MOD:WCU:Privateer3:ReqKarma

This is a new, hidden player stat.
While sympathy and antipathy are modelled relative to each faction, karma is non-faction related.

Let me use an example:

A company hires you to defend them from a competitor. The mission is not hard but they offer you a
lot of money because they need to install an anti-stealth device in your ship, and are nervous you
might want to keep it after, and might therefore not come back to collect your fee.
There are 3 things the player might do:
a) Do the mission, then come back to collect the fee (they remove the device).
b) Do the mission, then fly away with the device, forfeiting the pay
c) Fly away with the device without doing the mission.

While the second option might get the company mad at you, it's an option they considered and took
the risk you might do that. And their biggest fear likely was that you might sell the device to
their competitor, more than fear of you keeping it in your ship. So they get mad at you for not
returning, but you generate no karma.

The third option, however, generates bad karma for you.

(Besides bad karma, taking the third option causes the company that hired you to put a bounty on
you, which the second option doesn't.)

For another example:

If you have to attack merchant vessels in order to become a Brotherhood pirate, you can attack
them just enough so that they drop cargo, or you can destroy them.
Either way the merchants will become your enemies, but the former generates no karma, while the
latter does.

Another way to get bad karma is inconsistency: Speaking sweetly to pilots, then attacking them.

Another way is attacking ejects, unless there is a reason or is part of the mission.

Another way is betraying trust.

According to Hindu philosophy, karma is not so much a matter of "good" vs. "bad", as much as a
matter of honoring your own 'dharma', or what you're meant to do according to your nature. So,
in other words, if you're a pirate and attack merchant vessels you're not incurring karma, as
what you're doing is consistent with your nature and dharma.
The nature of Burrows is "privateer", which is another term for "pirate" in some contexts. For
sure, Burrows does things for money. If a company pays you to attack another company, or even
a pirate, no karma. But if you attack pirates just to get yourself in good terms with militias,
sure you'll gain the militias' sympathy, but you'll also reap karma.
Self-defense is part of everyone's nature however. Self-defense never produces karma, unless
you taunted first, unless you taunted for a reason, such as taking their attention away from a
ship you're trying to defend.
Essentially, the way to avoid bad karma is to do your job, honor your word, act consistently,
and be yourself (Burrows).

Cumulative karma results in bad things. Primarily, it reduces trust: You can speak sweetly to
a faction till you're blue in the face and not gain any sympathy from them if your karma has
maxed out bad. (See also Company and Base Trust.)
Good karma increases the probabilities of bartenders giving you useful tips; --it increases
the probabilities of them talking to you in general. If you're maxed out in bad karma, barmen
will ignore you, and just give you a standard line.
With good karma, you can increase the morale of your companions by saying nice things to them.
With bad karma, nice things you say are received with mistrust, and fail to raise morale.
Another consequence of karma is how allies in battle react to accidental "friendly fire".
Finally, with maxed-out good karma, there's a trickle of good will that will cause all your
faction relationships other than sworn enemies to slowly drift towards the positive. Once a
month or so, most of your faction stats go up by 1% or so. If your karma is maxed out bad,
the trickle goes the other way.

There should be no numeric 'stat' showing your karma; but we could think of some texture we
could alpha-blend on Burrows' face... Maybe pimples, or a reddening, or hairs growing on the
nose, particular wrinkles... Not sure, at the moment. So but as the karma approaches -100, the
un-trust-worthy version of the face of Burrows approaches full alpha or something.