You have to evaluate the changes that FDev have made against their design goals. Generally, FDev want the player to feel small in a vast universe, but also to make player's actions to feel meaningful. They've accomplished that.
The reason why some groups have been able to push factions into so many systems is because they've been consistently been putting the effort in for years. That's what it is, constant work. Whatever other changes the have been to the BGS, it's still a level playing field. Since the BGS nerf, it takes four times as much effort to achieve the same effect, but a quarter of the effort to defend gains against random traffic. Is that fair? I don't know, but it doesn't break the game.
Players aren't the factions they support. If the Da Vinci Corp spreads into seventy systems, that's billions of NPCs living and dying under a vast corporate bureaucracy- supported by a handful of independent pilots subtly manipulating markets and conflicts in their favour. Players are the straw breaking- or making- the camels' back.
It goes without saying that Powers are completely different from factions. They're charismatic individuals who wield a lot of influence. Factions are large political parties, ready to take the reigns of government. Player groups and squadrons are just a handful of independent pilots with a common purpose, sometimes political, sometimes not. The overlapping levels of influence and control make the game interesting, and add to the galaxy's rich detail.
The reason why some groups have been able to push factions into so many systems is because they've been consistently been putting the effort in for years. That's what it is, constant work. Whatever other changes the have been to the BGS, it's still a level playing field. Since the BGS nerf, it takes four times as much effort to achieve the same effect, but a quarter of the effort to defend gains against random traffic. Is that fair? I don't know, but it doesn't break the game.
Players aren't the factions they support. If the Da Vinci Corp spreads into seventy systems, that's billions of NPCs living and dying under a vast corporate bureaucracy- supported by a handful of independent pilots subtly manipulating markets and conflicts in their favour. Players are the straw breaking- or making- the camels' back.
It goes without saying that Powers are completely different from factions. They're charismatic individuals who wield a lot of influence. Factions are large political parties, ready to take the reigns of government. Player groups and squadrons are just a handful of independent pilots with a common purpose, sometimes political, sometimes not. The overlapping levels of influence and control make the game interesting, and add to the galaxy's rich detail.