PS4 and PowerPlay, where do we stand?

[Curvemn17]

So I recently got involved with PowerPlay and became more connected with the PC community through this. I realize most of us tend to stick to our side of the forum and not venture over the wall while they freely come to visit us. I was told frequently what a waste of time it is and how no one is invested it etc. Well I was sorely lacking in my understanding on just how much it can have an impact on MF at stations and in return our bubble. It may be lacking in gameplay, but the groups are very active in pushing govt types at stations and systems.

My point in bringing this up is at some point we all begin to look for something to get our attention in this game once we have accomplished whatever goal we set. There is the general complaint that the sand box is an inch deep, but I believe there are the tools there even if they aren’t fully fleshed out. I have enjoyed my short time in PowerPlay up until now. So I’m interested to know what other PS4 members think. Are you invested? Have you given it a shot? Maybe it’s time we became more involved in the galaxy overall.

 

[Cmdr Nemo]

So I recently got involved with PowerPlay and became more connected with the PC community through this. I realize most of us tend to stick to our side of the forum and not venture over the wall while they freely come to visit us. I was told frequently what a waste of time it is and how no one is invested it etc. Well I was sorely lacking in my understanding on just how much it can have an impact on MF at stations and in return our bubble. It may be lacking in gameplay, but the groups are very active in pushing govt types at stations and systems.

My point in bringing this up is at some point we all begin to look for something to get our attention in this game once we have accomplished whatever goal we set. There is the general complaint that the sand box is an inch deep, but I believe there are the tools there even if they aren’t fully fleshed out. I have enjoyed my short time in PowerPlay up until now. So I’m interested to know what other PS4 members think. Are you invested? Have you given it a shot? Maybe it’s time we became more involved in the galaxy overall.

I think it's still to earily, we've only been in existance as a factor for less than a year, while pc's have been at it considerably longer. I'd give it at least another year before the new gets a chance to wear off.

 

[CMDR Lukas Vance]

Are you invested? Have you given it a shot? Maybe it’s time we became more involved in the galaxy overall.

I started PP just over a week ago. There are a lot of activities I'm holding off on until 3.0 launched so I thought it was a good time to try. I went with Aisling for the prismatics (may as well make it worthwhile). I read some stuff which didn't really give me much of a feel for it, so just jumped in.

I struggled to see how I could combine PP with making some actual credits so I looked on the AD reddit thread. They had a Slack group which I applied to join. People on the Reddit thread were complaining that people were just taking the vouchers or whatever they are called to the nearest system. When I got into the Slack channel I looked around the channels and one of the first posts I saw was some redneck boasting about how he'd assaulted his daughters boyfriend because he didn't like his haircut. I left, never went back and just delivered the vouchers to the nearest station and went back to earning credits doing skimmer missions in my trusty FGS.

 

[damon8r351]

I'm heavily involved with the BGS. I've been grooming an infamous region of Alliance space so that there's more peaceful elections and less open conflict, and am just now starting to see some satisfying returns on those efforts. Powerplay's the next step afterwards, once I start delving into the study material.

 

[Nerix]

I haven't tried Powerplay yet, but definitely want to do that. A few weeks ago I submitted a new minor faction application - would like to push that a bit and learn about the background simulation.

Which power have you chosen, are there good rewards? Most people seem to choose AD due to the prismatic shield.

 

[Lngjohnsilver1]

Played it - got busy doing other things - plan to go back.

 

[Cmdr Nemo]

Though it's not officially a part of power play, I joined the AEDC, all work, an no bennifits, except the knowledge that I'm truely assisting the Alliance in all their endevors.

 

[Curvemn17]

I haven't tried Powerplay yet, but definitely want to do that. A few weeks ago I submitted a new minor faction application - would like to push that a bit and learn about the background simulation.

Which power have you chosen, are there good rewards? Most people seem to choose AD due to the prismatic shield.

I will address your direct question but also address everyone as I’m flat out awful at the multiquote stuff lol. I joined Delaine. This week I made 50m in credits. I’ll be honest I haven’t tried to make credits in over 2 months. I quit with missions unless it is BGS related. Our group agreed to support a large PC MF until we were large enough to put in a request for our own MF. (Which we finally are!!!) pumped about that aspect. Only way I have been chasing credits lately has been pirating and smuggling. I chose Delaine strictly based on my role play and groups ideology.

As for PP and the reddit stuff, I would highly recommend avoiding it all together. Find the groups discord and join that, Reddit is for whatever reason really sketchy. I know with Delaine it was a a huge difference maker for me. There is a purpose to it. I have been pledged for 3? weeks now. It has really opened up a lot more of the game for me.

I bring most of this up because it does have its flaws. I personally think we get very focused maybe on things as a specific console that we either can’t control or it’s not going to happen. I know, I am selfish and only care about what impacts me as well. But if we can combine our voice with the rest of the crowds then it stands to reason that FDev takes more notice of that. Like planets and things being fixed in Beyond.

Either way, I highly recommend giving it a shot. Get involved with one of the groups, find where their group coordinates, probably discord, and dive in. There are a lot of nuances to it that as is typical with elite aren’t at all explained or explained in a manner to be understood in the actual game.

 

[Curvemn17]

I think it's still to earily, we've only been in existance as a factor for less than a year, while pc's have been at it considerably longer. I'd give it at least another year before the new gets a chance to wear off.

I don’t know Nemo, I feel like we have had a little bit of that wear off. I know you are relatively new to console, but for most console gamers games don’t have a life span as the goto game near as long as PC. If you look at games that are primarily console it’s isualy 100 hrs maybe less? It’s rare that a game is a full year of what someone focuses on. Plus, look at this forum. It’s not a very good example based on size and such, but the same people are generally the same ones these days. We have had a fall off whether it’s because of waiting on updates or whatever, but if you visit YouTube and what not you will see those same reasons given by the more established crowd.

Personally, I had that wear. I achieved my goal ship, which most people start out with. Then put it down for a month becuae I wasn’t sure where to go next. Then I decided I would ignore the general consensus and get into the play style that I wanted to from the beginning. I got into smuggling and piracy. It led to like minded cmdrs, BGS manipulation and PowerPlay. Are most making it that far in to the deep end? Most of the posts are usually centered around the same thing; Cobra mkiv, VR, graphics, etc. I talk about that just as much, but we don’t have a section or discussion about thargoids, PowerPlay, minor factions, BGS, etc.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

I've only done "fast tracking" for the weapons etc.
So far I've acquired prismatic shields (Aisling) and imperial hammers (Arissa), and am waiting on the advanced plasma accelerators (Patreus).
Definitely want the packhounds too (LYR) but the rest seem kind of lackluster.

I neglected to get some c2 prismatics (I have a couple of projects in mind), so I might find myself back with Aisling in a couple months, but not sure after that.

 

[CMDR Lukas Vance]

I neglected to get some c2 prismatics (I have a couple of projects in mind), so I might find myself back with Aisling in a couple months, but not sure after that.

Sorry, wait, what now? You mean I can only buy the Prismatics for the week I am level 3 with AD and once I fall out of that I no longer have access to the Prismatics?

 

[Cmdr Nemo]

Sorry, wait, what now? You mean I can only buy the Prismatics for the week I am level 3 with AD and once I fall out of that I no longer have access to the Prismatics?

As far as prismatics go, have you seen the "ANT's" video where as he compares the variouse shield generator's. Althings considered; The byweaves wins by a land slide.

 

[Old Duck]

My alt does PowerPlay. I worked hard at it for a couple of weeks, but I found a bit too tedious for my liking. I think it has great potential if Frontier were to tweak the numbers and up the rewards. For example, I'd love to see them change the discount model so that instead of Li Yong-Rui offering discounts to everyone, players instead get discounts from whatever faction they are pledged to. This would give us motivation to expand our mini-bubble, as it would give us more stations that offered said discounts (and perhaps other perks like better prices on commodities). Right now there's very little making me care whether or not a system is pledged to my Empress.

Hmmm, I may make this an official suggestion!

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

Sorry, wait, what now? You mean I can only buy the Prismatics for the week I am level 3 with AD and once I fall out of that I no longer have access to the Prismatics?

Correct, or you can stay pledged and at rank 3, or pop back up to that rank as needed.
You will retain half of your merits after the cycle ends so maintaining rank is easier than getting it.

I bought all of the expensive ones and forgot to get the tiny c2, lol...
That c8 alone was over 200mil.

 

[Cold Earth]

Correct, or you can stay pledged and at rank 3, or pop back up to that rank as needed.
You will retain half of your merits after the cycle ends so maintaining rank is easier than getting it.

I bought all of the expensive ones and forgot to get the tiny c2, lol...
That c8 alone was over 200mil.

So you need a ton of money ready to be able to buy all the different versions then?

I’ve been on the fence of wether to play PP. I would like the shields which seems one of the main reasons of why people do it. But given that some PP upgrades seem far better than others it appears to favour particular factions over other due to these bonuses alone which kinda spoils the point of PP.

I’m starting to think a lot of these combat based bonuses and engineer combat related stuff doesn’t help encourage players to play in Open. But that’s a whole different conversation.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

As far as prismatics go, have you seen the "ANT's" video where as he compares the variouse shield generator's. Althings considered; The byweaves wins by a land slide.

Not necessarily.
You can run a smaller shield for same strength, which means you can run larger SCB(s).
That means more total MJs.
Lots of people use them in PVP.

You can also save space on traders where you won't need the regen.

I use them on all my miners, traders/passenger runners etc, where the space savings could come in handy.

I also have a few combat builds that use them, mostly looking at pvp application.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

So you need a ton of money ready to be able to buy all the different versions then?

I’ve been on the fence of wether to play PP. I would like the shields which seems one of the main reasons of why people do it. But given that some PP upgrades seem far better than others it appears to favour particular factions over other due to these bonuses alone which kinda spoils the point of PP.

I’m starting to think a lot of these combat based bonuses and engineer combat related stuff doesn’t help encourage players to play in Open. But that’s a whole different conversation.

Yes, I bought sizes 3-8, with multiples of everything except for the 8(!), lol.
It was the most expensive undertaking I've done in game.

At least the hammers only come in one size!


On your last point, I think that's why they weren't made to give a huge advantage, but I agree anyhow.

That said, doing PP to get weapons is super easy.
It's a no brainer.

 

[Cmdr Nemo]

Update to my previous post:

What I ment by too earily is most of the pc player due to haveing played it considerably longer. Player's have aquired sufficent funds and ranks to a point where as grinding is not an issue as it seemed to be when one first starts out. Having purchase a few of ones desireable ships and after engineering them, in additions to finishing the grinding to the point of getting the two biggest from both Navy's and a couple of billion in the bank with nothing more to spend it on can make one feel as if there's not much else to do. Power Play can take a lot of dedication if one gets into role playing, and inso much as ps4 players may not be in the position yet, I'd concur that in another year, most will be able to invest the time in more of a role playing aspect than grinding every day.

Some players can spend their entire time doing nothing but flying a sidewinder to the edge of the galaxie in search of something new. Other's once they;ve obtain or reached their goals of ships, builds, and sufficient funds to the point where as cr's are no longer an issue. Reach a standstill as to what to do next. PP is the answer to that.

I mean after obtaining an exorbited amount of cr's and having all the ships and builds I could possible want, I've now have an unlimited time to dedicate myself to assiting in what ever factions I choose, which until something better by my standards comes along is AEDC. I know longer give a hoot as to what the rewards are. In a sense, I've reached the end game. Having done so, there's really nothing else to do but get involved with some sort of role playing which PP offer's.

It would seem that pc player's in general are more of a dedicated gamer when it comes to playing a particular game then console players are. Basically, a pc player in general invest more time and money in a game than the general console player thus reaches the supposed end game of ships, engineering, and an over abundence of cr's sooner and faster than the general console player. And where as they've had two or three years, the ps4 has only 8 plus months. Thus my statement of at least one more year.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

My alt does PowerPlay. I worked hard at it for a couple of weeks, but I found a bit too tedious for my liking. I think it has great potential if Frontier were to tweak the numbers and up the rewards. For example, I'd love to see them change the discount model so that instead of Li Yong-Rui offering discounts to everyone, players instead get discounts from whatever faction they are pledged to. This would give us motivation to expand our mini-bubble, as it would give us more stations that offered said discounts (and perhaps other perks like better prices on commodities). Right now there's very little making me care whether or not a system is pledged to my Empress.

Hmmm, I may make this an official suggestion!

If you just want to try the shields or weapons it's easy.
You really don't need to do anything except pledge, play as you would normally for three weeks and then deliver 750t of stuff, one time.

 

[Old Duck]

If you just want to try the shields or weapons it's easy.
You really don't need to do anything except pledge, play as you would normally for three weeks and then deliver 750t of stuff, one time.

Yeah I did that, but PowerPlay is supposed to be way more than just getting some toy from the Cracker Jack box. I'm much more interested in the potential gameplay than the "toys" (which are currently sitting unused in a storage locker).