Tried to keep on sand ninja's good side, failed

[biochimera]

Is there any sort of point to not just treat them as enemies? I tried being friendly, did the healing stuff, and my reputation is still going red, then started to just defend myself, at -5 now because they attack me on sight.

That goes for most innately hostile/aggressive factions, is there any reason not to pound them senseless? At least with UC I know they're worth keeping friendly at least until I have my own fully independent base and my chars can beat their samurai, I always get the itch to kill/carry to rebirth those noble hunters, soon I'm scratching that itch.

[nex]

some factions are just jerks.. even at 0 relationship (default for most faction at blank game start) they might:

-try to enslave you
-rob you for your food
-try to kill you

in my 1k hour main save i am hostile with most factions except:

-shek (who i allied with dead bugmaster)
-flotsam (allied)
-thieves (allied)
-rebel farmers (ally after UC kill)

the rest of my faction screen is pretty much red.. some i have -100 but most are hostile except some neutral factions like nomads..

this is just the world of kenshi.. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[mr_bman]

It's not a good idea to pound them all senseless all at once. You don't want to be coming under attacks all day and all night because you have too many enemy factions. For example I could engage with Dust bandits I encounter on the road - but I don't. I just keep my distance and so far they're not attacking my towns. Some factions will attack you because they love the battle - like Band of Bones. If you medic them and treat them well after battle you won't increase your hostility with them. Don't try to take their gear because that will increase hostility. Some factions will run from you or won't be hostile if you have a strong group. I've had wandering bands run from me once they see I'm with a strong group. If you go out and about with a weak group then you'll for sure aggro them all towards you as you look weak.

[Mad_House]

I think you have to be at relationship 25 or 50 for a faction that's normally hostile to start ignoring you. At least, it was the case for me and the Band of Bones.

[mr_bman]

Yeah Band of Bones is a tough one. They attack you even if you're at 0 hostility. It's tough to keep it low but I've been able to keep them at 0.

[Bakinda]

Bro the Trader's guild just turned on me when the Slavers attacked me and my shek allies for absolutely no reason. Some of these factions are just huge ♥♥♥♥♥.

[biochimera]

Yeah I was hoping to just kind of keep my head down, train up my guys then go on a glorious crusade against first the cannibals then either UC or HN, then the other one. My base is strong enough that I can handle significant attacks (I believe. The last slaver raid didn't even get close to my base, my gunners are on point, and on a whim I fired at a patrolling samurai squad after a quicksave, they didn't fare much better). I was hoping that you could ally with those minor factions that hate the major ones, but it seems like there's only a few you can actually do that with, which is kinda disappointing.

Edit: Anyone know if they're going to improve the Western Hive with the reactive world thing? I'd be interested in joining them.

[Shidan]

Unlikely, the Western Hive has no use for outsiders, and lore wise joining them in any extent would mean losing your free will. You're just a source of money to them, they don't even remotely care about you.

As for joining minor factions, quite few of them can be joined. The ones that can't are just bandits and the like. But the ones actually resisting those major factions like you said are joinable. Flotsam, Rebel Farmers, Anti-Slavers, and Hounds are all rebels of a sort and are all joinable. And there are quite a few more coming in the SE.