Powerplay

Not to be confused with Powerplay (bonds) or Merits.

At the height of humanities history in the 34th century, the political landscape was dominated by three Superpowers: The Federation led by democratically elected Presidents, their long-time warring rivals, the Empire, dynastically maintained by hereditary monarchies, and the Alliance which emerged from a much larger coalition of independent systems united politically by a desire for stability. Whilst these Superpowers were a dominating force, they were not themselves unified. Each Superpower was itself built from sub-factions known as Powers. Even though these Powers may have been ideologically aligned in some cases their charismatic leaders also had their own agendas. These tensions between Powers, and indeed Superpowers, led to an era of territorial conflict. This was known as Powerplay.

— In-game description

Powers in Powerplay 2

Powerplay is an ongoing battle for interstellar conquest and control in the galaxy. Powers are leaders of factions who want to control the Core Systems and beyond. You can ally with a Power to support their strategic objectives and advance their territorial expansion. Earn valuable perks, reputation bonuses and credits for your allegiance. Your choices and actions have a visible impact on the balance of galactic power. Powerplay was updated to version 2 with the Ascendancy update on 31 Oct 2024.

Overview

The Core Systems is where powers compete for influence, resources, territory and control.

Powerplay represents the machinations of powerful individuals (aka powers) and organizations that strive to control inhabited space for their own agendas. At its heart, Powerplay is a battle for territory. Each Power attempts to expand into systems, extracting resources from them in order to pay for continued expansion and protect systems already being exploited. As commanders of space ships, players can pledge support to a power and carry out tasks for them in return for rewards and prestige.

The Core Systems (aka the Bubble) is a sphere of about 150 light years around Sol with 19,000 inhabited systems where powers compete for influence, resources, territory and control. The territory volume is about 13.8 million cubic light years.

Notable powers

Main article: Power

There are 12 notable powers.

Name	Headquarters	Allegiance	Preparation Ethos	Expansion Ethos	Control Ethos	Symbol
Aisling Duval	Cubeo	Empire	Social	Finance	Social
Archon Delaine	Harma	Independent	Combat	Combat	Social
Arissa Lavigny-Duval	Kamadhenu	Empire	Social	Combat	Combat
Denton Patreus	Eotienses	Empire	Finance	Combat	Combat
Edmund Mahon	Gateway	Alliance	Finance	Finance	Combat
Felicia Winters	Rhea	Federation	Social	Finance	Finance
Jerome Archer	Nanomam	Federation	Combat	Combat	Combat
Li Yong-Rui	Lembava	Independent	Social	Finance	Finance
Nakato Kaine	Tionisla	Alliance	Social	Covert	Social
Pranav Antal	Polevnic	Independent	Social	Social	Covert
Yuri Grom	Clayakarma	Independent	Covert	Combat	Covert
Zemina Torval	Synteini	Empire	Finance	Finance	Covert

Powers and Factions

Powers are distinct from minor and major factions.

• Minor factions generally control individual areas of space within a system. Whichever minor faction holds the main station of a system rules the system. Their holdings within a system are determined by their influence and any conflicts that arise.
• Major factions are huge super powers that control vast swathes of inhabited space. There are three: the Alliance, Empire, and Federation. Many, but not all, minor factions align themselves with major factions, adopting their laws and customs.
• Powers sit between major and minor factions in terms of scope. They don't directly rule, but they can hold sway over dozens if not hundreds of systems, or just a mere handful.

While many powers are aligned directly with major factions, being Imperial nobility or senators, or politicians within the Federation or Alliance, others are not, being independent entities.

Importantly, even when a Power is aligned with a major faction this does not prevent it scheming against its “allies”. Ultimately, every Power stands alone.

Process of Powerplay

Official Powerplay banner

There are three elements to Powerplay, called Ethos. These are preparation, expansion and control.

In the first instance, a target system must be prepared for expansion. This preparation may involve different tasks for supporters to complete, depending on the Power involved.

Once a system has been successfully prepared, an expansion attempt may be purchased for the next cycle. Again, different powers require their supporters to carry out different tasks to successfully prosecute expansion.

Supporters of other powers may directly oppose expansion making success even more difficult to achieve. Once a system has been expanded into, supporters may fortify it to reduce its drain on the power’s CC reserves.

Supporters of other powers may undermine control systems making them more expensive to maintain and more likely to revolt.

Preparation

If you have pledged support to a power, you can prepare systems for expansion. The details of the preparation tasks required of you are described in the details of the preparation tab in the Powerplay interface.

Any system may be prepared for expansion with the following caveats:

• The system must be inhabited
• The system must not be a control system for a power
• The system must not be an exploited system for a different power

In addition, each target system has an expansion cost. This expansion cost will be deducted from the power’s CC reserve at the end of the cycle if the system is chosen for an expansion attempt. A system cannot be prepared if its expansion cost is greater than the power’s current CC reserve.

Top Ten Systems

Although any amount of systems may be prepared, a Power is limited each cycle to purchasing no more than 10 expansion attempts. Importantly, its choices are based on the amount of preparation carried out at a system, not the system’s expansion cost.

The Top 10 Systems listing shows several things:

• The total PREP so far this cycle for that top 10 system.
• The range from your ship to that system in lightyears (LY)
• The COST column shows in White color those systems that your Power will purchase expansion attempts in order from 1 to 10 until your Powers Command Capital (CC) for the cycle has run out. The first system highlighted in Red color shows the point on the listing at which the CC to spend that cycle will run out and no further systems in the listing can be afforded for expansion, those also highlighted in Red.

All systems have a preparation threshold. Until supporters have completed enough preparation tasks to breach this threshold the system cannot be a top ten entry.

Multiple Preparation

More than one Power can prepare a system at the same time. In such cases, at the end of the cycle the Power which completed the most preparation gets to purchase an expansion attempt whilst all other preparation fails.

Preparation can occur for multiple powers in systems that would be within each other’s potential 15 light year exploitation radius.

In such cases, at the end of the cycle the Power which completed the most preparation gets to purchase an expansion attempt whilst all other preparation fails.

Preparation and the Galaxy Map

The Bubble in the galaxy

You can use the galaxy map to help you view potential candidates for preparation, by selecting the “Powerplay” view, choosing your Power from the drop down selection then activating the “Expansion” filter.

The Expansion view shows all systems outside your control with the following identification markers:

• Colour is used to denote value of a system if it was controlled:
  • Green are the most profitable, red are the least profitable, orange are average
  • Grey systems would actually cost CC upkeep to maintain, even after all the income had been harvested from exploited systems
• Hollow systems cannot be prepared, for one of the following reasons:
  • The upkeep cost is greater than the powers entire CC reserve that cycle
  • Another power is controlling the system
  • Another power is exploiting the system
  • Another power is attempting an expansion that would cause the system to be exploited if it is successful
• Systems that are uninhabited are not displayed at all

Top ten preparation entries are displayed in the powerplay galaxy map when the “expansion” filter is active. Each such system has a number entry above it, denoting its top ten preparation status.

Rolling over or selecting a system summons an information panel giving more details as well as highlighting all systems that would be exploited if this were a control system.

Powerplay 2

Overview

Powers group

Getting Started

Merits

An example of a Power's weekly missions. At the time of this article's writing, all the weekly assignment missions appear to be the same from power to power.

Merits are essentially "reward points" that are earned through various in-game actions and affect a power's standing in the system they were earned in. While a CMDR earns merits, they will gain ranks once they complete an initial 5 missions for their power. Each rank grants the CMDR a combination of new / incrementally enhanced benefits. Merits in PowerPlay 2 are earned immediately. If you defect to another power then your merit progression is reset.

Rank progression

An example of a power's ranks, taken from Nakato Kaine's ranks.

All powers have the same rank progression requirements:

Rank	Merit
1	0 merits, completion of the five initial weekly missions
2	2,000 merits
3	5,000 merits
4	9,000 merits
5	15,000 merits
6+	+8,000 merits per Rank (ex: Rank 8 would require 39,000 merits)
10	55,000 merits
20	135,000 merits
30	215,000 merits
40	295,000 merits
50	375,000 merits
60	455,000 merits
70	535,000 merits
80	615,000 merits
90	695,000 merits
100	775,000 merits
100+	+8,000 merits per Rank (ex: Rank 130 would require 1,015,000 merits)

Figuring out where to work next

The power play mode in the galaxy map contains two sub-modes to help you plot your next move as a power player: the powerplay mode and Powerplay activity filter. The powerplay mode allows a CMDR to filter systems in the galaxy map by power(s) and a system's state. The Powerplay activity filter mode allows a CMDR to filter systems by a specific power, then by specific activity type, and then by a minimum activity level.

When selecting a system in the galaxy map, it is also possible to toggle strategic view for that system. This will highlight all systems in it's control range and, in the case of exploited systems, all systems it is in range of receiving support from. It will also show non-power systems and front line systems in range of it.

Mechanics

System States

A system can be in one of six states:

	Icon	State	Description
Acquisition
1		Uncontrolled	These are systems that are not controlled by any power and are candidates for a power to expand into.
2		Expansion	These are systems your power is actively trying to expand into. Multiple powers can attempt to expand into a given system at the same time. The first power to reach the control threshold by the end of a cycle will gain control of the system and it will move into the Exploited state. However, if two or more powers reach the conflict threshold for a system, they will enter a conflict for it and the system will move to the Contested state.
3		Contested	These are systems where two or more powers are trying to expand into and have reached the expansion threshold. A conflict will ensure the following cycle, the victor of which will expand into the system as an exploited system.
Reinforcement
4		Exploited	These systems are under the lowest level of control by a power. Stations will start to show some of the power's branding and propaganda. These systems cannot be expanded from by a power and must be supported by at least one Fortified or Stronghold system. These systems can be reinforced through power ethos appropriate actions. Once an Exploited system is reinforced enough, it will become a Fortified system at the start of the next cycle. If there are no Fortified or Stronghold systems supporting an Exploited system by the end of a Powerplay cycle, then the power will lose control of the Exploited system and it will fall back to the Uncontrolled state.
5		Fortified	These systems are at the next level of a power's control. Stations will now show more of the power's branding and propaganda. These systems can be expanded from for a distance of up to 20 Ly away, as well as support exploited systems in the same range. It is not yet known whether Powerplay commodities can be acquired through a Fortified system's stations or starports.[citation needed] These systems can be reinforced through power ethos appropriate actions. Once a Fortified system is reinforced enough, it will become a Stronghold system at the start of the next cycle. If a Fortified system is sufficiently undermined in a cycle, it will drop down to an Exploited state, which may cause the power to lose control of any Exploited systems that were being supported by this system. It is not yet known if a Fortified system that is not in range of another Fortified or Stronghold system will automatically be lost if it drops down to an Exploited state.[citation needed]
6		Stronghold	These systems are at the highest level of a power's control. Stations will now show their power's branding and propaganda everywhere. These systems can be expanded from for a distance of up to 30 Ly away, as well as support exploited systems in the same range. Powerplay commodities can also be acquired through a Stronghold system's stations and starports. Furthermore, Stronghold systems are candidates for hosting a Stronghold Carrier. These systems can be reinforced through power ethos appropriate actions. If a Stronghold system is sufficiently undermined in a cycle, it will drop down to a Fortified state, which may cause the power to lose control of any Exploited systems that were being supported by this system. If this system was hosting a Stronghold Carrier, that carrier will leave. There is one notable exception: a power's home system is always a Stronghold system and cannot be either reinforced or undermined.

An example of the new tug-of-war UI

A system can only change one state per cycle. For example, an Exploited system can only be reinforced to a Fortified system in one cycle and a Stronghold system can only be undermined to a Fortified system in one cycle.

The ease or difficulty of a power expanding into a system or reinforcing / defending a system is determined by several factors, including:

1. How far away from the power's home system. The farther away a system is from the power's home system, the harder it is to protect.
2. The fortification level of the system. The more fortified a system is, the harder it is to attack.
3. How high the population in that system is. The more population there is in a system, the harder it is to influence in either direction.
4. How far away from the power's "frontline" (nearest fortified or stronghold system) is. Attacking systems at the edge of a power's control will be easier than trying to attack systems deep inside their territory.

Stronghold Carriers

A stronghold carrier surrounded by it's support fleet

A stronghold carrier is a special "miniture fleet carrier" that only members of the same power can dock at. Stronghold carriers offer access to improved outfitting and shipyard inventories when compared to most ports. They are accompanied by a small flotilla of supporting megaships, which can be attacked, hacked, or pirated from by members of an opposing power for merits and other goodies. They can also be repaired by members of the same power. They are only found in stronghold systems that are (1) highest rated in that faction and (2) not in the sphere of influence of another Stronghold Carrier owned by that faction.

Power Contacts

Powerplay 2 contact

Power contacts can be found at almost every space station or surface port. Depending on the state of the system, you can pick up and drop off power commodities here. Power commodities can be picked up in quantities dependent on your rank with the power^{[citation needed]}. You can also drop of salvage, escape pods, personal effects, and claim any care packages you have earned. You can also claim bounties for a +25% bonus to your payout. It is not known at this time whether (1) you will gain extra merits for doing this or (2) if the minor faction you collected the bounties for will gain a BGS bonus for this.^{[citation needed]}

Power Benefits

Universal Benefits

• Up to a 100% reduction in rebuy costs when killed by an opposing power.
• Up to a 100% reduction in rebuy when killed in your power's territory.
• Rank decals.

Rank Benefits

Example of a care package (Jerome Archer)

All powers unlock modules and power-specific rewards at the same ranks, with all other ranks rewarding CMDRs with either a mini-care package or a full care package^{[citation needed]}. These contain various materials, components and credits. Below is a list detailing when things are unlocked:

Rank	Benefit
1	Power decal
2	-20% Reduction in rebuy when killed in your power's territory.
5	Power-specific Reward.
8	-40% Reduction in rebuy when killed in your power's territory.
11	-33% Rebuy if destroyed by another power ship when killed by an opposing power.
14	Power-specific Reward.
17	-60% Reduction in rebuy when killed in your power's territory.
22	Power-specific Reward.
24	Power-specific Reward.
27	-80% Reduction in rebuy when killed in your power's territory.
29	-66% Rebuy if destroyed by another power ship when killed by an opposing power.
32	Power-specific Reward.
34	1st Power Module.
36	-100% Reduction in rebuy when killed in your power's territory.
39	Power Module.
42	Power-specific Reward.
44	Power Module.
48	Power-specific Reward.
50	Power Module.
52	Power-specific Reward.
55	Power-specific Reward.
57	Power Module.
60	100% Rebuy if destroyed by another power ship when killed by an opposing power.
63	Power Module.
67	Power-specific Reward.
70	Power Module.
73	Power-specific Reward.
76	Power Module.
78	Power-specific Reward.
83	Power Module.
86	Power-specific Reward.
88	Power Module.
91	Power Module.
94	Power-specific Reward.
97	Power Module.
100	Power-specific Reward.
100+	Care package.

Power Benefits

Power	Benefit	Allegiance
Aisling Duval	+100% Increase in minor faction reputation gain in your Power's Territory. +200% Increased Search and Rescue Payout in your Power's Territory.	Empire
Archon Delaine	+30% Increase in black market Profits in your Power's Territory. -100% Reduced value on Bounties placed on you in your Power's Territory.	Independent
Arissa Lavigny-Duval	+100% Increase in bounty payouts in your Power's Territory. -30% Reduced Weapon Module cost in your Power's Territory. It is not known at this time if this holds true for modules sold on Fleet Carriers in a power's territory.	Empire
Denton Patreus	+80% Increase in bounty payouts in your Power's Territory. -90% Reduced Rearm Prices in your Power's Territory. -40% Reduced Weapon Module cost in your Power's Territory. It is not known at this time if this holds true for modules sold on Fleet Carriers in a power's territory.	Empire
Edmund Mahon	+100% Increase in minor faction reputation gain in your Power's Territory. +50% Awarded Trade Bond for Rare Goods sales in your Power's Territory. +25% Awarded Trade Bond on sales in your Power's Territory.	Alliance
Felicia Winters	+60% Increase on food and medicine profits in your Power's Territory. +100% Increase in minor faction reputation gain in your Power's Territory. +100% Increase salvage profits in your Power's Territory.	Federation
Jerome Archer	+100% Increase in bounty payouts in your Power's Territory. -30% Reduced Weapon Module cost in your Power's Territory. It is not known at this time if this holds true for modules sold on Fleet Carriers in a power's territory.	Federation
Li Yong-Rui	+100% Increased Exploration Data Sales in your Power's Territory. -100% Reduced Rearm Prices in your Power's Territory. -100% Reduced Refuel Prices in your Power's Territory. -100% Reduced Repair Prices in your Power's Territory. +25% Awarded Trade Bond on sales in your Power's Territory.	Independent
Nakato Kaine	+50% Increase in mining commodity profits in your Power's Territory. It is not clear at this time whether this applies to "mining commodities you mined" or if it applies to "mining commodities mined or purchased". +150% Increase in minor faction reputation gain in your Power's Territory. +120% Increased Search and Rescue Payout in your Power's Territory.	Alliance
Pranav Antal	+150% Increase in minor faction reputation gain in your Power's Territory. +30% Increased Organics Data Sales in your Power's Territory. +50% Increase in technology commodity profits in your Power's Territory.	Independent
Yuri Grom	+60% Increase in bounty payouts in your Power's Territory. +15% Increased Exploration Data Sales in your Power's Territory. +15% Awarded Trade Bond on sales in your Power's Territory. -30% Reduced Weapon Module cost in your Power's Territory. It is not known at this time if this holds true for modules sold on Fleet Carriers in a power's territory.	Independent
Zemina Torval	+45% Increase in mining commodity payouts in your Power's Territory. It is not clear at this time whether this applies to "mining commodities you mined" or if it applies to "mining commodities mined or purchased". +50% Increase in Imperial Slaves commodity payouts in your Power's Territory. +20% Awarded Trade Bond on sales in your Power's Territory.	Empire

Power Module Unlock Matrix

Each power unlocks all power modules eventually, but in different orders. Every power unlocks their unique module first at rank 34. Which power module unlocks next varies from there. Below is a table showing at what rank each power's module becomes available to a CMDR:

Module	Aisling Duval	Archon Delaine	Arissa Lavigny-Duval	Denton Patreus	Edmund Mahon	Felicia Winters	Jerome Archer	Li Yong-Rui	Nakato Kaine	Pranav Antal	Yuri Grom	Zemina Torval
Advanced Plasma Accelerator	44	57	39	34	76	83	70	97	83	97	44	39
Concord cannon	63	88	76	83	39	50	63	50	34	70	88	97
Containment Missile	76	39	83	63	63	70	44	70	63	44	34	57
Cytoscrambler	97	34	88	97	97	97	76	88	91	76	97	88
Enforcer Cannon	83	76	57	76	50	76	50	39	57	34	50	70
Imperial Hammer	39	91	34	44	88	88	88	76	76	91	76	44
Mining Lance	50	70	44	39	83	91	97	83	97	57	91	34
Pacifier Frag-Cannon	91	44	97	88	91	39	34	91	88	83	57	76
Pack-Hound Missile Rack	70	63	63	57	44	63	57	34	44	39	39	63
Prismatic Shield Generator	34	83	50	50	57	57	83	63	70	88	70	50
Pulse Disruptor	88	50	91	91	70	34	39	57	50	50	63	91
Retributor	57	97	70	70	34	44	91	44	39	63	83	83

Powerplay activities

A summary of Powerplay Activities based on the Pilot's Handbook and info panels in the Galaxy map. See also @Ian Doncaster 's Activities Reference Card, part of his Powerplay tool suite, which has extra details on the Activities. This guide was made by Nowski (version: 2 Nov 2025).

Note: Merits were suspended on 19/11/2024, for activities marked ✽✽✽ (suspended) below. Ascendency Update 1 (21/11/2024) restored merits for Odyssey settlement data but not for rares and escape pods. Assignments for these will still complete regardless. Merits for other activities were adjusted upwards.

Powerplay activities are grouped according to who controls the system which they affect. Usually the most part of the activities will take place in the target system. Sometimes there are additional requirements, noted alongside the activity.

Types of target systems

There are three main types of target system:

Types of target systems
Type		Abbreviation
Acquisition	The target is currently not controlled by any Power, and close enough to one of your Power's fortified or stronghold systems that your activity can help your Power to gain control (20LY for Fortified, 30LY for Stronghold.)	AS (Acquisition System)
Reinforcement	The target is currently controlled by your Power. Your activity can progress it from Exploited to Fortified to Stronghold and resist attempts of other Powers to weaken and control it.	RS (Reinforcement System)
Undermining	The target is currently controlled by an enemy Power. Your activity can weaken the enemy Power's control. If the system is weakened to a lower control level, enemy control of nearby systems might be lost.	US (Undermine System)

For more on system types, see images in @CMDR Kraag 's splendid reddit post on finding Appropriate System Types.

All the activities listed below should earn merits for all pledged players when done in the right system type as shown. (modulo bugs and documentation errors).

Additionally, Powers favour particular activities and will award bonus merits (50% has been suggested) according to their 'Power Ethos'. Those Powers are indicated alongside their Ethos activities as follows:

• A: Aisling Duval
• ALD: Arissa Lavigny-Duval
• D: Archon Delaine
• DP: Denton Patreus
• EM: Edmund Mahon
• FW: Felicia Winters
• JA: Jerome Archer
• LYR: Li Yong-Rui
• NK: Nakato Kaine
• PA: Pranav Antal
• YG: Yuri Grom
• ZT: Zemina Torval

Other abbreviations:

• CS: Controlled system - any system controlled by your Power
• Supporting system: a Fortified or Stronghold system where the target system is inside its control range (20LY for Fortified, 30LY for Stronghold)
• PC: Power Contact - Contact for your Power via the contacts section in port menu
• Enemy: vessel or personnel aligned with a different Power to you
• Ody: the activity is an Odyssey (on-foot) task, done at Odyssey settlements
• BUG?: likely bugged in some way, and more information is needed

Acquisition system

Acquisition system activities
Activity	Description	Power	Merits	ED version
Bounty hunting	Collect bounty vouchers in AS, merits awarded on kill	ALD YG DP JA	Yes	ED
Collect Escape Pods	Collect from AS, deliver to Power Contact (PC) in Supporting System	A ALD PA FW	✽✽✽ (suspended)	ED
Holoscreen Hacking	At ports in AS	A ALD NK JA LYR FW	Yes	ED
Power Kills	Kill Enemies in AS		Yes	ED
Retrieve specific goods	Retrieve from Power containers at settlements, return to Supporting System	D	Yes	Ody
Scan datalinks	at Megaships in AS	YG PA JA	Yes	ED
Sell for large profits	buy commodities in Supporting System and sell in AS with at least 40% profit	EM DP LYR ZT	Yes	ED
Sell mined resources	sell mined goods in AS, must be mined in Supporting System	EM NK ZT	Yes	ED
Sell rare goods	sell rarities in AS, but not bought in AS	EM A DP LYR	✽✽✽ (suspended)	ED
Transfer Power classified data	Download this data type from settlements in AS, deliver to Supporting System	YG JA D	✽✽✽ (suspended)	Ody
Transfer Power association and political data	Download from settlements in AS, deliver to Supporting System	ALD LYR D	✽✽✽ (suspended)	Ody
Transfer Power research and Industrial data	Download from settlements in AS, deliver to Supporting System	EM YG PA DP ZT	✽✽✽ (suspended)	Ody
Transport Powerplay commodities	From PC in Supporting System to PC in AS	All the powers	Yes	ED
Upload Powerplay malware	Obtain Injection Malware from PC in Supporting System and upload to settlement data port in AS	D	Yes	Ody

Conflict activities

These are additional activities for Acquisition Systems that are in conflict state (two powers have enough control points to cross the conflict threshold).

Conflict activities
Activity	Description	Power	Merits	ED version
Complete aid and humanitarian missions	Do Support missions(?) in AS	NK FW	Yes	ED
Flood markets with low value goods	sell commodities at below 500 credits per ton in AS		Yes	ED
Scan ships and wakes	Scan ships and low wakes with built-in scanner, high wakes with Wake Scanner, in AS		Yes	ED

Reinforcement system

Reinforcement system activities
Activity	Description	Power	Merits	ED version
Bounty Hunting	Collect bounty vouchers in RS, merits awarded on kill	ALD YG DP JA	Yes	ED
Collect Escape Pods	Collect in RS, hand in to PC in same RS	A NK	✽✽✽ (suspended)	ED
Complete aid and humanitarian missions	do Support missions in RS	EM A PA NK FW	Yes	ED
Hand in biological research samples	turn in exobiology data to PC in RS	PA LYR	Yes	ED
Hand in cartography data	Sell exploration data in RS via Universal Cartographics	EM A PA NK LYR ZT	Yes	ED
Hand in salvage	collect salvage and hand in to PC in same RS	EM YG PA DP JA D FW ZT	Yes	ED
Holoscreen hacking	revert hacked holos at RS ports	A DP JA	Yes	ED
Power Kills	kill Enemies in RS	ALD YG DP JA D	Yes	ED
Reboot mission completion	Do reboot missions in RS		Yes	ED
Scan Datalinks	at megaships in RS	ALD D ZT	Yes	ED
Scan ships and wakes	Scan ships and low wakes with built-in scanner, high wakes with Wake Scanner, in RS	ALD YG PA DP NK JA D FW	Yes	ED
Sell for large profits	trade commodities making at least 40% profit in RS (buy from any system)	EM A LYR ZT	Yes	ED
Sell mined resources	mine and sell mined goods in RS, must be mined in same RS	ZT EM FW	Yes	ED
Sell rare goods	Sell rarities in RS, but not bought in RS	LYR D	✽✽✽ (suspended)	ED
Transfer Power classified data	Download this data type from settlements, return to PC in same RS	NK	✽✽✽ (suspended)	Ody
Transfer Power association and political data	Download from settlements, return to PC in same RS	YG LYR	✽✽✽ (suspended)	Ody
Transport Powerplay commodities	from PC in Stronghold system (but not the RS) to PC in RS	All powers	Yes	ED

Undermining system

Undermining system activities
Activity	Description	Power	Merits	ED version
Collect Escape Pods	collect in US, awarded on scoop	EM A NK FW	✽✽✽ (suspended)	ED
Commit crimes	do crime in US	YG JA LYR D	Yes	ED
Complete aid and humanitarian missions	do Support missions in US	EM NK	Yes	ED
Flood markets with low value goods	sell commodities at below 500 credits per ton in US	A LYR ZT	Yes	ED
Hand in salvage	collect salvage in US (awarded when? hand in where?	PA FW	Yes	ED
Holoscreen hacking	Hack holo ads at ports in US	A JA LYR	Yes	ED
Power Kills	kill Enemies in US	ALD YG DP JA D	Yes	ED
Retrieve specific goods	return Powerplay goods from Power containers in US settlements to a PC in CS	D	Yes	Ody
Scan datalinks	at Megaships in US	YG DP JA FW	Yes	ED
Sell mined resources	sell goods mined in US in same US		Yes	ED
Tranfer Power classified data	Download from settlements in US, return to PC in CS	ALD DP FW YG	✽✽✽ (suspended)	Ody
Transfer Power association and political data	Download from settlements in US, return to PC in CS	EM A PA NK LYR ZT	✽✽✽ (suspended)	Ody
Transfer Power research and Industrial data	Download from settlements in US, return to PC in CS	ALD PA NK LYR ZT	✽✽✽ (suspended)	Ody
Transport Powerplay commodities	from PC in a Stronghold System to PC in US (see Powerplay commodity types)	All powers	Yes	ED
Upload Powerplay malware	obtain Tracker Malware from PC, upload to settlement data port in US	YG PA DP JA D ZT	Yes	Ody

Undermining vulnerabilities

Each power is weak to up to two additional undermining activities in systems they control. Note: The activity may already be an Undermine activity for your Power. Occasionally, in this case, the activity is shown twice in "local activities" in the powerplay info panel for the system.

Undermining vulnerabilities
Power	Vulnerability	Allegiance
Aisling Duval	holoscreen hacking, transfer Power association and political data	Empire
Archon Delaine	bounty hunting, Power kills	Independent
Arissa Lavigny-Duval	commit crimes, scan datalinks	Empire
Denton Patreus	commit crimes, scan datalinks	Empire
Edmund Mahon	flood markets with cheap goods, holoscreen hacking	Alliance
Felicia Winters	retrieve specific goods, flood markets with cheap goods	Federation
Jerome Archer	commit crimes, retrieve specific goods	Federation
Li Yong-Rui	upload Powerplay malware, flood markets with cheap goods	Independent
Nakato Kaine	holoscreen hacking, flood markets with cheap goods	Alliance
Pranav Antal	transfer Power classified data, flood markets with cheap goods	Independent
Yuri Grom	commit crimes, upload Powerplay malware	Independent
Zemina Torval	retrieve specific goods, sell mined resources	Empire

Stronghold carriers

Additional undermine activities are listed in "local activities" for all Powers at enemy Stronghold carriers (apart from at Power capitals).

• Destroy carrier objects
• Kill power ships around carrier
• Shutdown carrier defences
• Disable carrier defences
• Disable carrier generators
• Hack carrier datalinks
• Hack carrier cargo bays

Commodities

This table shows all the Galactic Powers' "Allocated Resources"; the Powerplay commodities one collects at Strongholds and Fortified systems for delivery elsewhere to either Acquire, Reinforce, or Undermine systems. A guide by CMDR Kraag can be accessed here.

Powerplay commodities
Power	Acquire	Reinforce	Undermine	Allegiance
Aisling Duval	Aisling Media Material	Aisling Sealed Contract	Aisling Programme Material	Empire
Archon Delaine	Kumo Contraband Packages	Unmarked Military Supplies	Marked Slaves	Independent
Arissa Lavigny-Duval	Lavigny Corruption Reports	Lavigny Garrison Supplies	Lavigny Strategic Reports	Empire
Denton Patreus	Marked Military Arms	Patreus Field Supplies	Patreus Garrison Supplies	Empire
Edmund Mahon	Alliance Trade Agreements	Alliance Legislative Contract	Alliance Legislative Records	Alliance
Felicia Winters	Liberal Federal Aid	Liberal Federal Packages	Liberal Propaganda	Federation
Jerome Archer	Archer's Restricted Intel	Archer's Field Supplies	Archer's Garrison Supplies	Federation
Li Yong-Rui	Sirius Franchise Package	Sirius Industrial Equipment	Sirius Corporate Contracts	Independent
Nakato Kaine	Kaine Lobbying Material	Kaine Aid Supplies	Kaine Misinformation	Alliance
Pranav Antal	Utopian Publicity	Utopian Supplies	Utopian Dissident	Independent
Yuri Grom	Grom Underground Support	Grom Military Supplies	Grom Counter Intelligence	Independent
Zemina Torval	Torval Trade Agreements	Torval Deeds	Torval Political Servants	Empire

Tips & tricks

This sections has various strategies and shortcuts that commanders can use to do things more efficiently or effectively (e.g. off-nav beacon undermining in PowerPlay 1.0).

Reinforce existing systems

Tips and tricks

• Camp at a station and blow up any power ships you find there. They are nice and squishy and yield anywhere between 36 -- 81 merits per kill, or more even. You can easily get ~500 merits in a few minutes this way before cleaning the instance of power ships. When all the power ships are gone, just jump out of the station instance and return to get a new instance and repeat until done reinforcing.
  • Watch your aim: the station murder guns will shoot you if you hit either the station or a non power ship.
• You can off-nav beacon or in-place power hunt to have power and wanted ships spawn. See the entry in undermining for details.

Undermine other powers' systems

Tips and Tricks

• You can drop past the nav beacon of a system to spawn Power ships. This is called off-nav beacon undermining. Since the same trick can be done to reinforce a system, this whole process will be called "off-nav beacon power hunting". It is a reliable and safe way to spawn power ships for undermining.
  • Important: in Powerplay 2, you must drop at least 120km away from the nav beacon for this to work. Dropping closer than that will not cause power ships to spawn.
  • You can get into position faster by first dropping at the nav beacon normally, then supercruising out at minimum SC speeds to start the off-nav beacon dropping process.
  • Because you need to drop beyond 120km from the nav beacon, it is best to set your low wakes to be parallel to the nav beacon so you can drop sooner.
• Similar to off-nav beacon power hunting, you can drop anywhere in a system for a chance for power ships to spawn. This is called in-place power hunting.

Power influence on BGS

It is not known at this time what impact---if any---a power's presence in a system has on the system's Background Simulation (BGS). Most likely, there will no longer be a direct BGS impact caused by a Power's presence in the system. Whether certain traits of a power's presence in a system as found in PowerPlay 1.0 will continue in PowerPlay 2.0 is not yet known. It is known that a system's controlling faction's government type no longer influences a power's hold on a system or their overall rating. For example, a dictatorship controlling a system held by Jerome Archer or Arissa Lavigny-Duval no longer makes a system easier to undermine. Conversely, a Patronage or Feudal government controlling a system held by one of these two powers no longer makes the system harder to undermine.

Development

Powerplay was formally announced to launch as the third major free content updates for Elite Dangerous. It was released on June 5, 2015.

Powerplay 2 is a full rework and released on 31 October 2024. Version 2 removed the following:

• Merit degradation
• Voting system for expansions
• Defection effects (leaving a Power now only resets your progression)
• Connections to government types

Elite Dangerous - Frontier Unlocked March - Powerplay 2.0

Elite Dangerous - Frontier Unlocked April - Powerplay 2.0

Elite Dangerous - Powerplay 2.0 Questions & Answers

Videos

Elite Dangerous - Powerplay Launch Trailer

A Beginner's Guide to POWERPLAY 2.0! - Elite Dangerous Ascendancy Guide 2024

How to complete the Powerplay 2.0 Week 1 Assignments - Elite Dangerous

Powerplay 2.0 Fastest Merit Method - Full Guide-2

Elite Dangerous Ascendancy - Powerplay 2 Part One - 'Swearing Allegiance'.

Elite Dangerous Ascendancy - Powerplay 2 Part Two - 'Assignments'.

Elite Dangerous - Stellar Ascendancy (cinematic) -unofficial-

Powerplay 2.0 - EVERYTHING You Need To Know! Complete Guide - Elite Dangerous Ascendancy Update 2024-2

Powerplay 2.0 Beginner’s Guide for Elite Dangerous-2

Power Play 2.0 Song Video

Gallery

Powers in Powerplay 2

ED Powerplay wallpaper

The bubble is where powers compete for influence, resources, territory and control.

Official Powerplay banner

The Bubble location