4Game

So I'm a very new player to Elite- some friends got me into it at the start of the month and I've already dropped 100+ hours in the game- made my first billion and am currently pushing Imperial and Federal rank to get the Cutter & Corvette.

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I love the combat and have slowly gotten into engineering, and now I'm hearing of powerplay, which can increase my income (iI've heard) by a significant margin, I've heard double payouts. A couple questions come up with that though…

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1. It looks like I should pick (pledge?) ALD or Hudson- any recommendations on which? Is there a independently/Alliance aligned power who has the same benefits?
2. What is the simplest way to get merits? This seems like a very complex system and I don't understand how it works- YouTube videos have me at a loss…
3. Do I only need to get merits once to permanently keep a rank for as long as I am pledged?
4. What are Power Commodities? Can I use those to increase my Merits? It seems like I will easily have a surplus of them, since you can get up to 100/h?
5. What is a preparation nomination? None of the guides I saw covered those at all…
6. Is it actually 50M credits weekly for level 5? That sounds truly insane and broken, is it that worth the time commitment? I don't want this game to become space trucking simulator, so are there other ways to get this? Should I bother with the higher rank? I think I can get +50% bounties at level 2, so perhaps I just do that?
7. It sounds like Prismatic shields are pretty good, are those worth considering as a bounty hunter or should I hold off until I get into other types of combat? (I'll usually only go to CZs in CGs).
8. Is powerplay worth learning all of this seemingly complex system? Am i just over complicating it or is it genuinely this difficult? Most of the guides I see are from years ago, so has powerplay lost it's allure?
9. What happens if I decide I don't want to do powerplay anymore? Can I stay aligned/pledged and get the passive income or will I get kicked out and targeted? What if I leave on my own volition? How serious is defecting from a power?
10. Is there an easier/faster way to earn money aside from stacking massacre/wing missions? Should I forgo this entire endeavor to earn money some other way I don't know yet?

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A last note is that while I'm climbing imperial & federal rank, I have moral qualms with both superpowers, and in addition, I will not take missions to massacre civilians, deserters or other similar morally questionable missions, and am only doing it to be able to purchase the cutter and corvette (also see home sweet Earth)- not sure if that will influence the path I take, but I wanted to throw it out there!