Newcomer / Intro Is it possible to join the Pirate Factions? (Also, minor beneficial bug)

[venhip]

Hey,

So I was messing around and doing some assignments and I was contracted to go and kill 7 pirates, so I flew off to the system and flew around looking for a beacon...
I found one and fell out of FTL to find a transport ship (AI) who told me that I didn't have to kill the pirates and could get off with a much lower reward for just walking away.
I agreed, being ever the lazy bounty hunter, and reported to collect my reward. The reward I got was the original 23k reward rather than the 3k reward. Happy days, as the game obviously thought I'd killed them all for some reason.

Anyway, when I got paid I saw that my reputation with the original contracting company went up and my reputation with the band of pirates went down.
"My reputation with the pirates went down?" said I aloud, in my most stereotypically evil English accent "That means I can have good reputation as well! Maybe I can join them!"
I then proceeded to drink tea while pondering the idea of being a pirate captain.

Is it possible to gain reputation with these pirate factions yet, and join them? I was thinking that it may be possible to lose reputation with them currently but the other end of the scale, ie Gaining rep and joining them, isn't implemented yet. Any ideas?

Thanks.

venhip

 

[TheDayman]

Join them? Not really... you can't really join any faction (including the Empire and Federation) at the moment. But you can gain reputation with them. The higher the reputation, the better the missions.

 

[venhip]

Well, yes, that is kind of what I meant. I realize there's no "Press to become one of us" button, but I've seen things posted with "Ensign rank needed with this faction to apply" or something. If you've an Ensign with a faction, I would personally consider them joined.
But I understand your response. How do you access missions for pirates then? I've only seen missions for federations and officials, as far as I can remember. I assume they're only available at certain stations?

 

[Fonsworth]

"at the moment"? I have seen people playing in streams or on youtube go to the "4" menu, go to 'functions' tab and change their faction.. Granted, I tried to change mine to no avail but I figured I just didn't have high enough standings.. or It may also be because he was at a distress beacon shooting NPC's

 

[DaveB]

Well, yes, that is kind of what I meant. I realize there's no "Press to become one of us" button, but I've seen things posted with "Ensign rank needed with this faction to apply" or something. If you've an Ensign with a faction, I would personally consider them joined.
But I understand your response. How do you access missions for pirates then? I've only seen missions for federations and officials, as far as I can remember. I assume they're only available at certain stations?

The minor factions, it's all on rep and they do not award ranks. The rep you have with the minor factions that are aligned with a major faction (Federation, Empire, Alliance) also impacts your rep with the major factions. The major factions do award ranks, when you get to a certain positive rep level with them you'll start seeing missions that if completed will get you a rank award.

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"at the moment"? I have seen people playing in streams or on youtube go to the "4" menu, go to 'functions' tab and change their faction.. Granted, I tried to change mine to no avail but I figured I just didn't have high enough standings.. or It may also be because he was at a distress beacon shooting NPC's

That's in combat zones, where factions are fighting each other. To join in you have to pick a side. That's what they are doing there.

 

[TheDayman]

Well, yes, that is kind of what I meant. I realize there's no "Press to become one of us" button, but I've seen things posted with "Ensign rank needed with this faction to apply" or something. If you've an Ensign with a faction, I would personally consider them joined.
But I understand your response. How do you access missions for pirates then? I've only seen missions for federations and officials, as far as I can remember. I assume they're only available at certain stations?

DaveB responded best, but I'll add that you can access missions for pirate factions from stations controlled by those pirate factions. Pirate factions generally have labels such as "Liaedin Mafia" or "Arcturus Gang". You can see what factors control what in the first right UI screen - you'll have to tab through that first screen (Status I think is the title) to see the current local factions and your associated reputation with them.

Certain "unsanctioned" outposts will also fly the pirate flag

 

[MrGambler]

Yes you can. Not in the sense you gain a badge and a 'welcome to the family' (yet...), but you can gain rep until you become allied with them. Then they will have your back in whatever system they are in

Feds giving you trouble at a Nav point? No worries, any allied pirates around of that faction will come screeching to your aid.

 

[venhip]

Right! Thanks everyone, you've just helped someone join the ways of piracy. I hope to see you all in supercruise~

 

[TheDayman]

You don't want to see me in supercruise. Not if you have a bounty on your head that is ;-)