Every inhabited star system maintains a legal status record for each pilot who visits. This status is determined by the local authorities, who keep a tally of actions that they consider favorable (such as attacking pirates or running errands for the authorities and their representatives) as well as criminal activity (attacking government personnel, piracy, aiding the enemy, etc.) Actions in adjacent systems are also taken into consideration, although given less weight than actions committed in the immediate vicinity. If a pilot's record is considered favorable overall, the authorities may reward the pilot by discounting prices for commodities and supplies; conversely, an unfavorable status is reflected in higher prices and, often, in outright refusal to allow a pilot to land at spaceports in that system.
Hostile actions against ships will be reflected locally, while status changes due to missions will be reflected universally. Missions that give you a positive legal bonus with a government will also give you a malus with all their enemies, and vice versa.
Hostile actions against ships that a government regards favorably will be reflected in a 3 system radius.
Hostile actions against ships that a government regards negatively will be reflected in a 5 system radius.
Invading enemies will look at your legal rating in the system to determine if you're an enemy. Positive rating means that you are an enemy here.
A legal status is divided by the crime tolerance of a government to obtain the actual displayed legal status. Some governments, such as the Federation, have higher crime tolerance than governments such as the Roughnecks, which causes the Roughnecks to love or hate you much faster.
| Good Scale | Legal Status |
|---|---|
| 0 | No Record |
| 4 | Citizen |
| 16 | Good Citizen |
| 64 | Upstanding Citizen |
| 256 | Leading Citizen |
| 1024 | Model Citizen |
| 4096 | Virtuous Citizen |
| Evil Scale | Legal Status |
|---|---|
| 0 | No Convictions |
| 1 | Minor Offender |
| 4 | Offender |
| 16 | Criminal |
| 64 | Wanted Criminal |
| 256 | Fugitive |
| 1024 | Hunted Fugitive |
| 4096 | Public Enemy |
Notes[]
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Since a pilot's legal status is linked to his or her ship, some clandestine services are reported to possess devices that mask a pilot's identity and government affiliation. As a last resort, you can initiate your ship's self-destruct sequence, which will reset your record to that of a new pilot.