The first thread with a similar title got derailed slightly in places, so it seemed best to start with a fresh thread with an entirely different thrust. Let's start with MB's recent boon of useful summary info about the effects of influence, which he placed in the "Mercs of Mikuun" thread after a lot of back and forth with the players:
To see the quote in context (post #624 in the thread): https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=97577&page=42&p=1691696&viewfull=1#post1691696
I'm going to combine information with the above-quoted thread along with this _very old_ post by MB (props to @Moriarte for posting this link in the #2 post below!)
Now, let's take MB's above-quoted summary (and some subsequent Q&A about that summary) and break it down into component parts, and then let's try to fill in the gaps with what we've observed so far about each part in recent experiments since launch (Lugh, Mikuun, and Tenche), PLUS some tidbits from that very old post of MB's back from 2013 (note that his newest quote directly contradicts some things in the 2013 link). This summary will change and grow as more comments in this thread shed more light. My goal is to keep refining these descriptions to reflect what seems to be community concensus AND which are also phrased in a way that highlights the actionable things that we players can do to influence the background sim and create our own metagame(s).
------ There are 7 system states, and they are all independent but affected by interlocking player actions -------
Each state is listed, followed by the specific keywords that contribute to changes in that state or that result from changes in that state. For now, we'll stick expressely with MB's keywords. In a following section we'll attempt to deconstruct what each keyword means. (For example, we know that luxury traders appear in Boom systems, so are the lux traders part of the Wealth keyword, the Trade Mission Benefits keyword, or the intersection of both keywords?)
Boom
Created by: positive trend in Wealth for a faction, positive trend in Standard of Living for a faction
Effects: increasing Wealth for entire system, higher Trade Mission Benefits for the boom faction
Civil War
Created by: Influence Delta between two factions in the same station, OR a high Influence Threshold met by any one faction in a station. Civil war occurs at the station level, not the system level.
Effects: decreasing Standard of Living, decreasing Security Level (both for entire system?)
Outbreak
Created by: low Standard of Living threshold, low Development Level threshold
Effects: decreasing Standard of Living, higher Medicine Mission Benefits, zero Combat Mission Effect and Bounty Claim Effect for the outbreak faction
Lockdown
Created by: low Security Level threshold, low Development Level threshold
Effects: increasing Security Level, decreasing Wealth (both for entire system?), increasing Bounty Claim Effect for the lockdown faction
Expansion
Created by: high Influence Threshold met by any faction in the system
Effects: decreasing Wealth, increasing Development Level (both only for the expansion faction?), expansion faction Invades (is added to faction list of) a nearby system
Civil Unrest
Created by: low Security Level threshold, low Standard of Living threshold
Effects: increasing Combat Mission Effect and Bounty Claim Effect for the civil unrest faction
War
Created by: Invading faction, high Influence Threshold for the Invading faction
Effects: decreasing Standard of Living, decreasing Security Level, decreasing Wealth (all for the entire system), zero influence changes for all factions not involved in the war, only Combat Mission Effect and Bounty Claim Effect for the two factions involved have any influence effect. Markets show higher demand for Weapons commodities.
------- What are the player actions implied by (or affected by) each keyword? ---------
(Incomplete for now, more coming soon; this is a large effort. Feel free to conjecture in the meantime
)
The keywords and key phrases that Michael uses are going to be harder to deconstruct into actionable player-influenced or player-affecting terms. For now, here are the gaps I can fill in with my limited understanding and observation. Please feel free to correct and suggest new things based on your own observations!
Medicine Mission Benefits are probably higher influence gain rate for the minor faction for whom the BB mission occurs. These are probably any BB mission that involves trading or donating medical supplies. I'm going to conjecture that this keyword also encompasses missions relating to food supplies.
Combat Mission Effect is influence gain for the minor faction listed in any combat-centric BB mission (pirate hunting, assassination, etc.)
Bounty Claim Effect is influence gain for the controlling minor faction of of a station when you cash in bounty vouchers in that station. (Possible alternative meaning: influence gain for the controlling faction of the _system_ when you cash in bounty vouchers anywhere in the _system_)
Wealth - ?? -- possibly general commodity trading for the controlling minor faction of the station you _sell_ to. Also any BB "trading" mission that is not medicine/food related, and which benefits only the faction for whom the mission occurs.
Standard of Living - is influence gain for the controlling minor faction of the station you _sell_ to, when trading any of the following commodity types: Consumer Items, Food, Legal Drugs (?), Medicines, and Textiles. Also influence gain for the minor faction listed in any BB "trading" mission in these categories. Also see Moriarte's post #2 below for more information.
Security Level - is faction independent, affecting only the entire system as a whole. Affected only by Piracy acts and Bounty Hunting acts. Piracy acts within the system reduce the Security Level, while claiming bounty rewards at stations within the system increases the Security Level. Decreasing Security Level pushes a system towards Lockdown and Civil Unrest states. Which exact state you might trigger depends on what's _also_ happening with the system's Development Level and Standard of Living.
Development Level - ?? --possibly commodity trading (per the above-listed patterns) in goods that are considered industrial or high-tech? Frozen while the system is in Civil War.
Trade Mission Benefits - ?? -- I suspect this was an ambiguous statement by MB that could have been more precise. In context of my own observations, I'm guessing this key phrase means "luxury traders", and we all know how profitable that can be. Or it might simply mean that the cash/reputation rewards for doing BB missions of a "trading" type are increased. Or perhaps it means more trading mission appear in the BB. Or some combination of all of the above.
Influence Delta - Clearly this is some threshold of relative influence change or proximity among two factions within a station. We've gotten close to unraveling this one, but not completely. Perhaps it means "the gap between two factions' relative influence versus each other reaches X percent". Or perhaps it means "two factions' influence approaches promixity with each other within X% or less".
Influence Threshold - This one seems straightforward. Influence for any one faction moving upward hits a certain "high" threshold percentage, or moving downward hits a certain "low" threshold percentage. No other factions are involved. This is why we've seen systems formerly in Boom state with the controlling faction at 98% and the other minor factions hovering near 0% still flip a state that is triggered by an influence threshold. For example, Beta Sculptorii slipping into Civil War immediately following its long Boom state.
Invading - Also straightforward, and explained in MB's quote above: a faction for whom the Expansion state was triggered. One of the effects of expansion is that the faction "invades" a nearby system (by being added to the list of minor factions in one or more stations there). So, in the context of the _other_ system, that faction is considered as Invading.
To see the quote in context (post #624 in the thread): https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=97577&page=42&p=1691696&viewfull=1#post1691696
I'm going to combine information with the above-quoted thread along with this _very old_ post by MB (props to @Moriarte for posting this link in the #2 post below!)
Now, let's take MB's above-quoted summary (and some subsequent Q&A about that summary) and break it down into component parts, and then let's try to fill in the gaps with what we've observed so far about each part in recent experiments since launch (Lugh, Mikuun, and Tenche), PLUS some tidbits from that very old post of MB's back from 2013 (note that his newest quote directly contradicts some things in the 2013 link). This summary will change and grow as more comments in this thread shed more light. My goal is to keep refining these descriptions to reflect what seems to be community concensus AND which are also phrased in a way that highlights the actionable things that we players can do to influence the background sim and create our own metagame(s).
------ There are 7 system states, and they are all independent but affected by interlocking player actions -------
Each state is listed, followed by the specific keywords that contribute to changes in that state or that result from changes in that state. For now, we'll stick expressely with MB's keywords. In a following section we'll attempt to deconstruct what each keyword means. (For example, we know that luxury traders appear in Boom systems, so are the lux traders part of the Wealth keyword, the Trade Mission Benefits keyword, or the intersection of both keywords?)
Boom
Created by: positive trend in Wealth for a faction, positive trend in Standard of Living for a faction
Effects: increasing Wealth for entire system, higher Trade Mission Benefits for the boom faction
Civil War
Created by: Influence Delta between two factions in the same station, OR a high Influence Threshold met by any one faction in a station. Civil war occurs at the station level, not the system level.
Effects: decreasing Standard of Living, decreasing Security Level (both for entire system?)
Outbreak
Created by: low Standard of Living threshold, low Development Level threshold
Effects: decreasing Standard of Living, higher Medicine Mission Benefits, zero Combat Mission Effect and Bounty Claim Effect for the outbreak faction
Lockdown
Created by: low Security Level threshold, low Development Level threshold
Effects: increasing Security Level, decreasing Wealth (both for entire system?), increasing Bounty Claim Effect for the lockdown faction
Expansion
Created by: high Influence Threshold met by any faction in the system
Effects: decreasing Wealth, increasing Development Level (both only for the expansion faction?), expansion faction Invades (is added to faction list of) a nearby system
Civil Unrest
Created by: low Security Level threshold, low Standard of Living threshold
Effects: increasing Combat Mission Effect and Bounty Claim Effect for the civil unrest faction
War
Created by: Invading faction, high Influence Threshold for the Invading faction
Effects: decreasing Standard of Living, decreasing Security Level, decreasing Wealth (all for the entire system), zero influence changes for all factions not involved in the war, only Combat Mission Effect and Bounty Claim Effect for the two factions involved have any influence effect. Markets show higher demand for Weapons commodities.
------- What are the player actions implied by (or affected by) each keyword? ---------
(Incomplete for now, more coming soon; this is a large effort. Feel free to conjecture in the meantime
)The keywords and key phrases that Michael uses are going to be harder to deconstruct into actionable player-influenced or player-affecting terms. For now, here are the gaps I can fill in with my limited understanding and observation. Please feel free to correct and suggest new things based on your own observations!
Medicine Mission Benefits are probably higher influence gain rate for the minor faction for whom the BB mission occurs. These are probably any BB mission that involves trading or donating medical supplies. I'm going to conjecture that this keyword also encompasses missions relating to food supplies.
Combat Mission Effect is influence gain for the minor faction listed in any combat-centric BB mission (pirate hunting, assassination, etc.)
Bounty Claim Effect is influence gain for the controlling minor faction of of a station when you cash in bounty vouchers in that station. (Possible alternative meaning: influence gain for the controlling faction of the _system_ when you cash in bounty vouchers anywhere in the _system_)
Wealth - ?? -- possibly general commodity trading for the controlling minor faction of the station you _sell_ to. Also any BB "trading" mission that is not medicine/food related, and which benefits only the faction for whom the mission occurs.
Standard of Living - is influence gain for the controlling minor faction of the station you _sell_ to, when trading any of the following commodity types: Consumer Items, Food, Legal Drugs (?), Medicines, and Textiles. Also influence gain for the minor faction listed in any BB "trading" mission in these categories. Also see Moriarte's post #2 below for more information.
Security Level - is faction independent, affecting only the entire system as a whole. Affected only by Piracy acts and Bounty Hunting acts. Piracy acts within the system reduce the Security Level, while claiming bounty rewards at stations within the system increases the Security Level. Decreasing Security Level pushes a system towards Lockdown and Civil Unrest states. Which exact state you might trigger depends on what's _also_ happening with the system's Development Level and Standard of Living.
Development Level - ?? --possibly commodity trading (per the above-listed patterns) in goods that are considered industrial or high-tech? Frozen while the system is in Civil War.
Trade Mission Benefits - ?? -- I suspect this was an ambiguous statement by MB that could have been more precise. In context of my own observations, I'm guessing this key phrase means "luxury traders", and we all know how profitable that can be.
Or it might simply mean that the cash/reputation rewards for doing BB missions of a "trading" type are increased. Or perhaps it means more trading mission appear in the BB. Or some combination of all of the above.Influence Delta - Clearly this is some threshold of relative influence change or proximity among two factions within a station. We've gotten close to unraveling this one, but not completely. Perhaps it means "the gap between two factions' relative influence versus each other reaches X percent". Or perhaps it means "two factions' influence approaches promixity with each other within X% or less".
Influence Threshold - This one seems straightforward. Influence for any one faction moving upward hits a certain "high" threshold percentage, or moving downward hits a certain "low" threshold percentage. No other factions are involved. This is why we've seen systems formerly in Boom state with the controlling faction at 98% and the other minor factions hovering near 0% still flip a state that is triggered by an influence threshold. For example, Beta Sculptorii slipping into Civil War immediately following its long Boom state.
Invading - Also straightforward, and explained in MB's quote above: a faction for whom the Expansion state was triggered. One of the effects of expansion is that the faction "invades" a nearby system (by being added to the list of minor factions in one or more stations there). So, in the context of the _other_ system, that faction is considered as Invading.
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