Cycle 29 and 30
Raw data is out for cycle 31, the first cycle ending in the new year.
Fortification, Expansion and Preparation
ALD did the most total merits again, followed by Aisling then Hudson.
Winters and Mahon were very close to eachother again.
Antal and Patreus had a large proportion of their total merits from expansions.
Hudson was number 1 for effective merits, with a massive 436255 effective merits in fortification, which is the second most ever.
Hudson did 448107 effective merits in fortification in cycle 23, which is still the most.
Aisling, Winters and Mahon all had a very similar number of effective merits.
Mahon and Antal were the only 2 powers to expand, thus the only powers with effective merits in expansion.
Undermining and Opposition
Winters got more than 1.4 million merits in total opposition.
Hudson and Mahon both recieved their usual large amount of opposition.
Patreus, Sirius and Delaine were opposed a medium amount, with the other 4 barely being undermined, although Antal faced a large amount of opposition to his expansions.
Hudson had the most effective undermining, which was the third highest amount of effective undermining anyone had faced (ALD is first)
Patreus was in the second position, beating the amount of undermining he received the week before, which was a record amount for him.
Commentary and Speculation
Mahon 91%
The Prime Minister received a larger amount of effective undermining than usual but was able to fortify enough to avoid Turmoil.
His expansions were opposed more than usual too, with one failing and one expanding.
Mahon moves up to 86 Control Systems, 13 more than the next highest, Hudson.
With a starting CC balance of 1261, Mahon is in a commanding lead, with FDev perhaps being the only power able to stop them.
There is no reason to believe Mahon wont be first next week, even if they fall into Turmoil.
Hudson 73%
The President was hit with a large amount of undermining, with only 11 systems not undermined.
He was able to leave Turmoil because of the large amount of fortifying he did, with only 8 systems not fortified.
This moved him back into 2nd place. He has only 1 more control system than ALD, but there must be something else fundamental to his score which keeps him so much in front of her, perhaps the population of his systems.
With no expansion this week, ALD or Winters may move ahead of him next week, should they win expansions, but 4th should be the lowest he falls to.
Winters 70%
Winters retained her 3rd position, with Hudson moving to 2nd, but ALD dropping to 4th.
With 3 expansions this week, should all 3 win, she should move ahead of Hudson into 2nd position.
ALD has one expansion, if Winters fails all her expansions, and ALD wins hers, Winters might fall to 4th, but she should still be ranked above Aisling.
ALD 66%
ALD moved down from 2nd to 4th, but nothing really happened to justify this.
Winters and ALD both didn't get an expansion, but this damaged ALDs score by more.
This week ALD has one loss making expansion, but it will be impossible for this system to not expand, and the only way to stop it will be to enter Turmoil.
ALD also has enough CC to prepare 3 or 4 good systems, so the prep list will need to be closely controlled, to stop more bad systems from being put onto it.
Unless Hudson enters Turmoil, ALD will be ranked 3rd or 4th at the end of the week.
Aisling 56%
Aisling faced very little undermining, as usual, but was pushed into Turmoil with only 6 systems undermined.
The systems in Turmoil is loss making, so Aisling will want to stay in Turmoil to ensure the system is lost, but this leaves her open to sniping, so may have a profitable system in Turmoil at the end of the week.
If Aisling does remain in Turmoil, she may fall into the bottom 5, but will probably be ranked 5th at the end of the week.
Sirius 51%
Sirius left Turmoil, and moved back up to 6th.
More of his ex-systems are being expanded into by Antal, who seems to be the power benefiting the most form Sirius losing systems to Turmoil.
With 460cc he is now able to prepare some of the areas he recently lost.
He is on 54 systems, which means he needs to absorb a large increase in overheads costs to be able to expand to system number 55. After that his overhead costs per new system will flatten out to the much lower 62.
If Aisling remains in Turmoil, Sirius may be able to move back into the top 5, but with no expansions this week, this will be difficult.
Antal 49%
Antal was very close to being in 6th position, which would have been his highest rank so far.
He was one of only 2 powers able to expand last cycle, but 2 of his 3 expansion faced a large amount of opposition, and only 1 was successfully expanded.
With 4 expansion this week, if all of these are able to be expanded, he should move in front of Sirius, into 6th position, and may be able to move ahead of Aisling, into 5th position.
If all of his expansions fail he may fall back into 10th position.
Torval 38%
Torval lost a system to Turmoil, but was able to leave Turmoil with 236cc to prepare with.
She moved up to 8th position, from 9th.
With no expansions this week, Torval will only move up if the other powers near her lose their expansions.
Delaine 30%
Delaine moved up to 9th after receiving lower than average amounts of undermining.
This week he has 2 expansions, and should they both win he may move past Torval to 8th position.
Patreus 26%
Patreus moves down from 6th to 10th after receiving a large amount of undermining, putting 6 of his systems into Turmoil.
It perhaps isn't possible for Patreus to fortify himself out of Turmoil this week, should he lose systems he should still be in 10th position at the end of the week, if he loses all 6 Antal will have more systems, and if Antal wins his expansions he will move further ahead.
If Patreus is able to leave Turmoil, he may still be ranked 10th, 9th is probably the best he can hope for, unless others go into Turmoil.
Raw data is out for cycle 31, the first cycle ending in the new year.
Fortification, Expansion and Preparation
ALD did the most total merits again, followed by Aisling then Hudson.
Winters and Mahon were very close to eachother again.
Antal and Patreus had a large proportion of their total merits from expansions.
Hudson was number 1 for effective merits, with a massive 436255 effective merits in fortification, which is the second most ever.
Hudson did 448107 effective merits in fortification in cycle 23, which is still the most.
Aisling, Winters and Mahon all had a very similar number of effective merits.
Mahon and Antal were the only 2 powers to expand, thus the only powers with effective merits in expansion.
Undermining and Opposition
Winters got more than 1.4 million merits in total opposition.
Hudson and Mahon both recieved their usual large amount of opposition.
Patreus, Sirius and Delaine were opposed a medium amount, with the other 4 barely being undermined, although Antal faced a large amount of opposition to his expansions.
Hudson had the most effective undermining, which was the third highest amount of effective undermining anyone had faced (ALD is first)
Patreus was in the second position, beating the amount of undermining he received the week before, which was a record amount for him.
Commentary and Speculation
Mahon 91%
The Prime Minister received a larger amount of effective undermining than usual but was able to fortify enough to avoid Turmoil.
His expansions were opposed more than usual too, with one failing and one expanding.
Mahon moves up to 86 Control Systems, 13 more than the next highest, Hudson.
With a starting CC balance of 1261, Mahon is in a commanding lead, with FDev perhaps being the only power able to stop them.
There is no reason to believe Mahon wont be first next week, even if they fall into Turmoil.
Hudson 73%
The President was hit with a large amount of undermining, with only 11 systems not undermined.
He was able to leave Turmoil because of the large amount of fortifying he did, with only 8 systems not fortified.
This moved him back into 2nd place. He has only 1 more control system than ALD, but there must be something else fundamental to his score which keeps him so much in front of her, perhaps the population of his systems.
With no expansion this week, ALD or Winters may move ahead of him next week, should they win expansions, but 4th should be the lowest he falls to.
Winters 70%
Winters retained her 3rd position, with Hudson moving to 2nd, but ALD dropping to 4th.
With 3 expansions this week, should all 3 win, she should move ahead of Hudson into 2nd position.
ALD has one expansion, if Winters fails all her expansions, and ALD wins hers, Winters might fall to 4th, but she should still be ranked above Aisling.
ALD 66%
ALD moved down from 2nd to 4th, but nothing really happened to justify this.
Winters and ALD both didn't get an expansion, but this damaged ALDs score by more.
This week ALD has one loss making expansion, but it will be impossible for this system to not expand, and the only way to stop it will be to enter Turmoil.
ALD also has enough CC to prepare 3 or 4 good systems, so the prep list will need to be closely controlled, to stop more bad systems from being put onto it.
Unless Hudson enters Turmoil, ALD will be ranked 3rd or 4th at the end of the week.
Aisling 56%
Aisling faced very little undermining, as usual, but was pushed into Turmoil with only 6 systems undermined.
The systems in Turmoil is loss making, so Aisling will want to stay in Turmoil to ensure the system is lost, but this leaves her open to sniping, so may have a profitable system in Turmoil at the end of the week.
If Aisling does remain in Turmoil, she may fall into the bottom 5, but will probably be ranked 5th at the end of the week.
Sirius 51%
Sirius left Turmoil, and moved back up to 6th.
More of his ex-systems are being expanded into by Antal, who seems to be the power benefiting the most form Sirius losing systems to Turmoil.
With 460cc he is now able to prepare some of the areas he recently lost.
He is on 54 systems, which means he needs to absorb a large increase in overheads costs to be able to expand to system number 55. After that his overhead costs per new system will flatten out to the much lower 62.
If Aisling remains in Turmoil, Sirius may be able to move back into the top 5, but with no expansions this week, this will be difficult.
Antal 49%
Antal was very close to being in 6th position, which would have been his highest rank so far.
He was one of only 2 powers able to expand last cycle, but 2 of his 3 expansion faced a large amount of opposition, and only 1 was successfully expanded.
With 4 expansion this week, if all of these are able to be expanded, he should move in front of Sirius, into 6th position, and may be able to move ahead of Aisling, into 5th position.
If all of his expansions fail he may fall back into 10th position.
Torval 38%
Torval lost a system to Turmoil, but was able to leave Turmoil with 236cc to prepare with.
She moved up to 8th position, from 9th.
With no expansions this week, Torval will only move up if the other powers near her lose their expansions.
Delaine 30%
Delaine moved up to 9th after receiving lower than average amounts of undermining.
This week he has 2 expansions, and should they both win he may move past Torval to 8th position.
Patreus 26%
Patreus moves down from 6th to 10th after receiving a large amount of undermining, putting 6 of his systems into Turmoil.
It perhaps isn't possible for Patreus to fortify himself out of Turmoil this week, should he lose systems he should still be in 10th position at the end of the week, if he loses all 6 Antal will have more systems, and if Antal wins his expansions he will move further ahead.
If Patreus is able to leave Turmoil, he may still be ranked 10th, 9th is probably the best he can hope for, unless others go into Turmoil.
