So, did something get tweaked?

[Abil Midena]

Constant improvements, as my friends above have said. But I'm not entirely sure FD ever intended background simulation to be significantly impacted by an individual. In fact, I'm sure the intent was to require a concerted effort from larger volumes of players.

I dunno. It seems like the intent should be like you say for large systems with a station. But for Tiny pop systems with 2 or 3 outposts, why not? Seems plausible to me.

Wouldn't that be the same idea as trade is now? Once you get bigger ships, you have to move on to larger systems with more supply. I used to want to protect my trade route in my Cobra and later in another system with my T7, but those same routes are useless to me now in an Anaconda. It lets a smaller trader survive and prosper, in the same way Tiny pop systems might give lone wolves something to do.

And if the intent of FD is to not allow single folks to impact any system politics, then stop showing % influence changes when running missions. All that should happen and be shown is your status with that faction going up/down, not any influence changes between the factions themselves.

 

[Sysmon]

Also remember that you are not alone working the influence of the faction(s) in a system. Everybody is able to pull influence and power balance in any direction, whether they play solo, grouped or in open.

I've pendulled to Combat Mode recently and have been having a good time in low to high intensity conflict zones. While I play open, I've seen no other player there. Yet my efforts seem to help the faction I fight for gain influence of about 1%, just to lose it again, then regain it. Several million credits worth of kills later, the result is pretty much how it was when I started. I can see in the traffic log that several Vultures etc have passed through the system, but since I don't see them they either don't play open or not in my time zone.

It will be interesting to see how this will play out when Powerplay arrives.

S