Please Help me with ID and IFF concepts

[Jan_Mattys]

Just to explain /droprep a little..

Lets say your IFF reads Liberty Police, but your other fully friendly faction is Universal Shipping. If you want to switch your IFF over to Universal, /droprep will set the Liberty Police reputation to just below friendly; the highest form of neutral. This causes you to lose the Police IFF. If you have another full friendly faction after that - in this case, Universal - that faction will become your new IFF. The faction you have all the way at the bottom of the reputation window is your IFF, as long as it is full green and the text is flashing at you.

Thanks to genius code writers, most IDs will automatically keep the same IFF flashing as your ID. It will also make sure the proper factions are white, green, or red to you. There are exceptions to this, and Freelancer ID is one of them. Miner ID will adjust some reputations, but not everything.

Something else to keep in mind: Red doesn't always mean dead, especially if you are a Freelancer. People love their roleplaying in this community, so if you ever come across a pirate, try and talk to them for a bit. They may or may not lower the amount of credits they ask, but they'll appreciate the interaction all the same.

Lastly, see if any mining player factions are recruiting! They could teach you how the game works, plus where to mine for more profitable minerals besides helium. Having friends to back you up while you are new is always good.

Very insightful advice. Thanks a lot.
Also, I already got robbed by a pirate in my first run with Discovery, but I must say it has been a quite pleasant experience.
As I said, I'm here to roleplay as much as shoot at things, so I already intended to follow your advice.