Guide / Tutorial Power Play Decay - the definitive answer

[Rardain]

There are still a lot of CMDR's who are baffled by the mechanics of decay in Power Play. The system is now stable and working correctly so here is the definitive answer on how the calculations work with some pretty pictures to help the explanation.

Taking my earnings as an example I earned the following:

Week 1 - 718 Merits
Week 2 - 801 Merits
Week 3- 2023 Merits
Week 4 - 3000 Merits
Week 5 - 2325 Merits

Now, to begin with the decay mechanics weren't working correctly, there was no halving taking place...that was up until last Thursday (beginning of week 5), when suddenly everyone saw their carry-over nose dive. So , if you look at the example below and compare it to what I earned above you can see what is now happening, and will continue to do so - hopefully.


End of Cycle calculations



So, as you can see, my earnings for last week (week 5) were 2325. On layer 2, this total is added to the halved earnings of the previous 3 weeks giving me a total of 5237, enough to keep me at Rating 4 and earn me 5 million credits...ta very much.


So, yesterday morning the cycle rolled over, and week 6 began...here's what the figures do:-


New Cycle calculations



All those earnings that were on the second layer last week are halved in value, moved sideways (causing week 2 to be deleted) and moved back to the top layer before being added together to give this weeks new carry over figure of 2419.

At the end of the cycle, 2419 will be added to whatever I manage to earn this week to give me a new balance. So if I earn 2325 again this week my total will be 4744 next Thursday morning and I will stay at rating 4.

I hope this helped clarify the issue for people.

Cheers

Cy

 

[furrycat]

Good explanation. My own attempt lacked the nice visuals. Hopefully a picture will tell a thousand words and more people will understand.

One point, however... It seems that you didn't participate in Powerplay for the first two weeks. The bug was fixed for week seven not week five as you stated. Your figures tally up if you insert 0 and 0 for the first two weeks, or in the tool insert your numbers verbatim and select to apply the fix "after week 4" in the dropdown.

As of next week the bad numbers will be cycled out and the numbers will be right regardless!

 

[Rardain]

Cheers Furrycat.

I have actually participated in PP from day 1. In the example above week 1 is deleted and doesn't affect any of the numbers, week 2 is halved to 400.5 prior to the cycle refresh and then deleted during the refresh.

I think the confusion occurs because the rollover occurs out of sequence with the actual number of days played. At the moment I have been playing for 6 weeks and 6 days (i.e from day 1), even though the new cycle only started yesterday. I would have preferred the devs to have started the new cycle 7 days after power play started but they chose to refresh the first cycle after we had only been playing for 4 days - confused? - I am.

 

[daygobah]

does it really matter

 

[Rardain]

does it really matter

Depends on whether you want to know about your earnings and decay I suppose.

 

[Sir.Tj]

Moved to Guides.

 

[Rardain]

Thanks TJ

 

[Smurfprime]

Depends on whether you want to know about your earnings and decay I suppose.

What is the definitive answer on how many merits are needed to maintain Rank 5 after maintaining stability at that rank for 4 weeks?

 

[Cmdr Frawd Digger]

Hi Cypher871

I have only been playing on powerplay this last week, working for Zachary Hudson. On Wednesday night I had 92 merits earned and thought, nah I will do the final run to achieve 100 merits (I can carry 8 units per run) tomorrow night. Then on Thursday night I was horrified to discover that my merits had dropped to 46. Wah? So each new cycle I drop back to zero plus half of the previous three week's earnings?

Your graphic explains the situation nicely (although it wasn't nice to lose half my merits).

So the cycle ends on Wednesdays of each week?

Cmdr Frawd

PS I should also note that ZH got his pound of flesh out of me last cycle...92 merits and I got paid 1000cr...

 

[Jake Carter]

As a newer player I'm wondering if taking part in powerplay will add to my fun or is it more endgame level entertainment. As in is powerplay what you do after you are already elite/anaconda level?

 

[Rardain]

As a newer player I'm wondering if taking part in powerplay will add to my fun or is it more endgame level entertainment. As in is powerplay what you do after you are already elite/anaconda level?

Powerplay is not the preserve of those that have supposedly done everything; you can take part at any point you want but it does pose a few problems for players that are new to ED, the foremost being that you immediately make yourself a target to players not aligned with the Power you are pledging fealty to. Just be aware of this and take adequate precautions. Either fly in a wing for added protection or consider playing in Solo so you are not hunted down by blood-thirsty CMDR's looking for an easy kill.

The other downside is as a new player it will take you longer to get to a ship capable of the jump range/cargo capacity you might want for delivering your powers propaganda and if you are going to go the combat route, a ship with the necessary 'clout' to take out all those enemy couriers and security forces.

That said, if you persevere there is good money to be made. I have just finished my 13th week in Powerplay and am now saying farewell to it but I have made just over 320 million from the venture so I cannot complain. At times it was tedious...sooooo very tedious and the last few weeks have been tiresome beyond belief but I now have the credits to buy and outfit any ship I want (although I have to admit I love my A-rated Vulture so much that flying anything else will be hard for me).

Good luck in whatever you decide on commander.

 

[Rardain]

Hi Cypher871

I have only been playing on powerplay this last week, working for Zachary Hudson. On Wednesday night I had 92 merits earned and thought, nah I will do the final run to achieve 100 merits (I can carry 8 units per run) tomorrow night. Then on Thursday night I was horrified to discover that my merits had dropped to 46. Wah? So each new cycle I drop back to zero plus half of the previous three week's earnings?

Your graphic explains the situation nicely (although it wasn't nice to lose half my merits).


So the cycle ends on Wednesdays of each week?

Cmdr Frawd

PS I should also note that ZH got his pound of flesh out of me last cycle...92 merits and I got paid 1000cr...

Hi CMDR, I am glad the graphic was useful to you. The cycle ends every Thursday morning (7am GMT - so at the moment it's actually 8am in the UK until the clocks go back an hour at the end of British Summertime).

It may have looked like ZH got his pound of flesh but what actually happens is that you have to complete a full week at your new rank to earn the money. So for example, if you earn enough this week to move to Rank 4 you will still only be paid next Thursday morning the money for your current Rank. Next Thursday you will advance to Rank 4 and the following THursday morning will be paid for the week you spent at Rank 4.

Essentially its a bit like getting a new job. You don't get paid till you have worked a full week. Of course the upside of this is that when you have decided you have had enough of Powerplay, so long as you don't defect or leave your Powers employment you can do nothing to help them in your last week but still get paid your full wage at your last rank

 

[Iskariot]

does it really matter

You are right. In the end we all die. Everything comes to nothing. Nothing matters.

But in the context of this game this matters.

 

[Rardain]

What is the definitive answer on how many merits are needed to maintain Rank 5 after maintaining stability at that rank for 4 weeks?

Hi Smurf, apologies, I didn't see your question. Once you have made it to Rank 5 you need to earn 5,400 merits a week to maintain it. The easiest way to earn merit is by flying to an enemy control system and killing any other powers ships (with the exception of powers aligned with your own). So for example, if like me you are working for Felicia Winters you are aligned with Zachary Hudson. Killing any of his ships will result in 'losing' 40 merits so don't do it!

On the flip side, the majority of ships in a control system will be enemy couriers for that control systems power and security ships from all the different powers. You can happily destroy them all, they will all give you merit you can bank and at Rating 5 you will make 30 merits for every kill which means you just needs to destroy 180 ships a week or roughly 26 ships a day...dead easy. If I didn't wipe out at least 50 a night I considered myself to be slacking lol.