Guys, this is really nice.
Frontier is seriously thinking about making Power Play an Open Only mode.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/426940-FLASH-TOPIC-Powerplay-Proposal
Honestly? It’s damn about time.
I haven’t gotten into any power play, and I haven’t really had them affect me in any way at I’m going about my day to day wanderings. It’s this to try and cut down on BGS griefing and bots, like was recently documented in such great detail?
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I basically think it’s simply going to make PowerPlay a more “official” form of PvP.
Power Play was always supposed to be a PvP backdrop, the developers have said so quite a few times.
I can’t comment on the finer points of the proposals, as I don’t participate in PP. The Open Only aspect, I personally would welcome. When I considered PP in the past, to me it seemed like a crime to complete PP tasks in Solo. And I’m certain that this happens on massive scale, given how often players take the path of least threat.
Some problems would need to be addressed. Prime issue is pad blocking in Open mode. This is the AFK player’s form of blockade, and IMO must be removed. It’ll be a bit sad to no longer have the option to enter/exit the hanger, and probably slow down the game for CMDRs who make fast action on the Station Services menu and leave… But currently it’s one of the easiest abuses.
Good stuff, IMO.
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http://email.elitedangerous.com/q/120C3Inwj6GukVHvKoEq/wv
Greetings Commander,
Chapter Two of the Beyond series of updates will be available on 28 June 2018.
In this new update, you’ll be able to get your hands on the Alliance’s newest Chieftain variant: the Alliance Challenger. Plus, you’ll get a selection of wing missions, installation interactions, new settlements to explore and a collection of new Guardian weapons and technology from the Tech Brokers to combat the growing Thargoid threat, who will be introducing new Scouts that will buff other Scouts and increase their combat efficiency.
This is the first of the two smaller instalments coming as part of the Elite Dangerous Beyond series of updates, with a larger coming in Q4 of this year, bringing Squadrons and improvements to Mining and Exploration, and much more!
Summary of features:
New Ship: Challenger
The Alliance continue to refine their warships in the face of the looming Thargoid threat. The Alliance Challenger, envisaged as a frontline combat vessel, has stronger armour than its Chieftain counterpart and will be able to soak up a significant amount of punishment.
Wing Missions
First introduced in Chapter One of Beyond, we are introducing a Wing Mining Missions for you and your fellow Commanders to take on!
Installation Interactions
In a similar fashion to the Megaship interactions, which were introduced in Chapter One, Commanders will now be able to scan and interact with Space Installations.
Scan – Scanning the installation will allow Commanders to see what they can interact with: Turrets, Comms Arrays and Cargo Bays.
Turret hack – Disable turrets protecting other potential hackable points. This will deactivate security measures put in place to protect the Comms Arrays and Cargo Bays.
Comms array – Get tradable data from the Comms Array.
Cargo bay – Fire a limpet on the Cargo Bay to unlock and steal commodities and materials.
Tech Broker
Tech Brokers will allow commanders to unlock large weapons versions of the existing guardian tech weapons. These Tech Brokers will issue blueprint requests to collect Guardian data as well as materials and then, once delivered, will unlock certain Guardian modules of weapons for purchase. Will you turn you weapons on Thargoid or use them to pirate rival Commanders?
Thargoid
Thargoids continue to be an intergalactic menace! With the Alliance introducing a new ship, the Thargoids intend to up their game too, introducing new Scouts that will buff other Scouts and increase their combat efficiency.
Redacted
*** * *** ERROR *** * ***
LAKON CHALLENGER
(Personal Note: The Redacted ERROR thing is odd- probably just a placeholder for future stuff 
)
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Saw that, but I’m burned out after grinding for Guardian weapons, engineering materials and data, flying all over to get my ship outfitted to kill Thargoids, then being underwhelmed by the experience. Then jumping on the latest gold rush to try and finish outfitting my Anaconda, only to have that end two days later.
Also, Hornet. I’ll wait and see for a while, I think.
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Scouts. My Anaconda isn’t anywhere near being combat - ready, and I like the maneuverability and speed I can get with my Clipper better. Plus, with only four hard points, there’s no way I’d be able to solo anything bigger, successfully- plus the mission values were worth less than my rebuy. I took a couple of missions to kill x number in system Y, always with help from other Aegis ships, turned those in, then got back in the next day and found all the missions gone. So then I went to where the Skimmer gold rush was to make a little money.
My anaconda don’t, my anaconda don’t…
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You must’ve seen what I named mine. 
Thanks. I’ve done OK with the Scouts, turned in $1.5 million or so in Combat Bonds from those. In my FGS and Corvette, they are quite easily taken down.
This past week I switched to trying to kill a Cyclops Interceptor. The bonus weekend was helpful in getting the final Engineering done on the Corvette’s Shields (2100MJ) and Hull (5100pts). Plus I earned a decent bit trading to offset the $200 million in armor, power plant, and shields invested in the Corvette.
So far I’ve faced off with three Cyclops. The first time was a complete bust, I tangled around with it for a while, did manage to exert a heart, but couldn’t make any traction overall because the Thargon Swarm was beating me up. Finally jumped out. The second attempt went better, at least I was more organized in my tactics. But my aim let me down. Trying to kill the Thargon Swarms with Remote Release Flak, I missed repeatedly. I jumped out again. Third try was the best so far. Killed the first Thargon Swarm, exerted the first Cyclops Heart, but again my aim with the AX multi-cannons wasn’t up to par, so I never did more than 50% damage to the Heart. Jumped out again.
At least I feel like I’m improving (some), and have thus far avoided the $25 million credit rebuy screen. No doubt I’d have more effective fire with the Guardian Guass cannons, but I’ve not committed to completing that yet. I think I’m most annoyed that my aim is so bad (magnified by FA OFF combat), and want to improve that with good old practice, before upping the firepower.
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Dude, how much cash do you have lying around, and how did you make it all?
Total assets are $1.5 billion, all but $300 million invested in ships. That gives me a splash of spending money and 10 rebuy buffer for my Thargoid hunting Corvette.
I earned this lots of ways. Mining, loads of mining early on, which I find quite peaceful. Doing some trade CGs here and there. And in the past year or so, Passenger missions. I’ve got a Luxury outfitted Beluga and Orca, each in different systems where I’ve got Allied reputation with the minor factions. Running VIP sightseeing missions for these factions pays pretty well, and again, is kind of relaxing. I keep a log sheet of every Visitor’s Beacon a mission has taken me to.
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By the way @Navynuke99 what did you need to get the Guardian weapons? Any anti-corrosive cargo racks, or such? (I don’t have access to those). Was there much SRV combat involved?
Here are the materials needed: https://inara.cz/galaxy-techbroker/
You only need the corrosion-resistant cargo racks if you’re doing the Ram Tah mission, to be able to haul the Thargoid thingies out to the Guardian sites, but I couldn’t be bothered with all that.
You will need an SRV, maybe two to hedge your bets, and plenty of materials to synthesize reloads, refuels, and possibly repairs. And yes, there is a LOT of driving involved- each drive through the site gives you one blueprint fragment, which means you’re running the pattern at least 4 times, more if you want to unlock other types of weapons. And, if you want modules, you have to go to other sites for that.
In addition, you’ll need other materials dropped from sentinels, pylons, and destructible panels, and there are other things to scan for data that you’ll need for some tech unlocks. So yes, it’s a grind. Frontier has said they’re going to address that, but who knows when.
If you’d like, I can write up an AAR on the site I used. Also, @Andrew116, want to add anything?
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@Navynuke99 Pretty much nailed it here. There is some SRV combat, if you have done a skimmer mission and survived you can definitely handle the guardian sentinels. Here is a video that has great tips for all the process.
Two things, if you’re not used to going out of the bubble make sure you bring a 4A or higher fuel scoop or it’s gonna be a long slow trip. The other is, bring Point Defense on your ship and try to land close to the ruins. On the run I did my PD took out all of the missiles fired by the drones and really saved me.
Guardian Gauss I felt was totally worth the relatively small amount of grind. I have 4 on my AX FDL right now but can only power 3 
(I swear I’ll engineer that power plant one of these days) Still if you catch a Scout with all three gauss and you will take it down to 27% with one pull of the trigger.
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Hey thanks guys, that’s the kind of stuff I was wondering about.
Is that Combat Elite? WOWZA! Congratz! 
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Actually it’s trade elite.
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