Rating and actions to reduce/improve?

[Fraoch]

I looked around the wiki and FAQ but couldn't find a list of ratings.

Also - what affects ratings? I started out Harmless, now I'm Mostly Harmless - from the wording I thought this was good, but it turns out it's bad. I must've done something within the protected space around a starbase, because the following incident occurred:

- pirate attacks me just outside the protected space

- I use my injectors to blast into the protected space

- he follows me in

- I turn around and start firing

- immediately my rating is reduced to Poor

Do I have to wait for him to attack within protected space first? Am I just supposed to sit there waiting for the cops if he were to start blasting away at me?

I'm not complaining at all - this is what makes the game fun, it's unpredictable and the AI is quite complex.

[LittleBear]

You won't get a rap sheet for shooting a ship with an Offender or above rating (this is where a Scanner enhancment comes in handy as it will tell you the legal status of the ship in your sights) however you may get an Offender tag for shooting on a Clean ship, even if he fired at you first. It depends on what the Cops saw. If they saw him fire on you then he gets a rap sheet and you can kill him with the cops help. If all they saw was you shooting at him, then as far as they're concerned, you fired on an innocent guy and you are the bad guy.

The Model JSB Summing up to a jury in RL is "You should take the defendant's good character into account. You know that he has no previous convictions and you may think that a man with no previous convictions is less likely to have committed the crime alleged by the Crown and that he is more likely to have told you the truth when he gave evidence than a man with many previous convictions. However, good character cannot of itself be a defence. If that were the case nobody could ever be convicted of anything."

A Clean rating may just mean the police have not caught the pirate in the act yet. In RL and Oolite "Everyone once had a good character."

"Poor" is a higher rating than Mostly Harmless, so you are moving up! Ratings go in the order of:-

Harmless
Mostly Harmless
Poor
Average
Above Average
Competant
Dangerous
Deadly
Elite

Then of course there are Navy Rankings, Assassins Guild Ranks and others....

[Fraoch]

Thanks, but making that very post made me realize something - Poor is better than Mostly Harmless, if I go by post count in this forum, which I assume goes up in "rank" like in the game as you post.

Dang, now I wish I hadn't reset.

[LittleBear]

Yep. Elite rank just measures your ability as a killer rather than your morals. See Norman Mosser for example! Elite but wanted as a Fugitive by every law enforcement organisation in know space

[Captain Hesperus]

More on the peculiar habits of the Elite Federation can be found here on the Wiki.

Capain Hesperus