First a little preamble. If you want to get to the "meat" just read the two paragraphs below that begin with bolded text.
The Elite: Dangerous equivalent of "guilds" is the Minor Faction system. There are two type of minor factions "NPC" minor factions and "Player" minor factions. In the current implementation there is functionally no difference between the two. The only difference is that a "Player" minor faction exists when a player, or group of players, requests that Frontier add a new faction with a specific name to a system.
"Player" minor factions succeed because the players who associate themselves with that faction contribute to the health of that faction by manipulating the Background Simulation to increase the faction's in-system influence and, hopefully, gain control of the system via civil war or election. A successful "Player" minor faction will also expand to other systems where this process of gaining control can be repeated.
There is also nothing stopping a player of group of players from adopting an "NPC" minor faction and nursing that faction to success. Examples of this can be seen in the Crimson State Group of Lugh and the Social Eleu Progressive Party.
At the moment Elite: Dangerous does not allow players to "own" major assets in the game as it is a "Space Combat, Trade and Exploration" science fiction simulation" and not a space real estate game.
Your relationship to the minor factions in the game depends entirely on your reputation with those minor factions. As your reputation goes up and you go from Neutral, Cordial, Friendly and Allied you gain access to higher paying missions. You can also participate in a player group that associates itself with one of these minor factions but that association doesn't come with any benefits as far as the game mechanics are concerned.
In my opinion there are a few things that can be done to help improve the game mechanics surrounding "Player" minor factions without stepping into the quagmire of being a "guild" that so many people in these forums are quick to protest:
1. Financial Perks for doing business with factions that you are allied with. As your reputation with a faction goes up, allied stations should cut you a break for ship services. Outfitting, shipyard, repairs, refueling and reloading should all be reduced by a percentage and because this would rely entirely on the in-game reputation system it would not lock-out "lone wolf" Commanders while giving Commanders participating with a Player Group a further incentive to become allied with their player group's associated faction.
2. Minor Faction Tags. We already have an in-game method for applying minor factions tags: When you enter a conflict zone you can open the right-hand panel and select a faction from any group participating in the conflict zone. That tag gets applied until you leave the conflict zone. I think that this should be extended to outside of conflict zones. When you enter a system where you are allied to a minor faction you should be able to access this same menu option to apply a minor faction tag from any in-system faction to which you are allied. This tag would remain active until you select a different minor faction, your reputation drops below allied or you become wanted by that faction. The benefits would be reduction in chances of being scanned for contraband by that system's security forces, reduced aggro for accidental friendly fire and communicating a shared allegiance to other players. Again, because the faction tags would be applied based on in-game mechanics, it would lend itself to utility by soloists and groups without locking anyone out from the benefits a minor faction membership.
The Elite: Dangerous equivalent of "guilds" is the Minor Faction system. There are two type of minor factions "NPC" minor factions and "Player" minor factions. In the current implementation there is functionally no difference between the two. The only difference is that a "Player" minor faction exists when a player, or group of players, requests that Frontier add a new faction with a specific name to a system.
"Player" minor factions succeed because the players who associate themselves with that faction contribute to the health of that faction by manipulating the Background Simulation to increase the faction's in-system influence and, hopefully, gain control of the system via civil war or election. A successful "Player" minor faction will also expand to other systems where this process of gaining control can be repeated.
There is also nothing stopping a player of group of players from adopting an "NPC" minor faction and nursing that faction to success. Examples of this can be seen in the Crimson State Group of Lugh and the Social Eleu Progressive Party.
At the moment Elite: Dangerous does not allow players to "own" major assets in the game as it is a "Space Combat, Trade and Exploration" science fiction simulation" and not a space real estate game.
Your relationship to the minor factions in the game depends entirely on your reputation with those minor factions. As your reputation goes up and you go from Neutral, Cordial, Friendly and Allied you gain access to higher paying missions. You can also participate in a player group that associates itself with one of these minor factions but that association doesn't come with any benefits as far as the game mechanics are concerned.
In my opinion there are a few things that can be done to help improve the game mechanics surrounding "Player" minor factions without stepping into the quagmire of being a "guild" that so many people in these forums are quick to protest:
1. Financial Perks for doing business with factions that you are allied with. As your reputation with a faction goes up, allied stations should cut you a break for ship services. Outfitting, shipyard, repairs, refueling and reloading should all be reduced by a percentage and because this would rely entirely on the in-game reputation system it would not lock-out "lone wolf" Commanders while giving Commanders participating with a Player Group a further incentive to become allied with their player group's associated faction.
2. Minor Faction Tags. We already have an in-game method for applying minor factions tags: When you enter a conflict zone you can open the right-hand panel and select a faction from any group participating in the conflict zone. That tag gets applied until you leave the conflict zone. I think that this should be extended to outside of conflict zones. When you enter a system where you are allied to a minor faction you should be able to access this same menu option to apply a minor faction tag from any in-system faction to which you are allied. This tag would remain active until you select a different minor faction, your reputation drops below allied or you become wanted by that faction. The benefits would be reduction in chances of being scanned for contraband by that system's security forces, reduced aggro for accidental friendly fire and communicating a shared allegiance to other players. Again, because the faction tags would be applied based on in-game mechanics, it would lend itself to utility by soloists and groups without locking anyone out from the benefits a minor faction membership.
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