To whoever prepare Thosiao for Zemina Torval

[JemyM]

Please STOP!

What do you think you are doing?

You are working directly against your own faction and we are now several people trying to work doubletime as a team up to fix the damage you are causing!!!

Preparation grinders seem to be the #1 enemy in Powerplay right now. It's definitely the fastest way for a single person to kill an entire power.

Yet it's promoted by the way the system is designed, and cause players to intuively kill their own.

Zemina Torval did take a great loss when we lost EIC. We are a small group who have tried hard to at least keep our power floating. To even have a chance we agreed on trying to keep peace with other powers and expand to systems other powers did not put interest in and that could give us enough CC to keep floating.

But the Thosiao-grinder is defeating us with a system that is worth 1/10 and is so far away we have no chance to even expand there. And even when we put all our combined rank 4/5 nominations together we wont be able to defeat this grinder...

8000 commodities in a low profit, distant crap system, defeating the systems the rest of the powers have worked for.

 

[Heater]

Power Play at it's best!

 

[Snarfbuckle]

Please STOP!

What do you think you are doing?

You are working directly against your own faction and we are now several people trying to work doubletime as a team up to fix the damage you are causing!!!

Preparation grinders seem to be the #1 enemy in Powerplay right now. It's definitely the fastest way for a single person to kill an entire power.

True, but why should we care? Why should anyone care?

The main cause is rather that it is one of the SIMPLEST way to grind Merits.

A simple solution would be to gain a merit reward bonus depending on how LITTLE a system is prepared or fortified.

0% Prepared= +100% Merit reward
200% Prepared = 000% Merit reward

Fortification = LY from HQ = Bonus Merits (round down)
Fortification = 0% Fortified = +100% Merit reward
Fortification = 100% fortified = 000% merit reward

Drawback: Would just as easily kill the faction due to overexpansion or people would be left out with crappy merit rewards.

 

[JemyM]

The main cause is rather that it is one of the SIMPLEST way to grind Merits.

It's the simplest way. It's the intuitive way. And it's the most lethal poison in the entire system. It's like having terrorists or double-agents in your midst with nuclear weaponry.

A simple solution would be to gain a merit reward bonus depending on how LITTLE a system is prepared or fortified.
0% Prepared= +100% Merit reward
200% Prepared = 000% Merit reward

It wouldn't help... Because in the current system you want to prepare your best prospects and nothing more.

Fortification = LY from HQ = Bonus Merits (round down)
Fortification = 0% Fortified = +100% Merit reward
Fortification = 100% fortified = 000% merit reward

This would somewhat contradict that the trigger required to fortify a distant system is based on the Distance from HQ, but it's not impossible.

Drawback: Would just as easily kill the faction due to overexpansion or people would be left out with crappy merit rewards.

Possible.

 

[Quineloe]

Care to explain why this is bad for the power?

 

[Carro]

It's definitely the fastest way for a single person to kill an entire power.

Interesting. Thanks for the tip...

 

[HeimdallofHavn]

I agree.

This is a huge issue for most powers.

I have proposed this solution before:

Make voting count.

In the current iteration of gameplay mechanics the voting rights people earn are virtually meaningless, and might as well be removed.

Instead, make them really count. For instance, let the voters decide on which system from the preparation list to expand into. Let voters veto undesirable systems for expansion. In short, remove merit count as a deciding factor other than getting systems on the list and let the votes decide. This would add truly strategic decicion making, as well as take power away from merit grinders or fifth coloumnists.

Further in development, the ability to vote on alliances or declarations of war could be added in.

Cheers.

 

[Snarfbuckle]

This would somewhat contradict that the trigger required to fortify a distant system is based on the Distance from HQ, but it's not impossible.


Possible.

I never understood this?

What are these mysterious supplies that cannot be obtained in other controlled systems?

Must be some kind of magical bean that only the faction leader poops out at night and can only be harvested after midnight in the HQ's.

- - - Updated - - -

Care to explain why this is bad for the power?

This kills the power. ^_^

 

[JemyM]

Care to explain why this is bad for the power?

Without opposition in a perfect world, a system only costs 100 to "prepare". A preparation don't give anything to a power in itself. It doesn't save. It doesn't expand. It doesn't help. It only select what places can be expanded to next cycle, a quota that is limited. A preparation costs CC by consuming the available CC of the power. Preparations are paid for top-down in the top-10 list and preparations that a power cant afford are scrapped.

Preparations compete directly with preparations made by other powers, so the only time you want higher preparations is when competing with another power... But then you have preparation-grinders who destroy you from within, you end up with a potential disaster. Why?

Ultimately the goal of preparations is to expand and then control the system. So the preparations is step one of a long-term goal. A power pays a price for the amount of systems they control. The "CC overheads" value is based on this. Many low-profit and hard to defend systems actually create a wasteful drain on a powers resources. To avoid this, a power want to be sure to prepare and expand tot he highest value systems (75+) with no further than 90LY fromt he HQ. This will create a domain of good value and is easier to defend.

When undermining happens it create a greater drain. So a power that have too much drain already is much harder to defend. And systems over 90LY away from the HQ is much harder to defend. 90LY is roughly what a fully loaded Type-9 can carry and Distance-to-HQ also determine the trigger that much be beaten to sucessfully defend a system.

A preparation-grinder does nothing more than to select the system for the long term goal and select it against other systems that might be better for the power. They cause systems that other players prepared to be scrapped. They consume CC for this. And because it's so easy, a single preparation-grinder can singlehandedly defeat their entire faction. Bumping the good prospects above their preparation costs as much as it takes to prepare other systems over them, maybe 2-5 points for 2-5 systems compared to what they put in. They force the rest of their faction to spend time on fixing their crap instead of fortifying and expand which is actually beneficial to the power.

 

[Quineloe]

You're aware by now that this is not a single prep grinder trying to undermine the power?

Don't worry about it. Move along.


PS: I'd like to see that Type 9 that can travel 90 LY laden. I'm pretty sure you're thinking of the Anaconda.

 

[JemyM]

You're aware by now that this is not a single prep grinder trying to undermine the power?

Don't worry about it. Move along.

What? I am currently working doubletime fixing what this player is doing to fix the damage they are causing and I explained this to you.

PS: I'd like to see that Type 9 that can travel 90 LY laden. I'm pretty sure you're thinking of the Anaconda.

 

[Quineloe]

Yeah, you're wrong on this being damage. So please cease any undermining activities.

 

[JemyM]

Yeah, you're wrong on this being damage. So please cease any undermining activities.

It seems you are trolling.

 

[LeetNoob]

Sounds like a problem with powerplay desgin instead of a CMDR

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

 

[JemyM]

Sounds like a problem with powerplay desgin instead of a CMDR

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

Yes, this thread is trying to address both issues. The design more than the player. The player probably don't read the forum.

 

[Surly_Badger]

You are working directly against your own faction and we are now several people trying to work doubletime as a team up to fix the damage you are causing!!!

That sounds realistic to me.

 

[Evil]

What? I am currently working doubletime fixing what this player is doing to fix the damage they are causing and I explained this to you.

Thats the whole point, double agents working as planned.

 

[LeetNoob]

Yes, this thread is trying to address both issues. The design more than the player. The player probably don't read the forum.

If you have to read the forum to know how to play the game, it's the game.

If the best way to earn merits for your power is to screw it up, it's the game.

 

[HeimdallofHavn]

Thats the whole point, double agents working as planned.

I doubt it is as planned.

If a solution to this is not introduced the exodus from Powerplay will increase in pace.

 

[JemyM]

Thats the whole point, double agents working as planned.

I have considered this, and rp wise it would make perfect sense. A bio-terrorist spreading a virus that a power cannot defend from that ultimately have the capacity to kill a whole power. And these bio-terrorists would be the greatest threat in the whole universe.