A complete scrap and redo.
Powerplay The State of PowerPlay in 3304
- Thread starter aspiringexpatriate
- Start date
A complete scrap and redo.
Agreed. To me, PP is a completely pointless (apart from getting new modules) and zero-fun gameplay experience in its current form. Also, the UI for PP is difficult to interpret.
If you're just module shopping, then you only need 750 merits in that last cycle before your 4 weeks hit. These days, that won't affect anything.
I believe powerplay should be felt, more than just seen. 10 leaders with subtle variations on how to support them "based on playstyle" is garbage. Majority of the work with Zachary Hudson is the same sort of work you can do for LYR, just a different face, flavor text, and color scheme.
I would like to see powerplay be more incorporated and characterized within the galaxy. I want to know LYR's control without having to go into the powerplay menu to see what benefits he actually gives me. I want to see the power discounts on-screen when purchasing modules, for example. Tie it in.
In addition, there needs to be more variety and separation to what the powers actually do, for the places they control and what they allow CMDR's to do.
I would like to see a "Power" mission board, with exploration missions for LYR, military combat missions for ZH, etc.
If not a power specific mission board (found only in control zones of a certain power), I'd like to see a bonus for being pledged and playing the game outside of normal "here's you're weekly 5,000 CR bonus". Something like for every mission you do for a faction residing in your pledged power's control, gain 1% payout for your weekly credit bonus. Getting a 5,000 cr pay at the end of the cycle? Well you did 26 missions, so here's a nice boon of an extra 1300 cr!
That's not very much, but it's certainly more of an incentive to play the game and get extra little bonuses like powers are supposed to give without having to fish around for what the power does for you outside of let you buy specific modules.
I'd like to see a better way of earning merits than doing the same "bring thing A to place B" over and over... and the whole "wait 30 minutes or buy more for 100k" thing just doesn't make sense in regards to why it's there.
To be fair, I don't know all the ropes of powerplay, but from a sort of outsider look in, it seems there's all these powers and nobody is really that different from one another. I don't have a reason to care. I don't have a reason to fight for my power, to pledge and stay with that power. I don't see enough involvement in the regular game (outside of labels of LYR space, as an example) to want to care either, unless I'm role-playing. I see powers as a way to influence population, but isn't that what the BGS is for? Why have an entirely different system for it?
I'm not one to want a quick fix, or an easy get-rich-quick scheme, or someone who doesn't appreciate the turn-based system currently in-place with powerplay. I could see where it may be enjoyable yet, but as of now, if I could change anything, it would be to make each power more diverse in what I can do for them, more involved and visible for what bonuses I'm getting because i'm aligned, and a new way to earn merits for whomever I'm under, while doing things I enjoy to do.
Interstellar factors take 25% off bounty vouchers. Why not let me turn in vouchers for a 30% cut, but a merit gain of 1 for every million I turn in?
Just a thought.
I would like to see powerplay be more incorporated and characterized within the galaxy. I want to know LYR's control without having to go into the powerplay menu to see what benefits he actually gives me. I want to see the power discounts on-screen when purchasing modules, for example. Tie it in.
In addition, there needs to be more variety and separation to what the powers actually do, for the places they control and what they allow CMDR's to do.
I would like to see a "Power" mission board, with exploration missions for LYR, military combat missions for ZH, etc.
If not a power specific mission board (found only in control zones of a certain power), I'd like to see a bonus for being pledged and playing the game outside of normal "here's you're weekly 5,000 CR bonus". Something like for every mission you do for a faction residing in your pledged power's control, gain 1% payout for your weekly credit bonus. Getting a 5,000 cr pay at the end of the cycle? Well you did 26 missions, so here's a nice boon of an extra 1300 cr!
That's not very much, but it's certainly more of an incentive to play the game and get extra little bonuses like powers are supposed to give without having to fish around for what the power does for you outside of let you buy specific modules.
I'd like to see a better way of earning merits than doing the same "bring thing A to place B" over and over... and the whole "wait 30 minutes or buy more for 100k" thing just doesn't make sense in regards to why it's there.
To be fair, I don't know all the ropes of powerplay, but from a sort of outsider look in, it seems there's all these powers and nobody is really that different from one another. I don't have a reason to care. I don't have a reason to fight for my power, to pledge and stay with that power. I don't see enough involvement in the regular game (outside of labels of LYR space, as an example) to want to care either, unless I'm role-playing. I see powers as a way to influence population, but isn't that what the BGS is for? Why have an entirely different system for it?
I'm not one to want a quick fix, or an easy get-rich-quick scheme, or someone who doesn't appreciate the turn-based system currently in-place with powerplay. I could see where it may be enjoyable yet, but as of now, if I could change anything, it would be to make each power more diverse in what I can do for them, more involved and visible for what bonuses I'm getting because i'm aligned, and a new way to earn merits for whomever I'm under, while doing things I enjoy to do.
Interstellar factors take 25% off bounty vouchers. Why not let me turn in vouchers for a 30% cut, but a merit gain of 1 for every million I turn in?
Just a thought.
The OP's post is well thought through - congrats. PowerPlay has some really excellent communities in each Power's Discord or Slack. The vast majority of power players get big enjoyment/challenge/help/freindships from doing power play. It is poor game mechanics that a few CMDRs can really dump on large numbers of players and ruin their enjoyment of the game. This 5C preparation being the most insidious of these tactics - and often with people exploiting bots to do that dirty work. e.g. Mahon seeing >350,000 merits being pushed into highly detrimental system expansions that they will never stand a chance of losing through turmoil. The Consolidation vote mechanism was well-conceived, but is not working. A Mechanic that would help all Powers would be to have a mechanism to deliberately lose a system of their choice. A Dump mechanism. It would need to be carefully thought through, as it too, like the consolidation vote, would possibly be open to abuse. Sandro did suggest such a mechanism in the PP focussed feedback thread. Please, FDEV Sandro replacement person (whoever you are) - read through that thread - there are a number of relatively simple mechanisms that could make PowerPlay so much better for the majority.
In the mean-time, as several have said on here - if you are curious about PowerPlay, so join up that Power's discord and give it a chance. There is a LOT of depth and gameplay, strategy, diplomacy - and for me it's been highly compelling for several years. Despite its faults (and there are lots). And Each Power / Superpower has a really distinctive flavour in my experience. FDEV could really use that more in storylines in my opinion.
anyway, my 2p...
In the mean-time, as several have said on here - if you are curious about PowerPlay, so join up that Power's discord and give it a chance. There is a LOT of depth and gameplay, strategy, diplomacy - and for me it's been highly compelling for several years. Despite its faults (and there are lots). And Each Power / Superpower has a really distinctive flavour in my experience. FDEV could really use that more in storylines in my opinion.
anyway, my 2p...
This has literally just happened to Hudson this cycle.
Every single top 10 was a deficit causing system, with those systems selected hundreds of Ly from Hudson HQ, so it's quite clear the current system doesn't work as players hop in and out of factions ripping them to bits to gain a profit off their loss in the next cycle.
This shouldn't be possible.
I've made my own suggestion post to fix Powerplay with a rework that looks to prevent that specific scenario, which stops the AI expanding into territories that don't benefit the power, as well as prevents expanded needlessly to the otherside of the cloud for no reason whatsoever. It pulls all members of the factions together, as opposed to scattering them to the wind all across the system.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/462536-Powerplay-rework-Player-Controlled-Factions
Give it a read, I'd like an experienced Powerplay player's opinion on it.
*cough* zyada *cough*