Uhh, I'm pretty sure this exact mechanic is the game saying you can repel the attackers without incurring reputation penalties.You can't. You being involved in (or otherwise joining) a battle to defend your colony gives you -rep with the faction that owns the attacking fleet.
Uhh, I'm pretty sure this exact mechanic is the game saying you can repel the attackers without incurring reputation penalties.You can't. You being involved in (or otherwise joining) a battle to defend your colony gives you -rep with the faction that owns the attacking fleet.
Your patrols fleets however, can.
This means the only way the avoid -rep with attacking factions is to avoid fighting yourself, and let your guys do it. Which is boring.
Uhh, I'm pretty sure this exact mechanic is the game saying you can repel the attackers without incurring reputation penalties.Every single individual engagement you have in the defense of your colony incurs a 3 point penalty, the last time I got attacked the Perseans sent what must have been at least five fleets, and they seem to be attacking that colony at least three times a year. At this point they're pretty far beyond ever gaining favor with but it's still obnoxious. Sure I could go raid all their markets until they destabilize and just wipe the faction out entirely, but just killing all the other factions is a nice way to end up with a boring sector where nothing happens except pirate and pather bounties. Having to drop what you're doing to respond to an attack or potentially suffer the consequences of a raid should be penalty enough for contesting their market shares, not an endless stream of suicides that inevitably leads to a state of permanent hostilities.
I just reinforced a defense and only got a rep hit for running down the defeated fleet. I don't think you're getting a rep hit for defending yourself, you're getting a rep hit for murdering the merchant fleet supporting the (defeated) military raid. I think if you let the backliners run home w/o incident you don't get any hitIf vaping the poor sods in a retreat is what sets off the rep hit then that's still a problem, because when you get a warning that your system is under attack then the natural response is "well I better go break out the big guns then". But if you try to intercept the raider fleets with a big fleet of your own, they will always run away from you, which means any engagement you force with them will be a pursuit that drags the logistics ships into the fight. So what am I supposed to do then if killing the logistics ships is the problem? Bring a smaller fleet so they don't run away and up ganked by the four other task forces joining the battle when I make contact? Stand around and wait for them to engage the battlestation or my patrols? Neither option sounds fun. Besides:
This means the only way the avoid -rep with attacking factions is to avoid fighting yourself, and let your guys do it. Which is boring.
This means the only way the avoid -rep with attacking factions is to avoid fighting yourself, and let your guys do it. Which is boring.
On the one side, the problem is that you get dinged for protecting yourself from (semi-)covert hostile actions.
On the other, the problem is your faction uses your personal rep instead of its own faction rep. In some ways it makes sense (your faction is you at the beginning), but in others it doesn't (why does your million population faction's rep with other factions depend solely on your actions?).
those rules of war you are talking about don't really exist senpai, the reason they exist is that if anyone breaks them they will be killed by the UN.Next time you try being smug make sure you aren't wrong first, atrocities and some degree war regulations obviously exist in the context of this universe too. Regardless of the nonexistence of a stellar UN, there are some actions a faction can take in the sector that are widely regarded as wrong- raiding fleets approaching with transponders off is a clear indicator that they are fully aware that they're up to no good, because once an actual war breaks out fleets keep their transponders on even though it would be to their advantage to keep them off; the fact the game mentions that legal gray areas even exist is a dead giveaway some kind of codified law exists, because if there was no law there would be no grey areas; saturation bombing markets is explicitly labeled as an atrocity and leads to instant hostilities with all civilized factions, etc.
there is no UN in this setting. you are killing their citizens and servants, they don't like it, so they drop your rep.
they want you to die and you're being damn inconvenient by refusing :^)
those rules of war you are talking about don't really exist senpai, the reason they exist is that if anyone breaks them they will be killed by the UN.I kind of like the idea of a UN in this game.
there is no UN in this setting. you are killing their citizens and servants, they don't like it, so they drop your rep.
they want you to die and you're being damn inconvenient by refusing :^)
Reminder: The issue here is that you get rep hits for personally fighting the expedition forces. Any proposal that "fixes" it by making the attacking faction as a whole hostile to the player is an anti-solution, because it leaves the player worse off by taking away their decision on whether to escalate.
Some ideas and comments:In general, I'd like to have the trouble escalate in less dramatic fashion, and a part of these would be corsairs. Something like, in order
- To archive plausible deniability, factions only send mercenaries/hired pirates on expeditions, as long as your are not hostile (or vengeful) with them. Nothing you do to these fleets has any impact on relationships. If you are hostile, they send their own (stronger) fleets.
Pirates are okay occasionally. They are more annoying as gigantic 40+ ship fleets (breaking fleet cap again?!) that lurk behind distress calls.
I do not get those very often. More often, I get a derelict ship I can loot. Sometimes, I get more crew. One time, an officer joined.Pirates are okay occasionally. They are more annoying as gigantic 40+ ship fleets (breaking fleet cap again?!) that lurk behind distress calls.
Is there any real reason to respond to distress calls? At best you get a bit indy Rep. I think it was 3 Rep for 10 fuel + whatever amount of fuel you burn getting there.
I guess extra officer is good enough.I do not get those very often. More often, I get a derelict ship I can loot. Sometimes, I get more crew. One time, an officer joined.Pirates are okay occasionally. They are more annoying as gigantic 40+ ship fleets (breaking fleet cap again?!) that lurk behind distress calls.Is there any real reason to respond to distress calls? At best you get a bit indy Rep. I think it was 3 Rep for 10 fuel + whatever amount of fuel you burn getting there.
Player colonies is not recognized as separate sector power - they are part of independents group. At least in theory. So why any other powers must pay attention and obey any rules? You are nothing to them - just another independent world/worlds.
Diplomacy and intelligent faction decision making are the solution to the annoyance everyone is expressing...
Nobody should bother attacking the colony unless they have like a 75% chance of winning. They should just harass fleets instead. Would you mount a giant attack that you're probably going to lose? No. Why should the AI? Because fun? Well, obviously it isn't fun for anyone.
The rep hits yes I get that it sucks and it's annoying, but you can't expect to amass a bunch of goodies and not expect people to try to take it away. Its dog eat dog out there. It doesn't make sense though that it depends on whether you personally participate or not.
The player's commissioning faction sending expeditions against the player is going away in 0.9.1, at least.
Uh, when I first colonized you enter a faction name. My planets show that faction name which I entered. Didn't I create a new faction and I'm no longer independent?
If I get a commission (not done this in 0.9a) in the Hegemony faction and then colonize, wouldn't I have added a new planet to the Hegemony faction?
Diplomacy and intelligent faction decision making are the solution to the annoyance everyone is expressing...
Nobody should bother attacking the colony unless they have like a 75% chance of winning. They should just harass fleets instead. Would you mount a giant attack that you're probably going to lose? No. Why should the AI? Because fun? Well, obviously it isn't fun for anyone.
I agree.
Unfortunately, Alex seems to be stuck in the thought process of more-explosions == more fun (See suicidal pirates who will attack you right after you wipe out a fleet twice its size without breaking a sweat). While to an extent that is true, I feel like the game currently offers too much of a good thing in that regard.
Battles are good, but one can only wipe out the same pirate junker fleet so many times before it gets boring.
(https://puu.sh/C78Gs/9b7dc2a7fe.jpg)
Suggestion: get rid of this garbage for factional attack fleets. Bombarding planets and destroying infrastructure is not a legal grey area, it is an act of war, regardless of whether you're doing it with your transponder on or off. In fact, out here in the real world, attacking a polity without a formal declaration of war is far more akin to a war crime than a "legal grey area". Taking a diplomatic hit of any size for foiling a faction's attempt to disrupt or destroy your colonies is downright insulting, and with these attacks usually consisting of multiple fleets, I usually rack up enough disfavor to end up well on the way to "hostile" by the time the dust settles. Sure I could then go do missions for them to raise my reputation back up, but A) why would I ever do favors for people who just tried to ruin me, and B) by the time I've recovered the lost rep, they're likely about to start planning another raid. Factions should either nut up and make a formal wardec after a point, or the player shouldn't be penalized at all for defending their colonies.