Powerplay 2.0

• Pledge to 1 of 12 Powers. Earn merits. Rank up. Get perks, modules, and care packages.
• Merits never decay. Leaving your Power resets them to zero and strips every perk.
• Every Power unlocks all 12 modules by rank 97. Only the order differs. Prismatic Shields, Pacifier Frag-Cannon, and the rest are in Module 4.
• Fastest merits: Platinum laser mining. Real player logs show about 20,000 to 25,000 merits per hour.
• Close second: stealing Power data from Anarchy tourist settlements. 20,000 to 60,000 per hour, depending on your skill.
• Ethos bonus is +50% for activities your Power favors.
• The only real downside: every other Power treats you as an enemy. In Solo or a Private Group, that barely matters.

So reinforcement gives your Power more CP per merit. Undermining gives you more merits per hour.

Cap: a system can only move one level per cycle. Exploited cannot jump straight to Stronghold.

These have changed three times. Current values as of the July 3, 2025 rebalance.

Penalty scale for both: Standard (none), Moderate, High, Very High. Control score decay: since July 2025, controlled systems lose control score each cycle. The higher the score, the faster it drains. That means systems need constant upkeep.

Real logs: about 20,000 to 25,000 merits per hour with a 512 ton Cutter.

A careful player logged about 20,000 to 24,000 merits per hour. The creator of the method says a fully optimized run hits 40,000 to 60,000.

• 5 to 10 per week, each worth 1,800 to 5,600.
• At an average of 3,700, five assignments is about 18,500 merits.
• Skip the awkward ones like "commit crimes."

• About 585 merits per megaship, plus 13 per ship scanned along the way.
• One logged run: 20 megaships in 1 hour 50 minutes for about 12,900 merits.
• Slower, but a nice change of pace. Scan the megaship with a Data Link Scanner, then find and scan the Log Uplink within 200 m.

• Bounty hunting and Powerplay combat zones in the right system types.
• Merits land on the kill, not when you cash in the vouchers.
• Great if your Power has the Combat ethos.

• Exobiology and exploration data sales, trade, Power commodity hauling, rare goods, donation and humanitarian missions, and committing crimes in undermining systems.
• All give merits in the right system types.
• Exploration and exobiology merits were buffed in a later patch.

Perks only last while you stay pledged. Percentages come from community lists. ⚠️

Everyone gets up to a 100% rebuy discount when killed by an opposing Power, or in your Power's systems. Pranav Antal exobiology bonus scales with rank: +10% at rank 24, +15% at 42, +20% at 52, +25% at 78, +30% at 94.

Each rank gives one of these:

1. 1A mini care package: 250,000 credits, 5 random ship materials, 5 random on-foot materials
2. 2A permanent Power perk from the table above
3. 3A permanent Powerplay module unlock (Module 4)
4. 4More weekly assignments, from 5 up to 10

• Appear in Stronghold systems.
• Sell most ships and modules to pledged commanders. No Federal or Imperial rank locked ships.
• A cheaper alternative to Jameson Memorial (Module 5), and there are many of them.
• Pledged to Li Yong-Rui? You get an extra 15% discount on top.
• Warning: Power Security Force NPCs are far more aggressive at carriers than at starports. Land fast, especially in a small ship.

• Leaving your Power wipes everything. Merits go to zero. Perks vanish. Pick carefully.
• Reinforcement pays fewer merits but more Control Points. Undermining pays more merits per hour.
• Power commodities need cargo space, and the Power Contact only hands out a batch every 30 minutes.
• Escape pods need Search and Rescue at the delivery station, or you cannot hand them in.
• Solo and Private Group are safe. Enemy NPCs mostly ignore you. Only Power Security Force scans cause trouble.
• Check the Galaxy Map Powerplay view before every activity. It shows the system's type, penalties, and your Power's favored activities.
• Play with your Power's Discord. Coordinated groups decide which systems to push each cycle.