So I installed the game and instantly got addicted! It's like the old BBS door game trade wars!
But here's the thing, I just did my thing for a few days without paying attention to the factions at all and now they all hate me so much I can't trade hardly anywhere. I tried taking contracts with the syndicates to improve my rep with them, but it just keeps getting worse anyway
How do I make somebody, ANYBODY like me again?
Hello, others have responded,
usarian, but I think you will find this useful.
As far as your current game, there probably is no chance to get on anyone's good side again.
Reason: All factions are hostile. That means that, even if you were to gain reputation somehow, their bounty hunters and warships will continue to attack you. Win or lose, you'll lose reputation, as factions don't take kindly to you blowing their ships up, even in self-defense. Even "ignoring" a warship costs 1 reputation point, so at this point you're in a death spiral.
My advice for this game is to give into it and play it through as best you can. You'll be a better player in the long run if you can survive even when almost all ports are closed and almost every encounter is hostile. Learn to love the independent planets -- they will always welcome you. Then, when you eventually get killed or decide to retire, you'll be much more skilled in the next game.
In the LONG term, it IS possible to get all factions to like you, to achieve legendary hero (+151 rep) with all factions. Here is my guide to the process (on hard difficulty and below; never played the tougher difficulties).
1) First thing you do is get a trading permit with your starting faction.
2) The second thing you do is go to a nearby wildzone and 'explore', netting yourself artifacts, weapons, or electronics. If you screw up or your home faction gets embargoed, restart; at this stage you haven't lost much.
3) Return to base. Press "Faction" and select "Conflicts". Verify your faction is not under a trade embargo.
4) Sell the goods for starting capital.
5) From this point in the game, whenever you want to trade at any faction planet, ALWAYS check faction /conflicts FIRST to make sure the faction is not embargoed. If it is, take your business elsewhere, even if it's only for one unit of water-fuel. That's why the independent planets are so useful; even when all factions are embargoing each other, you can still refuel and repair at an independent planet.
6) Now that you've got starting capital, go to each of the factions in turn and offer your services as a contractor. With each faction, your goal is to get a trading permit and the lowest rank in their military. Both of these are available at the palace once your reputation rises. Take two or three contracts at a time.Take non-combat missions only, delivering cargo, passengers and messages. Be wary of any trade mission to a faction world, as it may become embargoed.
7) After you complete the contracts, take a note of the faction screen. Most likely, your standing has gone up with the faction you contracted for while your faction rating with other factions has gone down. If any have dropped below -1, head over to the nearest planet of that faction and purchase a pardon at the palace, resetting your rep to 0. Then head back to the faction you helped and collect your reward at the palace.
7A) Under NO circumstances allow your rep with a faction to drop below -10, because at that point they won't sell you pardons anymore. Not only that, they will put a bounty on your head. This means bounty hunters of other factions will come after you, you'll fight them, and you'll lose rep with their home factions as well. That's a death spiral. So avoid it by watching for negative rep and repairing it as quickly as possible.
7B) If you are not carrying something a faction warship might confiscate, surrender to them. "ignore" will cost you 1 rep point. That's another reason you want a military rank -- it changes "ignore" to "acknowledge "and the ship lets you go with no loss of rep.
8) Rinse and repeat steps 6 and 7 until you have a trading permit and a low military rank with every faction. This means all ports are open to you, they will all repair your ship, sell you weapons, and allow you to trade unrestricted.
At this point in the game, you can fly through space pretty much unmolested. The only thing that will bother you are independent pirates , independent bounty hunters, and aliens. If you fight and defeat any of the three, make sure to check to see if they have any artifacts, weapons, or electronics aboard. If they do, head to the nearest non-embargoed faction world an dwell them.
9) Now keep an eye open for anything revolving around electronics, weapons, and artifacts. If you see a shortage on a faction planet that is not embargoed, sell as many as you can. If you see a surplus rumor, grab as much as you can and sell it to a non-embargoed faction world. In this way your reputation will skyrocket.
10) Be wary of capture missions and assassination missions, as the target faction may pull your trade permit or your military rank. They may also pull your permit for a trade mission, and a blockade or surveillance mission can also cause a rep hit. If you've been careful to keep a positive rep, this will not present a problem; simply go to that faction's nearest world and buy your permit and rank back at the palace. Also, if you do lose rep with a faction, try to find some way to make it up somehow; take some missions for them, or send them some juicy electronics, weapons, and artifacts if you find them.
11) Records, which I forgot to mention, should be treated just like the other restricted cargo except that a spy battle also counts as an embargo; if you trade records to a faction in a spy battle, you will gain double rep with that faction but lose it with the other.
12) Really, really, really be careful of trade embargoes. Trade is the single fastest way, in my experience, to gain or lose faction reputation. A single cargo of electronics can make your reputation skyrocket to near hero status... but it could also take you instantly to wanted criminal if it's into an embargo. Seriously, one cargo of electronics can make up for the destruction of several faction ships.
13) If you must fight a faction ship, do not 'salvage' it unless you need to to complete your mission objective. This counts as destroying the ship, and the faction, which is none too happy with you for fighting their ship, is now doubly angry because you blew it up after you defeated it. If you want to stay friends, after winning the battle take what you want of their cargo, then let them go. I've never conscripted crew members from a ship I've captured, but this also will irritate the faction. The absolute worst thing you can do is to defeat a ship, enslave its crew, then blow it up. That will not only earn the ire of the faction, but also any other faction it is allied with.
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Follow these steps, and you can indeed be everyone's friend in space. At least on hard difficulty and below.
I should advise: This is
not Cory's recommended playstyle. Cory and fallen expect the normal player to ally with one or two factions, and choose another faction to make into a bitter enemy. This is how the game is meant to be played.
Be that as it may, I choose to play as a semi-pacifist, keeping all factions happy and spending time to make nice with any faction I offend. This is for two reason: Gameplay-wise, when one faction hates me I have to work hard to prevent the death spiral as other factions target me as well, and I prefer to minimize the hassle on my trading missions. The name of the game is 'Star Traders', after all, not 'Star Pirates'.
The second reason comes from playing their other excellent game, Star Traders 4x, which I highly recommend you check out. At any event, gameplay of Empires convinced me that the faction conflicts, solar wars and trade wars and the rest of it, are petty distractions. The REAL enemy are the xenos, who will always attack without mercy and kill anyone defeated by them. Then, too, the quadrant is gradually falling apart and becoming exhausted. Many of the spaceships in the quadrant are leftovers from the original Exodus, irreplaceable ships. And in this place of hardship, suffering, famine, and despair, the factions only make it worse by killing each other over meaningless squabbles.
My character's only enemy is the Xenos. After 4x, I have no heart left for killing fellow humans. We're just doing the Xenos' work for them.
But that's my attitude. Other people play differently and also enjoy the game. And more power to them!
Respectfully,
Brian P.
