Federation Fast Ranking Help
- Thread starter Vurosia
- Start date
That's quite a vague answer and doesn't actually address the issue of how to do rank grind any faster. From what I can tell the "fastest" way is 17 Draconis but the cost is prohibitively expensive for the higher ranks after Lieutenant. I've done quite a bit of Sothis runs for credits and the Fed rank improvement was minimal, maybe 2-4% for a typical Sothis run that takes upwards of 2-3 hours including travel time to and from Sothis and waiting for the missions to refresh. It was actually easier doing a Sothis run for credits, taking the 20 mil credits I earned from that (around 8 million/hr) and using that to pay for donation missions at 17 Draconis. That's why I spent 15-20 million at 17 Draconis, I figured that I could make the money back at Sothis faster than I could grind the Fed rank by doing missions. If there's a faster way to get Fed rank I would definitely be interested but when I was doing rank grind from Ensign to Lieutenant at 17 Draconis I was getting around 25-35% per hour from donation missions which was costing me around 5 mil/hr and since I could make 8 mil/hr from Sothis runs this was effectively trading 1 hour of Sothis long-range hauling income for around 35-50% rank progress from Ensign to Lieutenant. If I tried progression just with missions then the rank progress would be far slower since the long-haul Sothis missions that were Fed-affiliated would maybe give 1% rank grind, and regular missions would require 2-4 missions to get 1% progress. So I don't see how running missions will be faster than spending credits at 17 Draconis. I haven't tried running missions between Sothis/Ceos but I would expect that would still be much slower than the 17 Draconis donation missions. The issue here is that the next rank will cost me around 35-50 million credits of donation missions at 17 Draconis and that is 4-6 hours of Sothis runs and at that point the cost of the donation missions really isn't worth it to keep progressing.
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Like ^^^ he said, conditions change and what was a good place to grind rank last week isn't good to grind this week because of socio-economic and political forces in that system. You need to be able to recognize the conditions favorable to grinding rank and take advantage of them so move around and see which systems are "good" this week for ranking up. Boom states. Expansion states, etc. Avoid famine states and states at war (although the opportunities will be there, just different opportunities).
Again, that's extremely vague and doesn't help with my current situation. Even with optimal conditions I don't see getting more than 1% rank progression at Lieutenant per mission and that is typically with a long-range hauling mission, the regular missions are even lower progression. If there are missions that give substantially more than this you need to specify what they are and how to find them. Saying "fly around and see what's good for ranking" isn't useful at my stage, I've already done that up to Lieutenant and haven't found anything that comes close to 17 Draconis/Fehu. I've run hundreds of missions from various factions in systems with various states when I was collecting Engineering mats and never saw any of them give more than 1% rank progression per mission. That is 100 missions to get to the next rank just around Ensign/Lieutenant level and is very inefficient unless you know of some other method. If there are specific missions you know of that give more than this (i.e., upwards of 2-3% per mission at these ranks instead of 1%) or somewhere that reliably offers large numbers of moderate progression (i.e., several stackable 1% missions), then say so. Giving vague suggestions like "figure out how to rank up with the right missions" just isn't helpful, particularly when the system states in the universe map are completely inaccurate and can't even be used to reliably predict which systems are in any particular state.
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I got Rear Admiral a few weeks back. You want TUN. I tried every way I could to avoid it. I LOATHE that system. I HATE being a delivery boy. In the end, after doing the "Time vs Rep Gain" math, TUN came out the winner. My last promotion I was getting 4 data delivery missions per 1% and took about a solid week.
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Ceos/Sothis doesn't have enough FED factions to make it worth your while. You'll make cash, but not rank. At least not at higher ranks.
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17 Draconis works, if they are giving out the donation missions. Be warned, it's expensive, but do-able if you choose 200k and less missions. Figure about 70-100 million for the last rank. Also, it can dry up for no reason. BAMM ! Suddenly the donation missions are gone for days/weeks. I can see a good 300-400 million going from nothing to Rear Admiral. Depends on the mission RNG and your patience. I made two mid-level ranks there before the missions dried up. I spent another two days waiting for them to come back. If they are there when you show up, don't log out, call in sick, and spend until your bank account is empty or you get the rank you want.
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Taribes works, but you have a longer round trip than TUN at about 25-40 LYs. An AspX with a G5 FSD might make this acceptable.. but otherwise you're doing multiple jumps per delivery.
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TUN, as objectionable as it seems, is your best bet. Lots of FED factions, delivering to FED factions, all within one hop. If you check each delivery point, you can often pick up more deliveries for TUN or other stops on your circuit. Sometimes even donation missions. I managed 7-10% per run, each run taking 3-4 hours including mode switching to stack 20 missions before lifting off. Just make sure you choose the right systems or you'll get hosed with deliveries to stations 200,000 ls out from the arrival point. Can't remember the names, but there are 6 or so that are good, the rest blow chunks.
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If I was starting at 'zero', I'd do Ceos/Sothis first, build money and rank ( rep missions first, then LR Delivery ). When the going got slow I'd switch to Tun/Taribes, and finally when you get to the last two or three ranks, hit 17 Draconis and spend the money you made at Ceos/Sothis.
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Ceos/Sothis doesn't have enough FED factions to make it worth your while. You'll make cash, but not rank. At least not at higher ranks.
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17 Draconis works, if they are giving out the donation missions. Be warned, it's expensive, but do-able if you choose 200k and less missions. Figure about 70-100 million for the last rank. Also, it can dry up for no reason. BAMM ! Suddenly the donation missions are gone for days/weeks. I can see a good 300-400 million going from nothing to Rear Admiral. Depends on the mission RNG and your patience. I made two mid-level ranks there before the missions dried up. I spent another two days waiting for them to come back. If they are there when you show up, don't log out, call in sick, and spend until your bank account is empty or you get the rank you want.
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Taribes works, but you have a longer round trip than TUN at about 25-40 LYs. An AspX with a G5 FSD might make this acceptable.. but otherwise you're doing multiple jumps per delivery.
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TUN, as objectionable as it seems, is your best bet. Lots of FED factions, delivering to FED factions, all within one hop. If you check each delivery point, you can often pick up more deliveries for TUN or other stops on your circuit. Sometimes even donation missions. I managed 7-10% per run, each run taking 3-4 hours including mode switching to stack 20 missions before lifting off. Just make sure you choose the right systems or you'll get hosed with deliveries to stations 200,000 ls out from the arrival point. Can't remember the names, but there are 6 or so that are good, the rest blow chunks.
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If I was starting at 'zero', I'd do Ceos/Sothis first, build money and rank ( rep missions first, then LR Delivery ). When the going got slow I'd switch to Tun/Taribes, and finally when you get to the last two or three ranks, hit 17 Draconis and spend the money you made at Ceos/Sothis.
What sort of mission type and values should I expect to see for these Sothis/Ceos missions when I first arrive?
I docked there yesterday and tbh they looked terrible compared to the smuggling missions I've been stacking for 50m per trip in my Python with 240 cargo at a nearby system!
I docked there yesterday and tbh they looked terrible compared to the smuggling missions I've been stacking for 50m per trip in my Python with 240 cargo at a nearby system!
Negative. 17 Draconis just entered a Lockdown and offer 0 mission at all since yesterday.
First you will need to do a lot of courrier mission between the two system.
Then once you will be cordial/Ally.
You will have deliiver Hydrogen and Biowaste mission each of rewarding minimum 1 millions to transport the stuff back to the bubble.
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If there were missions that gave more then a percentage of a percentage at the last two ranks, I'd walk over piles of bodies to get them. My last rank I was getting 4 missions per 1%. That was 400 missions JUST FOR THE LAST RANK. That is what makes TUN the place of choice. You can stack 20 one hop missions, and do them all in a night. Picking up new missions for other points on your route and finding donation missions, you can make 7-10% progression in 3-4 hours at Post Commander/Captain. Still takes a solid week per rank but at least you can see an end to it.
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Sux big time, and believe me, I looked for shortcuts. Aside for 17 Draconis handing out donation missions, I didn't find any. And I figure even 17 Draconis isn't a true shortcut, since it doesn't take into account the time it took to make the money to afford the shortcut ! You'll spend an evening doing a Ceos/Sothis run, and then another hoping you get donation missions. Or you can just do Tun. You can optimize it, but you can't avoid it.
If I have a tonne of exploration data will that kick-start my reputation with the factions there?
Also I presume a 'Conda would be the best ship for these transport missions?
I also found a system called Seyar or something like that with a station named Bumkar or something in B.
Lots of federation guy in giving missions.
From memory, Aktzin is a bad one too. Best ones are Taranis (1 lone outpost directly orbiting the star and super close) and Alrai (1 station, pretty close). Hyperion and Perendi can be annoying too as they have two stations each, and escaping the gravity well of a planet is long enough that it may actually be worth jumping out and back in if you need to deliver to the second station. Oh, and Bhotega is a close-ish binary, which may (though rarely) drop you inside the companion star with a bit of a heat scare.
Thank you.
On my way to Maia I made a pit stop at 42 N Persi (just ~260Ly away from Sol), the only Outpost there has a Fed officer that only want's donations at the moment - even while the system is in Boom state.
So you'll get a RA to unlock the Corvette. Then what?...
...is the question I keep asking myself. Last time I glanced at my stats it was at 3% "Lieutenant" in an Anaconda still working thru unlocking Marco Qwent so I visited Sothis and Ceos the first time yesterday to start ranking up with Sirius. I like the Corvette's looks myself but I don't think it has that much edge over the Annie from what I've seen and read around the forums. Ship transfer will change that somewhat since it will offset the rather abysmal jump range but in terms of flexibility I don't think anything in the current lineup beats the Annie.
When I get the rank and the 800M to equip it, plus turning Elite to unlock Founder's World--no way will I run around finding A-rated components in stock again like I had to for the Anaconda--then I'll buy one to take it to the Engineers immediately for upgrades. Until then I'm not worried about focusing on the Federal ranking alone; it happens when it will. Unlocking the rest of the Engineers for me had far more impact at this stage of progress in the game.
In terms of "Thargoid Anxiety" I think I will taste the same as their next meal regardless of whether I'm garnished a'la Corvette or a'la Anaconda...
...is the question I keep asking myself. Last time I glanced at my stats it was at 3% "Lieutenant" in an Anaconda still working thru unlocking Marco Qwent so I visited Sothis and Ceos the first time yesterday to start ranking up with Sirius. I like the Corvette's looks myself but I don't think it has that much edge over the Annie from what I've seen and read around the forums. Ship transfer will change that somewhat since it will offset the rather abysmal jump range but in terms of flexibility I don't think anything in the current lineup beats the Annie.
When I get the rank and the 800M to equip it, plus turning Elite to unlock Founder's World--no way will I run around finding A-rated components in stock again like I had to for the Anaconda--then I'll buy one to take it to the Engineers immediately for upgrades. Until then I'm not worried about focusing on the Federal ranking alone; it happens when it will. Unlocking the rest of the Engineers for me had far more impact at this stage of progress in the game.
In terms of "Thargoid Anxiety" I think I will taste the same as their next meal regardless of whether I'm garnished a'la Corvette or a'la Anaconda...
I think that's what most of the rush to get a Corvette is about. It was for me. But getting a 'Vette is just the start. Then it's money to outfit, figuring about 700+ million. Then engineers mods. So it's at the extreme end of expensive for both time and money.
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But I will say, that in the hands of equally skilled pilots, the 'Vette has the edge over the Annie for combat. It turns better, and that alone allows you to put the the weapons on target more often. It isn't an unstoppable engine of death. But a fully modded one is pretty close.
Anaconda vs. Corvette . . .
From the small amount of research I have done the Corvette holds only a bit more cargo than the Anaconda, has potentially significantly better armament and better turn rate ("rate kills"), at the cost of much lower jump range. I am grinding for the Corvette myself, just to have it. Once you have your Founders World permit, A-rated modules will not be a problem since both ships and most if not all modules are available at Jameson's and at a 10% discount.
From the small amount of research I have done the Corvette holds only a bit more cargo than the Anaconda, has potentially significantly better armament and better turn rate ("rate kills"), at the cost of much lower jump range. I am grinding for the Corvette myself, just to have it. Once you have your Founders World permit, A-rated modules will not be a problem since both ships and most if not all modules are available at Jameson's and at a 10% discount.
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Why wait? The Corvette is sitting for 20% off at Borr?