Howdy. I'm Bluee, one of the PowerPlay coordinators for Aisling Duval. I'm posting this thread to have some questions Fdev can potentially answer about PowerPlay 2.0.
One quick note is that I don't plan on covering (and would prefer it remains out of this thread) the subject of open only PowerPlay. On the deep dive live stream, FDev mentioned wanting to launch PP2 with open/solo/PG being equal, and are willing to look at feedback after people have time to play with PP2 to see how it handles.
Some of these questions are mine, some from others who I asked for contributions. I don't expect FDev to answer all these, but I feel it's best to ask in case they can, either here or on a later stream.
1. Will Powerplay 2.0 begin with a board reset?
- Over the course of PP1, powers poured hundreds, sometimes thousands of player hours expanding each system, losing some, strategically contested other powers and grew attached to various systems. If there's no reset powers could gain an early advantage by pre-gaming PP2 expansions in the remaining months that will give them an early advantage in PP2. A reset could level the playing field, though this depends on how the new system calculates scores, as not all powers had an equal start in PP1.
2. Will there be potential for cross-power/superpower cooperation, or will people pledged to different powers not be able to work together?
- e.g. Players pledged to the Federation powers Zachary Hudson and Felicia Winters may want to wing together to attack Imperial systems, but if for example, Aisling Duval were contesting Felicia Winters over a system, would Hudson players be able to help Winters players in taking/defending the system? Would Aisling Duval be able to wing up with Yuri Grom pilots to oppose Felicia Winters in a system that she's trying to take from Aisling?
3. How will BGS affect Powerplay 2.0?
- Currently powers have designated favourable, neutral and unfavorable government types affecting fortification and expansion triggers. Would this remain unchanged or be simplified? For example Zachary Hudson doesn't benefit from Federal government types and Aisling Duval doesn't benefit from Imperial types. This can create issues when groups create Imperial squadrons to support Aisling, then obtain a PMF which, if the ethos changes, harms their chosen power.
4. How will score be calculated for a system?
- In PP1 a system's maximum CC value is calculated by the population in the sphere of the control system and distance from HQ. Unfortunately, due to placement of the various HQs some powers have a distinct advantage. Some powers start near densely populated regions, while others are positioned far from the profit, making it impossible to obtain a similar level of success in PP.
5. Will the journal provide PP2 statistics?
- The UI in PP1 is inconsistently helpful, This forced powers to manually calculate statistics in order to strategize. I assume the UI will be more helpful in PP2, but I'm also curious whether the journal will have PowerPlay data (if a system is controlled, exploited, stronghold, etc)?
6. Will all work in a system be visible real time, or can efforts be hidden?
- Currently in PP1, combat powers use 'merit bombs' at the end of the cycle to mask their expansion progress, and turmoils are often caused by 'snipes', which are merit bombs handed in near the end of the cycle to catch a power by surprise. Will PP2 show all activity in real time, or can players still keep their progress hidden until the end of a cycle?
On a related note, would players continue to be advantged/disadvantaged depending on their timezone? In PP1 the critical activity occurs in the final hours of the cycle, which are sociable evening/night gameplay for players in TZs on the American continent, whereas for example UK players have to play until 8am to compete, or wake up very early, wreaking havoc on RL. Further east players cannot compete at all due to daytime RL commitments. BGS solves this by hiding all activity and summarizing the results into the daily update so might a similar thing be done for PP2?
- Some other questions I've received:
Will there be anything for powers finishing PP1 in different standings?
Are there any hard caps to how many strongholds one power can have?
Will the current powerplay modules still be available, or will there be something replacing them?
Will BGS ethoses be made more fair between all powers? e.g. Felicia Winters only has to worry about corporates, Aisling Duval has to flip spheres for expansion then again for fortification, etc.
One quick note is that I don't plan on covering (and would prefer it remains out of this thread) the subject of open only PowerPlay. On the deep dive live stream, FDev mentioned wanting to launch PP2 with open/solo/PG being equal, and are willing to look at feedback after people have time to play with PP2 to see how it handles.
Some of these questions are mine, some from others who I asked for contributions. I don't expect FDev to answer all these, but I feel it's best to ask in case they can, either here or on a later stream.
1. Will Powerplay 2.0 begin with a board reset?
- Over the course of PP1, powers poured hundreds, sometimes thousands of player hours expanding each system, losing some, strategically contested other powers and grew attached to various systems. If there's no reset powers could gain an early advantage by pre-gaming PP2 expansions in the remaining months that will give them an early advantage in PP2. A reset could level the playing field, though this depends on how the new system calculates scores, as not all powers had an equal start in PP1.
2. Will there be potential for cross-power/superpower cooperation, or will people pledged to different powers not be able to work together?
- e.g. Players pledged to the Federation powers Zachary Hudson and Felicia Winters may want to wing together to attack Imperial systems, but if for example, Aisling Duval were contesting Felicia Winters over a system, would Hudson players be able to help Winters players in taking/defending the system? Would Aisling Duval be able to wing up with Yuri Grom pilots to oppose Felicia Winters in a system that she's trying to take from Aisling?
3. How will BGS affect Powerplay 2.0?
- Currently powers have designated favourable, neutral and unfavorable government types affecting fortification and expansion triggers. Would this remain unchanged or be simplified? For example Zachary Hudson doesn't benefit from Federal government types and Aisling Duval doesn't benefit from Imperial types. This can create issues when groups create Imperial squadrons to support Aisling, then obtain a PMF which, if the ethos changes, harms their chosen power.
4. How will score be calculated for a system?
- In PP1 a system's maximum CC value is calculated by the population in the sphere of the control system and distance from HQ. Unfortunately, due to placement of the various HQs some powers have a distinct advantage. Some powers start near densely populated regions, while others are positioned far from the profit, making it impossible to obtain a similar level of success in PP.
5. Will the journal provide PP2 statistics?
- The UI in PP1 is inconsistently helpful, This forced powers to manually calculate statistics in order to strategize. I assume the UI will be more helpful in PP2, but I'm also curious whether the journal will have PowerPlay data (if a system is controlled, exploited, stronghold, etc)?
6. Will all work in a system be visible real time, or can efforts be hidden?
- Currently in PP1, combat powers use 'merit bombs' at the end of the cycle to mask their expansion progress, and turmoils are often caused by 'snipes', which are merit bombs handed in near the end of the cycle to catch a power by surprise. Will PP2 show all activity in real time, or can players still keep their progress hidden until the end of a cycle?
On a related note, would players continue to be advantged/disadvantaged depending on their timezone? In PP1 the critical activity occurs in the final hours of the cycle, which are sociable evening/night gameplay for players in TZs on the American continent, whereas for example UK players have to play until 8am to compete, or wake up very early, wreaking havoc on RL. Further east players cannot compete at all due to daytime RL commitments. BGS solves this by hiding all activity and summarizing the results into the daily update so might a similar thing be done for PP2?
- Some other questions I've received:
Will there be anything for powers finishing PP1 in different standings?
Are there any hard caps to how many strongholds one power can have?
Will the current powerplay modules still be available, or will there be something replacing them?
Will BGS ethoses be made more fair between all powers? e.g. Felicia Winters only has to worry about corporates, Aisling Duval has to flip spheres for expansion then again for fortification, etc.
![[VR] Bulbulunufus](https://d2aefvhu2f0gi9.cloudfront.net/data/avatars/m/261/261245.jpg?1671230473){kind=avatar}
