I recently started playing this game, and on the reputation screen I noticed it says "Currently, your reputation has no consequences." So, I presume having a strong reputation one way or another will have some kind of positive and negative effects. I tried looking around but I could not find mentions anywhere what kind of effects the various reputations will have. So now I am asking here if anyone could help enlighten me on the subject so I can make a more informed decision in pursuing different career paths.

From GameFAQ's:

- Pirate will make pirates friendly towards you, but make cargo ships turn hostile when you get near them.
- Bounty hunter will make you get attacked by pirates more often.
- Smuggler will make you get scanned by the police more often.
- Trader will give you better prices when trading
- Killer will cause you to be permanently shadowed by at least one police ship, ready to pounce on the first sign of misbehavior.
- Mercenary will give you better rewards for completing missions.

Despite the appearance of the screen, none of these reputations (or classes as they tend to be called) are mutually exclusive, but they will decay over time if you neglect to do the things that increase their status. With the exception of trader and mercenary (and possibly pirate if you wish to travel in pirate rich systems), that isn't a bad thing.