Influence

Faction influence in a star system

Influence is a way for factions to have or gain control over a star system. Many factions can share influence within a system. The first row in the system's faction lists the controlling faction for a system and always controls the controlling station, which is usually the biggest in the system. It is possible for players to increase the influence of different parties.

Minor factions

The minor factions within a system all share the influence in percentages. Government types vary depending upon the ideas of each faction; there can be anarchy, dictatorship and prison colony amongst other forms and directly correlate on what the factions focus on, such as trading.

Controlling faction

Each system is ruled by a "controlling faction" which is determined by whichever faction owns the "controlling station" (usually the biggest) in the system. The controlling station also determines the system's economy state (economy type cannot change). The controlling faction determines the system's government type and controls its system authority vessels.

Allegiance

Each faction is either listed as Independent or owes their allegiance to one of the three major factions: Federation, Empire, or Alliance. Faction allegiance is displayed under the respective minor faction on the Reputation pages (located under the Status tab) by name and icon, and by icon only under the System Status page.

The system's allegiance is directly connected to the controlling faction's loyalty.

The way the influence system functions is often not directly available to the players. However players have managed to gather an understanding of what it does, and how it is affected by certain actions.

Population within a system is directly correlated to the influence algorithm; it is easier to change influence in low population systems.

If a faction gains the same amount of influence as another faction within a system and the formerly-higher influence faction has control over any stations, settlements or installations, they will initiate a conflict. At the end of a conflict, the victor takes control over the highest valued asset the loser has, if any. Elections work similarly to wars, however, the opposing sides must have the same or a similar government type.

Gaining influence

Players have performed tests to determine the best methods of gaining influence.

To increase a faction's influence, players should focus on performing the following tasks. (It is most beneficial to split activities between the types of support activity, as doing more than a certain amount of a specific activity is subject to diminishing returns):

• Completing missions for the faction
• Trading with stations or outposts owned by that faction
• Turning in bounty vouchers from the faction
• Selling exploration data to stations owned by that faction.

In order to decrease influence for a faction, players should:

• Commit crimes in the system, if the faction currently controls it
• Destroy the faction's ships and kill inhabitants of their settlements.

Abandoning, timing out, or failing missions does not affect any faction's influence.

Changing states

A minor faction can experience multiple different states simultaneously in a system where it has a presence. Background simulation and player activity both affect states, with the latter having a much more significant impact.

Primary states

A minor faction is represented by three types of states at all times: Happiness, Economy, and Security. These reflect a minor faction's current status as represented by its overall mood, financial strength, and stability. The interplay of these three primary states can trigger or be affected by a secondary state with beneficial or harmful effects.

Happiness

Happiness is a measurement of a minor faction's outlook, and is determined by the number of positive and negative states it is experiencing. More positive states lead to increased happiness, while more negative states lead to decreased happiness. Currently, the only known effect of Happiness is in Expansions - when multiple systems controlled by a faction are above the threshold to Expand, the system chosen for it will be the happiest. The five Happiness states are as follows, from most positive to most negative:

• Elated
• Happy
• Discontented
• Unhappy
• Despondent

Economy

Economy represents a minor faction's relative wealth and trade activity. In addition to affecting Happiness, the active Economy state has various positive and negative effects on stations that the minor faction controls and systems where it has a presence.

Investment

The most positive Economy state, Investment is when a minor faction is experiencing a particularly strong economic upturn and is reinvesting the profits into the population. It is effectively a stronger version of the Boom state.

Boom

Boom states increase the amount of commodities the faction's stations produce and have demand for. It increases the amount of trade missions offered by the minor faction, and decreases the amount of combat missions and donation request missions offered.

None

A neutral Economy state, where a minor faction is experiencing neither positive nor negative economic effects at the moment, but can be pushed into Boom or Bust.

Bust

The opposite of Boom.

Famine

A stronger version of Bust. In a Famine, there is a severe shortage of vital Commodities, causing a massive economic downturn. Signal Sources labeled "Seeking Foods" and "Distribution Centre" will appear near the stations of affected minor factions, and bringing Food Cartridges to them will reduce the Famine's duration.

Famines can also be triggered if a minor faction is affected by the Blight state for too long.

Security

Security represents a minor faction's stability and capacity to protect the stations and population under its control from external and internal threats.

Civil Liberty

During Civil Liberty, a sustained period of stability has boosted confidence in faction security. This state appears to be bugged - it actually slightly decreases the security level of a system when active.

None

A neutral Security state, where a minor faction's security forces are operating at baseline effectiveness and crime is at manageable levels.

Civil Unrest

Civil Unrest is triggered on decreases of security and standard of living. While active it continues to lower security and standard of living for the system. All combat missions and actions for the minor faction are more effective.

Civil Unrest can be triggered by selling prohibited Commodities to a black market, and countered by bounty hunting.

Lockdown

Lockdown is triggered by a low security and development level for a system, and increases security level and decreases wealth while active. Bounty hunting for the minor faction has a greater impact.

Checkpoints are spawned when the controlling minor faction is in a Lockdown state. Pirate Activity Detected signal sources also spawn in the system, which contain large amounts of skilled pirates with large bounties on them.

"Lockdowns increase the security rating for a system but also have a negative effect on the system's wealth. Increased bounty hunting activity can shorten the lockdown period."

Lockdown can be triggered by destroying system security forces, and countered by bounty hunting.

Secondary states

In contrast with primary states, secondary states only occur when a minor faction meets certain conditions or through random chance. A minor faction is always characterised by its three primary states, but secondary states are conditional and occasional.

Growth

These states are triggered by a minor faction reaching a certain combination of primary states or two minor factions directly competing with each other for control of facilities and systems. They present a minor faction an opportunity to grow or represent consequences for a failed attempt at growth.

Expansion

When a minor faction's influence exceeds 75% in a system, the faction will enter a state of Expansion and attempt to establish a presence in a neighboring system. Decreasing the faction's influence below 75% will not stop the expansion from completing once it has gone pending. When the Expansion concludes, the minor faction which obtained the Expansion state will suffer a large loss of influence in the origin system and will be added to the minor faction list of the best target system within a 20 Ly cube around the origin system. The target is determined by the following rules:

• If there is a system with 6 or fewer factions currently present that the expanding faction is not present in and has never retreated from, the faction expands to the nearest of these systems.
• If not, a second check occurs that does not discard systems the faction previously were present in.
• If this also fails to find a target, then the faction begins a war of invasion against the lowest-influence faction in range that is not native to the invaded system. The loser of this conflict will be removed from the system

If all of these checks fail to find a target system (i.e. the expanding faction is already present in all inhabited systems in expansion range), the faction does not enter any other systems and the range of the system's next expansion increases to 30 Ly. If an extended-range expansion also fails, the faction will never begin an Expansion from that system again.

Retreat

The opposite of Expansion. A minor faction that reaches below 2.5% influence in a system it isn't native to will begin a Retreat. Retreats spend 1 day pending, then 6 days active. If the faction is still below 2.5% influence when the Retreat ends, it will be removed from the system. The retreating faction loses 2% influence per day during the retreat (down to the minimum of 1%), so significant player effort will be required to increase it back above the influence threshold and keep it in the system. Be aware that the Retreat check occurs before influence updates, so activity done on the final day of the retreat will have no effect on its outcome!

Outbreak

During an Outbreak, a contagious disease has begun sweeping through a minor faction's population. Outbreaks are triggered by a low standard of living and development level, and they further decrease the standard of living while active. Medicine trade missions are more effective, combat missions and actions provide no benefit to the minor faction.

Exiled

Exiled occurs when a minor faction that holds the power to grant access permits to their home system is expelled from that system. When this state is triggered, a Flight Operations Carrier Megaship will be deployed to a neighboring system with the aforementioned permit-giver faction given permanent control of it. This ensures that the permit-giver faction will always be available to distribute its permit.

To date, the Exiled state has only been triggered once, when the player minor faction The Black Fleet expelled the permit-giver faction Conservatives of Tiliala from the permit-locked Tiliala system. The Black Fleet took control of Tiliala and was made a secondary permit-giver for the system, while the Conservatives of Tiliala were relocated to the Megaship Tiliala's Lament in the Akandinigua system.

Conflicts

If a faction gains the same amount of influence as another faction within a system and the formerly-higher influence faction has control over any stations, settlements or installations, they will initiate a conflict. The results of a conflict are decided day-by-day - whichever faction has received the most relevant player activity wins that day. Conflicts can last up to seven days, and the conflict ends when the winning faction has a lead in days won that is impossible to catch up to in the time remaining. At the end of a conflict, the victor takes control over the highest valued asset the loser has, if any.

Conflicts cannot be triggered by factions with less than 7% influence in a system. Each faction can only have one conflict per system, allowing factions to "pass" in influence two other factions without having to win a conflict with them. If a minor faction has greater than 60% of influence but does not control the system, a conflict will automatically start between that minor faction and the controlling faction unless the controlling faction is already engaged in a conflict.

Election

An election is a peaceful alternative to a war, which occurs when factions with similar ideologies enter a conflict. They are decided by trade activity to the competing parties; combat missions or actions have no effect.

"Elections occur when two minor factions of a similar political structure resolve a conflict over ownership and influence within a system."

War/Civil War

Generates Conflict Zones. Only combat missions or actions provide any benefit to the outcome of a war. The conflict is a Civil War if both factions are native to the system, and is a War if one or both have expanded into it in the past.

Spontaneous

These states are either random or arbitrary occurrences that are generally not caused by other minor faction states. They can have a significant impact on a minor faction's Happiness, Economy, and Security states while they are active. The duration and impact of some of these unique states can usually be curtailed through specific Combat activities or by Trading certain commodities.

Pirate Attack

A state added in Elite Dangerous: Beyond Chapter Four (3.3). When a Pirate Attack occurs against a specific faction, pirates will invade a system controlled by that faction and frequently interdict passing pilots, especially traders. Pirate Attacks are likely in systems in a positive Economy state, and temporarily lower an affected faction's security rating. Pirate Activity Detected signal sources spawn in the system, which contain large amounts of skilled pirates with large bounties on them.

Notably, a minor faction that is experiencing Investment, Civil Liberty, and Pirate Attack simultaneously will buy mined Mineral Commodities at much higher prices than usual.

Blight

The Blight state was introduced with The Scourge Interstellar Initiative. A Blight is a random event caused by an outbreak of an aggressive pathogen that is lethal to crops. Stations that are under the control of a minor faction affected by Blight begin seeing sharp declines in reserves of agricultural Commodities, such as Grain, as the Blight pathogen destroys crops and citizens stockpile foods in response. Once local food stocks are fully depleted, the pathogen causing the Blight will die out and the minor faction will enter a Famine. Blight can be counteracted before it causes a Famine by delivering Agronomic Treatment to affected systems.

Drought

The Drought state was added in the January Update. A Drought is a random event that afflicts minor factions with dwindling or disrupted water supplies, resulting in a negative effect on its Economy state because it must divert funds to importing water. A Drought can be countered by delivering Water and other emergency supplies to affected systems.

Infrastructure Failure

The Infrastructure Failure state was added in the January Update. An Infrastructure Failure is a random event that disrupts a faction's operations and has a negative effect on both Security and Economy states. In addition, the increased demand on other infrastructure may cause other local factions to also experience an Infrastructure Failure. Repairs to infrastructure will occur automatically, but can be hastened by deliveries of food and machinery commodities.

Natural Disaster

The Natural Disaster state was added in the January Update. A Natural Disaster is a random event that has significant negative effects on both Security and Economy states for a minor faction. It also places additional strain on local infrastructure, increasing the chance of a Drought or Infrastructure Failure occurring among other local factions.

Public Holiday

The Public Holiday state was added in the January Update. A Public Holiday is a random event in which a minor faction observes a designated holiday and holds celebrations. Public Holidays increase a faction's influence and standard of living for their duration, but there is a small cost to its Security and Economy states. This state usually coincides with real-life holidays in the United Kingdom (where Frontier Developments is located) such as Christmas and bank holidays.

Terrorist Attack

The Terrorist Attack state was added in the January Update. A Terrorist Attack is a random event in which a terrorist group targets a prosperous minor faction, causing major negative effects for that faction's Security and Economy states. The impact of a Terrorist Attack can be countered by legal deliveries of weapons for use by local authorities and bounty hunting, or by the faction entering a Lockdown.

Notes

• Investment was originally a form of Expansion for distances longer than 20ly. The in-game station status still shows the old message suggesting it is a form of Expansion, but this is no longer true.
• The "Happiness" system introduced in Elite Dangerous: Beyond Chapter Four (3.3) only effects Expansions. Initially, Frontier claimed that Expansion would only happen in the "happiest" system, but it is merely a selector in case of multiple Expansion candidates.