How to level crew and best SLF

Nerix

Nerix
I'd like to start training my crew up to Elite to maximize their combat effectiveness (PvE).

1. What's the fastest way to train them and how does their ranking system work? Is it just about the rank enemies have you kill while they're deployed, or do they have to make the kill or hit the target to count for their progression?

2. Which SLF would you recommend using? Including the guardian SLFs (unlocked all three).
 

Dillon Fallon

Dillon Fallon
1. I wouldn't worry too much about this, just launch the the fighter and kill stuff. NPC ranks will follow.

2. I've tried out the Javelin and Trident. Neither are optimal for normal PvE. A fixed beam Imperial fighter comes highly recommended- at high levels you can basically leave the NPC to it. Multicannon Condor seems to work well too.
 

Screemonster

Screemonster
Get some invincible PvE murderboat. Give it gimballed or turreted weapons. Something like a cutter or a corvette with a giant shield. Go to a compromised nav beacon (they tend to spawn high-ranked pirates in relatively small ships). Take the fighter out yourself and let the NPC fly the mothership while you tell them who to attack.

edit: you can also try turreted multis on an AX build and go after scout signal sources, but be aware that they will fly through the caustic clouds so be prepared to switch seats to deal with that. I don't know if NPCs are smart enough to use decontamination limpets when they get caustic'd. At higher ranks, once they can aim, give them the fighter instead.
 
Last edited:

pzykozomatik

pzykozomatik
What Deejayeff said, NPC crew are great with the fixed beam fighters, doing the shield stripping almost on their own so you can concentrate on anti-hull weapons. The MC F63 is also a good choice.

Edit: Re guardian fighters: I'd only take those if you're actually fighting thargoids. Against Interceptors fighters are barely a distraction for the swarm, but if you're fighting Scouts I'd take the XG9 Lance and jump into it myself, you can kill a Scout in 3-4 well-placed shots.
 
Last edited:

d8veh

d8veh
I've ranked up 4 or 5 crew to Elite. I always go to LTT 15574 high RES. Log until you get a spawn of small ships. That's much more productive than a compromised nav beacon because you get help from the police. You need a fast ship, long range weapons and long range sensors. I prefer the fighter with multi-cannons. I go there because it's a very busy RES, but I guess any high RES in a high security high population area would work.

I'm just testing it against Thargoid scouts to see if it's any quicker. In theory it should be. After around 250 kills, it's somewhere around competent, so a very long way to go yet.
 
Last edited:

Friedenreich Xante

Friedenreich Xante
I've given up on those. They eat up my personal rank progression and my money, and they die. I fight in open and open up multicrew. That way I get the money, they get the money, everyone gets the money AND I rank up. And I have fun with some other commanders.

Because there is no faster way to rank up the NPC's. It's tedious, and if you see the rebuy screen once (like in Thargoid encounters), that was all for nothing.
 

Stealthie

Stealthie
Fastest way to rank-up an SLF jockey is, unsurprisingly, to let them do combat.
Take them to CNBs, CZs, HazRESs etc and have at it.

As for the "best" SLF, that's a matter of opinion.
Personally, I'd suggest starting them off in a Taipan because it's armor means they'll survive a bit longer when they're clueless.
Once they reach Dangerous rank, swap the Taipan for a Condor and they'll be more useful it it.

Basically, the SLF pilot's reactions and their aim improve as they rank-up.
Start then off in a Condor or GU97 and not only will they miss what they're shooting at but they'll also sit there like a shag on a rock while they get shot at.... which means they lose a lot of ships.
Give them a Taipan and they still won't hit much but at least they can soak up a bit of damage so they lose fewer ships.
Once they reach Dangerous, they get noticeably better at evading and aiming, which means they can take advantage of the more agile ships without constantly getting smoked.
 

Hacker#451563

Hacker#451563
All of Stealthie's stuff is right on, I'll just add that I tend to use the twin auto-cannon Condor, it's fast (one of the fastest but with a slow boost) and the AC's can really rip a hull down.
 

Morbad

Morbad
Nerix said:
1. What's the fastest way to train them and how does their ranking system work? Is it just about the rank enemies have you kill while they're deployed, or do they have to make the kill or hit the target to count for their progression?
Click to expand...

Ranking system works much the same way as it does for CMDRs, NPCs just rank up about ten times as fast.

Fastest way to rank them is to give them control of a strong mothership in a combat area with a large number of high rank targets (CZs, Haz RES, Compromised Nav beacons, etc) while you pilot the fighter yourself.

Nerix said:
2. Which SLF would you recommend using? Including the guardian SLFs (unlocked all three).
Click to expand...

Depends on precisely what you are doing and who is going to be flying them.

None of the guardian SLFs are particularly good, outside a few specialized tasks.

NPCs in general are bad with the Taipan.

Gimbaled laser fighters are decent for ranking very low rank NPCs, but are mostly useless for higher rank ones or for any CMDR that can aim.

The fixed beam GU-97 is probably the best all-round anti-SLF fighter. It's a bit soft and a bit slow, but it's the most agile (both in rotationals and vertical/lateral acceleration) and packs as much of a punch as any fixed beam SLF with heatsinks.

The fixed beam Taipan is probably the most potent SLF in the hands of a CMDR. It's mobility is good enough for a real pilot that knows what they are doing and it's much more durable than the GU-97. However, NPC crew struggles with the mediocre rotationals and if you send an NPC in a Taipan against an NPC in a GU-97, the GU-97 will win most of the time, even with a moderate rank disadvantage.

The Fixed MC Condor is a good pursuit craft (fast, longest range and low WEP draw weapons) and is solid against most NPC hulls.

Keep in mind that there is still a bug with SLFs where they will eventually cause lag/rubberbanding problems for other CMDRs in the instance.
 

d8veh

d8veh
I did some testing. It took 619 Thargoid Scout kills to get my crew to deadly, so I reckon another 500 to get Elite. I can kill about 50 Scouts an hour in my Corvette, which isn't optimised, so it's going to take 20 to 25 hours to get to Elite. That's a lot quicker than previous methods.
 

Nerix

Nerix
But you've to jump from one NHSS to the next, right? Don't know, but for me that takes a bit long. A CNB seems to be more effective, it has also a quite high spawn rate for Elite and Deadly NPCs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom