I've read so many different things about this whole trigger reducing mess but now I'm glad finally someone confirms my guesses - which is that nothing is clear or working as intended/explained by FD. In this thread alone we can see how confusing and buggy this is.
Yeah, we've tried to put our observed information out there as much as possible, but of course it gets swamped.
- In the five months prior to 2.0, we only ever saw one type of bonus (-50%) and only saw that take effect (sensically) when a control system was flipped to patronage (one of our 'bonus' types).
- When 1.4 dropped, we saw one sphere (AB Pictoris) that actually deserved a penalty (for dictatorship - it also had > 50% of its exploited systems under dictatorship), receive a bonus instead - that has since changed, but it's still a neutral trigger.
- At 2.0 drop we finally saw a penalty take effect. Namamasairu, under dictatorship control since our group's (Chapterhouse of Inquisition) inception at the end of July, finally had its trigger register that fact. As of 2.0.01 it was still the only one, but we're going through our triggers now to see.
-At no point have we ever witnessed the "50% exploited bonus/penalty" take effect, or even
in effect - all spheres either have a neutral trigger (100%), the preferred-type-in-control system trigger (50%, and we've watched this take and lose effect many times, by control system flip only), and the one system has the penalty trigger for having a "bad" type (150%).
Edit: After a cursory glance at our data (currently being updated) we have 7 spheres that receive a bonus without having 50% exploited systems under patronage/feudal control. Another 7 without having the above
or the control system under patronage/feudal control. 6 receive no bonus despite meeting both requirements. It's a bit of a crapshoot. Some change the cycle tick after they are flipped. Some change a few days after that. Some never change.