Newcomer / Intro Few questions around staying Independent please?

[Cmdr Cari Cole]

Hey folks. Trying to get back into Elite (again). Played the original, on a BBC micro back in '82.

My biggest goal in game is to stay totally neutral to the three major powers, and I mean not so much as a single pixel of a single percent to either reputation or rank on the right hand panel that tracks them. So far it's been going fine, I can pick up missions from an Indy faction, check on Inara.cz that the intended mission receiver (when there is one) is an Indy faction and Robert's your father's brother. However I haven't been doing any combat, because I'm still unclear on a few things.

1/ I think I'm ok to sell my Exploration data so long as it's an Indy Faction in control of the port right? Same thing for trade/smuggled/mined goods right? Oh and bounties?
2/ Do you get Reputation/Rank from destroying ships? If so, how can I see that any given ship/NPC belongs to one of the big three?
3/ Can I work for Engineers that are listed as having a big three allegiance, such as Todd McQuinn, without R&R gain?
4/ On foot missions where I take out NPC's should be ok so long as the target in control of the base is an Indy faction when I check on Inara, right?
5/ Powerplay with an Indy power, like Archon should be fine too? I've been earning merits from some activities just fine.
6/ Anything else I should be thinking of please?

Thanks in advance for any and all help!

 

[aRJay]

Engineers and engineering could be a problem, but a possible solution to the rest of this could be to make your way to Colonia where I believe non of the Superpowers has a presence.

 

[Dougie]

Well, forgive me but I can't see why one would shoot oneself in the foot like this. Messes with some engineers and bars access to some ships.

As a Rear Admiral and Duke I see no repercussions with anyone. Even my Alliance bit says I am still friendly (all three are like that) - but it has no effect whatsoever.

I have not pledged to any faction - I don't feel drawn to powerplay - that would have some effects if I did so - but the "Superpowers" are just a gateway to stuff.

Enjoy the RP of it though if that floats your boat.

 

[Cmdr Cari Cole]

Thanks for the replies! It's a bit of an RP thing, it's also a bit of a way to reign in the sandbox somewhat. To give me a theme/frame ito play wihtin. Cari is going to be true independent operator, well a bit of Power-play 2.0 for an independent power too.

Seems like combat is fine, within some limits, haven't earned a single pixel of a single rep' or rank' percent when picking my targets carefully, my on foot gear sucks at the moment, but I'm going to explore that as well, if I get a pixel I'll reroll. As far as I can see a lot of the Engineers will be out of bounds, but so be it!

 

[aRJay]

Thanks for the replies! It's a bit of an RP thing, it's also a bit of a way to reign in the sandbox somewhat. To give me a theme/frame ito play wihtin. Cari is going to be true independent operator, well a bit of Power-play 2.0 for an independent power too.

Seems like combat is fine, within some limits, haven't earned a single pixel of a single rep' or rank' percent when picking my targets carefully, my on foot gear sucks at the moment, but I'm going to explore that as well, if I get a pixel I'll reroll. As far as I can see a lot of the Engineers will be out of bounds, but so be it!

The good thing for on foot gear is that every Thursday Pioneer supplies get some equipment in that is engineered, the highest it goes is G3 and it is on a first come first served basis.
But all you need is to get lucky and have credits.

There is a long thread over in the Odyssey Discussions forum where people post what they have seen and where, it is called The Great Pre-Upgraded Gear Sharing is Caring Thread.

Edit.
Just read the most recent posts in that threadnaught and certainly don’t bother with anything older than the most recent Thursday.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

1/ I think I'm ok to sell my Exploration data so long as it's an Indy Faction in control of the port right? Same thing for trade/smuggled/mined goods right? Oh and bounties?

Exploration / trade: yes, fine if an independent faction owns the port
Bounties: fine if labelled with an independent faction's name (there isn't a safe way to discard ones with a superpower except self-destructing, so you probably shouldn't fit a Kill Warrant Scanner at any point)

2/ Do you get Reputation/Rank from destroying ships? If so, how can I see that any given ship/NPC belongs to one of the big three?

Positive reputation, no (but it might give a bounty or mission completion which does; this can include less formal missions like megaship scenarios or things from signal sources, so be careful there). You'd get negative reputation if you destroyed a Clean ship belonging to a minor faction of that superpower.

You can see which minor faction owns the ship in the scan data, but looking up which faction it belongs to will be trickier if it's not an in-system one (in-system is more common, but any faction's ship has a tiny chance of appearing in any inhabited system). Killing ships which are Wanted in the current jurisdiction (or Lawless) does not cause reputation loss with the owner.

If negative reputation is just as much a problem as positive reputation, you also can't complete combat zones with a superpower participant (taking part is fine to get combat bonds for an independent faction, but you must either leave before the end or only fight in independent-vs-independent wars, and avoid completing any scenarios)

3/ Can I work for Engineers that are listed as having a big three allegiance, such as Todd McQuinn, without R&R gain?

Engineering itself is safe once they're unlocked (unless you count reputation/rank with a Federal engineer as being a form of Federal rank, of course...), but be careful that the actions they ask you to do for the unlocks don't themselves cause reputation gain - McQuinn specifically requires Alliance bounty vouchers for the 100,000 credit unlock, and it's possible that those will gain you rep when you hand them in for the unlock.

All on-foot engineers are independent, so those should be entirely safe.

4/ On foot missions where I take out NPC's should be ok so long as the target in control of the base is an Indy faction when I check on Inara, right?

Yes, but you should double-check the owning faction in-game because settlement ownership data can be months out-of-date on Inara.

5/ Powerplay with an Indy power, like Archon should be fine too? I've been earning merits from some activities just fine.

In and of itself, yes. Obviously the activities themselves might cause reputation changes separately to their merit effect.
Holo-hacking for acquisition or undermining (gives negative reputation with the station owner) is one to watch out for here as that's not an activity otherwise used much.

6/ Anything else I should be thinking of please?

I think you've covered all the obvious stuff; there may well be some obscure thing you find a month later and need to ask about, though.