suggestion : relations

[Czert]

add screen with relations to others sovergins (eg. commonswealth, ferians, ringers, black market....)
with different level - not only allied/friendly(green )but neutral (blue) and enemy (red).
Relationship changes over time depend on your actions (completing misions for korolov shipping raise from neutral(blue) to friendly (green)).
And in special case (completing missions for comm. fortrees) show your rank.

[Revolver]

sounds like an interesting idea, I would like to know my rank, maybe add that to the internal ship menu screen, maybe display it under your money.

[F50]

I like this, I have died from docking with a "friendly" station and then getting killed. It would also be nice if you could ally yourself with or start allied to the Charon Pirates/other evil faction.

[the_holy_thom]

I quite like not knowing if Im going to be arrested or not. Gives more of an edge to illegal activity. Im not sure - it would be a nice feature, but Id prefer it if you didnt know when they were going to arrest you or not.

Lets face it - you probably wouldnt know if you were wanted until you docked. If it updated after you dock, then I think it would be great

[Guest]

That makes sense.

[Czert]

It would also be nice if you could ally yourself with or start allied to the Charon Pirates/other evil faction.

Yes im mean exactly this, your actions can ally with outlaws(bad guys) and good guys (commonswealth, korolov shiping) going to kill you.
It be nice if it be here bounty hunters who want kill you if you follow dark path of force/mind.

[Ghengis]

If you've ever played Mercenaries, you probably have a good idea how this suggestion would work. I think it's a good one, but for post-1.0.

[In Mercenaries, there's a bar for each faction you can have relations to, where you have a position from Hostile to Allied. The main bad guys (the North Koreans) are just pegged to Hostile and greyed out. Seems like it would be a practical addition to the ship screen.]

[the_holy_thom]

Even GTA2 had an allegiance system. This is a debated point: it could either be brilliant, or ruin the game. If George implemented a solid system, that you could buy into for help, but wasnt necessary, then I think it could work.

Mercenaries wouldnt have the right style IMO. There you had to use the system; I'd prefer it if you could delve in if you wanted, but didnt have to. I cant really think of an example in a game right now, maybe a sort of Baldur's Gate 2 sort of thing?

[SparcMan]

Many games I've played have a transparent relations system. Daggerfall is a good example. The game keeps a score of how your character rates with different factions and increasing the score with some faction also reduces your score with other factions and may even increase the score with other factions.

[palmiche]

In Fallout the initial relations wih NPCs are given by the reputation you have achieved along the game. Bad NPCs treat you easy if you have a bad reputation, etc. Then you actions with the faction plus the effect of your general reputation guide the relations. So the game keep track of every relation betweent you and the different factions. You can be a hero in one town and hated in another to the point of "shoot on sight!!!".

[Guest]

This would also allow for a new line of starting ships (mostly harder than the commonwealth ships, maybe only avaliable after 1st win), Corsair I(very much like wolfen)/Viking I(very much like freighter) start allied to Charon Pirates with the Marauders and BMS acting like the military, would have to have a special mission to get through St. Ks though. It would be nice to start as a Slaver or Heliotrope too(no help until Rigel for them though).

[palmiche]

I'd like to start NEUTRAL to all factions and some special events (like getting the BMarket ID) to allow you to trade (change from neutral to friendy) with a given faction, and of course, a lot of missions of factions ordering you to blow up another faction's station to force the player to change the neutral status to friendy with some factions and enemy with the others. The missions could be "get something from ..." and the only mean to get it would be destroying a given station or ship in a skirmish. I think it would improve the gameplay a lot as you can play a houndred games working every time for a different faction. The effect of this might be, i.e., lower prices of the raw materials you buy from the Faerians as you improve your relations with them.

Just in case: by faction I mean sovereign, it was to avoid the extra keystrokes (spent anyway in this note).

[Ghengis]

Hrm... so perhaps the player could dock at any station, if he was the correct "alignment"? When George adds the endgame, you could pick sides, and try to visit either Domina or... uh, the evil one, whose name escapes me 'cause he's to lazy to get a bunch of disciples in the early systems. You know, that guy.

[palmiche]

Hrm... so perhaps the player could dock at any station, if he was the correct "alignment"?

Why not? When you move into a new neighborhood you usually have no friends or allies, is your behavior what changes the relations with your neighbors. Of course you may find some degree of predisposition, some for good, some not, if you drive to your new home in a sports car you don't cause the same impression if youre driving a classic or just a familiar ban.

[Ghengis]

Of course, you probably couldn't align with e.g. the Ares, who hate you because you're a Terran\human. Just those factions that have political differences with the Commonwealth.