Powerplay New player with clan/faction questions.

[Hyjaxx]

Salutations folks! I'm a new player and I'm really enjoying myself but I have a few questions.

First I've been listening to an elite dangerous podcast (Jave Radio I believe it's called) and the latest episode was about a war between players and factions which left me with a ton of unanswered questions.

The players in the podcast said they were parts of factions (or clans?) And they were fighting for or against other players and factions.

My question is how were they doing this? Are players able to form clans/guilds? How are they teaming up and how arw they going about fighting for stations and systems?

Any clarifications on how this all works would be amazing!

Thanks a ton!

 

[Jendrassik]

Like most Elite questions, the answer's pretty complex, but I'll go through the basics.

If you open up the system map, you'll see that there are various "minor factions" with names like "Polevnic Justice Party" " Polevnic Blue Universal Inc" etc at various Influence percentages. You can increase a minor power's Influence by doing missions for them, trading at stations owned by them etc or decrease it by killing their ships, smuggling to stations owned by them etc. One faction (usually the one with highest Influence) controls the entire system and dictates e.g. which goods are legal in the system.

If two minor factions ever get the same Influence, a Civil War breaks out. Players can fight in the battles there to influence the outcome of the war. The winner takes control of a station from the loser, and if the loser controls the whole system, they take control of the system as well.

Most factions are procedurally generated, but others are created by request of player groups, who coordinate outside the game via forums, Reddit, Discord etc. " Lave Radio Network" is one such power. The Powerplay powers get benefits if certain government types dominate i their space, so they are more involved in changing system governments than anyone else.

Hope that answers your question, if not, please feel free to ask a followup!

 

[Hyjaxx]

Thanks for the reply!

I do have some follow ups though. So you cant join existing NPC factions ,except the power play major ones. But you can join the player made ones?

When you join a player faction do you get the faction in your name or profile? Also do you get a faction interface or window showing you pertinent info about your faction ? Are there chat options for your faction ...sorry for all the questions. I'm totally excited to hear about this portion of the game!

 

[DerDzvero]

To add a basic question to the thread: Is there a way to see more info on particular fraction? Which systems it's present at, player or npc, etc..

 

[aspiringexpatriate]

Thanks for the reply!

I do have some follow ups though. So you cant join existing NPC factions ,except the power play major ones. But you can join the player made ones?

When you join a player faction do you get the faction in your name or profile? Also do you get a faction interface or window showing you pertinent info about your faction ? Are there chat options for your faction ...sorry for all the questions. I'm totally excited to hear about this portion of the game!

Joining a player group is not joining an in-game player-made faction. You can't join any in-game faction, but you can pledge to a Power. Joining a player group happens entirely outside of the game.

Arguably, becoming 'allied' to an in-game faction is 'joining' them, but that's open for debate. It does not add any additional gameplay.

To add a basic question to the thread: Is there a way to see more info on particular fraction? Which systems it's present at, player or npc, etc..

eddb.io and inara.cz are good ways to track factions and determine whether they're player-made. Inara is useful for more information on factions or 'wings' and allows you to apply to join them.

 

[Hyjaxx]

Ahh.so when you create a faction there is no way for anyone to know that you belong to said faction?

When the faction is formed does it spawn Npc traders,fighters and the such? Or is it just an empty shell faction?

Thanks!

 

[Martin Schou]

Ahh.so when you create a faction there is no way for anyone to know that you belong to said faction?

Correct. Anyone can work for and against any faction they choose, and there's no real way to verify one way or another.

When the faction is formed does it spawn Npc traders,fighters and the such? Or is it just an empty shell faction?

Thanks!

They spawn all the things that are relevant for any faction.

 

[Frankymole]

Inner is useful for more information on factions or 'wings' and allows you to apply to join them.

Inara:

https://inara.cz/wings/

 

[Torsten2010]

A Clan Function is really missing, or a Fraction chat, to let you play more coop with other players.
Also mission that you can attack space stations with your fraction to expand as 2nd mode and to make gameplay more dynamic.
At the moment you need to deliver things to some systems.

 

[S3B4ST13N]

A Clan Function is really missing, or a Fraction chat, to let you play more coop with other players.

I recall DBOBE saying he didn't want that stuff, I think, because he didn't want one group dominating the economy or something silly like that .. except, that's possible without or without in-game tools anyway and nobody has done it yet; so...
The existence of Inara is proof enough the game needs a clan feature. Players would love to form their own corporations and agencies and such.
I honestly don't know what game Frontier are trying to make when they provide MMO-style connectivity but very few of the MMO-style tools to make multiplay truly viable and enjoyable.

 

[bigity]

I recall DBOBE saying he didn't want that stuff, I think, because he didn't want one group dominating the economy or something silly like that .. except, that's possible without or without in-game tools anyway and nobody has done it yet; so...
The existence of Inara is proof enough the game needs a clan feature. Players would love to form their own corporations and agencies and such.
I honestly don't know what game Frontier are trying to make when they provide MMO-style connectivity but very few of the MMO-style tools to make multiplay truly viable and enjoyable.

What economy?

 

[DNA-Decay]

Well, sure.

We want. A dynamic economy that we can develop and grow.

The ability to grow a faction, develop their influence, trade with other systems they rule, build new stations and surface ports, write articles for the local newspaper.

To have some point to taking the hard targets, the high population systems, the permit locks.
To have some point and recognition to being at the top of the PowerPlay ladder.

Something in game that acknowledges ambition, effort, and achievement.

There are wars happening right now.

Brilliant strategists from different teams are marshaling their forces and their allies to win systems from each other.
But it can be hard to see.

 

[DNA-Decay]

Salutations folks! I'm a new player and I'm really enjoying myself but I have a few questions.
First I've been listening to an elite dangerous podcast (Lave Radio I believe it's called) and the latest episode was about a war between players and factions which left me with a ton of unanswered questions.

The players in the podcast said they were parts of factions (or clans?) And they were fighting for or against other players and factions.
1) My question is how were they doing this?
2) Are players able to form clans/guilds?
3) How are they teaming up and how are they going about fighting for stations and systems?

Any clarifications on how this all works would be amazing!
Thanks a ton!

G'day Hyjaxx.

Great questions, and there's been some good answers.
I do occasional informational videos about exactly the kind of stuff you are asking.

I'll break it down into your two key questions which are:
1) Can Players form "guilds"?
2) What do they actually DO?


There are a LOT of player groups, well over a thousand.
What mostly tends to happen is that a Player starts the game, falls in love with it, makes some friends, founds a group and then burns out and the faction lies idle.
So there's a lot of groups that are three board gaming buddies and an account they created for their cat. But there are some groups that have had longevity and have made an impact.
This image comes from The Elite Dangerous digital art book. I don't want to suggest that "If you're not on this list you don't count" because - for example Smiling Dog Crew are not on this list, and SDC are one of the few groups that non-Eilte wonks could name, and as time goes by some groups become less significant, and newer groups do rise. But these are some of the most well known and well established groups.

But the key thing here, is that these groups are not all at war with each other. Many are completely disengaged from politics. For example the Fuel Rats are a huge, and well loved group, but their core business is not claiming territory and developing their empire. It is helping out CMDRs who are stranded without fuel. And they are awesome at it.
Similarly Canonn are not territorial, they are chasing the mysteries and the story.

And this is where the notion of "Guilds" and "Clans" starts to fall down.
If in-game tools are developed, then whatever mechanic they use affects what the Group can DO - what it can be FOR - what it's 'Reason for being" is.

Having said that - we all want better comms, better visibility, more response from the game to our activities. etc.

And there ARE groups that are overtly political and territorial:
[video=youtube;oqZOfbCHTCA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqZOfbCHTCA[/video]



With regards to the situation in Lave - that has been a difficult and divisive problem.
Lave Radio are well liked and very popular, there is a sidewinder you can visit in game.
Initially they had no territorial ambitions, but later some of their fans got together to take Lave.
Lave is a high population system and very slow to move. Whoever governs Lave gets a natural boost from the rares trade and the popularity of the system.

It is also a high value system in terms of Lore.
It the the best known of the "Old Worlds" which date from sector one of the first version of Elite. The Old Worlds is a contested region, many player groups have settled there, including a number of Alliance groups who have been successful in turning (and returning) the systems to the Alliance.
- By this we mean that an Alliance minor faction is governing the system.

Lave is in some ways comparable to Leesti. Where a dictatorship had been in power for a year before it was flipped back to the original Alliance Democracy (Independent Leesti For Equality).
Leesti was hard to liberate, and there were times when our daily target for "number of missions completed" was well over a thousand.
And then the Civil War came, and CMDRs from all over the Alliance joined the fight.
[video=youtube;TUgiHUa9EWg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUgiHUa9EWg[/video]

With regards to the second question: "How do the groups do this?"
Doing positive things to help the influence level of a faction you want to raise.
Doing negative things against the faction you want to reduce.
If the influence goes high enough for long enough there will be a contest (war or election) and the system will change governance.

You can flip a low population, low traffic system by your self. But working in the heart of the bubble in high population systems, takes a group.
And directing a faction, system by system across 60 light years to take a permit locked system right next to Sol requires a different level of ambition again.

[video=youtube;7ikxvy3EinM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ikxvy3EinM[/video]