A Guide to Minor Factions and the Background Sim

[Limoncello Lizard]

This seems like a bug across the board at this point, cuz I've spent the last day or two flying between all the smuggling mission hotspots outside the bubble, and it's the same situation every time. I've gone and reported it in the bug thread for whatever good it will do. -_-

Have you tried Maia?
It's a long way out, plus run by an anarchy faction. So selling commodities to the station will get you reputation easily with the controlling faction. Rare goods will do

Here are the closest rare goods to Maia:

• 266ly Helvetitj (Friend Orbital 445ls) - Helvetitj Pearls (6t)
• 267ly HIP 10175 (Stefanyshyn-Piper Station 4,850ls) - HIP 10175 Bush Meat (13t)
• 269ly Wulpa (Williams Gateway 28ls) - Wulpa Hyperbore Systems (10t)
• 270ly Jotun (Icelock 80ls) - Jotun Mookah (32t) --- permit required
• 270ly Damna (Nemere Market 2,532ls) - Damna Carapaces (15t)
• 290ly Momus Reach (Tartarus Point 420ls) - Momus Bog Spaniel (7t)
• 301ly Witchhaul (Hornby Terminal 219ls) - Witchhaul Kobe Beef (9t)
• 306ly Thrutis (Kingsbury Dock 288ls) - Thrutis Cream (11t)
• 308ly LDS 883 (Smith Reserve 54,480ls) - Chameleon Cloth (7t)

The amounts are out of date.

Mining is another easy way to get fast reputation. Merope planet 1 and Celaeno planet 1 are very close pristine metallics.

 

[barnstormer1126]

Have you tried Maia?
It's a long way out, plus run by an anarchy faction. So selling commodities to the station will get you reputation easily with the controlling faction. Rare goods will do

Here are the closest rare goods to Maia:

• 266ly Helvetitj (Friend Orbital 445ls) - Helvetitj Pearls (6t)
• 267ly HIP 10175 (Stefanyshyn-Piper Station 4,850ls) - HIP 10175 Bush Meat (13t)
• 269ly Wulpa (Williams Gateway 28ls) - Wulpa Hyperbore Systems (10t)
• 270ly Jotun (Icelock 80ls) - Jotun Mookah (32t) --- permit required
• 270ly Damna (Nemere Market 2,532ls) - Damna Carapaces (15t)
• 290ly Momus Reach (Tartarus Point 420ls) - Momus Bog Spaniel (7t)
• 301ly Witchhaul (Hornby Terminal 219ls) - Witchhaul Kobe Beef (9t)
• 306ly Thrutis (Kingsbury Dock 288ls) - Thrutis Cream (11t)
• 308ly LDS 883 (Smith Reserve 54,480ls) - Chameleon Cloth (7t)

The amounts are out of date.

Mining is another easy way to get fast reputation. Merope planet 1 and Celaeno planet 1 are very close pristine metallics.

I actually have hit Maia, I was there initially in a failed attempt to find some Meta Alloys on barnacles. Also briefly tried my hand at mining but couldn't stomach the monotony XD I did see a couple smuggling missions there, but as I recall the faction wasn't in control and that was just a few days ago. Perhaps it was because of low rep? I'll haul some rares there and see if that makes a difference/if the anarchists are back in control. Just getting really irritated at all this flying around for no profit >_<

Edit: checked, Ant Hill Mob is still in charge at Maia. Will take your suggestion to drop off some rares and see what happens.

 

[goemon]

Any ideas on how to increase rep with them?

to connect your question more to the topic of this thread:

- pick one of the other minor factions, closest to the faction you want to gain rep with

- raise or lower that factions influence (via missions, trade, exploration data, or bounties - or via shooting their ships), till it matches the faction you want to gain rep with

- you will trigger a war between the two, so you can gain reputation easily via combat bonds.

if the faction you want to gain reputation with has not enough influence to get into a war, push its influence first by letting all other factions loosing influence.

 

[barnstormer1126]

to connect your question more to the topic of this thread:

- pick one of the other minor factions, closest to the faction you want to gain rep with

- raise or lower that factions influence (via missions, trade, exploration data, or bounties - or via shooting their ships), till it matches the faction you want to gain rep with

- you will trigger a war between the two, so you can gain reputation easily via combat bonds.

if the faction you want to gain reputation with has not enough influence to get into a war, push its influence first by letting all other factions loosing influence.

That would be an option...if I wasn't terrible at combat >_< I'm not terribly familiar with the nuances of the BGS, so a bit more of a step by step would be appreciated...So for example, let's say I'm at Fehu. When I was there, all anyone offered was donation missions, and the anarchy faction that would normally offer the smuggling ones offered nothing at all. So given that, the only way to lower influence (since I'm already above neutral with the others because I mistakenly thought donating to them would raise rep overall, since I read something about a boom state meaning everyone across the system would like you more) would be to kill the non-anarchist factions ships, do I have that right?

 

[goemon]

would be to kill the non-anarchist factions ships, do I have that right?

basically yes.

now, there are several things to consider:

a) fehu is a system with (probably) a lot of player traffic. e.g. all factions are permanently "backed" by all players

b) influence and state both have an effect on mission generation

going from there, you could either

- put the anarchy faction into a state, to generate different missions. problem with that is, they will be permanent backed by other players running missions. but killing that anarchy faction ships till they get into civil unrest or lockdown by shooting their ships (going bounty hunting in system) could work. once they are in lockdown/civil unrest, they will offer other missions. problem is, you will probably be hostile with them then. on the other hand, you will be in system a long time, and can dock regularly for rearming - e.g. you can check the mission board often.

- get the anarchy faction into civil war with another faction, by influencing the other factions influence. if all factions are backed by other players (without intention - just by running missions), it should be possible to make a difference by focussing on one faction only. pick one with less influence, and back them - or pick one faction with more influence then the anarchy faction, and kill this faction ships - a lot of them. unfortunatly you will get wanted, which will make things complicated. but you want to work for a criminal faction, right? obviously it would be better, if you would do that coordinated with a group of people.

- as soon as this other factions influence matches the influence of the anarchy faction, a civil war will trigger, and you a) have the anarchy faction in another state, that will spawn other mission. yay! b) you can gain reputation by cashing in combat bonds.

without a faction having a station (with a market, a blackmarket, and/or universal cartographics) there isn't a way to influence that faction outside of combat activities or missions.

___

looking at fehus stats, i guess the "most easy" way would be, to raise Independent Fehu Liberals influence, till it matches Fehu Silver Rings Influence. Independent Fehu Liberals are currently in lockdown, and you could help them to get out of it by bountyhunting in Fehu with a KWS, and cashing in bounties only issued by them and superpower bounties at their station. They own a Surface Port with Market, so you could try to back them after lockdown has ended by a) running missions b) handing in bounties issued by them - and only those c) handing in superpower bounties at their station d) sell goods at their station. in Fehus case: go mining. e) sell exploration data at their station.

once they match influence with Fehu Silver ing, you will change sides and step your liberal allies into the back ;-)

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

That would be an option...if I wasn't terrible at combat

I was pretty hopeless at combat until I participated in the liberation of Gilya. Spent 2-3 weeks murdering cops and the bountyhunters that were sent after me.
Granted that was pre 2.1, so combat was a tad easier.

Killing opponent's ships only gains you rep if you are doing it for a mission or are handing in bounties or bonds for the ships. What killing ships does is lower the influence of that faction by a fraction. It depends on the population of the system how much a ship is worth. Small population is easier to change.

 

[barnstormer1126]

and cashing in bounties only issued by them and superpower bounties at their station.

But there's no way to see what ship has bounties by a specific faction, right?

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

you could help them to get out of it by bountyhunting in Fehu with a KWS, and cashing in bounties only issued by them and superpower bounties at their station.

But don't shoot Fehu Silver Ring ships, or you will lose reputation with them.

 

[goemon]

But there's no way to see what ship has bounties by a specific faction, right?

no. but as i said - "cashing in" is the important part in this. and you see, if you cash in bounties, which bounties not to cash in ;-)
___

@limoncello lizard --- i'm not so sure about not killing silver ring ships. a) for matching influence, the influence loss would help (but not so muhc that Silver Ring gets below the minimum influence to trigger a war --- 3%/5%?) b) the reputation loss isn't a problem, unless you hit hostile (which you shouldn't) - the moment you have a civil war triggered, you can gain reputation very fast.

 

[barnstormer1126]

no. but as i said - "cashing in" is the important part in this. and you see, if you cash in bounties, which bounties not to cash in ;-)
___

@limoncello lizard --- i'm not so sure about not killing silver ring ships. a) for matching influence, the influence loss would help (but not so muhc that Silver Ring gets below the minimum influence to trigger a war --- 3%/5%?) b) the reputation loss isn't a problem, unless you hit hostile (which you shouldn't) - the moment you have a civil war triggered, you can gain reputation very fast.

Hmmk...seems like an unnecessary amount of work just to get missions just to be available. especially when it seems to *just* be affecting smuggling ones >_< Now I gotta go find somewhere to swap my AspX from cargo to combat and have it rated high enough I don't get vaped instantly -_-

 

[Aris_]

In an anarchy system -to raise rep., inf.- you have the option of piracy and sell in black market, cargo ships are easy targets , I don’t know if that will work in other system with anarchy minor faction.

 

[barnstormer1126]

Also, @goemon, just to make sure I have things clear: Go and do missions for Fehu Liberlals, sell items and map data to them, as well as bounty hunting, turning in bounties for everything *but* Fehu Liberals (meaning cash in everything but rewards for them), that will raise their influence to start a war, at which point missions for Silver Ring will be available?

 

[goemon]

turning in bounties for everything *but* Fehu Liberals (meaning cash in everything but rewards for them)

no, turning in bounties ONLY for Fehu Liberals - and superpower (Empire) bounties at their station, not cashing in bounties for any other faction! the rest is correct.

 

[goemon]

Hmmk...seems like an unnecessary amount of work just to get missions just to be available.

yes.

basically - if you are an independent pilot, not connected to anyone, move on to another place to earn money. there are around 30 systems out of the bubble now, if you look for longrange missions. if you "just" want to smuggle, picking a system with a minor faction in control of at least 1 station, and get the rep by selling goods/rares additionally to running missions. I'm allied or friendly with around a dozend anarchy factions by now, so if i feel like smuggling, i know where to go to.

i just wanted to point out, what could be done in terms of the BGS. for me it is a lot of fun to shape a system to my wishes - but it is a different kind of game ;-)

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

In an anarchy system -to raise rep., inf.- you have the option of piracy and sell in black market, cargo ships are easy targets , I don’t know if that will work in other system with anarchy minor faction.

Selling stolen goods to a black market raises your reputation with the faction that controls the station, regardless of what type of faction. But the stolen goods lowers the influence of the controlling faction.

 

[barnstormer1126]

yes.

basically - if you are an independent pilot, not connected to anyone, move on to another place to earn money. there are around 30 systems out of the bubble now, if you look for longrange missions. if you "just" want to smuggle, picking a system with a minor faction in control of at least 1 station, and get the rep by selling goods/rares additionally to running missions. I'm allied or friendly with around a dozend anarchy factions by now, so if i feel like smuggling, i know where to go to.

i just wanted to point out, what could be done in terms of the BGS. for me it is a lot of fun to shape a system to my wishes - but it is a different kind of game ;-)

No but that's the problem, like I've been saying XD Everywhere I go, everywhere that pops up on the net as a hotspot for smuggling: Robigo, Sothis, Ceos, Fehu, Adita(?...whatever the one right next to Fehu is), and so on, it all has the same issue of having the missions locked behind the 'Cordial' wall with no way to gain rep cuz the anarchy faction isn't in charge....the only exception I've seen so far is Maia, but they only offer 1-2 smuggling missions at a time, and even being at friendly/cordial with them, their payouts are usually 1-2 mil instead of the 3-5 I see everywhere else. Like I said it's been getting annoying-no, *infuriating*-hopping around to all these systems hoping to finally be able to take missions, only to see I can't because of the 'Cordial Wall'. And yea I *hate* PVP so I play solo exclusively, which means trying to affect the BGS in any huge way is kind of not an option for me. >_<

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

And yea I *hate* PVP so I play solo exclusively, which means trying to affect the BGS in any huge way is kind of not an option for me. >_<

PVP is the one thing in game that has no effect on the BGS at all.

But everything else you do in a system has an effect. Every NPC you kill, every transaction in a station. Actually just travelling through a system has a small effect, as it raises the amount other players are able to influence the BGS during that day.

 

[barnstormer1126]

PVP is the one thing in game that has no effect on the BGS at all.

But everything else you do in a system has an effect. Every NPC you kill, every transaction in a station. Actually just travelling through a system has a small effect, as it raises the amount other players are able to influence the BGS during that day.

No that wasn't my point, I was responding to the point about how infeasible it is as a solo player to try and affect the BGS in any meaningful way in a reasonable amount of time, and since I hate PVP overall, I don't do open play and so know of no one to 'buddy up' with to try and affect it, that's all

 

[goemon]

how infeasible it is as a solo player to try and affect the BGS in any meaningful way

it's no problem, if you play in a system with low to no player traffic, or in a low population system. i myself have run a system with 30 mio people alone.... made it to 2 expansions --- the moment, a bounty hunter wing moved in, i was kicked out.

a system with a populaton of a few hundred thousands and no traffic you can shape all by yourself.

in your case, it is probably not so much about time investment, but playstyle and patience. the moment, you would settle in a system (described above), run "sandbox activities" and pick up any mission from the anarchy faction which pops up over time, you would get cordial with them after some sessions. the BGS works slowly, reputation builds slowly, too --- but you want to do those missions now (which is fine) - it simply doesn't follow this pace.

just do give you an idea: wenn a group of around a dozend (or two dozend) players went to flip HIP 118311 to unblock a rare good https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...-Commodities?p=3900026&viewfull=1#post3900026 .... it took us 6 weeks to get the local pirates into control of that system.

and hutton orbital truckers, a group of hundreds of player, needed 5 month to conquer the George Pantazis Sytem.

you CAN make a difference - but not "short-term".

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

No that wasn't my point, I was responding to the point about how infeasible it is as a solo player to try and affect the BGS in any meaningful way in a reasonable amount of time, and since I hate PVP overall, I don't do open play and so know of no one to 'buddy up' with to try and affect it, that's all

There are plenty of examples in this thread of single players who make huge changes to the BGS. Certainly it is easier with a group, though sometimes group can end up getting in each other's way by pushing various factions all over the place.
All you need to do is find a remote system with a small population (30,000 or so), with little player traffic (check the traffic report). This sort of system doesn't take very much effort to effect changes.