I don't know the purpose to some of the buildings out in the Wasteland. They are clearly abandoned (hell some are called "Abandoned ") yet I don't feel comfortable prospecting in them because everything is labeled as being owned (red) and since I have no idea what faction is claiming ownership of the building, I don't want to take anything. Would be nice if someone adds a way to mark items' ownership by faction.

HaHaHa! good question.

What’s funny is, with factions like the Powder Gang, you get GOOD karma for killing them, but BAD karma for taking their stuff afterwards.WTF?

Yeah ok, blow their brains out; just don’t take their squirrel on a stick. Because THAT’S messed up.

[quote name='RobotMilk' date='25 October 2010 - 04:12 PM' timestamp='1288051946' post='16565754']
What’s funny is, with factions like the Powder Gang, you get GOOD karma for killing them, but BAD karma for taking their stuff afterwards.WTF?

Yeah ok, blow their brains out; just don’t take their squirrel on a stick. Because THAT’S messed up.
:rofl:

I like how my "reply" failed ^

[quote name='JoeizMa' date='25 October 2010 - 05:15 PM' timestamp='1288052143' post='16565793']
I like how my "reply" failed ^
[/quote]

Edit the closing [/quote] tag into it.

The faction system is messed up in this game. You have friendly groups attacking you on site and groups being your best buddy when you're supposedly vilified. It messes up entire quests *cough*nelson*cough* because the people you're attacking won't even shoot back sometimes.

The faction system (working or otherwise) has nothing to do with theft.

The plain truth is this: Each object in the game has two states. It is either "owned" or "unowned". It's pretty binary. If you steal something "owned", you lose karma. Period. End of story. There is no "owned by" association. The object doesn't belong to anyone. It is simply "owned".

Objects have no faction association, and they never will, because the foundation isn't there for it. The game can't even keep track of whose supposed to shoot at you and who is supposed to talk to you. Do you really think its going to be able to handle something so complex as when its appropriate to steal?

Yeah it svcks, but the truth is, you would have to steal one hell of a lot of stuff in order to ruin your good karma. While it might give you bad karma, it's only a thimble full. You can take it.

I have to disagree to a point, i do good to everybody and choose good choices but steal a ton and im known as villian of the wasteland or something like that but i dont care cause stealing makes a whole ton of money so i just threw that out the window

So what you're saying is that you made it a point to "steal one hell of a lot of stuff" and it "ruined your good karma". Doesn't sound like a disagreement.
:laugh:

It is good though that stealing as some effect at least. It would be rather nonsensical to have it linked to karma only to have no effect at all.

Just take it, is my advice. Karma isn't the game-changer it was in FO3, and frankly if you don't steal stuff you're not going to get very far. What matters in this game is faction rep. Of course, if you walk into an NCR tent, while a trooper is in there, and start stealing, you're going to face his gun. But generally, in the wasteland, if you steal then that's for you and your maker to work out later

Actually, it does affect your faction status. Steal enough [censored] from a faction, and you lose status with them. I had gotten to vilified against Ceasar simply by robbing the camp while I was there on his invitation, without attacking anyone.

This. lol. Don't understand it either. If you can kill them and get karma you should be able to loot their stuff.

I think you only gain infamy if someone sees you stealing.

The problem is that the Owned rules are applied inconsistently. Sometimes things that should be 'owned' are okay to take (stuff in Doc Mitchell's house), while other times stuff out in the wastes is marked as owned even though it seems abandoned.

Sometimes the owned tag doesn't seem to work properly, too. I was in the Novac gas station gathering crafting supplies. The stuff wasn't showing red, but suddenly I got a message about being vilified by Novac? After the message, suddenly all the stuff was showing in red! I reloaded to a recent autosave and went back, and this time the stuff was showing as owned. By keeping hidden, I stole it all without ruining my reputation in Novac.