Power Play and why is it so unengaging?

I've got a few special PP Modules; Prismatic shields, Imperial Hammers, ... one other I think, can't remember. I thought after returning from exploration I'd have a go at Sirius Corp and finally go for the Packhounds. I found a system where I can farm merits, Lenty system in Federation space and went to work. I'm still only 3 weeks allied but I figured I'd collect some merits to reduce the work needed later so I gathered about 350, something like that. I need 750 merits for the packhounds but I figured that would be enough in the bank to reduce the monotony later on. Fact is I'm kinda burnt out from the exploration and the prospect of gettting the packhounds was something that kept me engaged. Even so I had to take a break so I haven't played in a few days.

So I opened the game just a little while ago and I've discovered the 350 merits I was saving are gone. Anyone offer an explanation as to why. I haven't played powerplay for a while but I know I was able to keep merits I hadn't handed in, ... I "feel" like a know anyway. This is really really irritating, not to mention the goddam notoriety system which I've had for as many days as I've been farming merits because I killed the wrong sort of federation ship. It's so disheartening, so incredibly jading and draining of enthusiasm for the game. The whole Powerplay interface and gameplay aspect is so uninspiring and boring I suspect it may actually be a placeholder for a big update further up the road.

What do you think? Am I being unreasonable?
 
You lose half your merits every cycle; it's always worked that way.

Powerplay, like a lot of the games systems is a separate (boring) mini-game that doesn't integrate with the rest of the game in any meaningful manner. This is why it's not very engaging. Without the special modules I doubt it'd even get the minimal amount of play it does.

Its low popularity means I doubt it'll get any attention. It requires a total rework to engage any new players.
 
Yeah, it’s like a mini BGS where you run cargo and get paid in peanuts.

All I’ve ever used it for is special spaceship parts myself.

A rework that added better incentives to participate, or an open only mode would be the only things that might make me care.

For now it’s:

Pledge 3.5 weeks, spend 7 million on Powerplay cargo, deliver, collect cool parts. Defect. Repeat.
 
Does anyone know if you can avoid losing merits by not claiming them until the 3.5 week point? Of course 1/2 will be lost at the next weekly tick after they are claimed; but basically do you also lose unclaimed merits on the weekly tick?
 
You lose half of your merits every week, when the servers go down.

If you just want a special module, do literally nothing for the first three and a half weeks or so.

I believe merits not cashed in are cleared from your transactions panel.
 
Unengaging? Speak by yourself, I'm having lots of fun here with a seven million federal bounty on my head getting involved in combats with eight federal agent ships at the same time, trying to hunt me. Lots of fun and a nice side of the game with toy goodies and millions of credits as rewards.
 
If hauling paperwork isn't your thing, there's always undermining. Kill 25 ships in an enemy control system and there's your 750 merits.

It's not the most challenging, but some of the mat drops are useful and it is a chance to try out some less serious combat builds.
 
Really. Who cares which cartoon character has the most points?

Sign up

Wait 3 weeks

One run in the Cutter

Get the weapons

Move on.

Is there something else I may have missed somewhere?
 
what i want to know is what PP players way back when did to have FDev insert groups of PP NPCs everywhere that relentlessly scan unpledged ships.

i''ll be in a nav beacon only to look up and see 10 PP ships tailing me, bumping into me, flying directly in my field of fire, just to get a scan of a ship they could care less about being wanted, hostile to their aligned super power or packed to the hilt with illegal cargo.

i can understand one or two. but why the GTA pack mentality? and why continue a manifest scan for an unpledged ship? what exploit is this trying to mitigate? its terribly annoying gameplay for non PP players.
 
Playing a team / group mechanic without engaging with the groups is unsatisfying. That seems pretty obvious to me. If you dont like working with other players & seeing other players, its probably not for you. Doing powerplay on your own is frankly weird and certainly will be opaque. Dismissing it as a result, is like 'engaging' with football by being a streaker on a football pitch, with no idea what the game is and whats going on, and declaring you dont like football because streaking is rubbish and all the other players hate you. Unless you, i guess, look great naked. Then its just most people hate you.

ED doesnt tell you what to do or what things are for, but Powerplay is clearly for team play. The module unlocks were just as clearly meant to be an optional benefit, and a gateway to team gameplay, but for a lot of people they obscure the reality that Powerplay itself gives little benefit to a commander, besides the team experience. So what good is it? I guess its good for people who dont need much benefit for their CMDR , who already have everything they wanted and now wants something to actually do with it all. That sounds like end-game content doesnt it?

The communities themselves however have a huge amount of benefit to give a CMDR from their knowledge & experience of PP and the wider game. So its not all just end-game benefit, but it helps to take that approach.
Blazing your own trail means figuring out what to do and what you like doing and not being forced to do much of any of it if you dont want to. You just havent figured out what to do in powerplay or its just not for you. Thats fine, its just like the rest of the game in that respect. Take it or leave it.

It's all but impossible to figure PP out on your own, thats part of what makes it a team mechanic.
It has some major fatal flaws as it stands, but being hard to understand or do for a solo CMDR, isnt one of them.
 
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Combining (unbalanced) special module rewards with powerplay was possibly one of the worst design decisions of this game.
I would think that serious PPers would also agree, since people like me are just going to mess up their strategy. However, it's such a terrible grind (stupid 10-15 unit limit x 750 units) that I'm beginning to think I'm just going to live without these PP modules. The only use I have for PP sans modules is it gives me a legitimate excuse to shoot other (Hostile) players, LOL.

It baffles me that people, other than the bot writers, do this for fun.
 
Wait.. What is this?

--EDIT--

And how to I do this proper-like, and can I get a 'Kingpin' kicked out of my system by doing this?
It's undermining. You have to turmoil an entire power to bring its CC down to negative value, then u may be able to get it to shed a system or two.

If you have a look at Grom in the powerplay 'Galactic Power Standing' screen; ttheyre in turmoil this cycle, 5 systems are under threat, with the most costly-when-undermined system at the top of the list, that determines the order of systems that may shed at the end of this cycle (thursday morning) It's highly likely they will lose most if not all of those systems, as the Grom leadership have publicly claimed to be standing-down from defensive operations for their power. "Mission Accomplished" kindve thing. So now theyre gonna be gutted by their allies & enemies alike for a spree of weaponised expansions & no doubt further 5C shenanigans to accelerate Powerplay down the "Not Fit For Purpose" road of inevitability. Implementing the already-proposed changes would take us out of this quagmire at a stroke.
 
Even though powerplay mechanics are primitive it is still fun when done the proper way which means:

1) Together
2) In Open

There is a lot there like - protecting cargo ships, gaining superiority, defending systems, scouting, spying, sniping, finding proper goals and creating orders, hiding your own movements, earning money together to be spent on powerplay, discussing ship builds etc. I had a lot of fun in powerplay even though it's mechanic is as I said primitive. It needs some improvement but even now it's players who make a lot of depth in it.
 
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