My map is completely devoid of those lovely lines, and I've visited lots of systems in area as part of running missions. Am I doing something wrong? Can you show me what your GalMap filter setting looks like?
Here - show trade routes on, route types all
PERFECT! Now I feel stupid, but I found the problem. On PS4, the subfilter (where you select the type of trade route) is hidden, so once I knew to scroll down, I discovered all those filters were turned off.
There is no player trade routes showing up for the system I'm working, but plenty from the system I've been trading with. Unfortunately these two systems are over 20LY apart, so it is totally possible that trade is happening, but I doubt it. I check the traffic report daily, and only my ships show up as repeat visitors. I'm guessing these other ships that are only listed once or twice are just passing through. I purposefully picked a system of little interest with the hopes that players just stop for the "gas" and move on.
I have my WAR! And the new CZs are much easier than I remember, so I'm actually winning battles! WOOT!!
I take it that the war progress bar, like everything else on the status page, updates just once per tick?
Are you sure? It says clearly here on my ED screen, "Our war effort can be bolstered by successful salvage contracts."
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Correct.
The effect of missions on war progress is uncertain. They didn't count prior to 3.3 - though they still had that flavour text then. There is some evidence that some mission types do count for wars now - though I don't know which ones or how strongly. CZ work is likely to be considerably more effective, though.
Yep. I've got anecdotal evidence from a couple conflicts that missions do work; but reproduction by others had mixed results. I'm convinced, but I wouldn't call it proven fact yet.
Now that CZs work as expected (back long, long ago, CZs were terrible places where all the green ships would disappear and I would be surrounded by 100 flashing angry red triangles), I'm enjoying them, so this will likely be my primary contribution to the war. Are CZs like INF missions where there is a max cap a player can contribute per tick?
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There's no limit, but you can't score (or lose) more than one point per tick for a faction a conflict.
In case you aren't aware, resolving a conflict is a "best of seven ticks". The conflict bar goes from "Draw" to "Close Victory(1) , Victory(2) and Total Victory (3)" depending on how many points-up your side is (while the losing side will show the opposite, "Close Defeat, Defeat and Total Defeat").
If both sides put in equal effort, or no effort, that tick is a draw, and no point will be awarded.
If the outcome of the war becomes unchangeable (e.g one side on Total victory, but only two ticks left) the conflict will end early.
Winning a tick is just a case of putting in more effort than the other side... so if you clear 10 High-CZs and your opposition doesn't clear any, you'll win that tick. If you clear 10, and they clear 15, they'll win that tick. If you clear 200 and they clear 200, nobody wins that tick and the conflict status remains unchanged.
Some examples of how it might play out between two factions A and B:
Standard Conflict (Note: I use CZs here just for sanity's sake, but bonds, missions and other actions will affect a war. By how much is TBC... Elections you want to do things like trading, missions or other "peaceful" activities.... noting a massacre mission, while not "peaceful" is still a mission, and helps an election)
Day 1: Draw (A)/Draw (B).
10 CZs for Faction A, No effort for Faction B, then tick. Point for A
Day 2: Close Victory(A)/Close Defeat (B)
1 CZ for Faction A, No effort for Faction B, then tick. Point for A
Day 3: Victory (A)/Defeat (B)
1 CZ for Faction A, 5 CZs for Faction B, then tick. Point for B
Day 4: Close Victory (A)/Close Defeat (B)
No action for Faction A, 5Czs for Faction B, then tick, Point for B
Day 5: Draw (A)/Draw(B)
5 CZs for A, 5 CZs for B, then tick. No point
Day 6: Draw (A)/Draw(B)
5 CZs for A, Nothing for B, then tick, Point for A
Day 7: Close Victory(A)/Close Victory (B)
5 CZs for A, nothing for B, then tick. Point for A
A wins the conflict
10 CZs for Faction A, No effort for Faction B, then tick. Point for A
Day 2: Close Victory(A)/Close Defeat (B)
1 CZ for Faction A, No effort for Faction B, then tick. Point for A
Day 3: Victory (A)/Defeat (B)
1 CZ for Faction A, 5 CZs for Faction B, then tick. Point for B
Day 4: Close Victory (A)/Close Defeat (B)
No action for Faction A, 5Czs for Faction B, then tick, Point for B
Day 5: Draw (A)/Draw(B)
5 CZs for A, 5 CZs for B, then tick. No point
Day 6: Draw (A)/Draw(B)
5 CZs for A, Nothing for B, then tick, Point for A
Day 7: Close Victory(A)/Close Victory (B)
5 CZs for A, nothing for B, then tick. Point for A
A wins the conflict
Day 1: Draw (A)/Draw (B).
10 CZs for Faction A, No effort for Faction B, then tick. A gets the point
Day 2: Close Victory(A)/Close Defeat (B)
1 CZ for Faction A, No effort for Faction B, then tick. A gets the point
Day 3: Victory (A)/Defeat (B)
5 CZs for Faction A,Nothing for Faction B, then tick, A gets the point
Day 4: Total Victory (A)/Total Defeat (B)
5 CZs for Faction A, No action for Faction B, then tick, A gets the point
Day 5: Total Victory (A)/Total Defeat (B) (Note: No change, as A is at max 3 points)
No action , then tick. No point awarded
Only two ticks remain but B is 3 points from a Draw, so war ends, A is the victor (Day 6 and 7 don't happen)
10 CZs for Faction A, No effort for Faction B, then tick. A gets the point
Day 2: Close Victory(A)/Close Defeat (B)
1 CZ for Faction A, No effort for Faction B, then tick. A gets the point
Day 3: Victory (A)/Defeat (B)
5 CZs for Faction A,Nothing for Faction B, then tick, A gets the point
Day 4: Total Victory (A)/Total Defeat (B)
5 CZs for Faction A, No action for Faction B, then tick, A gets the point
Day 5: Total Victory (A)/Total Defeat (B) (Note: No change, as A is at max 3 points)
No action , then tick. No point awarded
Only two ticks remain but B is 3 points from a Draw, so war ends, A is the victor (Day 6 and 7 don't happen)
Note that influence levels are locked during the conflict. They can have slight variations due to daily normalisation, or more significant variation due to a faction expanding in to the system. 3.3's initial release saw these were much less fixed than intended somehow, and bigger swings were seen, but that's been fixed these days.
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If you score hits on a team member above a certain threshold, it does appear that everyone turns against you by flagging red. But, as Jmanis noted in another thread, you can continue working for your chosen faction by picking your targets very carefully.
As far as I can tell, you will only receive 'friendly' fire from the ship you accidentally hit and you must make sure that you don't return fire. (If you do destroy a friendly ship, does the whole force turn against you?)
The pilot you wronged is relentless and your only recourse - short of leaving the field - is to fly towards a busy part of the battle and hope your 'friend' gets distracted while you carefully identify the true enemy. If you find yourself under attack after the battle has been won your erstwhile ally may well be attempting to continue the feud. Leave the CZ immediately with the praise of the rest of the team ringing in your ears and the bullets of your outraged comrade ringing on your hull.
For ALL factions, or just the ones at war? There's a faction with just a tiny little INF that I'd like to raise up, and since I think just a couple of battles a day should win this war for me (assuming I'm unapposed), I'd like to run some missions for this other faction.
Which leads to my next question. Once I wrestle control for the system from the faction I'm opposing, I want to run them completely out of Dodge. How do I trigger their retreat? I'm guessing there's more to it than INF... I'll do some research on it, but if anyone has a quick answer, that would be great.
One final question related to the previous - Is it possible for a faction to spread to multiple systems by pure, dumb luck, or does it take a focused, concerted effort? I ask because the controlling faction has a presence in multiple systems, but it's not a PMF and I haven't seen the telltale signs of purposeful BGS play, unless it happened some time ago and has since "eroded". I mean it's obvious that players have been active in the 'neighborhood', but that could be for other reasons like great trade opportunities that coincide with the faction I'm opposing, yes?
In other words, I hope I'm not waking a 'sleeping giant' by starting this war, LOL.
Just the ones at war... but you can't bleed influence like you used to be able to. So, if there's five factions, and four of them are at war, that fifth faction is stuck until a war ends.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/retreat-bgs-guide-best-current-thinking.424977/
I don't retreat factions, generally. Also note you can only retreat non-domestic factions. If the system is their home, then you're stuck with them.
"Dumb Luck" isn't how I'd put it... but yes. Remember, the BGS is meant to be, above all else, that living, breathing galaxy effect. If players happen to just support that faction because "It seems like a good idea", they'll slowly drift up towards 75% and expand... and as noted in another thread, post-3.3 it's quite easy to stay in expansion for several "loops".
Way back before PMFs were even a thing, I picked my "home" based off the rich trade environment the region was host to; there's pretty much every economy type within a jump of my home system. My group initially supported an NPC faction into seven or eight systems which all formed natural, very profitable trade routes. Then PMFs became a thing, we got one introduced, and retook those systems followed by many more. The idea underpinning our faction was to exploit natural trade and other player activities (e.g bounty hunting) and benefit as much from passive income as possible. Within one jump, our holdings are Extraction, High Tech, Refinery, Industrial, Agricultural, Terraforming. Most other systems in the area are Extraction or just one additional economy, so within a 50-LY range it's a very lucrative pocket. Pre-3.3 mechanics weren't really conducive to this strategy with how wars worked though, but post 3.3 it's a bit eudamonic.
As a result, those key systems we control are constantly swinging between 70-80% influence, without much if any effort on our part, and multiple systems are in Boom/Civil Liberty from that passive activity. As a result, we're in Expansion every other week now... some have called that just luck, but it was definitely our intent from the outset, and it seems to be working.
As for "waking sleeping giants"... if you do, let it go, wait for the dust to settle. Problem with giants is they tend to only be able to focus on parts of their empire at any one time. Keep bugging them, even if you're losing, and they'll either find the effort excessive and give up on the system as a liability, or you can enjoy the schadenfreude that comes with knowing you're constantly making some big group bust their chops to keep your "thousand cuts" in check. We've punched above our weight on several occasions with this strategy.
I just noticed one of the factions I want to KEEP is in retreat! I guess I'll have to start running missions for it, otherwise I fall to the three faction minimum and I won't be able to boot this other faction to the curb.
If people are concerned about trade, they should let me rule this system, because I can make sure it says in happy boom liberty land, LOL. I purposefully picked a small, inconvenient (no large stations) system with the hopes that nobody will really care about it. The one thing that kinda worries me a little is its a PP system, and I'll be changing its government type. I'm not sure if the 'Kingpin' is weak to the new government, or if any PP group would even care. That's an entirely different can of worms beyond my purview.
If people are concerned about trade, they should let me rule this system, because I can make sure it says in happy boom liberty land, LOL. I purposefully picked a small, inconvenient (no large stations) system with the hopes that nobody will really care about it. The one thing that kinda worries me a little is its a PP system, and I'll be changing its government type. I'm not sure if the 'Kingpin' is weak to the new government, or if any PP group would even care. That's an entirely different can of worms beyond my purview.
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People are confusing Friendly Fire (I'm not that dumb) with "abandonment" which used to happen frequently in the old CZs. You go in with your "team" of NPCs, and the next thing you know they're like, "Oh, we see you've got this, so we're going out for pizza. Good luck!" leaving me all alone with a dozen enemy ships.
Thankfully this no longer happens in the new CZs.
Their influence dropped below the 2.5% retreat threshold (IIRC), so I'm pretty sure they are retreating from my system. Can I reverse this, or is it too late? They're still here offering missions.
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