Bob Lighthouse
Banned
Reputation Should Not Determine Mission Quality and Payout
- Thread starter Blackcompany
- Start date
That was exactly what I was going to suggest. Rep++
Even when I'm traveling around the bubble, I scan stuff, so I always have a cache of exploration data available, when I want to settle down for a while and do some missions. I also frequently donate cash to build rep. I'm a nomad and have great rep at numerous systems throughout the bubble.
The current game behavior is fine, rep/trust should affect the quality of missions you are offered.
Bob Lighthouse
Banned
You already get bonus pay and exclusive jobs. That's what you get when you rank up and are allied with a faction. You are "unlocking" bonus pay. Your problem is that you think that the highest possible pay, the bonus pay, should be the default just for showing up. And anything below that is seen as an unfair insulting punishment. It doesn't matter what the introductory payouts are, as long as it is possible to get something higher by ranking up, you will see the introductory pay as a "punishment". I'm sorry to tell you, but you are doomed to be forever unhappy, even if (or perhaps especially if) Frontier were to take their marching orders directly from you.
I don't particularly need money or ranks for anything I care about doing in the game, well, other than messing with the Engineers more, which I haven't really bothered to do so far and am not sure if I will or not.
Anyway, point being, I'm rather selective with any missions I take, and don't seem to find much of any good ones anyway, regardless of being allied with a local faction.
Probably one of the many reasons I'm out exploring most of the time.
Anyway, point being, I'm rather selective with any missions I take, and don't seem to find much of any good ones anyway, regardless of being allied with a local faction.
Probably one of the many reasons I'm out exploring most of the time.
Ouch!
The mission quality depends a lot on the system state, not just your local reputation.
I've spent months exploring, so I understand. I'm currently in the bubble, waiting for Thargoids (for a change of pace). I'm sure I'll head out into the black, one of these days, but I'm hoping that FD will greatly improve the exploration tools and I want to outfit them, before my next big expedition (although I seriously considered joining the Dead End's Circumnavigation Expedition).
Even if Hostile is given more impact, I'd still want Rep as a commodity, with the proviso that you can never go below neutral using Rep in that fashion.
I have also been wanting a nemesis system for ages. Any time a hostile NPC gets away from you, then that NPC should be able to come back at various times to make your life difficult. Likewise, if you are hostile with a faction, then this should also create 1 or more nemeses, whose mission it is to harrass you, thwart your missions or even kill you.
I think reputation should matter but I think it would help if when dropping off supplies at a destination you get some rep there as well. IRL, if I take a job delivering cargo, the shipper and the receiver get to know me as a reliable contractor, shipper more than receiver of course.
I've got about 150 hours on my current commander and I have about 5 factions I'm cordial with, that's it, no friendly or allied. But that's just me, I don't stay in one place for long. For me it's a job in system A to system B, new job in system B to system C, etc. Sure I could make a route back to system A eventually but I tend to take the contracts randomly and end up 100s of LY from where I started. I'm currently 180 LY from any system that is cordial and I doubt I'll go back soon, although I can thanks to bookmarks. Before bookmarks I had no way to track my reputation.
I've got about 150 hours on my current commander and I have about 5 factions I'm cordial with, that's it, no friendly or allied. But that's just me, I don't stay in one place for long. For me it's a job in system A to system B, new job in system B to system C, etc. Sure I could make a route back to system A eventually but I tend to take the contracts randomly and end up 100s of LY from where I started. I'm currently 180 LY from any system that is cordial and I doubt I'll go back soon, although I can thanks to bookmarks. Before bookmarks I had no way to track my reputation.
You just arrived in a system where no one knows anything about you. They shouldn't (wouldn't) pull you aside and offer you big money to do something for them when A) they cannot trust you and B) Theoretically you're not the only game in town.
I don't care for the rep decay system. It's too grindy and "whack-a-mole" like. I get it that you cannot be "the man" everywhere in the galaxy at the same time, but you should be able to recover your rep much faster once you've been an ally than you did originally.
How else can they get you to earn rep, other than putting that carrot on a stick out there? I like to see all offerings, that gives me the freedom to change my ship even if I want to take those missions.
I consider deliveries in the game like deliveries IRL. The faction you're delivering to perhaps just knows their delivery arrived because someone in receiving told them "it's here", whereas the shipper did business with you personally, just as you would with Federal Express, DHL, UPS or any other shipping company.
If it's taking days or weeks to build up rep, you're doing it wrong. Lol
I move around fairly regularly. Within an hour or two of running missions or bounty hunting, I'm usually allied with at least one faction.
CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
I move around fairly regularly. Within an hour or two of running missions or bounty hunting, I'm usually allied with at least one faction.
CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
Hmmm, seems OP needs to play more to get the hang of how rep works. Is fine. Hope they are learning from the thread, lots of good info [up]
Aaaaand...he's back.
A few things:
1. You posted this thread in the wrong forum. Again.
2. You said you were going to give Elite a rest until core gameplay improvements had been implemented. What makes you think this happened in the past 6 weeks?
3. I disagree with your suggestion.
Cheers!
What we need is some kind of notoriety whether good or bad that modifies how minor factions interact with us.
E.g. you make the top 10 in a CG and NPCs talk about this. Word spreads and effectively bumps you up to friendly or cordial with unknown minor factions for a week following the CG.
Our achievements mean nothing in the galaxy. Police don't give you respect for your military rank ir let you off with small things because "Admiral" of the federation. Good work done for one faction means nothing to any other faction. Do these factions exist in a vacuum (pun intended)... The game does not react to our ranks or previous good or bad deeds. Essentially the reputation system is just another minimum viable product by FD. Add it to the list with:
Material collection and storage
Multi crew
USS
Engineers casino
CQC
Military ranking
Etc etc etc
E.g. you make the top 10 in a CG and NPCs talk about this. Word spreads and effectively bumps you up to friendly or cordial with unknown minor factions for a week following the CG.
Our achievements mean nothing in the galaxy. Police don't give you respect for your military rank ir let you off with small things because "Admiral" of the federation. Good work done for one faction means nothing to any other faction. Do these factions exist in a vacuum (pun intended)... The game does not react to our ranks or previous good or bad deeds. Essentially the reputation system is just another minimum viable product by FD. Add it to the list with:
Material collection and storage
Multi crew
USS
Engineers casino
CQC
Military ranking
Etc etc etc
Son, I have no idea who you are or how reliable you may be but here, please take my precious expensive cargo and fly away with it...
Either take whats on offer or don't - it's that simple.
I'm in! Where do I collect?
(I've found another soft target, lads, let's get to it!)
I think that we need better ways to earn money when we move in new areas of space. Maybe some kind of harder missions with heavy penalty on fail, but with good payouts.
Regarding current reputation system, maybe it can speed up a bit so you can actually spend some gameplay time to improve your rankings all over galaxy instead of having best reputation in less then 10 systems after 1000s hours of play.
Regarding current reputation system, maybe it can speed up a bit so you can actually spend some gameplay time to improve your rankings all over galaxy instead of having best reputation in less then 10 systems after 1000s hours of play.
I feel that the faction rep should keep playing an important part in how good the missions the factions choose to trust you with. It makes complete sense that factions should give the better missions to the pilots that prove trustworthy. And Odin knows how much this game is in need of things that make sense.
However, I do feel the OP's point. This basically encourages people to stay put and avoid travelling around, which is not desirable.
My suggestion is to basically let the superpower reputation play a part as well. The higher the superpower rank a pilot has, the higher the reputation will start with the local factions that are aligned to the same superpower. For instance, if you are empire Serf you would start deep inside cordial status, if Baron you would start in the middle of the friendly status with empire-aligned factions instead of cordial, and if you are king you would start nearly allied. The higher your superpower rank, the higher the base start of your superpower aligned faction rep.
This would have the following advantages:
1 - It would finally make superpower ranks mean something in the game besides being just hidden counters to unlock ships.
2 - It would encourage more travelling around, while keeping the local faction rep meaningful (not all factions have superpower alignments, and superpower rank only boosts the initial rep up to a point).
3 - It merges the superpower and local faction players actions effects on reputations, instead of having multiple separate grinds.
4 - It makes sense.
However, I do feel the OP's point. This basically encourages people to stay put and avoid travelling around, which is not desirable.
My suggestion is to basically let the superpower reputation play a part as well. The higher the superpower rank a pilot has, the higher the reputation will start with the local factions that are aligned to the same superpower. For instance, if you are empire Serf you would start deep inside cordial status, if Baron you would start in the middle of the friendly status with empire-aligned factions instead of cordial, and if you are king you would start nearly allied. The higher your superpower rank, the higher the base start of your superpower aligned faction rep.
This would have the following advantages:
1 - It would finally make superpower ranks mean something in the game besides being just hidden counters to unlock ships.
2 - It would encourage more travelling around, while keeping the local faction rep meaningful (not all factions have superpower alignments, and superpower rank only boosts the initial rep up to a point).
3 - It merges the superpower and local faction players actions effects on reputations, instead of having multiple separate grinds.
4 - It makes sense.
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OP.
In RL, when you start a new job, you need to build relationships with the people you work with. Your past experience / expertise means nothing to them, as you are the new person. Once you've worked with your colleagues for a period and proven yourself, you can take on more interesting and varied responsibilites.
It's the same in Elite. Your experience in trading, exploring or fighting means nothing to a new faction, as they don't know your past or what you are capable of. You need to prove yourself first, before you can expect better jobs.
In RL, when you start a new job, you need to build relationships with the people you work with. Your past experience / expertise means nothing to them, as you are the new person. Once you've worked with your colleagues for a period and proven yourself, you can take on more interesting and varied responsibilites.
It's the same in Elite. Your experience in trading, exploring or fighting means nothing to a new faction, as they don't know your past or what you are capable of. You need to prove yourself first, before you can expect better jobs.