All,
Here are the FUNDAMENTALS regarding the companion reputation and loyalty as coded in the game.
This always seems to be misunderstood even after over FIVE years.
Your personal reputation does not effect your companions directly, its your actions they judge AFTER they join your crew.
However, inaction over time does effect their disposition!
Remember companion reputation is fixed in game, and will not change based on my experience.
Basic Understanding Run-Down:
1) If your companion has a "regular sailor" reputation this equates to NEUTRAL, and their loyalty will go UP regardless of your actions. (Humphrey Douglas, John Workman, and Danielle Sheppard, Ned Ogle, and Jeremy Pitt are good examples for a reason to prevent them from leaving after they join you in your crew)
2) If your companion has a reputation of "swindler" or below (this equates to BAD reputation) then they will like it when you rape and pillage and such and their loyalty will go UP when you do these "bad" actions.
3) If your companion has a reputation of "trusted sailor" or above (this equates to GOOD reputation) then they will dislike "bad" actions and their loyalty will go DOWN.
The reverse to absolutely true for GOOD actions.
Some Examples of GOOD actions:
1) Cleansing evil missions from priests
2) Completing governor quests
3) Completing unique game quests (such as Enchanted City) (BIG GAIN)
4) Completing nation quests (BIG GAIN)
4) Saving the woman from being raped in the jungle (why would a woman be wandering alone in the jungle I have no idea...)
5) Finding lost companions
6) Refusing bribes or compensation
7) Helping beggars
8) Helping strangers
9) Completing free trade missions
10) Turning over captured "free" towns to a new permanent nationality (BIG GAIN)
Some Examples of BAD actions:
1) Freeing people in prisons (Why? You are "breaking the law" and attacking soldiers)
2) Boarding actions (regardless of whom including pirates)
3) Failing governor quests or other random quests
4) Refusing to help others
5) Selling off captured captains from surrendered ships
6) Plundering towns
7) Seizing towns for your own
8) Betraying a trusted nation such as attacking cities, ships, or its citizens (BIG LOSS)
9) Killing innocent civilians for no apparent justification
10) Attacking soldiers without provocation
11) Attacking and sinking ships (including bounty hunters even with a letter of marque)
12) Smuggling goods and getting caught by the host nation
13) Stealing from houses or individuals
Sometimes reputation actions can be interlinked with important quests and can radically change the way you will have to play so watch out and keep your attention on your reputation!
Keep in mind effects of all actions continue to be cumulative, meaning a lot of good actions are required to offset the bad if you want to improve companion loyalty overall in whatever direction you aspire whether good or bad.
It is possible to reach a point where either loyalty is rock bottom or at its highest point for an individual NPC companion, and it can be nearly impossible to correct.
Using cheats here won't help here, because the damage is already done, and you will just raise your own reputation with only small changes to officers.
Early when a NPC companion joins you it is easy to see the changes, but later on it is difficult to know how far down the "jedi dark side" or "goody too shoes route" you have gone.
Considering this is a game about PIRACY, where you probably will be sinking a lot of ships and plundering your "weaselly black guts out", its best to have officers of regular sailor or below reputations to help manage individual companions especially if you do not want them immediately mutinying if you assign them as ship captains!
If you use them exclusively as officers, it really does not matter.
Let their loyalty go down, let them complain, and bribe them to stay with your crew, put them on a ship in port control where they will never revolt, or you can assign them as deputy governors (where they will keep doing there job and not leave their charge) and actually be happy???!
If you really don't like dealing with all this significant complexity (personally I like a good challenge), then install the modification that makes your companion loyalty go up, regardless of your personal actions.
Here are the FUNDAMENTALS regarding the companion reputation and loyalty as coded in the game.
This always seems to be misunderstood even after over FIVE years.
Your personal reputation does not effect your companions directly, its your actions they judge AFTER they join your crew.
However, inaction over time does effect their disposition!
Remember companion reputation is fixed in game, and will not change based on my experience.
Basic Understanding Run-Down:
1) If your companion has a "regular sailor" reputation this equates to NEUTRAL, and their loyalty will go UP regardless of your actions. (Humphrey Douglas, John Workman, and Danielle Sheppard, Ned Ogle, and Jeremy Pitt are good examples for a reason to prevent them from leaving after they join you in your crew)
2) If your companion has a reputation of "swindler" or below (this equates to BAD reputation) then they will like it when you rape and pillage and such and their loyalty will go UP when you do these "bad" actions.
3) If your companion has a reputation of "trusted sailor" or above (this equates to GOOD reputation) then they will dislike "bad" actions and their loyalty will go DOWN.
The reverse to absolutely true for GOOD actions.
Some Examples of GOOD actions:
1) Cleansing evil missions from priests
2) Completing governor quests
3) Completing unique game quests (such as Enchanted City) (BIG GAIN)
4) Completing nation quests (BIG GAIN)
4) Saving the woman from being raped in the jungle (why would a woman be wandering alone in the jungle I have no idea...)
5) Finding lost companions
6) Refusing bribes or compensation
7) Helping beggars
8) Helping strangers
9) Completing free trade missions
10) Turning over captured "free" towns to a new permanent nationality (BIG GAIN)
Some Examples of BAD actions:
1) Freeing people in prisons (Why? You are "breaking the law" and attacking soldiers)
2) Boarding actions (regardless of whom including pirates)
3) Failing governor quests or other random quests
4) Refusing to help others
5) Selling off captured captains from surrendered ships
6) Plundering towns
7) Seizing towns for your own
8) Betraying a trusted nation such as attacking cities, ships, or its citizens (BIG LOSS)
9) Killing innocent civilians for no apparent justification
10) Attacking soldiers without provocation
11) Attacking and sinking ships (including bounty hunters even with a letter of marque)
12) Smuggling goods and getting caught by the host nation
13) Stealing from houses or individuals
Sometimes reputation actions can be interlinked with important quests and can radically change the way you will have to play so watch out and keep your attention on your reputation!
Keep in mind effects of all actions continue to be cumulative, meaning a lot of good actions are required to offset the bad if you want to improve companion loyalty overall in whatever direction you aspire whether good or bad.
It is possible to reach a point where either loyalty is rock bottom or at its highest point for an individual NPC companion, and it can be nearly impossible to correct.
Using cheats here won't help here, because the damage is already done, and you will just raise your own reputation with only small changes to officers.
Early when a NPC companion joins you it is easy to see the changes, but later on it is difficult to know how far down the "jedi dark side" or "goody too shoes route" you have gone.
Considering this is a game about PIRACY, where you probably will be sinking a lot of ships and plundering your "weaselly black guts out", its best to have officers of regular sailor or below reputations to help manage individual companions especially if you do not want them immediately mutinying if you assign them as ship captains!
If you use them exclusively as officers, it really does not matter.
Let their loyalty go down, let them complain, and bribe them to stay with your crew, put them on a ship in port control where they will never revolt, or you can assign them as deputy governors (where they will keep doing there job and not leave their charge) and actually be happy???!
If you really don't like dealing with all this significant complexity (personally I like a good challenge), then install the modification that makes your companion loyalty go up, regardless of your personal actions.
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