The Elite Dangerous ingame reputation system thread

[excalibus]

The mechanic is working as intended...

At times :- Yes it can be harsh... Yes it can be frustrating -: Such is life in the Elite Dangerous universe...

Of you want to think about it, those Authority ships probably 'tagged' the cargo and when they get back to their dock they will send out a resource recovery ship (AKA TYPE 6) to collect them so you taking them is essentially robbing from the federation, an offence they take a very very dim view of...

Face facts... you worked hard to build a reputation and you then (in front of their police) decided to steal from them... You should be THANKFUL you are only viewed as unfriendly

Luckily you did not do that until you were allied or you might find yourself in deep do do with the federation hostile towards you...

Learn from the mistake and move on with life

It took me a week to get back from unfriendly to neutral and then a bit longer doing missions for them to get to friendly again... all because I did a bad thing that they did not agree with so went from friendly to unfriendly...

 

[Lindonius]

The mechanic is working as intended...

At times :- Yes it can be harsh... Yes it can be frustrating -: Such is life in the Elite Dangerous universe...

Of you want to think about it, those Authority ships probably 'tagged' the cargo and when they get back to their dock they will send out a resource recovery ship (AKA TYPE 6) to collect them so you taking them is essentially robbing from the federation, an offence they take a very very dim view of...

It's a shoddy game mechanic that needs revision. You just made up a law about all goods floating in space belonging to the Federation (or Imperial or Alliance) in order to justify it. If it was a true, integrated design decision, then there'd be encounters with official federation "salvage ships" and other fluff. And this law also happens to be a universal one? ALL the factions have declared floating cannisters as their own property? I don't see armies of faction aligned Lakon 6s scooping up unclaimed cargo cannisters and neither has anyone else. I wouldn't mind if this was the law though, although it would be weird for the Federation of all factions to have it considering their mantra of trade and capitalist values. It would make more sense if it was an Imperial law. And then people could fight wars over it and stuff. Like if it was a real true fully realised game mechanic rather than the quick, slap dash, "hurry up we gotta get it out by Christmas!" mechanic it blatantly and obviously is.

Half baked, man. Half baked.

It took me a week to get back from unfriendly to neutral and then a bit longer doing missions for them to get to friendly again... all because I did a bad thing that they did not agree with so went from friendly to unfriendly...

Yeah I'm not doing it. I'll give the game a rest until they've updated the mechanic to some degree of realism and then probably side with the imps.

 

[Canthor]

I totally agree to this idea. I just returned with a BULK of data worth LOTS of credits. Was thinking to get back to my "home" system and sell it to my preferred faction, not the system faction, but rather contribute it to the Feds, Empire or Alliance type faction. It should be valued by the faction who you sell it to. Even the idea for getting a small "bonus" when you bring it back (connected to distance, or reputation, or getting a new rank if that makes sense, or some sort of medallion/trophy you can show in the commanders details).
Seems to be "useless" to just sell the UC data having spent soo much time in collecting and bringing it back safely. I really hope this is going to be addressed by FDev!

Also, a consequence could be to get special missions that ask you to escort an exploration fleet, scientists or even terraforming ship back to that most promising star system. And as a "bonus" the pilot gets a small civ outpost he can name in that system.

 

[thorn-]

It's a shoddy game mechanic that needs revision.

You broke a well-known rule and got penalized as expected, so now it's "Rule I Don't Like" = "Shoddy Game Mechanic" ?

Ok then.

I should be able to shoot whomever I want with no penalties, but shoddy mechanics prevent that. I'd like a free Python just for playing, and while we're at it, the fact that hulls take damage will require lots of money to keep the Python running - so, ship damage is also a shoddy mechanic I want removed. I shouldn't have to dock to transfer cargo; this is the future, so why can't i just eject the cargo and let the station use a tractor beam to pull it in? - because Devs were lazy, and made this shoddy docking mechanic.

I know that out all of these things are well-known as rules, and are not hidden tricks or exploits... but nonetheless, some changes are due. Going to stop playing until I get my free impervious murder machine with auto cargo delivery.

 

[grogan645]

Similar experiences to op, was in first days of play and trying things, went to unfriendly in a hurry. It's pretty mucn "What have you done for me lately!". Hope they tweak it a little so it doesn't go down so fast, it's murder to get it back up again.

 

[jadefriendly]

reputation. lifetime to build up, seconds to take down.

just like in real life.

 

[CMDR WelshSossy]

I'm currently 'Unfriendly' with the Feds and I've been doing trading runs and missions for them for ages now trying to get back in their good books. I'm still 'Unfriendly' although a few of the Factions aligned with the Feds are now starting to become 'Neutral/Friendly'.

 

[OBoile]

Why is it so easy ... well ask the people who spend their lives building their reputation then get caught doing something stupid and see how well their reputation fares it's how reputation works, a lifetime to build a few minutes to tear down.

I agree.

I do think, however, that picking up dropped loot that was either:
1. dropped from a "wanted" ship that was destroyed
2. found at a USS and isn't something like military messages or slaves
should not be considered contraband.

 

[CMDR Saunders]

A lifetime to build... a moment to lose.

"Hang out with them all you want. Just don't be seen with them and don't put it on instagram!" -- Probably one of the most expensive rants in the history of the world.

 

[Zvanya]

Be more careful in the future.

 

[Quineloe]

I'm a bit annoyed. It took me WEEKS of trading missions and delivering messages to get to allied with the feds. I got bored with trading, decided to try my hand at bounty hunting, shot down a few wanted pirates, one dropped some gold cannisters. "OOH I'll have those!" I thought. Scooped up the cargo, subsequently got scanned by the authority vessels in the same instance (it was a USS not near a station), instant fine, instant wanted....instant UNFRIENDLY status with Feds. Yes weeks upon weeks of work to get to allied and only one minor misdemeanor for that allied status to change to unfriendly. Am I gonna grind for weeks to regain my status? Nope. Time for an ED break. Hopefully they'll revamp it soon.

Have you ever heard of this guy called Mel Gibson?

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I have to agree with you. By doing silly hauling missions you can win their trust back, but each time you kill a green pirate your rep does a tumble.

Oh that's a load of bull, I got allied with Brothers of Forculus, and basically every time I went to Irrational Exuberance I got interdicted by one of their members. I shot every single one of them down, and it did not hurt my faction building one bit.

 

[BlackReign]

Enough with the Real Life (tm) already... Why should it be like real life? Real life sucks, is frustrating and unfair at times, shouldn't mean that ED should strive for that.

I totally get your points, but I think that, in this case, the reputation model makes sense. If you fail, your rep should be impacted more than if you succeed.

 

[Vagabond]

In real life, most people avoid taking risks for fear of the repercussions. Which is why most people lead dull repetitive lives.

Let's not worry too much about realism in a game. Fun should come first.

Immersion needs consequence of action but not at the expense of enjoyment.

If the game mechanic is too unforgiving or buggy it should be reigned in. IMHO.

 

[Chevy66]

Exactly. This is supposed to be a fun game. Having to grind your backside off for weeks on end to have all that work scuppered by bugs and inconsistant AI behaviour through no fault of your own is NOT fun.

The risk makes it more fun, One of the coolest moments in the game so far for me was shutting down all non essential systems and scooping superconducters from right outside the station entrance while a fight was still going on all around me, and getting away with it

 

[BlackReign]

Good points, but if you make reputation easy, you are, in effect, devaluing reputation.

Reputation on the FD forums is now worthless, since you can only give positive. Yeah, people's feelings are less budhurt, but now the Rep score is worthless and should be disabled. I know this forum is not a space sim, but is still a good example of what happens when you "water down" the value of reputation.

 

[Vagabond]

The risk makes it more fun, One of the coolest moments in the game so far for me was shutting down all non essential systems and scooping superconducters from right outside the station entrance while a fight was still going on all around me, and getting away with it

I agree. Risk is essential for tension and thus reward.

But if weeks of progress can be wiped in one act then maybe the mechanic needs softening?.

 

[Quineloe]

I agree. Risk is essential for tension and thus reward.

But if weeks of progress can be wiped in one act then maybe the mechanic needs softening?.

I actually think OP has it all wrong and he should just pay the fine, then his reputation gets fixed. You don't drop from allied to unfriendly over a few tons of stolen cargo

Good points, but if you make reputation easy, you are, in effect, devaluing reputation.

Reputation on the FD forums is now worthless, since you can only give positive. Yeah, people's feelings are less budhurt, but now the Rep score is worthless and should be disabled. I know this forum is not a space sim, but is still a good example of what happens when you "water down" the value of reputation.

Reputation on the official board of a single game is always worthless, it's too easy to pad. Just write a long, boring essay about how great the game is and watch the plusses fly in. Repeat every month, and you have your 10 green bars. If we could see what posts got what rep, or how those with the big green bars got their rep, you could tell I'm right.

 

[jgm]

Google John the Bridge Builder for the answer to your question.

 

[ElectricZ]

Got busted a couple times for smuggling and along with some other indiscretions found myself Hostile with the Alliance a few weeks ago. And I was smuggling on BEHALF of an alliance faction no less. But just because the locals are happy with what I'm doing doesn't mean Big Brother is. I'm still trying to get myself back into their good graces. I totally see it as my fault. I got caught doing something illegal. I knew it was illegal.

As Zylark mentioned, I'm now spotless and squeaky clean in my dealings in Alliance space. Want to give me a billion credits for "finding" some lost cargo? Need a hand at eliminating some competition? Forget it. I'll bring back all the food cartridges you want and I'll haul agri-medicines all day long to help out the starving masses, but anytime an Alliance security ship stops and scans me I will cheerfully hand over my manifest because they won't find a kilogram of contraband on my ship.

Now... On those occasions when I do "find" some merchandise that fell off the back of a hauler, I do as Zylark said. I find me a nice quite independent or anarchy station with a black market and offload it there.

The game mechanic is simple. You smuggle, you pay the price if you get caught. There should be some measure for salvage and maybe they'll work it in at some point, but for now if you have cargo in your hold that was listed as bought by someone else, it's stolen.

I think the system is working as intended and I'm fine with it. Risk management is part of the game.

 

[Calaban]

I was in the dumps with the feds for a while by being caught with a black box.. or 3.. in my cargo hold. No justifiable reason for me to be in possession of those (other than the Fed faction that asked me to get them- which wasnt good enough), so it made sense that I was treated as "someone up to no good"

I accepted my own responsibility for my actions, and realized maybe the faction that asked me also asked me for a little more discretion and subtlety in the first place. But the Feds were decidedly cool towards me. "do your business quickly, then leave, pilot". Sheesh! But it did make sense why; One of their little black ops missions got exposed by a clumsy pilot. Sure they would be upset and not trust me with more jobs like that!

But, I was their ALLY, and was greeted with "greetings, honored ally" the next day. how?! - you may ask?

Combat for their sake- in their name. Specifically, a little civil war happening in Barnard's Star. As I was having fun and raking in war bonds, my reputation with the Fed skyrocketed from Unfriendly past Neutral and on to Friendly within an hour.

Thinking I was onto something, I looked for another Conflict Zone, this time one where it was Fed vs Indy. Found one in Ho Hsi. I always chose the Fed Faction side, and upon cashing in bonds, made Allied after a couple of.. well.. joyful killing sprees, honestly. In one day.

So, If ya "got the chops" re earn your Reputation where it seems to count the most: on the field of battle. Which again, makes sense; I would trust a guy that watched my back in a warzone much more than the guy that faithfully delivered my UPS boxes...

So that was how I regained reputation rather quickly. But now I'm careful, aware of the consequences of my actions more fully. Because, well you know... "just ONE GOAT..."