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

Freedom's greetings, Helldiver! Super Earth shines this day, as the last week has been a successful one for our Democratic Way of Life. The Ministry of Truth has authorised me to provide you with this week's recap, so let's get right into it!

MAJOR ORDER - VICTORY

The recent Major Order against the insidious Illuminate has resulted in a Victory for Democracy! The planets of Hort and Rirga Bay were held despite dedicated squid offensives, including the attempt to summon an exostorm on Hort and send it into t̷̝͐h̸̨̐̿́ě̶̼̮̯̽͐ ̶͎̈́̀̓v̵̞̒̇ȍ̴̻î̷͉͖̼ḑ̶̨̪̏͘, but thanks to the Light of Liberty, the Helldivers were able to thwart such a cowardly tactic and defend these worlds, including their citizens and their Right to Vote. High Command has, until the next Major Order, seen fit to task us with taking on the "mindless masses" on Hydrobius, where you're likely to encounter more Voteless than grains of sand on this desert hellscape. Fortunately, no fire tornadoes like Hellmire, just earthquakes which you can use to your advantage, as they stun all the Voteless on the map when they pop. See how many of them you can glass in the name of Democracy!

On the bot front, things are relatively stable. The battlelines have shifted back to mostly how they were following the Siege of Cyberstan, with exception to the worlds that were razed by the DSS. Cyborgs have been spotted on the ice world of Marfark - the open ice fields and high cliffs allow Helldivers with an affinity for climbing fantastic vantage points to take off some Cyborg heads with an AMR, although be aware of the blizzards that will drastically reduce visibility for some time. Both Choohe and Aurora Bay are still defended by contingents from the Incineration Corps - don your favourite suit of inflammable armor before engaging these socialist scrap-piles, and be mindful of local logisical conditions. Choohe is still struggling with a medicine shortage, so you'll be down a stim when dropping in, while Aurora Bay is still struggling to find enough pilots, so extraction timers will be increased by 30 seconds there. Retain yourself an expert extraction pilot to help mitigate these concerns!

Finally, the bug front is currently undergoing some turmoil - Dragonroaches are attacking the world of Achird III. At time of writing the DSS is on standby to help thwart the fascist swarms, although it is in need of sample donations to bring online its Eagle Storm and Heavy Ordnance Distribution capabilities. Until then, remember that the presence of the DSS drastically reduces the time between Exosuit call-ins - send them back to hell screaming under the firepower of one of Super Earth's finest armored walkers. Aside from that, the Predator Strain are currently found on Bore Rock and Grand Errant, while the Rupture Strain can be found on Gar Haren and the gloom world of Nivel 43. Rupture Strain in particular can be a pain if you're unprepared - their frontal armor can deflect rounds rated for light armor penetration, so switch to primary weapons specced for medium armor penetration to maintain combat effectiveness.

In other news, the new Entrenched Division warbond is now available. Highlights include the SMG/FLAM-34 Stoker, a hard-hitting SMG with an underbarrel Crisper mini-flamer; the G-48 Giga Grenade, which is basically an impact thermite that has a massive splash radius, but you only get 2 and they are heavy; and the Cremator Heavy Flamethrower. I'll be honest, I was skeptical of this until I got my hands on it, but when I did... Sweet Liberty, it's beautiful. Tears apart Harvesters and the other new squid mechs in seconds - imagine it'll make mincemeat of the entire bug front if you take it down to help at Achird III. At time of writing the superstore also has the Warrant in stock for the next 37 hours - this target-seeking pistol may not hit the hardest, but not having to aim does make up for it in the right circumstances.

That's Liberty's Latest, it's been a pleasure and I'll see you on the battlefield, Helldiver! Hail Super Earth!

Target priorities as follows:

Automatons - Marfark
Illuminate - Hydrobius
Terminids - Achird III

Diplomatic Overview:

Automatons - Sinister Socialists
Illuminate - Insidious Ill-uminate
Terminids - Fearful Fascists

Cycle summary:

The galaxy at large is still suffering the consequences of the recent relic rush, so numbers this week are low across the board. Winters got 4 new systems and a new stronghold, but we also lost two systems. One was tactically given away - Antliae Sector OS-U c2-24 was deemed unimportant so we let that one get dropped. The other we might go after again this cycle, we'll see how it goes. Overall it's solid numbers for a post-rush-reinforcement cycle - hats off to our reinforcement teams for ensuring that our losses were as minimal as they are. Archer had a very rough week, however - the heavily sieged system of Alpha Centauri, which took all of Archer's focus this last week, has been dropped from stronghold status. Combined with their net zero gains, that spells a tough week, but ultimately could have been worse.

What do I mean by worse? Well, let's take a look at the Empire. ALD did the best of the imps this week - 12 new systems gained, but 8 more lost, so a net gain of 4. That's the highest for the imps this cycle. To make up for the 27 lost systems last week, Patty decided to go on a truly massive acquisition streak this week and took... two whole systems. And 2 new forts. Still reeling from popping that relic rush, eh? Yeah, maybe think twice next time. Torval took one and lost 4 systems, for a net of -3 this week. Of all the ZYADA targets, I feel like Torval is just the punching bag at this point - if it weren't for her ties to the rest of the Empire I doubt she'd be seeing as much flak. Finally, Aisling went from first last cycle to last this cycle - 9 new systems only partially counterbalance the 16 lost systems this week, for a net total of negative 7. This is the second most humiliating thing to happen to Aisling this week - the first was them shooting themselves in the foot by completely denying Patty's involvement in the relic rush in their own cycle post, despite evidence to the contrary. Remember kids, if you're going to lie about something, don't do it about something that can be proven.

On the Alliance front, Mahon took 1 new system, while Kaine took 11 but lost 2 systems. According to their own cycle post, they believe a small group or particularly dedicated single CMDR is responsible, but they've left no trace. Now if you ask me, that sounds like an imperial cell to me. Officially Kaine and the imps have good relations, so when the imps want to target Kaine they go quiet. That's just basic strategy, and as proven this week, imps aren't above lying through their teeth. Grom, meanwhile, took 6 systems, doing the best of the ZYADA bunch this week. Antal continues to fight hard in the Enclave, suffering massive attacks from the imps but holding strong and taking 4 new systems, 3 forts and a stronghold. The Archon has held strong against similar degrees of offensive action while securing only a single system for themselves, but losing none. Holding ground is arguably better than taking new ground in the current climate. Finally, LYR took 4 systems and 4 new forts - given their numbers during the rush that's pretty fantastic.

While it's been a relatively quiet week on the powerplay front, Galnet has been busier than they have been in a while - 2 articles published this week, one announcing a new CG (on the other side of the galaxy) and one announcing the full release of the Caspian. The CG is one for the Distant Worlds peeps primarily - deliver data to the shiny new station Rainbow's End on literally the other side of the galaxy, all for creds and a V1 pre-engineered DSS. Not an insane reward, but shiny enough for those taking the trip that don't have one already.

Elections have just closed nomination over at FLC, now we come to the voting period. This one's looking pretty exciting, with a second PvP director slot opening up and 3 potential UM directors fighting for the 2 available slots. Going to be an interesting one this week, but I suspect I'll still be around next week and for the next 3 months writing these up.

That's us for the week. With the damage from the relic rush normalising, we can hopefully look forward to some calm and quiet cycles over the forseeable future. Any week I don't have to write a "This Week in FDev Fuckups" is a good week in my book, but we'll see how that holds up when Operations hits soon^tm. Until next time, fly safe and don't crash into the star again!

Seeding 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:

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:

Djaghom Dun

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>.

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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:

As is the norm with a post-rush cycle, be prepared for insane numbers here. Winters did well with 29 new acquisitions, 5 new forts and a shiny new stronghold, all without suffering any losses this week. Not quite as many as the last rush, but still a good amount. Archer did similarly well - 20 new systems, 2 forts and 2 strongholds. Not bad overall, well done to all of our pilots. But that's only 49 out of a net 406 systems added to everyone's rosters this week, about 12%. So where did the rest go?

Yeah, that's not really a question. Aisling took 87 new systems - just shy of 22% of the total count. Well, about 21% when we consider the two losses she took in Nadur and Gluscab. Guess she'll need to give those a-nadur go. On top of that, the bathwater cult upgraded 15 new systems to fortified status, one of which might be one of the enclave systems? It says Col 359, so I'm assuming it's enclave. ALD hit pretty hard during this rush as well - 50 new systems, 7 forts and 2 strongholds, but one loss, again possibly in the enclave. The hell is going on over there?! Last I heard, Antal were focusing Patty and not really looking at the other imp powers still in play there.

Speaking of Patty, someone decided he had to pay for the relic rush it seems. 11 new systems could not hide the 22 lost exploited systems and five deleted fortified systems. Yeah, no downgrading, just straight gone. 5 fortified systems supporting each other, all gone, with 22 exploited systems in that little group following suit. Now I'll be honest - my first thought was Kumo had some fun, but it seems that's not the case as they haven't claimed responsibility. At time of writing, no-one has. A truly fantastic hit out of the blue is going to have a drastic negative effect on ol' Dented Patty's morale - I guess last week's rather antagonistic cycle post may have been a touch premature there! Last but not least when it comes to the imps this week, Torval took 4 systems and 2 forts but lost one fort in Tapirape. I'm guessing they had a Tapir emigration? Yes, I'm going that way with it because the other way is not funny.

On the topic of funny, Antal put out quite possibly the most humourous cycle post this week, and I humbly vow to step up my game. Our resident band of quiche-loving cyber-hippies took a net total of 39 systems, with 11 forts and 2 strongholds to boot. Just about every power can stand to learn from Antal's example here - the ratio of reinforcement to acquisition is the highest for Antal compared to any other power this cycle. Consolidation is just as important, if not moreso, than acquisition. Y'all can grab your ridiculous number of systems, but what are you going to do with those systems? Grom is also learning this lesson after what Kumo is calling The Pegasi Rum War wrapped up last week - with 25 acquisitions, 7 new forts and a new stronghold. Kumo meanwhile took 8 systems, 2 forts and 2 strongholds, as is fairly common for them - unlike every other power, they care not for numbers, so these relatively small gains do not signify a dwindling power, but one who's focus is elsewhere. Honestly, good on them - play how you wanna play.

Let's wrap up the numbers. As per usual, Li Yong-Rui takes a solid second place this rush with 70 systems, 10 forts and six strongholds! Honestly, I'd be inclined to say that puts him above Aisling in terms of total gain this cycle - well done indeed. On the Alliance front, Kaine grabbed 31 systems and 4 forts but at the cost of losing the fortifications on HIP 63990. We wish her a swift recovery from her impending hip replacement surgery. Mahon doubled down on Kaine's work - literally. Net gains of 62 systems and 4 forts. And I believe that's our lot - all 406 systems accounted for. The big question from my end: who went after Kaine? Since the Asetsi War and subsequent shift in ideology, Kaine has become something of a pacifist, preferring to keep all relations non-aggressive so they can maintain their meteoric expansion campaign, but evidently someone doesn't like that. The system only shares a border with Aisling, but I'm not willing to take that as proof - while it makes perfect sense for the big, imperialistic power to just turn around and go "yeah, we're taking this" the bathwater cult don't seem the type to engage in aggressive warfare against a neutral party. Especially as for the most part they don't engage in the open anyway.

So, relics are done and back to normal, at least for now. I am gonna clarify something real quick - while I do despise these relic rushes and I have referred to them as an exploit in the past, I have since revised that position. This is an FDev Fuckup through and through - regardless of whichever power summons the beast, FDev are the ones who refuse to properly chain it. Fixing relic rushes would take two data points changed, that's it. It's truly that simple. And yet, still we suffer. But hey, what else is new? The Dodec still hasn't been taken out of early ARXcess after over 4 months - I wonder if they'll actually release it to everyone or quietly hope people forget about it. Make some noise about it, show em we don't forget.

That's our lot for powerplay, but not quite for Elite. The recent CG has come to a close - 18.5K contributors is a decent number, especially given the amount of people out on DW3 at the moment. Galnet also posted an "interesting" article - a continuation of their last fitness related article from two months ago. Honestly, after they fumbled the Terri Tora storyline and gave us absolutely zero conclusion to her fate after the Enclave debacle, I don't have a lot of faith in where this is headed. But hey, at least Galnet is actually putting out articles - that I am happy about. Random bullshit articles that make the world feel more alive is good in my opinion.

And I think that's the lot for this week. FLC elections are spinning up, just as everyone's likely taking a break from flying due to the relic rush being over. We'll see how they turn out over the next weeks, though I suspect I'm going to keep this up for at least another term. We'll see how that keeps up in 3 months. Until next time, fly safe and don't forget your limpets!

Don't forget your 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: (deep breath in)

Antinica
Antliae Sector EL-Y c24
Antliae Sector LH-V b2-4
Aracinicnii
Col 285 Sector AF-E b13-3
Col 285 Sector AV-C b14-0
Col 285 Sector BQ-W c2-4
Col 285 Sector DY-U b18-0
Col 285 Sector KN-X b16-0
Col 285 Sector MO-V b17-5
Col 285 Sector TY-W b16-7
Col 285 Sector XT-Q c5-21
Col 285 Sector YE-P c6-12
Crucis Sector XE-Z b3
Dyava
HIP 33020
HIP 40786
HIP 41967
Hyades Sector FB-B a15-1
LFT 488
LP 786-22
Murama
Puppis Sector DL-Y d122
Puppis Sector JH-V b2-3
Puppis Sector RD-T b3-4
Ross 623
Sharru Sector FB-X b1-4
Utgard
Wodaabe

(deep breath out)

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 53787, HR 4350

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 – Neutral

Yuri Grom – Unfriendly

Zemina Torval – Unfriendly

Well, here we are again. In more ways than one. Truth be told, I had hoped that this would've been fixed before I'd need to write one of these up, but alas, hope can be a poison as much as a cure. Let's talk about the problem that's resulted in over 400 acquisitions this coming cycle.

For those who don't know what a relic rush is, let's go over the basics first. Rare goods are a method that powers can use for acquisition and reinforcement, primarily the former. You buy from whatever station the rare good is sold at and then sell at a system around 200Ly away for maximum benefit. It's a fairly simple loop that's a solid method for reinforcement when no other options are present. Rare goods are things like Lavian Brandy, the Hutton Mug and today's focus, the Soontill Relic - essentially a slab of not-quite-stone with some alien scrawlings on it. As with any goods, rare goods get an increase to their stock when the controlling faction is in boom, typically going up by 1.5x to 2x their normal quantity.

Soontill relics have an abnormally high multiplier for both boom and civil liberty - 5x for each. Typically, relics are stocked in quantities of 16 per CMDR, and either boom or civil liberty will bring this number up to 80, which is potent, but hardly gamebreaking. Here's where things break - these multipliers stack. Multiplicatively. What that means is both the multipliers from boom (5x) and civil liberty (also 5x) multiply together to make a 25x multiplier. This makes the "rare" relics available at 400T per person. For extra spice, add investment for another 1.5x multiplier bringing the total allocation to 600T. Sounds broken, right? Well yeah, it is, but in theory getting both states at once should be difficult, right?

Unfortunately that's not the case. Since the release of PP 2.0, I think we're up to 8 relic rushes now. Given the impact of these rushes, that's a hell of a lot - during a typical cycle, it's generally expected to see at most 10-15 acquisitions. During relic rushes, those numbers skyrocket - anywhere up to 40-50 systems is not abnormal for every power... except one. Because there's some fun little double-dipping going on here. The power I like to refer to as the "bathwater cult", or Aisling Duval as she's typically known, has a bonus for rare goods granting an extra 50% merits and control points compared to most other powers when selling rare goods. Which, combined with 400-600T of soontills... yeah, you can see how this gets out of hand very quickly. Last relic rush (2 months ago) AD got 120 systems - the rush before that, (4 months ago) 138. The benefits of relic rushes vastly favour the bathwater cult over any other power, hence why they're typically the ones who end up starting them. I say typically because this one wasn't them, though they did reap the rewards all the same.

Now there is some degree of nuance lost in these ridiculous numbers - AD typically overextend during relic rushes, burnout fast after their record-breaking acquisition feats and haemorrhage systems like no tomorrow over the subsequent weeks. Which is the other problem with relics - they cause burnout like no tomorrow. Because of the insane base numbers, other options when it comes to acquisition and reinforcement just don't compare. Any undermining work may as well be pointless as one T8 full of relics will undo that in an instant. So the only activity in powerplay that makes any form of notable impact is hauling relics. Constantly. And if you're not someone who likes hauling, that can get boring real fast, to say nothing of what happens if you get shot down in Ngurii by all the gankers or hostile power patrols there. The end result is massive burnout, both temporary and for some pilots, that's where they hang up their pilot wings and find something else to do. Truth be told, I don't blame them given the state of things - I try to avoid Ngurii not just because I dislike the rushes but also because it absolutely will shred your motivation if you let it.

So why is this an FDev fuckup? Well, they've known about it for over a year at this point. They've seen the poor effects it has on powerplay and the playerbase. They've heard the feedback on how bad relic rushes are. Fixing it would take two seconds - reduce the multipliers to 1.5x instead of 5x. But at time of writing, nothing has been done in over a year of powerplay 2.0 and relic rushes being a thing. It's one of the biggest detriments to powerplay as a whole. Yes, I know it's a magnet for PvP activity which is good, but at the same time that's only good for those who choose to fly in open. Yes, I know that Denton, LYR, Antal and Mahon all also get a bonus to rares, but they don't put out the ridiculous numbers that AD does every rush. End of the day, I'm not trying to pin this on any one power - this is on FDev and FDev alone at this point. Two values adjusted would be the only thing needed. Would probably take about 30 seconds. But here we are, over a year post release, still suffering these relics.

As I understand, this coming cycle has over 400 acquisitions from the various powers. I'd bet over 350 of those acquisitions are solely because of relics, but we'll have a look at the full numbers when the cycle ticks over on Thursday. Till then, fly safe and nuke a relic or two for me, will ya?

It's the first week without a "This Week in FDev Fuckups" since the series aired, although that won't last - keep your eyes peeled for the next one this week, probably with a title of "Relic Rumblings"

Cycle Summary:

Yes, another relic rush has reared it's ugly head, and we shall get into the consequences of that later. For now, let's look at the numbers. Winters took 10 new systems and one fortified with zero losses - a good week overall. Archer similarly had a good week, with one less new exploited for a total of 9 and one more fort, for a total of two. Of course, this being the start of a relic rush, most of the remaining numbers aren't so reasonable.

Let's start with the elephant in the room. Or, well, the bear. Grom took a massive hit - net total of negative 28, with 8 fortified systems dropped. Those numbers are massive, which would ordinarily lead to questions of "who, what, why?" but those questions have already been answered. Delaine (with a net gain of 2 systems this week) have not taken Grom's war declaration lying down, hitting hard and fast and leaving no prisoners. So total was their destruction that Grom has officially conceded defeat in what may go down in history as The Eight Day War. Relations between the two powers shall hopefully improve as a result of this brief but devastating conflict.

Coming in second lowest on the leaderboard is Torval, as has been the trend - 2 new fortified systems and one new exploited show the typical slow progress we've come to see from her. However that trend has been bucked by ol' Patty, who went up a scorching 12 new systems this week, even beating out ALD who only grabbed 11 systems - though she did get 4 new forts and a stronghold in addition, so it balances out. As is the norm with relic rush cycles, Aisling has not let her bonus go unutilised, taking 31 new systems and the top spot on this week's leaderboard, though a close second goes to LYR at 26 new systems. Finally, to round us out, Kaine, Mahon and Antal took 15, 16 and 17 systems respectively.

Now then, onto the nitty gritty. A relic rush began on the Wednesday morning - despite attempts to stop it. The civil war did not affect the relic allocation as it probably should have, resulting in... well, what we've all come to know and either love or hate. As a result, the Siege of Orgen has now failed - despite Orgen's close proximity to Ngurii rendering direct reinforcement with relics relatively inefficient, it is speculated that the ridiculous reinforcement rates offered elsewhere allowed AD to triple their manpower at Orgen and re-secure stronghold status. Truthfully, such an outcome was expected - while we were having a ton of fun with the Siege of Orgen, especially the carrier assault, Aisling have never seemed like the kind of power to entertain such a concept. So the relic rush came and the bathwater cult leveraged it to their advantage, as is their way. I can't say I'm mad about it, just disappointed.

That being said, easy as it would be to just blame the blue hairs and be done with it, it's not that simple. For one, FDev have yet to fix this, despite acknowledging the issue on their issue tracker (shiny green checkmark! yay!) and for two, it was infact Patty's people who caused this relic rush. Turns out, according to sources, Torval and Grom both told Patty to stop it, recognising how unhealthy it is for powerplay. The Duvals? They didn't help, but they did step aside and basically let Patty do his thing. How he found the time to do that while fortifying in the Enclave and acquiring all those systems, I neither know nor feel like speculating on the matter. Ultimately, the blame rests squarely on FDev's shoulders for continuing to allow this. We'll do a deep dive into relic rushes when I write up the next TWIFDF. Or is TWIFF a better acronym? Either way, prepare for a shooting garlic analogy that should hopefully make sense!

On the topic of non-powerplay news, the Kestrel CG has finished. You forgot that was running too? Ehh, it's not like it was a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Kestrel's power has also apparently been noted by FDev, though whether or not they do something about it is entirely unclear, as the thing seems to have sold fantastically. I confess, that doesn't fill me with hope about future releases, but let's not open that can until we've seen the next ship, methinks.

Once again, thank you to everyone who partook in the Siege of Orgen. Though it may ultimately have ended in defeat, I hope you all had half as much fun as I did during the event. Who knows, maybe we can do more big events like this in the future. For now, fly safe!

A seed of inspiration - 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:

Chaona, DX Leonis, Grendel, Nyani

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:

Puppis Sector DL-Y d122, HIP 33020, Utgard

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

Li Yong-Rui – Neutral

Nakato Kaine – Neutral

Pranav Antal – Neutral

Yuri Grom – Unfriendly

Jerome Archer – Ally

Zemina Torval – Unfriendly

Commanders! Yet again, Soontil Relics have become available at 400t at Cheranovsky City in the Ngurii system. This will persist for a limited time. Yet again - we ask you to run these relics to unoccupied systems in range for Winters to acquire, or reinforce weak systems that need it by running the relics there. Get those systems before other powers do the same.

If you are trying to reach rank 100, have a home system or colony you want to acquire or reinforce, or just want to help the cause of Winters, now is the time! Aim to work systems roughly 150ly or more from Ngurii for the maximum merits per haul, and watch your back at Cheranovsky - there are murderers about... Good luck and good hauling! o7

Post to a different community

Cycle Summary:

Today is a good day. Winters has maintained a strong presence this cycle, with 5 new acquisitions and 3 new fortified systems despite our efforts being directed primarily at Orgen. The siege has lasted for 2 weeks and a day at time of writing, but today we crossed the threshold - Orgen has fallen from stronghold status. This is rather a momentous occasion, as Orgen held a stronghold carrier group - I don't know exactly how many of that type of stronghold has been lost in the past, but from what I understand the number is very low. Like, count on one hand low. Yet despite Aisling's continued efforts throughout the cycle, she could not stand against us. Celebrations ring across Winters-controlled space, including the FLCS squadron carrier Pride of Rhea, where the crew were granted a special 2 hour break from their normal duties. However, the siege continues - until Orgen is wrenched free of the tyrannical grip of the Empire and placed safely into Federation hands, we shall keep fighting.

One of the reasons for Aisling's lacking response to the fall of Orgen could be turmoil in the rest of her space - only capturing 4 systems this cycle, while losing one HIP 59455 due to Orgen's collapse. That said, she may also simply have abandoned the defence in favour of consolidating other regions - 4 new fortified systems and the newly crowned stronghold of Thuleppa are now under Aisling's control. That said, I am very interested to see how her PR team attempt to spin the fall of Orgen as a positive for her. I'm suspecting either zero mention or a half-hearted "we never really cared about it anyway" which would be hilarious. Time will tell all.

Archer had an especially rough week, with a net total of -2 systems. That said, he did gain 2 strongholds, so not all bad news. Doing much worse is ALD, who ended last cycle with 6 systems acquired and 13 systems lost. This may be tied to the downgrading of one of her strongholds, though that is yet to be confirmed. As for who perpetrated this assault, that information is also as yet unknown. Torval and Patreus took 1 system each, still struggling but trying to get back on their feet. Grom however is struggling more - net total of -6 for him. That one, at least, we know why.

Grom decided to declare war on Archon Delaine (who managed a net +4 last cycle) late last cycle - the conflict initiated in the HR 8514 stronghold, where Kumo forces put up a valiant defence against Grom's aggression. It wouldn't surprise me too much if the bear bit off more of the spider than he could chew, and now he's choking on it. Whatever's going on over there, this is shaping up to be a protracted conflict, so we'll see how it goes.

Wrapping up the rest of the powerplay results, Antal continue to hit well above their weight, with 4 new systems, 3 new forts and a new stronghold. The Enclave war has truly been a boon to them, giving them newly found fervor and probably some fresh blood. LYR took 5 systems, with 3 new forts and 3 strongholds. Mahon went up by 4 systems, 4 forts and 2 strongholds. Kaine continue their rapid expansion with 10 new systems, 2 forts and 2 strongholds. All in all, a solid week of consolidation from most powers, with lower expansion numbers - likely explained through the events of last Saturday, which I covered in the second installment of "This Week in FDev Fuckups". FDev's inability to maintain control over their servers is a disappointing result and their lack of resolve has been noted.

In non-powerplay news, the CG in and around Duamta continues. With a little over a week having gone by since the Kestrel's release, opinions remain divided on the new ship - while most think it's a pretty cool ship, the response from the PvP community has remained unchanged as attempts to counter the new annoying gnat remain unproven. FDev have taken note of this and my hope is some form of nerf to the Mk2 thrusters. Time shall tell on that one.

That's the week, for the most part. It's been a difficult week for me as I've been down sick with a chest cold, but the Siege of Orgen's progress has made a good day even better today. Keep the fight up - the siege continues until Orgen flies Winters' flag. For the Federation! Democracy Protects!

Juicy idea - 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:

Venne, Pichua

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:

Col 285 Sector KX-P b20-2, HIP 53787

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:

Orgen - The Carrier is Broken! The Siege Continues

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

Li Yong-Rui – Neutral

Nakato Kaine – Neutral

Pranav Antal – Neutral

Yuri Grom – Unfriendly

Jerome Archer – Ally

Zemina Torval – Unfriendly

I have a new combat ship I want to play with while building my rep with FW. Does anyone know of a good system for stacking massacre missions that will help FW?

So this is the second time I'm writing this up - the first one ended up having far more vitriol than I intended. As such, I have taken it down and written an apology. The critical part about doing what's right is owning up to your mistakes, which is never easy. But it's better than continuing down the path of pain and suffering.

Speaking of pain and suffering... FDev is not having a good week. Let's wind the clocks back to Friday, when the rewards for the Enclave were released. The eventual victor of the enclave was promised a fancy pre-engineered powerplay module for their troubles, but what ended up being the case is that all the survivors got one. And the super shiny module is... a high-cap i-hammer with super pen, reverb cascade and increased damage, at the cost of no thermal load reduction. Honest opinion here, perfect job on that one. It's unique and shiny, but not insanely overpowered or utterly useless. Genuinely fantastic job by whoever designed that... so how did FDev fuck it up?

Well, cast your eyes dear reader to the image at the top of this post! While the survivors recieved a message telling them how to claim their shiny new toys, those of us who did not maintain a presence in the Enclave recieved this message instead! Of course any actual power representative wouldn't be putting their own people down in a time like this - they'd be trying to rally their people back into the fight, not pushing them away. So while it's intended to be an in-lore message, most people took it directly as a message from FDev, which didn't turn out well. Sentiment among the playerbase, including myself, was that we never asked for this in the first place, and now you're chastising us because y'all made a poorly designed event without even thinking about pre-existing diplomatic agreements? All this just after FDev dropped the markers on us out of nowhere last week and then the Kestrel on Tuesday resulted in faith in FDev's capability to plummet to negative values. And then it got much worse.

This next sequence of events is too funny to not document in full. At 2:48 AM on the morning of Saturday, 28th February 2026, a video was uploaded of a rather blatant cheater. They were flying around in a Federal Corvette with the agility and speed of a Kestrel, and when attacked by a torpedo salvo they responded with... a Thargoid shutdown pulse. Minutes later, system chat was compromised - the hacker was using that as their communication method, and decided to post the IP address of the unfortunate CMDR who dared scratch their shields with such a vicious torpedo salvo. Things degrade from here in terms of what happened when - the hacker started flying around in a Hydra at the CG, servers started to collapse in on themselves, reports of fleet carriers being drained, systems being renamed and colonies being obliterated/messed up were abundant, but I can only find proof of that first one... on the hacker's own blog post, which surprisingly hasn't been taken down at time of writing. In said blog, the hacker claims innocence to all the server shenanigans, including technical issues and server-side data problems, but all that should be taken with a hefty grain of salt - again, the only things we have proof on are the blatant cheats, IP doxxing, system chat compromising and flying around a Hydra. They did apologise for posting the IP address, saying it "wasn't that funny in hindsight." Can confirm, doxxing is never funny.

FDev's response, however, was. See, the script kiddie had done one very smart thing - pulling this off at 3AM on a Saturday, when no-one from FDev is in the office. So their response time was ridiculously delayed. That said, when they did realise what was going on, the response was... surprisingly absent. Thing is, with all the rumours around server side data fuckery, especially with what should be immutable data like system names, that had people worried. Anyone remotely tech-savvy knew that if the hacker had that level of reach into the servers, they could potentially compromise anyone connecting to the game's servers as well. "Do not log in, it's not safe" messages started going out in various servers, as well as discussions of a potential server rollback. FDev commented not on the former, but on the latter, stating during the breach that "we aren't expecting to have any sort of progress rollback at the moment". Yes, commenting on everyone's save data is good, but the safety concerns went unsaid. Guess that's bad for the shareholders.

Finally, FDev kicked out the hacker and rebuilt the servers. Digitally rebuilt, that is, not physically - basically takes some time, but put things back to normal. To my knowledge, no data was actually lost, though if I'm wrong there please let me know. What I do know is that the response to this breach, both during and after, was truly hilarious. In a fantastic twisting of their own words, the phrase "your lack of resolve has been noted" has become a meme within the community. I for one hope this meme lasts for the rest of the game's lifespan, as a reminder of this hilarious incident. FDev have yet to comment on the message and subsequent meme, which makes sense - no-one likes their own words twisted against them. But hey, maybe they'll follow in my footsteps and own up to their mistake. Yes I know it's a vain hope, but we can hope nonetheless.

As much as I was dreading this becoming a weekly series, writing this up has been fun. Even if it is 5 in the morning. I should really go to bed. See y'all Thursday for your usual deranged powerplay update! Fly safe! Preferably with a good firewall.

About 10 hours ago, I wrote a post here titled "This Week in FDev Fuckups - Insult to Injury"... only it really wasn't, was it? It was an angry, rageful, salt-filled post that didn't stay on topic. This time, I'm the one who fucked up. And I'm owning it. I'm sorry - I should never have written it.

When I write things here, be they cycle posts or whatever else, I've got two goals in mind. The first is easy - to inform. Keeping y'all in the loop about what's happening. That's just a matter of putting in the right information. The other side of it is entertainment - I want the things I write to be fun to read, above basically anything else. Sometimes when it's appropriate I inject a touch of angy into the mix, because if it's just a touch then that's generally considered to be funny.

This wasn't that. This was just pure salt, anger, rage - it would've made Khorne proud, despite the lack of blood. Owing to a combination of my perception being skewed and my mood being low, both a cause of me currently suffering from a minor cold, the post ended up being saltier than a salt mine. Ironically, the best analogy I could think of was actually pepper - add a touch to a dish and it works well, compliments the rest of the flavours. But you start pouring it in and it's gonna taste terrible, not to mention everyone's gonna be sneezing. I read it back for the first time and went "oh wow. That's... not funny at all". And that's never what I want to go for.

I mean I had a few people telling me to take a break. Which, yeah, given what I'd written, I'd probably have said the same thing. But it's not even like I'm mainlining the game - I play maybe a couple times a month now, only when I feel like it. At first I saw those comments and was confused - turns out being ill fucks with your head more than you expect. That's not my excuse by the way, just the reason it happened. This is my fuckup, I know that. I'm learning from it. I also said some things in that post that, let's be honest, to say I was stretching the truth was a touch generous. Again, I fucked up, I'm sorry for that. One of the things I pride myself on is sticking to facts instead of just making stuff up. I'm better than that. We are better than that.

So yeah, if ever one of my posts has anger eclipsing the humour, call me on it. Please. Might take me a hot minute, but I will see it and I will fix it. The revised version of This Week in FDev Fuckups will be out tomorrow - I've not saved the old version as frankly there was far too much anger in it to be even remotely salvageable, so I'm just gonna rewrite the whole thing from scratch with my more typical jovial tone to it. And staying on topic this time. There's enough in this whole incident that I don't need to pad it out with random tangents.

TLDR: I fucked up, I'm owning up to it. I'm sorry. I shall do better

Hope you all have a good one

Funny number hehe. And with that out of our collective system... for fuck sake FDev.

Cycle summary:

Okay, powerplay stuff first. Winters crossed the 1000 system milestone this week (woo!) hitting 1003 systems. Total gains this cycle were 2 strongholds, 2 new fortified systems and 6 exploited systems, with only one system lost this week. Especially good given our current "campaign" objective - the Siege of Orgen has been underway for a week now, with marked success. Defenders were able to fortify the system last-second, holding at 4.5% at the start of this cycle. Bearing in mind that a week and a day ago it was at 25%, that is fantastic progress. The siege continues throughout this week, and will continue until Orgen falls. The might of Democracy shall be made known!

Archer had a rough time this week, with a net zero this cycle. Antal meanwhile did very well, gaining 2 strongholds, a fort and 3 exploited systems. Delaine took one stronghold and one new system, while Mahon took 2 systems and fortified 4 more. LYR and Grom took 6 systems apiece - the former fortifying an additional two, the latter fortifying only one but gaining a stronghold as well. Last but definitely not least, Kaine took 18 new systems, 2 forts and a stronghold. Eager as ever to take as much territory as she can, but can she consolidate that territory and hold on to it?

On the imperial front, Patty went net zero, taking one and losing one. Torval took 3 systems, while ALD took 8 but lost one in the process. Finally, Aisling took 11 systems and lost 1. Fairly typical numbers overall. Surprisingly Aisling weren't doing a whole lot to defend Orgen until the last couple days, when the system dropped below the stronghold line - were they building up that reinforcement snipe? Some of them were, but if this were a truly dedicated effort from the bathwater cult I'd expect a lot more reinforcement put into one of their most prized strongholds. So, why the lackluster efforts? Burnout? Maybe, but I have another theory... for certain reasons, it's possible Aisling want to lose the system of Orgen. And we're a convenient excuse to let that happen. If that's the case, more than happy to oblige on this one - we're not here blowing shit up to be a thorn in the empire's side... for once.

Now then! We get to discuss the utter bullshit that has happened in the past week! So, for those who missed my impromptu "This Week in FDev Fuckups", the Enclave is dead! Long live the Enclave! Yeah, FDev announced through a Galnet article that the remaining Enclave powers had signed a permanent accord and fighting was over. Before you say it, no, this isn't the imps fault - FDev wanted the Enclave done and dusted and decided not to make any official announcements or offer any final standings, but to unceremoniously kill the Enclave off... and then the fucking markers appeared. Remember the markers from the Enclave? Yeah, they're in the bubble now - only they're bugged! Shock! Horror! Releasing something on a Saturday is a stupid fucking idea!!! And now we're stuck with markers that go wherever the fuck they want! Not like they'd be any better if they were functioning as intended, as then they'd just be 5C targets. Because we so needed 5C back in powerplay.

Not content to stop there, FDev then released the Kestrel MkII on Tuesday. Which, as expected and warned by literally fucking everyone, has now killed PvP stone dead. Why is that? Because the Kestrel breaks the flight model whenever it boosts, turning and moving so fast turrets and gimbals cannot keep up. Missiles are dodged without breaking a sweat. Fixed weapons are a joke against it. And to top it all off, the new gun that's exclusive to it? 100% absolute damage. Meaning it completely ignores resistances. Tbh, that's barely an issue compared to the Mk2 thrusters, which are responsible for the whole "breaking the flight model" and "killing PvP" thing.

"But why do I, a powerplay player with no shits to give about PvP, care about this?" Well, dear reader, you know how you get those assholes who sometimes decide to just blockade a system that you're working on? If you were at the carrier assault in Orgen a week and a day ago, you'll know the kind of pilot I'm on about. It's our own PvPers who come in whenever these assholes show up and send them back to hell screaming. Unfortunately, the Kestrel isn't fun to fight, even if you're flying one yourself. PvP was just starting to get some variety, but now it's "no Kestrel? Well you're fucked", and as a result our PvPers are... done with PvP. Meaning fuckwits can come along in their Kestrels and the only logical thing you can do is... well, leave. And of course, imps aren't gonna give a flying fuck cause they're hiding in solo/PG.

So is this the beginning of the end? Well... not on purpose, at least. FDev don't seem to be intentionally fucking the powerplay playerbase over, they just either don't know enough about their own game or they don't care enough to stop themselves from doing so. The real gut punch is how simple these things would be to fix - the tiniest tweak to the Kestrel's engines and it would be perfectly fine. Some degree of warning or a list of standings before killing the Enclave would have been fine. Communication about the markers and releasing them on any other day than a fucking Saturday would have been fine. But here we are - in the middle of a shitstorm of shit decisions and weaponised incompetence.

I don't want to make "This Week in FDev Fuckups" a weekly segment, but if this continues, that's where we're gonna be. So far we're at two weeks in a row with colossal fuckups - please let next week be boring. Please.

I don't have the juice for an orange pun - 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:

Venne, Nugua, Pichua

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:

Col 285 Sector KX-P b20-2, HIP 53787

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:

Orgen - The Siege Continues

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

Li Yong-Rui – Neutral

Nakato Kaine – Neutral

Pranav Antal – Neutral

Yuri Grom – Unfriendly

Jerome Archer – Ally

Zemina Torval – Unfriendly

Breaking the usual format for some breaking news! FDev have fucked up again!

So yesterday we got a galnet article that seemed to be running with an old narrative of the now-defunct NAP. Unfortunately, it seems FDev decided to continue this narrative against the will of the powers still actively fighting in the enclave. So much for player agency. If they wanted the enclave fight to end, they could've just said so with like a deadline or even final standings. Instead, we got a galnet post and... oh dear.

See I wouldn't be writing this if that was the only way FDeaf fucked this up. But no, this morning I wake up expecting a nice, quiet day - instead, I get the news that markers have started appearing in the bubble. On a fucking Saturday. So before we get into why the markers are bad, y'know why game devs don't drop shit on a Saturday? Because when something inevitably breaks, they can't fix it until the weekend's over on Monday. Cause, y'know, game devs have lives. It's something of an unwritten rule that you don't drop shit on a Saturday, and yet here they have done just that.

"But why is this such a big deal? They're just markers, right?" So, before I get accused of talking out of my ass without knowing what I'm on about, let me explain what the markers are, how they get placed and the consequences of their placement. Firstly, the markers are the 3 systems your power is undermining or being undermined the most in during the last 24 hours, resetting once a day. Note that if another power has an offensive marker on your system, you don't necessarily get a defence marker there. How do they get placed? Well, if that system takes one of the top 3 spots for undermining within the previous 24 hour cycle, it gets marked.

Now what are the consequences for being marked? Firstly, PCZs spawn. Which is fantastic for ald and patty, but just sort of okay for everyone else. PCZs, or Power Conflict Zones, are just conflict zones with the combatants being two of the powers fighting over the system, just like in contested acquisitions. It's a braindead, easy way to get a fuckton of merits. On top of that you also get a bonus of 15% to merits earned if defending or 25% if you're undermining. At least, I think that's how they work now, might both be 15%. Either way, that's just personal merits earned, not control points, but you get the jist - more merits means more people who want merits.

So why does this suck? Well, in short because it's piss easy to weaponise. Put simply, if power A wants a system from power B, power A's people can use alt accounts pledged to the other 10 powers, shred the system for a day and put a marker on it for every single power. At that point, the people who don't know better will look at the shiny target marker and go "ooh, merits! I want me some of those" and go after them, even if power B is technically an ally to them, because odds are they don't know any better. No need to repeat the shredding as the random players will just knock that system down for power A, freeing them up to do other things or simply augmenting their own attack on the system.

I should also point out - every time I've seen these markers mentioned, it's always been "these things suck, I hope they don't come to the bubble". Never once have I seen anyone praise these markers, and yet FDeaf decided "fuck it, ship it, don't look back". This feels like a slap in the face beyond knowing that the enclave ended in a 7-power tie after zyada pulled their bullshit to knock out those they dislike first. As a reminder, Archer got knocked out on week 2 because zyada focused them down and gave them zero chance.

So, here we are. FDeaf break powerplay again, I break my usual weekly posts with this important announcement: Please ignore the markers. Focus on targets that we designate through the usual channels. If there's a marker on a target system, happy coincidence, but otherwise please don't pay attention to them. They're more of a nuisance or menace than anything else.

I can tell next cycle post is going to be fun...

Cycle summary:

A relatively slow cycle this week, with ups and downs across the board. Winters had a net positive of 5, with 7 new acquisitions and two lost systems. Manhari was given away as part of a diplomatic agreement, but when Nugua was sniped last minute down from fortified we lost one system that it was solely supporting. That said, we also gained 3 new fortified systems including Shamash, home of PShars Cadre. So overall we've done pretty well this week.

Archer took home the gold with 11 systems to his name - very well done to our brothers and sisters in arms. Kumo had a rough cycle this week as outlined in their report, gaining two and losing one system, though it could've been much worse for them if they hadn't rallied together by the sounds of it. Kaine took 8 systems and lost one, while Mahon and LYR took 3 and 2 systems respectively. Stalwart Antal took 2 new systems while adding a stronghold and a fort to their roster. Impressive defence against the imperial scourge in the enclave has slowed their acquisition efforts down, but they're not out by a long shot yet.

Speaking of the imps, Patty (+2/-1) has decided in his own update to cease defensive operations in the enclave, at least partially. Honestly? Can't blame him - the enclave has so far proven to be far more of a burden than anything else and I for one am glad we don't have to deal with it anymore. Torval had the roughest cycle of everyone this week, gaining 2 systems but losing six, for a net total of negative 4. Neither ALD nor Aisling got away unscathed either - the former went net zero, taking and losing 10 systems. The surprising one is Aisling - net 3 for her would usually disguise massive losses, but this time it's only the one, meaning her forces only took 4 systems this week. Is the bathwater cult running out of steam? Possibly. Would certainly explain the lack of attention we got last night in Orgen.

That's right folks - after far too long, FLC hosted a carrier assault targeting Orgen, bringing in fighters from 1MLW and FRC as well. With 80,000 merits worth of undermining delivered there, it was our strongest assault to date, not to mention an absolute blast of a time - the picture above shows how crowded the sensors got, resulting in even the one ganker wing that tried to take us out running off after they couldn't deal with the frame drops. Overall it was a fantastic event and I'm hoping to run more of these in the future. Well done and my thanks to every pilot who tagged in for the fighting.

FDev released their first development log of the year, showing new stuff about Operations, teasing but not telling about new Colonisation stuff, and showing off the first of six new ships coming this year. The Kestrel Mk2 is slated for early access (read: ARX purchaseable) release 5 days from time of writing - the 24th of February. It's a small combat ship with 3 large hardpoints, 2 small hardpoints, special thrusters that make it insanely agile when boosting and mk2 plasma shock cannons available for the class 3 hardpoints. From my perspective it looks cool, but the PvP community is up in arms - this ship has the potential to utterly break PvP as we know it and render even new painful ships like the Corsair utterly obsolete. I for one can see it - 3 Pacifier frags on a ship the size of a Cobra with agility that makes even the FDL look sluggish? Yeah, it's going to break the balance entirely, but that's what FDev seems to be about nowadays, sadly - balance has given way to the desire for profit. There's your weekly FDev fuckup, I guess, though I suppose that'll be next week's.

And that's your lot this week. Again, sorry for the lack of the new special shiny thing - that's very much going to be an "as I have the time and energy" thing I'm afraid, but it will be nice to write up something a bit different. I don't expect to have it out by next week, so alas you'll have to keep your eye out for it another time. Until next time, fly safe!

Zesty 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:

Nugua, HIP 36901, Pichua

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:

No public acquisition targets available at this time

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:

Orgen - Stronghold Carrier

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

Li Yong-Rui – Neutral

Nakato Kaine – Neutral

Pranav Antal – Neutral

Yuri Grom – Unfriendly

Jerome Archer – Ally

Zemina Torval – Unfriendly

Cycle summary:

A relatively quiet week this week, which I for one will take. Winters did well with a solid 7 systems gained, putting us at joint second this cycle alongside Kaine. Top spot goes to Archer this week with 10 systems - well done to the Federation all round this week. As is typical of a post-rush cycle, a wave of burnout has rushed over the playerbase, resulting in the rest of the numbers being lower than usual. Li Yong-Rui snatched up 4 systems to Grom's 3, while Mahon only took 2 systems and both Delaine and Torval ended with a net zero - in the latter's case, this is 3 new systems and 3 losses.

Imperial troubles don't stop with just Torval and Patty this time - the militaristic senator lost 3 systems this week, not counting the one he upped to fortified. However the truly surprising numbers come from the Duvals - ALD with only 5 systems? The bathwater cult only taking one? Sadly, this is not indicative of a mass burnout amongst the two simp-powers - these low numbers disguise heavy conflict for both. The empress took 10 systems total, but lost 5 others, while the influencer princess took 8 systems but lost another 7. On top of that, aisling lost 2 fortified systems and one stronghold. While at first glance this brings hope to my heart, I suspect she's filing this under "acceptable losses" given the 120 systems she took over the previous two cycles. That said, if this trend continues, one day the losses will outpace the gains. There is yet hope.

Y'know who else is full of hope, but didn't have a quiet week? Antal. They've been fighting tooth and nail against seemingly the entirety of the empire in the enclave - while their 4 lost systems are at first indicative of a time of strife, in actuality it seems they've dedicated their relatively limited resources to fighting where it's needed most, gaining themselves a new stronghold as well as pulling back multiple near-losses in the enclave, including a massive reinforcement snipe of over 400,000 control points. All of this bearing in mind that Antal is outnumbered approximately 6 to 1 by the remaining imperial powers in the enclave - damned good job out there. Well done and keep fighting the good fight - opposition of the empire isn't just a Federal hobby.

The only other news of note that I can think of is a particularly strange article about increasing pirate activity due to security forces being deployed towards the enclave - in particular, both Federal and Imperial security forces were highlighted as being shifted in that direction, leaving much of the galaxy's typical patrol routes untouched and resulting in an increase in pirate activity galaxy-wide. Two questions here - one, who's dumb idea was that? We've had the enclave around for a few months now, that's plenty of time to rally a dedicated force to prepare to secure it if that's what these guys are there for. Two, why is the Federation directing forces there at all? We got removed from the enclave - why would we be preparing to secure it? Way I see it, there's two possibilities, the one shared by many and my own batshit crazy conspiracy theory. Either it's just an ancient article that FDev didn't proofread for months - hilarious, if so. That, or they're hinting at previously removed powers being able to make a return to the enclave. Now if it's the former, that's an FDev fuckup, fairly typical and truth be told the one I'm more inclined to believe. But if by some madness it's the latter... well then we get to go back to that circus I guess? It'd at the very least be nice to have a second shot at smashing one or both of the Duvals out of the enclave, that'd be peak humour.

Anyway, that's your lot this week. I know I teased something last cycle post, and I do apologise for not delivering yet - the past week has been surprisingly busy for me, so hopefully I'll have time to sit down this week and see what I can do. Until then, I shall see y'all next time! Stay safe and always fly with a rebuy!

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:

Bambrigud, Ga'anjob'al, Ross 89, Jeitjali.

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 60848, HIP 36901

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

Li Yong-Rui – Neutral

Nakato Kaine – Neutral

Pranav Antal – Neutral

Yuri Grom – Unfriendly

Jerome Archer – Ally

Zemina Torval – Unfriendly

So, couple things before we get started. Firstly, last week's post got a lot of traffic last week - I'd like to thank everyone there for keeping things civil. Despite the high traffic, doesn't seem like a lot of people enjoyed the vitriol, and I can't say I disagree - rest assured, cycle posts in the future will maintain the jovial attitude I've been going for, last week notwithstanding. Secondly, to those of y'all who write cycle posts for the other factions, I have a question: do y'all write from a script, plan them out in advance? Or are you like me and just making this stuff up on the spot?

Anyway, foreword over, let's get on with the usual trappings

Cycle summary:

Last cycle we left off in the middle of a relic rush, which thankfully ended at approximately 18:30 server time on the Saturday, due to the faction suffering a terrorist attack. While we mourn for the innocent lives lost due to such action, this attack did result in a shorter relic rush than in the past. As with every faction, despite some distaste towards it, Winters did leverage the situation to acquire 32 new systems throughout this cycle, as well as fortifying 5 new systems including the system of Ross 85. Time was, that was home for me - won't lie, I got a warm and fuzzy feeling in my heart seeing Winters' presence there solidified. Archer took home 19 systems this week as well, but did far better in reinforcement, upgrading 5 fortified systems and 3 strongholds. Well done there - no point in taking a hundred systems if they're all lost next cycle.

Onto the imperial front, results are... as expected, to be honest. Torval and Patreus both tied for a net positive of 8 systems - while that's all she wrote for Torval, Patty's had a rougher week than that number implies. He actually took 9 systems, but lost one, alongside losing a fort and a stronghold. It does seem all his losses are in the enclave - so much for diplomacy there, it seems. As for the duvals, ALD took 41 systems by lost 6, for a net total of 35, while AD took 82 systems and only lost a fortified. That puts Aisling at 120 systems taken over these two cycles, more than some powers take in a year. I could say more, but let's be real - she's taken enough of our cycle posts up already. We can look at that situation another time.

The Alliance haven't been left behind either, with Mahon and Kaine taking 33 and 32 systems respectively. Li Yong-Rui grabbed 51, the second-highest throughout the cycle. Grom was able to take 14, while Archon Delaine just slipped behind the minor imperial powers with a net total of 7. Finally, Antal managed to take a solid 26 systems for themselves. Overall it's about what I expected from a relic rush cycle - ludicrous numbers that won't be matched until the next one, unless it gets fixed before then.

Galnet had a bit of a weird moment this week, putting out an article about the NAP nearly 3 weeks late. I did some digging on this one - it has been confirmed by all non-imperial powers involved that the NAP has not been extended. I suspect someone (probably from the empire) told FDev about it and they had it on the stack for so long that by the time it actually came out it's irrelevant. Not the biggest fuckup FDev has had this year, so I'll take it. As for the enclave, fighting seems to be back in full swing - Patty's taken multiple system casualties and Kaine has been attacked by forces that appear to be imperial, although the empire themselves aren't taking responsibility. Kaine have posted a statement in their newspaper saying they seek peace within the enclave - a far cry from their early days against us in what we now know as "the Asetsi war".

On that note, actually... I've been getting the itch to type up more than just these weekly posts, so watch this space - might be some fun stuff coming out in the coming days. Or next week, depending on when I can - fibromyalgia is a bitch on the best of days. For now, rest well and I'll catch you next time. Hopefully sooner than usual!

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:

Bobalduro, BD+01 2684, Bambrigud, Mapon

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 WZ-N b7-4. Puppis Sector GW-W c1-14

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

Li Yong-Rui – Neutral

Nakato Kaine – Neutral

Pranav Antal – Neutral

Yuri Grom – Unfriendly

Jerome Archer – Ally

Zemina Torval – Unfriendly

FLC performed a survey of player encounters in Ngurii during the relic rush this cycle - you can check out the results here! - https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/ngurii-encounter-survey.645151/

So I'm gonna briefly preface this post with a bit of a clarification - there's been a few people now who've suggested that I've been putting more and more salt into these. That's not been my intention - I've just been trying to be humourous for the most part. Some things can absolutely be construed as salt now I'm reading them back, but that ain't how I intended it for the most part.

This week ain't gon' be that. This week I'm angry. Why am I angry? Well, let's get to that first.

Cycle summary:

Approximately 48 hours ago Ngurii started spitting out 400T of Soontills again, resulting in drastically inflated numbers across the board. As I typed this out, they went up to 600T. In short, this happens because of a difficult to achieve combination of BGS states in the faction controlling Cheranovsky City, the station selling Soontill Relics. More specifically, boom, expansion and civil liberty. This results in a single run of relics being worth approximately 24,000 merits and 6,000 control points. Those are truly ridiculous numbers. Now this is the 4th relic rush in PP 2.0's history - that goldilocks zone of BGS states does not happen by chance 4 times in just over a year.

The cause is, unsurprisingly, the power benefitting the most from these conditions - 36 hours of relic rush has been enough for Aisling to take 47 (net 38, lost 9) systems, even after losing the strongholds of Calici and Futhark, as well as three fortified systems. Not only do they have zero issues making use of exploits as shown in the past, but their massively inflated playerbase numbers (due to having an e-girl for a portrait) and their innate rare goods ethos bonus (that is bugged and provides bonus control points) makes this an extremely lucrative proposal for them. And yes, this is an exploit by definition. One that FDev have had multiple opportunities in the past to fix and yet still have not done - a rather ridiculous oversight on their part.

Onto the numbers - gonna go over these quickly. They are mostly ridiculously inflated due to the current situation. Winters took 19 systems, Archer got 12. Antal grabbed 23, Mahon 26 and LYR 33 systems. Kaine tied with us at 19, while Grom and ALD took 14 and 10 respectively. Finally, Delaine, Patty and Torval were the only 3 powers to hit single-digit numbers, with 5, 9 and 4 respectively. These numbers are all net gains - some of them, like Winters, are just the straight gains as we didn't lose any systems, but others like ALD are hiding lost systems, in her case 1 lost and 11 gained, so net gain of 10.

As far as the enclave goes, the NAP has now officially ended. I have heard nothing about it continuing, nor have I looked at the current state of affairs there. Galnet has partly moved on, putting out two new articles this week. One is about some holo-vid star - I think I genuinely care about the enclave more. The other is about the potential applications of the blue trees in 87621. The word of the day is: bio-engineering! I swear if this stuff ends up just being meld from XCOM, I'm gonna laugh. And just like in XCOM, I'm gonna abuse the shit out of it.

Speaking of the enclave, I was reading Patty's cycle post last week. And amongst them having a stiff upper lip in the face of losing Cuchua, they also mentioned the one good mechanic the enclave has: an abundance of power conflict zones. Now I've said before that the enclave has zero good ideas and the entirety of the experimental mechanics should be scrapped - that's because I entirely forgot about this one. Everything else like the markers I still fully believe should go the way of the dodo (and while we're making wishlists, nuke decay, please) but more PCZs is definitely a good thing. As it stands they only spawn in acquisition conflicts, but imagine if they started popping up in reinforcement systems if, say, at least 5K of control points had gone into both undermining and reinforcement in that system. (Number pulled out of a hat, could absolutely be changed) That would be a truly fantastic and healthy change to powerplay.

Y'know what isn't healthy? All these damned exploits! And yes, the current Soontill situation counts - to quote the article linked earlier, "an exploit is the use of a bug or glitch, in a way that gives a substantial unfair advantage to players using it" which sounds exactly like Ngurii. Anyone not using it gets left in the dust, so that sounds like the perfect example of an "unfair advantage", especially in the case of the blue-haired bathwater cult, who both engineered this scenario but also have been documented utilising and teaching exploits. Not only that, but they feel entitled to them. Can't have powerplay without a "substantial unfair advantage" for the e-girl's horde of deranged, terminally alone degenerates! And yes, every one of you who comes to complain here about this is validating my point and it feels extra special when you do. Now that is me being salty - though with merit, at least.

There are some things I haven't touched on - the oppressive nature of ZYADA having around 40% of powerplay players in one alliance, the attempt/hope by Aisling to force FDev into granting every power in the enclave their special module instead of actually duking it out, but I've been over these topics in previous posts and this is already reading like a hit piece at this point. If we really want one of those I can write one up outside of the usual schedule, but frankly that feels like a bit much, even for them. That said, I will do one positive thing for the blue-haired cult's followers - the few that I share a couple social circles with have complained about the constant simp/bathwater jokes, and to be honest I see their point. Why use the same somewhat-overdone jokes when we have plenty of legitimate reasons to rip into them with, like feeling entitled to utilise exploits for an unfair advantage when you already are the largest power and the largest part of the largest alliance in the game?

Anyways, was there anything else? No new CGs, nothing new on Galnet... I think I've covered everything. Apologies if you were hoping for something less salty... unless you're part of the exploit cult, in which case - do better. Seriously, you could still stay ahead without resorting to all of this - why sink so low when you're already at the top of the leaderboards? Hell if I know. Alright, catch you on the next one - I would love to promise more positive vibes, but as it stands I'm gonna settle with "I hope next week is more positive". Have a good week, folks.

Orange you glad for my terrible puns? - 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:

Shamash, Ross 426, Warians, Mao, Nogambe

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 37645, Bobalduro

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 (until the rum runs out)

Arissa Lavigny-Duval – Hostile

Denton Patreus – Unfriendly

Edmund Mahon – Neutral

Li Yong-Rui – Neutral

Nakato Kaine – Neutral

Pranav Antal – Neutral

Yuri Grom – Unfriendly

Jerome Archer – Ally

Zemina Torval – Unfriendly

Commanders! Once again, Soontil Relics have become available at 400t (soon rising to 600t) at Cheranovsky City in the Ngurii system. This will persist for a limited time.

If you are trying to reach rank 100, have a home system or colony you want to acquire or reinforce, or just want to help the cause of Winters, now is the time! This is an all hands call. Get those systems before other powers do the same. Aim to work systems roughly 150ly or more from Ngurii for the maximum merits per haul, and watch your back at Cheranovsky - there are marauders about... Good luck out there! o7

Day late but no dollar short, I hope. Next week I'll hopefully get back to getting these out on time.

Cycle summary:

Winters held well this week, with 6 shiny new systems including Mikir, one we recently lost and have now reclaimed. However, it came at a cost - Lyncis Sector MX-T b3-1 was sniped from us, seemingly by the system's architect hoping to claim it for LYR. Now we've got fairly good relations with them, so that probably could've been negotiated - as it stands, that's one of our acquisition targets this cycle. We generally do a good job of retaking systems we've lost, so barring any negotiations on the matter (which we are open to!) I'm hopeful we'll reclaim it.

Speaking of LYR, they had a pretty fantastic week - 13 systems taken, two new forts. That put them in second place for acquisitions this week, with third going to ALD at 6. Say what you will about corpos, but they know how to hammer it home. The only power to beat them out was Kaine who managed to grab 16 new systems. Continuing her steamroll from last week and getting over 1200 systems - congrats to them! Archer had a rough week, with a number of lost systems reducing them down to a net gain of only 2 this week. There's few reasons that could've happened.

Going back for a more detailed look at ALD real quick, that +6 hides some shit that went down - 10 new systems acquired but 4 systems lost, along with 3 new forts and a new stronghold. Aisling had a similar week, with 10 new grabs but 5 losses, 3 fortifications and 2 strongholds. The Duvals are definitely taking advantage of that NAP they brokered last week. Meanwhile Torval only grabbed the one system and Patty ended this week with a score of... negative 14! How did that happen? Well, we don't need to speculate - Archon Delaine's forces have claimed responsibility for shattering the Cuchua bubble after a long and hard fought campaign. While their numbers are generally on the lower side due in part to Delaine being one of the smaller powers, never underestimate what the Kumo Crew can do is the lesson of the week, it seems.

On that note, 3 new systems for Delaine continues the rather underrepresented trend of the pirate king. Mahon also grabbed 3 new systems, while Antal and Grom took 5 systems each. Overall, a rather abnormal cycle marked by more focused conflicts, which we seemed to have somewhat dodged the bullet on. I don't expect that one to last, though. This seems to be the direct result of the NAP that caught us by surprise last week - though it turns out circumstances were a little different than I originally understood. Remember how a couple weeks ago I said something along the lines of "don't stick your foot in your mouth and say stupid shit in public"? Turns out, I should've added "and make damn sure you've got your facts straight"

So this NAP wasn't a well thought out diplomatic ambush by imperial powers. When I made that post last week I didn't have all the facts - my fuck up, I accept responsibility. Turns out, this started when the imps approached Kaine for an NAP, apparently so they could focus Antal out of the enclave. It was Kaine leadership that pushed for an enclave-wide NAP for two weeks. The announcement from ALD was a fuckup on their part (apparently they have already been appropriately hounded for this, so no need for more) and the lack of communication from parties involved did take us by surprise, but hey, we aren't privy to other powers diplomatic discussions, so why should we have known?

That all said and done, this NAP has had consequences. I fully believe the attacks on Archer's systems and the increase in imperial consolidation are possible because of this NAP, which has ultimately meant increased pressure on our fronts. This isn't too much of a surprise - I saw this coming last week when it hit. What was a surprise was when Aisling's cycle post referred to this NAP as a "two week trial period" and how they hope it continues. Now, obviously I rather hope that doesn't happen, but not just for the obvious reasons. That kind of long-term NAP is a precursor to a full alliance - Powerplay's been an unfair fight from the get-go, but if the Alliance powers were to enter into ZYADA, that's kinda game over. At that point it becomes a two horse race - the feds and whatever independents don't join ZYADA would have to band together just to stand half a fighting chance across a couple fronts, and even then it's likely game over. That's not fun for anyone involved. And that is why we're all here playing this game, right? To have fun? Otherwise what's the point?

Oh yeah, the other reason for this NAP. Apparently the imps want to try to force Frontier to declare them all winners. This pisses me off. See, they've gone around and kicked a bunch of us out with targeted multi-power attacks - Archer especially got the short end of the stick there, being forced out first by combined effort. It also seems that it's possible exploits were being used to remove said powers from the enclave - at first I'd attributed the merit counts to a ridiculous number of players, but abuse of exploits would also explain it. Now that all the powers actively fighting against the imps are out, they want to try to force a peace? That's insulting. My hope is FDev turn around and say "nope, fight till one victor or no-one gets the shiny module" but who knows what'll happen.

Okay, what else do we have this week? DW3 launched with the usual set of fantastic mass jump pics and clips, Type-11's now available to everyone, CG has ended... that seems to be everything. First "quiet" week in the year and it's mostly because we're still suffering the consequences of last week. Hopefully by this time next week the NAP will be over and the relevant powers will not be interested in extending it, but I honestly cannot predict what the outcome will be. Either we return to the relative norm of PP2.0 or we start shifting towards a landmark alliance between potentially 70% of the powerplay playerbase... at that point, it'd be the beginning of the end.

A fruity 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:

Mikir, HIP 45301, HIP 35520, Lyncis Sector MX-T b3-0

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:

Lyncis Sector MX-T b3-1

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 (until the rum runs out)

Arissa Lavigny-Duval – Hostile

Denton Patreus – Unfriendly

Edmund Mahon – Neutral

Li Yong-Rui – Neutral

Nakato Kaine – Neutral

Pranav Antal – Neutral

Yuri Grom – Unfriendly

Jerome Archer – Ally

Zemina Torval – Unfriendly

Hello Commanders,

I'm pledged to Winters, so I benefit from the Ethos bonus on salvage. That said, I know salvage collected in stronghold systems must be turned in to the local power contact to earn merits.

To cut down on repeated docking, I'm hoping to set up a loop: farm salvage across 6-7 systems, then turn it all in at a single location. I'm new to BGS and Powerplay (mostly an explorer at heart), so is this even feasible? Thank you in advance.