Powerplay Nova Imperium: Much Ado About Nothing, And Other PP Story Weaknesses

[CopperheadRat]

OK.
So we all know, that at most this whole "Nova Imperium" thing will lead to a CG, where people will grind for the tiers, Hadrian will be captured and executed, and another coup attempt will not be made for a while before doing the same thing. All of these news articles ominously telling of the dreaded Nova Imperium "shaking the Empire to its core" is a bunch of crap. At least, it certainly doesn't transfer over to the players.

the same thing happened a long time ago, when Archon Delaine was absolutely demolished by the Empire. FDev did not remove the power from the game, something they had said was a possibility.

PP is supposed to have an evolving story/lore from what I understand, yet there is none. All we do are same-old CGs, and everything keeps continuing, business as usual.

Why can't they do something drastic? Change up the game? Give Hadrian his own power? Being a member of LL I would naturally oppose this guy, but it would cause havoc in the PP arena as territory would suddenly shift, allocating systems to Hadrian in a "coup" and giving him a good starting place. Then you have a power who could swing either way. He could work with the Imperials, or the Federation and try to oust ALD. That would be cool.

But of course, this is FDev. I do not forsee them changing any of this soon, but it would make the story and the lore of the game much more enjoyable.

 

[Rubbernuke]

Powers were supposed to be removed via Collapse, which was never in the game. If it was, Zemina and Archon would be gone.

Several recent stories could have changed things, Aisling being hitched to a Fed might have changed her ethos a bit to match her better for example, or Mahon being in a bit of a pickle with deaths / politicking.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

allocating systems to Hadrian in a "coup" and giving him a good starting place.

This is the problem, I think.

Whose systems, exactly, would be allocated? It's hard to think of a way that would be fair and seen to be fair to remove systems from existing Imperial powers to create a fifth.

I think they'd need to start with a reform of Powerplay which made holding territory far harder in general, so that gaps naturally formed between powers - maybe bring back the original overheads curve, but with some additional diminishing-returns factor on expansion so powers didn't just charge into it at full speed - and then it would be easier to introduce new ones or retire failing ones. But that would I expect be generally unpopular for other reasons.

He could work with the Imperials, or the Federation and try to oust ALD. That would be cool.

The mechanics of Powerplay would mean he'd need Independent (or Alliance, hah) allegiance for his supporters to meaningfully have that choice.
(And in practice, if his supporters were split down the middle - the pro-unity HADs and the coup HADs - the power would just run around in circles doing nothing of much use)
In practice he'd almost certainly end up supporting the cause of Imperial Unity - which wouldn't help anyone much.

Powerplay as currently constituted is a terrible way to try to represent intra-power conflict, I think.

 

[Zenith]

Emperor's Dawn, part 3.

However much Frontier repackages it, it's the old Emperor's Dawn storyline carrying on. Names and characters have changed, the storyline hasn't.

 

[Arkadi]

The problem with Gal-Net and CG's since day one. There is no real consequence to it. It's all just some attempt of storytelling, but in reality it's not. Mostly Gal-Net is like a stage worker pulling in several battered stage designs to the same play over and over again.

Maybe there have been a hand-full of CG's that had a sense of urgency or actually mattered, like the construction of Obsidian Station, the implementation of some new rare goods, Dr Palins CG for the cargo racks, and maybe those about the supremacy in the Pleiades. I am not including the CG's for AX weapons and Dangerous Games because, well that was just not what I expected game-play wise.

CG's ... I don't know. Maybe they would be better if they wouldn't be overused as much as they actually are.

 

[Justinian Octavius]

The story could go somewhere in the sense that it could result in ALD's biographic information being rewritten in the Codex so she is no longer Emperor, thus severing the story narrative's ties to the player groups & allowing FDev to tell their Thargoid vs Humanity story without it being overshadowed by the Empire vs Federation conflict. I don't think, however, it will affect Powerplay, if it isn't axed, as there are too many issues with it mechanically to really facilitate the adding of a new Power.

CMDR Justinian Octavius

 

[zimms]

PP and lore are fundamentally different. They will never work hand in hand, PP can't do that without making a complete farce out of what's left of lore.

 

[CopperheadRat]

It's just a crying shame that nothing with the story will be done in this game.

On a side note, also a crying shame PP is affected by Solo/PG. No way to defend against 5c efforts, like what AD (whose actions are supported by the puppet, Mr. Justinian Octavius) is doing to Torval.

If Collapse was a thing, Torval and Archon would be gone, and they should be. But again, the problems go back to FDev and their lack of gumption to do anything meaningful with the story or Powerplay.

 

[Justinian Octavius]

On a side note, also a crying shame PP is affected by Solo/PG. No way to defend against 5c efforts, like what AD (whose actions are supported by the puppet, Mr. Justinian Octavius) is doing to Torval.

AD & Torval are part of the same Empire, same Imperial organisational structure (IHC) & same treaty organisation (ZYADA). We're sorry you are upset that we are doing harm to our mortal enemy Winters legitimately using the accepted by all tactic of Weaponised Expansions but tough; it cannot be helped but noticed how silent you were when a Federal supporting player group pledged to Torval with the sole aim of destroying it & Patreus.

I think we'll continue our attack.

CMDR Justinian Octavius

 

[IcemanAJL]

AD & Torval are part of the same Empire, same Imperial organisational structure (IHC) & same treaty organisation (ZYADA). We're sorry you are upset that we are doing harm to our mortal enemy Winters legitimately using the accepted by all tactic of Weaponised Expansions but tough; it cannot be helped but noticed how silent you were when a Federal supporting player group pledged to Torval with the sole aim of destroying it & Patreus.

I think we'll continue our attack.

CMDR Justinian Octavius

There's weaponized expansions, and then there's intentionally trying to give away all of Torval's good systems to Aisling so that you can turn Torval into a suicide bomb. That's a new low, moreso when it's all done in Private Group.

And if you really wanted to hurt Winters, you'd back off and let us actually go through with our planned Open mode warfare with Winters. The moment Aisling decides to stop trying to gobble up Torval is the moment we can actually go fight Winters, which we in Torval would by far prefer as they actually show up in Open and would make a fun fight.

 

[Goose4291]

It really is a full rehash of Emperors Dawn.

5 will get you 10 that it turns out this 'grandson' is a clone of Hengist, much like they were laying the rail lines for when they initially floated this story back in early 2015.

 

[Rubbernuke]

It really is a full rehash of Emperors Dawn.

5 will get you 10 that it turns out this 'grandson' is a clone of Hengist, much like they were laying the rail lines for when they initially floated this story back in early 2015.

What we need is a proper nasty dynastic struggle, with FD triggering an Imperial civil war with proper consequences over who the Imps side with (along with outside influences helping / interfering).

But I'll stop myself there, as I won't get disappointed.

 

[Goose4291]

What we need is a proper nasty dynastic struggle, with FD triggering an Imperial civil war with proper consequences over who the Imps side with (along with outside influences helping / interfering).

But I'll stop myself there, as I won't get disappointed.

You mean like they implied was going to happen with the Imperial succession crisis?

 

[Rubbernuke]

You mean like they implied was going to happen with the Imperial succession crisis?

Sadly yes. You edge toward something interesting......then it goes back to normal. FD desperately need to get things going and make something of these characters they invent. No more fireside chats!

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

As a sidenote, I've seen Fad cap ships in Hoder system, which may (or may not) is related to the Feds deploying forces along the border.
If yes, nice little touch.

 

[Rubbernuke]

As a sidenote, I've seen Fad cap ships in Hoder system, which may (or may not) is related to the Feds deploying forces along the border.
If yes, nice little touch.

Lets hope so. Even using stock props and models to physically change a system mentioned in Galnet would be great.

Fingers crossed for Imperial Crazy Time in 3305...

 

[Villeruff]

Indeed, its been far too long since we had a proper purge. Who cares about Nova Imperium when there's perfectly good Aislings to kill.

 

[Rubbernuke]

Aislings

Knowing that there was more than one would melt the Empire via extreme bask chafing.

 

[IcemanAJL]

Indeed, its been far too long since we had a proper purge. Who cares about Nova Imperium when there's perfectly good Aislings to kill.

Thats a typo, should be Aisling not Aislings.

There’s only ever one Aisling CMDR in Open at a time after all. (Excluding the module shoppers cause they don’t count)

 

[Rubbernuke]

Dentons getting angry in the latest Galnet story. Imperial smackdown!