Reputation Curve Balancer

note on 1. 0. 1 and 1. 0. 2

the game engine expect a reason for a reputation bonus, prior to 1. 0. 2 I was using a placeholder with a name the game does not know, so no reason was shown, that was the expected behaviour and the mod was fonctionnal. BUT this was triggering error in x4.log and that was bothering me, so in 1. 0. 2 i use a valid reason, so now, you have this little line smalltalk added on the notification. I don't like it, but i didn't find a way to prevent it while not triggering log error

tldr: 1. 0. 1 works fine, and this update is far from being mandatory, but at least now you have the options, but note that 1. 0. 2 will be the base of subsequent update if I need to

The Problem: The vanilla reputation curve is an S-curve. This means at -30 or +25, your progress is almost invisible because the "weight" of a single kill or trade is decimated by the engine.

The Solution: This mod calculates a dynamic bonus based on your current distance from 0. The harder the vanilla game tries to slow you down, the more this mod helps you.

How it works (Weighted Balancer)The help is intentionally weighted toward Redemption (negative values) to make coming back from "Total War" status a viable gameplay goal.

• []Hostile Standing (-30 to -10): Up to 9x multiplier at -30.

  []Friendly Standing (+10 to +30): Up to 5x multiplier at +30.

• Neutral Zone (-10 to +10): No intervention. The game is already fast enough here; the mod stays dormant to preserve the vanilla feel.

To change the multiplier value adjust those two lines:

<set_value name="$Neg_Weight" exact="8. 0" />

<set_value name="$Pos_Weight" exact="4. 0" />

Replace 8 and 4 with the value you deem reasonable, bear in mind the final multiplier (at extremum value of -30 and +30) is the weight you set+1 so if you want x10, put 9, if you want x3, put 2.

Feel free to tell me in comment what value feeled smooth enough without feeling cheaty, 8 and 4 are kind of wetfingered as it is

Compatibility: Safe to add or remove mid-save. No UI mods required.

I do not modify whatsoever the vanilla reputation script, it's mostly custom script so it should be fairly update resilient, and should not conflict with anything (to my knowledge)

Disclaimer:

Is this a cheat?

Well... Technically yes, it gives you a non negligeable bonus. But it's designed as a dynamic rebalance: it scales with your effort and preserves the vanilla difficulty progression, just