OK: Usually, when you shoot people down, their rep towards you goes bad and their enemies are pleased. This is the main reason I spend a while beating up the Xenos when I first kick off a game: they're the most universally hated faction in Sirius and kicking the frak out of them gains me a lot of allies.
Now, when you shoot down Nomads (who should be even more hated than the Xenos, because they're brainsucking alien parasites) nothing happens. Not even the ORDER likes you any better!
The key is that there are two columns of rep: one's called "Reputation" and one's called "Empathy". Reputation comes into play when you buy off someone using a rep-hack. Empathy comes into play when you shoot people down.
As the mod stands (I noticed it in 4.80 final and tracked it to 4.81 beta three), the Nomads have no Empathy listing. They should have a heavy negative empathy listing against The Order, Bounty Hunters, Zoners, Outcasts, and Corsairs (and anyone else likely to encounter them), and perhaps a weaker negative empathy rating against everyone else (who may have heard of the Nomads but don't have any personal issues). They also have no rep-hack so you can't buy 'em off, so their Rep ratings are useless.
The Order, likewise has no Empathy. They should have negative empathy versus the Nomads and Bounty Hunters and perhaps a few others. Ditto the useless Rep rating as there's no rep-hack to buy off the Order.
For balance, Empathy always is equal between factions. If the Kusari Navy has a negative .40 empathy for the Blood Dragons, the Dragons have a negative .40 empathy for the Kusari Navy. IE, "You hate on me, I hate on you". Alliances work the same way, just that they're positive instead of negative values. So shooting down the Xenos pisses off the Zoners (+.15), Bundschuh (+.10) and Synth Foods (+.05) a bit. The worst I've seen an empathy rating get is (-.45): that's how much the Liberty Navy/LPI and Xenos like to see each other get blown up.
For those of you looking for a guiltless buy-off, buy off the Zoners... preferably after you've beaten the Xenos into the stone-age and earned a little disapproval. It never hurts to buy off the Zoners (even though they supposedly make the Corsairs and Outcasts edgy).
FYI, you can read all empathy information under the Reputation column of the FLS102 program from Lancer's Reactor. FLStat ver 1.02 compressed file attached.
TarNutz
"There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to change. It is to inflict the maximum amount of wound, damage and death on the enemy in the minimum amount of time." - General George S. Patton, AKA "Old Blood 'n' Guts"
