Use the PowerPlay map mode, select a fortified or stronghold system, and there's a toggle that shows the connections. If it's an empty circle, with a line to the controlled system, it's eligible for acquisition activities.
Powerplay 2.0 Activities
- Thread starter Nowski
- Start date
As I discovered yesterday, this also works in reverse - select an empty or exploited system and press the Strategic Mode button, and you get lines out to any control system in range. For empty systems, this includes the possibilities for other powers to capture it.
Ooh, good to know, thanks for the insight!
Dammit I finally am having fun playing doing Search & Rescue the intended way, and now I can't anymore because some sweatlords found some way to cheese Escape Pods? This sucks.
For finding systems, this may have what you need:
"Close enough" is shorthand for "within 20LY of a fortified system, or 30LY of a stronghold system controled by your Power". I've updated the post to include this info. Thank for the feedback.
So, taking into account the two round of adjustment we've had from FDev so far, including today's, what PowerPlay activities still make some kind of sense to fit into one's gameplay, or should I just nip off into The Black for a month or two and explore like it's Update 14 and none of this ever happened?
Killing enemy CMDRs.
I've been updating the original post here as changes are made. Though it won't tell you what is the best for merits it should reflect what's currently suspended / working.
There's still quite a lot left - nothing stand-out, but certainly a few left which can get something like 3k/hour and some others which can be used for opportunistic bonuses. Most of them are either already normal gameplay or easy to fit into it.
Bounty hunting is probably one of the better single actions, and should get a decent rate if you can find a good location, or be a decent bonus done opportunistically
Power enemy shooting is pretty good still but in most systems the main sources of them are the Power signal sources ... which losing S&R as an option hurts a lot. Still an option for contested acquisition.
Power cargo hauling is decent but in a ship of even medium size won't fill your hold, and most of the other short-range trade options are fairly weak unless you're flying a max-size cargo ship (inevitably for bulk cargo hauling, I guess)
Holoscreen hacking is a nice side option and can be easily fitted onto most builds but again you can't build an entire career around it, same with megaship scanning.
Odyssey Data uploads and Goods theft should still work - you just miss out on a bit of efficiency by not being able to get merits for the downloaded data too. If you can manage to complete restore/reactivation missions at the same time, even better.
Mining is situational - because of the harsh location requirements - but in the right system could pay out pretty well if you were efficient at it.
(In terms of merits gained any of those is likely to be better than the equivalent time spent gathering exploration data)
Yes, I hope they are not nerfed too much because travelling between signals to get a half decent amount of them is time consuming even with SCO, so that should be factored into their value.
SLF farming at stronghold systems has been nerfed.
source: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threa...rplay-2-0-update.630423/page-17#post-10487326
source: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threa...rplay-2-0-update.630423/page-17#post-10487326
I've just got going on it today. For Li Yong-Rui it seems fairly good just flying around signal sources scanning things and picking up stuff.
Thank you all, most excellently clear replies. I might take a cargo rack out of the all-purpose Cobra to make room for Recon limpets then, as I'm already doing some of the other odd-jobbing that works. I also have the sensors on the Cobby engineered up the wazoo so getting all those lots of 5 merits is pretty much doing itself. If I happen to find the right mining opportunity I'll swap into the Python for a while.
(Yes I am a combat-last sort of player. Yes avoiding combat got a bit harder because where the other issues in PP 2.0 happen to have cropped up.)
(Yes I am a combat-last sort of player. Yes avoiding combat got a bit harder because where the other issues in PP 2.0 happen to have cropped up.)
Until I decided to test the blockade at George Lucas (and earned some decent merits along the way), I was more than willing to keep an eye out for PowerPlay wrecks for S&R gameplay. sigh
Not just stronghold carriers, but stations in general. I'd much rather do missions to undermine a system than the few options that now available. Variety is the spice of life, after all.
I made a reddit post with screenshots of how to identify Acquisition systems: Power Play 2.0 "Acquisition / "Acquisition System" explained.
Why doesn't FDev just come out and say, "We expect you to take 2 years to reach rank 100 because we want to artificially drag out this hamster wheel grind as a substitute for actual content." and be done with it.
FDev in 2024: "You can play your way...as long as it's OUR way!"
Add to that the random missions that pop up in the Comms panel (the roundly ignored "Tip off" missions being one such example). Give us timely and time sensitive missions tied to Power Play that reflect what is happening in real-time with our Galactic Power's borders while awarding us Merits for their completion:
- A system being heavily undermined? A mission directing pledgees to that system to reinforce it.
- An enemy Galactic Power's Stronghold or Fortified system on the brink of being demoted to the next lower tier? A call to arms to help undermine that system.
Anyone who seriously expected it was intended that you got as much for an SLF that died in one shot compared to an anaconda that took 2 minutes is...very confused.
Honestly, 14 merits is generous for something that takes a full 5 seconds to kill.
Honestly, 14 merits is generous for something that takes a full 5 seconds to kill.