Greetings Commanders,
Thank you to everyone who sent in their Powerplay 2.0 questions! We spoke with our Game Designer Curtis Griffiths to answer some of your questions during September's Frontier Unlocked! If you haven't had a chance to watch the stream then fear not for we have the answers to those questions, and a few others, here for you today!
We will be monitoring player feedback on this point after release but there are no plans for launch to make Powerplay 2.0 Open only.
There are a fair number of changes in what being a part of a Power means so players will be unpledged when Powerplay 2.0 goes live, this will not incur any penalties like in PP1. As for Powers' territory we will be taking a snapshot of the current state of the galaxy for PP1 and with as few changes as possible convert these systems into Powerplay 2.0 we expect 99% of systems to belong to the same Power they did in PP1.
You will pledge to one Power as part of Powerplay, however you are free to leave your Power at any time and join another, though you will lose all your perks and start your loyalty ranks from the beginning if you do.
Yes! A large chunk of activities in the game will now contribute to Powerplay, for example if you like trading for profit, recovering salvage from wrecks etc. These can all affect Powerplay if performed in the right systems, if you are pledged to a Power.
On foot activities on planets will indeed have a greater role in Powerplay, some examples of those include uploading spyware to settlements in rival Power systems and delivering biological samples to your Power contact in one of your systems.
There have been some additions to the crime and punishment system relating specifically to Power NPC Agents and crimes against other Powers for example we have PP security in controlled systems now, these will attack you if they find out you're not aligned with them, but normal security wont attack you for the same thing. However the overall crime and punishment system will stay the same.
As mentioned before weāll be unpledging everyone so you will lose access to your perks until you repledge and rank up again, though you will of course keep any modules etc you have brought before the switch and we will be porting the state of the galaxy to the new system.
Yes!
Weāll watch how PP unfolds and make decisions about how Powers are removed from the game. There is no automatic system for knocking out a Power.
Governments will no longer play a role in how Powers take over and maintain control of systems, you wonāt need to have governments in control that donāt match the superpower of your Power to be optimal.
Whilst the BGS doesnāt directly interact with PP 2.0, your actions when engaging with the BGS will of course have an impact as theyāre impacting your pledged Power, so those BGS players can enjoy making contributions with their activities.
No, we want players to feel involved and connected with their Powers, so you will need to pledge to a Power to be able to impact Powerplay.
Yes, stations and other locations will show changes based on which Power is in control and to what extent they are able to exert their control over the system.
Player efforts will be fully represented in Powerplay 2.0, there are no diminishing return type restrictions.
There are ways which we will help smaller Powers to fight back and defend against larger Powers, larger Powers will also find themselves spread across a large number of systems when compared to those with less territory, this won't mean smaller Powers are completely safe, but the aim is to ensure that all Powers have a chance regardless of their size.
At launch, Headquarters are immune from Powerplay actions.
Squadrons integration with Powerplay is unchanged, other than the uncoupling of minor factions and Powers, so Squadrons can now align to minor factions with a different superpower alignment to their aligned Power and vice versa.
There are perks that give benefits in your Powers systems, care packages that reward credits and engineering materials and module unlocks unique to Powerplay.
Every Power can now reward itās Agents with each of the unique Powerplay modules. You will gradually unlock each one as your loyalty rank increases.
There are some direct effects such as some Powers will affect commodity prices in the systems they control and there are some indirect effects like, gameplay loops that incentivize calculated trading which can have impacts on markets as well.
Not for the launch of Powerplay, this is something the team is going to continue to monitor but for launch they will remain unchanged.
As long as a system in populated by humanity and a Power can get a system with a control range that reaches it then a system can be influenced by Powerplay.
While it will not be a minute by minute representation there will be regular updates in the UI that will inform Commanders of the current state of systems.
At launch, there will be no negative to being in the top 3, 5, 10 etc Powers mechanically, however the more territory your Power owns the more Powers they will boarder and the more competition you will have for maintaining control, as with many things we will be monitoring post launch to see is it could be a boon to Powerplay.
While Powers impose certain changes on systems they control, the gameplay features affect Powerplay players more than others, you might be witness to fights between two Powers or other Powers based events. For example, while Powerplay activities can influence the BGS, players interested in faction gameplay and BGS manipulation wonāt feel any targeted changes in their gameplay due to Powerplay.
While there are Powerplay conflict zones and new USSs for Powerplay the hope is that any conflicts over resources or locations will happen organically with Powerplay 2.0, we will however be monitoring player feedback and player data to assess future additions to Powerplay.
You lose all your loyalty ranks and have to start again, besides that you are free to play at being a mercenary for as many Powers as you like.
Higher population is one of the many system statistics that go into determining the value of a system this also informs the resources available to the controlling Power for defending the system so those with higher populations will tend to be harder to undermine.
Powers like the rest of humanity in a system will leave upon a Thargoid invasion. A systems populace and government will need to be convinced again afterwards to allow a Power to come in and act as the controlling Power.
They will but as mentioned above every Power gives out every module eventually, though the order you receive them is different for each Power.
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