would be a start.
However, Powerplay is a great way to add depth to the universe, and for newer players to meet and learn from more experienced players. The game just needs to help a little.
So imagine; you're a new player in your new cobra, fighting some enemies in a medium resource extraction site. You attack a wing of three and bite off more than you can chew, and soon your shields are down.
Suddenly, a wing of three ships drops in and starts attacking the pirates! They draw aggro and help you to fight them off. It turns out they're from Zachary Hudson's personal fleet, and they post in local chat, "Good thing we were in the area. Always glad to help out a member of the Pilot's Federation. If you're interested, you should go to the Nanomam system and enlist, there are many perks you might find useful."
Alternatively, if you're carrying out an act of piracy, and get attacked by the cops, the same thing might happen with Kumo Crew members. They warp in and start to fight the police while you hatchbreak your target, and after you leave, they send you a message offering a place in the Crew and telling you that Kumo Crew black markets give the best prices.
Or if you're out mining, suddenly a Torval trader drops in and offers to buy your stock and sell you some limpets! Even if you decline, they still direct you to their home systems.
Home System Perks
This directs players to the home systems of the Powers, but it's not enough. You want players to stay there and get invested in the local space.
So I'd propose adding a second sub-station in close orbit to the primary station in each Power's home system, about 10km away. This station will reject docking requests from anyone not affiliated with the local Power. However, for those who ARE affiliated, it gives you access to every module in the game, similarly to Jameson!
Furthermore, it offers increasing discounts to players, depending on their rank in the power, and depending on what modules that Power prefers, with half that bonus for everything else.
For example, Zachary Hudson will offer 4% off per tier for weapons, armor, and hull reinforcements, and 2% off for everything else. Torval will offer 4% off for mining equipment, limpet controllers, and power distributors, and 2% off for everything else. And so on.
Home Territory Perks
Okay, so this encourages players to make their Power's home system their own home system as well. But how do you keep players invested in their power, even when they're not actively outfitting or ranking up?
Well, how about some active perks for the power?
Add a 'Power' mode for your wing beacon. When activated, different powers will occasionally drop in at your location to see what's going on, and they'll offer different services.
• Kumo Crew will offer missions to buy illegal goods in your hold for a decent price.
• Patreus will offer to rearm your ship for a nominal fee.
• Torval will offer to buy your minerals at mission rates and sell you limpets for a premium price.
• Sirius Corp will offer to refuel your ship, and unlike other Powers, has a small chance of showing up even far from the bubble. They also have ships equipped with AX weaponry.
• Aisling Duval will regenerate your shield with regenerative sequence lasers.
• And so on and so forth.
And, of course, all of them will stay to help fight off attackers in the area, caring about legality depending on which Power is involved. Kumo Crew might refuse to attack pirates, while Aisling will refuse to attack police. Grom forces might refuse to attack communists, I dunno.
This could lead to some interesting results in open scenarios where multiple players are fighting; even as they fight, multiple power ships will drop in and begin to fight as well, culminating in a full-scale conflict zone type area.
And, of course, the type and chances of a helper showing up will vary depending on your rank. A rank 1 pilot with a beacon on might call in a viper or cobra, while a rank 5 could call in an anaconda or corvette.
Making the universe feel real.
Lastly, players should always feel like part of their faction, even when not inside their faction. This could be accomplished quite easily by adding some NPC dialogue to the rotation, as well as potentially some behavioral changes.
For example, when you drop into a nav beacon while aligned with the Kumo Crew, the local NPCs might turn to scan you, say something like, "Holy crap, it's the Kumo Crew!" and deploy weapons or run. If you drop into a nav beacon in space controlled by the Kumo Crew, they might instead say, "Please, I have a family!" or, "I know how this works. Take your bribe and let me go. Please?" And then drop a few units of their cargo and boosting away.
By contrast, a member of Aisling Duval might get more appreciative comments. "Aisling Duval delivered food to my family during the Famine of 3302! Here; a small token of my thanks." They then will transfer you a small amount of credits. Alternatively, enemy factions might ask, "How's that blue bathwater taste, eh?"
And a more warlike faction like Hudson or Arissa Duval might make pirates run away in fear or attack you immediately on seeing your affiliation. "Please, I'll clear my bounty right away, just leave me alone!" or, "Your boys killed some of my best friends! Taste vacuum!" / "Down with the traitor empress! Long live the NMLA!"
TLDR
Being a member of a power should be more than just a name on your scan and a module in your cargo hold. It should be a broad-sweeping aspect of the universe with multifaceted changes to the universe. This wouldn't be enough to fully achieve that goal, but it would be a start.
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