Newcomer / Intro What ultimately limits Powerplay?

[Harrowdown]

So let's for example say a big/the biggest community endeavor comes about, Aisling Duval wins all the things, all the systems. No more slavery for the Empire? All the source material and wiki pages about the Empire and slavery get an update?

I'm assuming that this would never happen as what the Empire 'is' has been pretty established in the game's lore. So my question is, what generally limits the Powerplay mechanic?

 

[Rubbernuke]

Maths limits Powerplay from a game perspective- you can't realistically own everything, and there is no real 'win' state except being number #1 in the Galactic Standings.

And nothing would change because there has always been tension between player actions affecting the galaxy and FDs 'story' direction. For example the Imperial powers joined with Grom to form ZYADA but it never made it to the news because it was player based.

 

[Harrowdown]

Maths limits Powerplay from a game perspective- you can't realistically own everything, and there is no real 'win' state except being number #1 in the Galactic Standings.

And nothing would change because there has always been tension between player actions affecting the galaxy and FDs 'story' direction. For example the Imperial powers joined with Grom to form ZYADA but it never made it to the news because it was player based.

That's quite interesting, thank you. So essentially the limiting factor is the players themselves?

 

[Para Handy]

That's quite interesting, thank you. So essentially the limiting factor is the players themselves?

The limiting factor is the volume of space - each power has to maintain its space, defend against incursion and pursue its desired expansion. So with the limited production capacity of its area of control it can only do so much, the larger the volume to control, the thinner resources have to be spread. So that is the ultimate limitation.

 

[Harrowdown]

Right, got it. I have to say, that wasn't the answer I was expecting. I figured FDev would involve itself in some way if a huge movement wanted an aspect of the lore changed. Either by blocking it or allowing it to happen.

 

[Rubbernuke]

That's quite interesting, thank you. So essentially the limiting factor is the players themselves?

Putting it mega simply (because it gets complicated very quickly):

Every power has command capital (CC) to spend on systems to control, and through various factors this CC gets drained or accrued. The more systems you have this CC goes down until it goes negative. End a week negative and your power goes into turmoil and will lose systems until the CC balances.

 

[Dommarraa]

It's like a ball of blutak. You can squeeze it into lots of different shapes, and stretch it out real thin. But:
It never gets an bigger
It soon becomes boring
It would have been much more usefull if it had been used for something else.

 

[Rubbernuke]

It's like a ball of blutak. You can squeeze it into lots of different shapes, and stretch it out real thin. But:
It never gets an bigger
It soon becomes boring
It would have been much more usefull if it had been used for something else.

To be honest you could say that about many things in the game- what is needed is supporting a feature rather than leaving it for five years and expect it to get better on its own.