Office of Galactic Statistics - Minor Faction Summary Report

It has now been three months since my last report, and most of the intervening time has been while the BGS is operating under the new 3.3.0x paradigm, with all its mysteries and bugs. Unfortunately, the glitches seem to have carried across to EDSM, from where my data is sourced; about 500 systems are not currently accounted for when the EDSM database is broken down by government type.

Trawling through EDSM, I found one such system: G 99-49, which both the in-game galaxy map and Inara report as being a Federation Corporate system, but for which the EDSM page reports no owning faction.

I have worked out some tables anyhow, which I will post later tonight. I'd had them all pasted into the forum, then the forum glitched out on me because I took too long (something about an "expired token").

Watch this space.
 
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OK, here we go.

First, the number of factions. As factions are still being reported in the glitched systems, this table is probably accurate.

Federation Empire
AllianceIndependentTOTALPercentage
Democracy441921244988953312.6
Confederacy193251367326233.5
Corporate60033659232134472334130.8
Patronage0292316936134534.6
Dictatorship01396120101941171015.5
Feudal056269348441155.4
Communist0034236223963.2
Cooperative0055335734124.5
Prison colony04701381850.2
Theocracy8061311450.2
Anarchy111238155511561220.6
TOTAL1237386068605468676525
Percentage16.211.21.171.5

And the changes. As before, all changes are positive, as there are new factions constantly being added, but no "old" ones deleted or expunged.

Federation Empire
AllianceIndependentTOTAL
Democracy601916
Confederacy00044
Corporate6611124
Patronage05049
Dictatorship01001
Feudal05027
Communist00011
Cooperative00077
Prison colony00000
Theocracy00000
Anarchy00077
TOTAL121724576
Percentage15.822.42.659.2

76 new factions have been added to the galaxy, over half of which are Independent. Of the Superpower-aligned ones, the Empire was the most popular.

Now for the systems control table. As I said in my previous post, a large number are not listed as being under any kind of control; I have reflected this in a new Uncertain category, which also includes other oddities not previously counted, such as the penitentiary megaships. Here are the stats; the "percentage" in the following table does not include the Uncertain systems:

Federation Empire
AllianceIndependentTOTALPercentage
Democracy176501801051299614.6
Confederacy79733043512656.2
Corporate259814983742123659332.2
Patronage0208996212239711.7
Dictatorship073343107818549.1
Feudal03652885512486.1
Communist0046103910855.3
Cooperative0081115512366.0
Prison colony023062850.4
Theocracy210141381730.8
Anarchy4722105310865.3
Uncertain556
TOTAL51854718914920155620574
Percentage25.923.64.646.0

And the changes since the previous quarter's report:

Federation Empire
AllianceIndependent
TOTAL
Democracy-13908-51-182
Confederacy-44-430-45
Corporate-78-923-70-237
Patronage0-84-83-89
Dictatorship0-29-7-42-78
Feudal0-21-2-26-49
Communist000-7-7
Cooperative0021719
Prison colony0-10-7-8
Theocracy10-320
Anarchy010192193
Uncertain556
TOTAL-260-230-41155673

The large number of Uncertain systems makes everything, well, uncertain, so only some general observations can be made. The Federation and Empire continue to hemorrhage systems. The Alliance continues to hold ground, perhaps gaining slightly. The Indies continue to bound ahead.

The net gain of 73 systems to the galaxy probably more reflects the inclusion of previously omitted oddities (such as the penitentiary megaships), rather than an actual increase in colonization. At least, I had not heard of that many new colonies being founded.

Perhaps the most surprising observation is this: the retreat of the Anarchies is over. Even if none of the "Uncertains" turn out to actually be Anarchies, the gain of 192 Anarchy-controlled systems for the quarter undoes all of the declines seen in Anarchy numbers since this thread began, giving them a net gain of +40 systems since then. This cannot be put down merely to the inclusion of a large number of Anarchy PMFs as this simply hasn't happened this quarter. Clearly, the new BGS paradigm is beneficial to Anarchies.

There's not much more I can mine out of this data, except to note that Authoritarianism within the Alliance continues to decline, shifting the balance of the Alliance more towards the Social spectrum.
 
... Clearly, the new BGS paradigm is beneficial to Anarchies.
...

For the first weeks of the 3.3 update, Kill-Pirate, Assassinate Pirate Lord, salvage missions, etc. that would previously have harmed Anarchy factions and generally helped keep them at the bottom of the system pile (without active player support), were providing positive influence to them instead. Lots of NPC Anarchy factions quickly climbed up towards system control in smaller population systems.

The recent patch has corrected that so they're now starting to sink back down again. It will be interesting to see how big a drop they suffer by your next report.

Excellent work btw [up]
 
OK, let's see if this new-format forum lets me do this easily.

So here are the tables. First, the total number of factions:
FederationEmpireAllianceIndependentTOTALPercentage
Democracy
4430​
2​
124​
5008​
9564​
12.6​
Confederacy
1934​
0​
14​
676​
2624​
3.5​
Corporate
6011​
3666​
234​
13470​
23381​
30.9​
Patronage
0​
2930​
169​
363​
3462​
4.6​
Dictatorship
0​
1399​
120​
10198​
11717​
15.5​
Feudal
0​
563​
69​
3487​
4119​
5.4​
Communist
0​
0​
34​
2364​
2398​
3.2​
Cooperative
0​
0​
56​
3362​
3418​
4.5​
Prison colony
0​
47​
0​
138​
185​
0.2​
Theocracy
8​
0​
6​
131​
145​
0.2​
Anarchy
11​
13​
38​
15560​
15622​
20.6​
TOTAL
12394​
8620​
864​
54757​
76635​
Percentage
16.2​
11.2​
1.1​
71.5​

Second, the numbers of systems controlled by each faction type:
FederationEmpireAllianceIndependentTOTALPercentage
Democracy
1773​
0​
201​
1175​
3149​
15.4​
Confederacy
778​
0​
34​
508​
1320​
6.4​
Corporate
2534​
1466​
397​
2153​
6550​
32.0​
Patronage
0​
2191​
97​
235​
2523​
12.3​
Dictatorship
0​
718​
47​
1098​
1863​
9.1​
Feudal
0​
405​
23​
871​
1299​
6.3​
Communist
0​
0​
47​
1120​
1167​
5.7​
Cooperative
0​
0​
78​
1243​
1321​
6.4​
Prison colony
0​
26​
0​
61​
87​
0.4​
Theocracy
23​
0​
14​
168​
205​
1.0​
Anarchy
4​
13​
24​
937​
978​
4.8​
Uncertain
118​
TOTAL
5112​
4819​
962​
9569​
118​
20580​
Percentage
25.0​
23.6​
4.7​
46.8​

Next, the changes in numbers of factions since last quarter:
FederationEmpireAllianceIndependentTOTAL
Democracy
11​
0​
0​
20​
31​
Confederacy
2​
-5​
1​
3​
1​
Corporate
8​
7​
2​
23​
40​
Patronage
0​
7​
0​
2​
9​
Dictatorship
0​
3​
0​
4​
7​
Feudal
0​
1​
0​
3​
4​
Communist
0​
0​
0​
2​
2​
Cooperative
0​
0​
1​
5​
6​
Prison colony
0​
0​
0​
0​
0​
Theocracy
0​
0​
0​
0​
0​
Anarchy
0​
1​
0​
9​
10​
TOTAL
21​
14​
4​
71​
110​
Percentage
19.1​
12.7​
3.6​
64.5​

And finally, the changes in system control for the quarter:
FederationEmpireAllianceIndependentTOTAL
Democracy
8​
0​
21​
124​
153​
Confederacy
-19​
-3​
4​
73​
55​
Corporate
-64​
-32​
23​
30​
-43​
Patronage
0​
102​
1​
23​
126​
Dictatorship
0​
-15​
4​
20​
9​
Feudal
0​
40​
-5​
16​
51​
Communist
0​
0​
1​
81​
82​
Cooperative
0​
0​
-3​
88​
85​
Prison colony
0​
3​
0​
-1​
2​
Theocracy
2​
0​
0​
30​
32​
Anarchy
0​
6​
2​
-116​
-108​
Uncertain
-438​
TOTAL
-73​
101​
48​
368​
-438​
6​

Analysis:

For the first time since records began, and perhaps for the first time since the expungement of the one and only Alliance Prison Colony, an entire faction class has been reassigned: Imperial Confederacies no longer exist. As near as I can tell, every single one of them has been converted into an Imperial Corporation. Only one of them has changed names, however, meaning that if you do a search, one "still exists" in the EDSM database: the Intergalactic Starship Pilots Confederacy, which has changed names to become the Intergalactic Starship Pilots Corp, but the old name is still on the EDSM and Inara databases. The transition seems to have happened in early February, shortly after the last report in this thread.

Apart from the abovementioned reallocation, there have been 110 new factions added to the game (up slightly from the previous quarter) and as usual, the Indies have claimed the lion's share of new faction admissions. Corporations still remain a surprisingly strong choice, presumably for PowerPlay reasons.

As for system control, the good news is the number of "Uncertain" systems has been drastically reduced, down from 566 to 118. Given that about 30 of those "Uncertain" systems are actually the detention megaships, that means the true number of mysteries is down to around 80 systems. So this quarter's statistics are much more likely to represent the true state of the galaxy.

Six new star systems have been colonized this quarter. Once again, I reiterate that this rate of colonization is totally inadequate, given the number of new factions that keep getting added to the game. Players are eventually going to run out of space to put new factions. Of these six systems, one will be the new Guardians Region outpost, and another will be the new base near Sag A; I'm not entirely certain where the other four are.

Now, for galactic political swings. The big news is that the sudden boost in popularity for Anarchies last quarter has now reversed, as @FrogsFriend predicted; over half of their gains from the previous quarter have been lost. We are also seeing something of a fightback from the Superpowers. The Empire is the runaway leader this quarter, with a net gain of 102 star systems. A massive rise in Patronages and Feudals, with other Imperial factions remaining in decline, sees the Empire move significantly further towards the "true Imperial governance" model, and a reduction in influence of Imperial Corporations.

The Federation's story isn't quite as rosy, but the news is still an improvement over last quarter: the rate of decline seems to have fallen, with the Federation showing a net loss of 79 systems. And for the first time, Federation Democracies are bouncing back, with a net gain of eight systems for the quarter. It seems both major superpowers are shifting away from Corporate influence and "getting back to their roots". But with the Empire rising (now controlling 23.6% of Human space) and Federation slowing but not reversing its decline (down to 25.0%), it seems inevitable that the Empire will soon surpass the Federation in size - perhaps within the year - unless the Federation-aligned players suddenly get more organized, or the Hand of FD intervenes.

The Alliance has resumed it's overall rise, with only Feudal and Cooperative members showing a decline. They now control 4.6% of Human space. The Alliance has bucked the trend seen in the other two superpowers and has increased it's proportion of Corporate states.

To the Indies. Anarchies, as mentioned previously, are the big losers, the only significant losers in the Indie sphere. Communism continues its rise, but for once has been outshone by parallel rises in all other Indie Social-ethos governments, with Democracies coming out on top as the strongest growing faction type for the quarter. Which is surprising, given that all PowerPlay powers remain either neutral or belligerent towards Democracies.

Finally, the word from the Fringe is that Theocracies have seen a revivial, gaining 32 new systems across all alignments (though mostly with the Indies); they now have a clear lead over their Prison Colony rivals in the race away from the title of "least popular government type", with Theocracies now outnumbering Prison Colonies by more than 2:1.
 
Thank you for another report like this! I'm personally pleased that there are people like you who have interest in cataloguing and tracking changes in this aspect of the game.
 
As always, great work pulling all this together
For the first time since records began, and perhaps for the first time since the expungement of the one and only Alliance Prison Colony, an entire faction class has been reassigned: Imperial Confederacies no longer exist. As near as I can tell, every single one of them has been converted into an Imperial Corporation. Only one of them has changed names, however, meaning that if you do a search, one "still exists" in the EDSM database: the Intergalactic Starship Pilots Confederacy, which has changed names to become the Intergalactic Starship Pilots Corp, but the old name is still on the EDSM and Inara databases. The transition seems to have happened in early February, shortly after the last report in this thread.
An interesting thing to check here - did they change the ethos as well, or does this leave a bunch of Imperial Social Corporations? Anyone close enough to check it out in the local news?

Six new star systems have been colonized this quarter. Once again, I reiterate that this rate of colonization is totally inadequate, given the number of new factions that keep getting added to the game. Players are eventually going to run out of space to put new factions. Of these six systems, one will be the new Guardians Region outpost, and another will be the new base near Sag A; I'm not entirely certain where the other four are.
There are two more related to the Guardians - one intermediate outpost, one new detention centre.

Maybe the new "starter area" systems?
 
There are two more related to the Guardians - one intermediate outpost, one new detention centre.

Maybe the new "starter area" systems?

It's not the detention centre, as I haven't included detention centres.

And it's not the Starter systems either; looking at the galaxy map, the starter systems are still listed as "NONE" under Allegiance, so like the detention centres, starter sytems will be included in the "Uncertain" category. EDSM won't let you run a search for "allegiance=none" and "inhabited", since there aren't supposed to be any such things. No, these six additional systems are systems which have each been assigned an owning faction belonging to one of the categories and superpower-blocs in the report.
 
Kudos to OP for compiling the stats :) Is it possible to include a column showing percentage changes over 3 or 6 months periods or frequency of the stat tables?
 
It. Is. Time.:eek:

For the next Quarterly Report. :D

So, here are the tables.
Total Factions as of 10/08/2019
FederationEmpireAllianceIndependentTOTALPercentage
Democracy443921245013957812.6
Confederacy193501468026293.5
Corporate60163674239134802340930.9
Patronage0294016936634754.6
Dictatorship01406121102001172715.5
Feudal056469348841215.4
Communist0034236423983.2
Cooperative0057337134284.5
Prison colony04701381850.2
Theocracy8061351490.2
Anarchy121338155661562920.6
TOTAL1241086468715480176728
Percentage16.211.31.171.4

Changes - Factions - 10/8/19
FederationEmpireAllianceIndependentTOTAL
Democracy900514
Confederacy10045
Corporate5851028
Patronage0100313
Dictatorship071210
Feudal01012
Communist00000
Cooperative001910
Prison colony00000
Theocracy00044
Anarchy10067
TOTAL162674493
Percentage17.228.07.547.3

Factions Analysis
A fairly standard quarter for new faction additions. A total of 93 new factions were added for the quarter, which is down slightly on recent averages. Perhaps squadrons are giving people their "clan fix" without the need for creating factions. Or maybe it's simply getting harder, with less and less unclaimed space about the place. The proportion of Indie factions is down; this may be at least in part due to the Witch Head Enclave project, which has seen ten new Superpower-only bases started up, with new superpower-aligned NPC factions given sole rule in those systems.

Governing factions controlling systems as of 10/08/2019
FederationEmpireAllianceIndependentTOTALPercentage
Democracy176102131257323115.8
Confederacy76103754313416.5
Corporate243814254372149644931.5
Patronage0220797246255012.4
Dictatorship072747105918338.9
Feudal04101684112676.2
Communist0046112311695.7
Cooperative0081129813796.7
Prison colony024060840.4
Theocracy190141852181.1
Anarchy513269149584.7
Uncertain113
TOTAL498448061014967511320592
Percentage24.323.55.047.2

Changes - Systems - 10/8/19
FederationEmpireAllianceIndependentTOTAL
Democracy-120128282
Confederacy-17033521
Corporate-96-4140-4-101
Patronage01601127
Dictatorship090-39-30
Feudal05-7-30-32
Communist00-132
Cooperative0035558
Prison colony0-20-1-3
Theocracy-4001713
Anarchy102-23-20
Uncertain-5
TOTAL-128-1352106-512

System Control Analysis
Here we have a few more surprises. First, the overall change: twelve new star systems colonized for the quarter. Ten of those are in the Enclave; not quite sure where the other two are. This is still woefully inadequate compared to the number of new factions being added, but it's a much better ratio than we've seen since these Reports began.

As far as the changing political landscape is concerned, there's not much change here either. The Federation has continued to haemorrhage star systems and is now almost as small as the Empire. The Empire itself is still declining but less so. The Alliance has resumed its growth and is now one-fifth of the size of the Federation - an impressive feat, given that they claim only one-fourteenth the number of minor factions.

Interesting trends to note: the decorporatization of the galaxy continues. Fed Corps have collapsed, causing most of the Federation's shrinkage for the quarter, and the big surprise is a corresponding fall in Imperial Corporations when all other Imperial government types have risen or stayed static. It bespeaks an ongoing effort to reduce Corporate influence within both the Empire and the Federation. Meanwhile Indie Corps have shrunk slightly too.The Alliance has bucked this trend, with 3/4 of the growth of the Alliance this quarter as a result of Allied Corp expansion. Overall, Corporations still dominate the galaxy, but their overall control has dropped by 0.5%.

In the Authoritarian scene, Patronages (both Imperial and Indie) are up for a second quarter of growth, while all other regime types are down. On the opposite side, Communism has been largely static while Indie Co-operatives have seen significant growth. Indie Democracies have also done quite well.

I admit to being surprised at how much change there has been on the political front, since many veteran BGSers in this subforum and elsewhere have expressed frustration with the BGS and it's unpredictability of late. I had assumed I'd see much fewer changes in government, or the changes being more or less random and cancelling each other out.
 
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Note the rise of Independent Theocracies, both in minor factions (4) and systems (17). This continues to demonstrate that the old ways are sinful and that the People are in need of Ministry to ensure their Salvation.
 
Dang. It's a little late for one now... it was due back in November, it's nearly time for the February report. With all the exploding going on, I completely forgot about this. 😅

I'll see if I can work something up today.
 
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