Can't send agent to enemies

[Midnightknight]

Alright, so i tried to play exactly like DR is supposed to force me, trying to steal the 200MJ shield fab to the argon again and again, might be the 7 or 8th agent i send for nothing, but it's not the issue.

As it takes really forever and since i need to farm missions to get more agents , my rep went down and down and down, as all my agents were sent to steal the blueprint and trying to raise the rep was useless anyway as i was too high with the splits and even 1000 influence couldn't get me back into a neutral threshold.
So at somepoint argons turned red and i used this opportunity to board a griffon to inaugurate the slaughter. The issue is now i can't send a agent to steal a blueprint, the shipyards aren't selectable in any sector, and i have the same issue with Pirates (I'm at the lowest rank possible with them) making me completely unable to get those blueprints and make the factories.

[Da-V-Man]

I had this recently with the Strong Arms Corporation.

I think it has to do with the % modifier that you see in the main diplomacy view. You can select it and it will show you the breakdown of different modifiers. It seems the more ships/etc you destroy, the higher % malus you get. I had one that was over 100%, but it was on a timer. Once the malus went away I was able to attempt a steal again.

I guess the solution is to not be too aggressive against them.

[Ramdat]

As it takes really forever and since i need to farm missions to get more agents , my rep went down and down and down

Farm agent missions with Teladi to protect your notoriety.

So at somepoint argons turned red and i used this opportunity to board a griffon to inaugurate the slaughter. The issue is now i can't send a agent to steal a blueprint, the shipyards aren't selectable in any sector, and i have the same issue with Pirates (I'm at the lowest rank possible with them) making me completely unable to get those blueprints and make the factories.

The influence cost for agent actions is effected by your notoriety with that faction, and recent events which can effect it positively or negatively, such as completing their missions and destroying their ships respectively. If the action requires over 1000 influence you have to raise relations first or wait for the malus to expire.

When you select the Steal Blueprint task, look at the influence cost and bonus from this menu to determine the problem.

As the previous post said, it is not a good idea to be aggressive to whichever faction you are using agents against.

[Hwitvlf]

I found out the same way as you that the 'aggression' factor is even more important than your relationship rank when doing diplomacy stuff. You have to make sure your patrolling ships aren't attacking them either.

[Deathifier]

The bonus percentage in the diplomacy screen shows how the cost of an agent action is modified.

If the cost goes beyond what you can spend the stations simply don't appear as targets, causing some confusion.

If you've been aggressive (e.g. attacked their stuff in their own sectors) you can get -100% for a lengthy period of time and it basically stops most agent actions against that faction until the timer runs out.

[Midnightknight]

Yeah so now that i have borons and argons constantly going in my sector and having to kill them i won't be able, ever, to send agents to them again, cause i'm the one "aggressive". Perfect design.

[Hwitvlf]

I just went through something similar with the Split where I needed the Rastar/Chelt blueprints to complete a new complex. I ended up taking a few Split mission in order to improve relations and end hostilities. I look at it as a temporary ceasefire. My Split rank is not high, but high enough to stop ships from attacking each other. Now I wage diplomatic war by sending agents to steal all their tech. Soon, all the ships in my fleet will be equipped with knockoff Spacefly collectors and then they'll be unstoppable!!