The State of Power Play 2.0 is extremely frustrating

[Ian Doncaster]

As a test I sold 100t of Tritium and got XXX merits

Yes, I was asking about mining, though - high profit sales do have that weirdness but seem to be the only cargo thing which does.

An example is sell for large profits: buy commodities in supporting System and sell in acquisition system with at least 40% profit, trade commodities making at least 40% profit in reinforcement systems; what is 40% in the FDEV world?

If you buy the cargo for 1000 credits per tonne, you need to sell it for at least 40% more than that - so for at least 1400 credits per tonne - for it to count.

(If you didn't buy the cargo, or you bought it from a Fleet Carrier which can set arbitrary prices, that doesn't count)

a pet peeve really why not have all activities reward a base amount of merits and just modify it using the ethos bonus.

This is how it works, though - all activities work in the same way for all powers given the same system type, the ethos bonus gives a 50% extra merit/CP award for any activity specifically listed on the map screen.

 

[Markov Chaney]

The game only really explains the first one, and doesn't explain what counts as having done the thing you should do. That's step one, make sure it's clear in the in-game description of the activities both where you have to do the activity and where you have to hand in the progress, using the terms the galaxy map uses.

Perfect explanation of what's wrong.

In theory the galaxy map can assist with the second but because nothing in the game relates the terms to describe the different activities (Acquisition, Undermining, Reinforcement) to the system states the map displays, nor does it filter for validity for Acquisition.

It does, but split into two different places and there's an irritating UI behaviour.

You can find out what Power actors (including you) are already doing, using the left-hand menu. Choose the second option in the submenu. It will reset the chosen Power every time you do it which is infuriating, but nevertheless, it works. You can see in my example a bunch of hollow stars on the lower right; those are systems Winters could acquire (and you can see there are other filters to choose.)

Click on the exciting new acquisition target! Then over on the right hand side you've got the Powerplay screen we've all come to love/hate. You can see right at the bottom I've got the mouse hovering over "Toggle Strategic View", that little globe...

When you click that you get the sphere with radial lines, and basically, if there is a radial line, the systems can influence one another.

Then - and this is especially stupid - you have to mess about remembering which kind of Power cargo does which for what phase and there are no clues to that on the Power contact screen.

Author's note: I am not acquiring Undini at this time, I'm well over the other side.

Systems valid for Acquisition (Unacquirable systems due to distance will currently highlight).

The left-hand screen does this. The right-hand screen gives you the per-system view to confirm. So you kind of can see both perspectives but it's clunky.

Systems with current Acquisition progress.

The "Minimum Activity Level" filter at the bottom of the left-hand screen helps in theory but it's badly calibrated so not that much use in practice.

Opponent systems with current Undermining progress.

You can choose any power on the left-hand screen and filter it on Undermining. You can also choose your Power and select Resist Undermining if you'd rather defend than attack.

Owned systems with current Undermining progress.

Choose your Power, choose Undermining.

That would let you go to the galmap and filter it to direct where you actually put your progress in order to advance your power.

The left-hand menu sort of does that, as above, and does have a nice intuitive left to right flow in thinking when you're using it to strategerize, so the principles of the UX are there. It's just as ever, the actual UI is needlessly clunky and full of papercuts.

 

[GloatingSwine]

Perfect explanation of what's wrong.


It does, but split into two different places and there's an irritating UI behaviour.

You can find out what Power actors (including you) are already doing, using the left-hand menu. Choose the second option in the submenu. It will reset the chosen Power every time you do it which is infuriating, but nevertheless, it works. You can see in my example a bunch of hollow stars on the lower right; those are systems Winters could acquire (and you can see there are other filters to

See, I didn't even know that submenu was there.

Know why? Because it's at the top of the screen not next to the option I selected to get it where a sensible UI/UX design would put it.

 

[Markov Chaney]

About 973 other forum users also didn't notice it, including me for weeks!

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Then - and this is especially stupid - you have to mess about remembering which kind of Power cargo does which for what phase and there are no clues to that on the Power contact screen.

It does say when you click on the cargo, on the screen where it asks how many you want.

This is also too easy to miss - yes, I missed it and picked the wrong cargo the first time, too - especially for a distinction which is essentially just there for cosmetic flavour in the first place.

It's just as ever, the actual UI is needlessly clunky and full of papercuts.

Yes. Powerplay is probably the feature with the largest amount of mostly-correct in-game documentation, and the most powerful in-game querying capabilities, by a substantial margin. But the presentation of the documentation is such that it's basically impossible to view most of the documentation at the same time as the thing it describes, and the complexities of the system aren't introduced in any sort of coordinated fashion so the querying power for a lot of players mostly serves to add a whole bunch of extra buttons of unclear importance.

It's not even all that complicated a system in principle, but it's so easy to get the wrong idea early on without it then being obvious that you have until you do something and don't get merits for it. (This combined with "things which don't give merits because they're turned off but there's no in-game indication" and "things which do give merits but only if you meet a further undocumented condition" for added confusion as to why it didn't work...)

What it really needs on that side is not more documentation but an "Odyssey Intro" style tutorial mission or set of missions covering each way of earning merits, with the various territorial concepts and map use introduced along the way.

 

[Rat Catcher]

Yes, I was asking about mining, though - high profit sales do have that weirdness but seem to be the only cargo thing which does.

My apologies, I missed that bit!

 

[Danieros]

It feels extremely frustrating that we are going through the entirety of January without a single patch, or even word towards further merit balancing. Two merit sources are completely disabled while a third is in a horrible state, requiring 1 ton trades to compete.

(Personally I think all weapons having a small chance of penetrating shields - I'm talking single-digit-percentages - would be a good shakeup to the current shield meta. It wouldn't be so huge that someone actively flying their ship wouldn't be able to go "right, time to dock and patch up" but it'd make it risky to literally leave your ship unattended)

I love this. Any kind of new design counter that at least hampers unattended AFK combat is way overdue. I fear they might instead nerf combat merits for everyone.