Combat Rank.

Lothen

L
I had a long break from Elite and came back recently. My ranks are currently sitting at Exploration (Elite), Trade (Elite) and Combat (Dangerous), my problem is the combat rank grind. I spent a week going to compromised nav beacons, haz res, combat missions, (including planetary), etc. In all that time, i have gone from 1% to 9% towards the next level. I always make sure my target is at least my level or above before engaging, I have no npc or human assist to reduce xp gain. Has this really been nerfed that much? I just don't wanna spend the best part of a year to get triple elite, lol. If there is a slightly quicker way, I would appreciate any feedback.
Live long and prosper,
Cmdr Lothen.
 

Lothen

L
ty for your reply, looks like a lonnggg grind so. H'mm, at least i'm picking up a lot of manufactured mats for engineers. I know at the lower levels it was a lot quicker but the last 2 ranks are a bit too much, tbh.
 

SMcA

SMcA
Lothen said:
ty for your reply, looks like a lonnggg grind so. H'mm, at least i'm picking up a lot of manufactured mats for engineers. I know at the lower levels it was a lot quicker but the last 2 ranks are a bit too much, tbh.
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Worse than coming back from Sag A*. ;)
Is it a good idea to spend "killing" time on the mats?
I'm farming manufactured mats atm just for the Engineering as well. Often in a Hi RES I have been able to sit stationary while my limpets pick them up and shoot wanted ships. Sometimes. :)
Good luck with the promotion
 

ebbrell

ebbrell
Once you hit deadly, you are half way there. The last rank took me as many kills to complete as I had to reach deadly.

I made it in the end, just doing BGS stuff for our squadron and faction.

Then you get the decal which looks nice for your ships, once you are triple elite.

I dont think the combat rank is a grind. I think the others both trade and exploration are way to easy now. My main account took ages way back when, my second account I got to trade elite in 2 days it's much easier now days


Hitting elite meant something once, combat elite is still the only one which makes you think wow that cmdrs has worked to achieve it. The others less so
 
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Snowymonk

Snowymonk
The fractionally faster way to rank up to combat Elite is by taking out Thargoid scouts. They are all ranked Elite and with AX weapons, can be taken down reasonably quickly.

NHSS4 or AX conflict zones
 

metatheurgist

metatheurgist
Unlike the other 2 ranks, combat is still marginally difficult. But, you can short-circuit it by killing thargoids. All of them count as elite...even the scavengers.🤦‍♂️
 

CMDR Harada

CMDR Harada
ebbrell said:
Hitting elite meant something once, combat elite is still the only one which makes you think wow that cmdrs has worked to achieve it. The others less so
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Absolutely. Combat is a super hard grind. I finished at a CNB with a laser boat, but others suggest tharg scouts and AX weapons. Either way is about your best option, but also painfully long.

Explorer and Trader are now so easy the rank is kind of 'meh'. Although it will get you to Shin-Dez and the 100% availability and 10% discount.
 

Quasi

Q
If my math is right it is about 1600 Elite kills to get from just on Deadly to Elite in combat. I did some Thargoid scout kills to get to 1% in Deadly. Took about 16 for 1%
 

gorankar

gorankar
It's not a hard grind, just a long one. I gave up grinding that one myself.
As already noted, Thargoid scouts are the most efficient way to reach the goal.
Or just play the way you like and it will happen when it happens. Aside from the triple elite decal for your ship, you don't get anything for it.
 

d8veh

d8veh
There are two quick methods. One is to use a Krait with AX multicannons and an SLF to kill Thargoid Scouts around Maia. I think that's the quickest. Scouts count as Elite kills, and they're not too difficult. Method 2 is to use a fast ship with long-range weapons and sensors in a high RES (LTT 15574). You log until you get a spawn of only small ships, then fill your boots. You only have to tag the ones the cops are shooting. To speed things up when the cops are patrolling and not shooting, tag a bad guy, which will make him shoot back, then fly yourself to the cops to get them to join in.

You need approx 3000 kills in a high RES, CNB or CZ to go from deadly to elite, so each 30 kills is worth 1%, or if your at 20% Deadly, you need 80 x 30 = 2400 more kills.
 

VoluptaBox

VoluptaBox
d8veh said:
There are two quick methods. One is to use a Krait with AX multicannons and an SLF to kill Thargoid Scouts around Maia. I think that's the quickest. Scouts count as Elite kills, and they're not too difficult. Method 2 is to use a fast ship with long-range weapons and sensors in a high RES (LTT 15574). You log until you get a spawn of only small ships, then fill your boots. You only have to tag the ones the cops are shooting. To speed things up when the cops are patrolling and not shooting, tag a bad guy, which will make him shoot back, then fly yourself to the cops to get them to join in.

You need approx 3000 kills in a high RES, CNB or CZ to go from deadly to elite, so each 30 kills is worth 1%, or if your at 20% Deadly, you need 80 x 30 = 2400 more kills.
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What are your thoughts on using a Clipper for the Thargoid Scouts? (something like this for instance: https://s.orbis.zone/680u).
 

d8veh

d8veh
VoluptaBox said:
What are your thoughts on using a Clipper for the Thargoid Scouts? (something like this for instance: https://s.orbis.zone/680u).
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You need decontamination limpets. You get contaminated in 30% to 50% of battles, which you sort in a few seconds with a limpet at the end of each battle. I managed fine in the Krait below, but I was ranking up the NPC rather than myself. The SLF is a big advantage to distract Scouts when you get a gang of seven. I think I had to run away once every 50 battles.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
coriolis.edcd.io coriolis.edcd.io

You can't use an SLF if you're doing it to rank up, otherwise it'll take twice as long because they take 50% of the rank, which loses a lot of the Krait's advantage over the Clipper. I think your Clipper might work quite well with all that engineering as long as you add the decontamination limpets instead of the docking computer and add two class two cargo racks.
 

VoluptaBox

VoluptaBox
d8veh said:
You need decontamination limpets. You get contaminated in 30% to 50% of battles, which you sort in a few seconds with a limpet at the end of each battle. I managed fine in the Krait below, but I was ranking up the NPC rather than myself. The SLF is a big advantage to distract Scouts when you get a gang of seven. I think I had to run away once every 50 battles.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
coriolis.edcd.io coriolis.edcd.io

You can't use an SLF if you're doing it to rank up, otherwise it'll take twice as long because they take 50% of the rank, which loses a lot of the Krait's advantage over the Clipper. I think your Clipper might work quite well with all that engineering as long as you add the decontamination limpets instead of the docking computer and add two class two cargo racks.
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There's something weird going on with coriolis links lately, there's no docking computer on my Clipper and your link takes me to a Sidewinder xD.

I completely forgot about the Decontamination limpet, I'll probably take out one MRP and one HRP for the controller/cargo. Thanks for the feedback :)
 

Lyvan Kitaen

Lyvan Kitaen
I think combat rank is much harder now than when I first started elite. On my main character that I started not long after the game came out, my first elite rank was in combat, then trade, and finally exploration. I started an alt character about 8 months ago and I was trade elite within a week, exploration within a month, but I only got combat elite a little more than a week ago.
 

Faded Glory

Faded Glory
Lyvan Kitaen said:
I think combat rank is much harder now than when I first started elite. On my main character that I started not long after the game came out, my first elite rank was in combat, then trade, and finally exploration. I started an alt character about 8 months ago and I was trade elite within a week, exploration within a month, but I only got combat elite a little more than a week ago.
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Combat ranking isn't harder - in fact it's a tiny bit easier as all kills count towards combat rank now.

Both trade and exploration however are much easier as the payouts for those activities have skyrocketed, and to an extent the time it takes to scan bodies for exploration rank has been reduced thanks to the FSS.
 

Lothen

L
GeoJase said:
Enlighten me. I must be missing something. Why "grind" to Elite Combat? What does it give you? Presumably you can already access ShinDez. Is it just for the Triple badge or something else?
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Yep, i got ShinDez from the outset as I have founder status, and yep it's just for the Triple Badge, I love the game and it's just an aspect of it I aspire to :)
 

Lothen

L
To all Cmd'ers, ty for your replies, I have'nt done any serious Thargoid combat as yet, so i might park a boat out in Maia and jump out there now and then, just for a bit of a change. I've also noticed that elite and deadly rank npc's seem to spawn a lot more in CNB's than haz res sites, so i'll probably focus on those too. Anyways there's no rush, i'll get there at some point, once again ty all :)
Fly dangerous,
Cmdr Lothen.
 
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