Reinforcement (Fortification)

How to defend and strengthen your Power's controlled systems.

Overview

What is reinforcement? Earning merits in your Power's controlled systems to increase their control score. Systems progress through three levels: ExploitedFortifiedStronghold.
-35% merit penalty applies to all reinforcement activities (since April 2025 rebalance). A dynamic modifier (-20% to +30%) also adjusts based on how much the system is being undermined.

Activities by Merit Value

Sorted by merits per action. All values are before the -35% penalty.

ActivityMeritsNotes
Reboot missions1,800On-foot. Needs Civil Unrest or Infrastructure Failure state
Megaship datalink scan900Once per cycle per system. Scan ship first, then datalink <200m
Salvage: Blackbox416From power wreckage signal sources. Hand in at Power Contact in same system
Settlement power data360 each3 types: Association, Classified, Political. Download is illegal
Kill power ships (Elite)388Merits scale by rank: Harmless (48) to Elite (388)
Salvage: Wreckage Component160From power wreckage signal sources
Donations (1M Cr)108Also: 30k Cr = 32 merits. 650 Cr commodity value = 1 merit
Holoscreen hacking84Recon limpet on starport holoscreens. Can't hack your own Power's logo
Ship/wake scanning20 eachQuick. Can target prescanned Winters power security
Sell 40%+ profit commoditiesVariesGallite, Indite good choices. Sell full loads
Liberal Packages6 per pkg15-250 per 30min from Power Contact. Hand in at reinforcement system
Cartographic data4 per 25k CrSell at Universal Cartographics
Rare goods4 per 4k CrSaturation >200 ly. Soontill Relics from Ngurii often good
Exobiology (first sampled)4 per 250k CrFirst sampled bonus uses different multiplier than base value
Mining (same system)1 per 880 CrMust mine AND sell in same system. No fleet carrier storage
Kill wanted ships1 per ~3.8k bountyMerits on kill, no need to hand in vouchers

Activity Details

Reboot Missions (1,800 merits)

On-foot settlement reboot missions. Spawn when the target faction is in Civil Unrest or Infrastructure Failure. Target settlement can be in the same system or a neighboring system.

For reinforcement only: uploading tracker malware and stealing power goods do not work alongside reboot missions for reinforcement purposes.

Megaship Datalink Scan (900 merits)

Find megaships as Points of Interest in your navigation filter. Scan the ship first, then the datalink at less than 200m distance. One scan per cycle per system. Megaship location changes each cycle.

Settlement Power Data (360 merits each)

Three types of data can be downloaded: Association, Classified, and Political. Downloading is illegal — may require illegal identities to access all data. Only some data is sellable in the same system; the rest may be tagged as out of range (known bug).

Kill Power Ships (48-388 merits)

RankMerits
Harmless48*
Mostly Harmless84
Novice132*
Competent172
Expert216
Master256
Dangerous300
Deadly344
Elite388

* Values marked with asterisk are calculated estimates, not confirmed.

Selling Commodities at 40%+ Profit

Merit count is based on profit margin. Selling full loads at once is fine. Mid-price minerals like Gallite and Indite are good choices — low value commodities are easier to hit 40% but earn less income, while high value commodities are difficult to reach 40% profit.

Liberal Packages

Collect from Power Contact at any Winters Stronghold every 30 minutes. Starting allocation is 15, increasing with PP rank up to 250. Hand in at a Power Contact in the reinforcement system (cannot be the same stronghold). No fast-forward available.

Ethos & Tips

Winters' reinforcement ethos is Finance, giving +50% merits on finance-type activities: trade, mining, commodity hauling, exploration.

Winters Power bonus: +60% on food and medicine profits, +100% on minor faction reputation gain, +100% on salvage profits in controlled systems.

Merit values from FUC PowerPlay Activities document and community testing. Some values are estimates pending confirmation.