Why do you sometimes not suffer a reputation loss when attacking a ship?

[Compassionate727]

Greetings!

This morning, I was playing with some other people online. We warped into a sector, when a small space ship declared that it was its intention to attack us. We weren't in a nebula, so I suggested we simply ignore it and warp out, since the reputation loss suffered from attacking and destroying it wasn't worth anything we'd get out of it. Everyone agreed, and so we at first simply let is attack us as we aligned our ship to the desired sector and charged our warp drive. However, perhaps somewhere between 30-60 seconds in, something struck the opposing ship (probably a missile, considering the massive amount of damage it did), completely knocking out its shields and reducing its health to a quarter. And, much to my suprise, we didn't suffer a reputation loss as a result. We then proceeded to finish off the ship, which was destroyed a handful of seconds later.

Again, we suffered no reputation loss. This surprised me, but as I've thought about it, this isn't the first time I've done combat with a ship in a non-nebulous sector and not suffered a reputation loss. I don't believe it was a sector in which transmission was blocked for any other reason (for example, I know transmissions are blocked in sectors near The Estate), since the game provides a message saying that the loss was prevented for that reason. In this instance, and in instances in the past that I'm referring to, there haven't been any messages at all. Does anyone have any ideas why, then, we didn't lose any reputation? Is there a mechanic where if you let a ship attack you for long enough without retaliating, there is no loss when you do retaliate? This would make sense as a mechanic, since waiting a bit while they attack you would clearly demonstrate that they were unequivocally the aggressor and that your eventual retaliation was a necessary act of self-defense. Or is it just a bug? Or is it something else?

[rancher3000]

there is a long range comms block program that is for the science terminal; they are found at sectors with the dollar sign. you may have one of those installed on your ship. you activate them like any other programs and they last as long as your crew is in that sector.

[Compassionate727]

Originally posted by rancher3000:

there is a long range comms block program that is for the science terminal; they are found at sectors with the dollar sign. you may have one of those installed on your ship. you activate them like any other programs and they last as long as your crew is in that sector.

I'm not sure. We had just started the game (so I'd been there for everything we'd done), and while we did stop by an emporium, I don't believe we bought anything. The other thing is, does blocking a reputation loss that way produce a message the same way it would in a nebula?

[rancher3000]

i don't know of any messages, but it will keep your ship from taking reputation loss. i suppose there could be a glitch with reputation on some sections that i am not aware of. i have played this game for 100+ hrs, yet i have not come accross any glitch. however, there are a lot of sectors i haven't been to either.

[Compassionate727]

Originally posted by rancher3000:

i don't know of any messages, but it will keep your ship from taking reputation loss. i suppose there could be a glitch with reputation on some sections that i am not aware of. i have played this game for 100+ hrs, yet i have not come accross any glitch. however, there are a lot of sectors i haven't been to either.

Well, thanks for replying. I'll look into at some point when I have credits.

[Schiefer]

Hey there! It is possible that you bought a block long range comms, and then somebody used it together with a nuke... and, it does provide a message like in a nebula...

[grizeldi]

Isnt it like that: if ship has no faction, you wont lose rep?

[Schiefer]

Originally posted by grizeldi:

Isnt it like that: if ship has no faction, you wont lose rep?

no. You will always lose reputation. It isn't the reputation of your ships faction, it is your crew's reputation.

[Compassionate727]

Yeah, attacking a ship not aligned with the CU or WD Corp will cause you to lose reputation with the Neutral faction, which is the same as the AOG. They really need to be split it up, as this is a pretty ridiculous advantage for the AOG, since they make a ton of money from all the missions they have access to and quickly get half off everything from neutral stores, importantly including the speacialty shops. Likewise, defending yourself against the AOG shouldn't cause you to lose rep with all the unaffiliated folks out there. I'd propose converting the Neutral faction and reputation system the rest of the way into strictly AOG, and create a separate system for civilian vessels with a universal reputation penalty (perhaps except with AOG) for attacking civilian vessels.

Regardless, block long range comms does indeed create a message, which isn't what I was experiencing. I'm wondering if it just bugged out.