In 2.3 a basic change to the function of Supwerpower bounties occurred where they only benefit the local supwerpower-affiliated factions.
This brings three problems to mind that I think need to be addressed;
First is the obvious Independent factions have the short end of the stick. No longer does handing in those bounties at stations they own help them, it will instead hurt them.
This brings up a serious question for Anarchy specifically, as now they don't have an option to work themselves out of Civil Unrest or Lockdown problems. This also further hurts them in the long run even more if they are Independent, compounding the lack of bounties on their faction.
Lastly, it is a compounded problem with Powerplay itself. Specifically Zachary Hudson is being hurt by the very dynamic of how the power is built. There is an underlying advantage of Federal factions under his sphwere, but he needs Feudal and patronage in charge for the half-trigger. With the alteration to the bounties the already-uphill battle to get that half-trigger active is now even harder as any bounties turned in have an added impact against those factions as there is no Federal Feudal or Patronage groups that exist.
Now, I am not entirely against the idea. The core principal of the Supwerpower bounties only assisting the related factions makes sense. However this change does need to bring attention to core chnages that need to be put in place.
The underlying issue with Independents is how bounties tend to be generated. Supwerpower bounties take up a large portion of the generated bounties if they exist, and that should be cut back some. The controlling faction of a system should create half of the bounties itself, then the latter should be split between the supwerpowers and other factions. Currently it appears that half of the bounties are generated by the supwerpower affiliation of the controlling faction, and this makes it difficult in systems with multiple factions aligned with the same power, so the general change would be a good one.
The underlying issue for Anarchy is the Civil Unrest and Lockdown states. This may require a different solution in the long run, but it might be better if the anarchy group could generate hidden bounties themselves. It would open up a new option to clear hostile states caused by bounty hunting and give them a clear way to work on those unfavorable states. An alternative is to prevent Anarchy groups from suffering those states as they shouldn't have the security there to lockdown and the general atmosphere is in a perpetual civil unrest, so they simply shouldn't suffer those states. But that may need more looking into to decide that.
Lastly, that Zachary Hudson issue. Powerplay as a whole has its own list of issues, but this specific one needs some serious tweaking now. There are no Federal Feudal or Patronage factions that exist, and it makes no sense that the half-trigger for the group revolves around something it cannot support. Every other powerplay group has something favorable that is actually obtainable for them, while Hudson does not. This issue with the bounties is only going to make it worse and even harder to develop. My recommendation would be to change what governments it is strong and weak against. Perhaps make it so Hudson benefits to have Democracy, Confederate, Corporate and be weak against ones like Anarchy and Dictatorship? As the Democracy present in Sol should be the core of the Federation governments, and there are alot of Confederate and Corporate Federal powers, and leave it weak to government types that are technically against or authoritarian governments that don't like to share?
Still, I think this needs to be looked at more closely, or potentially reverted to make it more manageable as many Independents have needed the bounties to benefit the controlling faction specifically, and now that avenue is being closed.
This brings three problems to mind that I think need to be addressed;
First is the obvious Independent factions have the short end of the stick. No longer does handing in those bounties at stations they own help them, it will instead hurt them.
This brings up a serious question for Anarchy specifically, as now they don't have an option to work themselves out of Civil Unrest or Lockdown problems. This also further hurts them in the long run even more if they are Independent, compounding the lack of bounties on their faction.
Lastly, it is a compounded problem with Powerplay itself. Specifically Zachary Hudson is being hurt by the very dynamic of how the power is built. There is an underlying advantage of Federal factions under his sphwere, but he needs Feudal and patronage in charge for the half-trigger. With the alteration to the bounties the already-uphill battle to get that half-trigger active is now even harder as any bounties turned in have an added impact against those factions as there is no Federal Feudal or Patronage groups that exist.
Now, I am not entirely against the idea. The core principal of the Supwerpower bounties only assisting the related factions makes sense. However this change does need to bring attention to core chnages that need to be put in place.
The underlying issue with Independents is how bounties tend to be generated. Supwerpower bounties take up a large portion of the generated bounties if they exist, and that should be cut back some. The controlling faction of a system should create half of the bounties itself, then the latter should be split between the supwerpowers and other factions. Currently it appears that half of the bounties are generated by the supwerpower affiliation of the controlling faction, and this makes it difficult in systems with multiple factions aligned with the same power, so the general change would be a good one.
The underlying issue for Anarchy is the Civil Unrest and Lockdown states. This may require a different solution in the long run, but it might be better if the anarchy group could generate hidden bounties themselves. It would open up a new option to clear hostile states caused by bounty hunting and give them a clear way to work on those unfavorable states. An alternative is to prevent Anarchy groups from suffering those states as they shouldn't have the security there to lockdown and the general atmosphere is in a perpetual civil unrest, so they simply shouldn't suffer those states. But that may need more looking into to decide that.
Lastly, that Zachary Hudson issue. Powerplay as a whole has its own list of issues, but this specific one needs some serious tweaking now. There are no Federal Feudal or Patronage factions that exist, and it makes no sense that the half-trigger for the group revolves around something it cannot support. Every other powerplay group has something favorable that is actually obtainable for them, while Hudson does not. This issue with the bounties is only going to make it worse and even harder to develop. My recommendation would be to change what governments it is strong and weak against. Perhaps make it so Hudson benefits to have Democracy, Confederate, Corporate and be weak against ones like Anarchy and Dictatorship? As the Democracy present in Sol should be the core of the Federation governments, and there are alot of Confederate and Corporate Federal powers, and leave it weak to government types that are technically against or authoritarian governments that don't like to share?
Still, I think this needs to be looked at more closely, or potentially reverted to make it more manageable as many Independents have needed the bounties to benefit the controlling faction specifically, and now that avenue is being closed.