Mercenary Registry

When the number of active Military pilots fell below a critical threshold, Quantar hurriedly reinstituted a series of regulations used in the past for a cadre of paramilitary pilots known as "Honor Guard". Octavius and Solrain swiftly followed suit. The Mercenary flight registry, as it it now known, relaxes several key restrictions and permits Mercenary pilots to take up arms against hostile Military pilots, and each other, at will.

To switch your registry to Mercenary, you must be a registered Civilian pilot at any home faction station. Note that, as a temporary measure, the Mercenary registry is accessed by cancelling the Military registry at the enlistment dialog.

Rank 9+ and a positive political rating are the only requirements, though a battle-worthy ship and at least minimal combat training with other pilots in the simulator are very highly recommended.

At present, a Mercenary pilot may return to Civilian status at any home faction station, at any time.

Targeted Mercenary pilots are marked on the observer's HUD with a traditional bright white crossed-swords emblem.

• Mercenary pilots have the combat pilot privilege of flipping beacons under the control of opposing factions, formerly only accessible to Military pilots and those with Pirate registries.
• Mercenary pilots suffer no political rating penalties when downing another Mercenary of any faction, when downing a Pirate, or when downing Military of a hostile faction. Hostile Military likewise suffers no penalty for downing a Mercenary.
• Mercenary pilots will incur political rating and bounty penalties when downing a Military pilot of a friendly faction, and to a lesser extent when downing a Military of a neutral faction.
• Mercenaries suffer normal political rating and bounty penalties in the event that a Civilian pilot is downed. Civilians likewise suffer normal penalties for downing a Mercenary pilot.
• As combat pilots, Mercenaries are prohibited from docking at hostile factional stations.
• Mercenaries are treated as Civilians for purposes of visiting any player-owned station.
• Mercenaries do not receive demerits, as they are not part of their factional military. They may, however, be marked as Pirates as a direct result of political rating penalties incurred by their actions.
• Mercenaries are responsible for their own insurance, just as Civilian pilots are.