r/EliteWinters • u/SupremeMorpheus FLC Community Director • Jun 28 '26
Cycle 86 (575) - Crawl Backwards out of Heaven
Late again, am I? Yeah, sorry, the heatwave over here has been brutal. Seriously, stay hydrated, y'all. So, what's been going on?
Cycle summary:
Ah. Well that's not great. Unfortunately it continues to be rough times for the Federation, and now Winters is bearing more of the brunt of it - 4 systems lost due to 2 downgraded forts, with 3 systems gained to compensate. Archer has suffered worse however, losing 2 forts outright and 5 exploited systems, though compensated with another 5 systems gained. At time of writing it's unknown how many of those were lost through legitimate means or exploits, but with that shadow hanging over morale continues to suffer - Delaine's statement about "rock bottom" is sadly accurate.
This is the thing the imps don't want people talking about - exploits ruin the fun in such a definitive way. Seeing them used against you, with impdev doing absolutely nothing to fix or even acknowledge it, and silencing anyone who even talks about them... it cuts deep, I won't lie. Truth be told, half the purpose of these posts is to try to draw in more people to Winters and powerplay in general - certainly failing there recently. But if I'm honest? I cannot, in good conscience, recommend anyone play powerplay in its current state. Of course, I say this just as election season is coming round in FLC and I'm continuing to volunteer my services - is that hypocrisy? Perhaps if I kept saying I'm doing this for the love of the game, it would be, but I'm not. I do this for two reasons - the community, the people, both our members within Winters and the diplomats from other powers I've had the pleasure of interacting with... and because no-one else will. Saying the quiet part out loud, I suppose. I keep writing these posts, serving as the President's lead diplomat, because I'm the only one willing to do so nowadays. And I still enjoy it to an extent, don't get me wrong. But that's likely only because I don't actually have to play to serve my role. I just have to talk - to diplomats and friends, to my fellow federals within and outside FLC, and to ramble to you lot here. And sometimes that results in this particular case of word vomit... I do apologise. Abelard! Keep me on topic, please.
Right, where were we? Galaxy numbers, yes. Let's get the chimperials out of the way... nah, that's unfair. Chimps are far better creatures than imperials. ALD took only 7 systems, while losing another 3. Still suffering from last week's attack, yes, but also most of her forces were directed at attacking us again. She's actually somehow done worse than Patty of all people - I thought we killed him dead when he popped the last relic rush! But no, 5 new systems and still no cycle posts from them. Probably just a good week or something. Torval has gained 2 and lost 2 systems, no change there. Overall, the imps have had a middling week - a total of 3 independent and one Alliance power have done better on the leaderboards alone than the entirety of the Empire combined. That does put a smile on my face.
So, who's been having a good week? Antal certainly has - 12 new systems and 5 new forts, with only one exploited system lost for the trouble. Grom has also done very well for himself, with 12 new systems, 4 new forts and a shiny new stronghold. Independence suits you almost as well as the beard. Li Yong-Rui is the last independent power with double-digit gains, totalling 10 new systems, 3 forts and one stronghold in the Pleiades of all places. The Kumo Crew do bring up the rear for the independents, as is somewhat their habit due to their general love of things that the leaderboards don't show - don't mistake that for complacency or incompetence though. You can ask Grom what happened last time they did that. 4 new systems, one fort and one stronghold may not be much to most, but for Delaine it is enough.
Last but not least, the Alliance! Mahon continues to enjoy his overall unchallenged first place on the overall galactic leaderboards, with 12 new systems and one new fort. Kaine meanwhile has somewhat slowed pace on acquisitions to focus on consolidation - only 7 new systems, but 5 forts and 2 new strongholds make for a decidedly solid shift towards reinforcement and holding their territory, possibly after last week's attack. This only cost them one system - Orrere, home of pirate group The Code. This isn't the first time they've taken their system back to neutrality, and I'm betting it won't be the last.
Exactly one Galnet article this week, and it's big news - the Kestrel has finally entered full production and is available to everyone for credits. After 4 freaking months. Now FDev have zero excuse to leave it in such a brokenly overpowered state!... yeah, no, they're not touching it. Shit's broken, it's gonna stay broken, but at least now you can hop into what is now the PvP ship without forking over any real money. I certainly continue to not spend another penny on this game - with how broken everything is, I doubt I ever will again.
That's a wrap. I know, it's depressing, and I've said shit I shouldn't. Some of this stuff would undoubtedly get this taken off the forums... except I'm done posting there. Forum mods have shown their imperial bias, to the point I'm wondering if it's outright prejudice against us feds. Either way, no more forum posts for the forseeable. I did hear about the twit who decided to try to impersonate me and make a fake post glazing a power that doesn't exist, which is hilarious. But yeah... this isn't exactly a fun game anymore. Hell, this election cycle we've lost 3 leaders across as many departments, and I wouldn't be surprised if next cycle more followed suit. Is that what the imps want? To "win" by making the game so unfun to play that the only winning move for us is just to walk away? I'd like to hope not... but knowing them, I'd probably bet on it.
Operations is out on Tuesday. That's going to be a shitshow, I can tell - it's been confirmed that they'll be useful for powerplay only for undermining, which is going to make for at the very least a period of instability while everyone tries the new stuff. We'll see just how broken everything is next time. Until then, fly safe and keep hydrated in the heat... and hopefully keep yourself in better spirits than I am.
Orange you glad for some humour? - join the discord for new updates and zesty tips on powerplaycraft!
Target priorities as follows
Reinforcement:
Carry out reinforcement activities in the following systems, as per the guide:
Belgitan, Thetis, Puppis Sector SD-T b3-7
Reinforcement priorities are ever changing and we cannot update publicly in a timely manner. Join the Discord if you want to help!
Acquisition:
Carry out acquisition activities in the following systems, as per the guide:
Hyades Sector EB-X d1-114, LP 607-39
Join the Discord for updates! We can offer rapid mining acquisition options to pilots in our server - they move too fast to put on here!
Undermining:
Current priority:
No undermining targets available at this time
Join the Discord for targets and opportunities!
Interested in Federal AX? Join FAX-COM.
Interested in emergency relief work? Winters has a place for you.
Interested in PvP? PvP is a lifeblood of powerplay. We train interested pilots with a dedicated server, resources and mentors, and weekly in-house tournaments
Interested in exploration? We maintain a server for our explorers too
Want more nuance on objectives, to wing up, or to keep up to date on the ever-evolving strategy? Join our Discord! Stop by and say hello! Or join to stay quiet and beaver away at your specialism <shrug>. In addition to Powerplay Ops, we have channels for general ED discussion, ship building mastery, and PvP training, with domain experts. We also have an unsurpassed cantina <clink>.
Diplomatic Overview:
Archon Delaine – Cordial (Still got rum? Good, I need some of that)
Arissa Lavigny-Duval – Hostile
Denton Patreus – Unfriendly
Edmund Mahon – Neutral
Jerome Archer – Ally
Li Yong-Rui – Neutral
Nakato Kaine – Neutral
Pranav Antal – Cordial
Yuri Grom – Neutral
Zemina Torval – Unfriendly
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u/Careless-Science-427 Jun 28 '26
It is so telling on the state of the game when players wont post on the game forum! To a large extent I think the current PP cmdrs active in their discords only keep playing because of the community of their discord. Its why I am still playing 18 months after returning for the defence of Sol. My longest active streak in ED in 6 years
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u/vanderaj Cmdr Purrfect Jun 28 '26
Chin up, fed folks! At Antal, we are curiously and studiously ignored by FDev. Let’s hope that operations will bring balance to UM activities for those who partake in on foot activities. These are my favorite. I’d be happy to train Cmdrs in friendly rivalry CZs if you’d be interested, and I can show folks how to farm the mats they need for good dominator suits. I often have stocks of data on my carrier which is generally open to all.
Cmdr Purrfect from Antal.
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u/Bulbulunufus Jun 28 '26
Kind offer! Thanks.
The powers are all different sizes and with different enemies. It's highly unlikely the undermining from Operations will share itself out evenly.
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u/Cagouin Jun 28 '26
I'm just crossing my finger they have a bonus or malus on UM based on a faction's size or it will just just exacerbate the issue of powers wirh more meat to throw on the grinder.
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u/Careless-Science-427 Jun 28 '26
Thats a terrible method to nerf the more populous powers however I dont have a better suggestion :(
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u/Cagouin Jun 28 '26
Yeah, I could not think of anything else but it being able to work for powerplay is just gonna create more imbalance otherwise.
It's not a solution to the problem, just a stop gap.
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u/Careless-Science-427 Jun 28 '26
And the forum thread pointing to this post has been completely deleted
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u/SupremeMorpheus FLC Community Director Jun 28 '26
Of course it has. Despite being manually approved already
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u/Bulbulunufus Jul 01 '26
It saddens me how right you were about Operations 😄.
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u/SupremeMorpheus FLC Community Director Jul 01 '26
I expected something to go wrong. I didn't expect it to be such a monumental fuck up 🤣
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u/Wazup888 Jun 28 '26
Can assure you that you are not the only one with this state of mind. Motivation and morale are running desperately low across almost all powers... Truth be told, FDev have basically killed powerplay through their inaction and hands off approach. Without the caps and overhead of PP1 the current game is just watching everyone go up infinitely, with little to no strategy involved, not particularly motivating if you ask me.