How to buy stuff in towns?

[donkeykong]

Encountered a new problem today. Nearly every country is hostile towards me, which is no problem. However when I go into the store or shipyard for example I get told to leave, even in countries that are neutral towards me. Does it have to do with my reputation? Right now i'm a Horror of the High Seas. A) How do I improve that reputation? B) If I pay the diplomat to fix my relationship with a certain country can I shop there without raising my reputation? It's also like a million dollars to do that, is that right?

Also, I started the game with a pirate flag since I was using Jack Sparrow. I guess I wasn't thinking about it, but did I essentially make myself a pirate. Is that the reason i can't shop? Can I change that somewhere? I noticed that I could run up another flag, but does that really change anything?

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[Thomas the Terror]

No the reason that you can`t shop is that you are horror of the high seas. Do good deeds, like saving damsels in distress or picking up survivors. So that you become good again. In the mean time, you can only shop at pirate islands.

 

[donkeykong]

<!--quoteo(post=186029:date=Mar 22 2007, 09:12 AM:name=Thomas the Terror)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Thomas the Terror @ Mar 22 2007, 09:12 AM) [snapback]186029[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
No the reason that you can`t shop is that you are horror of the high seas. Do good deeds, like saving damsels in distress or picking up survivors. So that you become good again. In the mean time, you can only shop at pirate islands.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Is there a faster way to do this? It seems like when I talk to people sometimes if i tell them about their money not getting stolen it increases my rep. How many times do I need my rep to increase to see a change? Is there a number that I can look at somewhere to see how I'm doing ?

Another question i have is what makes your rep go down? Attacking ships other than pirates? What if it's france? if I attack them will my rep decrease?

 

[Thomas the Terror]

It will only decrease if you attack neutral and friendly ships.

 

[morgan terror]

amongst other things, such as obviously evil things to do. picking up shipwreck survivors is actually a pretty fast way to boost your rep., you can do it any time, and it's free. i think it takes 100 points to get from the worst to the best. 50 to get to neutral, although you only need to be a rascal to trade again.

 

[longjohn]

blast em all to davy jomes locker, says I

 

[morgan terror]

yes, except the neutral and friendly ones. the bonus you get from the survivors isn't worth the penalty from attacking. but as all nations are already hostile to you, as you said, it shouldn't be that much of a problem. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="icon_wink.gif" /> while you're at it, try joining the pirates!