Merits from undermining... or not?

[George Curious]

I'm trying to undermine a system exploited by another power. I have tried several ways but haven't got any merits. I have a load of power commodities in my hold, but can't hand them in at the power contact. I can however hand in escape pods and other stuff, and I did this, but didn't get any merits from it.
What am I doing wrong? What do I not understand?

 

[CMDR Lego]

I'm trying to undermine a system exploited by another power. I have tried several ways but haven't got any merits. I have a load of power commodities in my hold, but can't hand them in at the power contact. I can however hand in escape pods and other stuff, and I did this, but didn't get any merits from it.
What am I doing wrong? What do I not understand?
View attachment 406972

I have the same issues, that and the other weekly assignments are just not giving any merits, I assume that powerplay is currently broken, maybe when after the next patch it will be fixed.

 

[Nowski]

I'm trying to undermine a system exploited by another power. I have tried several ways but haven't got any merits. I have a load of power commodities in my hold, but can't hand them in at the power contact. I can however hand in escape pods and other stuff, and I did this, but didn't get any merits from it.
What am I doing wrong? What do I not understand?

There's 3 types of power commodities, one each for undermining, reinforcing, and acquiring, so it may be a bug but make sure you have the undermining one.

Regards escape pods I think for undermining you need to go to the undermine system and find and scoop up the escape pods there. I'm not sure if it matters where you hand them in. Merits are supposed to be awarded just when you scoop them up.

Edit to add, from pilot's handbook->powerplay->activities:

 

[George Curious]

There's 3 types of power commodities, one each for undermining, reinforcing, and acquiring, so it may be a bug but make sure you have the undermining one.

Regards escape pods I think for undermining you need to go to the undermine system and find and scoop up the escape pods there. I'm not sure if it matters where you hand them in. Merits are supposed to be awarded just when you scoop them up.

Edit to add, from pilot's handbook->powerplay->activities:

View attachment 406982

Thanks a lot. You are right. The three commodity types are for different kinds of systems. Since it's not stated anywhere (at least that I could find), which one is for which kind, I tried it with all three. For Pranav Antal the Utopian Dissidents are for undermining, the Supplies are for reinforcing, and the Publicity is for Acquiring. Sounds plausible - if you know it.

On the other hand, the merits for Escape Pods and other scrap are still escaping me in the undermining system. In reinforcing it works fine... :-(

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Since it's not stated anywhere (at least that I could find),

When you click on the collection button, but before you confirm how many you want, it says what each of them is for at that point. It's easy to miss.

On the other hand, the merits for Escape Pods and other scrap are still escaping me in the undermining system. In reinforcing it works fine...

I've found the same for Kaine - work very well for reinforcing, don't seem to do anything for undermining.

 

[Nowski]

On the other hand, the merits for Escape Pods and other scrap are still escaping me in the undermining system. In reinforcing it works fine... :-(

Interesting.. Did you definitely collect the pods in the undermining system? Merits should be awarded for scooping them, not handing in according to the Pilot's handbook bit I screenshotted above: "pods will count towards your total once scooped"

In fact it doesn't mention handing them in at all.. Maybe once you have the merits you can just eject them and blow them up for all we know

It might be worth a look at the powerplay info panel for the undermining system (on the right-hand side of the galaxy map) - there are two modifiers for merit awards - "behind front line" and "system strength". I wonder if you have a strong penalty modifier and the action isn't special for your power, if the merits can get reduced to nothing, or close enough so they don't register.

Or it could be bugged of course.

 

[Nowski]

On the other hand, the merits for Escape Pods and other scrap are still escaping me in the undermining system. In reinforcing it works fine... :-(

I've found the same for Kaine - work very well for reinforcing, don't seem to do anything for undermining.

I tested this, and no merits for me when scooping pods from a threat 4 Power CZ in an undermine system, but I did get merits for handing in the pod to my Power contact an exploited system belonging to my Power. Same for a black box I picked up in the undermining system. This might be an in-game bug or a documentation error.

 

[Rebel Yell]

I'm trying to undermine a system exploited by another power. I have tried several ways but haven't got any merits. I have a load of power commodities in my hold, but can't hand them in at the power contact. I can however hand in escape pods and other stuff, and I did this, but didn't get any merits from it.
What am I doing wrong? What do I not understand?
View attachment 406972

Ah... send a friend ship request to me, I'll teach you how to undermine.