Newcomer / Intro How in the world did I become Unfriendly with the Federation?!

[Ransurias]

I've been doing a few cargo hauls here and there to gain Federation / LHS 3447 rep and a bit of money. I abandoned a mission after refusing to kill traders marked as Clean in a kill mission designated by LHS 3447, and I got caught twice hauling illegal cargo (and I paid the respective fines). I was still at Neutral with the Federation and with LHS 3447, the latter of which is at 80% on my influence meter (which I assumed was a good thing).

So, I eventually get a mission to kill 5 pirates. I go to Frigaha as instructed, kill 5 random wanted criminals (which I assumed would count toward the mission), and return to LHS to claim my bounty vouchers and turn my transaction in. After claiming my bounty vouchers into an LHS 3447 station, I glance over at my right-hand screen to discover that I'm now marked as unfriendly with LHS and the Federation as a whole.

There really -- REALLY -- needs to be substantially more clarification concerning what actions what groups or factions off. I had no idea that what I was doing was making the Federation mad, and I'm still confused as to what exactly I did. And, to go out on a limb, factions need to be less prone to getting mad at pilots in this game. Having the Federation spit in my direction as I pass after I complete tasks assigned by them is... well, ridiculous.

 

[Epicurean Dream]

You quite possibly weren't getting missions from a federation aligned faction. The bulletin board shows you the name of the faction giving 'that' mission, to the right of the mission name. Cross reference that with the list of different factions in the system. Check the system map to see how they are aligned. You can quite easily be picking up anarchy aligned, independent jurisdiction, pirate faction missions, while docked at a station in a system that is 'controlled' by a federation aligned faction.

The same goes for completing those missions, if you're running a mission for a faction you don't think you are, completing those missions will actually count against you, if you are trying to build positive rep with the federation. It sounds like this is what has happened. If you are shooting member ships of a faction aligned with the federation, it will give you negative rep with the federation.

p.s. The faction weighting on the screen you're talking about isn't to 'you'. It's their influence in that system. Different factions are competing for power, that breakdown you're referring to is the balance of power distribution in that system at that point in time. It will go up and down, depending on who does what missions for which faction, and in turn cause any number of system 'effects' and 'states' depending on a number of potential circumstances reached. It isn't referring to your relationship with them. The other screen does that, but it doesn't give you a percentage, it just tells you whether you're friendly, neutral, or disliked e.c.t. With an up or down arrow depending on which way it is trending.

 

[Ransurias]

The same goes for completing those missions, if you're running a mission for a faction you don't think you are, completing those missions will actually count against you, if you are trying to build positive rep with the federation. It sounds like this is what has happened. If you are shooting member ships of a faction aligned with the federation, it will give you negative rep with the federation.

So, even if I'm attacking wanted criminals technically aligned with the Federation, and even though I can turn their respective vouchers into Federation-aligned stations, I'm penalized? That's utterly ridiculous.

...As an aside, I just completed a food delivery for an LHS 3447 station after buying food cartridges from a neighboring system. I'm still seeing a red downtrending arrow with respect to LHS 3447 and the Federation as a whole. When I completed my contract, the report mentioned "effect: famine." That's utterly ridiculous, as well.

 

[Epicurean Dream]

Yes because those criminals were doing the Feds dirty work, very much behind closed doors, but still, you went and killed em, they're gonna be pretty narked. the Feds and their affiliated factions generally won't give you missions to kill people from fed aligned factions, pirate or no pirate. As I said I think your problem was that you've inadvertently picked up a mission from a faction that isn't fed aligned, and also told you to go kill some of the Feds dirty boys.

Think of it like this, if you went and killed a couple of the US Govs black opps cells. Shady characters, known criminals, working for the CIA undercover though non the less, and who quite understandably have bounties on their heads. If you went and killed them and then turned them vouchers in to a Police station for your reward, even though you got the money, do you think the Gov would like you more, or less? Even if they gave you a big smile while in public. your actual relations with them would be damaged, right?

P.S. famine would have been down trending. It means there is less of a chance famine happening. Which makes sense, considering you just delivered food.