Powerplay Activity Analysis - Cycle #9

[Cadoc]

If by that you mean they haven't taken any ground, sure. Pretty sure they envisioned us gone 3 weeks ago and yet here we are survivng the biggest onslaught of the game.
[/B]

The IHC were kind enough to give me an insight into their goals that week. I'm not making any judgement if their strategy is the right, but they told me they wanted to use your expansion as a distraction while they undermined all your systems and secured Cuchua. They succeeded at those goals. However that didn't really bring them noticeably closer to their goal, that's why I said your defence has, strategically, succeeded. Their goals for this week, as they have stated them to me, have been met, that's all.

This does surprise me. Is the lack of Federation support down to the 'bonuses'?

It was a mistake by me. I have now corrected the table.

- - - Updated - - -

But I guess they're all off undermining thanks to his combat ethos.

The number of players a Power has almost doesn't matter. It's how veteran and active those players are. A single veteran Commander can contribute as much as dozens of newbies.

 

[CATPAIN KIRK]

While Aisling lost the most activity of all Powers this Cycle Antal's activity multiplayed factor 4 ! (given this numbers are correct)
Hmm what does this mean?

I doubt the numbers are correct - probably related to this issue: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=172455 (tl;dr: Someone cheated, it was rectified, but the numbers probably don't reflect that (?)).

The number of players a Power has almost doesn't matter. It's how veteran and active those players are. A single veteran Commander can contribute as much as dozens of newbies.

Sure - see JemyMs post - Torvals entire support could have been conducted by 8 dedicated players.

Also wasn't surprised to see Torval plummet like she did when EIC left. I was pledged to Torval and usually alarmclocked on Thursday 4 AM to haul 10000 last minute tons before work, so I could observe in real time how EIC did the same.

Anyway - then again it's interesting that Hudson is so attractive to casuals and noobs.

 

[JemyM]

I was pledged to Torval and usually alarmclocked on Thursday 4 AM to haul 10000 last minute tons before work, so I could observe in real time how EIC did the same.

That's amazing sir.

 

[Parmo]

Cadoc, I don't think much of Powerplay. But perversely I do enjoy reading your posts and reports on it!
It's fascinating stuff.
I have no idea why!:S

 

[Cadoc]

I doubt the numbers are correct - probably related to this issue: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=172455 (tl;dr: Someone cheated, it was rectified, but the numbers probably don't reflect that (?)).

The numbers are correct, the data is from after the merits from the exploit have been removed.

Anyway - then again it's interesting that Hudson is so attractive to casuals and noobs.

Most players are bounty hunters, so they pick one of the two obvious Powers. The ones who don't care about Powerplay have no reason to move to the Empire, especially when they probably found hunting grounds in the Federation.

 

[Shadewarlock]

The IHC were kind enough to give me an insight into their goals that week. I'm not making any judgement if their strategy is the right, but they told me they wanted to use your expansion as a distraction while they undermined all your systems and secured Cuchua. They succeeded at those goals. However that didn't really bring them noticeably closer to their goal, that's why I said your defence has, strategically, succeeded. Their goals for this week, as they have stated them to me, have been met, that's all.

The IHC is a propaganda bureau and they would spin anything that happens in the game as "part of their plan".

Quite frankly, using such information and not disclosing that information is pretty poor form.

Not to mention incorrect. They did not undermine all our systems and not only is Archon in surplus CC (which mitigates the entire point of undermining us) we also expanded into a system of our choice. The fact that your analysis makes it seem like Archon is on the ropes smells suspiciously like more propaganda coming out of the IHC. On the contrary, Archon's efficiency and ability to withstand such a stupid amount of manpower thrown at it should be the focus of that analysis, not the completely pointless goals that the imperials claimed to have achieved with absolutely nothing to show for it.

I know you are not pledged to the empire, so such bias seems strange to me. I'd ask in future that you report on the facts and not the misinformation provided via one side of a conflict in preference to the other.

 

[Cadoc]

Quite frankly, using such information and not disclosing that information is pretty poor form.

All they disclosed to me were their *intentions*. I didn't feel that compromised the objectivity of my post. In fact, I'm planning to contact other organisations for similar purpose.

Not to mention incorrect. They did not undermine all our systems and not only is Archon in surplus CC (which mitigates the entire point of undermining us) we also expanded into a system of our choice.

I guess the language I used was imprecise. They undermined some of your systems, and they cancelled all of your fortifications. That was their stated goal as they communicated it to me, and they obviously succeeded at it. Now their *larger* goal of destroying Archon Delaine is obviously not completed, nor is it likely to be completed in the short term.

The fact that your analysis makes it seem like Archon is on the ropes smells suspiciously like more propaganda coming out of the IHC. On the contrary, Archon's efficiency and ability to withstand such a stupid amount of manpower thrown at it should be the focus of that analysis, not the completely pointless goals that the imperials claimed to have achieved with absolutely nothing to show for it

I have specifically said that strategically, the Imperial operation has not succeeded. In fact I stated that the success of the Kumo Crew defence may spark a further change to the mechanics, since it shows that a Power of Archon's size cannot be destroyed or even made to shed systems, as long as they do decent fortification. At this point it's clear that Operation Davy Jones can't succeed in its final goal, with the mechanics being what they are. At this point they either need to defeat one of your high-trigger expansions (and although they told me they're able to do that I don't entirely believe it) or wait for you to make an error with your Preparation.

I know you are not pledged to the empire, so such bias seems strange to me. I'd ask in future that you report on the facts and not the misinformation provided via one side of a conflict in preference to the other.

I'm stuanchly anti-Imperial and the worst thing that could happen to Pranav Antal, my Power of choice, would be Archon falling apart. I believe I have been objective n my analysis, but I will make an effort to contact a wider range of organisations in the future.

 

[Seon]

This does surprise me. Is the lack of Federation support down to the 'bonuses'?

Mostly, I think. Federation has never had as much support as the Imperials in general though.

 

[Mikalus]

I feel you were objective Cadoc. I think some of us with Archon just sometimes feel like so much of power play is focussed on such a small power we develop an us vs the world mentality - which serves us quite well really last few weeks have been a blast!

 

[CATPAIN KIRK]

That's amazing sir.

Well thanks, but as you observed you're likely to burn out. Once they changed fortifcation numbers, I saw no chance of survival for Torval in the longer run. The power always relied on a small number of dedicated pilots pushing above their weight.
With poor tier rewards, there was no huge influx of new players to be expected and the more the power expands, the worse the grind will get. Combine that with the poor gameplay offered in PP, I ceased activity before I would burn out (actually a week before EIC made their anouncement - took three weeks until my merits decayed below rank 5).

The numbers are correct, the data is from after the merits from the exploit have been removed.

Okay - that's interesting then.

Most players are bounty hunters, so they pick one of the two obvious Powers. The ones who don't care about Powerplay have no reason to move to the Empire, especially when they probably found hunting grounds in the Federation.

Good point - besides there was way more storyline for the Empire, so people interested in the background story and hence trying to get involved via PP are more likely to move to the Empire.