Newcomer / Intro Power Play, Allegiance and Permits Questions

[sirpuma]

Ok, I've been puzzling over this for a couple weeks and frankly I'm just getting more and more confused. So several questions:

I would like to eventually gain access to Sol and Achenar and such (systems back in the Frontier days were free access) but require a permit which requires military service with that particular super power, which I assume mean you have to swear allegiance to someone from that super power.
So:
1: Is there any other way of gaining access or is that the only way?
2: If you swear allegiance with one super power to gain access to the core systems can you later change to another super power?
3: If so are there penalties and do you then lose the permit for the previous super power systems?

Another thing that puzzles me is the various super powers, power players and governments all seem to mesh. I haven't found anything close to my personal beliefs because they all seem to be the same. Take for short example a star system that has a cool sounding minor faction, swears allegiance to the Federation while being controlled by the Alliance with a Communist government. I mean, WTH is up with that? It seems to me that every power player and each super power all either believe in or permit bad things through out their controlled sectors. Trying to figure out who believes in what and practices what or prohibits what is as clear as a glass of used motor oil. Is there a list, perhaps in the EDDB that explains exactly what each entity actually stands for or against?

I understand there are always pros and cons to swearing allegiance to one individual/super power or another, like getting attacked by opposing factions in combat zones, and I'm not adverse to the idea of swearing allegiance to someone, provided it isn't what I would consider evil. But I also like the idea of staying completely independent.

Here's where I stand. I don't like Communism, Corporatocracy, pure Democracy (majority rule), Socialism, illicit drugs or slavery. But I don't find anywhere in this game a Republic, wherein the system is governed by law with the government as well as the population being subject to the same laws with a constitution of rights of the people (as in the original founding the USA and Canada.) Politically I call myself a Jeffersonian Libertarian. And it seems our choices for powers are Communist, Socialist, Corporate or Pirate. I suppose that's why this whole Power Play scenario is twisting my grey matter around.

Sir Puma

 

[Chris Simon]

About the permit business.
It's kind of funny, but actually you don't have to swear allegiance to anybody.
This is how it works - many small factions (the ones that give you missions on the mission board in every station) are alligned with a superpower. So if you do a mission for, say, an imperial faction (you can tell by the logo next to the faction name on their banner) you also gain reputation with the Empire itself. There is a "progress bar" in your right panel that shows your military rank progression (I can't tell you from top of my head where exactly it is, now, because I actually haven't checked for the UI changes in the last update). Once you fill that bar to 100%, you have a chance of finding a special navy ranking mission. If you do that mission, you'll be awarded by a navy rank. Then you do it all over again for another rank until you get the one that gives you permit to that particular system. Both Empire and Federation also have special ships that will be made available to you after reaching certain ranks.
http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Federation/Ranks
http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Empire/Ranks

The funny part is - you can do both superpowers at the same time. Nobody cares. If you're out of the Empire space for a long time, the reputation is decreasing, but it is not because you're doing work for the "enemy" it's simply because you're not doing work for them. But you never lose rank. Once it's yours it's yours.

What you mean by "swearing allegiance" is called Powerplay and it basically doesn't have anything to do with superpowers and navy ranks. It's a completely different "politics sim". You do get rewards (special modules or weapons) if you swear allegiance to one of the Powers and all other Powers under the same superpower (Empire, Federation, Alliance) will see you as an ally, but Powerplay itself is just something you can do as a hobby, so to speak.

As to how the minor factions, economy, government types, system states, etc. work, google up a guide to factions and background simulation. It would be a LONG talk.

 

[sirpuma]

Thanks for the reply, thought you had to swear allegiance to get the military missions and rank. Goes back to that assume thing. I've been doing a lot of googling and reading the in-game descriptions and generally don't care for any faction. I would rather stay independent but thought you had to bow down and swear fealty to get military rank and the perks of that (ie permits and ships.)

 

[Chris Simon]

Thanks for the reply, thought you had to swear allegiance to get the military missions and rank. Goes back to that assume thing. I've been doing a lot of googling and reading the in-game descriptions and generally don't care for any faction. I would rather stay independent but thought you had to bow down and swear fealty to get military rank and the perks of that (ie permits and ships.)

Nope. You're effectively a mercenary. The navy rank is only honorary and nobody is doing background checks. Your only loyalty is profit.