Race relationships

[Nortius_Maximus]

Trying to figure out the new race relationships and how to manage keeping everyone happy and not blowing me up. Lately I was trying to go through the Firax quest line only to have the Tentaculons blow me to hell.

Far as I can tell the only thing I did wrong was complete 2 quests for the Firax, which I didn't realize would annoy the Tentaculons.

So any advice on how to keep this from happening as well as any other race combinations to be aware of? Is there any way to make one of these races happy without annoying the other one? In my current game I had both races at Loved status, then completed a quest for each one, and BOTH races deteriorated to only Friendly. So it looks like completing a quest for a race doesn't help your relationship as much as it annoys their enemy race... WTF? It also means it doesn't look like I can just alternate quests to keep both races from trying to kill me.

[dari]

a quick copy from the games log shows:

Pirates are not happy about you questing for Limoquee
Pirates are not happy about you questing for Sigorn
Pirates are not happy about you questing for Bankers
Pirates are not happy about you questing for Unifiers
Tentaculons are not happy about you questing for Bankers
Tentaculons are not happy about you questing for Firaxughinians
Tentaculons are not happy about you questing for Monks
Tentaculons are not happy about you questing for Eaters
Limoquee are not happy about you questing for Pirates
Limoquee are not happy about you questing for Gruff
Limoquee are not happy about you questing for Vordalene
Limoquee are not happy about you questing for Eaters
Sigorn are not happy about you questing for Pirates
Sigorn are not happy about you questing for Eaters
Bankers are not happy about you questing for Resistance
Firaxughinians are not happy about you questing for Tentaculons
Firaxughinians are not happy about you questing for Monks
Firaxughinians are not happy about you questing for Eaters
Resistance are not happy about you questing for Bankers
Resistance are not happy about you questing for Eaters
Resistance are not happy about you questing for Unifiers
Monks are not happy about you questing for Eaters
Eaters are not happy about you questing for Unifiers
Unifiers are not happy about you questing for Eaters

so my favored (and crafting friendly) solution is - quest for gruffs and kill a few vordalene in between XD

[Dubious]

"Fake ID" is your answer. Possibly augmented by "Publicizer" (haven't used it). Check your Race Relations before docking and after completing a quest and/or monitor closely those log messages. I'm still a novice at this, playing "Normal mode" but I just hit sector 100 and have been questing for everyone (even those who Hate me), except for Pirates.

"Fake ID" lets you dock at any station regardless of their attitude towards you. If you are operating in a sector crowded with ships of Races less than "Warm", use it or "Stealth Coating" or "Cloak" to reduce the chance of them going after you. I've been able fly right next to "Hate" attitude ships with "Stealth Coating" and had them ignore me.

I am not sure if "Fake ID" actually does anything anywhere other than when attempting to dock. But it doesn't seem to hurt, and (so far) using it when it seems logical to do so appears to let me seem to avoid negative attitude issues. I've hunted Pirates for the Sigurn with "Fake ID" and "Less Than Lethal Weapons" (LTLW), and their attitude has dropped from "Loving" down to "Warm" but remained there through several sectors and hunts. (Suspect that is more due to LTLW.)

Also, I tend to try to alternate quests between "unhappy about" factions. Seems that avoiding pursuing a single quest line too exclusively eases tension. I've passed on four "end the game" opportunities so far (the Tenaculon, Vordalene, and Firaxian quests, and the "Amulet of Yendor") and have only two races that "Hate" me: Bankers and Monks (only one ship encountered and they Hated me on sight). When I start to run into the Monks more often I'll give "Publicizer" a try. (I've already decided the Bankers defeat will be my "chosen victory" for this game.) Currently the Firaxians are "Loving" despite the "all but last quest" for those opposing factions.

I do expect that to be more difficult at higher difficulty games.

-Dubious- "The object of the game is to enjoy the journey, not win the victory."

[Dubious]

Arrgh! Not "Publicizer", which boosts fame. I meant "Diplomaticizer", which boosts race relations.

-Dubious-

[Dubious]

Supplement to the above:

"LTLW" more properly is "Non-Lethal Weapons".

Just after I wrote the above, Pirates dropped to "Cool" because I'm hunting them for a quest. But I don't care that much at this point.

I overlooked "Comm Jammer", which specifically "reduces" (not "prevents") reputation loss. This is due to my tendency to only use it when boarding wrecks. That may be a mistake on my part. It might be useful, when docking at a station to collect a quest reward or hunting pirates, in reducing faction loss. (I'll have to try that out, but how do you tell?)

As always you are juggling "needs" versus "device slots". "Survival" has to take priority over "reputation". But "Stealth Coating"/"Cloak", combined with a strong initial weapons volley, enables you to become an ambush predator. If you overwhelm their defenses in the first volley, they shouldn't be able to get out word to cause a loss of rep. But if they do survive it, then "Comm Jammer"/"Fake ID" makes sense IF you have enough defense (Shields + Armor) to survive until you can finish them off. In that instance, you can afford to forego a "survival" device in favor of a "reputation" one.

This is where Crafting comes into play. When you can craft better shields and armor than you can purchase, you become more able to leave out "survival" augmenting devices in favor of "reputation" ones. Better "generators" provide more weapon and device slots. Mercenary bases provide "crafting parts" and the occasional "crafting book" to increase your base skill. So it's never just once aspect you have to pay attention to; it's the interplay between multiple aspects of the game.

-Dubious- "The object of the game is to enjoy the journey; not to meet the victory conditions."

[DamienPS]

My favourite ship is the Corsair due to the comm jammer which also prevents ships calling for reinforcements.