Your Questions Needed - Join the Elite Tutorial Livestream - Everything You Need to Know About Powerplay
- Thread starter Edward Lewis
- Start date
Well I tried to keep up with what was being said but I was almost falling off my chair in boredom, it also seemed as if Ed was falling asleep at times.
The one thing I did get to understand is that Sandro knows PP inside out and I think I might see the problem players like myself face. When you work close to a project, really close to the coal face so to say, you can grow complacent. The systems you are working on become obvious and so any mention of them in the game becomes a waste because, well, it's just so simple!
Except it isn't.
Almost a year after PP was given to us and finally I heard Sandro admit that maybe there should be more information in the game. If Frontier really want PP to become more than it currently is then they need to accept that according to the games setting we are all supposed to be citizens living within the bubble. As such we'd know a lot more about these powers than we currently do. Or did we all grow up never watching the news ever?
But this is a problem I see all over Elite - fine throw us into a ship with no clue how to fly but please accept that we should have a lot more basic information about life in the bubble.
EDIT: In short, think about the galaxy from the player up not from the Emperor down.
The one thing I did get to understand is that Sandro knows PP inside out and I think I might see the problem players like myself face. When you work close to a project, really close to the coal face so to say, you can grow complacent. The systems you are working on become obvious and so any mention of them in the game becomes a waste because, well, it's just so simple!
Except it isn't.
Almost a year after PP was given to us and finally I heard Sandro admit that maybe there should be more information in the game. If Frontier really want PP to become more than it currently is then they need to accept that according to the games setting we are all supposed to be citizens living within the bubble. As such we'd know a lot more about these powers than we currently do. Or did we all grow up never watching the news ever?
But this is a problem I see all over Elite - fine throw us into a ship with no clue how to fly but please accept that we should have a lot more basic information about life in the bubble.
EDIT: In short, think about the galaxy from the player up not from the Emperor down.
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Nice video. Plenty of information. Thank you for finally settling the issue of trigger bonuses. I don't have high hopes for any Power which doesn't have Corporate trigger bonuses, as corporate minor factions seem to push higher monetary rewards missions and benefit from more of the actions of those who aren't paying attention than any other type of faction, but I will try and prove that assumption wrong.
And while you focused on Martin's post and his long list of questions, you amazingly didn't answer many of them. This one, in particular, gets me.
I believe you're answer was:
It appears you misunderstood the question.
We all know the "grind-fest" mechanics are merely representative of larger and more specific actions that can tell a story, and we hope that as gameplay mechanics develop, those singular actions can become more diverse and targeted, as you mentioned with the inclusion of missions into Power Play in the not-near future. I'm looking forward to that, as it sounds great.
I tried to helpfully group the half a dozen questions which asked this same question and give it a button which might direct the answer more towards what we all wanted to know:
How does Power Play integrate with the Lore? What do these Control Systems actually do in terms of Lore functionality? Or are they entirely divorced abstract mechanics to relate general concepts about a Power's galactic influence?
We have two Powers who leverage 'Military Strikes', others with 'Resistance Pockets', 'Violent Protests', and 'Crime Sweeps'. What I hoped to get answered was an explanation of how this form of expansion can be explained via Lore.
Lore tells us that Senator Denton Patreus has used his personal fleet to invade systems and conquer them. The Power Play abstract mechanics gel perfectly with this. Oppressive loans, followed by bankruptcy, then military invasion. In the Lore, this was followed by Imperial Slaves being shipped out of the new system to repay the debt, but since that doesn't happen in Power Play mechanics, are we to assume that post-Quiriva the Senator has stopped re-paying his debt through 'voluntary' indentured servitude? I can get behind military strikes from Patreus, because it exists in the Lore, even if he's now officially Admiral of the Fleet, he could still be using his personal fleet to pursue his own objectives.
I can get behind Delaine's resistance pockets (he is the pirate lord of a rag-tag army of brutal slavers), Lavigny-Duval's Crime Sweeps (personally funding bounty hunters to remove corruption at the force of a laser beam), and Antal's violent protests (because outlawing beer would cause me to shoot things).
Did President Zachary Hudson literally invade Concantae and grease the palms of the Patrons of Law? Is Concantae now a Federal system? Early on in Power Play, Hudson had 'Security Operations' carried out by Private Military Contractors. Security operations are necessarily as ambiguous as crime sweeps in what they actually do for the Lore. I can live with a Federal security presence in Concantae due to lack of Imperial opposition to the movement and bribery of the local patrons. But if President Hudson uses military strikes, I don't even understand what Power Play is doing to the Lore anymore.
For me personally, this is why I need an answer on whether Power Play is military game of galactic risk or simply an abstract display of influence leveraging.
When we say the mechanics don't make sense, we don't mean 'Why do garrison supplies stop criminal undermining?' because, honestly, that makes sense.
What has never been made clear is what a Power 'owning' a Control System means.
If the Zachary Hudson Power succeeds in weaponizing expansions putting Arissa Lavigny-Duval's Power bubble into a choke-hold killing all Command Capital generated by her Control Systems, does that mean the Federal Navy has wiped out the Emperor from the map? Or does it mean the President of the Federation has leveraged PMCs and bribery to negate her effective influence throughout the Empire?
That is what we need to know if we are to have any hope of actually enjoying the story and Lore that Power Play creates.
If, as has so far been the case, that Control Systems mean nothing in relation to the Lore, well, it's been fun, but I don't imagine many will stick around Power Play much longer if it doesn't actually mean anything.
And while you focused on Martin's post and his long list of questions, you amazingly didn't answer many of them. This one, in particular, gets me.
I believe you're answer was:
It appears you misunderstood the question.
We all know the "grind-fest" mechanics are merely representative of larger and more specific actions that can tell a story, and we hope that as gameplay mechanics develop, those singular actions can become more diverse and targeted, as you mentioned with the inclusion of missions into Power Play in the not-near future. I'm looking forward to that, as it sounds great.
I tried to helpfully group the half a dozen questions which asked this same question and give it a button which might direct the answer more towards what we all wanted to know:
How does Power Play integrate with the Lore? What do these Control Systems actually do in terms of Lore functionality? Or are they entirely divorced abstract mechanics to relate general concepts about a Power's galactic influence?
We have two Powers who leverage 'Military Strikes', others with 'Resistance Pockets', 'Violent Protests', and 'Crime Sweeps'. What I hoped to get answered was an explanation of how this form of expansion can be explained via Lore.
Lore tells us that Senator Denton Patreus has used his personal fleet to invade systems and conquer them. The Power Play abstract mechanics gel perfectly with this. Oppressive loans, followed by bankruptcy, then military invasion. In the Lore, this was followed by Imperial Slaves being shipped out of the new system to repay the debt, but since that doesn't happen in Power Play mechanics, are we to assume that post-Quiriva the Senator has stopped re-paying his debt through 'voluntary' indentured servitude? I can get behind military strikes from Patreus, because it exists in the Lore, even if he's now officially Admiral of the Fleet, he could still be using his personal fleet to pursue his own objectives.
I can get behind Delaine's resistance pockets (he is the pirate lord of a rag-tag army of brutal slavers), Lavigny-Duval's Crime Sweeps (personally funding bounty hunters to remove corruption at the force of a laser beam), and Antal's violent protests (because outlawing beer would cause me to shoot things).
Did President Zachary Hudson literally invade Concantae and grease the palms of the Patrons of Law? Is Concantae now a Federal system? Early on in Power Play, Hudson had 'Security Operations' carried out by Private Military Contractors. Security operations are necessarily as ambiguous as crime sweeps in what they actually do for the Lore. I can live with a Federal security presence in Concantae due to lack of Imperial opposition to the movement and bribery of the local patrons. But if President Hudson uses military strikes, I don't even understand what Power Play is doing to the Lore anymore.
For me personally, this is why I need an answer on whether Power Play is military game of galactic risk or simply an abstract display of influence leveraging.
When we say the mechanics don't make sense, we don't mean 'Why do garrison supplies stop criminal undermining?' because, honestly, that makes sense.
What has never been made clear is what a Power 'owning' a Control System means.
If the Zachary Hudson Power succeeds in weaponizing expansions putting Arissa Lavigny-Duval's Power bubble into a choke-hold killing all Command Capital generated by her Control Systems, does that mean the Federal Navy has wiped out the Emperor from the map? Or does it mean the President of the Federation has leveraged PMCs and bribery to negate her effective influence throughout the Empire?
That is what we need to know if we are to have any hope of actually enjoying the story and Lore that Power Play creates.
If, as has so far been the case, that Control Systems mean nothing in relation to the Lore, well, it's been fun, but I don't imagine many will stick around Power Play much longer if it doesn't actually mean anything.
I understand what you're saying Bran, and part of me wants to agree. It was my first reaction too, but then I realized, it's not the complexity or the mystery of PP that is off-putting. Lots of things are complex and mysterious and that doesn't stop people of average intelligence from trying to figure them out.
For instance:
The stock market
Climate models
Fantasy football
Evolution
Love
The degree of black box speculation on each of these topics is beyond epic. And no amount of lack of expertise or foreknowledge can dissuade people from whipping out their crystal balls, or from rushing in half cocked with head full of wrong information.
So really, what is it that these topics have that PP does not? Apart from evolution (and actual climate change) nearly all of these are just as much figments of human imagination as a virtual galaxy simulation. And yet they all feel as real as sunshine or the words on this page.
And maybe that is the real problem. PP isn't an extension of the human psyche. Instead, it exists as an abstraction of political intrigue, and yet it doesn't feel that real or intuitive on any level. Nor is it compelling enough to bother figuring it out. Or to even pretend to understand it!
That being said, I find the basic concept to be very helpful in terms of giving the galaxy some useful demarcations for navigating, and I am very much rooting for PP to flower into something wonderful and compelling. If anyone can make it happen, it's Sandro.
For instance:
The stock market
Climate models
Fantasy football
Evolution
Love
The degree of black box speculation on each of these topics is beyond epic. And no amount of lack of expertise or foreknowledge can dissuade people from whipping out their crystal balls, or from rushing in half cocked with head full of wrong information.
So really, what is it that these topics have that PP does not? Apart from evolution (and actual climate change) nearly all of these are just as much figments of human imagination as a virtual galaxy simulation. And yet they all feel as real as sunshine or the words on this page.
And maybe that is the real problem. PP isn't an extension of the human psyche. Instead, it exists as an abstraction of political intrigue, and yet it doesn't feel that real or intuitive on any level. Nor is it compelling enough to bother figuring it out. Or to even pretend to understand it!
That being said, I find the basic concept to be very helpful in terms of giving the galaxy some useful demarcations for navigating, and I am very much rooting for PP to flower into something wonderful and compelling. If anyone can make it happen, it's Sandro.
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Well said Mr Vega!
I think you summed it up very well indeed. This is the reason why I think there needs to be far more background information given to the player on the setting they are in.
Way back in 1978 when I sat in the cinema and the text crawl for Star Wars rolled up the screen I was transfixed, by the time it had finished and the film began I knew the basic structure of the setting for the story despite being a child. I have still to find that same feeling or understanding within Elite.
When I first got the game I downloaded it and pressed play - no physical manual - just a link somewhere to a .pdf which I think I have seen once. I followed the tutorials and then jumped in game...
Why was I sat in a Sidewinder?
How did I get here?
I can only liken it to a rabbit sat in the road wondering what the two bright lights coming towards him are, white carrots possibly?
I think you summed it up very well indeed. This is the reason why I think there needs to be far more background information given to the player on the setting they are in.
Way back in 1978 when I sat in the cinema and the text crawl for Star Wars rolled up the screen I was transfixed, by the time it had finished and the film began I knew the basic structure of the setting for the story despite being a child. I have still to find that same feeling or understanding within Elite.
When I first got the game I downloaded it and pressed play - no physical manual - just a link somewhere to a .pdf which I think I have seen once. I followed the tutorials and then jumped in game...
Why was I sat in a Sidewinder?
How did I get here?
I can only liken it to a rabbit sat in the road wondering what the two bright lights coming towards him are, white carrots possibly?
With respect to Sandro, I have to disagree. Either Sandro's knowledge and understanding of PowerPlay is lacking, or the game has implemented PowerPlay incorrectly.
My take from the video, is that it failed on a couple of levels.
First, PowerPlay is too complex to be tackled in a single relatively random session. It should be at least two different sessions - the basics and the advanced stuff.
Secondly, tackling a topic as complex as PowerPlay (and the background sim next time) cannot be done in as haphazard and random way that it was done in the stream. I realise that it is live, but they should have sat down beforehand and figured out what they were going to go over, the order (at least roughly) in which to do it, which questions were relevant to it etc.
Now, there were questions asked and answered in the video, that the community has no way of answering - like what is the future of PowerPlay. But - the questions to which we (at least some of us) have the answers were generally speaking all answered worse than we would or even incorrectly! It may have been a slip of the tongue, but when the lead designer and apparent PowerPlay architect says that having 50% or more favourable governments in a control system increases the fortification trigger, alarm bells go off in my head. Not to mention the amount of times he kept referring to CC as credits and money. The problem with that particular bit, is that if you do that you end up with a question with no answer - how much money is 1 CC worth? And a lot of questions like if a power doesn't have enough "credits" to pay for the upkeep of a system, why can't the players simply chip in?
I don't think it was that bad, Martin.
We wanted an advanced and detailed discussion.
They gave us a bare bones basic rundown, because they had never done that before, you know, clearly stating how the mechanics work. Overhead has been explained all of twice, and once in a very complicated mathematics session, while the ethos/trigger bonus was discussed vaguely once and only ever referenced clearly in a beta manual.
So we got the basics.
And those of us who wanted an advanced discussion didn't get it.
We wanted an advanced and detailed discussion.
They gave us a bare bones basic rundown, because they had never done that before, you know, clearly stating how the mechanics work. Overhead has been explained all of twice, and once in a very complicated mathematics session, while the ethos/trigger bonus was discussed vaguely once and only ever referenced clearly in a beta manual.
So we got the basics.
And those of us who wanted an advanced discussion didn't get it.
Hello Commander Martin Schou!
Yah, apologies for the mistake with the 50% stronger/weaker rule - it was a slip of the tongue. Clearly, when an ethos is stronger versus a government type the success trigger is reduced! (I think I initially said it correctly, but foolishly swapped it around later on).
As for referring to CC as credits - yes, another slip, this time because as far as the way powers use CC they *are* credits in that they are accumulated and spent. But clearly they're not credits that Commanders use - they're a different type of currency, and me calling them credits was unhelpful.
In my defence, live streams aren't the easiest of platforms, especially when time is short and there's so much to get through.
I can, luckily, reassure you that I have more than a working knowledge of Powerplay though
and I do spend time in the Powerplay forums.
Yah, apologies for the mistake with the 50% stronger/weaker rule - it was a slip of the tongue. Clearly, when an ethos is stronger versus a government type the success trigger is reduced! (I think I initially said it correctly, but foolishly swapped it around later on).
As for referring to CC as credits - yes, another slip, this time because as far as the way powers use CC they *are* credits in that they are accumulated and spent. But clearly they're not credits that Commanders use - they're a different type of currency, and me calling them credits was unhelpful.
In my defence, live streams aren't the easiest of platforms, especially when time is short and there's so much to get through.
I can, luckily, reassure you that I have more than a working knowledge of Powerplay though
and I do spend time in the Powerplay forums.
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ooh this should be a goodun as I have never been able to get my head around it
There maybe a reason for that; one that does not reflect negatively on your good self.
Before that? The discussion has been had in the leaders group and there are some changes coming in the time range of Soon™ and Someday™.
And, yes, it is set in stone. Find the original call for player groups and the various questions and answers given by Zac (if you find my questions, they deal specifically with this issue, with very clear statements from Zac)
- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -
Hello Commander Martin Schou!
Yah, apologies for the mistake with the 50% stronger/weaker rule - it was a slip of the tongue. Clearly, when an ethos is stronger versus a government type the success trigger is reduced! (I think I initially said it correctly, but foolishly swapped it around later on).
As for referring to CC as credits - yes, another slip, this time because as far as the way powers use CC they *are* credits in that they are accumulated and spent. But clearly they're not credits that Commanders use - they're a different type of currency, and me calling them credits was unhelpful.
In my defence, live streams aren't the easiest of platforms, especially when time is short and there's so much to get through.
I can, luckily, reassure you that I have more than a working knowledge of Powerplay though
Having solid show notes and decent moderation on a stream fixes this problem. Otherwise, loosening the constraints of time reduces these pressures.
I was unable to view the live stream and am looking forward to the link for the archived version!
In my defence, live streams aren't the easiest of platforms, especially when time is short and there's so much to get through.
I can, luckily, reassure you that I have more than a working knowledge of Powerplay though
Nitpicks. The other 99% of the video was a dazzling display of deep knowledge and philosophy of game design, and PP in particular. It was very nice to hear you talk about it in human terms.
It's easy to get lost in the details, but what I was looking for was key elements that point to the future success of PP:
-more variety of missions
-deeper connection with the BGS
-increased dynamics
-promoting player interaction and competition
-making PP more accessible
The only missing element that I didn't really hear you talk about was how to make PP more compelling and intuitive. To me this means tapping into at least one of the primary motivations of our lizard brains:
-acquisition (hoarding/collecting) - currently there is no sense of ownership, and everything you work for is halfway stolen every week.
-territorialism(tribalism/xenophobia/nationalism) - again, this ties into a sense of (community) ownership. Currently there is no viable reward for defending your systems via face to face combat. Defense consists of moving crates from one pile to the next. This is not very compelling for combat types, which is honestly most players.
-ego (flair/bring/military rank) - no matter what rank you are, no body knows it but you. There aren't any rank based paint jobs or decals. Nor are there any titles or flair markings next to your name to let people know you are a high value asset/target within your faction. Half the reason people accomplish things is so they can preen about it or at least bask in the Open knowledge. So much grind, for a temporary rank that is only known to you, and not even a cool general's insignia to show for it?
Yes these are the baser instincts of humanity, and in normal circumstances they can be quite destructive and should not be encouraged. But in the case of PP I think they are crucial elements for successful motivation. And in the context of a game, it's OK to indulge in this kind of anti-social behavior
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So, being the boring type with no real life, I've gone through the thread and taken the questions that we (at least I) know the answers to and answered them. Some of them are my own personal point of view, but most of them are factual based on how PowerPlay works:
Q: My home system has become a control/exploited system, and a new faction is in control. How did that happen?
A: It's not directly because of PowerPlay. While powers do affect the influence received by minor factions, they are currently incapable of inserting new ones or putting one in control of a system. The changes you notice are affected through the background simulation as usual.
Q: What plans are there to make their presence more palpably felt across inhabited space?
A: This is a question for the designers and developers to answer.
Q: We're now 43 weeks into PowerPlay, and no one has figured out how the galactic scores are calculated - all we have is speculation. For the love of sanity, would you kindly explain exactly how it's calculated?
A: We don't know the exact formula. We know that the scores (the percentages) are a zero sum game, so when one power increases, someone else has to lose points. We speculate, based on the manual, that the scores are positively affected by: Number of control systems, number of exploited systems, number of successful preparations (ones moved to expansion phase) and number of successful expansions. We speculate that the scores are negatively affected by: Number of systems in turmoil and number of systems lost to revolt. An example (and keep in mind, this is speculation, not hard facts)
Edmund Mahon:
Number of control systems: 98.
Highest number of control systems: 98.
Score: 100%
Number of exploited systems: 1,411
Highest number of control systems: 1,411
Score: 100%
Number of successful preparations: 2
Highest number of successful preparations: 7
Score: 2/7 = 28.5%
Number of successful expansions: 4
Highest number of successful expansions: 4
Score: 100%
Number of systems in turmoil: 0
Score: 0%
Number of systems lost: 0%
Score: 0%
These six factors are then weighted in some fashion, and the end result is that Edmund Mahon ended up at 86% for the cycle that just ended. We speculate that the biggest weight is put on number of control systems and exploited systems, but the exact weighting is unknown until Frontier decides to tell us the exact formula.
I am hoping Sandro will give us the exact answer.
Q: How do you calculate the default triggers for any given system?
A: We don't know the exact formula, but we have some decent estimates. They don't hit the exact value, but it's good enough to get an very close approximation:
With Dist as distance from headquarters in light years.
Default fortification and expansion triggers: 0.388 * dist^2 - 4.272 * dist + 5008.239
Undermining and opposition triggers (far messier):
4.913.345 + 123,100*(1/dist) + 20,190,000 * ((1/dist)^2) - 524,300,000 * ((1/dist)^3) + 12,980,000,000 * ((1/dist)^4) - 207,400,000,000 * ((1/dist)^5) + 1,844,000,000,000 * ((1/dist)^6) - 6,886,000,000,000 * ((1/dist)^7)
Until Frontier gives us the exact formulas, these are the best we have.
Q: Please explain exactly how to change the fortification triggers.
A: At least 50% of a control system's exploited systems have to have a government type that the power is either strong against or weak against. Strong government types result in a reduced trigger (50% of default), while weak government types result in an increased trigger (150% of default). Fortification trigger changes only happen on cycle tick - a change to the exploited bubble's composition will not take effect until the following Thursday at 07:00 UTC. Bear in mind that while this is how it is supposed to work, the occasional bug creeps in. If a bubble is made up of exactly 50% weak and 50% strong I suspect it simply cancels out.
Q: How can a power lose a system in the same cycle tick as they gained a new one?
A: Think of it in terms of politics. One group withdraws their support for a politician the same day that another group puts their weight behind the same politician. How the maths behind it works is not something we know, but I hope Sandro will answer this.
Q: How can a power come out of turmoil with almost 1,200 CC but still lose a system? Clearly when they have that much CC left over, they could easily afford to pay the upkeep for the lost system.
A: I do not have a good answer for that one. I'd love to know how the maths behind it works though.
Q: Please explain exactly how we figure out the end result for a Power in turmoil. As in which systems are lost to turmoil, which order are they lost, when do you get expansions etc.
A: There's obviously maths behind it, but again we don't know the methodology.
Q: Is PowerPlay politics or war?
A: In my personal opinion, PowerPlay is politics. Think of it as the cold war between the US and the USSR but on a larger scale. The US and USSR never declared war on each other, but they did participate in multiple proxy wars across the globe, working to topple governments to put in their own puppets and remove support for the other power etc.
Q: What is the ultimate purpose of powerplay, given that the community goals seem to have greater impact on the game itself than powerplay does.
A: To me personally, it's the end game. Once you're quadruple elite, have every single ship in explorer, combat and trade fits and enough money to make The Galactic Intern look like a pauper, what challenges lie ahead? While I'm not at that level of wealth myself, PowerPlay fits my view of an end-game, because it's the only directly adversarial game mode that cannot be won. It's an eternal struggle where you work with and compete against a multitude of players at the same time.
Q: Can casual players play PowerPlay?
A: Yes. But just a casual player shouldn't expect to get into a Federal Corvette or an Imperial Cutter after a week of casual game time, casual players should not expect to get the highest rating within their power. That doesn't mean you won't be helpful - every little helps.
Q: How do you organize with fellow pledges?
A: There are a couple of ways. The Frontier forums have an official PowerPlay segment with board for each power. (https://forums.frontier.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=123) And all the major groups within each power also have their own subreddits:
https://reddit.com/r/AislingDuval
https://reddit.com/r/EliteLavigny
https://reddit.com/r/ElitePatreus
https://reddit.com/r/EliteTorval
https://reddit.com/r/EliteHudson
https://reddit.com/r/EliteWinters
https://reddit.com/r/EliteMahon
https://reddit.com/r/EliteAntal
https://reddit.com/r/KumoCrew
https://reddit.com/r/EliteSirius
Q: Do I have to make other powerplay players enemy to me by siding with a faction?
A: This is a fact of PowerPlay life. There are exceptions - players pledged to factions from the same major faction (Alliance, Empire, Federation, Independent) are not set as enemies.
Q: My home system has become a control/exploited system, and a new faction is in control. How did that happen?
A: It's not directly because of PowerPlay. While powers do affect the influence received by minor factions, they are currently incapable of inserting new ones or putting one in control of a system. The changes you notice are affected through the background simulation as usual.
Q: What plans are there to make their presence more palpably felt across inhabited space?
A: This is a question for the designers and developers to answer.
Q: We're now 43 weeks into PowerPlay, and no one has figured out how the galactic scores are calculated - all we have is speculation. For the love of sanity, would you kindly explain exactly how it's calculated?
A: We don't know the exact formula. We know that the scores (the percentages) are a zero sum game, so when one power increases, someone else has to lose points. We speculate, based on the manual, that the scores are positively affected by: Number of control systems, number of exploited systems, number of successful preparations (ones moved to expansion phase) and number of successful expansions. We speculate that the scores are negatively affected by: Number of systems in turmoil and number of systems lost to revolt. An example (and keep in mind, this is speculation, not hard facts)
Edmund Mahon:
Number of control systems: 98.
Highest number of control systems: 98.
Score: 100%
Number of exploited systems: 1,411
Highest number of control systems: 1,411
Score: 100%
Number of successful preparations: 2
Highest number of successful preparations: 7
Score: 2/7 = 28.5%
Number of successful expansions: 4
Highest number of successful expansions: 4
Score: 100%
Number of systems in turmoil: 0
Score: 0%
Number of systems lost: 0%
Score: 0%
These six factors are then weighted in some fashion, and the end result is that Edmund Mahon ended up at 86% for the cycle that just ended. We speculate that the biggest weight is put on number of control systems and exploited systems, but the exact weighting is unknown until Frontier decides to tell us the exact formula.
I am hoping Sandro will give us the exact answer.
Q: How do you calculate the default triggers for any given system?
A: We don't know the exact formula, but we have some decent estimates. They don't hit the exact value, but it's good enough to get an very close approximation:
With Dist as distance from headquarters in light years.
Default fortification and expansion triggers: 0.388 * dist^2 - 4.272 * dist + 5008.239
Undermining and opposition triggers (far messier):
4.913.345 + 123,100*(1/dist) + 20,190,000 * ((1/dist)^2) - 524,300,000 * ((1/dist)^3) + 12,980,000,000 * ((1/dist)^4) - 207,400,000,000 * ((1/dist)^5) + 1,844,000,000,000 * ((1/dist)^6) - 6,886,000,000,000 * ((1/dist)^7)
Until Frontier gives us the exact formulas, these are the best we have.
Q: Please explain exactly how to change the fortification triggers.
A: At least 50% of a control system's exploited systems have to have a government type that the power is either strong against or weak against. Strong government types result in a reduced trigger (50% of default), while weak government types result in an increased trigger (150% of default). Fortification trigger changes only happen on cycle tick - a change to the exploited bubble's composition will not take effect until the following Thursday at 07:00 UTC. Bear in mind that while this is how it is supposed to work, the occasional bug creeps in. If a bubble is made up of exactly 50% weak and 50% strong I suspect it simply cancels out.
Q: How can a power lose a system in the same cycle tick as they gained a new one?
A: Think of it in terms of politics. One group withdraws their support for a politician the same day that another group puts their weight behind the same politician. How the maths behind it works is not something we know, but I hope Sandro will answer this.
Q: How can a power come out of turmoil with almost 1,200 CC but still lose a system? Clearly when they have that much CC left over, they could easily afford to pay the upkeep for the lost system.
A: I do not have a good answer for that one. I'd love to know how the maths behind it works though.
Q: Please explain exactly how we figure out the end result for a Power in turmoil. As in which systems are lost to turmoil, which order are they lost, when do you get expansions etc.
A: There's obviously maths behind it, but again we don't know the methodology.
Q: Is PowerPlay politics or war?
A: In my personal opinion, PowerPlay is politics. Think of it as the cold war between the US and the USSR but on a larger scale. The US and USSR never declared war on each other, but they did participate in multiple proxy wars across the globe, working to topple governments to put in their own puppets and remove support for the other power etc.
Q: What is the ultimate purpose of powerplay, given that the community goals seem to have greater impact on the game itself than powerplay does.
A: To me personally, it's the end game. Once you're quadruple elite, have every single ship in explorer, combat and trade fits and enough money to make The Galactic Intern look like a pauper, what challenges lie ahead? While I'm not at that level of wealth myself, PowerPlay fits my view of an end-game, because it's the only directly adversarial game mode that cannot be won. It's an eternal struggle where you work with and compete against a multitude of players at the same time.
Q: Can casual players play PowerPlay?
A: Yes. But just a casual player shouldn't expect to get into a Federal Corvette or an Imperial Cutter after a week of casual game time, casual players should not expect to get the highest rating within their power. That doesn't mean you won't be helpful - every little helps.
Q: How do you organize with fellow pledges?
A: There are a couple of ways. The Frontier forums have an official PowerPlay segment with board for each power. (https://forums.frontier.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=123) And all the major groups within each power also have their own subreddits:
https://reddit.com/r/AislingDuval
https://reddit.com/r/EliteLavigny
https://reddit.com/r/ElitePatreus
https://reddit.com/r/EliteTorval
https://reddit.com/r/EliteHudson
https://reddit.com/r/EliteWinters
https://reddit.com/r/EliteMahon
https://reddit.com/r/EliteAntal
https://reddit.com/r/KumoCrew
https://reddit.com/r/EliteSirius
Q: Do I have to make other powerplay players enemy to me by siding with a faction?
A: This is a fact of PowerPlay life. There are exceptions - players pledged to factions from the same major faction (Alliance, Empire, Federation, Independent) are not set as enemies.
Sandro you ROCK! Didn't get to watch it live but loved the discussion and Q + A. Keep up the great work. I love powerplay and the upcoming changes sound fantastic.