the point i started the post was mostly that there are "stats" other than ships and payment. i put a lot on the reputation of a mercenary. reputation of being trustworthy and also only to retreat when it is really the VERY last point of no return should earn a mercenary respect.
there is no "honor" system in freelancer and no scale on which you can set how trustworthy a merc is, which is sad. there isn t something like there is even on Ebay. marks for how satisfied the customer was with you. - and i still think such a value is the most important thing to a mercenary. - and sets him apart from his bounty hunters guild fellow.
what we do have is a tag / faction system, but that is - by the rules of the server, not being anything than costmetics. i wrote in another post that i d like it to actually be an indicator for generic factions. so a generic merc that is outcast tagged has or had the free choice of factions - and can .. with some work get rid of it again, but right NOW, he is on good terms with outcasts and on bad terms with corsairs - and for sure on rather bad terms with house forces.