Ask four questions first.
Which system? Which faction? What exact result do we want? What action actually moves that result? Those four answers prevent most accidental BGS damage.
Mongrel Field Manual
BGS Field Manual
Understand the simulation first: influence, conflicts, government compatibility, states, assets, expansion, retreat, and the general strategies that connect them. Current Mongrel operations stay private in Mission Control.
Every order needs a stop condition.
“Support the faction” is not an operational plan. Good orders specify the beneficiary, the lever, an approximate workload, what to avoid, and when to stop.
Quick Reference
The Numbers and Rules You Actually Reach For
These are the high-frequency facts worth having on one screen. Follow the linked reference entries when you need the edge cases.
Conflict formatBest of 7 daily resultsEnds early when the trailing side can no longer force a draw.
Conflict length4–7 days normallyDay 4 is the earliest normal clinch; Day 7 is the maximum.
Expansion trigger~75% INFCommunity-observed. Leave margin if expansion is unwanted.
Retreat trigger< ~2.5% INFNon-native factions; rescue with margin, not at the line.
System faction cap7 factionsFull systems change expansion possibilities and can lead to invasion conflicts.
Conflict typeEthos vs ethosMatching non-criminal ethos → Election; mismatch/Anarchy → War.
Do not memorize thresholds without context. Conflict eligibility, assets, states, faction history, background traffic, and community-observed mechanics can all change what happens next.
Start Here — Influence
Influence Is a 100% Shared Pool
Influence is the foundation of most BGS planning. Before deciding what activity to run, understand where the percentage has to come from and where it will go.
Core rule: all active faction influence in a system adds to roughly 100%. If one unlocked faction gains share, one or more other unlocked factions must lose share. You are not adding influence from outside the system — you are redistributing the pie.
Raise Faction A
Do positive work for A. Its gain is paid for by losses across the other influence-unlocked factions. The exact distribution depends on activity on every faction, population, state locks, and diminishing returns.
Lower Faction A
A common mistake is to work only one rival. Supporting several other unlocked factions pulls share away from A from several directions. Direct negative actions against A can be added when the operation calls for them.
One Winner + One Victim
When you want a very specific transfer, concentrate positive effort on one beneficiary and negative effort on one victim. This is often easier to interpret after the tick than scattering every action everywhere.
Conflict Locks Change the Pool
Factions in War, Civil War, or Election have their influence frozen for the duration. They are effectively removed from ordinary influence redistribution until the conflict resolves, which can be used strategically.
Why “just support one other faction” can disappoint
Mission INF is not system influence %. A mission showing INF +++++ gives a relative influence reward weight. It does not mean +5 percentage points.
Positive levers outside conflicts
| Activity | Primary use | Who receives the benefit | Operational caution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Missions | Targeted influence support; mission type can also move economy/security. | The issuing faction, with some missions also applying negative pressure to a target faction. | Read issuer, target, destination, and reward. One mission can help one faction while hurting another. |
| Bounty vouchers | Influence + security support. | The faction that issued the bounty when redeemed in a way that gives local BGS credit. | Bounty vouchers are not Combat Bonds. Do not substitute bounty hunting for CZ work in a War order. |
| Profitable trade | Influence + economic support. | The faction that owns the market/asset. | Profit and market ownership matter. Tonnage alone is a poor BGS measure. |
| Exploration data | Influence + economic support. | The faction owning the receiving asset. | Check ownership before spending stored data. |
| Negative actions | Reduce a chosen victim’s influence/security/economy depending on the lever. | Pressure is applied to the target; released influence is redistributed through the system. | Crime/notoriety and unwanted state movement can create new problems. Use deliberately. |
Veteran notes — population, diminishing returns, and opposition
Population changes how resistant a system feels, and repeated activity in the same bucket gives diminishing returns. Opposition and random traffic are added on top. The efficient pattern is usually a mix of relevant levers, followed by a tick and recalibration — not endlessly repeating one activity.
General Strategies
Shape the Board Before You Grind
The strongest BGS play is often deciding which factions are allowed to move before deciding how many missions to run. These are reusable strategies, not prescriptions for every system.
Broad Pull-Down
To reduce a high faction, support several other unlocked factions instead of pouring everything into one rival. This gives the system several destinations for the released influence.
Winner + Victim
For a controlled transfer, select one faction to rise and one to fall. Mix positives for the winner with negatives for the victim, then use the tick result to tune the next day.
Conflict Lock & Leapfrog
Bring two middling factions together and let their conflict freeze their influence. A lower faction can then be boosted past the locked pair without fighting each of them on the way up.
Lock More of the Board
Multiple independent conflicts can reduce the number of factions participating in normal influence movement. This can make a retreat push, takeover, or precision adjustment much easier to control.
Maintenance Band
Do not always chase maximum influence. Hold a controller inside a planned band so you preserve control while avoiding unwanted Expansion or needless crossovers.
Pre-Stage Asset Transfers
Before forcing equality, identify government ethos, asset at risk, post-conflict order, and where you want both factions afterward. Winning the wrong conflict can create another week of cleanup.
Retreat Preparation
When removing a non-native faction, first make the system easier to control: lock middling factions where practical, choose which faction(s) will absorb share, then drive the target below the threshold.
Use the Tick as Feedback
If the result is smaller, larger, or opposite to expectation, do not simply double yesterday’s workload. Check traffic, states, ownership, conflict locks, and activity attribution first.
Conflict lock strategy is powerful but temporary. A locked faction can become movable again as soon as its conflict ends, so plan the leapfrog or retreat window around the remaining conflict days.
Members Only
Operational Benchmarks & Playbooks
The public Field Manual teaches BGS mechanics and general strategy. Quantified daily workloads, Retreat/Expansion operating recipes, and Mongrel-specific tasking live behind Discord authentication in Mission Control.
Squadron Operations
Open Member Playbook →
Need the “what should I do today?” answer?
Members get quick-reference workload benchmarks for mission INF, trade profit, bounty vouchers, exploration data, plus step-by-step playbooks for raising/lowering factions, conflict days, Expansion control, and Retreat operations.
Starter Guide
Turn the Strategy into a Daily Workflow
Once you understand influence and choose a strategy, use this loop to turn it into repeatable daily orders.
Read the System
Check every faction, not just your own.
- Influence and controller.
- Asset ownership.
- Active + pending states.
- Conflicts and faction count.
Define the Result
“Help our faction” is too vague.
- Raise or lower influence?
- Trigger or avoid conflict?
- Push economy/security?
- Take or protect an asset?
Choose the Lever
Pick the activity that moves the intended dimension.
- Missions / INF.
- Trade / exploration.
- Bounties / security.
- Conflict-specific actions.
Set the Limit
Specify a workload and a stop condition before you start. Near thresholds, small corrections are safer than heroic overwork.
Let the Tick Resolve
Record what was done, then compare the post-tick result. Data sites may lag until a CMDR visits and uploads fresh journals.
Recalibrate
Use the result to tune tomorrow’s orders. BGS is a control problem, not a fixed “X missions = Y%” recipe.
Conflicts
Best of Seven — Not “Grind Until the Bar Moves”
War, Civil War, and Election use separate daily conflict scoring. Ordinary displayed influence is not the scoreboard you are trying to win.
How the early-ending math works
| After the tick | Days remaining | Can the trailer force a draw? | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 wins – 0 wins | 3 | No. Best possible comeback is 4–3. | Ends after Day 4. |
| 2 wins – 0 wins, 4 ties | 1 | No. Best possible comeback is 2–1. | Can end after Day 6. |
| 2 wins – 2 wins, 2 ties | 1 | Yes. | Day 7 still matters. |
| 3 wins – 3 wins | 1 | Yes. | Day 7 decides unless it ties. |
A huge victory does not buy extra days. Frontier removed bonus-day wins. The value of overwhelming a day is insurance against hidden opposition, not multiple points on the series score.
What actually counts
| Conflict | Primary practical lever | Useful supporting inputs | Do not rely on |
|---|---|---|---|
| War | Win Conflict Zone objectives; redeem Combat Bonds. | Combat missions and other war-valid combat objectives. | Bounty vouchers are not Combat Bonds. Some community research reports bounties as a secondary/tiebreak input, but they are not reliable enough to use as the primary Mongrel war lever. Do not replace CZ work with bounty hunting. |
| Civil War | Same scoring family as War: win CZ objectives; redeem Combat Bonds. | Combat missions and other war-valid combat objectives. | Assuming “Civil” means non-combat, or confusing ordinary bounty vouchers with war Combat Bonds. |
| Election | Complete valid non-combat election missions. | Trade/smuggling, exploration data, search & rescue, economic missions, non-combat scenarios. | CZs, bonds, and bounty grinding as the main election lever. |
War voucher distinction: Combat Bonds come from fighting for a side in Conflict Zones. Bounty Vouchers come from killing wanted ships. They are different transaction types. For squad war orders, treat CZ wins/objectives and Combat Bonds as the dependable war tools; bounty hunting remains primarily an influence/security lever outside that role.
Before the Conflict
Identify both governments/ethos groups, the asset at risk, whether system control is at stake, and whether you actually want this opponent.
During the Conflict
Track the completed daily score after each tick. You cannot see the opponent’s live work, so current-day “safety” is always an estimate.
After the Conflict
Verify the asset transfer, new influence separation, recovery/cooldown, and whether another crossover is now possible.
Government Compatibility
Predict War vs Election Before You Force the Tie
The BGS uses government ethos groups. Two different visible governments can still belong to the same ethos and therefore hold an Election.
| Ethos | Common government types | Same-ethos conflict |
|---|---|---|
| Criminal | Anarchy | War — Anarchy does not use Election. |
| Autocratic | Dictatorship · Feudal · Patronage · Prison Colony · some Theocracy | Election |
| Corporate | Corporate | Election |
| Social | Communism · Confederacy · Cooperative · Democracy · some Theocracy | Election |
Ethos conflict matrix
| Criminal | Autocratic | Corporate | Social | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal | War | War | War | War |
| Autocratic | War | Election | War | War |
| Corporate | War | War | Election | War |
| Social | War | War | War | Election |
Civil War exception: if two factions share the same home system and their pairing would otherwise be a War, the conflict is a Civil War. Scoring is still combat-based.
Veteran note — Theocracy and legacy factions
Some Frontier-created or older factions can have hidden/multiple ethos behavior that does not line up neatly with the visible government label. Theocracy is the classic caution. If a campaign depends on the exact conflict type, check the faction’s observed history instead of assuming the table is infallible.
Control & Assets
Know What You Are Actually Fighting Over
System control, station ownership, and settlement ownership are related, but they are not the same thing.
| Concept | Meaning | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| System controller | The faction holding the controlling asset / top political position for the system. | Determines the system’s controlling faction and many system-level conditions. |
| Asset owner | The faction that owns a particular station, outpost, installation, or settlement. | Trade, data, missions, and services at that asset feed that owner—not automatically the system controller. |
| Asset at risk | The asset staked for transfer in a conflict. | A normal conflict does not automatically transfer every asset owned by the losing faction. |
| Control conflict | A conflict where the controlling asset/control position is at stake. | Winning can change the system controller. |
Pre-conflict checklist: identify the opponent, conflict type, asset at risk, whether control is at stake, and what the post-conflict influence order will probably look like.
Expansion & Retreat
Thresholds Need Safety Margins
The top and bottom of the influence range can change where a faction exists. Treat the observed thresholds as strategic boundaries, not targets to sit directly on.
| Mechanic | Observed threshold / rule | Practical application | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expansion | Roughly 75% influence in an eligible origin system. | If wanted, map the neighborhood first. If unwanted, hold below the trigger with margin. | Crossing 75% and only afterward asking where the faction might expand. |
| Pending Expansion | Current community guidance treats it as committed once pending. | Shift from “prevent” to “prepare/manage destination.” | Assuming one negative tick can cancel it after pending. |
| Retreat | Below roughly 2.5% for a non-native faction. | Save with a decisive buffer; remove by preventing accidental support. | Aiming exactly for 2.5% or waiting until the last apparent day. |
| Native faction | Cannot normally Retreat from its home system. | Use another strategic method if the faction is native. | Trying to remove a native faction with Retreat. |
| Faction cap | Seven factions in a normal system. | Full systems change expansion targeting and invasion possibilities. | Planning an expansion as though every nearby system has an open slot. |
Retreat operator timeline
| Phase | What matters | Practical order |
|---|---|---|
| Trigger | Non-native faction drops below ~2.5%; Retreat must also be eligible to start. | Verify faction count and native status before committing the operation. |
| Pending / early active | Keep the target controlled and prevent random positive support. | Support the other unlocked factions; prepare stronger negative actions if the target starts recovering. |
| Late active / critical check | Community research places the decisive influence check at the start of the final active processing day. | If forcing Retreat, make sure the target is comfortably below 2.5% before that check. If saving it, be comfortably above 2.5%. |
| Resolution | If the removal condition is met, the faction leaves and its influence is redistributed; assets pass according to BGS rules. | Immediately review the new influence order because the redistribution can create new crossovers or thresholds. |
Faction-count rule: current community observation is that a new Retreat will not start when only three factions are present. Multiple factions already in Retreat can resolve together and produce fewer than three afterward, so timing matters.
Veteran notes — expansion targeting
Expansion targeting is a neighborhood problem, not a destination selector. Distance, open slots, faction counts, existing/previous faction presence, active states, and invasion eligibility can all matter. Because Frontier has not published a complete targeting formula, the Reference Database marks the detailed targeting model as community-observed.
Faction States
Read Cause, Effect, and Response Together
A state label is useful only if you know what it means operationally. Multiple compatible states can be active at the same time.
| State | What it tells you | Typical response / lever | Operator note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boom | Positive economic pressure. | Profitable trade and economic activity support the direction. | Can persist while economic pressure remains favorable. |
| Bust | Negative economic pressure. | Profitable/high-demand trade, exploration data, economic missions. | Influence strength and economy health are separate. |
| Civil Liberty | Positive security pressure. | Bounties and security-positive combat activity. | Useful when you want strong security without sacrificing economic goals. |
| Civil Unrest | Negative security pressure. | Bounties, pirate/terrorist clearing, security-positive missions. | Crime used to lower INF can worsen security at the same time. |
| Lockdown | Severe negative security condition. | Security restoration / bounty work. | Can disrupt services you may need operationally. |
| Famine | Food crisis. | Food/relief missions and deliveries. | Use state-specific relief work rather than generic grinding. |
| Outbreak | Health crisis. | Medical/relief missions and deliveries. | Trigger details are less certain than recovery direction. |
| Pirate Attack | Heightened piracy. | Clear pirates, redeem bounties, security-positive activity. | Can change markets, interdiction environment, and mission mix. |
| Special events | Drought, Blight, Infrastructure Failure, Natural Disaster, Terrorism, Public Holiday. | Use event-specific missions/commodities where available. | Many triggers/durations are imperfectly documented; treat them as living-reference topics. |
Duration caution: conflict timing is well enough understood for exact day-by-day planning. Many non-conflict state duration tables are community-maintained and have changed across BGS eras. Use them as ranges, then read pending/active/recovery state every tick.
Practical Method
From Situation Report to a Good Order
The public method is simple: define the result, choose the correct BGS lever, set a measurable stopping point, and use the next tick as feedback. Squadron-specific quantities and current objectives remain private.
1Snapshot
Record current influence, control, assets, active/pending states, conflict score, and faction count.
2Objective
Describe the desired post-tick condition precisely instead of saying only “support the faction.”
3Levers
Choose activities that affect the intended dimension: influence, economy, security, or conflict score.
4Quantity
Use a measurable workload rather than an open-ended grind. Diminishing returns make endless repetition inefficient.
5Stop condition
Stop before overshooting a target band, threshold, or conflict objective.
6Post-tick review
Compare the result to the input and recalibrate. BGS is a control problem, not a fixed “X actions = Y%” formula.
Member operations are deliberately separate from this public manual. Current priorities, quantified tasking, and Mongrel-specific playbooks are available only through authenticated Mission Control.
Living manual
BGS is partly documented by Frontier and partly reverse-engineered by long-running community testing. This manual treats Frontier-published conflict behavior as firm, labels community-observed thresholds and targeting rules, and avoids presenting uncertain trigger formulas as fact. We expect to refine this guide as the squad encounters edge cases and as Frontier changes the simulation.