Confused about the report mechanic

[the secret garden key]

I've failed the game twice because I don't report enough criminals and end up getting the fixerrain. How am I supposed to get past this? I'm tired of playing through the week again on only a guess.

[Rubberbra]

From what I gather, it doesn't really matter who you report. There are some people where its obvious, such as admitting its a stolen item they are selling you, but for the most part you can report anyone

[the secret garden key]

Originally posted by Rubberbra:

From what I gather, it doesn't really matter who you report. There are some people where its obvious, such as admitting its a stolen item they are selling you, but for the most part you can report anyone

So I'm literally just supposed to report as many people as possible? The fact that it frequently gives me the option to "admit I did it by mistake" makes me feel like I'm missing a "good" karmic path that I can't figure out.

[the secret garden key]

Ah, it looks like the dev answered in another thread - if you report ANYONE, it starts you down the path where you have to meet a certain quota. I reported the folks who were unwilling to allow me to correctly assess items, and apparently that puts me on the villain route.

[imaloony]

Smash that report button fam!

No but seriously, you do need to hit it a fair amount. In my experience, you should aim for ~10 reports a week (at least when the target is 90. Probably push it a bit higher later in the game when the target goes up). I typically just report any customer who offers way too low for something in the showcase, if they try to sell something fake, or if they're just being a bastard (refusing to let you appraise an item, asking for huge prices on an item you know isn't worth it).

Do be careful you don't report TOO much though. It can potentially hurt your likability rating.

[BANANA PHONE]

I noticed this immediately but the reports are a fixed number, you will see this at the top left, I have included a screenshot, its the EYE icon <https://i.imgur.com/WoLYGWp.png>.
The total number you are looking for is displayed every time you report someone, it changes in large increments so you know roughly how many more you need after every report (give it a try, its fixed so you will know what I mean).
If you are trying to avoid paying for shop cleaning every new day, you should limit reports to max 2 per day from what I found playing through.