From ZERO to CUTTER? in one go...

the source 0179

T
Shiro Akai said:
Last week was rather heated, Beyond p.1 setting down, people finding gold rushes, FDEV removing them, overall discussion about grind, money and limitations. Week as any other in ED [noob]

disclaimer: long post, no tl;dr

o7 CMDRs,

I wanted to share a bit of a story. Being always late for the party I miss all the "fast" credits activities and I always am credit starved. Therefore I am somewhat limited in my playstyle due to not being able to make relevant purchase. Making money for the sake of having money feels like grind. And other people advice were: just play the game and results will come. So, starting Friday, I said: screw it all, just play the game.

One of my general goals is to have a Cutter. Nearly cr 210 M price tag with a big rank requirement on top. Seeing how gaining ranks is a long and tedious process I haven't really attempted that in the past. But no more neglecting, the sooner I start, the sooner I finish. Some day. Eventually.

Game is awesome in providing relevant, accurate and sufficient information - at this point I consider Google, Wiki, reddit and Youtube ED extensions - I found a place rumored to be good spot to advance Empire Navy ranks. Fun fact - today I watched CMDR Plater's video, dated 2 days ago (date when I started running at that spot), about my spot. Now you know what I mean about always being late for the party...

So, starting conditions. When Beyond landed I bought Chieftain and little bit outfitted it. These actions consumed almost half of my funds and I was left with: cr 68 M. My Empire standing was: half way Friendly and rank: 0 (none). I pulled out my Python, set course and few jumps later I arrived at my destination. Adventure had started.

I spent entire weekend there, Friday evening and few sessions in the following days. Overall it took me 6 sessions - didn't count hours ans I was "just playing". Not grinding, not ranking. Just playing. Load up 20 boom data delivery and courier job available missions. 3.8 LY jump, dock and hand in. Load up 20 missions for the way back. Rinse and repeat. At this point I must admit - it gets boring after few rounds. Luckily YT playing in the background with some music helped a lot. Glitch Mob, Japan POP live radio, best '80s electronic and I haven't noticed when evening turned into late night.

As I said, started with 68M and rank 0, here are the results of my sessions (been taking notes):
#1* - 83.6M (+15.6M) Empire Friendly to Allied, then rank 2 Serf
#2 - 92.2M (+8.6M) and rank 5 Knight
#3 - 109.9M (+16.9M) and rank 8 Viscount
#4 - 144.8M (+35.7M) and rank 11 Marquise
#5 - 152.2M (+7.4M) and rank 12 Duke

(*) - while running in my Python I decided I haven't used my DBX for a long time, made a break to hangar Python and get DBX instead. After the swap I continued.

Yeah, got from nobody to Duke over the weekend. Earned 84M in the process. Bought the following:

Imperial Eagle
"Hashidate"

https://i.imgur.com/F6QGCQj.jpg


Imperial Courier
"Hyuuga"

https://i.imgur.com/ZUbHcpO.jpg


Imperial Clipper
"Kirishima"

https://i.imgur.com/ELIITUn.jpg

Here, she's Basking in Her Glory, Medupe City, Cubeo system.


Although I have enough of rank, I'm short on credits to buy my final imperial goal - The Cutter. With the above purchases I'm left with 128M. But not hasten the facts - "grind" review time.

Don't know if it's some kind of bug or not but I couldn't track my rank progress. While force rep bar was filling, factions rep bars showed my actual standing, rank bars were always full and showing 100% completion, even just after gaining rank. For example, seen rank 5 Knight 100%. Handed in 20 missions and got Imperial Navy Intelligence mission (rank up). Delivered that, handed in and bam - rank 6 Lord 100%, bar filled. Next I had to spend over an hour running missions to get another INI mission and rank up higher.

Speaking of INI missions, they weren't popping equally. Master to baron (3-7) took less than None to Master (0-3). Also Master to Viscount was relatively fast, slowing down toward the end (rank 12 Duke). I could get rank up mission after few runs (3-5) speeding the middle part considerably, then was a bit of drought before next one appeared. My explanation is that I accumulated enough rep for a rank up, just mission didn't pop up so I could actually rank up. And when it did and I made another rank I already had about half the progress towards next rank. Would explain one event when I logged out (no rank up mission, checked it). After logging in few hours later rank up mission was available right on.

Now money - missions started at 10k to rise up to 12-41k per delivery. It didn't matter much as I took rep+++ with flat 10k payout as a reward so credit offer was just a figure. Main income came from time bonus. Making allied with local faction took 1-2 runs so it was almost instant. 15 minutes of flying and rewards offered were maxed out. Delivery bonus was anything from 40k to 180k, 75% of the missions were granting bonus. Star to station flight time was few minutes, time window 26-34 minutes... On average I did 1-2.5M a run.

Got like 6 tip off mails, faced 3 or 4 interdictions. Apart from that A-B-A shuttle flights.

Now - ships. My goal was Cutter obviously. 84M I earned wasn't enough to buy one, my balance ended at 152M. Instead I bought Cutter-wannabe: Clipper. Eagle for the collection since 88k is a pocket spare. Courier I got for my planned Fed rank up run. Covert Ops.

And Clipper. Didn't had any real expectations with that ship. But when I sat in the seat, looked at controls, room... everything. Wow. Just wow. When I had to switch to my DBX to swap few internals it felt like stepping out a Gulfstream into old garbage truck (and I love my DBX). The quality difference was like that. But luckily finished outfitting and took her for a spin...

That's a topic for another thread. Suffice to say I'm surprised.

To sum up. With a bit of luck (finding good spot) currently one can fly through ranks within few days. Now all I need is some gold rush to fill my credit gap and finally get that elusive Cutter. Or I will run Fed ranks for the Corvette (in iCourier) and use their money for the Cutter.

But who will fund me Corvette then...?:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Well today i think i went to the same run as you. And i was pleasantly surprised by the amount of rep and bonus cr you get. Specially for such a short run and no need to hunt for missions and that i only went they for the rep. I'll call it a rep and rank rush lol. Now lets see how long its going to take the nerf bat to hit. Since any form of progression speed above a snails pace normally always gets hit by that agro nerf bat.
 

Lily from anim.o.v.e

Lily from anim.o.v.e
Shiro Akai said:
Technically speaking - yes it is. What was different was my approach toward the goal. I didn't think of it as a goal per se. It was something I want to achieve but I didin't felt the pressure that I MUST achieve it in X hrs or before some deadline. I just played the game - picked a spot, loaded up missions and made it in a loop. By that definition core gameplay like exploration is grinding. All you do all day, every day for weeks is jump, honk, see what's inside, jump...

As people say - grind is in the mind. If you decide you must grind the rank, it'll be tedious and boring. I decided to run missions in a loop, rank came on itself. The same but different, from the certain point of view.
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missions in a loop, is the grind, sorry but it's bboring and reptitive. Just because you call it "missions in a loop" does not change the mechanics behind it. it is tideous and boring because the mechanics behind it is tideous and boring. And that doesn't change just because oyu name it different. And yes epxloration si grindingbecause it is just the exact same. it is grindign as well. But fortuntately it is an avoidable grind because only one engineer requires it to be done. And it doesn't locks too much content if you don't do it. it's also a reaosn why many people say exploraton is boring. ther eis neither an engaging mechanic behind it nor somethign special top be found.
Funnily, no one talks about grinding in games like CS? why is this even if you play the same over and over? well because it is never the same. The nature of PvP and it's irregularities makes it always dynamically and unique enough.

But atm it seems the amount of missions required massively decreased compared to like 2 or 3 years ago. So the grind got massively reduced, which is good.
 

Shiro Akai

Shiro Akai
the source 0179 said:
Well today i think i went to the same run as you. And i was pleasantly surprised by the amount of rep and bonus cr you get. Specially for such a short run and no need to hunt for missions and that i only went they for the rep. I'll call it a rep and rank rush lol. Now lets see how long its going to take the nerf bat to hit. Since any form of progression speed above a snails pace normally always gets hit by that agro nerf bat.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was surprised as well how quickly you can rank up. I have noticed one thing - towards the end of the cycle I faced mission drought. Up to Marquise I had no problems filling all 20 missions. Even being picky and not taking those with INF+++ only. But as I progressed through ranks I noticed board compositions - towarsd the end massacre missions started to appear and later in bulk.

My final 3 runs before promotion to Duke were non-optimal.
- 3rd last run I was able to secure 15 missions only, takin ALL data delivery, even those INF+++
- 2nd last run I had 19 missions
- final run, where I got my Duke rank up mission I had 10 missions

I think background simulation (abbreviated to ... coincidence?) kicked in as I wasn't the only one flying there. So expect some changes and not every run being optimal.




Lily from anim.o.v.e said:
missions in a loop, is the grind, sorry but it's bboring and reptitive. Just because you call it "missions in a loop" does not change the mechanics behind it. it is tideous and boring because the mechanics behind it is tideous and boring. And that doesn't change just because oyu name it different.
Click to expand...

But I'm not saying it isn't. You got that bit wrong - all I was saying was that it wasn't grind for me. Because I didn't treat it like a grind. You can treat certain activities like a grind and they will be a grind. You can also treat those activities as a "just playing the game" and despite technically it's a grind, for you it may be not. Same thing, different approach. I decided to treat ranking up as a "just play" instead of "need to grind through it". Slight mental trick and it wasn't THAT boring and tedious.

To the point that I'm currently ranking through Fed... Smite the iron while hot and I'm not burned out.
 

Ziljan

Ziljan
Darn you OP. Against my better judgement, and in no small part because of this thread, I quickly ranked up to King and then bought the hideous Cutter. Now my eyeballs and my bank account are both bleeding. I even fully engineered it for trade to see if it had redeeming value, but honestly the looks just make gag and vomit at the same time, and I can't stand to fly around in the pearly wheelchair schlepping half-melted space plane any longer. I makes a nice dust magnet I guess. Ah well, maybe will eventually add an imperial ship that isn't hideous (other than the GU-97) and I then maybe I'll be able to use this rank for something?
 

Shiro Akai

Shiro Akai
There's always Pride and Accomplishment, Ziljan.

And if Cutter renders you unfit for piloting I'm willing to take that burden on myself. No need to suffer, y'know?
 

Mengy

Mengy
Ziljan said:
Darn you OP. Against my better judgement, and in no small part because of this thread, I quickly ranked up to King and then bought the hideous Cutter. Now my eyeballs and my bank account are both bleeding. I even fully engineered it for trade to see if it had redeeming value, but honestly the looks just make gag and vomit at the same time, and I can't stand to fly around in the pearly wheelchair schlepping half-melted space plane any longer. I makes a nice dust magnet I guess. Ah well, maybe will eventually add an imperial ship that isn't hideous (other than the GU-97) and I then maybe I'll be able to use this rank for something?
Click to expand...

Hah, I bought my first Cutter this weekend too and I’m surprised to say that I kind of like it actually. I only have it filled with cargo racks in a cheap outfit for now, but I did a few hours of trading in it and I think I’ll keep her. I still prefer trading in the T9 though, Lakon ships have always appealed to me more than the ritzy Gutamaya vessels. It’s not that the T9 is better, it just has so much more character to me. But that Cutter speed and jump range are hard to ignore, and when I can afford to weaponize it she will make for a very capable trading platform. I just run from conflict in my T9.
 

Ziljan

Ziljan
Mengy said:
Hah, I bought my first Cutter this weekend too and I’m surprised to say that I kind of like it actually. I only have it filled with cargo racks in a cheap outfit for now, but I did a few hours of trading in it and I think I’ll keep her. I still prefer trading in the T9 though, Lakon ships have always appealed to me more than the ritzy Gutamaya vessels. It’s not that the T9 is better, it just has so much more character to me. But that Cutter speed and jump range are hard to ignore, and when I can afford to weaponize it she will make for a very capable trading platform. I just run from conflict in my T9.
Click to expand...

I prefer my T9 as well, but for both practical and aesthetic reasons. It handles better at the speeds it flies, and can hold more cargo with shields slotted. On a personal level, the T9 has the most engaging and 3d cockpit structure in the game, and looks more like a legit space ship and not a jumbo airliner with nacelles and tacky track lighting.

I had plans to make my Cutter into a fighter, but even though I know it would make an excellent alpha fighter and blockade buster, I can't stand looking at it long enough to engineer more than the FSD and thrusters.
 

the source 0179

T
Shiro Akai said:
Yeah, I was surprised as well how quickly you can rank up. I have noticed one thing - towards the end of the cycle I faced mission drought. Up to Marquise I had no problems filling all 20 missions. Even being picky and not taking those with INF+++ only. But as I progressed through ranks I noticed board compositions - towarsd the end massacre missions started to appear and later in bulk.

My final 3 runs before promotion to Duke were non-optimal.
- 3rd last run I was able to secure 15 missions only, takin ALL data delivery, even those INF+++
- 2nd last run I had 19 missions
- final run, where I got my Duke rank up mission I had 10 missions

I think background simulation (abbreviated to ... coincidence?) kicked in as I wasn't the only one flying there. So expect some changes and not every run being optimal.






But I'm not saying it isn't. You got that bit wrong - all I was saying was that it wasn't grind for me. Because I didn't treat it like a grind. You can treat certain activities like a grind and they will be a grind. You can also treat those activities as a "just playing the game" and despite technically it's a grind, for you it may be not. Same thing, different approach. I decided to treat ranking up as a "just play" instead of "need to grind through it". Slight mental trick and it wasn't THAT boring and tedious.

To the point that I'm currently ranking through Fed... Smite the iron while hot and I'm not burned out.
Click to expand...

I just hope I've got a few more days to get to baron before the ugly agro fd nerf bat smacks this down. I can only squeeze in maybe an hour or 2 a day at best. This didn't feel like a grind to me today because you could actually load up on missions and actually saw progression. It was actually a bit of fun. It only becomes a grind when you dont see progression and if you treat it as a grind. Basically its like trading. Load up at one place and empty at another and repeat. I haven't done rares in years but rares felt a bit like a grind.
 

Jamie Wolf

J
That is how I leave stations normally.
I have an acoustic parking sensor, if I hear the scraping noise I know I am too close to the wall.

BTW does anyone know of a good place to get federation rep for rank upgrades?
 

Space Dandy

Space Dandy
Lily from anim.o.v.e said:
you must have a boring one then.
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Ofc not the fun stuff is what makes the grind worth it.

You eat, crap and sleep. Rinse repeat till you die.

The fun stuff is what you do in between but that doesn't make it any less of a grind.


Maybe what I wrote was just too complicated for some people to catch on but anything can be a grind, it's all a matter of perception.
 

Lily from anim.o.v.e

Lily from anim.o.v.e
Space Dandy said:
Ofc not the fun stuff is what makes the grind worth it.

You eat, crap and sleep. Rinse repeat till you die.

The fun stuff is what you do in between but that doesn't make it any less of a grind.


Maybe what I wrote was just too complicated for some people to catch on but anything can be a grind, it's all a matter of perception.
Click to expand...

Dunno, eating is quite a lot fun if you are able to cook proper and tasty food, hwoever you you crapdonalds 3x a day, yeah must be a grind.
Skleep is something you don't notice, it just happens and is over. It's not boring therefore. And crapping, thats a minor time investment maybe a whole of 10minutes per day. maybe brushign tooth is what you can call a grind, but thats also not taking that much amount of time per day.

Something is considered a grind when ti is extremely repetitive and not even different form previous acts. thats exactly why people do not call Cs a grind but many tasks in MMO's because they are such plain tasks even a bot could do it.

And thats oen of the issues in ED, you cannot spice up some of the things they repeat in the exact same pattern. game needs more spice to cook better food.

there could be special tasks for ranking up, so when you want to be admiral, then there is a special mission to be done. Nut just heres your admiral rank up mission go and deliver a letter.
 
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Space Dandy

Space Dandy
Lily from anim.o.v.e said:
Dunno, eating is quite a lot fun if you are able to cook proper and tasty food, hwoever you you crapdonalds 3x a day, yeah must be a grind.
Skleep is something you don't notice, it just happens and is over. It's not boring therefore. And crapping, thats a minor time investment maybe a whole of 10minutes per day. maybe brushign tooth is what you can call a grind, but thats also not taking that much amount of time per day.

Something is considered a grind when ti is extremely repetitive and not even different form previous acts. thats exactly why people do not call Cs a grind but many tasks in MMO's because they are such plain tasks even a bot could do it.

And thats oen of the issues in ED, you cannot spice up some of the things they repeat in the exact same pattern. game needs more spice to cook better food.

there could be special tasks for ranking up, so when you want to be admiral, then there is a special mission to be done. Nut just heres your admiral rank up mission go and deliver a letter.
Click to expand...

Like I said some stuff is just to complicated for some people and they need to learn it for themselves. Go out and learn little Miss.

Also try to not take everything so seriously.... perhaps a little less pedantic too!
 
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