Pirates and Reputation

[ehkamp]

Attached are flow-sheets for the way I think it works. (But this section have not been 100% fact-checked yet, so may contain errors.) Does not include the new "Executed for Crimes" Combat Defeat/Draw outcome, because I don't have details on it yet. There is one page for each type of enemy Captain (Merchant, Pirate, etc).

Here's the other outcomes, as I understand them:

Death
• On Basic & Normal Starting Difficulties, Captains cannot die. Instead, they Make Narrow Escape. The Captain continues with the Ship Stats at the end of Combat (or other cause of Death).
• All other Starting Difficulties (Challenging+), death means Game Over. Your Captain is dead!
• Exception: If an Escape Shuttle (Ship's Upgrade) was installed on your Ship. Then, the Captain survives to command the Escape Shuttle which contains Cargo, Water-Fuel, and Emergency Rations. The Captain may lose Criminal Status (50% chance) because Factions believe the Captain is dead.
• New: Death screen now includes an explanation as to why your Captain died!

Search
• Victor will Search your Ship for illegal Trade Goods (Artifacts, Weapons, Electronics), Records, Packages, and Passengers.
• Currently always Search, but changes planned (planned feature).
• Takes one week.
• Searches always find and "confiscate" everything. (new in 3.4.9, 20 Feb 11)
• Trade Permit protects Artifacts, Weapons, Electronics, and Records.
• The Smuggler (Ship's Officer) can hide ONE Package or Passenger Contract from Search (after ability is unlocked by Quick Contracts II Award).
• Will void Package & Passenger delivery Contracts, but not other Contract types. [bug reported here]

Loot
• Victor takes all Cargo, Packages, Passengers, and Torps.

Prison
• The Captain, Crew, and Ship are all imprisoned on a Prison Cruiser.
• Faction Rank lost. Trade Permit and Death Warrant immediately revoked. Most Contracts will expire.
• Depending on Reputation, Passengers and up to 100 Crew may be executed.
• Does not automatically void all active Contracts, but most will expire.
• Each crime recorded by Faction = 2 weeks in Prison, up to maximum of 40 years. Length recorded in Ship's Log.
• While in Prison, the Crew can Riot. During each Riots, the Crew can die and the Captain can be injured (chance based on Warrior Skill) reducing Health by one. (Prison Riots occur in the background while on the Prison screen.)
• At end, still have the Ship, Crew, Cargo, and Torpedoes present at the end of Combat.

Disgrace
• Decreases Reputation.
• No risk of Permit or Rank loss.
• Against Bounty Hunters & Warships only: May chase if Passengers or Packages from another Faction on-board. Risk of a wound (-1 Health).

Disengage
• The most common result of a Draw.
• No effect on Rank, Rep, or Permits. No Search.
• Returns you to the Main Navigation Map.
• Does consume Water-Fuel use. Disengaging from non-hostile encounters consume less than Hostile ones.
• Moves you forward?

Peace
• Returns you to the Main Navigation Map. No additional Water-Fuel use and (should) move you forward. [there is a bug here]
• Acknowledge always results in Peace!
• No effect on Rank, Reputation, or Permits. No Search.

(Sneak preview of Player's Guide.)

Liz

Attachments:

[MTKnife]

Apr 4, 2011 15:22:56 GMT -5 sgtcookie said:

You got the rep loss as you were above zero rep with rychart.

Except Rychart is my home faction in this game--so according to Spike, I shouldn't have a rep loss. I did notice that the next time I encountered a Rychart pirate, my rep didn't drop further, but stayed at 0.

Yes, I did miss that bit the first time I read Spike's list, and yes, even if things did work like he says, it would bother me for you to take a rep hit for Ignoring/Retreating from a pirate whose faction you have a positive rep with: the player should never lose reputation for refusing to let his hold be looted by someone who has no legal right to do so, and indeed whose own rep would be penalized for doing so were he a player.

[MTKnife]

Thanks, Liz, that helps, though I'm still curious about exactly how pirate encounter rep loss works.

I noticed something else in the Pirate flow chart: if you surrender to a pirate whose faction you carry a trade permit for, the pirate won't loot you? That's exactly the same behavior as the "Acknowledge" button, so why do you get "Acknowledge" for other ship types, but "Surrender" for a pirate? The text on the pirate intro screen would lead the average player to believe that if you hit "Surrender", the pirate will loot you no matter what, so why not just have "Acknowledge" there?

Also, the chart indicates that the "Acknowledge" option can come up for a pirate, but I've never seen it. Are you sure about that?

[MTKnife]

spike said:

Also, Retreat/Ignore vs a Pirate of another Faction, unfriendly i.e. with Rep 0 or lower, gives no Rep penalty (with any Faction).

I just bought a pardon from Thulun, hence had a rep of 0, and ignored a Thulun pirate, and my rep dropped to -1.

[ehkamp]

MTKnife:

In my "notes to self," the section of the pirate flowchart that you refer to (result of surrender to a pirate when you hold a trade permit) has a question mark next to it. That usually means that either I don't remember were I got the info from or I've seen conflicting info. It definately did NOT come from game code.

According to my notes, the Acknowledge, Victory, and Defeat outcomes have been checked against code (for all enemy Captain types). But I'm still waiting on code from Cory to fact-check the Draw (including successful Retreat/Ignore) and Surrender outcomes.

I didn't include in the post the info on the requirements for Acknowledge to be availible, because I only have confirmed info for the Pirate & Smuggler enemy Captain types. Cory tells me that Pirates require a Trade Permit and Rank >6 with thier Faction, and thus is never available with Independent Pirates. Smugglers require Faction Rep > -15.

Ignoring a Faction Pirate can decrease Rep (invoke the Disgrace outcome) when Pirates are treated as Warships:
• in a Faction-controlled Sector under a Notorious Pirate Rumor
• in an Independent Sector under a Merchant Fleet or Valuable Shipment Rumor
• in Orbit of an Independent Planet under a Trade Surge Rumor
• on Blockade or Patrol during a Solar War
If you look at the Warship flowchart, it may explain why you lost Rep by Ignoring a Pirate.

[hotpoo]

I'm a bit new to the game, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around the pirate encounters. Why would you lose your trade permit for not surrendering (read: choosing to fight) to a pirate that is associated with the same faction you are in good standing with? Why would you lose your death permit for ignoring the same type of pirate above?