About the rank system

[CMDR Jacobra]

Alright so I have spent a while in Fed space farming rep and trying to get Fed Navy missions (I am now allied with the Feds and all minor fed factions). Unfortunately I have only gotten one which has given me the rank of recruit. Eventually I decided to take a break and flew over to the Empire for a change of scenery.

At this point I was friendly with the Imperials. I looked on the bulliten board, and what do I see? An Imperial Navy mission. After completing it I got another and then another and so on. I went from no rank to Knight with the empire over the course of two hours. Only after I got Squire did become allied with the Imperials.

After this experience with the rank system I am going to the only reasonable question to ask.

What the hell is going on?

 

[Crazy Jedi]

Yeah.. It's erm imperfect and sometimes seems a bit random.
My experience in the fed navy was patchy.. Levelled to recruit after much sweat and work.. Then seemed to progress quite rapidly to petty officer and then LT COMMANDER.
I haven't advanced any further but that's because I am a long way from fed space avoiding power play.
i progressed quite well because every time I ran out of navy missions I would move to a new fed area and work until the navy missions appeared again. It seemed to take variable amounts of time for this to happen though. I think it's related to mission type. I think if you BH your way to friendly status it will happen faster than freight and data courier.
the problem for me was that, after all that work all I am entitled to is the lousy drop ship !

 

[CMDR Jacobra]

Yeah I don't think the dropship is worth the work. But i really want to go to SOL because that would be awesome.
We can look forward to the Fed Corvette though that thing looks beastly

I 'm avoiding powerplay as well. It's basically the same grind as the regular game minus the credits. It sucks imo.

 

[h347h]

Yeah I don't think the dropship is worth the work. But i really want to go to SOL because that would be awesome.
We can look forward to the Fed Corvette though that thing looks beastly

I 'm avoiding powerplay as well. It's basically the same grind as the regular game minus the credits. It sucks imo.

Its the most profitable thing in the game currently... I am starting to believe the people slamming it are people who just don't understand it. Kind of like witches back in the day.

 

[Samosa]

Its the most profitable thing in the game currently... I am starting to believe the people slamming it are people who just don't understand it. Kind of like witches back in the day.

Witches were profitable?

 

[CMDR Jacobra]

h347h are you referring to the top tier rewards for it? Like the whole 50 mil per week bounus thing? Because other than that I fail to see how its the most profitable thing in game. Bounty hunting and using CZ I can make a sizable profit (and I don't get hunted down by other players) whereas I would have to grind for weeks to get that bonus from my power(and keep grinding to stay at my rank). I don't know if I am missing something or not please expand on your thought.

 

[h347h]

h347h are you referring to the top tier rewards for it? Like the whole 50 mil per week bounus thing? Because other than that I fail to see how its the most profitable thing in game. Bounty hunting and using CZ I can make a sizable profit (and I don't get hunted down by other players) whereas I would have to grind for weeks to get that bonus from my power(and keep grinding to stay at my rank). I don't know if I am missing something or not please expand on your thought.

You just highlighted my point you don't understand it. The 50 mill for rank 5 is nothing compared to what I make during the week with the rank 5 bonus. That 50 mill is usually the loss leader for the week to keep the rank 5 going. You can make 15-30 mill doing HICZs as a rank 5 Hudson supporter. 50 million is nothing. It also is very quick to do the treadmill grind to keep it once you get there. I just spent a week doing undermining to get it. Most of it was done on the weekend. Once you get to the top its easy to stay there.

 

[CMDR Jacobra]

You are right. I now see that my knowledge of PP was lacking. I had no idea it was that effective.

I knew that higher ranks of supporters get bonuses on bounties but I didn't know that they also get that bonus on combat bonds (if that's what you are saying). Also, when you say 15 to 30 mil in CZ what length of time are we talking about?


P.S. Scince this thread is way off the topic of the original question just PM me with an answer if you want.

 

[Brujah]

You just highlighted my point you don't understand it. The 50 mill for rank 5 is nothing compared to what I make during the week with the rank 5 bonus. That 50 mill is usually the loss leader for the week to keep the rank 5 going. You can make 15-30 mill doing HICZs as a rank 5 Hudson supporter. 50 million is nothing. It also is very quick to do the treadmill grind to keep it once you get there. I just spent a week doing undermining to get it. Most of it was done on the weekend. Once you get to the top its easy to stay there.

So what you mean is, the system is great for those Powers that provide a tangible financial bonus.

If you look at Edmund Mahon's T5 bonus:

"50% increase on rare goods profits in controlled/exploited systems."

Not so much. Given you're going to have to be pretty wealthy to get to Tier 5 in the first place, the bonus profits really aren't going to add up to much. It will simply take too long to collect sufficient numbers of rare goods to make the bonus worthwhile compared to jumping in a Type 9 and hammering an A-to-B trade route.

Edit: Whereas the Tier 2 bonus (5-20% profit bonus) is mighty tasty, especially if Mahon could get up to 1st place in the galaxy standings.

 

[h347h]

So what you mean is, the system is great for those Powers that provide a tangible financial bonus.

If you look at Edmund Mahon's T5 bonus:

"50% increase on rare goods profits in controlled/exploited systems."

Not so much. Given you're going to have to be pretty wealthy to get to Tier 5 in the first place, the bonus profits really aren't going to add up to much. It will simply take too long to collect sufficient numbers of rare goods to make the bonus worthwhile compared to jumping in a Type 9 and hammering an A-to-B trade route.

Edit: Whereas the Tier 2 bonus (5-20% profit bonus) is mighty tasty, especially if Mahon could get up to 1st place in the galaxy standings.

Rank 5 took me all of a week of play to get with no credits involved. I just decided id put off everything else for one week and undermine. I was able to make at least 1300 a day after work or school depending on the day each week day. I did a good chunk of it on the weekend between mowing and other house hold odds and ends. I will give you that's undermining is every ones thing but its the fastest way to get rank 5 with out dishing out any credits. And yeah not every power is created equal. But there are plenty for every profession, however the trade guy seems like it needs a serious look at.

 

[Brujah]

Rank 5 took me all of a week of play to get with no credits involved. I just decided id put off everything else for one week and undermine. I was able to make at least 1300 a day after work or school depending on the day each week day. I did a good chunk of it on the weekend between mowing and other house hold odds and ends. I will give you that's undermining is every ones thing but its the fastest way to get rank 5 with out dishing out any credits. And yeah not every power is created equal. But there are plenty for every profession, however the trade guy seems like it needs a serious look at.

I'm fairly sure it would take you more than a week if you were in a Sidewinder or an Adder or something.

But anyway, the balance between positive actions in your own system and aggressive actions in an enemy's system is shot. Apparently that's how FD want it, given they've just increased the rewards for undermining and made fortifying harder.

 

[Io_Sys]

Before patch 1.3 I was ranking up pretty quickly.
Made it to Chief petty officer in no time at all, made it to master with the imps for the upcoming imperial courier.

Now? I must have done hundreds of missions and yet no Fed navy rank missions have shown up, so I'm effectively barred from getting the fed dropship.
(well, I'm flying a FDL alongside my D.back Explorer, so meh.)
I've not ventured into imp space yet to see if the rank missions there are showing up, and yet I'm qualified to buy a Clipper.
(Which I did. Bought it in an independant Li-Rong Yui system for cheap. Then sold it, because it's terrible.)

 

[LosKevanos]

Lol... Topic shifted to power play...

Yes... The empire/federation ranking system is inconsistent... I was able to fly through the federation ranks in a very short time... Heading to empire space to get top rank there in my beloved FDS, not so much, taking forever, only Master.

and yeah... The poor alliance... Nobody cares to be alliance oriented because there is no rank system, there is no ship to unlock.

The general consensus believes that doing missions for a larger amount of systems allied to that particular major faction will increase the spawn rate of rank advancement missions/progression... But then we beg to ask... If it is so easy to become top rank in that faction, where is the honor in having it. I'm a post commander in the federation... So what, lol �� it really means nothing game wise... Just have to be ensign to get FDS... That only took a day... And yes, if you aren't combat prone, it really isn't a ship you can benefit in as a trader or explorer.

the grinds have to mean something, the ranks have to mean something.

 

[Brujah]

Lol... Topic shifted to power play...

Yes... The empire/federation ranking system is inconsistent... I was able to fly through the federation ranks in a very short time... Heading to empire space to get top rank there in my beloved FDS, not so much, taking forever, only Master.

and yeah... The poor alliance... Nobody cares to be alliance oriented because there is no rank system, there is no ship to unlock.

The general consensus believes that doing missions for a larger amount of systems allied to that particular major faction will increase the spawn rate of rank advancement missions/progression... But then we beg to ask... If it is so easy to become top rank in that faction, where is the honor in having it. I'm a post commander in the federation... So what, lol �� it really means nothing game wise... Just have to be ensign to get FDS... That only took a day... And yes, if you aren't combat prone, it really isn't a ship you can benefit in as a trader or explorer.

the grinds have to mean something, the ranks have to mean something.

Agreed. I'd like a system where the station only releases certain stuff when you're friendly/allied/a particular rank. As in, the top-rated commodities are locked out, the high rated components are locked out, some ships are locked out. Maybe even rearming could be locked out, or at least restricted (maybe you can rearm chaff and the like, but not weapons unless you're friendly? Then maybe Large and Huge weapons can only be rearmed at Allied?).

I dunno, would need a lot of tweaking to make sure it wasn't totally screwing people.

 

[IronGremlin]

So, supposedly this is bugged right now, but every time you turn in a bounty or sell commodities, you are adding to a hidden exp bar towards rank with the associated major faction.

So the empire could freaking love you just because you sold them a boatload of fruit 8 months ago, and if you didn't hang around in emipire stations long enough for the little rank up missions to randomly spawn, you'd have no idea.

 

[Brujah]

So, supposedly this is bugged right now, but every time you turn in a bounty or sell commodities, you are adding to a hidden exp bar towards rank with the associated major faction.

So the empire could freaking love you just because you sold them a boatload of fruit 8 months ago, and if you didn't hang around in emipire stations long enough for the little rank up missions to randomly spawn, you'd have no idea.

Unless you look at the Reputation screen on the Status panel and it tells you that your reputation with the Empire is Friendly, I guess?