Haggling, blackmail & threats

Every negotiation can be pushed harder than the opening offer. You can mark the price up, lean on what you know about someone, or invent a threat outright. Each has a chance of working and a price when it doesn’t. These figures are read from game data.

Blackmail

Takes	20% of the value
Base chance they accept	60%
During a relevant station event	+15 to that chance
Reputation’s contribution	divided by 4
They refuse	-5 reputation

Blackmailing someone who is actually innocent is worse on both counts: a refusal costs -7 reputation, and there is a 50% chance they walk out instead, which costs -10.

Threats

A threat also takes 20%. Making one you can’t back up carries the same shape of risk as blackmailing an innocent: -7 reputation if they refuse, and a 50% chance they leave for -10.

Marking up and discounting

Event bonus to a markup	+15
Reputation’s contribution	divided by 6
Customer walks away	-3 reputation

Note the difference in those divisors: reputation counts for noticeably more when you blackmail (÷4) than when you simply push the price (÷6). Standing pays off most in the ugliest conversations.

Already unpopular? It costs double

When your reputation with a faction is negative, reputation penalties are multiplied by 2. A bad reputation is self-reinforcing: the same failed markup that costs 3 points normally costs 6 once you’re in the hole.

Less certain

Customer budget and other factors also affect whether an offer is accepted. Their combined effect is not yet confirmed, so the values above should not be treated as a complete success-chance calculator.

Source: game data, build demo 049-Rev3-L. Percentages and reputation penalties are exact; see the last section for what is not. Reputation itself is covered on Reputation & factions.