Cutlass leveling - more rep per swing? (not)
 

I've noticed in all of the guides, the general consensus is "the more times you hit the enemy, the more rep you get". Which seems true at first glance: I hit a level 6 soldier 17 times, and get 17 rep. However, I go to the same level 6 soldier, and hit him maybe 9 times using combos, and get 17 rep.

Now, using my pistol, shooting 20 times yields more rep than shooting four times with Take Aim. It seems to only be this way with cutlass. Is it the exception?

Hack (the first attack on Cutlass) gives you 1 rep per hit. So if you hit it 17 times, you get 17 reps :P However, if you use combos, slash, cleave.. etc all yield different reps PER hit with that particular attack. It's just coincidence that it also added up to 17 reps. But, it's true, the more times you can hit an enemy with CERTAIN attacks, the more rep you get. Happy pirating (:

The link below leads to the reputation guide which does a pretty good job of explaining how reps are rewarded, not only is it the number of attacks, but different attacks have different rewards. Since the max possible reps is usually the goal, and reps are rewarded based on a. attacks used, b. number of times each attack is used, and c. survival, one must weigh in a few alternatives to determine what combination will yield the most, and it will vary from enemy to enemy, weapon to weapon, level to level.

http://www.piratesonlineforums.com/f...ead.php?t=6926

An example, regarding one thing you mentioned. Using Take Aim with pistol will reward more reps, but it does more damage, so you get in fewer attacks.
Higher rewards, fewer attacks (hint release it the second the power bar shows up to do least possible damage, and increase number of attacks).

Thanks for the clarification, that makes things a lot simpler.