On the other hand it is not unrealistic. All powers would have intelligence agencies and operatives that do spying and black ops work. This could be said to be adding to the social game play.
The real world also has effective counter-intelligence. Power Play has no means to combat fifth column preparation than devoted even more resources to preparation. As Jemym describes, he and his allies, all active Torval supporters who support her with fortification, expansion, and preparation, poured millions of credits into the systems, but this was eroded by deliberate preparation of systems which are obviously bad for Torval and her allies.
The worst part of this isn't that preparation civil wars and fifth column prepping is allowed, it is, in the end, a perverted form of democracy. The worst part is that CMDRs can maintain Rating 5 simply by pushing 5433 tonnes into a bad preparation system. Every single week. Thereby sustaining their rating within the Power's infrastructure by continually sabotaging them. And there is absolutely no counter to this tactic.
I wonder...
Did it occur to anyone that this may be due simply to the players pledged to whomever that do NOT use the forums or Reddit and have no care or concern about YOUR game plans in THEIR game?
Or did you just automatically assume that anyone and everyone doing Power Play answers to the groups trying to run it and that this MUST be something malicious and foul? Because that certainly seems to be the attitude I'm getting from the post and from others who do PP that complain about 5th column.
I don't know if everyone takes that into account, but speaking for myself, of course I take this into account. Also from my interaction with the ALD organisers and the IHC, yes, I believe most organisers do take that mindset into account. Every week, large Powers see "preparation civil wars", where organised CMDRs who understand how misleading the Galaxy Map is, fight with tonnage and nominations to remove economically poor system choices off the list. These "prep civil wars" have happened for the larger Powers since week 1. What we've been seeing over the past month in ALD and Torval, and the past two months across the galaxy is decidedly different than those.
Specifically, in the case of Annwn, it is an obvious deficit causer for Torval, and has zero benefit to anyone as a control system, but it actively contests 10 systems in one of ALD's most profitable spheres. Add to that that its rise on the Prep list happened within 24 hours further instills the reasoning that it was active undermining of Imperial Powers by working from within.
Seems no one takes into consideration that only a small percentage of the players give a rat's furry rear end about your plans and goals for your faction and are instead just interested in how much salary they can make each week, so they do whatever they can that's quick and easy to further that.
Again, it is taken into consideration, but organisers do no like to talk about it as a strategic option, as it amounts to nothing more than a massive waste and drainage of resources to promote the Power. Effectively, these 'galactic powers' are paying dozens, if not hundreds of mercenary CMDRs to over-complete requested missions, and rewards them as fully as those who are actually dedicated. It is pretty disgustingly bad design, to be honest. And that's just referring to Guathiti levels of over-fortification.
Worse is the current Preparation system. CMDRs are given at least 10 tonnes, if not 50 tonnes, of cargo that is a guaranteed 1,000 credit return. If there are no other trade goods, they can lose money in the short term and buy more of that preparation material, but, if they maintain the rating 5, which is fairly easy when 'prepping', they be rewarded at the end of the week with a massive salary and the ability to continue to use preparation materials as if they are a free trade good.
Combining this reality with the rise of the 'preparation fifth column,' the only quick fix I can see for this system is to remove the merit and monetary rewards from Preparation Materials entirely. Return it to a vote. Those who expend credits to recruit a system should realise the
only reward is that they might get that system for their Power.
While I was still active in PP, something I ceased to do in Sept, I did pay attention to where the folks running the ALD PP wanted things done, I even followed those orders sometimes, if it suited my own designs, but not always because I didn't always agree with their plans. And I'm far from a singular event, there will be far more players doing PP who pay NO attention to your carefully laid plans and have no idea about your spreadsheets, than DO give a damn and follow them as if they mattered.
And we thank you for your support. By the way, we haven't issued "orders" since July. The idea at ALD is to inform and encourage what we think is the best strategy. When pilots disagree, there are always other options for supporting the Power available in the Dispatch.
