Winters Sends Kill-Squads Into Imperial Space?!

[Nicholas Powell]

Just had what was, to my mind, a rather farcical encounter with a Federal Agent under Winters' flag interdicting me while in the Cubeo system. Given that I am currently flying under the Aisling Duval flag and it is both a Control system of her faction as well as her Headquarters, I was a little bemused by the following comms coming from said Fed...

"You're in the wrong neighbourhood, pilot. Now you're mine."

Amused, I allowed the interdiction to see how it might continue...

"You're not one of us and I don't like that one bit."

Okay, enough's enough, this Fed's obviously gone troppo so I put them out of their mistaken misery.

"I don't believe it!"

Believe it, you demented berk.
Anyway, I might have let it pass but I have the lives of my crew to concern myself with far over and above that of one woefully misplaced Federal nutjob in a company Diamondback. Mind you, I had also seen an NPC Asp or two under Winters' command also flitting about the same system not long before, so this encounter got me to wondering...

Am I missing something here? Was this just a 'growing pains' coding glitch in the game, perhaps, or is it commonplace for the NPC agents/lackeys of differing powers (other than, say, Kumo types?) to goon about in other powers' territorial systems playing Kill Me Please with players? If I had, say, defected from her or had been naughty on her manor I could understand it, perhaps, so I was wondering if anybody could point to something I've missed here.

 

[Sharky]

Its just another way they have found to annoy the players
I got interdicted 3 times tring to land at an outpost to drop off some cargo. Every time I got under 1 ls bang..interdiction..escaped (my T6 takes ages just to take down a sidewinder) find yourself over 3 ls away and try again.
Also why when you are under 1 ls away when interdicted and you submit..you still end up 3 ls from where you were? jeese that like from earth to the moon.

 

[Andromalius]

There are seemingly more fed ships in Cubeo than in the fed core systems. Aisling Duval's controlled systems are supposed to have better security...

 

[RubikCube]

I'm signed up to back one of the Empire powers and I've been spending some time in Federation space undermining their systems and in the quieter periods taking what I can from the federal pig dogs there.

Pilots working for Winters do the same to us. It's a war, my friend. Together the empire must stand strong against the Federation who wish only to take our freedoms and sell them to the higgest bidding corporation.

 

[Nicholas Powell]

Yes. I just saw a wing of 3 Vipers, Winters again. Looks like an excuse to declare outright war to me, being a breach of the Empire/Federation's "I won't start a war if you won't" attitude that underpins much of the game to date, so I hope the glitch gets fixed with the next patch because it does somewhat undermine Powerplay to my mind.
It's just wonky to my mind, NPCs being under a flag crossing that line with no repurcussions. We can all get killed doing it, player and NPC alike, but I suppose I'm thinking of it like a lack of a Power's 'plausible deniability' in the case of NPCs.

 

[Ransurias]

There's obviously a plausible explanation here. Winters hires delirious, suicidal agents to do her bidding deep into enemy territory. Then, whenever she's accused of sending agents to hunt down her rivals, she can claim an exemption from culpability by citing insanity on the part of said agents.

As an aside, Winters is actually a very sensible, down-to-earth power to align with. She's representative of what the Federation should be, even if her views are rather mundane and archetypal.

 

[Rankaze]

All of the Powers have agents in other Powers' control systems performing interdictions. I reported this as a possible bug in the beta, and they turned down the interdiction rate (it was at the point where getting interdicted three or four times just trying to get to the innermost station in your own HQ system was typical), but apparently having enemy agents swarming in your Power's control and HQ systems interdicting you is intended.

 

[Nicholas Powell]

Certainly, of the two - Winters and Hudson - it is she who I would least expect such clumsiness from when it comes to Federation-Empire relations. But having just spent the past couple of hours refitting to go interdicting and being interdicted by interlopers in what is (regardless of faction or Power) sovereign Imperial space that included agents of all non-Imperial factions save Archon Delaine, who was perhaps especially conspicuous by absence, I can only conclude that the hiring of bonkers military pilots is on the rise or the Cubeo system is deemed devoid of recognition as sovereign Imperial territory. Time will tell.
This being said, I cannot look fondly upon the actions of ostensibly honourable Imperial commanders who equally ignore Federation or Alliance sovereignty. My own time in Volungu's not-so-distant conflict led me to witness how quickly such brutish dishonour can lead to pure military failure.

Dodgy RP ramblings aside, if Powerplay is about politics I'm a little disconcerted by this state of affairs. It's either warfare or it isn't. I would much prefer it not be but it seems the lines are not drawn firmly enough in Powerplay's approach to sovereignty and that suggests something inherent about Powerplay's pretense to a political basis.

 

[jmp470]

I noticed after I killed off a lot of Fed ships, they would hunt me down more, very welcomed.

 

[Scudmungus]

"Gi mi honorable enemies rada dan
ambitious ones an I sleep mo easy bi night."​

 

[TargetLost]

Did they give merits?

 

[Moosegun]

I noticed after I killed off a lot of Fed ships, they would hunt me down more, very welcomed.

would be interesting to know if the OP has earnt a lot of merits destorying enemy ships? I get a lot of Torval ships chasing me and always thought it might be because of the 1mil bounty I earnt hitting her systems.

 

[Nicholas Powell]

Nope, Moosegun. Just checked. Didn't think of this last night but not a single Merit point added. (Received 400CR per hull, though.)

Oh, and Scudmungus..? Beautiful! Right down to the quote.

Indeed, thanks to everybody who's chipped in with replies giving me a bit of a broader insight into the question of sovereignty in Powerplay, even if it all still goes under the 'Not Great' heading. I'm off to no doubt get interdicted by some pilots whose widow/ers will be shocked to find the Federal Navy does not pay pensions to the spouses of those proven insane, and doubly shocked no doubt to be lumbered with the bill for the Diamondback they 'stole.'