The Beginner's Guide to Faction War Plexing

Almost every aspect of FW plexing changed in Retribution, making any previous guides written before December more or less irrelevant. Since the Inferno version was so popular, I thought there may be some people out there who may like an updated one.

The Basics

Plexing, as done by militia pilots in Faction War, is a mechanic whereby pilots can contest or defend systems, thus sending the system closer, or further away to a stable or vulnerable state. Each system has a base point value of 3,000, with each plex, regardless of size, adding or removing approximately 20 points.

Influence of Dust 514

Some systems may have more or less than 3,000 points toward stability or vulnerability depending on the number of temperate planets in the system, and the status of the Dust 514 war on those planets. Dust 514 players can affect the base system points by up to +-12.5% for each available planet. Systems with no temperate planets have a static, 3,000 point value.

Nuts and Bolts

So, let’s get down to business. What does running a plex actually entail? Where can they be found, and what should be expected?

Find a Plex

Plexes remain ‘hidden’ until the first player warps to it. You can find non activated plexes by using your system scanner. All available plexes will show once a scan of the system is complete. If no plexes show, then it is most likely that no plexes are available at that time.

Plexes that have been activated will become public knowledge to players in that system, through a beacon. If you have the relevant overview settings setup to show these beacons, the beacon will appear on your overview. The beacon will remain until the plex is completed, and pilots can warp to it without using their system scanner to find the plex.

Note: A non-miltia pilot cannot count down a timer in a plex, though they can enter it freely if other restrictions, such as ships restrictions, are met.


You Should Know


There are a few things you should know about gates, beacons, and spaces within FW plexes:

• First, you cannot light cynos inside, or outside the plex.
• Secondly, warping to a fleet member that's inside a plex, or on the gate, will land you on the acceleration gate at 0. If you are inside the plex, or on the acceleration gate yourself, you will be unable to warp to fleet members who are either inside the plex or on the acceleration gate.
• Thirdly, you cannot count down timers inside plexes while cloaked. 

Pro Tip: Faction War pilots have developed the habit of warping to a plex beacon at 10km instead of at 0. You will still land within activation range of the plex’s gate, but will be far enough away so that the gate itself doesn’t impede your warp. (You won’t get ‘stuck’ in it.)

Running a Plex

There are several conditions that must be fulfilled before a button will count down in favor of your militia:

• You, or a member of a friendly militia must be within range of the plex’s capture point

     

• 2. If you are running the plex offensively, you must kill any NPCs in the plex before the timer will count down.
• 3. There must be no hostile militia players also in range of the button. If both hostile, and friendly pilots are in range, the timer will pause until only one side remains.

You Should Know

There are some things you should know about timers:

• First, all plex timers start with a default time. (We will talk about plex sizes, and etc., later.) If a hostile has been running a plex, this will increase the amount of time you will need to run it to complete it. If a hostile takes a plex you have been running, the time will be extended for them.

For example, Militia A has been running a 10 minute plex for 5 minutes, and Militia B takes over the plex. Militia B will have to run the plex for 10+5 minutes to complete the plex.

• Secondly, you must be in range of the timer in order to receive a share in the LP reward. We will talk about specific LP rewards available in a later section.

Completing a Plex

When a plex completes, several things will happen:

1. You will gain 20 Victory Points, and the system’s contestation level will update, appropriately.
2. You will receive the appropriate LP reward payment, if you were in range of the timer.
3. You will receive a standings increase for your militia.
4. The plex’s beacon will disappear.
5. The plex will despawn.

You Should Know

There are a few things you should know about completing plexes:

• First, if completing a plex that takes a system in “Vulnerable” status and puts it into “Contested” status, (ie: through defensive plexing) all damage done to the I-HUB will be reset. If the contesting militia takes a plex of their own, and regains vulnerability, they will have to start from scratch.
• Secondly, defensively plexing in a stable system, or offensively plexing in a vulnerable system does not yield any LP rewards.
• Thirdly, you cannot plex buffer Victory Points into stable systems. You can defensively run plexes all you want, but one offensive plex will knock the system into a contested state.

Offensively plexing a system in a vulnerable state will achieve a very small buffer. This means that a Vulnerable system that has a small buffer, may not drop to a contested state if the defenders complete a plex.

The Anatomy of a Plex

Now, I will discuss the specifics of the structure of plexes, including plex geography, spawning cycles, restrictions, types, LP reward amounts, and etc.

Plex Types and Restrictions

There are currently four primary plex sizes. Each size has certain restrictions, limiting ship sizes that can enter the plex:

*Note: Tech 3 Cruisers can only enter unrestricted plexes.

Spawn Rate

Novice, Small, and Medium Compound plexes each spawn in about 30 minutes from the time of completion. It is possible, however, to have multiple Compounds of the same size available in the same system --especially after downtime if earlier Compounds were not completed.

Facilities, Larges, and other plexes spawn randomly based upon non-public factors. 

Plex Loyalty Point Payouts

Loyalty Points are used as a currency within Faction War, and can be turned in through the militia Loyalty Point store for a variety of items including faction ships and modules. 

LP payouts are given for both defensive plexing, and offensive plexing. The formula for offensive plexing payouts are as follows:

The base amount given depends on the size of each plex, with smaller plexes having a smaller base payout then larger plexes. Below is a chart of each plex size, and the amount of LP paid depending upon each Warzone Control Tier:

Defensive plexing payouts are significantly smaller than Offensive plexing payouts, and are based both on Warzone Control and system contestation. The exact formula used to calculate the amount of payout you will receive for defensive plexing is:

LP Gain = Base value of plex * (Contested percentage of the system/100) * 0.75

Where the 'Base value of plex' is the amount you would receive if the plex was an offensive plex. (ie: the base value times your Warzone Control factor.)

Therefore, running a Medium plex in a system that is 50% contested will yield

43,750 * (50/100) * 0.75 = 16,406 LP

Note: Upon completing a plex, you will receive a notification specifying how much LP you earned. You can view your total LP in your journal, under "Agents-->Loyalty Points"

Geography

The warp-in on all plexes is 10K from the capture point. However, the capture radius (the distance you need to be from the capture point to continue counting down the timer) is 30K. Therefore, you will land within the capture radius when you enter a plex.

External Factors

As I mentioned earlier, there are restrictions to warping to fleet members in and around plexes, as well as restrictions to other movement scenarios.

• If you are somewhere else in system, and warp to a fleet member on-grid of the plex's acceleration gate or inside the plex, you will land on the acceleration gate at 0.
• If you are yourself on-grid of the acceleration gate, or inside the plex, warping to any fleet members who are also inside the plex or on the acceleration gate will fail. 
• Warping to an object inside the plex or on-grid of the acceleration gate will fail. The same rules that apply elsewhere to warping to cans and wrecks do not apply inside, or on the acceleration gates of plexes.
• You cannot warp directly to the plex's acceleration gate when you are inside the plex already. Attempting to warp to the plex beacon while you are inside the plex will fail. You must first 'bounce' to another location, and then warp back to the plex.

What This Means:

• If a fleet member is tackled on the acceleration gate, while you are inside the plex, you will not be able to warp directly to your fleet member, or directly back to the acceleration gate.
• If a fight is going on 200K away from the warp-in inside the plex, or 200K off the acceleration gate, you cannot warp to a fleet member in the midst of the fight, whether you are on-grid with them or not.
• You cannot drop cans to allow friendly, but non-fleeted militia members to warp to an engagement on the acceleration gate, or inside the plex.

You can still warp to a plex at some distance. (For example, at 50K, or 100K, etc.) This will land you at that distance from the gate. However, warping to a fleet member at 50K or 100K will still land you on the gate at 0.

NPCs

One to Two NPCs will spawn inside each plex. If you are running the plex offensively, you must kill all hostiles, including hostile NPCs before the timer will continue to count down.

NPCs output relatively little DPS, and can usually be soloed by a ship of maximum size the plex will allow. (IE: You can solo a medium in a cruiser, a small in a destroyer or frigate, etc.)

The NPCs will not do any sort of electronic warfare against you, however, they cannot be speed tanked.

Frequently Asked Questions About Plexing

1. Will I lose/gain standings for completing plexes?

Answer: Yes. You will gain standings in your militia's corporation, and will lose standings with hostile militia.

2. I completed a plex, and it didn't disappear. Is it broken?

Answer: It could take as long as 15 minutes for a plex to completely disappear. Sometimes, it is not instantaneous.

3. Can neutrals get inside my plex?

Answer: Yes. Neutrals can enter plexes, although they cannot count down the timer.



4. Can I run plexes for my Ally?

Answer: Yes. Amarr militia can run Caldari plexes and vica versa. Gallente can run Minmatar and vica versa. You cannot, however, target and destroy vulnerable I-HUBs for your ally.



5. What happens if I disconnect inside a plex? When I log back in, will I still be inside the plex?

Answer: It depends on how long it takes you to log back in. Usually, if you log back in immediately, you will return to your location inside the plex. However, if some time transpires, you will instead land on the acceleration gate.