Powerplay-How to pick the right faction?

[Tripfy]

Hello there,
I'd like to get in factions as fast as possible to not miss much of this feature.
I'm relativly new pilot, with bounty hunting, smuggling, trading and exploration intentions in that order. If ofc I discover more fun/satisfying actions, I will perform those.

My question is simply, how to make sure which faction I should pick? I've watched some Lore videos on them but it didn't really help me to sort out who to join.

Are there visible or known benefits/problems that come with joining faction?

Will I be able to dock on any station, even if I pick a different faction?

Will I be tasked with killing innocent NPCs and players and gain bounty on my head for some faction? I'd be strongly against that

I would really like to support one faction, help them as low as I currently can, develop some connection with them, raise in ranks and possibly, fight other factions if it doesn't get me bounty strike ofc)
Over time I'd love to join some established wing, or newly created one, and roam our teritories in search of enemies, although I'm quite busy due to work.

Thanks for the help, I'm still searching for some instructions on powerplay, but word from seasoned commanders would certainly help more:)
Fly safe

[K▲IYOTE]

Open up the Powerplay tab in the left panel in game and you can look at each of the factions and see their benefits. There are tables of the benefits posted in various palces online too.

http://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/38o9fs/powerplay_primer_collection_of_community_posts/

This is slightly out of date but should get you started.


In terms of lore, there are big differences mainly along the Empire/Federation/Alliance/Independant lines. There are 4 Empire factions (who are generally pro slavery with the exception of Aisling Duval) and 2 Federation powers (Hudson is conservative, Winters is liberal), the Alliance power (generally liberal, trade focused) and the 3 Independents which range from vaguely cultish Utopians (Pranav Antal), coporate city-states (Sirius, my faction (full disclosure)), and Space Huns (Archon Delaine).

The two most populous powers in terms of players are Aisling Duval and Arissa Lavigny-Duval. The least populous powers are the Independents, with Pranav Antal having the fewest. If you like to play for underdogs, independent powers would be your choice.

Depending on your profession, that might also change your choice. Arissa Lavigny-Duval is great for bounty hunters. Sirius is great for explorers, traders, and miners. The Alliance is great for traders, particularly trading in wings due to a wing dividends bonus. And so on. You can glean what's what from looking at the benefits lists.

That said, combat pilots are needed for all powers in order to facilitate system defense, undermining enemy systems, and so forth. So anywhere you go you'll be welcome.

[Charllize]

Simply..pick one..every faction need players :)

i select Aisling Duval in first sight..:)

[SplasH]

Well, it looks like you have to join the Feds if you want to visit Sol system.
Otherwise... that Aisling princess is cute.
Just a newbie comment passing by.

[Howard]

Are there visible or known benefits/problems that come with joining faction?

Rewards scale with your merit ranking. You can get up to a 50 mil cr weekly salary. Each faction also has a special passive that you unlock at rank 2, such as bounty payoff bonuses, trade profit bonuses, and such. However, these passive bonuses are not working currently, from what I've heard. Each faction also rewards a special weapon/module after being in the faction for 4 weeks and rank 3. As for disadvantages, players of enemy powers may kill you without incurring a bounty. This can be countered easily by just going into solo.

Will I be able to dock on any station, even if I pick a different faction?

Yes, you can enter any system and do just about anything. If in open play, be careful in enemy systems as there is a good chance you will get attacked.

Will I be tasked with killing innocent NPCs and players and gain bounty on my head for some faction? I'd be strongly against that

From what I know, you don't get bounties from doing power tasks. I could be wrong though. Each power has a different style. For example, Zachary Hudson uses brute force when expanding, preparing, and taking control of systems. Basically you go to a designated area to kill enemy NPC's, but you do not gain bounty from them.

[K▲IYOTE]

Another thing to note: Some powers give you the best of multiple worlds. For example, Sirius and Lavigny-Duval currently have a treaty in progress where they are swapping ownership of systems in each other's space. Sirius systems have a 15% discount on ships and outfitting, and Lavigny-Duval has a substantial bonus on bounty turnins. By swapping systems in each other's space, they are essentially making it easier to get these bonuses. The bonuses apply whether you are in the faction or not, so this mutual exchange treaty means that people in that neighborhood will be able to capitalize on both solid bounty hunting bonuses and cheap outfitting.

That kind of info can be gleaned by visiting the associated subreddit for each faction. They are all listed here:

http://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/wiki/subreddits

[Ingestible Bulk]

Originally posted by SplasH:

Well, it looks like you have to join the Feds if you want to visit Sol system.
Otherwise... that Aisling princess is cute.
Just a newbie comment passing by.

you can still progress in the federation navy without being aligned with the federation. I'm with sirius corp and have midshipmen rank with the federation navy

[K▲IYOTE]

Originally posted by Spazmatism:

Will I be tasked with killing innocent NPCs and players and gain bounty on my head for some faction? I'd be strongly against that

From what I know, you don't get bounties from doing power tasks. I could be wrong though. Each power has a different style. For example, Zachary Hudson uses brute force when expanding, preparing, and taking control of systems. Basically you go to a designated area to kill enemy NPC's, but you do not gain bounty from them.

If you kill an enemy ship in enemy or neutral space you will get a bounty. If you kill an enemy ship in your own protected space you won't.

E.g. if I attack a Torval ship in Torval space I will incur a bounty. If an Aisling Duval ship tresspasses in Sirius space and a Sirius ship downs it, there won't be a bounty.

[Tripfy]

Even if I get attacked first, I gain bounty on my head? I'm sorry that I seem so worried about this system, I'm simply not happy to be seen as criminal for certain population of the server.
It seems like I don't want to join any faction, because I'd become automaticly enemies with everyone else. I wouldn't mind to kill more enemies but if they are innocent and just attack me because I'm in their area, and I won't even get payed for dealing with them, but gain bounty instead, well that's exact oposite of what I want.
I love to build some relationship with factions, but so far it seems worse to be with faction then to stand alone

And important question, can I change faction when I realise it was a misstake what I've joined? If I leave my old faction, will I lose reputation with them, or even become outlaw?

[K▲IYOTE]

Originally posted by Tr!pfy:

Even if I get attacked first, I gain bounty on my head? I'm sorry that I seem so worried about this system, I'm simply not happy to be seen as criminal for certain population of the server.
It seems like I don't want to join any faction, because I'd become automaticly enemies with everyone else. I wouldn't mind to kill more enemies but if they are innocent and just attack me because I'm in their area, and I won't even get payed for dealing with them, but gain bounty instead, well that's exact oposite of what I want.
I love to build some relationship with factions, but so far it seems worse to be with faction then to stand alone

And important question, can I change faction when I realise it was a misstake what I've joined? If I leave my old faction, will I lose reputation with them, or even become outlaw?

If you're in enemy space I think so. But not if you're in friendly space. Also, bounties only apply to that specific system. So gaining a bounty in Lave doesn't mean you are gonna be killed in Leesti, though it's possible if you get warrant scanned.

The important thing to remember is that a faction will mean you have "home space" where you're relatively safe. Every power has lucrative space you can still do all the stuff you normally would. It just has more of an identity/flavor now.

Plus it's exciting to have enemies. You should try it.

And yeah, you will be hunted by the faction you leave if you defect to another - but if you just leave and then join another, you won't. The hunting period is based on your current rank with them. If you're just rank one then you will only be hunted for a day. No big deal.

[Tripfy]

I've pledged A-Lavigny Duval, she has the most reasonable reward system and I'm fine with the Empire, still better then Federation where I've lost a bit of my reputation already.
I've also spent some time reading the powers, well I need to see how often I get hunted and how badly better ships want to kill me, in 2 hours somebody tried 3x to pull me out of supercruise in 3 different sectors, without scanning and I wasn't even with faction yet:D
Thanks for tips
/ Update: From the start I've spawned deep into federation teritory, right after I've joined the empire my status became Hostile and clean pilots even NPCs try to pull me out of supercruise, I've already gained bounty for simply deffending myself when I got pulled and shot at first by Federation agent, and then for killing him I get 10k strike on my head.
Wasn't the best start, and it will be around 50 jumps to get in the empire space

[SplasH]

Originally posted by xDuffManx:

Originally posted by SplasH:

Well, it looks like you have to join the Feds if you want to visit Sol system.
Otherwise... that Aisling princess is cute.
Just a newbie comment passing by.

you can still progress in the federation navy without being aligned with the federation. I'm with sirius corp and have midshipmen rank with the federation navy

Hm, that's nice. Thanks for the info.

[duijn131]

I joined the alliance, because they have good trade possibilities in their systems. Also because I already had a permit for Alioth and because tobacco isnt prohibited in alliance space :)

Looking forward to acquire the retribution beam laser after four weeks.

When I have those, I might switch to another faction, maybe Aislings because of the shields they offer.

It would be interesting to acquire all special devices the powers are offering . :)

[Will]

Read into what each faction is about, I pledged myself to Zemina Torval, her mission is to improve the trade income for everyone that follows her. Im an aspiring trader (merchant - 3mil profit) and trading and smuggling in her space has been very profitable so far.

[TzeroX [AKA]]

PowerPlay is actually quite complicated if u read more into it, there are people on reddit actually doing precice calculations on what systems to conquer and wich not.
Also after a Power has reached an area of 400 controlled System the "Overhead" costs will rise dramaticly, soon every System those PowerFactions get gives them nomore profit but costs!
In this case it wont take long and we will see the top PowerFactions to fall apart till they reach a positive income again, just so the process can be repeated (why stated in this post).

For your question, if you fly through enemy territority then NPC's get alot more annoying, as you get marked as a "Hostile" in those systems, also in Open play literally every "Enemy" Player can hunt you down, wich they should do as they dont know if your just innocent and doing some missions/trading etc. or if you actually want to harm their PowerFaction by undermining & co.
If you join a faction and want to support them by undermining enemy space -> wich leads to that they have to concentrate on fortifying instead of exploting new systems, then you have to live with lots of bountys in those systems.
It's also the fastest way to get merits, so if your out to achieve the highest rank as fast as possible then do undermining, you kill the NPC's from the Enemy faction, get 15merits each kill and a bounty in that system.

PowerPlay as it is now requires alot of communication with other players.. theres no such thing to do so, just a few are on reddit or groups to talk about tactiks,strats,calculations etc. but the other part of the playerbase fills it all with randomness and chaos.
I cant wait till the devs actually manage to include a Faction wide chatroom ingame.

For my part, i enjoy PowerPlay, i can literally go into enemy space and be like "Arr im a pirate, gimme your cargo scumb!" and when i fly back to Empire terrai im like "Jo pirate, this scan wont hurt you - oh nice 100k Bounty on your head, im so srry but i ahve to do this *pewpewpew*" and if im in the mood ill do some "risky" trading between Empire and Fed space - not everyone likes that, but trading is so boring to me that im just waiting for the enemy players trying to hunt me down.

EDIT: oh yes, almsot forgot -> u can still dock on every system/station if u make it there.

[Nienna]

Originally posted by AKA TzeroX:

PowerPlay is actually quite complicated if u read more into it, there are people on reddit actually doing precice calculations on what systems to conquer and wich not.
Also after a Power has reached an area of 400 controlled System the "Overhead" costs will rise dramaticly, soon every System those PowerFactions get gives them nomore profit but costs!
In this case it wont take long and we will see the top PowerFactions to fall apart till they reach a positive income again, just so the process can be repeated (why stated in this post).

For your question, if you fly through enemy territority then NPC's get alot more annoying, as you get marked as a "Hostile" in those systems, also in Open play literally every "Enemy" Player can hunt you down, wich they should do as they dont know if your just innocent and doing some missions/trading etc. or if you actually want to harm their PowerFaction by undermining & co.
If you join a faction and want to support them by undermining enemy space -> wich leads to that they have to concentrate on fortifying instead of exploting new systems, then you have to live with lots of bountys in those systems.
It's also the fastest way to get merits, so if your out to achieve the highest rank as fast as possible then do undermining, you kill the NPC's from the Enemy faction, get 15merits each kill and a bounty in that system.

PowerPlay as it is now requires alot of communication with other players.. theres no such thing to do so, just a few are on reddit or groups to talk about tactiks,strats,calculations etc. but the other part of the playerbase fills it all with randomness and chaos.
I cant wait till the devs actually manage to include a Faction wide chatroom ingame.

For my part, i enjoy PowerPlay, i can literally go into enemy space and be like "Arr im a pirate, gimme your cargo scumb!" and when i fly back to Empire terrai im like "Jo pirate, this scan wont hurt you - oh nice 100k Bounty on your head, im so srry but i ahve to do this *pewpewpew*" and if im in the mood ill do some "risky" trading between Empire and Fed space - not everyone likes that, but trading is so boring to me that im just waiting for the enemy players trying to hunt me down.

EDIT: oh yes, almsot forgot -> u can still dock on every system/station if u make it there.

Please use some sort of spell checking system the next time you post something. The amount of spelling errors in this was astronomical (no pun intended)
Aside from the numerous errors, thanks this was helpful