THE FORGOTTEN

NEWS NETWORK
ELITE DANGEROUS GUIDE

INSIDE
THIS
GUIDE
PG. 1 – 2: FACTIONS
A basic outline of how minor
factions are organized in Elite: A FULL BGS GUIDE TO
Dangerous and how they affect the
background simulation.
ELITE: DANGEROUS
PG. 2 – 3: INFLUENCE
Gives multiple examples of how
INTRODUCTION
player commanders can manipulate
Elite: Dangerous features a complex background simulation that drives a dynamic system of
a faction’s influence.
ever-changing power and influence between minor factions, powers and superpowers. Minor
factions are the most common form of government throughout the galaxy and are led by the
PG. 4 – 7: STATES
A full list of every government state actions of the player commanders that manipulate them. This guide aims to fully outline the
complexity of the background simulation system and give player commanders the basic
and how it affects a minor faction.
knowledge that will turn their desired minor faction into a galactic superpower.
MINOR FACTIONS
INTRODUCTION
The Milky Way Galaxy in Elite: Dangerous is home to thousands of minor
factions, each fighting their way up the galactic chain for unified power.
Player commanders can ultimately work with a chosen faction and
manipulate the power shift from one local faction to another. The most
important attribute in any power shift is INFLUENCE (INF). Influence is
how Elite: Dangerous’ background simulation works to automatically
assign government states, powers, and available missions to all minor
factions. In a system, there may be multiple minor factions. However,
there is only ONE controlling faction who also owns the most populated
station or outpost in the system. Usually, this controlling faction is the
largest and wealthiest faction. However, it is of major importance to
note that there must be a shift in power to become the controlling
faction. This is done by player commanders manipulating minor
factions’ influence levels and completing actions to trigger government
states. Each minor faction has a status update that you may view at any
station or outpost. You can complete missions for these minor factions
on the mission board and change your level of REPUTATION (REP). Your
reputation level will progress as you complete missions and ultimately
you will unlock more miss ions depending on your faction standing. As
minor factions continue to grow, it is important to note that there is no
limit on how many systems a minor faction can expand to. Some of these
factions are tied to powers and superpowers, while other factions a re
purely independent. Remember, THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE between a
minor faction and player minor faction. A player minor faction is when
a specific group of organized player commanders contact Frontier
Development directly and request their organized group to be placed in-
game. This is done online through Elite: Dangerous’ official tool and can
be found at: https://tools.elitedangerous.com/en/factions

FACTION REPUTATION
When you are in a system, you can open your right-side panel in your
ship at any time to see your current reputation standing with any local
faction. Alternatively, you can see your reputation in the mission board
section while browsing for available missions. It is highly recommended
that you complete missions specific to a minor faction until you meet
the reputation level of ALLIED. This will unlock more profitable missions
and increase how you affect the faction’s influence level in that system.
This can eventually lead to a faster trigger that could throw that faction
into a specific state. It is important to note that reputation can also be
increased by trading, handing in exploration data, combat bounds or
bounty claims aside from solely completing missions. REMEMBER, it is
the amount of TIMES you hand in bonds or bounties that matter, not
the amount of physical bonds or bounties you turn in. It is
recommended that you DON’T stay in conflict zones collecting a massive
number of kills and hand them in regularly instead. This rule DOES NOT
apply to cargo and exploration data. They are automatically broken
down to individual barrels and systems when you hand them all in.
 FACTION GOVERNMENTS
Minor factions have a GOVERNMENT TYPE, and this ultimately dictates
how it responds to certain state triggers. Some factions have the support
of major galactic powers (Empire, Federation, and Alliance) while others
are fully independent. It is important to note that if the same
government faction enters a conflict with another government faction
of the same government type, that it will result in an election rather than
a war. Each government’s galactic objectives vary depending on their
pledged power. They are separated into eleven main types: Anarchy,
Democracy, Corporate, Communism, Feudal, Dictatorship, Theocracy,
Cooperative, Patronage, Confederacy, and Prison Colony. You can find a
full description of each type online, including their sub-types at:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/132071-Help-me-find-
all-the-Government-Descriptions

INFLUENCE
INTRODUCTION
Player actions throughout the galaxy constantly change the overall state
of the background simulation daily. This is known as the “Server -Tick”
and it is reflected through a daily update by Frontier Development.
Influence is noted as a percentage (%) and is updated once a day on the
Server-Tick. It is important to note that the Server-Tick is not updated at
the same time every day and is solely under the control of Frontier
Development. Every faction in a system holds an influence percentage
number. All factions added together equates to the standard 100%.
Every action a commander does in the game ultimately affects the
standings between factions and these actions can increase or decrease
influence levels and trigger states of change. It is highly recommended
that you check the LOCAL NEWS BULLETINS daily, which are located at
any station or outpost. These news articles contain information
regarding system conflicts, retreats, expansions, economic booms and
economic conflicts.

MISSIONS EFFECTIVENESS
Missions located on the mission board are the most effective way of
increasing a faction’s influence. If you are new to a faction or that faction
has low influence, it may be hard to obtain missions until that faction
gains a stronger position in their system. The types of missions on each
faction’s mission board will entirely depend on their government state.
For example, if that faction is in a conflict, you may see an abundance of
combat-oriented contracts. Each mission comes with multiple reward
selections and you may be granted interstellar credit, faction reputation,
faction influence, cargo, or materials. Faction reputation and influence
are represented by the (+) symbol. The more (+) symbols you see after
REP or INF offer a higher boost and may be more dangerous or difficult
to complete. Failing a mission or letting the time expire could result in
losing faction reputation. However, it is important to note that failing a
mission or letting it expire WILL NOT affect a faction’s influence.
 EXPLORATION
EFFECTIVENESS
Handing in exploration data (Cartographics) at your
faction’s stations or outposts will give them an
increase in their influence. REMEMBER, handing in
exploration data only goes to that station’s or
outpost’s controlling faction. If your desired faction
does not control that station or outpost, DO NOT
turn in your exploration data, as this will result in
your exploration data increasing your rival’s
influence.

TRADE
EFFECTIVENESS
Just as you increase a faction’s influence by turning
in exploration data, you can also increase a faction’s
influence by trading with a station’s or outpost’s
community market. Importing goods that are in HIGH
DEMAND will grant a significant boost in the faction’s
influence percentage rather than trading common
commodities. Importing ILLEGAL commodities such
as weapons, drugs and black-market items will
increase the chances of a Lockdown or Civil Unrest.
They should be avoided at your chosen faction’s
systems unless the rewards outweigh the negative
effect. Trading is particularly good in boom state and
all influence gained through trading is DOUBLED. This
is because Black-Market trading harms the influence
of Non-Anarchy governments. If your faction is an
Anarchy government, it increases influence.

COMBAT EFFECTIVENESS
When a faction has a very low influence in a system, piracy and privateering will dramatically help the faction gain influenc e and control.
Killing rival factions’ ships will lower their influence percentage and trigger states such as lockdown or civil unrest. Combat should always be
focused on DECREASING the enemy faction’s influence and NOT INCREASING your desired faction’s influence. It is important to note that
killing CLEAN ships will make that faction hostile to you and it may even tag your ship with a bounty. Wars and Civil Wars open the possibility
to dramatically increase a faction’s influence. During these states, CONFLICT ZONES will randomly appear throughout a system. When
entering a combat zone, you should open your right-panel and SELECT a faction to fight with. Not choosing a faction will result in not
retrieving combat bonds per kill. After getting a few kills, you should return to your station or outpost often and turn in any combat bonds,
which will dramatically increase your faction’s influence percentage. It is important to note that you can SIMULTANEOUSLY accept combat
missions under your faction’s mission board and complete them in addition to collecting combat bonds in a conflict zone.

MINING EFFECTIVENESS
Miners should sell their haul only to stations and outposts belonging to their desired faction. This will increase their fact ion’s influence the
same as trading. Just like trading, minerals that are in HIGH DEMAND will boost the increase in the faction’s influence.
GOVERNMENT STATES
INTRODUCTION
The primary purpose of increasing or decreasing a faction’s influence level is to TRIGGER government states. These can lead to powerful
shifts in a system that may lead to your desired faction becoming the controlling faction. Government states vary day -to-day based on the
operations of player commanders. It is important to note that influence levels DO NOT increase or decrease from NPCs (Non-Player
Commanders) but are solely manipulated by the Elite: Dangerous player commanders. Outside organization s may form a group of
commanders and establish a player minor faction in-game. By coordinating objectives and carefully manipulating their player faction’s
influence level, they can lead the background simulation in their favor. Under each faction’s status, there are ACTIVE, PENDING, and
COOLDOWN states, which can be viewed at any station’s or outpost’s news bulletin section or by opening your right-side panel. Active states
can easily be viewed on the system map or even in the galaxy map, and this can help new player commanders find systems in a specific
government state. It is important to note that factions can be triggered to have multiple pending states. It is not uncommon to have more
than one state pending. This is very useful to new player factions and may hold credible insight for their commanders. REMEMBER, it is
important to note that the minimum duration is the minimum if it DOES NOT get overridden by a higher PRIORITY state. This can be
extremely helpful during specific states like Bust.

GOVERNMENT STATES
BOOM: This is the most common government state. Boom states are triggered when there is a significant increase in trade and completed
missions. When a faction is in a boom state, it dramatically increases the faction’s wealth and benefits from completed trade missions. Boom
states are generally a pretext to expansion.

EXPANSION: Triggered when a faction’s influence reaches the level of 75% or greater and there in no War, Civil War or Election state
pending. The minor faction is then added to another nearby system. Currently, there is no way to control where your faction expands to,
however you can gain credible insight by exploring nearby systems. When a faction expands, it is locked to a 20Ly range findi ng prediction.
Systems can only hold SEVEN minor factions. The expansion simulation wil l automatically expand a faction to the closest populated system
that is not CONTESTED (Having 7 Factions). If all the surrounding systems within a 20Ly radius are contested, this will trigger an Investment
state instead. It is of importance to note that eight factions can fit into a system, however this can only happen when a faction i s manually
added to the game (IE, Frontier Development). REMEMBER that player commanders can manipulate how their faction expands by keeping
their influence down in all systems except for the ONE they want to expand from. This is particularly important when a faction controls
multiple systems. Maintaining a faction’s influence percentage of 60% will decrease the time it takes for that faction to exp and.

INVESTMENT: Factions that have failed to expand due to every system being contested within a 30Ly radius will trigger the state of
Investment. This will open the automatic expansion simulation to 60Ly and increases the faction’s development level for a short period. If
there are NO SYSTEMS left with less than 7 factions, the expanding faction will immediately go to War or Election with the incumbent faction.
RETREAT: A faction will enter the state of retreat when it drops to 2.5% influence in a system. Unless the faction can increase their
influence significantly in a short period of time, they will eventually be forced to leave their system. REMEMBER, you can’t retreat from your
home system (Headquarters), and you can’t be placed in a pending Retreat state if there is less than FOUR factions in the system.

BUST: Economic busts are triggered when there is a significant decrease in a faction’s economy. Busts are often triggered when a facti on
sees little to no trading or mission completion in their system. While most states’ durations are directly reflected by player commanders’
actions, economic busts usually run for the entire duration of 28 days.

LOCKDOWN: Triggered when a faction loses security ships in a system. During this time, bounty-hunting has a dramatic impact on the
faction’s influence. It is important to note that completing missions that increase lockdown on your rival factions or importing illegal goods,
drugs, and weapons can place them in a Lockdown state. This could help you increase your faction’s influence significantly.

CIVIL UNREST: Like Lockdown, Civil Unrest is triggered when there is a decrease in security. However, instead of the physical loss of
security ships, it is triggered by the increase of illegal activity in a system.

CIVIL WAR: This state is triggered when the influence percentage equal izes another faction, or the upcoming faction hits a percentage
of 60% or higher. As mentioned above, this will create conflict zones in which player commanders can collect war bonds. Civil wars can end
quickly if a faction gains a 5% influence advantage above the opposing faction.

WAR: War is triggered when a non-local faction expands into a system and their influence level is equal to or higher than another faction.
The same rules apply to the War state as in the Civil War state.

ELECTION: When two factions have the same government ETHOS (Guiding Beliefs), an Election will be triggered instead of a War or Civil
War. It is important to note that elections don’t *actually* take place and have no input by the player commanders. Instead, the highest
influence faction will win the election at its end or when a faction gains a 5% influence advantage above the opposing faction. REMEMBER,
Anarchy governments will never have an Election, even if it is against another Anarchy government.

FAMINE: This is one of the rarest government states and is triggered when a faction cannot support its own population throughout the
system. All food production is removed and commodity market requirements for food increases.

OUTBREAK: This is another rare state in which a low standard of living and development can trigger an Outbreak. During this time
medicine trade missions are more effective, donations a re highly encouraged, and combat missions have no benefit to a faction’s influence.

STATES AND FACTIONS

It is important to note that only ONE STATE can be triggered at a time and this applies to ALL SYSTEMS the faction is present in. For example,
if a faction is at war in one system, any other system cannot trigger a government state until the war is over. REMEMBER, after every
government state there is a cool down period. This varies from state types and will be outlined in the last section. Another important fact
to consider is how each state will affect your faction’s influence percentage. Shown below is a table that lists each state and how it affects
your faction:

GOVERNMENT STATE: EFFECT ON INFLUENCE:

Expansion All activities contribute to the increase of influence.

War Only combat actions and combat missions contribute to influence.

Civil War Only combat actions and combat missions contribute to influence.

Election Combat actions and combat missions DO NOT contribute to influence.

Boom Trade contributes DOUBLE in this state and contributes significantly to influence.

Bust Trading has DOUBLE THE REDUCTION as boom but no influence.

Civil Unrest Collecting bounties has DOUBLE the effect on the influence.

Famine Combat actions and missions DO NOT contribute to influence, but food trading has double the effect.

Outbreak Combat actions and missions DO NOT contribute to influence, but medicine and donations have double the effect.

Lockdow n Activities have no effect on influence for the entire duration.

STATES DURATIONS
Each government state has a COUNTDOWN (Pending) and COOLDOWN period as well as a minimum and maximum ACTIVE length. Shown
below is a table that lists each state, duration periods and their priority. NOTE: These numbers are equal to the number of Server-Ticks:

STATE: COUNTDOWN PERIOD: MINIMUM LENGTH: MAXIMUM LENGTH: COOLDOWN PERIOD: PRIORITY:

Expansion 5 3 8 2 2

Retreat 1 5 7 2 2

War 3 4 28+ 1 1

Civil War 3 4 28+ 1 1

Election 3 4 4 2 1

Boom 2 3 28 3 3

Bust 2 3 28 3 3

Civil Unrest 1 3 7 3 3

Famine 1 3 28 25 3

Outbreak 4 3 28 7 3

Lockdow n 1 3 14 3 3

None (No State) 2 3 28 3 3

GUIDE RESOURCES
ELITED-DIPLOMATS:

http://elitediplomats.com/elitediplomats.com/index.html%3Fq=content%252Fworking-background-simulation-guide-turlorn.html

ELITE: DANGEROUS FORUMS – WALT KERMAN:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/193064-A-Guide-to-Minor-Factions-and-the-Background-Sim

ELITE: DANGEROUS FORUMS – SODA POPINSKI:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=105921

NOVA FORCE:

https://novaforce.com/guides/bgs/

ELITE: DANGEROUS FACTION TOOLS:

https://tools.elitedangerous.com/en/factions

ELITE: DANGEROUS FORUMS – VASIOUS:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/132071-Help-me-find-all-the-Government-Descriptions

ELITE: DANGEROUS FORUMS – JANE TURNER:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/400110-Don-t-Panic-BGS-guides-and-help

ELITE: DANGEROUS FORUMS – JANE TURNER:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/424668-States-quot-Best-Current-Thinking-quot

GUIDE BY: CMDR NewkTV – Founder, The Forgotten Initiative