Gaining rep with Federation loses rep with Empire?

[Samosa]

Interesting. It seems as though if I do a mission that gives me a Fed blue up arrow, then I get a corresponding Empire red down arrow.

This is maybe the way things are supposed to be - in some "we enjoy punishing you!" universe it makes sense, but it seems to be a new way of doing things.

Kinda doesn't matter to me since I still have max Empire rank, but it's worth taking into account... Does this mean one can no longer easily be Amiralking by just doing all the missions?

 

[Mohrgan]

Your major faction rank, once achieved, isn't affected by your ongoing actions. Your 'Rep' will be though. You can drop below allied with the empire while increasing your rep elsewhere, the empire frowns on the benefit you bring to the Federation. Your rep will decay as well. While you are not working for the empire they will remove rep down to as low as friendly.

 

[Samosa]

Your major faction rank, once achieved, isn't affected by your ongoing actions. Your 'Rep' will be though. You can drop below allied with the empire while increasing your rep elsewhere, the empire frowns on the benefit you bring to the Federation. Your rep will decay as well. While you are not working for the empire they will remove rep down to as low as friendly.

Gotcha, but has it always been the case that taking a Federation mission lowers your Empire reputation?

 

[Mohrgan]

I believe so. The rep decay is new with PP.

 

[Samosa]

Interesting. The specific mechanics need to be documented.

 

[Mohrgan]

I am not so sure about that. I think the mystery is good. Otherwise you'll have players gaming the system.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Of course, it depends on the nature and circumstances of the mission, as in whom you're working for, where, and what you're doing. If you go out killing a bunch of Imperial sympathisers, of course your rep with the Empire will go down.

That and the whole Powerplay major faction rep decay thing too.

 

[V3teran]

Im allied with Feds and Empire.

 

[Mephane]

Gotcha, but has it always been the case that taking a Federation mission lowers your Empire reputation?

No, and itsn't now, either. In some circumstances it might (e.g. combat against Imperial ships), but generally, no. What happens is that all major faction reputation now decays automatically, regardless of your actions.

 

[Samosa]

Of course, it depends on the nature and circumstances of the mission, as in whom you're working for, where, and what you're doing. If you go out killing a bunch of Imperial sympathisers, of course your rep with the Empire will go down.

That and the whole Powerplay major faction rep decay thing too.

I've verified that this is the case for simple "Help repair our station!" donation missions. Weird.

- - - Updated - - -

No, and itsn't now, either. In some circumstances it might (e.g. combat against Imperial ships), but generally, no. What happens is that all major faction reputation now decays automatically, regardless of your actions.

Not to be difficult, but it is. I can prove it over and over - so could you, if you're near Exbeur, for example (where I'm testing). Go give a Federation minor faction a few K as a donation, and watch your Empire rep turn red.

 

[ste]

It was like this in Elite 2. You do nice things for the feds, it annoyed the empire and vice versa, but you could still do nice things for both and eventually both could learn to love you.

 

[Samosa]

Here, I just did a quick test:

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Ah, then that could well be the major faction rep decay thing kicking in more actively. The Empire will still be Friendly to you at least, and it shouldn't affect the Imperial minor factions to whom you are truly Allied, i.e those whom you have directly worked for.

I note also that your Alliance major rep is taking a hit as a result. That could also be explained by it.

It's probably part of the plan to make sure you remain Allied to only one major faction at a time.

 

[Samosa]

Ah, then that could well be the major faction rep decay thing kicking in more actively. The Empire will still be Friendly to you at least, and it shouldn't affect the Imperial minor factions to whom you are truly Allied, i.e those whom you have directly worked for.

I note also that your Alliance major rep is taking a hit as a result. That could also be explained by it.

It's probably part of the plan to make sure you remain Allied to only one major faction at a time.

Note that this is an *instant* effect the moment I complete the donation mission, not something that takes place on a ten minute (or whatever) tick. I can demonstrate it over and over - I've been doing these donations for the past few hours, and it's always the same.

 

[Rich Bramwell]

Note that this is an *instant* effect the moment I complete the donation mission, not something that takes place on a ten minute (or whatever) tick. I can demonstrate it over and over - I've been doing these donations for the past few hours, and it's always the same.

Exbeur is the system I have been operating from for 2 weeks now, from before the power-play patch and I can concur with everything that ''Samosa'' is saying, I can affect the hourly turnover in rep decay with 6 or 7 donation missions and 3 delivery missions, that 10 or 11 missions will turn every minor faction mostly blue arrows and my main federation rep decay will then disappear for an hour or so again before it needs some more missions.
I have just been on for 2 or more hours and just been trading and it is costing me around 50 to 70 grand in donations and maybe 20 to 50 grand in some progenitor cells or some medicine they ask for too for free, so it is not hurting me in credits but if you were a new player those credits would certainly be felt in loses I feel chaps.

 

[tetra]

Weird, I ranked up to Midshipman on Fed early this week before switching over to grinding out Empire rank missions and have gone from Serf to Baron over the past 2 days and have not once seen any negative down arrows on my main Fed relationship as shown in Samosa's screenshot. Are you pledged to anybody?

 

[Samosa]

I'm not pledged to anyone, no. I did, however, gain a rank a few minutes ago, so that's sort-of working.

I say "sort-of", because I took three opportunity missions that involved carrying some illegal stuff to another station in the same system, and none of those gave me the promised rank; in fact, they resulted in red down arrows for the faction for whom I was completing the mission. That's rather backwards, isn't it?

After those three failed, I quit out and had dinner. When I came back, there was a mission to go grab some illegal artifacts floating around in a wreck, so I did that, and then gained the rank of Post Captain.

Any of the the first three smuggling missions should have done the trick, though.

 

[tetra]

Nice Good to see it's working for you even if it did look a bit wonky for a while.

 

[Darth Ender]

Holding rank in both the fed and empire is wrong. Hopefully FD patches this soon and allows current players to make a 1 time decision on which side they will keep military rank in. And with any luck, they'll make allied standing at the major faction level inversely proportional as well (if you have military ranking).

 

[tetra]

Holding rank in both the fed and empire is wrong. Hopefully FD patches this soon and allows current players to make a 1 time decision on which side they will keep military rank in. And with any luck, they'll make allied standing at the major faction level inversely proportional as well (if you have military ranking).

Would be quite happy for that if it were not for ship unlocks being tied to it. Denying somebody the opportunity to play with a current ship (let alone to mention ones that have yet to be released) based on a one time decision is kind of annoying in my opinion. Although I totally understand your sentiment behind it.