Powerplay Question about stations and FCs

[Danspy501st]

As Im looking to try Powerplay 2.0 down the line, as one of my builds do require a powerplay modul, then I do have a question.

If I pledge my allegiance, let us say Jerome Archer, and going to an other power system to land on their station, for example Yuri Grom, would I be shot down by the station's and the system's authority ships?

The reason I ask, if I had noticed the power security ship loiting around a station to target any other power ships. I had seen when I was going to land at a station or leaving one, that the station open fire too. I even got caught in the crossfire a few times. One of which did nearly take my shield down. I tried to search for it on google but getting mix results. Some says the stations do, others says they dont unless a stray fire hit the station which make them answer in kind.

I thinking on to try at some point to hang around outside of the station to watch. I know I had been scanned by the PSF (Power Security Force) a few times. One of which lead to this funny respond:

I also have a counter to anyone that will still claim that the stations will open fire regardless. The big orbital stations do have weapons in the mailslot as well inside the docking area. So if they do really want to shoot you down, and you somehow manages to survive to get inside the docking area, then the station would still fire till your ship is destroyed. So personally I dont think the stations will open fire unless a stray fire hits them. But I just want to be sure if someone had figured it out or seen it

 

[Ian Doncaster]

The rules are this:
- opening fire inside the No Fire Zone: a fine, largely irrelevant and easily cleared (but there may be consequences if the shot hits anything)
- opening fire inside the Strict No Fire Zone (inside the docking cylinder of stations which have one): a bounty, instant ship destruction unless you have ridiculous levels of shielding
- opening fire on / killing an enemy Power in a system owned by your Power: perfectly legal and encouraged
- opening fire on an enemy Power in any other system: illegal and a bounty, unless they're already separately Wanted for some other reason
- killing an enemy Power in any other system: illegal and a bounty but no notoriety
- opening fire on a station: illegal and a bounty unless the game "knows" it wasn't an intentional hit ... which it generally doesn't for shots you fire, and generally does for shots NPCs fire, so even in your own space, don't use the station as a backstop when shooting down enemy Power ships.

So this means that in an enemy Power system, a Power Security Force ship can open fire on you near a station, and they'll not face any visible legal consequences even if a stray shot bounces off the station, while you'll be attacked by the station guns if you return fire. They won't - because of the Strict NFZ - follow you into the docking cylinder, so if you can get inside that you'll be safe.

This will only tend to happen in practice in Stronghold-level systems of enemy Powers, and the PSF ships aren't all that dangerous in themselves so if you get on with docking quickly you'll just take a bit of shield damage (if they spot you at all) and can ignore it. So long as you don't return fire on the PSF, you'll stay Clean, so the station and system security ships won't join in.


(The bit which tends to catch people out is "I'm clean, they're shooting me, so they must now be wanted and I can return fire", and no, that doesn't apply if you're getting attacked by PSF or other Power ships on their home ground)

 

[Danspy501st]

The rules are this:
- opening fire inside the No Fire Zone: a fine, largely irrelevant and easily cleared (but there may be consequences if the shot hits anything)
- opening fire inside the Strict No Fire Zone (inside the docking cylinder of stations which have one): a bounty, instant ship destruction unless you have ridiculous levels of shielding
- opening fire on / killing an enemy Power in a system owned by your Power: perfectly legal and encouraged
- opening fire on an enemy Power in any other system: illegal and a bounty, unless they're already separately Wanted for some other reason
- killing an enemy Power in any other system: illegal and a bounty but no notoriety
- opening fire on a station: illegal and a bounty unless the game "knows" it wasn't an intentional hit ... which it generally doesn't for shots you fire, and generally does for shots NPCs fire, so even in your own space, don't use the station as a backstop when shooting down enemy Power ships.

So this means that in an enemy Power system, a Power Security Force ship can open fire on you near a station, and they'll not face any visible legal consequences even if a stray shot bounces off the station, while you'll be attacked by the station guns if you return fire. They won't - because of the Strict NFZ - follow you into the docking cylinder, so if you can get inside that you'll be safe.

This will only tend to happen in practice in Stronghold-level systems of enemy Powers, and the PSF ships aren't all that dangerous in themselves so if you get on with docking quickly you'll just take a bit of shield damage (if they spot you at all) and can ignore it. So long as you don't return fire on the PSF, you'll stay Clean, so the station and system security ships won't join in.


(The bit which tends to catch people out is "I'm clean, they're shooting me, so they must now be wanted and I can return fire", and no, that doesn't apply if you're getting attacked by PSF or other Power ships on their home ground)

I had got the idea that the PSF ships will fire on any other power ships other the power they are from, for example my example I had given. So that I can be okay with as I could be lucky to dodge or still be a live long enough to land.

But what I was more worried about is if I did work towards a rank to get an x module, like Jerome's first power module on rank 34, and I choose to take a small break to help with something, like a CG in an other power territory. Would does stations then just blast me out of the sky even through Im "innocent" and a community mission or something like that. As said, I could survive when it is just one or few PSF ships trying to shoot at me. But I dont think I could be lucky enough if the whole station want to join in on the fire.

More as, I rather not risk to lose like one of my transport for CG missions because Im with the wrong power at the wrong time and dont want to start over for just a week or two of CG tasks. I have one ship I will try to build for in general PP and some small smuggling times (think like a blockage runner), plus I have blueprints of two other ships more for smuggling or avioding Thargoids (Their original design plan).

So in a nutshell, I really dont want to explore for months and return to land at the wrong power station to get blown up and loose all the data I had collected from there.

To that point I had read that players that are with powerplay in the open will open fire on any ships that arent with their power. So I do still hold myself to solo/private groups. Im not too big fan of open anyhow mostly because of the griefers/grankers or what they are called. Plus I know one commander that have insanely good piloting skills

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Stations won't open fire proactively unless you get a bounty, and you won't get a bounty unless you open fire on a PSF ship (or do any of the other usual bounty-gaining illegal actions). It's probably worth avoiding enemy Stronghold systems on your way back to turn in months of exploration data, certainly, but it's not a high risk.

I'm above rank 100 with Kaine and have had no issues doing the recent CG at Minerva (LYR Stronghold) - I've had a PSF ship shoot at me once while I was being a bit slow to dock, but it only took a few hull percent off my unshielded T-8 and stopped firing once I was through the slot. All the other trips I got in before they noticed I was there and by the time I was leaving they'd got distracted by other Power NPCs. There's no specific "doing a CG" exemption for inter-Power hostility, but there doesn't need to be any more than there's a CG exemption for NPC pirate interdictions.

To that point I had read that players that are with powerplay in the open will open fire on any ships that arent with their power.

Yes - players are subject to the same rules as NPCs on this, so a player pledged to another Power can legally destroy you if they see you in their space (and won't get notoriety for destroying you anywhere else). The chances of actually meeting another player outside of the normal hotspots remains extremely low, of course.

Note: most players will not in fact open fire on you even if they're pledged to another Power.
- they might not be in a system where they actually get any benefit from doing so
- they might be flying an unarmed ship themselves (or at least, not have an interdictor)
- they might think you could beat them if they did

(Think of it this way: if you pick up a 200 credit assault or trespass bounty, then any player who sees you with that Wanted status could attack you to claim it. But most of them won't bother.)

 

[Danspy501st]

Thank you for clearing it up for me. As said I do look to try this new powerplay down the line, and I know one of my ship desgin needs a powerplay module (The shield one) so I know at some point I need to try.

But for now I do focus to unlock engineers as to be able to engineer my ships to what I want them to do. At the moment that is on hold, because of the Kamitra Cigar thing