My twopennysworth,
Ranks should change in one of two ways:
1) The two ranks should be mutally exclusive.
- The ranks can go down as well as up.
- As you progress in one rank chain, you are demoted in the other (think of it as Ferderation or Empire hierachy not liking you siding with the other side but not completely discarding you because you have shown your worth in the past.)
- Permit locks and ship unlocks are retained as you progress (...it's an older code, sir, but it still checks out...) but you still need to hit certain ranks to unlock certain permits or ships.
2) Ranks progression is determined across the total universe
- The Federation and Empire allocates a certain percentage of the community to each role - e.g. Recruit - 12%
Cadet - 12%
Midshipman - 12%
Petty Officer - 10%
Chief Petty Officer - 10%
Warrant Officer - 10%
Ensign - 5%
Lieutenant - 5%
Lieutenant Commander - 5%
Post Commander - 5%
Post Captain - 5%
Rear Admiral - 5%
Vice Admiral - 3%
Admiral - 1%
- Everyone playing across the entire universe is ranked on their progress over the past n weeks. Each week, on the weekly tick, the server sums everyone's Federation or Empire points.
- The player scoring is then mapped against this ranking matrix. If the player's scoring rank is above his current rank then they are promted by one rank. If they under perform, they are demoted. (Worked example. The player has put an strong Federation effort in and is in the top 8% of the players completing Federation missions this week. The Commander is currently ranked as a Chief Petty officer so on the tick gets promoted to Warrant officer. Second example - Commander doesn't do anything for the Federation in a particular week, they are therefore demoted by one rank.)
It'll be a similar mechanism as used in the Power play for unlocking the various power play specific weapons / shields so wouldn't be an entirely new experience.