Guilt
Guilt is a hidden mechanic added by Secrets of the Frontier. It represents both the player's internal guilt from committing atrocities and betraying others, and the attention they have gathered from a malevolent adaptive nanite swarm.
Obtaining Guilt
Guilt can be obtained from the following:
- Playing The Haunted custom start. (7)
- Betraying Sierra by selling her to the Tri-Tachyon scientist on Culann in the Hybrasil star system (5 for her core alone, 8 if she has officially joined the fleet)
- Performing saturation bombardments. The guilt accrual is 1/2/3/4 for colonies of at least size 3/4/6/8.
- Kicking the idol at the Luddic shrine on Killa in the Yma system. (3, increased to 7 if playing The Haunted)
- Taking the alpha core for oneself during the Technology Cache mission. (0.5)
- Not waving to Alviss Sebestyen during the Finding Coureuse mission. (0.5)
- Giving the Planetkiller to the Luddic Path during The Scythe of Orion. (1)
Some (but not all) sources of major guilt accrual include mentions of the player feeling a so-called breath of everwinter down their neck.
Reducing Guilt
Guilt can be reduced by the following actions. Note that there are no repeatable sources of guilt reduction.
- Giving a Planetkiller to the Knights of Ludd. (-1)
- Giving a Planetkiller to Rigging-Echo-Inadvertent and choosing the "I don't want a reward. Just take the thing." option. (-1)
The following sources of Guilt reduction do not apply during The Haunted custom start:
- Meditating at the idol at the Luddic shrine on Killa in the Yma system. (-0.5)
- Offering Sierra to the Tri-Tachyon scientist on Culann in the Hybrasil star system, and then making fun of them for thinking you were serious. (-0.5)
- Waving to Alviss Sebestyen during the Finding Coureuse mission. (-0.5)
Consequences
Guilt does not inherently make the player an enemy of Sierra or the Dustkeeper Contingency, only the saturation bombardment that builds guilt.
Once guilt reaches 4 or higher, the player becomes subject to adaptive nanite swarm invasions. Furthermore, once at 7 guilt, the player suffers from guilt madness, which warps their perception of the swarm into an ethereal spirit of vengeance, Felcesis Thrice-Speared. Each point of guilt increases the chance of any given battle being invaded by an additional 9%.
Details on nanite swarm invasions are described in its own article.
Additionally, reaching 4 guilt slightly alters Eidolon's dialogue during The Wayward Star and slightly increases the fight's difficulty by increasing her fleet's strength.