Cycle summary:

As with last week, numbers have slowed this cycle, but this time across almost all powers. Even so, it's still a rough cycle for the Federation. Winters took 3 new systems and 2 new forts, but lost 4 systems and had the stronghold of Athena downgraded to fort. As you might expect, there's a touch more than is obvious at face value - Athena was attacked in a co-ordinated effort during the time where powerplay numbers weren't updating for anyone. Y'all can take a guess by who. By the time the numbers updated, we were down 320,000 control points. By the time we rallied to its defence, all we could do was keep up, which we did valiantly. Now the system is fortified, and in something of a role-reversal from last time, the Battle of Athena has begun.

Archer hasn't been spared the rod either - 3 systems gained, 3 systems lost and one fort downgraded. Morale continues to be low within the Federation - as the rampant exploit abuse continues and powerplay 2.0 continues to prove to be far shallower than its predecessor, people don't really have a reason to stick around with organised powerplay anymore. I get it - the game itself is fun for the same reasons it was 10 years ago. But you can go out and bounty hunt or trade or colonise or run operations and give zero shits about powerplay, and you'll likely be healthier for it. Add onto that the shenanigans around Operations, endearingly referred to by some as the "Oops" update, and it's easy to come to the conclusion that FDev just doesn't care about powerplay... and if so, then why should we? We're not the only ones who feel this way, it seems - Delaine's cycle post this week has opened with a rant (that's still far more civil and polite than any of mine) about the state of powerplay, the Operations update and operations in general. Well said on all counts, if I may say.

Speaking of the Kumo Crew, they snatched up 2 systems, one fort and one stronghold. For Kumo, that's not even a slow cycle. Antal have slowed from their usual fast pace, with 3 new systems and one new stronghold - probably already selling quiche at the bars there. Grom nabbed up 4 new systems, but no new forts or strongholds. Finally for the independents, Li Yong-Rui took 6 new systems and fortified two, but lost one system in the progress, making for a net total of +5. The low numbers across the board can be attributed to various factors, including technical issues and aforementioned morale issues, as well as many CMDRs trying out the new Operations, with mixed results overall.

Now the Alliance have some interesting things going on. Mahon picked up even less than expected, but did good on reinforcement to compensate - one stronghold, 3 new forts and 2 exploited systems... though one of those systems is Orrere, so I expect the Code'll have kicked him out by this time next week. Kaine is where the really interesting things are happening in my opinion - 8 new exploited systems and 2 new forts show they're not being held back by this week's troubles, but they did have one fort downgraded - the system of Nadur. Now that one's been taken and lost by both Kaine and REDACTED multiple times over the course of PP 2.0, but since Kaine fortified it 6 weeks ago it seemed secure. Apparently that's not the case - looks like REDACTED wants it back. We'll see how this little incident progresses over the coming weeks or months.

On the topic of the imps - Torval had the best week of them, which isn't something you expect to hear. 3 new systems, but one downgraded fort. Good for them - glad to see they're still fighting on. Patty, meanwhile, lost one system and gained absolutely nothing for it. ALD takes bottom of the leaderboard this week - she took 3 systems, one fort and one stronghold, but lost 6 systems in the process. Focused too much on us and not enough on herself - believe it or not, we ain't the only ones who don't like you! And last and most certainly least, REDACTED continues to bottom out with zero systems total, though at least this week they didn't lost any systems! So, that's something I suppose.

What else... oh yeah, galnet! Only two articles this week, but both on the same day, so only the one link. One is just the usual end-of-CG post, but the other is very interesting - Terri Tora, the xenobiologist who first poked the blue trees in HIP 87621 and inadvertantly triggered that whole conflict, the one who went mysteriously missing? Yeah, she'd been captured by the October Consortium and only now got released. I know Kaine'll be happy to see her alive and well, at least.

Finally, FLC elections have just ended today - while four of our leadership have departed this election, we welcome three into the fold. For those not in the know, every 3 months Federal Liberal Command hosts elections for their leadership so that we ensure we continue to represent our members faithfully. For candidates running unopposed, they still need to score 75% of the votes or more in order to take or hold office. Of course, such responsibility for the election is run by trusted officials who do not partake in the burden of leading our people, as is fair and just. It warms my heart to know that the citizens of the Federation continue to trust me as the voice of the President, and I solemnly promise to continue to do my best in representing the Federation.

That's our lot for this week. I know it started with a bit of a rough tone, but this time I want you to take away something brighter. The battle ahead will not be easy, by any means, but it will be fought proudly, it will be fought with honour (at least on our side) and it will be fun. So let's get out there and show the imps what the Federation can do! Fly safe, and rememb- TIME IS SIGHT. GRAVITY IS DESIRE. WHAT WAS WILL BE, WHAT WILL BE WAS.

...okay, that was weird. Anyways! Want some juicy discourse? - join the discord for new updates and zesty tips on powerplaycraft!

Target priorities as follows

Reinforcement:

Carry out reinforcement activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

ATHENA - The Battle Begins

Reinforcement priorities are ever changing and we cannot update publicly in a timely manner. Join the Discord if you want to help!

​​​

Acquisition:

Carry out acquisition activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

ACQUISITION TARGETS SUSPENDED

Join the Discord for updates! We can offer rapid mining acquisition options to pilots in our server - they move too fast to put on here!

​​​

Undermining:

Current priority:

UNDERMINING TARGETS SUSPENDED

Join the Discord for targets and opportunities!

Interested in Federal AX? Join FAX-COM.

Interested in emergency relief work? Winters has a place for you.

Interested in PvP? PvP is a lifeblood of powerplay. We train interested pilots with a dedicated server, resources and mentors, and weekly in-house tournaments

Interested in exploration? We maintain a server for our explorers too

Want more nuance on objectives, to wing up, or to keep up to date on the ever-evolving strategy? Join our Discord! Stop by and say hello! Or join to stay quiet and beaver away at your specialism <shrug>. In addition to Powerplay Ops, we have channels for general ED discussion, ship building mastery, and PvP training, with domain experts. We also have an unsurpassed cantina <clink>.

​​​

Diplomatic Overview:

Archon Delaine – Cordial (...there's no cordial in that, that is literally just rum)

Arissa Lavigny-Duval – Hostile

Denton Patreus – Unfriendly (Not quite dead yet?)

Edmund Mahon – Neutral

Jerome Archer – Ally

Li Yong-Rui – Neutral

Nakato Kaine – Neutral

Pranav Antal – Cordial

Yuri Grom – Neutral

Zemina Torval – Unfriendly

Hello, we have a small squadron who built a colony not too far from Winters space. There is a system that is currently in Exploited status and is within 30 Lightyears of our colony. We want to reinforce it up to Stronghold (or at least Fortified and then get another one that might be better up to Fortified.

We are having a heck of time with this system though.

What we have tried:

- Mining in Asteroid belts - pretty terrible rates without planetary rings and hotspots.

- Salvaging/combat Signal sources - They are alright but no a lot of merits/control points.

- Support missions - These seem to be alright and can be done semi-afk I guess but are limited and slow.

There are no odyssey instillations aside from one player built small port.

What we are looking into:

- Rare goods trading

- Selling for a profit - Having a hard time finding a good commodity to sell for that 40% bonus but I have been reading conflicting things online with how efficient it is.

- Tried looking into Odyssey stuff but there are no installations in the system aside from one player owned one.

- Power play commodity delivery

We are not looking to make tons of merits we just want to reinforce the system and move it over to our system which is frankly much better for Powerplay activities.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I have been reading through the resources and links to stuff but everything we have tried seems like it will take literal months to move it for our group of 4-6 people.

Etc. Call to arms to assist the preservation of stronghold at the Ice Storm Squadron capital, Athena!

Following continuous pressure for weeks, the Empire have, under the "fog of war" induced by the lock up of Galmap updates following Operations release, pushed Athena into collapse territory. We must raise this system back before Thursday!

Cycle summary:

For the most part, numbers have slowed this week, particularly on the undermining front. Only three powers lost any systems at all this week - while unfortunately one of them was us, overall it's been a good week, all considered. 5 new systems taken at the cost of a single loss - low-hanging fruit we'd neglected to reinforce, a mistake easily rectified. Archer has had the best cycle since the beginning of Alpha Centauri - 2 new systems and a shiny new stronghold.

Let's cover the rest of the numbers. Delaine took only one new system, but fortified 3. Good numbers for them, even with the lower acquisitions. Antal has a similar picture painted this week - only 4 new systems, but 4 new forts, making for lower-than-average numbers but good for this cycle. Li Yong-Rui somewhat follows as well, with 6 new systems, 2 forts and a single stronghold. Last but most certainly not least for the independents, Grom took 8 systems, one new fort and a new stronghold, plus claiming victory in two battles against Kaine. This is the first time open hostility has been declared against Kaine for their expansionist tactics, though I suppose everyone else has greater threats to combat, while Grom enjoy their independence and good relations with both the Federation and the Empire.

Speaking of the imps, what've they been up to this week? Well, Torval is the second of three powers to lose systems this week, dropping 2 exploiteds but gaining one to compensate. Patty meanwhile took the opportunity to do... absolutely nothing. So much for coming back from the dead. Rest in peace, you won't be missed. ALD bucks the trend of this cycle by gaining 13 systems, 3 forts and 2 strongholds - where they found the time for that, I don't know. They did put out an article claiming victory in CD-51 2650, although conveniently left out the part where they had help from their exploit-abusing friends. I'll be honest, I try to read every cycle post and article that comes across my feed - I didn't read this one. Far too long, too much of a wall of text. Yes, I recognise the irony in that. The last imperial is one we don't cover often anymore, much to my happiness - Aisling lost one exploited system and had one fort downgraded, putting them at an overall standing of... zero! That's right, so long as y'all continue to use your salvage exploit bullshit (or any other exploit you decide to) y'all can have your results set to zero. With the amount the bathwater cult keeps invading the comments on these posts, it's clear y'all just want the attention anyways, so for the most part you're not getting it. But I do enjoy highlighting your losses - even with all your exploits, losing something proves you're still human and thus not infallible or invincible, despite what your propagandists would have you believe.

First time I've covered the Alliance last. That feels weird, definitely not doing that again. Mahon nabbed 5 new systems, one fort and one stronghold. Solid results for this cycle. Kaine, however, have also bucked the trend of this cycle and taken 12 exploited systems, one fort and four strongholds! I'd say that means they win this cycle quite handily. In addition, in their own cycle post this week, Kaine claim they were only fighting Grom in one system, not two. The plot thickens! Now, I will clarify - this isn't the first time Kaine have had open hostilities declared against them. I remember the Asetsi war, fought in it myself. But that wasn't for their expansionism, that was for other reasons - since those days, I am happy to say that relations between the Federation and Kaine have improved significantly, and hopefully continue to do so.

So, why was this cycle so low for most powers? Well, in a word, Operations. And all the shenanigans that you'd expect. The servers went down on Tuesday as is the norm, but stayed down for far longer than expected. It was only around 2am the following morning that they went up... with Operations being disabled. At the time, FDev gave no estimation of when Operations would be going live, nor any real reason for the last second delay - to date, they still haven't given us a reason. Probably because they're still trying to put out the dumpster fire of various bugs that have come out with this update, including Operations failing when they shouldn't, not showing any rewards despite paying them out, and most critically in my opinion, not paying out rewards at all. Oh, and deleting all your Odyssey data and visited star data, though they've now fixed that. Reportedly, only 30% of operations played are actually giving rewards like merc coin, which the community have "affectionately" been referring to as chudcoin. I won't pretend to be in tune with modern meme culture enough to know what a "chud" is, but I won't pretend that merc coin isn't about the single most generic thing that this currency could've been named.

Anyways, Operations were released on Wednesday, and technical issues aside, they are actually fun*. What does fun* mean? Well, unlike good old fashioned fun that's just generally a good time, fun* (pronounced either "fun-with-an-asterisk" or "fun-star") has some degree of conditionals on it being fun. First of all, you have to actually get into a lobby and be able to play in the first place - after the first wave of people rushing in, this does seem to have stabilised. If you want to play hard mode, you need four people, at least for the on-foot stuff. I'll be real - I'm not the most talented pilot, but I'm one of the scarier fuckers to go against when it comes to on-foot FPS combat. Hard mode on-foot encounters are balanced for four people that know their shit and have G5'd everything. Preferably fully modded, too. Enemies are essentially boosted G5 hostiles, with possible durability increases and a definite damage increase. And that's all before the bugs - momentary invulnerability and enemies sometimes not staggering combines with the strikers' shotguns two-tapping you no matter what suit you're in to be extremely frustrating if you're in a scenario where death = restart. I won't pretend to be in a position to judge when it comes to the spaceship stuff - there's all manner of broken builds and FA-off shenanigans you can do to shred even the most potent of NPCs, even if they're now flying Kestrels and Cobra Vs. (and yes, they're as annoying as they sound to fight, though not that much more lethal) That said, they did make a Type-10 that was actually a threat to fight, so kudos there.

Where things fall apart is, predictably, on the grind front. One hard mode operation will give at most about 150 opcoins. Getting a single module to grade five engineering costs 850. Eight hundred and fifty coins. For one module. Now, these are special modules, typically being ones released in previous CGs that are now accessible again, but that grind is fucking ridiculous. It is at least more reasonable for the new blueprints - enhanced scoop rate and plasma conversion for lasers. There it's only about 450 coins per G5 module, plus all the other relevant materials. The rest of the rewards are trivial - 10M credits is laughable, the material rewards I can't tell because they're still bugged and the merits? 1500 at most, again for a hard operation. That, at least, I consider to be good. Merits being low means control points are low, meaning Operations' impact on powerplay is negligible. Not that powerplay's in a great state anyway - in addition to the continually-abused salvage duplication exploit, powerplay scores are now not updating on the galaxy map since the update. At time of writing this hasn't changed - the tracker currently has two separate issues on this topic. If you have the time, regardless of your power or potential lack thereof, I humbly request you upvote both topics as soon as you have the chance. If FDev aren't aware of this (and it really wouldn't surprise me if they aren't) then they need to be made aware ASAP so they can fix this.

What else? Oh yeah, the Nomad launched! For the same ARX price as a full ship. Now, bear in mind that the Nomad is a shuttle - an SLF with landing gear and a fancy exobio scanner. It's not a full ship. You're arguably going to be spending very little time in it overall. You can't even dock it at a station or anything! And yet, for the super-shiny all-inclusive version, it costs sixty-thousand ARX. 60,000. That's about £30 worth. For a shuttle that you can't outfit with anything beyond stock equipment and the cosmetics. Forgive me, but that seems fucking insulting. Even the normal, early-ARXcess unlock bundle is just under a tenner, which is still ridiculous for a shuttle in my opinion. I doubt this will be selling nearly as much as the Kestrel did, but only time will tell on that one.

Four total Galnet articles this week - the first of which being a statement from President Winters about wanting access to Radicoida, the blue trees in the enclave. And could FDev have worded this any worse?! Like fucking hell on a bison, why is she dancing around the whole October Accords? That includes the Empire, who we kinda have some beef with. Infact we're the only superpower not part of the Accords, which I'm still pissed FDev took that route to resolve the enclave debacle. I feel like they just got the intern to write it. Anyways, the next two are just the release of the Nomad and Operations, while the last is the announcement of a shiny new community goal - deliver exobio data from the Sanguineous Rim for a Caspian and Nomad paint job, as well as a DeLacy decal. Everyone gets the shinies this time, no top 75% bullshit at least.

Well, that's our lot. Operations' release has been an utter clusterfuck - FDev haven't learned their lesson since Odyssey's launch, it seems. Told y'all it was gonna be a broken mess. Hopefully some of the bugs will have been ironed out by next week, but until then, fly safe and pack an extra medkit! Believe me, you're gonna need it.

Tired of flying blind? - join the discord for new updates and zesty tips on powerplaycraft!

Target priorities as follows

Reinforcement:

Carry out reinforcement activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

Belgitan, Thetis, Col 285 Sector OS-T d3-76

Reinforcement priorities are ever changing and we cannot update publicly in a timely manner. Join the Discord if you want to help!

​​​

Acquisition:

Carry out acquisition activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

Hyades Sector EB-X d1-114

Join the Discord for updates! We can offer rapid mining acquisition options to pilots in our server - they move too fast to put on here!

​​​

Undermining:

Current priority:

No publicly available undermining targets at this time

Join the Discord for targets and opportunities!

Interested in Federal AX? Join FAX-COM.

Interested in emergency relief work? Winters has a place for you.

Interested in PvP? PvP is a lifeblood of powerplay. We train interested pilots with a dedicated server, resources and mentors, and weekly in-house tournaments

Interested in exploration? We maintain a server for our explorers too

Want more nuance on objectives, to wing up, or to keep up to date on the ever-evolving strategy? Join our Discord! Stop by and say hello! Or join to stay quiet and beaver away at your specialism <shrug>. In addition to Powerplay Ops, we have channels for general ED discussion, ship building mastery, and PvP training, with domain experts. We also have an unsurpassed cantina <clink>.

​​​

Diplomatic Overview:

Archon Delaine – Cordial (Still got rum? Good, I need some of that)

Arissa Lavigny-Duval – Hostile

Denton Patreus – Unfriendly (Presumed dead?)

Edmund Mahon – Neutral

Jerome Archer – Ally

Li Yong-Rui – Neutral

Nakato Kaine – Neutral

Pranav Antal – Cordial

Yuri Grom – Neutral

Zemina Torval – Unfriendly

Late again, am I? Yeah, sorry, the heatwave over here has been brutal. Seriously, stay hydrated, y'all. So, what's been going on?

Cycle summary:

Ah. Well that's not great. Unfortunately it continues to be rough times for the Federation, and now Winters is bearing more of the brunt of it - 4 systems lost due to 2 downgraded forts, with 3 systems gained to compensate. Archer has suffered worse however, losing 2 forts outright and 5 exploited systems, though compensated with another 5 systems gained. At time of writing it's unknown how many of those were lost through legitimate means or exploits, but with that shadow hanging over morale continues to suffer - Delaine's statement about "rock bottom" is sadly accurate.

This is the thing the imps don't want people talking about - exploits ruin the fun in such a definitive way. Seeing them used against you, with impdev doing absolutely nothing to fix or even acknowledge it, and silencing anyone who even talks about them... it cuts deep, I won't lie. Truth be told, half the purpose of these posts is to try to draw in more people to Winters and powerplay in general - certainly failing there recently. But if I'm honest? I cannot, in good conscience, recommend anyone play powerplay in its current state. Of course, I say this just as election season is coming round in FLC and I'm continuing to volunteer my services - is that hypocrisy? Perhaps if I kept saying I'm doing this for the love of the game, it would be, but I'm not. I do this for two reasons - the community, the people, both our members within Winters and the diplomats from other powers I've had the pleasure of interacting with... and because no-one else will. Saying the quiet part out loud, I suppose. I keep writing these posts, serving as the President's lead diplomat, because I'm the only one willing to do so nowadays. And I still enjoy it to an extent, don't get me wrong. But that's likely only because I don't actually have to play to serve my role. I just have to talk - to diplomats and friends, to my fellow federals within and outside FLC, and to ramble to you lot here. And sometimes that results in this particular case of word vomit... I do apologise. Abelard! Keep me on topic, please.

Right, where were we? Galaxy numbers, yes. Let's get the chimperials out of the way... nah, that's unfair. Chimps are far better creatures than imperials. ALD took only 7 systems, while losing another 3. Still suffering from last week's attack, yes, but also most of her forces were directed at attacking us again. She's actually somehow done worse than Patty of all people - I thought we killed him dead when he popped the last relic rush! But no, 5 new systems and still no cycle posts from them. Probably just a good week or something. Torval has gained 2 and lost 2 systems, no change there. Overall, the imps have had a middling week - a total of 3 independent and one Alliance power have done better on the leaderboards alone than the entirety of the Empire combined. That does put a smile on my face.

So, who's been having a good week? Antal certainly has - 12 new systems and 5 new forts, with only one exploited system lost for the trouble. Grom has also done very well for himself, with 12 new systems, 4 new forts and a shiny new stronghold. Independence suits you almost as well as the beard. Li Yong-Rui is the last independent power with double-digit gains, totalling 10 new systems, 3 forts and one stronghold in the Pleiades of all places. The Kumo Crew do bring up the rear for the independents, as is somewhat their habit due to their general love of things that the leaderboards don't show - don't mistake that for complacency or incompetence though. You can ask Grom what happened last time they did that. 4 new systems, one fort and one stronghold may not be much to most, but for Delaine it is enough.

Last but not least, the Alliance! Mahon continues to enjoy his overall unchallenged first place on the overall galactic leaderboards, with 12 new systems and one new fort. Kaine meanwhile has somewhat slowed pace on acquisitions to focus on consolidation - only 7 new systems, but 5 forts and 2 new strongholds make for a decidedly solid shift towards reinforcement and holding their territory, possibly after last week's attack. This only cost them one system - Orrere, home of pirate group The Code. This isn't the first time they've taken their system back to neutrality, and I'm betting it won't be the last.

Exactly one Galnet article this week, and it's big news - the Kestrel has finally entered full production and is available to everyone for credits. After 4 freaking months. Now FDev have zero excuse to leave it in such a brokenly overpowered state!... yeah, no, they're not touching it. Shit's broken, it's gonna stay broken, but at least now you can hop into what is now the PvP ship without forking over any real money. I certainly continue to not spend another penny on this game - with how broken everything is, I doubt I ever will again.

That's a wrap. I know, it's depressing, and I've said shit I shouldn't. Some of this stuff would undoubtedly get this taken off the forums... except I'm done posting there. Forum mods have shown their imperial bias, to the point I'm wondering if it's outright prejudice against us feds. Either way, no more forum posts for the forseeable. I did hear about the twit who decided to try to impersonate me and make a fake post glazing a power that doesn't exist, which is hilarious. But yeah... this isn't exactly a fun game anymore. Hell, this election cycle we've lost 3 leaders across as many departments, and I wouldn't be surprised if next cycle more followed suit. Is that what the imps want? To "win" by making the game so unfun to play that the only winning move for us is just to walk away? I'd like to hope not... but knowing them, I'd probably bet on it.

Operations is out on Tuesday. That's going to be a shitshow, I can tell - it's been confirmed that they'll be useful for powerplay only for undermining, which is going to make for at the very least a period of instability while everyone tries the new stuff. We'll see just how broken everything is next time. Until then, fly safe and keep hydrated in the heat... and hopefully keep yourself in better spirits than I am.

Orange you glad for some humour? - join the discord for new updates and zesty tips on powerplaycraft!

Target priorities as follows

Reinforcement:

Carry out reinforcement activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

Belgitan, Thetis, Puppis Sector SD-T b3-7

Reinforcement priorities are ever changing and we cannot update publicly in a timely manner. Join the Discord if you want to help!

​​​

Acquisition:

Carry out acquisition activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

Hyades Sector EB-X d1-114, LP 607-39

Join the Discord for updates! We can offer rapid mining acquisition options to pilots in our server - they move too fast to put on here!

​​​

Undermining:

Current priority:

No undermining targets available at this time

Join the Discord for targets and opportunities!

Interested in Federal AX? Join FAX-COM.

Interested in emergency relief work? Winters has a place for you.

Interested in PvP? PvP is a lifeblood of powerplay. We train interested pilots with a dedicated server, resources and mentors, and weekly in-house tournaments

Interested in exploration? We maintain a server for our explorers too

Want more nuance on objectives, to wing up, or to keep up to date on the ever-evolving strategy? Join our Discord! Stop by and say hello! Or join to stay quiet and beaver away at your specialism <shrug>. In addition to Powerplay Ops, we have channels for general ED discussion, ship building mastery, and PvP training, with domain experts. We also have an unsurpassed cantina <clink>.

​​​

Diplomatic Overview:

Archon Delaine – Cordial (Still got rum? Good, I need some of that)

Arissa Lavigny-Duval – Hostile

Denton Patreus – Unfriendly

Edmund Mahon – Neutral

Jerome Archer – Ally

Li Yong-Rui – Neutral

Nakato Kaine – Neutral

Pranav Antal – Cordial

Yuri Grom – Neutral

Zemina Torval – Unfriendly

I'm late, I know. Sorry. Navigating out of the Koronus Expanse was a bit... difficult. But we're back! Just had to fly through a warp storm, two Drukhari raiders and far too many space pirates. Rather simple when all is said and done! So, what's been going on this week?

Cycle Summary:

Ah. Everything's on fire. Well, not everything, but more powers than usual are suffering from some fires. Winters has escaped mostly unscathed - 9 new systems and one new fort, only at the cost of one system. CD-51 2650 was directly attacked by the same exploit used against Alpha Centauri, by the same unrecognised group. Hard to believe the attack on AC started 6 weeks ago now. We took the same stance with it as Archer did with Alpha Centauri - this is an exploit-based attack that we simply cannot win against, so we're not going to burn our people out by sending them into an impossible fight. Unlike the Imperium, our people are not expendable. On the subject of our Federal friends under the shadow president's command, Archer has had a very rough week indeed - 9 exploited and one fortified system lost, 2 forts and a stronghold downgraded, only counterbalanced by 4 new systems gained. Morale continues to be low after the defeat in AC and FDev's apparent nonchalance at this blatant exploit abuse.

The rest of the galaxy hasn't gotten away unscathed either - shockingly, Nakato Kaine took a significant hit. 7 new systems and 2 new forts, at the cost of two systems, one downgraded fort, and two downgraded strongholds. Who could have perpetrated such an attack against a decidedly neutral entity? Well, we don't have to speculate - Wregoe BC-V b57-7, one of the lost exploited systems, has been snatched up by a certain unrecognised group of despicable individuals. This isn't the first time they've done this either, if my memory serves. Hopefully Kaine's forces haven't gotten too comfortable with peace - I can hear their war drums beating. Kaine's Alliance ally Mahon had a better week, with 10 new systems and 3 new forts - only just falling behind Antal, who seem determined to one-up them with exactly one more exploited and fortified system gained. 11 new systems and 4 new forts, very shiny. Grom has done similarly well - 11 systems gained as well, only one fort, but 2 strongholds on top of that. I dare say that wins out. Finally for the independent powers, Delaine and Li Yong-Rui both had relatively small gains, with the former taking one new system and 2 strongholds while the latter took 4 systems, 2 new forts and 2 new strongholds.

As for the Empire, Patreus has had zero activity once again. Morale is likely also pretty low for him after the last relic rush - still deserved, I say. Torval lost one stronghold and one exploited system, and while the latter isn't much of a surprise the former is a touch surprising. ALD's losses, however, are far more surprising - 8 new systems taken and one new fort, but at the cost of seventeen lost systems. I'll be blunt - this looks like retribution. Not against ALD, but against a group or power ALD is aligned to. However, we hold no record of this power, so clearly they must not exist. But if they did exist, then that'd be a very good explanation as to why they've suffered such troubles, and we'd highly suggest that ALD cut ties with said group, given their problematic history and methods. Alas, such a group does not exist, so the true reasons for this attack against the impress must remain a mystery...

Exactly one Galnet article this week, marking the end of the two-week campaign for the operation runners. Frontline's shiny new prototype is off the line, with the rest to follow soon I'd expect. We also got some new details about the Nomad, and it's safe to say people are not happy. To recap, the Nomad is a ship-launched vessel designed for planetary landings, releasing on the 30th of June with Operations in paid early ARXcess. It's now been revealed to be the first non-ship vessel to have a ship kit, if my memory serves. Being specced for exploration, it comes with a mk2 discovery scanner, which basically translates to the Artemis suit's biological detector pulse scan thing but with significantly longer range. There's also something else that the Nomad can do, but FDev are being tight-lipped about it. That's not what's got people pissed, though.

No, people are pissed because the Nomad requires a "mk2 vessel bay" to launch from - which sounds fine on its own, it just launches from any old SLF-compatible ship, right? They're the same slot, so it should be fine, right? Apparently not. The Nomad's mk2 vessel bay can only be mounted on the Caspian, Panther and Type-11. Now unless you're like a mate of mine, you don't use a Panther Clipper as your mainline "get around, do almost anything" ship, you use it as a cargo ship which doesn't have a need for a Nomad. The Type-11 of course has zero use for one of these, so it's basically just limited to the Caspian. Understandably, this has people pissed... and I think that's exactly what FDev want. Remember the Dodec debacle? How it was originally announced as permanently behind a paywall but then they changed it? Well, the knock-on effect of that whole debacle was a degree of publicity. I reckon FDev are going for that same publicity here - announce arbitrary restriction for new ship, inevitable backlash follows, "rethink" things and remove arbitrary restriction. Free publicity, some of it even good at the end of it all. It tracks with FDev's current degree of uselessness - 6 weeks of this exploit and nothing from FDev about it. Not a damned peep. New ships and content or not, if this kind of exploit continues to be allowed, that'll kill this game much faster than any form of content stagnation.

That's our lot for the week. Touch late, touch depressing, but t'is the way of the game. Maybe the only winning move is not to play... fuck it, let's make another reckless FTL jump and see where we end up! Fly safe, and make sure to have a good playlist when you do!... on that note, would y'all like links to the songs I use in the titles of these?

Sweet smells of wonder - join the discord for new updates and zesty tips on powerplaycraft!

Target priorities as follows

Reinforcement:

Carry out reinforcement activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

Belgitan

Reinforcement priorities are ever changing and we cannot update publicly in a timely manner. Join the Discord if you want to help!

​​​

Acquisition:

Carry out acquisition activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

HIP 36509, Postverta

Join the Discord for updates! We can offer rapid mining acquisition options to pilots in our server - they move too fast to put on here!

​​​

Undermining:

Current priority:

No undermining targets available at this time

Join the Discord for targets and opportunities!

Interested in Federal AX? Join FAX-COM.

Interested in emergency relief work? Winters has a place for you.

Interested in PvP? PvP is a lifeblood of powerplay. We train interested pilots with a dedicated server, resources and mentors, and weekly in-house tournaments

Interested in exploration? We maintain a server for our explorers too

Want more nuance on objectives, to wing up, or to keep up to date on the ever-evolving strategy? Join our Discord! Stop by and say hello! Or join to stay quiet and beaver away at your specialism <shrug>. In addition to Powerplay Ops, we have channels for general ED discussion, ship building mastery, and PvP training, with domain experts. We also have an unsurpassed cantina <clink>.

​​​

Diplomatic Overview:

Archon Delaine – Cordial (Still got rum? Good, I need some of that)

Arissa Lavigny-Duval – Hostile

Denton Patreus – Unfriendly

Edmund Mahon – Neutral

Jerome Archer – Ally

Li Yong-Rui – Neutral

Nakato Kaine – Neutral

Pranav Antal – Cordial

Yuri Grom – Neutral

Zemina Torval – Unfriendly

I'm back from holiday! It was fun, but utterly exhausting, hence why we're now at Sunday and I'm writing this. What's been going on this week? Besides me pulling a funny on Rogue Trader

Cycle Summary:

Well, for us... exactly what it looks like. 10 new systems and a new fort - good stuff indeed. Ordinarily this would put us high up in the rankings for the week, but it seems this week's numbers are rather high. Did someone pop another relic rush without telling me? Not quite - only 120t, but still enough to make an impact. After last week, Archer have understandably slowed down momentum, but still pulled positive this week - 8 systems taken, with 6 lost and 2 forts downgraded. Honestly, after Alpha Centauri, I can't blame them for slowing down. The entire situation there is incredibly demoralising.

Let's go through the numbers - LYR hits the top spot this week with 20 new acquisitions, one new fort and 2 strongholds. Bonus cheques for his operatives are likely in the mail. In second for acquisitions is Mahon with 18 new systems, but 2 forts and 5 strongholds make for some fine consolidation work indeed. For the first time since I took office, they've also put out their own cycle post out - love to see it. Welcome to the party! Taking the bronze medal is Kaine, with 12 new systems, 1 fort and one stronghold. The Alliance's attitude of neutrality and peace is certainly paying off in the numbers department. Question is, will that peace hold, or will another power smell weakness or opportunity? Only time will tell.

Antal maintains their high standards with 11 new systems, 4 new forts and one new stronghold. Grom has the same net gains, but the details are more interesting - 15 new systems, 2 new forts and 3 new strongholds, but 4 lost systems. Possibly some underprepared systems taken out by recently-begrudged imps? Fraid I don't know for certain. What I do know is that the Kumo Crew were having a lot of fun with the recent trade CG - so much so that it has impacted their numbers, with only 3 systems, 2 new forts and 4 strongholds. I mean hey, if y'all had fun I think you made the right choice.

Onto the imperials - Torval took 2 new systems and one new fort, and lost... 2 systems and downgraded one fort. Net zero exactly, but not for lack of trying. Patty took 2 systems as well, but didn't lose or upgrade/downgrade anything. ALD took 9 systems, lost one and upgraded one to a fort. And finally... no, wait, that's all 3 imperial powers. If there was a fourth, I'd probably mention something about massive losses, but there isn't and I'm just rambling. It's probably the lack of oxygen - I was at a higher altitude while on holiday.

Galnet has had a quiet week, with only the one article about the blue trees in HIP 87621 - they were cultivated by the Guardians umpteen million years ago, but not created by them. Interesting... anyways, the CG for goodies for the operation runners is still underway - if you're interested in the paint job for the Type 8 or Plipper, then I'd get in on it fast. Inara predicts the CG will be completed in just under 3 days at time of writing, but I'd bet money on it being sooner. Or I would bet money, were I irresponsible. And also not broke. Temporarily.

That's our lot for this week. High numbers, but not unheard of by any means. I'm headed off to explore... wherever the hell this is. Does anyone have a map for this "Koronus Expanse"?... mostly uncharted, you say. Well, shit, guess we better chart it! Fly safe and make sure to pack a medkit! Never know what monsters are hiding out there.

Interested in some juicy advice? - join the discord for new updates and zesty tips on powerplaycraft!

Target priorities as follows

Reinforcement:

Carry out reinforcement activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

Belgitan

Reinforcement priorities are ever changing and we cannot update publicly in a timely manner. Join the Discord if you want to help!

​​​

Acquisition:

Carry out acquisition activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

HIP 36509, Postverta

Join the Discord for updates! We can offer rapid mining acquisition options to pilots in our server - they move too fast to put on here!

​​​

Undermining:

Current priority:

No undermining targets available at this time

Join the Discord for targets and opportunities!

Interested in Federal AX? Join FAX-COM.

Interested in emergency relief work? Winters has a place for you.

Interested in PvP? PvP is a lifeblood of powerplay. We train interested pilots with a dedicated server, resources and mentors, and weekly in-house tournaments

Interested in exploration? We maintain a server for our explorers too

Want more nuance on objectives, to wing up, or to keep up to date on the ever-evolving strategy? Join our Discord! Stop by and say hello! Or join to stay quiet and beaver away at your specialism <shrug>. In addition to Powerplay Ops, we have channels for general ED discussion, ship building mastery, and PvP training, with domain experts. We also have an unsurpassed cantina <clink>.

​​​

Diplomatic Overview:

Archon Delaine – Cordial (I checked, there's still plenty of rum in it)

Arissa Lavigny-Duval – Hostile

Denton Patreus – Unfriendly

Edmund Mahon – Neutral

Jerome Archer – Ally

Li Yong-Rui – Neutral

Nakato Kaine – Neutral

Pranav Antal – Cordial

Yuri Grom – Neutral

Zemina Torval – Unfriendly

Just finished it today in time for the reset tomorrow. Does this help our power gain a new system automatically? Just curious.

Cycle Summary:

On the surface, it's been a slow but solid week for Winters, with a new fort and 3 new systems, including one won from ALD in an acquisition race, as well as successfully defending the stronghold of Athena, also from ALD's forces. However, that's not the whole story, is it? Most of us have, in one way or another, been helping Archer, who's sustained heavy losses this week - 10 systems lost and 2 forts downgraded, with another fort lost entirely, in an opportunistic attack while the Federation as a whole has been otherwise occupied with Alpha Centauri. This was compensated for with 2 new systems, a new fort and a new stronghold, but alas, it was all for naught.

It was less than a month ago that this little saga started. Archer saw insane levels of undermining in Alpha Centauri, with zero hope of countering it. The culprit by now is well known - a well-known bug combined with imbalanced bonuses and some unique points of interest made for insane numbers that simply could not be fought against. Any reasonable leadership group would've seen these ridiculous numbers and stopped there, realising just how unfair it is. But the numbers continued - from stronghold to fortified to exploited and then gone. This last week was the tipping point - without salvage to abuse, it was as close to a fair fight as it would get. However, in the 3 weeks prior, the attackers had used the time gained by abusing exploits to gather a massive data snipe. Despite Archer's best efforts with conflict zones and his own data gathering efforts, the attacker's data snipe ended up being too much to take. Now the system has fallen under the aggressor's control and they are already abusing the same exploit to reinforce the system - I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if it was a stronghold 2 weeks from now.

This entire event is a disappointment, both from the aggressor who knowingly chose to abuse broken exploits in order to achieve their desired goal - even their legitimate earnings were built off the back of illicit methods - and from FDev, who have failed to act on this and other broken aspects of powerplay. Between the relic rushes, disabling data for months, gutting trading and now this... I find myself asking, what even is the point of powerplay anymore? The numbers game that powerplay has become is immaterial when faced with just how broken it is. I won't lie, I haven't played since the Siege of Orgen, which if you'll recall was also countered by another broken mechanic. Did that take the wind out of my sails? Maybe a bit, but to be honest I was happy with just playing the game occasionally. I do this for the people, both within Winters and other powers - the sense of community there is what keeps me going, keeps me writing these up. But after Alpha Centauri... look, I won't lie - it hurts seeing this kind of issue continue with zero fixes, repercussions or seemingly acknowledgement that FDev will do anything about this. When similar bad actors pushed ALD towards Sol, FDev reversed it - there's zero guarantee they'll do the same here. Or anywhere that's been impacted by this. If the devs aren't fixing it and the community is happy to exploit it for their own game... why are we still doing this?

Onto less depressing topics - the numbers. Delaine has had a solid week, with 2 exploited systems, one fort and one stronghold. Apparently one of their new exploited systems was taken from them nearly half a year ago now, but it has finally been returned to it's rightful owner. Li Yong-Rui has made good headway, with 6 new system and 4 forts. Antal has done fantastically this week - 10 new systems, 4 new forts and 3 new strongholds make for a truly intense week of acquisition and reinforcement. Well done Antal! That will finance many quiches. Speaking of foodstuffs, Yuri Grom has even more reason to partake in a touch of vodka now - the recent split between major player groups in charge of Grom has been semi-resolved with a joint statement, though the language is somewhat confusing, with many questioning if this means the former zyada defensive pact is still in effect. The general consensus seems to be that this is just TEoL and EGPU buring the hatchet for the good of Grom, though who knows what that means for Grom's future. What we do know is he took 12 new systems and fortified one, but lost 5 in the process. Not great, but far from terrible. Overall, it seems like one group is fighting for the good of Grom, while the other is fighting for the good of the Empire. I'll let you decide which is which.

On the topic of the Empire, Patty has taken 3 new systems with zero losses, while granny Torval has taken 2 systems but lost one, though that is offset somewhat by gaining a new stronghold. ALD is the highlight here - 11 systems and 2 forts lost, compensated by 3 new systems, 2 forts and 2 strongholds gained. How did that happen? Well I can safely say it wasn't us, as we were far too busy on the defensive. As for the Alliance, Kaine has taken 16 new systems, 2 forts and a stronghold. Fantastic work there. Mahon meanwhile enjoys his shiny top spot on the galaxy's leaderboards - the largest power in the galaxy takes 8 systems this week, as well as 3 new forts. Very nice.

Galnet's had a fairly average week, with 2 new articles - the first being more vague speculation about Lady Zi's troops, undoubtedly the enemies we shall be facing in Operations, while the second heralds the new community goal: cargo deliveries for the construction of the "runner" megaships we'll be using in Operations as transport and respawn points. The far more interesting announcement came from FDev themselves - the reveal of the Nomad, a ship-launched shuttle craft, designed for planetary landings when your ship is just too big to get into a good spot. That's coming out June 30th in early ARXcess, the same date as Operations. Now, the eagle-eyed peeps who've taken a closer look at the Nomad have noticed the port side has a rather large door, and the Nomad's page hints at as-yet-unrevealed features. What could it be? Capacity for multiple crew members? The potential to land at planetary ports? Or even... cargo space? As soon as we know, you'll know.

That's our lot for the week. I do apologise for it being a touch more depressing than usual, but recent events kinda necessitate that. Next week's cycle post will be a few days late as I'm headed on a week-long trip tomorrow and won't be back till next Friday, so expect our next cycle post over the weekend. Till then, fly safe and don't forget to buy snacks!

Seeds of great ideas - join the discord for new updates and zesty tips on powerplaycraft!

Target priorities as follows

Reinforcement:

Carry out reinforcement activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

Athena, 20 Sextantis

Reinforcement priorities are ever changing and we cannot update publicly in a timely manner. Join the Discord if you want to help!

​​​

Acquisition:

Carry out acquisition activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

HIP 36509, WISE 0647-6232

Join the Discord for updates! We can offer rapid mining acquisition options to pilots in our server - they move too fast to put on here!

​​​

Undermining:

Current priority:

No undermining targets available at this time

Join the Discord for targets and opportunities!

Interested in Federal AX? Join FAX-COM.

Interested in emergency relief work? Winters has a place for you.

Interested in PvP? PvP is a lifeblood of powerplay. We train interested pilots with a dedicated server, resources and mentors, and weekly in-house tournaments

Interested in exploration? We maintain a server for our explorers too

Want more nuance on objectives, to wing up, or to keep up to date on the ever-evolving strategy? Join our Discord! Stop by and say hello! Or join to stay quiet and beaver away at your specialism <shrug>. In addition to Powerplay Ops, we have channels for general ED discussion, ship building mastery, and PvP training, with domain experts. We also have an unsurpassed cantina <clink>.

​​​

Diplomatic Overview:

Archon Delaine – Cordial (I checked, there's still plenty of rum in it)

Arissa Lavigny-Duval – Hostile

Denton Patreus – Unfriendly

Edmund Mahon – Neutral

Jerome Archer – Ally

Li Yong-Rui – Neutral

Nakato Kaine – Neutral

Pranav Antal – Cordial

Yuri Grom – Neutral

Zemina Torval – Unfriendly

Briefly, Oracle is having some technical issues this week. I may have fucked up when rewriting its code to abide by our statement from last week, so Oracle stats will be posted later in the week. My most sincere and humble apologies - this is what I get for poking things I shouldn't.

Cycle Summary:

Winters has had a solid week this week, with 6 new systems and 2 forts, one of which being Lhanayi, a former core system of one thick and icki group of rascals. However, happy sentiments within our ranks are counterbalanced by Archer having a rough week - at current we're seeing 4 lost exploited systems, which may be different to the actual numbers. One of the lost systems was Alpha Centauri, which continued to see exploit-abuse level numbers for the entire week. Archer made the decision not to attempt to reinforce it - let's be honest, why would they suffer that kind of ordeal? There's zero point to it, it's not fun, there's no-one in open to even try to fight. Hopefully FDev steps up and fixes this soon, but if history is anything to go by, it's probably going to be at least a few weeks before those responsible suffer the consequences of their illicit and immoral actions.

Onto the rest of the galaxy - the newly independent Grom are thriving without the chains of the Empire to bind them. 10 new systems, a new fort and a new stronghold make for a very strong week, putting them in third place for overall net score this week. The Kumo crew have also had a good week, with 4 new systems, 2 forts and a stronghold - according to their own cycle post, one of those new systems was won after a pitched battle with the jelly-haired Patreus, leaving him with only 2 systems this cycle. Antal are determined to not be left behind, with 12 new systems and 6 forts claiming them second place. Who took first? That would be Kaine, with 16 systems and 2 forts - pacifism is working well for them this week. Their Alliance ally Mahon isn't doing badly either, with 9 new systems, 1 fort and 1 stronghold. Li Yong-Rui has chosen a route more focused on consolidation this week - 7 new systems, 2 forts and 2 strongholds. Smiling faces all around for the most part.

As for the Imperials, Patty got 2 systems as we mentioned above. ALD has taken 6 new systems and 2 forts - I'm assuming there's something we're missing in these more broad numbers. Same with Torval, who according to the numbers has lost 1 fort and 1 exploited, but I believe there's at least 3 more lost systems which have been compensated for. We'll know more after Oracle comes back.... huh. I could swear this section used to be longer. I suppose not having the detailed numbers really does make this a quick recap.

Damn, it really is a slow week for news. Galnet's only had one article - Ram Tah confirming that references to the blue trees in HIP 87621 exist in the Guardian archives. I'll be honest, that's not too surprising. Though the fact that it was once used as a combat stimulant is interesting. Perhaps this will make its way into the hands of a certain twin-axe-head-motif criminal group that we will have to fight in separately instanced "operations"... certainly a better theory than using it for hair dye or some other crap.

There's still a fair bit of fallout from events covered last week - thankfully, the fighting within Grom seems to have subsided. Once again, we celebrate their independence and wish them well on their newfound journey as a power unchained. Aside from that it really has been a quiet week... and now that I think about it, the best one for my mental health in months. I can't think of a cycle that's felt this good to write about since last year. Hopefully things just get better and better, for all 11 powers currently partaking in powerplay.

Update: we have numbers! So let's talk numbers. Anyone I don't mention in this section has numbers that are exactly as their net totals suggest - no losses. Let's start with Archer, who has had a rough week - 9 lost exploited systems, possibly due to a downgraded fort. However, 5 new systems and a new fort make that a lesser blow than it could've been - plus one of those lost systems is Alpha Centauri, which as we've already discussed, was not done legitimately. Torval took some serious losses, as we suspected - 4 lost exploited systems and 2 downgraded forts, compensated by 3 new exploited systems and 1 new fort, ALD had 3 lost exploited systems and a lost fort, but 9 new systems and 3 new forts completely camouflaged those who don't have access to a system like Oracle. Speaking of, thank you to those who fixed the code so quickly after I royally bungled it. Lesson learned, I won't touch it next time!

Until next time, fly safe and enjoy your drinks! ...no, I mean water. What do you mean, you're only drinking beer?! I can't even drink beer anymore! ...yes, I never liked the stuff anyway. But it's the perfect excuse! Now go drink some void-damned water!

Or potentially some orange juice? - join the discord for new updates and zesty tips on powerplaycraft!

Target priorities as follows

Reinforcement:

Carry out reinforcement activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

HIP 46631, LP 798-44, 20 Sextantis

Reinforcement priorities are ever changing and we cannot update publicly in a timely manner. Join the Discord if you want to help!

​​​

Acquisition:

Carry out acquisition activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

HIP 48141

Join the Discord for updates! We can offer rapid mining acquisition options to pilots in our server - they move too fast to put on here!

​​​

Undermining:

Current priority:

No undermining targets available at this time

Join the Discord for targets and opportunities!

Interested in Federal AX? Join FAX-COM.

Interested in emergency relief work? Winters has a place for you.

Interested in PvP? PvP is a lifeblood of powerplay. We train interested pilots with a dedicated server, resources and mentors, and weekly in-house tournaments

Interested in exploration? We maintain a server for our explorers too

Want more nuance on objectives, to wing up, or to keep up to date on the ever-evolving strategy? Join our Discord! Stop by and say hello! Or join to stay quiet and beaver away at your specialism <shrug>. In addition to Powerplay Ops, we have channels for general ED discussion, ship building mastery, and PvP training, with domain experts. We also have an unsurpassed cantina <clink>.

​​​

Diplomatic Overview:

Archon Delaine – Cordial (I checked, there's still plenty of rum in it)

Arissa Lavigny-Duval – Hostile

Denton Patreus – Unfriendly

Edmund Mahon – Neutral

Jerome Archer – Ally

Li Yong-Rui – Neutral

Nakato Kaine – Neutral

Pranav Antal – Cordial

Yuri Grom – Neutral

Zemina Torval – Unfriendly

Here you go, this was too spicy for the forum, so posting it here for posterity/amusement.

I also had replies under Professor Hex's cycle post that I feel were entirely fair criticism of what is widely regarded as an exploit, that is enshrined in the ADC powerplay manual. That is, the artificial respawning of salvage for use in powerplay with a rather unbalanced bonus on Aisling's part. Their manual also describes a winged version that multiplies the effectiveness of this. It is a small jump from there to violating ToS by using an alt account rather than a wingmate. Macros to do this AFK could also be formulated with relative ease compared to other forms of botting. So it is a dangerous practice to encourage. Currently they are using the general tactic (I have no evidence of ToS violation, mark you) on steroids in Alpha Centauri because there is an infinite salvage POI. Using this in PG permits an easy round the clock merit tap without interference.

An Aisling commander implied that the existence of permanent PCZ POIs and combat powers (notably their nemesis Jerome Archer, whose name they cannot even bear to write) represents an imbalance that justifies AD's conduct in Alpha Centauri. And yet, Archer, with PCZs available, has given up the defence of the system, since they are unable to view it as a competition. This means that the AD commander in question cannot fail to see what they themselves are doing as thus even more imbalanced, at the very least. This is an interesting glimpse into the psychology at AD, and how it is different from that at the other powers.

I also commented very briefly on AD's witchhunt against AuroraRider, which they had fortuitously omitted from their press for release, and therefore can be considered something that was purely undertaken in private servers and messages. This was a tool, a means to an end, to undermine the vote of Grom to leave ZYADA. I"ve seen this kind of tactic used before by AD discord agents when the freedom of a group or person to act as they wish is not to their advantage, and it is a common story that I've heard.

I don't need anyone to do anything or say anything or condemn anyone. But it is important to stand up and be heard when reasonable criticism aimed at improving the welfare of the wider community amd the promotion of fair play is silenced by unnecessary censorship.

Edit - the other message that triggered the ban:

"I mean speaking plainly, salvage flopping (that is, rapidly respawning game assets artificially for dev-unintended abundance levels for use in powerplay), with AD's huge salvage bonus is widely seen as an exploit outside AD. Doing so in an infinite salvage POI in PG where you don't even have to fly anywhere to salvage around the clock, puts this already broken ability of AD pledges on steroids. The wing version that you tout in your powerplay manual is truly absurd, and the ToS violating versions your manual doesn't stretch to include are obviously worse still. But are nonetheless easy to pursue by players of a power who we've by now established operates by entirely different standards to the rest of us on what constitutes acceptable gameplay, and are in keeping with practices that (I believe) I have successfully reported against AD players in the past during PP2.0. I used to think you were on the cool aid, but I now have to assume it's something much harder."

Yeah, this one isn't making it onto the forums.

Cycle summary:

Okay, let's get the numbers out of the way first. Winters had a straightforward cycle - 7 new systems, 1 new fort. Archer had a rougher week, which given circumstances is not a surprise. 13 systems taken and 2 new forts is counterbalanced by 6 lost exploited systems, 1 fort lost entirely and Alpha Centauri being downgraded to exploited. As with last week, we'll get to that later.

Numbers are high this week. Kaine takes the top spot with a net total of 19 - in actuality that's 21 new systems, 4 forts and a stronghold out in the coalsack nebula, all at the cost of two exploited systems and one fort, all likely tied to each other. Mahon also took 13 systems, with seemingly no complications there beyond the fact that they've once again taken Orrere. I doubt the Code will take kindly to that. Li Yong-Rui has taken 7 systems, 2 forts and a shiny new stronghold - they're just behind Antal with 9 new systems, 2 forts and 2 strongholds. Kumo have yoinked 5 new systems, 3 new forts and 2 strongholds, one of which is the notable system of Cuchua, which they fought over in the past. As for the Imperials, tumultuous times have arisen. Patty did the best of the lot, taking only 3 systems but losing none. Torval meanwhile took 2 and made a new fort, but lost one system in the process. Finally, ALD took 7 systems, 2 forts and a stronghold, but lost 9 systems in the process. Something happened there, and I'll be honest, I don't know what - our eyes have been focused elsewhere.

Now, the eagle-eyed amongst you will notice two powers are absent from these statistics. One of them is Grom, who is going to be today's primary topic of discussion. Their numbers this week are fine - 5 new systems, 1 new fort and a new stronghold. However, this isn't about the numbers. Last week, Grom declared their independence from ZYADA. More specifically, the group primarily in charge of Grom since Powerplay 2.0's inception, The Eyes of Leshak, called a vote, and once that vote was complete the results were dramatically in favour of independence. And unfortunately I do have to clarify this one, because someone's going to be a rat about it otherwise - independence. True independence. Not Federal vassalage or anything like that - real, honest independence for a power that has deserved it since its inception.

So the short version of this incident goes like this - The Eyes of Leshak (TEoL) call a vote for cedeing from ZYADA. They extend the invitation to vote to every pledged CMDR in their discord, which includes CMDRs from other Grom squadrons, notably EGPU. Now they're important because it was them who founded Grom in the first place, way back when, but once Powerplay 2.0 hit they departed powerplay in favour of other avenues. TEoL were left to pick up the pieces and continue where EGPU left off. Anyways! The vote passes - 52 for, 15 against. More than 3:1 majority. Some behind-the-scenes stuff happens, including informing the Imperial powers of the vote and their intention, which seemingly was met with friendly goodbyes and generally polite responses. Come the 14th, the announcement is made public - ZYADA is dead, Grom is independent.

This is where the proverbial shit hits the fan. Up until this point, EGPU have expressed zero issues with departing ZYADA. Then on Tuesday, shit kicks off. EGPU unilaterally declare TEoL's vote "illegitimate" and accuse everyone involved in the vote of being Federation spies. Which is a fairly classic Aisling tactic when it comes to disinformation campaigns. Hang on, why am I mentioning the bathwater cult? Well, Aisling was firmly backing EGPU, which is a rather shocking a turnaround from their previous stance - going from "okay, we'll miss you! Happy trails!" to "that vote doesn't count and if you say otherwise you're a spy" is some serious tonal whiplash, to say the least. This has basically become a bit of a discord war over the last couple days, which might've been fun to watch... were it not for the inevitable byproduct of any war: innocent casualties.

AuroraRider was a Grom diplomat, part of TEoL's structure but pledged to a separate squadron - that's fairly standard within powerplay groups. Much of Aisling's and EGPU's disinformation campaign focused on discrediting Aurora directly, with multiple members of Aisling leadership actively breaking multi year long friendships over this. Now when we at Winters were editing this bit, this section got cut out, but I've put it back in (after a touch of rewording) because I do feel this is something that needs to be said - this is a video game. We are running around in a silly space game painting the map our colour and sometimes painting over others. At no point should this ever cost anyone anything beyond in-game assets and time. Competition and conflict should stay in the game and not spill out into personal attacks. Alas, some people choose the game over everything else, which is a decision that I cannot fathom, myself. Aurora, understandably, has departed from Grom as a direct result of this attack against them. Which is a truly sad thing - they did nothing but support their power, alongside their people. And this is the result. They'd never seen this side of Aisling - the blatant misinformation, lying and ruining everything with a smile. Alas, we know it far too well.

As it stands, EGPU have declared a split and disavowed TEoL. Aisling are continuing their disinformation campaign, though in the face of public opinion veering against them, they have tried to walk back a number of their statements - no-one is buying their bullshit, least of all Grom. Speaking of bullshit, Aisling continue to maintain that their efforts in Alpha Centauri are legitimate - this would be hilarious, were it not for the amount of times they've done this. Unfortunately for them, we know exactly how the bathwater cult is operating there - for whatever reason, Alpha Centauri spawns "Salvageable Wreckage" pois, which spawn a fair amount of salvage. You already know where this is going - they're salvage flopping, just like before, only this time with significantly faster salvage spawns and commensurately high numbers. I'll be frank, regardless of your views on the typical salvage duplication method - look at the numbers alone and tell me this isn't broken beyond belief. Archer have actually stopped attempting to fight it because the numbers are too ridiculous to fight against. The fact the bathwater cult continue to abuse it while maintaining that their methods are above board is utterly ridiculous, and completely expected of a power with a leadership team devoted to climbing the ladder - no matter who ends up paying the price for it. This isn't johnny-foot-soldier's problem at its core - this goes to the top. All in service of ridiculous numbers - numbers that don't even matter anymore. So, we're not going to cover Aisling anymore in these posts. Not until they cease using illegitimate methods to gain those numbers they so desperately crave. It's time to let go and look at the bigger picture - the health of the game and that of the playerbase.

With that whole mess out of the way... the CG has finished, so if you got your 1T in, you'll have some shiny new expanded storage cargo racks. I got in at the last second - I know my Plipper will be happy. The only Galnet article not tied to the CG has been from Jaques of Jaques Station fame. Celebration of 10 years of Colonia... fuck me, it has been that long, hasn't it? There's some unsubtle foreshadowing there, though I'm not certain it's worth making the trip just yet. Maybe hold off until we've seen what's going on there - if nothing else, a halfway-decently modified Caspian can make that trip real fast.

And that's our lot. It's a touch depressing, isn't it? The biggest news is a conflict that didn't need to happen if people just... treated each other like people. I'll be honest, I have more receipts for this than I'd like to think about - the entire incident, particularly how Aurora was treated, has left a bad taste in my mouth. If y'all want proof of this, there's plenty of it, like how EGPU's statement doesn't line up with Aisling's cycle post. But it's not going in here - I'll find some way to bring it to those who desire it. For now, fly safe and... just remember, everyone's human, okay? Everyone deserves respect. Not... this. This is too much.

Citric acid in the air - join the discord for new updates and zesty tips on powerplaycraft!

Target priorities as follows

Reinforcement:

Carry out reinforcement activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

HIP 46631, LP 798-44

Reinforcement priorities are ever changing and we cannot update publicly in a timely manner. Join the Discord if you want to help!

​​​

Acquisition:

Carry out acquisition activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

HR 4296

Join the Discord for updates! We can offer rapid mining acquisition options to pilots in our server - they move too fast to put on here!

​​​

Undermining:

Current priority:

No undermining targets available at this time

Join the Discord for targets and opportunities!

Interested in Federal AX? Join FAX-COM.

Interested in emergency relief work? Winters has a place for you.

Interested in PvP? PvP is a lifeblood of powerplay. We train interested pilots with a dedicated server, resources and mentors, and weekly in-house tournaments

Interested in exploration? We maintain a server for our explorers too

Want more nuance on objectives, to wing up, or to keep up to date on the ever-evolving strategy? Join our Discord! Stop by and say hello! Or join to stay quiet and beaver away at your specialism <shrug>. In addition to Powerplay Ops, we have channels for general ED discussion, ship building mastery, and PvP training, with domain experts. We also have an unsurpassed cantina <clink>.

​​​

Diplomatic Overview:

Aisling Duval – Hostile

Archon Delaine – Cordial (I checked, there's still plenty of rum in it)

Arissa Lavigny-Duval – Hostile

Denton Patreus – Unfriendly

Edmund Mahon – Neutral

Jerome Archer – Ally

Li Yong-Rui – Neutral

Nakato Kaine – Neutral

Pranav Antal – Cordial

Yuri Grom – Neutral

Zemina Torval – Unfriendly

So. Let's start with the elephant in the room - this is two days late and I've been quiet as a mouse. Truth be told, I should've asked Bulb or someone else to write this, but I've really been wanting to do this, given current events... those current events being I've spent 72 hours in the hospital fighting for my life. I'm not going to go into detail here, though if people are interested maybe I'll write a separate post about it. (not on this subreddit, but I will link it if that happens) I will say that this isn't an apology, nor am I pushing myself to do this - writing this is a sense of normalcy that I sorely need right now. I will also clarify that I am no longer in danger of dying and that my hospitalisation was entirely due to physical health concerns, not mental health. That said, definitely feeling more than a touch fragile right now and I am very exhausted, so if my writing this week is a bit odd, this is why.

Today is a reminder that, behind our screens and our cockpits, our monitors and our CMDRs, every one of us is human. And as I have newly come to appreciate, every moment is a precious thing. Don't take it for granted. Live your life as happy as you can. Because at the end of the day, you really don't know when it might all change, or worse.

Cycle summary:

Back to your regularly scheduled silly space game news. Winters has had an okay cycle, though our streak of not losing any systems has been broken. 6 new systems and a new stronghold are offset by two lost exploited systems, both low-hanging fruit, both hit just before cycle tick. Archer has also had some rough times, but for different reasons. 5 new systems are offset by one lost exploited and one downgraded stronghold, which we're going to talk about later.

Biggest news this week is the celebration of Yuri Grom's Independence - our heartfelt congratulations to them for this truly monumental achievement. It's been a long time coming. There has been concern that we will see this as a victory - truth be told, I do. But not for the Federation. This is a victory for independent powers as a whole, but most importantly for Grom themselves who have been fighting hard for this. Y'all have more than earned your independence, and Winters both celebrates and respects that. May your future be bright as you chart your own course through the galaxy.

Numbers wise, Grom has done pretty well this week too. 3 new systems, 1 fort, 2 strongholds, zero losses. You love to see it. Delaine has also had a solid week, with 2 new systems, 3 forts and a new stronghold. I'll be honest, I've only skimmed their own cycle post this week, but it sounds like they're having a good time still. Antal are also having a good time, although with some difficulties involving some apparent masterful deception. Nevertheless, they continue to hold strong - 9 new systems, 2 forts and a stronghold, with only the cost of two exploited systems. This puts him just behind LYR, who have the exact same gains but zero losses. Mahon and Kaine continue their steady upticks as well - Mahon with 6/1/1 and Kaine with 10/2/1, no losses either side. (Does that format make sense? Let me know, might implement it in future posts if people like it)

On the Imperial front, surprises abound everywhere. Patty and Torval have made surprisingly good gains this cycle - 3 exploiteds for Patty, no complications there, while Torval has 5 new systems and a stronghold, but at the cost of one system. These are fantastic efforts from the smaller imperial powers - time will tell if this is maintained, but I for one am happy to see new life breathed into them. ALD has had arguably the roughest cycle of everyone this week - 6 new systems, a fort and 2 strongholds, at the cost of 2 forts downgraded and 2 exploited systems lost. I know that's a bit subjective, but even then these are solid numbers. Finally, the bathwater cult have taken... 17 systems and fortified 9, at the cost of 1 downgraded fort and one lost system. How the hell did that happen? Well, we have an answer, and I'm betting it's not the one you're thinking I'm about to say - Aisling have changed tactics. Most of the systems acquired and fortified were all low hanging fruit, in particular the acquisitions were mainly leftovers from the last relic rush. So yes, very high numbers, but nothing suspect.

What is suspect is Alpha Centauri. This'll all be easier to parse if you have a look at the powerplay influence graph for the system. So, first let's look at 18th March to April 3rd - that's some severe conflict, but drawn out over a couple weeks, give or take, and perfectly achievable with dedicated effort. That's our baseline. Now, 9th May to 15th May is that first push as before, but with half the time. So, basically double the merit count. And then there's what's happened in the couple days since, which is what we call in the business "absolutely fucking ridiculous". 1.173M undermining control points in 48 hours - that is quite clearly not legitimate. This is the hallmark of those who abused the data exploit to attempt to take Sol for ALD semi-recently - a group that, and I cannot stress this enough, ALD did not associate with and I believe even denounced. Now, the main reasons Aisling are being connected to this are that the system is marked as an official Aisling powerplay target and Aisling PCZs are in the system. So I want to make this clear before the trolls come running - there is no evidence at this time that Aisling's main powerplay group or groups are behind this. Similarly, while Aisling hasn't yet made a statement about this, it's only been 48 hours since the truly insane numbers have started and it's become clear to everyone that something fishy is afoot. These things take time. I fully expect that Aisling will put out a statement denouncing these illicit individuals given time. In the meantime, FDev will need to put a stop to it as they did before. And hopefully find out what these rat bastards are using for this sort of shit so they can put a stop to it.

And with that hopefully uncontroversial segment out of the way, let's talk about the non-powerplay stuff. The passenger CG is done and a new CG takes its place, this time for the fabled engineered cargo racks - and it's for everyone who made a contribution, not just the top 75%. That's also one of two galnet articles released this week, the other being some vague non-information about the perpetrators beyond a name: "Lady Zi". I guess these are the guys who will be the bad guys in operations. Ordinarily I'd probably add some more fluff or speculation, but I'll be honest - I'm a bit too exhausted for that this round, sorry.

That's our lot for this week. Have to admit, it feels good to be writing again. It's nice to be back to normal after everything that's happened this week. Y'all fly safe out there, and... do me a favour, okay? Take care of yourself. Get your bloods checked, go for a walk outside in nature, make food at home instead of ordering in. Even if it's just one thing, can you do me that favour? Cause regardless of what side of our funny space game we're on, I'd hate to lose any one of you. Yes, even you, asshole. (you know who you are)

Fly safe. In and out of the game.

A breath of fresh air under an orange sunrise - join the discord for new updates and zesty tips on powerplaycraft!

Target priorities as follows

Reinforcement:

Carry out reinforcement activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

Antliae Sector EL-Y b7, Col 285 Sector DY-U b18-2

Reinforcement priorities are ever changing and we cannot update publicly in a timely manner. Join the Discord if you want to help!

​​​

Acquisition:

Carry out acquisition activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

HIP 43947

Join the Discord for updates! We can offer rapid mining acquisition options to pilots in our server - they move too fast to put on here!

​​​

Undermining:

Current priority:

No undermining targets available at this time

Join the Discord for targets and opportunities!

Interested in Federal AX? Join FAX-COM.

Interested in emergency relief work? Winters has a place for you.

Interested in PvP? PvP is a lifeblood of powerplay. We train interested pilots with a dedicated server, resources and mentors, and weekly in-house tournaments

Interested in exploration? We maintain a server for our explorers too

Want more nuance on objectives, to wing up, or to keep up to date on the ever-evolving strategy? Join our Discord! Stop by and say hello! Or join to stay quiet and beaver away at your specialism <shrug>. In addition to Powerplay Ops, we have channels for general ED discussion, ship building mastery, and PvP training, with domain experts. We also have an unsurpassed cantina <clink>.

​​​

Diplomatic Overview:

Aisling Duval – Hostile

Archon Delaine – Cordial (I checked, there's still plenty of rum in it)

Arissa Lavigny-Duval – Hostile

Denton Patreus – Unfriendly

Edmund Mahon – Neutral

Jerome Archer – Ally

Li Yong-Rui – Neutral

Nakato Kaine – Neutral

Pranav Antal – Cordial

Yuri Grom – Neutral

Zemina Torval – Unfriendly

Cycle summary:

Some interesting goings on in the galaxy this week. Winters has had yet another cycle with no losses or downgrades, which brings a smile to my face. 5 new exploited systems, one new fort and 2 new strongholds. However, unlike last week this has only put us in a 3-way tie for third place on the leaderboards instead of at the top - that's fine by me. Slow and steady growth is still growth, and I'd be content with just holding the line. Archer has had rougher times this week - 7 new systems and one new fort do not entirely offset the 3 lost exploited systems, one downgraded fort and two fortified systems lost entirely. One of those can at least be accounted for via a diplomatic agreement - unfortunately I shan't be going into the details of that. Not Archer's best week, but far from their worst by a mile and they continue to maintain their goals. So, what about the rest of the galaxy?

Well, here's the first interesting thing happening in the galaxy - you know it's either a really good or really bad cycle for the Empire when the bathwater cult have the same net postive systems gained as Patty. That's right, +3 for the both of them! But what does that hide? For Patty, nothing - 3 new systems and a new fort. Could this be a true sign of life from the Imperial "warlord"? Only time will tell, but until I see another cycle post from them, I'll be skeptical. Aisling, however, isn't so clear-cut - 6 new systems, one new fort and 2 strongholds are offset by 3 lost systems and two downgraded forts. In the grand scheme of things, that's not so bad for her, though reports of the now-well-known "bathwater flop" have surfaced again this cycle, ensuring her losses weren't as bad as they could've been. Could this have been done another way, like with relics? Well they are at 120T right now (no risk of a rush thankfully) and the particular system in question has other options, so I'm not convinced that salvage flopping is the only way they could've done it - only that they could definitely have used it. But that's a lot of rambling for one system that we don't really care about. The Impress had a rougher week - 7 new systems almost entirely countered by 6 lost systems. That's rough indeed, but shows the importance of reinforcing your systems after you've taken them, lest someone come along and hack one holoscreen to nuke it. Finally, Torval has had the roughest week of the imps, taking one system but losing two exploiteds and dropping a fort. Talk about kicking a girl while she's down.

Moving on to the Alliance, both Mahon and Kaine are sharing our joint 3rd spot this week with a net total of +5 apiece - but what do those numbers hide? For Kaine, nothing - 5 new systems, one fort and one stronghold. Mahon is only a slightly different story - 6 new systems, 2 forts and a stronghold, but one lost system - Orrere, the subject of the acquisition race last week against Kaine. It seems that both powers consider it too much of a PITA to hold, as it just happens to be the home system of The Code, an old pirate outfit who assumedly take offence to either Alliance power holding control over their home. I guess the acquisition race for the system is some kind of friendly competition for them - seems like a good way to blow off steam every now and again.

Meanwhile, the Kumo Crew has done well for themselves, with 3 new systems, a new fort and a stronghold. This includes an intense acquisition race against Patty with reportedly just shy of one million control points being put into the system, but ultimately Delaine came out with a clear victory. Antal takes this week's silver trophy, with 7 new systems, 4 new forts and 2 strongholds. One of these new strongholds is the system of Miki which, as the Simguru covered last week, was lost to a squadron pledged to Archer but working against his interests. From what I understand, the situation is resolved and hopefully won't result in any further conflicts. Ol' Yuri has had a rough week, with 5 new systems counterbalanced by 7 lost, though with 4 new forts to his name including the CG system of Lhou Mans. Finally, corporate powerhouse Li Yong-Rui takes the top spot this week, with 11 new systems, 5 forts and 2 strongholds, only suffering one downgraded fortified system as well. The suits'll be cutting some serious bonus checks this week.

So mostly a quiet week with the usual hostilities continuing on. Galnet has been quiet as a mouse... or have they? Today, this article was released, and I can happily confirm that the Dodec has finally been released from early ARXcess! Only took em 6 months to do it! In addition, the cost to purchase a Dodec for the instant deployment token has been halved temporarily, so that's nice. I imagine colonisation afficionados are going to enjoy building up these new starports - though the construction requirements are just as ridiculous as you'd expect. For now, I shall be happy with this one victory - remember, when these were first released they were slated to be permanently paywalled. I am very glad FDev walked back that decision.

And that's our lot for this week! A rather quiet week, though I suspect next week might be a little more exciting. Until then, fly safe and make sure to cycle the air in your life support units! Don't give me that look, it's a standard part of starship maintenance!

A glass of orange juice keeps you going! - join the discord for new updates and zesty tips on powerplaycraft!

Target priorities as follows

Reinforcement:

Carry out reinforcement activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

Col 285 Sector KX-P b20-2, Nugua, Kitani

Reinforcement priorities are ever changing and we cannot update publicly in a timely manner. Join the Discord if you want to help!

​​​

Acquisition:

Carry out acquisition activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

Acquisition targets to be updated

Join the Discord for updates! We can offer rapid mining acquisition options to pilots in our server - they move too fast to put on here!

​​​

Undermining:

Current priority:

No undermining targets available at this time

Join the Discord for targets and opportunities!

Interested in Federal AX? Join FAX-COM.

Interested in emergency relief work? Winters has a place for you.

Interested in PvP? PvP is a lifeblood of powerplay. We train interested pilots with a dedicated server, resources and mentors, and weekly in-house tournaments

Interested in exploration? We maintain a server for our explorers too

Want more nuance on objectives, to wing up, or to keep up to date on the ever-evolving strategy? Join our Discord! Stop by and say hello! Or join to stay quiet and beaver away at your specialism <shrug>. In addition to Powerplay Ops, we have channels for general ED discussion, ship building mastery, and PvP training, with domain experts. We also have an unsurpassed cantina <clink>.

​​​

Diplomatic Overview:

Aisling Duval – Hostile

Archon Delaine – Cordial (so long as there's still rum in the cordial)

Arissa Lavigny-Duval – Hostile

Denton Patreus – Unfriendly

Edmund Mahon – Neutral

Jerome Archer – Ally

Li Yong-Rui – Neutral

Nakato Kaine – Neutral

Pranav Antal – Cordial

Yuri Grom – Unfriendly

Zemina Torval – Unfriendly

Cycle summary:

It's been a pretty fantastic week for Winters, all considered. 9 new systems, 2 forts and a new stronghold - none other than the system of HIP 55109, the system we fortified last week after sniping it from the bathwater cult. No losses either, putting us joint first on the leaderboard this week. Well done all, grab yourselves a drink or two - first round's on me. Archer had a rougher week, with 4 new systems and one fort, but 1 lost system and 3 downgraded forts. Not great, but not bad, especially given their pitched battles across a handful systems that have held strong. Y'all get free drinks too.

The Pirate King has done well for himself, scoring 6 new systems and a shiny new fort. Integrating the Platinum Cartel deeper into their organisation has done wonders for their numbers, while keeping their existing pilots free to pillage, loot, rob and steal everything that isn't bolted down - and then burn the rest. Delaine's own cycle report as always does a fantastic job summarising the balance of reinforcement/undermining merits, including wasted merits on overfortification and decay versus actual UM numbers. Have a look if you're curious. Li Yong-Rui took 6 systems this cycle, at the cost of one. A good trade, I suspect, especially considering they also gained 3 new fortified systems. Meanwhile, Antal continue to have a pitched battle in the enclave and around the bubble. 5 new systems, 2 forts and 3 strongholds are counterbalanced by 1 lost exploited system and one downgraded stronghold. The Simguru's finest continue to fight hard against the Empire - may they hold the line well. Grom has had a slow week, with one new system and one lost system, but 2 new forts gained - the bearded bossman may have slow progress, but progress nonetheless.

On the Imperial front, it's a mixed bag. At the top of their lineup, Aisling has taken 9 systems and 5 forts, while losing one system and downgrading one fort. This is one of the better weeks the bathwater cult have had since the last relic rush, only last time there was significantly more expansion and aggression. It's likely a fair amount of resources have gone into the defence of LHS 1070 which continues to sustain heavy attacks. The impress seemingly suffered a rougher week - 5 systems taken, but 2 systems lost. Howeer, she also took 2 forts and 3 strongholds - evidently her focus this past cycle has been on fortifying. Honestly, good strategy - no point expanding the battlelines if your old ones will collapse with a vaguely forceful prod. However, as has seemingly become the norm, the two lesser Imperial powers continue to struggle. Patreus has some degree of life signs - losing one system but gaining one new fortified system. These numbers are fairly normal for Patty over the last few weeks. Torval, meanwhile, may be sharing the bottom spot on the leaderboard with Patreus, but the slaver matriarch has done significantly better in terms of consolidation - 1 new system counterbalances two losses, but 3 new forts is brilliant work for her.

As for the Alliance, Kaine joins us at the top of the leaderboard this cycle with the exact same numbers - 9 new systems, 2 forts, one stronghold, no losses. Her own cycle report makes note of her victorious preprace against us in Antliae Sector VJ-R b4-4, but seemingly failed to mention the preprace against Mahon for the system of Orrere, where Mahon took the victory. That seems to be overshadowed by the declaration of a formal defensive pact between the two Alliance powers - until now, apparently there had been no formal agreements. That paperwork may be rough at first, especially when it comes to negotiations, but it can be worthwhile.

In other news, the Lynx Highliner released on Tuesday, with not one but two fuckups alongside it. The ship itself is actually pretty solid - fast and relatively defensible but lacking the firepower and convergence for dedicated combat. The restricted slots do limit it in any other role than that of passenger ship, but nevertheless everyone can get a free version in the gamestore. Some have mentioned this being possibly a bug, but given that it's listed in the update notes I doubt that. Others have mentioned it could be a temporary bundle, which I think would be a first? But it's definitely not impossible, so if you want a free passenger ship that's got a solid jump range, fantastic speed and plenty of room for passengers (although no option for luxury compartments) then I'd say pick it up while you can. Now if only they could fix the marketing material for it...

Four new Galnet articles for this week, putting us at a recent high for Galnet activity, which personally I like. First up, a report on the progress of the Distant Worlds Expedition, including the location of the beacon to scan if you want the decal(s) associated with it - Eorl Auwsy AA-A H72. Articles two and three came out on the same day - one commemorating the launch of the Lynx and the other announcing the relevant CGs for it. What should really be referred to as terrorist attacks by criminal elements has forced the local government to issue a mass evacuation of affected stations, as well as a culling of local criminal elements. Contributing to either will get you a shiny new paint job and a Zorgon Peterson decal. Finally, the previous CG has now ended with the ethically-dubious October Consortium having recieved enough guardian artifacts to investigate a potential connection to the totally-not-tree-eggs that came out of the weird blue trees in HIP 87621. Honestly, I think they should've given the eggs to Ram Tah instead - he's not been implicated in the disappearance and potential murder of a journalist looking into his work, to my knowledge. But hey, shiny G5 Maverick suit with some seriously deep pockets for everyone who contributed 33 or more artifacts to the cause. That'll be a great boon for yoinking all the stuff you need to upgrade your gear for Operations in a month or so.

And that's our lot for this week, with only one question left unanswered: will Antal recognise the true meaning of our cycle post's title? Do you know? I mean, someone knows - this isn't exactly subtle 😅 but we'll see who figures it out first. For now, fly safe and don't forget your heatsinks! Seriously, if you're gonna hit that CG and fly into a massive orbital station that's on fire, grab a heatsink launcher. You're gonna need it. Safe travels!

Paint it orange! - join the discord for new updates and zesty tips on powerplaycraft!

Target priorities as follows

Reinforcement:

Carry out reinforcement activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

Murama, Col 285 Sector KX-P b20-2

Reinforcement priorities are ever changing and we cannot update publicly in a timely manner. Join the Discord if you want to help!

​​​

Acquisition:

Carry out acquisition activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

HIP 43947

Join the Discord for updates! We can offer rapid mining acquisition options to pilots in our server - they move too fast to put on here!

​​​

Undermining:

Current priority:

No undermining targets available at this time

Join the Discord for targets and opportunities!

Interested in Federal AX? Join FAX-COM.

Interested in emergency relief work? Winters has a place for you.

Interested in PvP? PvP is a lifeblood of powerplay. We train interested pilots with a dedicated server, resources and mentors, and weekly in-house tournaments

Interested in exploration? We maintain a server for our explorers too

Want more nuance on objectives, to wing up, or to keep up to date on the ever-evolving strategy? Join our Discord! Stop by and say hello! Or join to stay quiet and beaver away at your specialism <shrug>. In addition to Powerplay Ops, we have channels for general ED discussion, ship building mastery, and PvP training, with domain experts. We also have an unsurpassed cantina <clink>.

​​​

Diplomatic Overview:

Aisling Duval – Hostile

Archon Delaine – Cordial (so long as there's still rum in the cordial)

Arissa Lavigny-Duval – Hostile

Denton Patreus – Unfriendly

Edmund Mahon – Neutral

Jerome Archer – Ally

Li Yong-Rui – Neutral

Nakato Kaine – Neutral

Pranav Antal – Cordial

Yuri Grom – Unfriendly

Zemina Torval – Unfriendly

Well, it's been a hot minute since I last wrote one of these, hasn't it? Unfortunately FDev's brief streak of being decidedly okay has come to an end with the latest update. As the title suggests, this week is covering two fuckups that FDev popped in the span of a single day - yesterday, infact. But does that mean I'm covering this too early? Well, yes. As I've been writing up this post, the second of the two issues has infact been adressed by FDev and supposedly fixed. Normally I write these to help bring awareness to these issues in the hope FDev actually fix them, but this time I'm going to write about it for the historical record. Well done FDev for fixing one of these issues... but what about the first one?

Well, it should've been obvious to literally anyone making the trailer for the new Lynx Highliner. That link has a timestamp to 48 seconds in, where it shows the one station of the 3 in the trailer where there's an actual name visible - the others are an Orbis currently lit ablaze with no visible name and an outpost where you could really only see the landing pad. Now they could have chosen any number of stations, especially if they wanted one made during colonisation. But they chose a station titled, verbatim: [angl] Aisling's Grace. There are however many thousand Coriolis stations out there, however many hundred or so made by players, most of them with much more neutral names than the one they chose. "Oh, who cares? It's just a station name?" Well it's a bit more than that - using that station in particular in official marketing material has two main effects, beyond potentially drawing even more people to the bathwater cult.

One, it shows FDev's Imperial bias. Every veteran Fed has at some point or another referred to FDev as ImpDev because of this bias, but here it is plain to see, not just for us but for the entire community. It makes it just that little bit harder to stick with this knowing that FDev are showing their bias without even trying to hide it. And yes, this would still irk me if they chose a station with a Federal squadron tag in it or a similar name, in part due to reason two - everyone who's pissed about FDev putting that station in are going to target that system, possibly that station in particular. Meaning the architect, through no fault of their own, has now got a fairly massive target on their back. That's not fair to them. But it does send a message to FDev to not pull this kind of bollocks.

Now lets have a look at the other one, the issue that FDev actually paid attention to and have supposedly even fixed. So, as y'all are likely aware by now, Distant Worlds 3 is going on. For those who don't know, it's a massive expedition that happens I think every year since it started. It's a big spectacle, gets people meeting each other, it's the sort of event that gets Elite into widespread news in a good way. And FDev have noticed and put the Distant Worlds logo in each year, available as a ship decal. Except this year's decal... isn't even close to the original. So what the hell happened? Truth be told, I don't know - at time of writing I have zero clue as to why this happened. The closest I could find to a reason was that the original logo was AI generated - now aside from this being refuted immediately by those who made it, just look at it. Especially compared to the previous two logos. There's no way in hell that was made by AI - that is genuine human artwork through-and-through.

Now apparently, FDev have been in contact with the Distant Worlds team and have sorted the situation. The original DW3 logo will be released to everyone who has the FDev'd logo in June. Getting that logo is easy - head to Eorl Auwsy WB-V a114-1, only a short 21K Ly journey from the bubble, and scan the beacon there. In theory, that will get you the OG logo when it comes out... though with FDev, promises aren't always kept. Yeah, we're nearly at 6 months now since the Dodec launch, much longer than any ship release. So I guess we'll see in June if the original really does release or if FDev drop the ball again.

Two in one day, sheesh. At least the ship itself is actually rather solid, from what I hear. It's fast, packs a nice jump range and can carry a fairly impressive amount of people. Perfect for that new evacuation CG - we'll cover that tomorrow though. For tonight, fly safe and fasten your seatbelts!

Cycle summary:

It's been a mostly uneventful week for Winters this week. 5 new systems, a new fort and 2 new strongholds with zero losses for us makes for happy days. The only real activity we've had was that fort - HIP 55109 was snipe-acquired last week after we lost it the week before last. Unsurprisingly those who tried to take it from us weren't happy that we yoinked it last second and did some fierce undermining, over 500K control points last I checked. Fortunately, our guys mined the local rocks like crazy and royally countered enemy undermining efforts to bring the system up to fortified. Great work all around, and hopefully you all enjoy the many millions of credits you're now sitting on! Archer also had a very solid week, although with some hostile action landing. 12 new exploited systems and 2 new forts are counterbalanced with 3 lost exploiteds and one downgraded fort, but +9 still puts Archer at joint first this cycle.

Who joins Archer at the top of the board this week? If you guessed LYR, you are correct! Our resident trusted wholesaler snagged 9 new systems, 3 new forts and a stronghold. Bonus checks will likely be making the rounds today. Antal, meanwhile, seems to have suffered direct imperial aggression, including within the bubble this time. One fort lost resulting in 4 surrounding exploited systems dropped, along with a stronghold in the enclave downgraded to fortified. This hasn't slowed down the quiche-lovers at all, as they still nabbed 6 systems and a stronghold. Will they retaliate for this unprovoked aggression? Well... calling it "unprovoked" is a touch facetious, as there is some nuance to this situation. TLDR: Aisling redrew the lines on enclave diplomacy after the enclave rewards were dished out. Antal restated their diplomatic stance and reiterated that they still considered the enclave to be separate to the bubble. So Antal hit Aisling in the enclave, Aisling retaliated in the bubble. Either way, I don't exactly expect the Simguru to sit on his hands after this, but we shall see.

Delaine has slowed somewhat this week - 3 new systems and fortifying the system of Cuchua, which they took last week after Aisling lost it the week before. Gotta look after your systems, or someone else will snap em up. Speaking of Aisling, how'd they do? +10 systems and 3 forts, but -3 systems. 2 forts and 2 strongholds! That is rough... though the jury's out on whether it's better or worse than ALD, who took 7 systems, one fort and a stronghold, but lost 13 systems and a fortified. Which of the Duvals ended up having the better week? I'd say that's up to you to decide - leave a comment below!

As for the remaining powers, Torval took 1 system and lost 1 system, while Patty got a new fort. Lastly, Grom took 5 new systems and a fort with no losses - a startlingly similar story to Mahon, with 6 new systems and a fort. Kaine took 7 systems and added 2 new forts to her roster, but lost 2 systems. Who could be to blame for these attacks? Well, we don't know, but I can speculate - one system is within range of both Mahon and Grom, while the other is solely in range of Grom but close to the grasp of Aisling, who have a history of causing problems for Kaine. Again, I have to stress, this is all very wild speculation, but here's my two theories: either it's part of a diplomatic handoff given that Grom don't particularly like picking fights with Kaine and vice versa, or someone in the Empire is causing trouble for her. If it's the former, that's fantastic. If it's the latter, I sympathise - we've had similar issues with dealing with Imperials in the past, or so I'm told.

Real quick before we move on to the Galnet stuff, we have been made aware of propaganda from a certain power that's feeling rather agitated at the moment. The Office of President Winters advises all pilots to engage rogue communications of this sort with a grain - or a generous helping - of salt. Although hilarious in its misrepresentations, such reportage is best consumed in small doses, since salt is not so good for blood pressure.

Anyways, Galnet! We've got two new articles this week, both seemingly tied to new narratives. The first refers to the "wellness trend" that's been running about, with seemingly no-one able to agree on where it came from, while the second describes a series of extremely precise, expertly executed raids, which seems to be tied into the other article about criminal mercenaries we covered last week. This is all leaving more questions than answers - who are these shadowy mercenaries performing such stellar work? What are they planning? Who are they working for? Where did this trend come from and why is it important? Does this tie into the end of the Thargoid war and the survivors we pulled from the Titans? I'll be real - I have no clue about the mercs, but I have some degree of speculation about the wellness trend, although neither of my current theories are deserving of any real consideration as they are both ridiculously out there in terms of logic, so maybe another time on that front.

Finally, and probably most importantly, FDev have released a statement on Operations - they are delaying until June, though the reason is not mentioned. Hopefully it's either bugfixes or adjustments based on player feedback of what was both officially revealed and leaked - either way, I'm in full support of this delay if it means we get a better release. The less bugs at launch, the better! FDev also gave us a look at the Lynx Highliner, the latest ship arriving on the 28th of April - with no early ARXcess! That's right, you're able to buy this right off the bat for credits! It's phrased as a "sorry we couldn't get this done on time" deal, but with a ship like this it was never going to sell well as a premium product and we're hearing about it for the first time a week before release, so I'm fairly convinced the plan was always to make this a CR purchase from the get go. The detailed specs are in the link, but I'll give you a quick TLDR: medium ship, 1 large and 4 medium hardpoints, seats up to 225 passengers. Only Mk2 components are passenger cabins, more of a commercial or industrial look. I have to admit, I'll probably give this a look when it comes out. Though I'll also be asking why the Dodec is yet to be released to all CMDRs - it's been 5 and a half months now! That's far longer than any ship release!

There were also some details about Operations in there, including rewards. There's credits and materials, fairly standard, but also these new "merc coins" which can be used on things like ship modules and engineering blueprints. As in entirely new engineering blueprints for weapons. That has significant balance concerns, so FDev are either going to have to get it right first time (which is impossible for just about any company) or there's going to be a lot of balance passes in the future. The other concern I have is about how they've integrated powerplay into this - essentially, the host gets to decide which power you're fighting for and which system you're undermining. But the entire op is carried out in a separate instance, and after the fact you get merits and control points in the system chosen at the start. Depending on how much this ends up being, this could be a catastrophic method of undermining - there's obviously no way to intercept other players doing this (though given that solo and PG players can still influence systems, that's not really a concern FDev shares) but the big one for me is going to be the potential merit gains versus time spent in the operation. Especially once people get fast at these, and they will, if the balance isn't right we're going to be stuck with some insane undermining for a while. We also don't seem to be able to use operations for reinforcement, which would be nice, though given the nature of operations I guess it makes sense. In short, I'm tentatively optimistic, but also worried about how Operations will turn out. Hopefully we'll find out in May.

And that's us for the week. Aside from the CG, but that's progressing slowly, so you still have plenty of time to get some guardian artifacts if you want that G5 Maverick suit. For now, fly safe and grab yourself a cup of tea for your next flight! Just, y'know, put it in a thermos - we still don't have artifical gravity, just mag boots, so putting it in your Hutton mug will send it everywhere. Take a guess how I figured that one out.

Jucied-up jovial jaunts! - join the discord for new updates and zesty tips on powerplaycraft!

Target priorities as follows

Reinforcement:

Carry out reinforcement activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

HIP 55109, LP 121-41

Reinforcement priorities are ever changing and we cannot update publicly in a timely manner. Join the Discord if you want to help!

​​​

Acquisition:

Carry out acquisition activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

HIP 43947, Antliae Sector EL-Y b7

Join the Discord for updates! We can offer rapid mining acquisition options to pilots in our server - they move too fast to put on here!

​​​

Undermining:

Current priority:

No public undermining targets available at this time

Join the Discord for targets and opportunities!

Interested in Federal AX? Join FAX-COM.

Interested in emergency relief work? Winters has a place for you.

Interested in PvP? PvP is a lifeblood of powerplay. We train interested pilots with a dedicated server, resources and mentors, and weekly in-house tournaments

Interested in exploration? We maintain a server for our explorers too

Want more nuance on objectives, to wing up, or to keep up to date on the ever-evolving strategy? Join our Discord! Stop by and say hello! Or join to stay quiet and beaver away at your specialism <shrug>. In addition to Powerplay Ops, we have channels for general ED discussion, ship building mastery, and PvP training, with domain experts. We also have an unsurpassed cantina <clink>.

​​​

Diplomatic Overview:

Aisling Duval – Hostile

Archon Delaine – Cordial (so long as there's still rum in the cordial)

Arissa Lavigny-Duval – Hostile

Denton Patreus – Unfriendly

Edmund Mahon – Neutral

Jerome Archer – Ally

Li Yong-Rui – Neutral

Nakato Kaine – Neutral

Pranav Antal – Cordial

Yuri Grom – Unfriendly

Zemina Torval – Unfriendly

The more observant of our readers may have noticed that this week's cycle post's numbers were unusually... bland. In the past we've had incredibly accurate reports, sometimes detailing more information than even the powers themselves knew before reading through our little ramblings. This was all due to proprietary Federation technology, known simply as ORACLE - Occult Retroactive Accurate Clairvoyant Location Engine. Now unfortunately I'm not allowed to share the exact inner workings of ORACLE, as it's classified, proprietary and I made a pinky promise. That said, it is a very shiny piece of tech, using the finest in black magic and pre-cognitive and post-cognitive sorcery. Of course, in compliance with galactic legislation, no AI is used in the ORACLE system. That's the one thing I'm allowed to reveal.

But yes, ORACLE was undergoing maintenance during this week's post and I wasn't certain we'd get to use it. However, it seems I was hasty in my judgement: ORACLE is once again fully online and ready to provide us with near-perfect information on the workings of the galaxy at large! So, let's see what we missed, shall we?

Winters showed no change from the data reported in the cycle post - 6 systems lost, 6 systems gained, 1 new fort and Psi-5 Aurigae is once again a stronghold. History may not repeat, but it certainly rhymes. As mentioned before, the 6 lost systems were all very low value systems that were more of a pain than a gain, while the 6 new systems are far better in location and value, so we're happy with that trade. Archer has a touch of granularity to his results - 2 systems lost but 12 systems gained. Those are fantastic results, very well done indeed.

Antal mentioned in their own post that they'd considered this week a pretty rough week. Unfortunately it seems their +2 hides some grim tidings indeed, 6 new systems and 2 new forts, but 3 lost exploited systems, one fort downgraded and another fort lost entirely. According to the Utopia Information Network, this was "the first targeted multi-system attack we have received in some time" - apparently someone wanted to show that the Simguru's consolidation process wasn't as strong as it seemed. While Winters as a whole may have little to say on the topic, I for one hope they get back on their feet swiftly. With how Antal have been going recently, you'd be a fool to bet against them.

Looking on the Imperial side of things, let's talk about that -6 fortified systems. Turns out, it's actually 8 downgraded with the bathwater cult taking 2 more, as well as a fort. 5 new systems outweigh 4 lost systems. There's no denying this is a brutal week for Aisling, but looking closer we can see the full scale of the attack as well as their attempts to claw back from it. Reducing the number of lost forts by 25% is not bad in this situation, all considered, but one has to ask: who attacked the princess? And why now? All I can truthfully say is that we weren't involved - too busy in Psi-5 and the like.

ALD is a pretty short story - 9 systems acquired and 3 lost, which tracks for the +6 last cycle if we bear in mind they upgraded one exploited to a fort. LYR is a similarly solid story - 10 new systems, 1 lost, 2 new forts and a stronghold in the Pleiades. Thargoids won't be happy about that one. Mahon took 6 and lost the one system, Orrere. Given its location that looks like an organised handoff to Kaine, so no headlines there. One new stronghold as well makes Mahon a content man this cycle. Grom and Delaine are two of only three powers this cycle who are exactly as straightforward as their net numbers make them seem - 8 new systems and a stronghold for the former, 6 new systems and 4 forts for the latter. The Archon has made mention that one of the most targeted systems was Psi-5 Aurigae (which isn't surprising) while another is Orgen (which is very surprising).

Nakato Kaine has taken 10 systems, while losing one system - that one I know is an organised handoff, so again no headlines here. One more fort as well makes for a similar story to Mahon, which tracks. The Alliance has become fairly pacifist within the galaxy, focusing on their own expansion and consolidation over the wars that have plagued many powers. The third power with the most straightforward numbers is sadly Torval, who has lost 2 systems and upgraded one fort. Since the trade nerf, Torval have lost severe momentum due to losing their one big lever to pull. They've lost almost as much momentum as Patty, who did not infact do nothing this cycle - +2 and -2, balancing out.

And that, I believe, is that. In the future I shall likely be waiting for ORACLE's reports before posting, as this degree of accuracy is something that I think sets us apart from other cycle posts. I know things have gotten hectic here recently, but I am happy for the calm to return, however briefly it may be. Let's all remember that everyone's a person behind these screens, and even our "mortal enemies" are mostly people we actually enjoy encountering. But that's a topic for another time. For now, fly safe and away from the giant maw made of faces this time. I guess the next thing to fix is my navigation computer...

Cycle summary:

Oh shit, it's Thursday already. Huh. Welp, how'd we do? On the surface, not great - net zero. Nada. Zilch. But look closer and it turns out it's been a pretty good week for us. Yes, we lost 6 systems - all of which were, frankly, a bit crap. In return, we took 6 new systems in much better positions and with much better options. On top of that, we gained a new fort and won the fight for Psi-5 Aurigae, bringing it to stronghold status despite serious aggression. Well done all pilots who fought hard for this system - it was a tough one, but we managed it. Meanwhile, Archer had a fantastic week with 10 new acquisitions, putting them at the top of the board this week. It's a good week for the Federation.

As for the rest of the galaxy, things are still surprisingly unstable. The biggest example of that is the bathwater cult - sure, they took 1 new system, but they lost 6 fortified systems this cycle. What the hell happened?! I genuinely have no idea, but I am enjoying this popcorn. ALD had the second best week of the imps with 6 new systems, closely following Grom who grabbed 8 systems, while Patty continues his recent plan of... nothing. Net zero. No new systems, no new forts, no new strongholds. No morale, no plan, no... nothing. Just silence in the void. Torval took a small hit, 2 lost systems. I would say something about punching the other blue power instead, but she got her lumps this week as well. Meanwhile the Archon continues his campaign of consolidation and reinforcement - 6 new systems, 4 new forts. Mahon and Kaine are up 5 and 9 new systems respectively. LYR also took 9 systems, putting him in joint second this week. And finally Antal took 2 new systems.

I am gonna double back to Psi-5 Aurigae real quick. The 6 systems we lost were all ones near Psi-5, likely an attempt by the prissy princess to devalue the stronghold itself. Unfortunately... we kinda just don't care about those systems. They were gonna be hell to reinforce and painful to fight over when problems inevitably came calling. And the activity drew fire away from Psi-5, which is now properly strongholded once again. Obviously complacency is the enemy here, but undermining attacks will now be severely hampered without the dreaded salvage to fall back to, so we're on the up and up. Seriously though, to every one of you who fought to hold that system: well done and thank you. You have achieved great things in territory that is undoubtedly some of our most difficult, and yet you have prevailed, pulling Roses of hope and victory from the Abyss of despair. Y'all buy yourselves a drink - first round's on me if you swing by the Zariman.

So, what about the non-powerplay front? Well, remember how last week I mentioned the CG over Easter that kinda fell on its face? Y'know, the one about shooting space plants and giving me flashbacks to the goddamn carrots on Esamir... anyways, FDev have actually listened! Shock! Horror! Well, actually, pleasant surprise. The latest community goal comes just a day after the Consortium discovered that those plants may have been engineered in the distant past. Specifically Guardian-era past. So, scoop up some goodies (or dust off the ones lying around in your carriers) and sell em off for a chance at that same suit, as well as an SRV paintjob. There was also an article about a mysterious mercenary group, which for whatever reason just makes me think of Battletech. If I'd had a Stalker during the war, it would've been beautiful...

That is our lot for this week! Fly safe! I said safe, not directly into the flight path of the titanic monster with faces for a mouth!!!

Segmented solutions - join the discord for new updates and zesty tips on powerplaycraft!

Target priorities as follows

Reinforcement:

Carry out reinforcement activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

HIP 55109, LP 121-41

Reinforcement priorities are ever changing and we cannot update publicly in a timely manner. Join the Discord if you want to help!

​​​

Acquisition:

Carry out acquisition activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

HIP 38235

Join the Discord for updates! We can offer rapid mining acquisition options to pilots in our server - they move too fast to put on here!

​​​

Undermining:

Current priority:

No public undermining targets available at this time

Join the Discord for targets and opportunities!

Interested in Federal AX? Join FAX-COM.

Interested in emergency relief work? Winters has a place for you.

Interested in PvP? PvP is a lifeblood of powerplay. We train interested pilots with a dedicated server, resources and mentors, and weekly in-house tournaments

Interested in exploration? We maintain a server for our explorers too

Want more nuance on objectives, to wing up, or to keep up to date on the ever-evolving strategy? Join our Discord! Stop by and say hello! Or join to stay quiet and beaver away at your specialism <shrug>. In addition to Powerplay Ops, we have channels for general ED discussion, ship building mastery, and PvP training, with domain experts. We also have an unsurpassed cantina <clink>.

​​​

Diplomatic Overview:

Aisling Duval – Hostile

Archon Delaine – Cordial (so long as there's still rum in the cordial)

Arissa Lavigny-Duval – Hostile

Denton Patreus – Unfriendly

Edmund Mahon – Neutral

Jerome Archer – Ally

Li Yong-Rui – Neutral

Nakato Kaine – Neutral

Pranav Antal – Cordial

Yuri Grom – Unfriendly

Zemina Torval – Unfriendly

Shortly after posting this week's cycle post, the comments were invaded by a number of accounts who sought to brigade the post and incite arguments. Afterwards, they then falsely reported the post both on the subreddit and the forums, the latter of which resulted in it being taken down, citing accusations of targeted harassment and witch hunting.

First of all, I would like to apologise. The situation got out of hand and instead of containing it, I was adding fuel to the fire. This was a mistake and I apologise for it - I should never have fed the trolls. In previous posts one of those trolls had posted various comments, some remaining reasonable but most of a similar kind of trolling. At the time, I tolerated them because they were funny - safe to say I've learned my mistake. Nothing about this incident was humourous.

Secondly, I would like to directly address the accusations within the reports themselves - as much as they are false, I figure it's good to cross my Ts and dot my Is on this one. I will make this plain and clear: nothing in the cycle post has ever been harassment, targeted or otherwise, nor are we calling for any kind of witch hunt. All I said was that cheating is bad and those that are cheating should stop. The fact that these accounts have chosen to interpret that as "targeted harassment" says far more about them than us.

As for the accounts and the CMDRs behind them, there are questions as to whether this was an isolated incident or the start of a dedicated imperial disinformation campaign. Personally, I believe it to be the former, although there was mention of our cycle posts being posted in a server somewhere, so it's possible this action will continue. As such, unfortunately, actions must be taken.

In the future, posts or comments that are clearly just trying to start an argument will be removed. If you want to poke some fun or leverage legitimate criticism, then that's fine, but if you're just here to start shit then you're getting the hammer. Repeated offences will result in temporary bans - I really don't want to have to permaban anyone, but if the temp bans aren't enough then permabans will be issued. Some may view this as censorship, and unfortunately that's simply a consequence of this decision that I cannot avoid - the open comments have been abused and this is the result. Of course, standard rules around ban evasion apply - don't do it or we're breaking out the permabans immediately. So long as you come with good intentions, or just to poke a little fun, you should be fine. First offences won't get any bans and if you're worried about catching one, please feel free to DM me to double check first.

Finally, if you are reading this and are tempted to enact some kind of revenge, please refrain from it. We are above such petty bullshit and do not need to resort to it. If this is just a minor group of trolls, then there's no need to take it out on their associated power - if this is infact a dedicated disinformation campaign, then it simply shows how that power is struggling. This kind of childish behaviour is pathetic and I condemn it - do not sink to their level.

I regret that it has come to this. I regret that this incident occured on my watch. As much as I maybe shouldn't, I blame myself for allowing this to happen. And I will not let it happen again.

Thank you for your time. Fly safe and respect your fellow CMDRs, no matter what colours they fly.

I'm sorry I'm late! Yesterday was rough - my fibromyalgia decided to flare up, which is not fun in the most not fun of ways. But hey, I'm not dead, so I'm still typing! Now what else happened this week?

Cycle summary:

Turns out, a lot of fighting, hence lower numbers from most powers. Winters went positive in acquisitions, with 6 new grabs and 2 losses, as well as one new fort and one fort lost. Definitely not our best cycle, but not the worst by a mile, so I'll take it given the circumstances. Archer had a similar run of things, though with one huge win - 4 new exploited systems, 2 lost systems and one new fort spell out the typical gains, but returning Alpha Centauri to stronghold status is massive. This has been under imperial siege for weeks - to have it returned to its former glory is a big win for the Federation. Well done FRC!

So, why have we been struggling this week? If you guessed "imperial aggression", you'd be correct. Aisling continue to play the numbers game, having almost pulled themselves out of their recent decline. 17 new systems is counteracted by 9 lost systems, resulting in a net total of +8 for the princess - this is what happens when you build a castle of glass. It tends to crack and shatter. A lot of the bathwater cult's firepower has been directed on offensive measures - of course there's been Alpha Centauri, but also our system of Psi-5 Aurigae has seen a swath of blue-haired cultists coming along to try and take the system from us. They could've walked away and reinforced all their lost systems with the merits they put into Psi-5, but evidently they're too obsessed with trying to mine salt from us. I don't feel bad disappointing them on that front, though I am a tad miffed they beat me to the punch this week. Ooh, that reminds me, cause I know y'all imps read this - Orgen isn't us this time. We switched targets after the Siege came to a close with the relic rush. You're dealing with someone else there and I don't know who, but I'm glad to see them slowly breaking down the walls we breached in a week and a day.

Covering the rest of the imps, the impress took 10 systems but lost 7, so net positive of +3. Surprising to see her gains eclipsed by one of the two smaller imperial powers - Torval took 4 systems this week, with no losses or anything else. That's not bad, and nice to see them somewhat back on their feet. I do think they'd be better outside of the empire, but if I could change the world with a wish, I'd probably start with burning down Orgen. Again. That was fun. Grom also got a net +4 this week, but that's because he took 6 and lost 2 systems. As for Patty... he's still quiet. There's been activity in-game, with 2 new systems but 6 losses totalling -4 this week, but this is the third cycle now that we've heard nothing from him aside from a half-hearted recruitment post. Morale for the dented is at an all-time low it seems, which I would feel bad about - were it not for the whole "caused a relic rush" situation. Patty is firmly in the "find out" phase of the equation, and cruel as it may sound, you will find no tears from me about that.

Onto the rest of the galaxy! Kaine got a solid 7 systems, with 2 new forts. Her pacifism has paid off this week - while most other powers are dealing with strong conflicts, no-one seems to have directed much aggression toward her at all. Kaine also managed to reach the coalsack nebula today - congratulations to them! Hell of an achievement getting out that far. Mahon also has some bragging rights this week, with his 4 new systems bringing him up to a round 2000 systems! It's a good day for the Alliance, it seems. LYR has not excaped the chaos, with 6 new acquisitions and one loss, 4 new forts and one downgraded to exploited. Antal has had similar results - also 6 new systems and also 1 lost, but 1 fort and 2 strongholds gained with zero losses. As history has proven, those hippies know how to build a damned good fortification.

Finally, we come to the big upset of the week. Archon Delaine, long standing Pirate King and the one power to not give a rat's ass about the numbers, has hit the joint top spot this cycle with 8 new systems, 1 fort and 2 strongholds, including the recently-seized and heavily contested battleground of Muang. The Archon's own report highlights the struggles around Muang especially, but the numbers speak for themselves - despite being one of the most targeted powers, Delaine soared to the top spot this week. Is this the beginning of a pirate renaissance? Quite possibly, but ultimately only time will tell.

Let's loop back for a sec. Psi-5 Aurigae isn't the first time we've seen a rather high amount of merits coming from the blue-haired menace, only this time relics aren't to blame - they're still stuck at 80. So what's going on? Well, there's a theory going round, and it ain't pretty. But the short version is this little bug right here, combined with that little bug right there, results in rather disproportionate merit gains for any system. Sound familiar? Almost like relic rushes, right? Yeah, you're not just seeing things - the pattern is there. Only this time instead of design issues being solely responsible, this is an honest exploit. I know I jumped the gun a bit last time I used that word, but I don't think anyone's going to argue that duplicating salvage which gives the bathwater cult 4.5x the merits (and control points) of a power without said bonus just a tad broken as fuck. But here's the bigger problem - this exploit can be patched. Relic rushes can be fixed. But another broken thing will likely come along that they can then abuse again and again until that gets patched, and it's on to the next one. The problem isn't just the exploits, bugs and crappy design decisions - the problem is the heartless power who wants to see her numbers get bigger, to the detriment of everyone. They've even said in the past it's not fun - if that's the case, why else would you do it? If you're not playing this game for fun, then why would you play at all? Baffling, if you ask me. Playing a game without having fun is like eating rocks - just seems pointless to me.

Anyways, onto the non-powerplay elements of the galaxy. Last week we mentioned the latest CG, which ended fast. Like, 4 days fast. This has led to some outrage, some about not being able to partake in a CG that disappears fast over a public holiday, some about the rewarded suit being a Dominator instead of a Maverick. A fair few people have suggested that this'll make a fantastic This Week in FDev Fuckups episode, but I'm not so certain on that one. Unlike previous episodes, which have all been focused on issues that FDev have either refused to fix or communicate on, they've actually been doing just that this time. One of the big reasons I started writing TWIFDF is to hold FDev accountable for their mistakes, and hopefully convince them to fix these things. (Still waiting on the Dodec release BTW) But this one they've already fixed, and while I disagree with taking away the Dominator suits, I know some people think they made the right decision. So I'm not going to be writing up an episode about that - sorry. We also had the first mid-cycle update that hasn't been relic related in... possibly ever? Certainly at least in my time as community lead.

That's about it for this week. A rather hefty chunk of text, which I'm half tempted to apologise for, but something tells me y'all prefer more to less. I'll hopefully be on time next week, but ultimately only time will tell on that one. For now, fly safe and don't forget your limpets! Again. Seriously, I need to stop forgetting my damn limpets.

Seeds of good ideas - join the discord for new updates and zesty tips on powerplaycraft!

Target priorities as follows

Reinforcement:

Carry out reinforcement activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

Psi-5 Aurigae, Cerno

Reinforcement priorities are ever changing and we cannot update publicly in a timely manner. Join the Discord if you want to help!

​​​

Acquisition:

Carry out acquisition activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

Alkes

Join the Discord for updates! We can offer rapid mining acquisition options to pilots in our server - they move too fast to put on here!

​​​

Undermining:

Current priority:

No public undermining targets available at this time

Join the Discord for targets and opportunities!

Interested in Federal AX? Join FAX-COM.

Interested in emergency relief work? Winters has a place for you.

Interested in PvP? PvP is a lifeblood of powerplay. We train interested pilots with a dedicated server, resources and mentors, and weekly in-house tournaments

Interested in exploration? We maintain a server for our explorers too

Want more nuance on objectives, to wing up, or to keep up to date on the ever-evolving strategy? Join our Discord! Stop by and say hello! Or join to stay quiet and beaver away at your specialism <shrug>. In addition to Powerplay Ops, we have channels for general ED discussion, ship building mastery, and PvP training, with domain experts. We also have an unsurpassed cantina <clink>.

​​​

Diplomatic Overview:

Aisling Duval – Hostile

Archon Delaine – Cordial (so long as there's still rum in the cordial)

Arissa Lavigny-Duval – Hostile

Denton Patreus – Unfriendly

Edmund Mahon – Neutral

Jerome Archer – Ally

Li Yong-Rui – Neutral

Nakato Kaine – Neutral

Pranav Antal – Cordial

Yuri Grom – Unfriendly

Zemina Torval – Unfriendly

DEMOCRACY SHINES TRUE

Bit of an impromptu update! But such an occasion is deserving of covering to the fullest extent. As is probably well known by now, for the last 3 and a half years or so, FLC has had... disagreements with a squadron known as THKI. I'll try to abridge the backstory as best I can - basically, at the start of PP 2.0 when I was a young recruit, THKI's leader (a CMDR by the name of Antraeon) demanded we cede the stronghold of Belgitan to him, as well as surrounding territories. This was after some shadow ops near the end of PP 1.0 that THKI had a hand in trying to turn against us, but 2.0 is when open hostilities began.

Now when THKI threatened us, they were pledged to Kaine at the time. This has not remained the case - infact they've jumped around quite a bit. So they try to tell us to go away, we responded politely with "no thanks, feck off" and defended the system as well as surrounding territories. Antraeon was rather unhappy with this and responded by... doxxing one of our server admins. Wait, what?! Yeah, turns out "appropriate response" isn't something that exists in Ant's vocabulary. Since then, he's swapped his squadron from Kaine to Aisling to ALD and then back to Aisling again - from what we've heard this is due to him essentially being kicked out of the relevant servers after failing to subvert leadership there - the guy is apparently allergic to following orders or just generally being a good person.

After he doxxed our server admin, Antraeon would go on to commit a vast number of heinous things, including (but not limited to) racism, sexism, homophobia, IRL threats, breaking every treaty he's ever signed, comparing PvP to actual real terrorism, harassment, making a rather graphic execution fanfic about two other CMDRs that he dislikes, associating with spear who are/were a group of "anti-gankers" that resorted to doxxing and similar atrocious acts... you get the picture. As a result, various different peeps individually decided "fuck this guy" and went to go start burning down his BGS, which he then claimed to be a "targeted harassment campaign". I'd call it irony if it wasn't just a complete lack of self-awareness.

Anyway, because of Antraeon's terrible leadership, he sent THKI to fight us. And because of his despicable activities, a number of our people were rather motivated to send him back to hell screaming. However, they weren't exactly hitting us for any noticeable amount and frankly we had other issues with powerplay being as volatile as it is, so we kinda forgot about them... until a couple months ago, just as the Siege of Orgen was starting up. THKI had conveniently chosen that moment to start attacking our territory, and by the looks of it they were getting help as the tactics used were... actually competent. So our BGS teams responded by hitting them where it hurts - THKI's BGS. Because for some reason Antraeon cherishes that more than just about anything. With assistance from other independent parties who were also pissed at Antraeon, THKI was retreated from over half of their core systems - Nugua, Pichua, even Orgen if we're counting that (Orgen fell many months ago, but we did have a hand in it) as well as a swath of territory, amongst which were at least two FLCS colonies. All the while, their attacks on our systems have been thwarted, either directly or the cycle immediately after.

Yeah, that's the "abridged" version. In summary, after pushing them out of our last colony, FLC declares victory over THick and icKI. 3 and a half years in the making. When asked for comment, FLC BGS Director Feenix had this to say:
"He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious. - Sun Tzu.
THKI conspired against Winters, broke the peace treaty with FLCS and we have now made THKI pay for it."

Officially, this marks the end of directed campaigns against THKI from FLC. However, we are not the only party involved in such an achievement - as such, I doubt aggression against them will cease for a very, very long time. Ultimately, this could all be resolved if Antraeon were to step down and depart from THKI... however, he's "stepped down" two or three times now, each time making a new and slimy throne above everyone else for him to sit in in perpetuum. So even if he offered that, I wouldn't give it any credit anymore. As it stands, we shall remain vigilant until the next attacks and, when they come, we'll smash THKI back into the dirt where they belong.

Until then, en nomen verita I suppose. Oh, and sede antequam te ipsum magis laedas. ;)

Cycle summary:

The pace of powerplay continues at a slow pace, but nonetheless it continues. Apparently I've been talking too much crap about being left alone - Winters has taken solid hits this cycle. Starting with the positives, 6 new systems, a new fort and 2 new strongholds have put us at a strong advantage this cycle. As for the damage, the stronghold of Psi-5 Aurigae and the fortified system of Dazbog were both hit, causing the exploited system of LP 307-8 to be lost. At the same time, a Col 285 sector was sniped, albeit a small snipe. Overall, could've been far worse. Primary suspects right now are, unsurprisingly, the imps. However it's possible this is tied into our Belgitan campaign - more on that later. Archer's been having a rough time with Alpha Centauri, but they're still holding strong there. Net total of +1 for FRC is good news - holding the line and making gains, however small, is damned good work.

Aisling continues her pattern from last week of being surprisingly low on the scoreboard - this is fairly par for the course though. After the ridiculous gains of the relic rush the bathwater cult simply refuse to or fail to reinforce many of their new systems, so they haemorrhage almost as fast as they get acquired, making those big numbers during the rush not nearly as big as they seem. This time it's a net total of +1 system, so at least she's in the positive this time. 6 new grabs are balanced out by 5 losses, and 2 new forts replace 2 lost ones. ALD is also running similarly to last week - 10 new systems, 4 lost, net total of 6 but with 2 new forts gained. Torval took 5 systems but lost 2, gained a fort but again lost two. Grom also got a net total of 3, but took a new stronghold and fort as well. As for Patty... ^{cricket noises} yeah, nothing. Not even a cycle post this week. I guess the wind has been thoroughly taken out of his sails after all the holes punched in them as consequence for starting the relic rush. I guess if you can't take the heat, don't go throwing shit around the kitchen.

Kaine has gotten a surprising amount of hostility in recent weeks - 7 new systems taken, but 2 lost to hostile action. Seems to me like probing strikes, like the culprits are seeing just how much they can get away with. Might be more troubles ahead for the new Alliance power. As for the old, Mahon got away with a total of +4 this week, putting him on par with us and Delaine. The Archon's own cycle report mentions significant UM numbers across the board, which isn't exactly a surprise given the numbers. LYR takes the top spot on the leaderboards this week with 8 new systems and a new fort, but it's Pranav Antal that did the best I think - 3 new systems, 4 new forts and 5 new strongholds. Say what you will, but Antal's peeps know how to hold their lines.

That's the numbers out of the way, so let's look at the galaxy at large. A new community goal is live and... oh for fuck sake, not this again!!! We're going back to shooting plants! Specifically, we're shooting the seed pods off of the blue trees in HIP 87621 and handing them in for some Maverick suit paints and, for the top 75%, a pre-modified G5 Maverick suit with deep pockets and deeper ammo pouches. Why is it, whether in Elite or in Planetside, we're sent to go shoot some damned plants?! I'm gonna need whiskey when I do that.

April has come and with it the usual swath of April Fools jokes. For my part, I hope you liked yesterday's "early update" - I put a lot of time and thought into that one! Delaine killed open play while Aisling made a pop band - honestly that just sounds like something she'd do normally. FDev even hopped in on the fun with a Galnet article (that has since been taken down) alledging that Archer was handing over control of Sol to ALD. Everyone seems to be having a laugh and a good time, although some of us wait in anticipation of the Operations update scheduled for launch this month, along with another new "vessel". Not necessarily "ship", but "vessel". That opens up some options, but after the Kestrel I can't say I'm exactly enthused. Time shall tell on what the future holds. For now, fly safe and stop shooting the damned station!

Juicy suggestion - join the discord for new updates and zesty tips on powerplaycraft!

Target priorities as follows

Reinforcement:

Carry out reinforcement activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

Dazbog, Psi-5 Aurigae

Reinforcement priorities are ever changing and we cannot update publicly in a timely manner. Join the Discord if you want to help!

​​​

Acquisition:

Carry out acquisition activities in the following systems, as per the guide:

Bokip, Hyades Sector KC-U c3-20

Join the Discord for updates! We can offer rapid mining acquisition options to pilots in our server - they move too fast to put on here!

​​​

Undermining:

Current priority:

No public undermining targets available at this time

Join the Discord for targets and opportunities!

Interested in Federal AX? Join FAX-COM.

Interested in emergency relief work? Winters has a place for you.

Interested in PvP? PvP is a lifeblood of powerplay. We train interested pilots with a dedicated server, resources and mentors, and weekly in-house tournaments

Interested in exploration? We maintain a server for our explorers too

Want more nuance on objectives, to wing up, or to keep up to date on the ever-evolving strategy? Join our Discord! Stop by and say hello! Or join to stay quiet and beaver away at your specialism <shrug>. In addition to Powerplay Ops, we have channels for general ED discussion, ship building mastery, and PvP training, with domain experts. We also have an unsurpassed cantina <clink>.

​​​

Diplomatic Overview:

Aisling Duval – Hostile

Archon Delaine – Cordial (so long as there's still rum in the cordial)

Arissa Lavigny-Duval – Hostile

Denton Patreus – Unfriendly

Edmund Mahon – Neutral

Jerome Archer – Ally

Li Yong-Rui – Neutral

Nakato Kaine – Neutral

Pranav Antal – Cordial

Yuri Grom – Unfriendly

Zemina Torval – Unfriendly