Thinking of grinding for prismatics. Advice?

[Deleted member 110222]

They're the one module left that I would love on my Cobra. I know the first three weeks I can just do nothing... But I've actually been having a lot of fun making an adventure out of Elite.

Thus I might actually do PP proper, at least for the prerequisite time for the shields.

Anything I should know?

 

[Valethar]

Fastest way to earn merits is to simply haul fortification materials from Cubeo (any station should do) to Riess Hub in Lambda-1 Tucanae. It's a full sized station, so you can use a large ship to make the run.

If you want to actually do PP the right way, there's a group here on the forums that lists what objectives need to be completed for the power.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

Fastest way to earn merits is to simply haul fortification materials from Cubeo (any station should do) to Riess Hub in Lambda-1 Tucanae. It's a full sized station, so you can use a large ship to make the run.

And remind me... You can buy additional fortification materials, correct? I'm happy to buy my way to the shields that one week. Though maybe I just sound stupid.

 

[RidingTheFlow]

No, fastest way to go to Lawless Fed- or Alliance- control system and interdict campaign trader ships (undermining). Each kill =30 merits, and they often go in convoys - more the merrier.
I usually grind weekly to Rank 4 in 2-3 hours. Then I manly wait for 4 weeks for shield to unlock. Actually its so easy, I am thinking of going for Rank 5...

 

[Deleted member 110222]

No, fastest way to go to Lawless Fed- or Alliance- control system and interdict campaign trader ships (undermining). Each kill =30 merits, and they often go in convoys - more the merrier.
I usually grind weekly to Rank 4 in 2-3 hours. Then I manly wait for 4 weeks for shield to unlock. Actually its so easy, I am thinking of going for Rank 5...

I've never seen such ships before... Do they only spawn under certain circumstances?

 

[Valethar]

And remind me... You can buy additional fortification materials, correct? I'm happy to buy my way to the shields that one week. Though maybe I just sound stupid.

Yes.

I should amend my previous statement somewhat. If you have a large ship capable of hauling cargo, the fastest way is to make the run to Riess Hub. With a 750t Cutter, you can be at 1,500 merits in about half an hour or so. Load the hold with gold for the return trip and make a nice little profit on the side.

 

[RidingTheFlow]

I've never seen such ships before... Do they only spawn under certain circumstances?

They spawn nonstop for me... As long as you are in hostile power control (not exploited!) system.
They called either "Federal Courier" or "Alliance Bureaucrat", and make rather entertaining soft targets (though sometimes have piddly Sidewinder escorts).
You can also shoot Alliance or Federal enforcers, same 30 merits per kill.

And no need to spend your money on buying campaign materials. Just pocket the salary.

 

[fu9ar]

I enjoyed powerplay when I did it, but I don't really have the kind of lifestyle to make it a good thing for me long term. I did it for a little while last winter while I was working from home. I work on a separate computer from my gaming rig. So, I would sit in station and ping another requisition every half hour or so while I worked on the other stuff that I had to do and then take my full T7 once a day. I wish there was some way to automate it so that I could set my ship to fill up at HQ and take one run rather than having to poke a button every half hour... With that one change, I'd still be doing PowerPlay pretty regularly.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

Yes.

I should amend my previous statement somewhat. If you have a large ship capable of hauling cargo, the fastest way is to make the run to Riess Hub. With a 750t Cutter, you can be at 1,500 merits in about half an hour or so. Load the hold with gold for the return trip and make a nice little profit on the side.

And how many merits was it again for rank three? So I know how many tonnes I'll need to ship over the week in question?

They spawn nonstop for me... As long as you are in hostile power control (not exploited!) system.
They called either "Federal Courier" or "Alliance Bureaucrat", and make rather entertaining soft targets (though sometimes have piddly Sidewinder escorts).
You can also shoot Alliance or Federal enforcers, same 30 merits per kill.

And no need to spend your money on buying campaign materials. Just pocket the salary.

Thanks, noted.

 

[Valethar]

And how many merits was it again for rank three? So I know how many tonnes I'll need to ship over the week in question?

750

Fair warning... Buying the materials is a pain in the ASCII, especially at the lower ranks. You get a specific allotment, and have to 'refresh' it each time for credits, then hold down the button to 'fill' the hold, just like you do in the Commodities menu. Only it's far slower than buying commodities.

At Rank 1, it's something like 10 units per hour, so you may end up wanting to crater your ship on a high-G world by the time you're loaded. It's an intentional time sink, but it's highly frustrating. You'll end up spending about 30 minutes just loading up for the run in a big ship, if not a little longer.

I said 1,500 earlier out of habit, that's the Rank 4 level.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

750

Fair warning... Buying the materials is a pain in the ASCII, especially at the lower ranks. You get a specific allotment, and have to 'refresh' it each time for credits, then hold down the button to 'fill' the hold, just like you do in the Commodities menu. Only it's far slower than buying commodities.

Okay, thanks. I'll remember that.

 

[RidingTheFlow]

You should really read the excellent guide here - https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...-Why-the-heck-should-I-work-for-Aisling-Duval

 

[Deleted member 110222]

750

Fair warning... Buying the materials is a pain in the ASCII, especially at the lower ranks. You get a specific allotment, and have to 'refresh' it each time for credits, then hold down the button to 'fill' the hold, just like you do in the Commodities menu. Only it's far slower than buying commodities.

I said 1,500 earlier out of habit, that's the Rank 4 level.

Oh, even better.

You should really read the excellent guide here - https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...-Why-the-heck-should-I-work-for-Aisling-Duval

Ah, thank you! Most helpful.

 

[Achibot]

And remind me... You can buy additional fortification materials, correct? I'm happy to buy my way to the shields that one week. Though maybe I just sound stupid.

No, that's what I did, ignored it for 3 weeks and then jumped to Rank 3 so that I could buy the shields right after the 4th tick. To do that I needed to haul 750t of "PP Mats" from one station to another station. They generate slowly but you can pay to zero the timer, I believe the total cost was 7.4MCr and a lot of clicking. Probably took me about 40-50 minutes total. To be fair there may well be a lot more depth to PP beyond this, I simply wouldn't know.

 

[NecasekO]

Just to make sure - you are aware that prismatic shields are twice the weight and draw significantly more power, right?

I'm just not sure they make sense on a Cobra. Although I have access to prismatic shields I only use them on 2 ships out of 10, since in many cases the drawbacks (especially shorter jump range) are not worth it IMO.

 

[Dad Rock]

If you have the cash, buy the fortifications only on the fourth week. Just sign up for the first three and sit back. Then you can buy the Prismatics. Good luck.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

Just to make sure - you are aware that prismatic shields are twice the weight and draw significantly more power, right?

I'm just not sure they make sense on a Cobra. Although I have access to prismatic shields I only use them on 2 ships out of 10, since in many cases the drawbacks (especially shorter jump range) are not worth it IMO.

I'm aware of the drawbacks. Honestly... I just want them for the sake of having them. My massive collection of Cobra modules doesn't feel complete without.

As for the weeks running up to the fourth tick? Just going to explore. The tick is on a Thursday, right?

If you have the cash, buy the fortifications only on the fourth week. Just sign up for the first three and sit back. Then you can buy the Prismatics. Good luck.

What I'm thinking. Do a little exploration trip for the first weeks to raise the cash.

 

[NecasekO]

Just out of curiosity, do you have any bigger ships for hauling PP cargo? Hauling 750 t of stuff in a Cobra would probably take a while

I would also be curious how much MJ you can get out of the shield and whether you think it's worth it in the end. I have a reinforced prismatic shield on a DBX and it's awesome, but Cobra has a lower shield multiplier and fewer utility slots so I'm afraid it would still end up being too weak.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

Just out of curiosity, do you have any bigger ships for hauling PP cargo? Hauling 750 t of stuff in a Cobra would probably take a while

I would also be curious how much MJ you can get out of the shield and whether you think it's worth it in the end. I have a reinforced prismatic shield on a DBX and it's awesome, but Cobra has a lower shield multiplier and fewer utility slots so I'm afraid it would still end up being too weak.

I'll be buying a Type-6 for this.

 

[o'moylan]

Yes.

I should amend my previous statement somewhat. If you have a large ship capable of hauling cargo, the fastest way is to make the run to Riess Hub. With a 750t Cutter, you can be at 1,500 merits in about half an hour or so. Load the hold with gold for the return trip and make a nice little profit on the side.

I did it this way. Bought all the ships with different size shields. Loaded them with prismatics, put them into storage, deleted the ships and left the blue haired babe.