Factional Presence

With the new Factional Presence system that was introduced into Star Wars Galaxies during Game Update 15, a player can earn points for their faction simply by being active in the game and by being Special Forces.

Conditions
If a player belongs to a faction (this does not include those who are using the Faction Helper system) and have their Service Status set to SF, then they slowly accrue points that are added to their faction's GCW score for the region of the planet that they are on. The system has been designed so that only players who are at risk from attack by members of the other faction gain this reward for putting themselves in harm's way. A player also has to be "active" to have a Factional Presence. These two measures mean that a player cannot be cloaked, incapacitated, AFK or in a structure if they wish to benefit from their Factional Presence.

It should be noted that the player does not actually gain GCW points for being flagged as Special Forces. It is simply that the percentage control of the region which they are in will change as if they had been given GCW points.

Point Bonuses
Additions to the (undisclosed) "base" point value can be achieved in a variety of ways. The points that a player earns are scaled according to their level, and an additional 10% bonus to their score is added for each Faction rank that the player has achieved.

Player City Factional Alignment
Mayors have the ability to set the Alignment of their city. Amongst other things, this Alignment grants further bonuses to Factional Presence. An additional 100% bonus is given to a players Factional Presence value if they are within the boundaries of the player city, with a further 10% given for each rank that the city has and 5% for each year that the city has stood for.

Example Formula
If, for the sake of argument, a level 90 player was given the equivalent of 10 GCW points per minute then a level 90 player with the rank of General would be given a 110% bonus (for being 11 ranks higher) and would earn 21 GCW points per minute.

A level 90 player with the rank of Private in a new level 1 player city could earn 20 GCW points per minute (using only the 100% bonus).

A level 90 player with the rank of Major in a two year old level 4 player city would earn 32 GCW points per minute (8 x 10% for rank, 100% for being in the city, 2 x 5% for the city's age and 3 x 10% for being 3 city ranks higher than the base city rank).

The maximum rank that a player can have is 11 ranks higher than "Private", the maximum age of a city is currently 6 years, the maximum level of a city is 4 levels higher than "Level 1" so the maximum percentage bonus is 280% which would give a maximum Factional Presence score of 38 GCW points per minute.

The Factional Presence scores are scaled according to player level. Even though level 1 players are putting themselves at considerable risk of death if they wander the wilderness when flagged for Special Forces, their scores will be considerably lower.

Note: There has not yet been any confirmation as to how the scoring system is decided or even what the "base" value is. The examples of "Equivalent GCW points" and "per minute" are both speculation. The percentage bonuses are confirmed in Update Notes.

Factional Presence Window
Using the radial menu on a War Terminal or Planning Table gives the option of opening the GCW Factional Presence window. This interface shows the planetary regions that currently have players who are contributing with their Factional Presence. This means that a player can now find where other Special Forces players of either faction are (the interface only shows the regions that they are in, not their exact location!)



The regions that contain Special Forces players are listed, with an X in the columns showing whether a Rebel or Imperial player has a Factional Presence. The interface does not show how many players are present, nor their exact combat level.