Advice on the best Imperial rank grind right now?

[BACKER #-4112]

Kill the Purple LTD. They're corporate. They're the root of all evil. Better keep the patron's principles.

I might not have to kill anyone as I'm sitting on 85% Prince, another 2 days of stacking missions in a Cutter between 3 neighbouring systems, I should finish ranking up.

Anyway, grinding rep for the first time and this is a pain. Really. How long did FD plan for the full ranking, without using "exploits", or killing oneself in an endless repetition of courier jobs? I do semi-RP playthroughs, while wrinting logs and there's just no way doing this makes sense. It would'nt kill to drop these requirements a little...

I did the Fed ranking in no time, I think it took me a couple of weeks or so, the last one was the hardest. Then I started doing the same with Empire and FD tweaked the way ranking worked.
It's taken me months with the Empire compared to weeks with the Federation. Soon I'll be done with it and head off to Alliance space, for something different.

 

[Godsailsaqueen]

I did the Fed ranking in no time, I think it took me a couple of weeks or so, the last one was the hardest. Then I started doing the same with Empire and FD tweaked the way ranking worked.
It's taken me months with the Empire compared to weeks with the Federation. Soon I'll be done with it and head off to Alliance space, for something different.

At least there seems to be no problem on my part, as I was beginning to wonder...
Well, I know the obvious answer to all this : if you don't like grinding for a ship, do not grind, so they say. Do your business and let the reputation grow over time. The thing is, if you do that, if you play the way you would normally play, you'd take a year or two to get to your goal, that's annoying. I just want a clipper. This is my 4th playthrough in 2 years, never tried the clipper, 1st time with the imps. It sits well where I want, big ship, big haul, fast. The clipper and the cutter have unique capabilities in the game, so it's not that weird that I'd want it for my character - and it's even weirder that I feel the need to justify myself haha.

But I have to suffer to get there, if I want to have it before christmas I have to play in the most boring way. "Soon I'll be done with it and head off to Alliance space, for something different.", as you say. It's revealing of this - "2 months of boring suffering before I can finally start playing the game" - situation everybody faces for rank restricted ships...

I liked the old system better, with dedicated missions to rank up further. I wonder why they were removed. Now, even finding a naval opportunity job is difficult, in order to rise to the next boring step, before watching the percentage increase again for days...

 

[BACKER #-4112]

Now, even finding a naval opportunity job is difficult, in order to rise to the next boring step, before watching the percentage increase again for days...

Once you reach 100% rank of [whatever], keep doing missions as you would normally, one will pop up eventually (some 5 to 10 jobs later).
I had to ditch the Cutter and pop into a Python, because the mission was to an outpost. They are still there.

Finally:

 

[Starbreaker]

Did the Duke - King grind at Fehu doing planet scan missions, and I earned 250+ million doing so, obviously I'm a masochist. Perhaps one day that King rank will have benefits, and when that day comes I don't have to worry about it.

 

[Rob_the_Sparky]

I ranked up from Serf to Duke during the last week, having played almost exclusively in Federation space for the last 2 years (where I have Admiral rank just from playing as I want).

For those like me, who don't want to do the scan missions (claiming 20 missions for one would be for me personally an exploit), I recommend Aditi. (Thanks to those that pointed to it).
It is slower than the stacked scans, and less profitable, but is more like regular play.

Doing the round PEW-1901 => SMJL Central => Diamond Vision => Dolgov Point => took 30-40 minutes, and gave 30 missions without mode logging. (Didn't need to use the planet bases in Aditi)

Total play time from Serf to Duke was 26 hours, of which 8 hours were for the 400 missions to get through Marquis.
I did data and freight jobs and any donations < 300k (they all give the same rep, even the 25k ones), but depending on states, there are also massacre and scan jobs available.

To me it didn't seem too grindy, and I earned 300MCr which is enough to buy and equip a trading Cutter (which I now own).

o7

Very similar to what I did but occasionally using the planets in Aditi to maximise rank gains. In some states Diamond Vision and Dolgov Point spawn generator destroy missions,, which is a very quick way to earn money but not so good for rank as it will get you wanted for a little while.

 

[Daitya Zo]

Once again thanks for the tip - its working really good, I can smell by chrome paint Cutter now - I bought the chrome xmass skin as a motivation lol

I really wish I did that. Congratulations on the foresight!

 

[AbbyNormal]

Maybe not anymore if the above patch notes quote refers to mission targets also then 20 CZ missions will now require the sum of all ships to be killed in series rather than parallel. 20 missions for 106 ships is 2120 ships to kill to complete all 20 :/ *weeps*.

You will have to give us some feedback on that if you will be so kind?

Definitely not the case. Started E 5 weeks ago and this is all I've been doing. Lately with allied factions I'm getting 150 million a night just doing massacre missions with 5 systems on rotation hoping one will be at war. Only doing Federation missions but wanted to see what other people are doing to rank up as I don't have Horizons so these data missions and other missions where you collect them from planetary stations don't apply to me. I'm considering to get Horizons but I heard something gets nerfed if I upgrade?

 

[rennarda]

Pay for beta access.
Get the beta.
Fly a cutter.
Realise you don't actually want a cutter.
Relax.

 

[Prasinus]

Plenty of boom data delivery missions at Shu Babassi at the moment.

 

[CMDR Ofan]

Definitely not the case. Started E 5 weeks ago and this is all I've been doing. Lately with allied factions I'm getting 150 million a night just doing massacre missions with 5 systems on rotation hoping one will be at war. Only doing Federation missions but wanted to see what other people are doing to rank up as I don't have Horizons so these data missions and other missions where you collect them from planetary stations don't apply to me. I'm considering to get Horizons but I heard something gets nerfed if I upgrade?

Nerfed? I don't know about tbh

 

[zarrazee]

Plenty of boom data delivery missions at Shu Babassi at the moment.

Can confirm this is the case. I have just picked up 14 empire missions (data/small deliveries) from Matthews Mines to 2 different locations in same system. No board swapping needed.

 

[Starman 1966]

Quince is at civil war at the moment. 'nuff said. ;-)

 

[Shiloh Durden]

Quince is at civil war at the moment. 'nuff said. ;-)

Not to sound like a dolt but does that mean massacre missions to rank up?

 

[Starman 1966]

There are massacre missions, yes, but I was referring to the surface scan missions, which can be stacked nicely as well. Use the time left until 2.3 becomes live because the nerf hammer will come and limit the stacking possibilities to a max of three such missions.

 

[PhantomWolf]

Only bad pilots don't want a Cutter

 

[Oasis81]

empire rank is not so difficulty..quince is good atm.

FEd rank it's absolutly a pain.

Empire has some system that give more options than a fed for rank... i've never understand this thing.

 

[Witcher 7]

I'm sticking with planet scan jobs, I've only been ranking in a very lazy fashion for 2 days (what with real life getting in the way) and from no rank I'm now 90% Viscount and I must have done no more than 20-30 data delivery missions, the rest has been donations and planet scan jobs

With donations, do you accept missions from minor factions allied with the Empire only (some of them are not allied with any super power) and does more CRs equal to higher increase in rank?

Also, does rank increase with the missions' Reputation or System Influence?

 

[Jethro49]

With donations, do you accept missions from minor factions allied with the Empire only (some of them are not allied with any super power) and does more CRs equal to higher increase in rank?

Empire only. More CR donated does NOT equal higher increase as far as I know. There's an interesting thead on that somewhere in Reddit... I will try to find the link (Edit : link). However I'm not so sure for CR paid by the mission giver... I believe the more you are paid the higher your rank is increased but I can't documente or prove it... just a feeling

Also, does rank increase with the missions' Reputation or System Influence?

Mission reputation is what increases your ranking. I think that system influence is useful for BGS manipulation.

 

[Witcher 7]

Thanks Jetrho49

 

[Jethro49]

Thanks Jetrho49

You're welcome, and good luck for your hard work on ranking up