So....I'm getting no-where fast.....please tell me I'm not reading this right!

[streki]

So....I'm totally confused and pee'd off.....

I started out tonight Allied with Patron's Principals and neutral with the Empire.
Tonight I've done 20 missions (exclusively for Patron's Principals), I've now got red triangles going on:


View attachment 8946

I did get a 400 credit fine for dumping cargo, but that's been paid off, and I've nothing outstanding.
I've completed every mission successfully, and have never abandoned any.


- Have I completely wasted four hours tonight ?
- Why am I still neutral with the Empire after dozens and dozens (possibly hundreds) of Empire-centric missions successfully completed?
- Does being a Viscount have no value with the Empire what so ever ?
- I took a mission for Patron's principals, and then another faction offered me an alternative option on the mission....but they're ALSO called Patron's Principals....?
- how many hundreds more missions before I get the bloody permit to Achenar ????????


I really have no idea what is going on...it seems like I'm getting nowhere, and I'm losing the will to continue with this rep system.

Can anyone please offer me a ray of hope ?

 

[DYSEQTA]

If you want to impress the Empire fast go and kill their enemies and hand in the bounty tags.

Those red triangles just mean that whatever your last action was caused a rep drop with the Empire and your local faction so for your night's effort you may be up 100 brownie points and then last action took you down 1.

 

[Valethar]

If anything you did was of benefit to the rival factions, you would lose some rep when turning in the missions. If you do 'kill X pirates' and kill ships affiliated with the faction you're trying to increase, you could lose rep as well, despite that faction giving you the mission to begin with.

There are numerous factions throughout the game that share names. I've traveled nearly 250LY from my starting point, and found system factions in the new area that had the same name (Yup.. you guessed it, Patron's Prinicples) so don't rely on just the names of the factions.

I ended up with Allied for both Fed and Empire after a few weeks, with Fed rank being Post Commander, and Empire being Count. I did, however, lose my Allied rank last night with the Empire after turning in some kill pirate missions. I'm back at 'friendly', but that shouldn't take much to regain. Run some trade and courier missions and I'll likely be right back up to Allied again. The hard part for me at present is locating a system close by that has some local factions at neutral so I can rank those up and get promoted to Earl.

Don't lose heart. The rep system is quirky, and we've all run afoul of it at one point or another. Just keep running missions, and try to increase your standing with some of the system factions in nearby systems that you aren't already friendly or allied with. That should help you some, and will also help you get the promotion and system permit missions as well. Just be sure that the factions you're trying to increase aren't the ones with the least influence, as they tend to be opposed to the main faction in that system and could hurt you more than help you.

 

[Nemesis74]

It does feel like the rep drops heavily outweigh the gains. Do 100 missions and get 100 brownie points... Get caught with 1t of stolen cargo and drop 200 brownie points.

 

[LeetNoob]

You're allied with the faction? You can't get better rep than that.
it takes a lot more to improve relations with the empire. Best way to do it is just bounty hunt in an empire system. Be careful not to shoot the local police though.

 

[streki]

Hey - thanks (and rep) to all.

I guess I just needed a pep-talk to get me out of the red triangle funk I was in.

I'll keep keeping on.

Cheers everyone.


EDIT:

Next day, and just two bounty missions later my standing with the Empire is now at Friendly!
It seems my tether broke just two missions short of getting a faction status change for my pilot.
I'm delighted of course, but I feel ED could offer more acknowledgement of all the hard work we put in along the way between major status changes.
I was just about ready to throw in the towel - putting in a lot of work, and seeing no benefit.
I'm there now though - happy days
Thanks again to the commanders who offered a kind word and kept me on track.

 

[Valethar]

Hey - thanks (and rep) to all.

I guess I just needed a pep-talk to get me out of the red triangle funk I was in.

I'll keep keeping on.

Cheers everyone.

We've all been there at one point or another.

It took me forever to get the Achenar permit too, so don't feel bad. Other than letting you get into the system, the permits don't do much for us yet. I'm still getting offers under the 'unavailable' tab for systems I already have permits for. The consensus so far is that there is perhaps something that hasn't yet been implemented that would be triggered by having these permits (something to do with the text that states you're to be met by a 'representative' in those systems) but at present all the permit does is unlock the destination in your FSD computer.

 

[SpySat1]

I have no proof for this, but from my own experience it seems that turning in Bounties you grab from using a Kill Warrant Scanner against wanted targets gains you reputation the quickest.

 

[TheEponymousBob]

The triangles reflect your most recent rep change. So if you do 100 missions correctly, then get a fine, it'll be a red triangle. It doesn't mean you've wiped out all the good you did. I had a similar reaction when I was building alliance rep, but both times I saw it were after getting scanned on smuggling runs, and the blue returned on my next mission hand-in. It's not all good news; devs have confirmed that it is easier to lose rep than to gain it, though as far as I know, we don't have quantitative figures for that.

The rep for major factions does take ages, but it will come.

Edit: Gah! Sorry DYSEQTA, somehow I missed your comment when adding mine.

 

[DJ]

Cmdrs, I take it that the brief pop-up status window, when you hand in a mission complete, does not reflect your overall ranking achievements?

eg hand in completion for minor faction, status pop-up appears with blue up arrow allied, yet afterwards my ranking status tab remains the same at neutral/friendly for that minor faction?

Everyone finding the same regards those pop-up rankings? Or I am I mis-interpreting the pop-ups?