I'm having a really weird reputation problem in my current modded game, and I'm hoping someone here has run into this before.

Basically, some of my faction relationships keep resetting whenever I completely restart Starsector.

For example, Interstellar Imperium keeps going back to -50, and Independents keep going back to around -25. I can use console commands to bring Imperium all the way up to +100, save the game, and everything looks perfectly normal.

I can even load that save again during the same game session and it will still be +100.

But if I completely close Starsector, start it again, and load the exact same save... nope. Imperium suddenly remembers that they hate me and I'm back to -50 again.

So somehow:

Save → Load = We're friends

Save → Quit Starsector → Start again → Load = I hate your guts

I'm doing a Diable Avionics run with Nexerelin and a pretty large mod list, so there are plenty of suspects.

I did look through starsector.log, and one interesting clue is that the reputation changes are actually happening while the campaign is loading, around loading stage 35. One of the stack traces points to: AoTDCommIntelPlugin.makeHostile(). which is from Ashes of the Domain – Question of Loyalty.

That obviously makes Question of Loyalty suspicious, but I'm not convinced it's necessarily the cause. I used Question of Loyalty in my previous playthrough and never had this issue.

Another problem is that every time I finish a run and start a new game, I usually update several of my mods to their newest versions. This time that included things like Nexerelin, LunaLib, and probably a few others. So unfortunately this isn't a nice scientific experiment where I changed one thing at a time. I basically changed five things and then asked, "Why is it broken?"

Because of that, it could be Question of Loyalty, Nexerelin, Diable Avionics, another updated mod, some interaction between them, or just something weird with this particular save.

Has anyone ever seen faction reputation reset specifically after completely restarting Starsector, while normal save/load during the same session works perfectly fine?

Just started my Diable Avionics run yesterday, and I have a question about the Phase Core.

Before starting the run, I watched a bunch of Diable Avionics showcase videos. In those videos, people make the Maelstrom look amazing — quick 90-degree phase turns, sideways phase dodges, casually avoiding incoming fire.

Then I actually tried it myself.

It is... a lot harder than it looks.

Let's say an enemy suddenly shows up on my right and I want to do a quick phase turn toward them. I need to hold D to turn right while also hitting F to phase.

Okay, a little awkward, but manageable.

Then I tried doing a sideways phase dodge to the right:

Shift + D + F

At this point I feel like I'm playing Starsector with a controller.

I MUST be doing something wrong. Is there an easier way to control the Phase Core / Maelstrom? Different keybinds? Some control setting I'm missing? Or is this actually how you guys fly it and I just need to grow another finger?

Also, question about the Diable Avionics quest:

I installed DAOF specifically because I wanted the DA quest content.

From what I understand, the quest starts once you're level 10 and have the Gulf.

So I searched Reddit trying to figure out how to get the Gulf, and the answer I found says I need Ship/Weapon Pack for the IBB bounty board, and that's how you eventually get the Gulf.

Is that still the correct way to get it?

So I just “beat” my current Starsector game this weekend.

You may ask: What exactly does beating Starsector mean?

Well, I beat the Hegemony.

I went into the Aztian system, established a foothold on Coatl so I had somewhere to repair my fleets, destroyed a frankly unreasonable number of Onslaughts, nuked Chicomoztoc’s Star Fortress, stole their Pristine Nanoforge, and gave it to the Duskeepers because I like them.

Then I finally took Chicomoztoc itself, looked at the smoking remains of the Hegemony, and decided:

Yep. Game beaten.

What faction was I playing?

Did I mention that I nuked a Star Fortress?

Yeah. UAF.

Not because UAF is strong, of course.

I only played them because they got updated recently.

That’s the story I’m sticking with.
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Anyway, now that my ego has received a completely undeserved +200% combat buff, I want to start another game with a “less strong” faction.

I’m thinking Diable Avionics, mostly because in my current game they had the honor of being the first and only faction completely wiped off the map by the Hegemony.

So clearly these are the guys I should play next.

Question 1: Which Diable Avionics should I use?

Right now I have Diable Avionics: Joestar Edition, but recently Diable Avionics: Original Flavor started showing up in my YouTube feed.

Original Flavor interests me because apparently it also has quests/content associated with it.

But then I read the description and saw that it calls itself a more “hardcore” take on Diable Avionics.

What exactly does “hardcore” mean here?

Because I already thought DA was pretty weak compared to factions like SFC, HMI or UAF.

Does Original Flavor make DA even weaker/harder to play, or is it more about changing the balance/playstyle?

For someone who wants a DA-focused campaign, which version would you recommend?

Question 2: How do you keep small factions alive in Nexerelin?

This is probably my bigger problem.

I play with Nexerelin, and DA starts in a pretty terrible position: only a few markets and right next to the Hegemony.

And the Hegemony apparently wakes up every morning and chooses violence.

Even if I set colony expeditions only after player colony → ture, factions can still attack each other normally. So I'm worried that before my character can put on his space pants, 99 Es is already going to have an XIV Legion fleet parked outside.

How do you guys handle campaigns where you want to play/support a faction that only starts with a few markets?

This is also why I haven't even installed Mayasuran Navy yet.

I heard they start with one market.

One.