The Economics of Powerplay

Translations:

L'économie du Powerplay, courtesy of u/Fytzz

La economía del Powerplay, courtesy of u/CMDR_Elisabeth

Was macht ein schlechtes System aus?, courtesy of u/CMDR_Gran_Solo

Powerplay HuchQeD for our Klingon brethren, courtesy of u/XHawk87

What makes a bad system?

Since this is powerplay, ignore all lore and all "reason" - it all comes down to budget. The budget for any given system consists of three items:

• Radius income
• Default upkeep
• Overheads

When looking at the galaxy map or the powerplay pages for a system, you'll notice that it tells you something else. For the galaxy map it tells you this:

• Radius income
• Upkeep
• Profit

For the powerplay preparation page it tells you this:

• Potential value

For the powerplay control page it tells you this:

• Upkeep cost
• Default upkeep cost
• Cost if fortified
• Cost if undermined

This is a total of five variables that I didn't list originally, and that's because they're calculated. Here's how it works

Radius Income

The sum of all its exploited systems' (within 15 light years) "System Income". It gets slightly trickier than that, as overlapping control spheres allows a system to be exploited by more than one system. However, since it can only give its income to one control system, the newest one "loses" in terms of income. If a system is exploited by competing powers, it becomes contested and no one gets any income from it.

Thankfully the game seems to be smart enough to show you the actual radius income based on how the galaxy looks right now, but it doesn't tell you what it'd be like if nearby expansions complete.

Upkeep

The upkeep for a system is dependent on only one thing - distance from headquarters. That's it. If a system is successfully fortified (not cancelled), then you don't pay the upkeep for a system. If it is undermined it effectively loses its income for the cycle, but that's not how it's shown. The game calculates it as if you get the income and then it increases the upkeep. This is effectively the same, which is why I said that it only depends on one thing - distance from headquarters.

Example:

Mullag. Upkeep cost: 23 CC. Cost if undermined: 214 CC. Well, given that Mullag has a radius income of 191 CC, and 191 CC (income) + 23 CC (upkeep) = 214 CC, we might as well ignore upkeep if undermined and simply think of it as lost income instead.

Overheads

This is the biggest problem in terms of the game, because it's hidden from view. No system information will currently tell you its overhead cost and it is never included in any of the game's calculations except at the beginning of a cycle. Overheads are calculated with this formula: min((11.5 * controlsystems/42)^3 , 5.4 * 11.5 * controlsystems). It looks really complicated, but for our current situation (55 control systems) just know that every single control system has an overhead cost of 62.1 CC.

If you didn't know already, you should now realize why people keep talking about bad systems, even though they have a potential value/profit. If not, read on.

Potential Value/Profit

This is quite simply the most misleading piece of information in the game. Here's how it's calculated:

Potential Profit = Potential Value = Radius income - upkeep.

Example, using all the obvious information in the game:

LHS 2771

• Potential Value: 16 CC
• Radius income: 37 CC
• Upkeep: 21 CC
• Potential Profit: 16 CC

Nowhere are you told what its overhead is, because the overhead is a lump sum.

The actual value of any given system is this:

Radius Income - Upkeep - Overhead.

For LHS 2771 this gives us:

37 CC - 21 CC - 62.1 CC = -46.1 CC.

Compare this to Bukurnabal (potential value: 72 CC):

• Radius income: 95 CC
• Upkeep: 23 CC

95 CC - 23 CC - 62.1 CC = 9.9 CC

But LHS 2771 is High Tech!

It doesn't matter. The economy of a control system has absolutely zero impact on power play economics.

But this system fills in the void in our control space

It doesn't matter. The spaces have zero impact on power play economics.

But this system is very close to Gateway, so it'll always be fortified

It's still a system that costs CC to keep, no matter what you do to it. If it cannot pay for its upkeep and overhead, it is a crappy system no matter what the game tells you.

You don't have to be a dick about it!

True. But me being a dick also has no impact on power play economics.