I have been playing PP since week one but on Thursday morning this week I will finally be bowing out having made myself a very nice 320 million credits (plus change) along the way and having spent none of my own credits in getting there, other than speccing up my ships. I started Powerplay with Felicia Winters and have stuck with her all the way through.
Initially I was running an A-rated Viper and had very little cash in my account - less than half a million - but it soon became apparent that I needed way more cargo space for hauling leaflets so I went out and hunted down a few pirates to make enough cash for a speedy Type 6 Transporter. This was a new concept for me, no weapons of any type just good mirrored armour plating, shields and of course, the biggest powerplant, power distributor and thrusters the ship could take. It was all about getting out of situations quickly.
I remember some cocky kid commenting it looked like a piece of junk but I pointed out that although it didn't look like much it had it where it counted, having made a lot of 'special' modifications myself
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Well, after the first few weeks of running leaflets I was steadily advancing up the ranks but not really making the headway I needed. I had to spend a lot of time waiting to fill my hold with leaflets and it was just - boring. So I opted for the combat route - it's what I am best at anyway - so back I went to my trusty Viper.
By week 6 I had made enough to get into a Vulture (although I did have to put in some extra combat time in RES fields to bolster my funds). Now for those of you who have never had the pleasure of flying the Vulture, for me it's the ultimate small combat ship. Stick some class 3 gimballed beam lasers in those two big ol' large hardpoints and A rate all the components and your going to be a match for most of what you encounter one to one (or even 3 to 1) out in the black.
Week 7 was a game changer for me. Back in week 5 I had produced some graphics for the community explaining how decay worked with merit (you can find the guide here) and since that point had been looking at how long it would take me to make the jump to rating 5. Well, I decided to knuckle down and just hammer the game for several days and by the end of the week I had made it to the golden figure of 10 thousand merits but it was a massive slog, considering you only make 15 merits per kill in an enemy control system at Rank 4.
To my pleasant surprise, once you get to Rank 5 it's easy to stay there as you now get 30 merits per kill. As you only need 5,400 merits per week to stay within your 10,000 merits quota you only have to kill 180 ships a week. I was happily killing between 50 and a hundred a night.
The shine soon wore of though, I think I burnt myself out and these last few weeks have been tedious beyond belief. Last week I didn't even play so last Thursday I collected my last 50 million pay cheque and dropped to Rank 4. This Thursday, once I collect my 5 million I will be leaving powerplay for good with an A-rated Vulture and 305 million in the bank. That should see me right for a good while.
Now all I have to do is go and work my backside off doing nice jobs in the Empire as I am currently Hostile to the whole faction through my PP endeavours.
Fly safe commanders.
Cy
Initially I was running an A-rated Viper and had very little cash in my account - less than half a million - but it soon became apparent that I needed way more cargo space for hauling leaflets so I went out and hunted down a few pirates to make enough cash for a speedy Type 6 Transporter. This was a new concept for me, no weapons of any type just good mirrored armour plating, shields and of course, the biggest powerplant, power distributor and thrusters the ship could take. It was all about getting out of situations quickly.
I remember some cocky kid commenting it looked like a piece of junk but I pointed out that although it didn't look like much it had it where it counted, having made a lot of 'special' modifications myself
.Well, after the first few weeks of running leaflets I was steadily advancing up the ranks but not really making the headway I needed. I had to spend a lot of time waiting to fill my hold with leaflets and it was just - boring. So I opted for the combat route - it's what I am best at anyway - so back I went to my trusty Viper.
By week 6 I had made enough to get into a Vulture (although I did have to put in some extra combat time in RES fields to bolster my funds). Now for those of you who have never had the pleasure of flying the Vulture, for me it's the ultimate small combat ship. Stick some class 3 gimballed beam lasers in those two big ol' large hardpoints and A rate all the components and your going to be a match for most of what you encounter one to one (or even 3 to 1) out in the black.
Week 7 was a game changer for me. Back in week 5 I had produced some graphics for the community explaining how decay worked with merit (you can find the guide here) and since that point had been looking at how long it would take me to make the jump to rating 5. Well, I decided to knuckle down and just hammer the game for several days and by the end of the week I had made it to the golden figure of 10 thousand merits but it was a massive slog, considering you only make 15 merits per kill in an enemy control system at Rank 4.
To my pleasant surprise, once you get to Rank 5 it's easy to stay there as you now get 30 merits per kill. As you only need 5,400 merits per week to stay within your 10,000 merits quota you only have to kill 180 ships a week. I was happily killing between 50 and a hundred a night.
The shine soon wore of though, I think I burnt myself out and these last few weeks have been tedious beyond belief. Last week I didn't even play so last Thursday I collected my last 50 million pay cheque and dropped to Rank 4. This Thursday, once I collect my 5 million I will be leaving powerplay for good with an A-rated Vulture and 305 million in the bank. That should see me right for a good while.
Now all I have to do is go and work my backside off doing nice jobs in the Empire as I am currently Hostile to the whole faction through my PP endeavours.
Fly safe commanders.
Cy
