Superpower allignement and docking access?

[Hellfire85]

How is an Imperial aligned Pilot allowed to dock at Federal stations? That makes no sense at all... Why is this even a thing?

I don't really get the logic behind that...

And it makes even less sense when encountering an imp docked at a station in a permit restricted federal system...

 

[Jukelo]

Why are American planes allowed to land in Russia and vice versa?

 

[Jmanis]

Because there's no mechanics or gameplay around hostility, just punitive punishment, plus it breaks things severely if you do that.

For example, if fed pilots couldn't dock at the only imperial station in a system, feds couldn't win a war between those two factions because they couldn't dock to hand in bonds (the only way to win a war).

FD need to *incentivise* and *enable* those rivalries before they can put those sorts of restrictions in place.

 

[Sapyx]

You are "aligned" to the Pilots Federation. You cannot formally align yourself directly with a superpower. So how is the game supposed to know that you are "Imperial-aligned"?

You can gain "ranks" in the rival powers, but these ranks are entirely honorific. They don't actually convey military rank or entitlement. As Jukelo implied, you are a civilian (albeit a rather well-armed one), flying between two countries that are not technically at war with each other. Neither side has any particular reason to stop you.

Further, there is no "demotion". If you wake up tomorrow morning and decide to betray the Empire and start killing Imp ships, Imperial factions and the Empire as a whole might eventually become Hostile to you, but they won't take away your ranks, or your right to re-buy rank-locked ships. I think we'd need to see that put in place, before any kind of segregation or discrimination can be put in place.

 

[Schlack]

How is an Imperial aligned Pilot allowed to dock at Federal stations? That makes no sense at all... Why is this even a thing?

I don't really get the logic behind that...

And it makes even less sense when encountering an imp docked at a station in a permit restricted federal system...

Try ross 128.....

 

[OfftheRails]

I've got a Tesco Clubcard yet they still let me into Sainsbury's wut mah immershun!

 

[Schlack]

I've got a Tesco Clubcard yet they still let me into Sainsbury's wut mah immershun!

Be careful. Its a capital offense not to dock your trolley properly in Sainsburys

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Ha, if it did lock you in to a side... which set of engineers would you pick?

Federal: Farseer, Ishmaak, Dekker, Sarge
Imperial: Ryder, Tarquin, Tani, Fortune
Alliance: McQuinn, Jean, Vatermann, Turner

Personally I think the Alliance have a serious advantage there:
- G5 engineers for multicannons, rails and plasma
- the only armour engineer over G1
- G5 shield boosters

 

[Schlack]

Ha, if it did lock you in to a side... which set of engineers would you pick?

Federal: Farseer, Ishmaak, Dekker, Sarge
Imperial: Ryder, Tarquin, Tani, Fortune
Alliance: McQuinn, Jean, Vatermann, Turner

Personally I think the Alliance have a serious advantage there:
- G5 engineers for multicannons, rails and plasma
- the only armour engineer over G1
- G5 shield boosters

loool.

really the whole superpower rep thingy should be linked rather than separate. Good deeds for one reduces you with the others and bad deeds against one raises you with the other 2.

 

[Sylow]

Why are American planes allowed to land in Russia and vice versa?

.
Absolultely this. And chinese owned cargo ships travel all around the world and dock at many harbours. Binary thinking completely disallows that, so how can it still happen?
.

 

[Hellfire85]

I see some don't get it... Federals and imps are currently hostile to each other and always have been. Since I don't think peace has been achieved or a cease fire is set in place, I don't see any reason why imps should be allowed in federal space and vice-versa. Let's say Russia is at war with the USA, do you really think a civilian Russian plane would get free access to US grounds or an US plane will be allowed to go sightseeing within Russian airspace?

If Imps and Feds have reached a common agreement and have ceased to shoot at each other for whatever reason, show me to the Galnet article about that and I'll keep from questioning this matter any further.

 

[777Driver]

Aren't the Feds and Imps working together as Aegis? They have territory skirmishes, however all out war has never happened. Besides, the superpowers have bigger things to worry about.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

If Imps and Feds have reached a common agreement and have ceased to shoot at each other for whatever reason, show me to the Galnet article about that and I'll keep from questioning this matter any further.

It was stated pre-release that the previous hostilities had settled down to a state of cold and proxy wars, rather than open warfare. So the Galnet articles about that won't be available in-game, since they would have been published years before the game started.

More recently, any Galnet article mentioning Aegis, where Federal, Imperial and Alliance speakers happily assure the listening public that they are working together in a spirit of mutual cooperation to defeat the Thargoids.

 

[Hellfire85]

It was stated pre-release that the previous hostilities had settled down to a state of cold and proxy wars, rather than open warfare. So the Galnet articles about that won't be available in-game, since they would have been published years before the game started.

More recently, any Galnet article mentioning Aegis, where Federal, Imperial and Alliance speakers happily assure the listening public that they are working together in a spirit of mutual cooperation to defeat the Thargoids.

Now we're getting somewhere. Thanks for the reminder.

So, if that's the case, why are imps and Alliance aligned pilots still set as "hostile" or "enemy" to Federal aligned pilots?

I really don't get why we are supposed to read thru walls of text in the Galnet to find out who we should or who we shouldn't fire upon...

Easy way: update the superpower status in game to fit the storyline/lore

Why is that so difficult for FDev to achieve?

Also, I used to play Freelancer, Discovery Freelancer mod to be precise.
There, the community put together inRP laws and directives for each faction, during peace and during times of war.

Is there anything like that here? or do we only get C&P to think for ourselves?

 

[Ian Doncaster]

So, if that's the case, why are imps and Alliance aligned pilots still set as "hostile" or "enemy" to Federal aligned pilots?

If anyone knows what Powerplay control, exploitation or alignment is supposed to represent in-universe, they aren't saying.

With Aegis it makes even less sense than it used to...

 

[wakko151]

Because there's no mechanics or gameplay around hostility, just punitive punishment, plus it breaks things severely if you do that.

For example, if fed pilots couldn't dock at the only imperial station in a system, feds couldn't win a war between those two factions because they couldn't dock to hand in bonds (the only way to win a war).

FD need to *incentivise* and *enable* those rivalries before they can put those sorts of restrictions in place.

Why don't you just equip a fuel scoop? I do agree you should be able to turn in combat bonds somewhere else. Maybe a friendly Allied station.

You are "aligned" to the Pilots Federation. You cannot formally align yourself directly with a superpower. So how is the game supposed to know that you are "Imperial-aligned"?

You can gain "ranks" in the rival powers, but these ranks are entirely honorific. They don't actually convey military rank or entitlement. As Jukelo implied, you are a civilian (albeit a rather well-armed one), flying between two countries that are not technically at war with each other. Neither side has any particular reason to stop you.

Further, there is no "demotion". If you wake up tomorrow morning and decide to betray the Empire and start killing Imp ships, Imperial factions and the Empire as a whole might eventually become Hostile to you, but they won't take away your ranks, or your right to re-buy rank-locked ships. I think we'd need to see that put in place, before any kind of segregation or discrimination can be put in place.

Everything this guy said is gold. I think there should be demotions and restrictions on docking but you should still be able to sneak into the station and dock anonymous but if you get scanned and they find out you have a bounty WITH THEM, oh wait its already like that... I guess then just add in supower power bounties..... oh thats in the works. What about the demotions? They will never do that because of the tears.

 

[Jukelo]

Now we're getting somewhere. Thanks for the reminder.

So, if that's the case, why are imps and Alliance aligned pilots still set as "hostile" or "enemy" to Federal aligned pilots?

You're probabaly thinking of powerplay here. Powers don't necessarily represent their respective superpowers, they're only powerful faction within those, pursuing their own interests which sometimes conflict with the interests of other powers. A conflict between two powers belonging to different superpowers doesn't have to lead to all out war galactic war, just like minor factions regularly go to war with their neighbours without dragging their respective superpowers into the fray.
Do note that the superpowers necessarily give a lot of freedom to their countless vassals to conduct their business and resolve local conflicts on their own, they aren't like the monolothic nations of present day. At least that was the consequence of the lack of FTL communications and the fact FTL travel used to take a lot longer, before Frontier threw that away to make a multiplayer game.

 

[Iskariot]

How is an Imperial aligned Pilot allowed to dock at Federal stations? That makes no sense at all... Why is this even a thing?

I don't really get the logic behind that...

And it makes even less sense when encountering an imp docked at a station in a permit restricted federal system...

From a fluff perspective: There is no open war between the three major powers.
From a practical perspective: gameplay would become incredibly complicated and un-fun if for example you would only be allowed to dock at imperial stations.

 

[Iskariot]

Now we're getting somewhere. Thanks for the reminder.

So, if that's the case, why are imps and Alliance aligned pilots still set as "hostile" or "enemy" to Federal aligned pilots?

The label "hostile" is a Powerplay label only. A station does not care about that label. You could still be allied to them, even if you are aligned with a hostile PowerPlay power.
Even if a system is in the sphere of influence of a hostile Imperial PowerPlay power, a station might still belong to a Federal minor faction and you might be a respected ally to that station, because you have done jobs for them or traded with them.