Best method for gaining combat rank

[Tassier]

For anyone looking to increase their combat rank the general recommendation has always been to gain the most kills of elite pilots possible since lower ranks count less (meaning you need to kill more deadly pilots than elite for the same effect etc).

After spending some time saving humankind from the Thargoids (aka killing scouts for fun) I can confirm that this actually gives better rank results than killing elite NPCs.

According to the wiki you need to kill 1780 elite pilots to go from deadly 0% to elite, this means not just finding a good combat area but finding the right ships.

With Thargoid scouts it takes 1630 killls to go from deadly 0% to elite, as an added advantage every single scout counts the same, there is no such thing as a lesser ranked scout.

All you need is two things, a combat ship and a source for Thargoid scouts.

For a ship I used a PvE battleconda, fitted with lasers and multi's and lots of raw shield power. No special AX / guardian tech required.

For the scouts check this thread, the systems change every Thursday.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...tacks-Where-When-and-What-you-can-do-about-it

Once in this weeks system look for non-human signal sources.

Normally,
NHSS 3 = 2 scouts.
NHSS 4 = 4 scouts.
NHSS 5 = 8 scouts.
NHSS 6 = 12 scouts, these are fun
Avoid NHSS 7 and above unless you are prepared to fight a Thargoid cyclops, this does need special equipment...

Drop in to whatever level feels comfortable, kill all scouts, rinse and repeat.

One thing to look out for is the caustic missile, occasionally one of these will hit you (or you might fly through the caustic debris of a killed ship) in which case finish killing the other scouts, engage silent running and boost until your heat reaches about 180% which should remove it.

Financial rewards are not great (10k per scout) but at least it covers repairs.


Cmdr Tassier
ED pilot since beta, finally triple elite

 

[Truesilver]

If you just want to min/max, this is how I finished my Triple Elite:

[video=youtube_share;ZOJJY53eMR4]https://youtu.be/ZOJJY53eMR4[/video]

Constant Elite target force-refresh, hence ten times faster than Thargoids, CZ's or anything else.

The question ofc is how the 3.0 ATR etc affect it. I'm guessing basically it's inviable now, but I might be wrong. Worth checking by someone though, I guess.

 

[Tassier]

If you just want to min/max, this is how I finished my Triple Elite.

Interesting technique, reckon it would be quicker although like you say it probably no longer works, and the constant relogging would drive me crazy. At least with Thargoids it's just a case of hopping between NHSS's or popping back to the local station for repairs / restocking.

Nice to see that both methods are using in game mechanics and not any kind of exploit, "working as intended"

 

[Deleted member 38366]

In order to stay Clean, I'd recommend to simply hit a Compromised NAV Beacons.

AFAIK these have the highest concentration and continuous flow of of high-ranked Wanted NPCs.
(also ideal for quickly training any NPC Crew)

As a Bonus, you'll earn Credits & build local Rep along the way...

 

[Hellfire85]

If you just want to min/max, this is how I finished my Triple Elite:



Constant Elite target force-refresh, hence ten times faster than Thargoids, CZ's or anything else.

The question ofc is how the 3.0 ATR etc affect it. I'm guessing basically it's inviable now, but I might be wrong. Worth checking by someone though, I guess.

And this is how you "earned" your Elite rank? lol you must be a really good pilot

 

[CMDR Harada]

I finished out at a CNB. Dangerous/Deady/Elites spawn at very high rates. You also get a mix of ships with anything from elite eagles to anacondas.

Much better then a HazRES.

IMO, the Combat rank is the hardest/longest to get. Trade the most boring. Exploration is the easiest.

 

[Vedmo]

I finished out at a CNB. Dangerous/Deady/Elites spawn at very high rates. You also get a mix of ships with anything from elite eagles to anacondas.

Much better then a HazRES.

IMO, the Combat rank is the hardest/longest to get. Trade the most boring. Exploration is the easiest.

I always forget about Compromised Nav Beacons until I stumble upon one, then I wonder why I don't spend more time in them.

I'd mostly agree with you on combat being the hardest/longest (SELF RESTRAINT! SNICKER, SNICKER, SNICKER SELF RESTRAINT!), but I'd swap trade into the easiest and exploration in the most boring (I'm elite trade and halfway through last rank on other two).

As for OP, my strategy is to play the game and ignore the long term goals. I occasionally fail miserably at the strategy and get all focused in moving sliders upward at an increased rate. I don't know if you are interested in PP, but get enough kills in a PP CZ each weak to maintain rank 5 and you'll knock out a good 10% of deadly a week, minimum.

 

[ilo]

If you just want to min/max, this is how I finished my Triple Elite

Same with Down to earth astronomy, I love the videos where the 'gameplay' is relogging all the time. It is pretty ammusing and entertaining, I wonder why not asking FD to kick us out of the game after every kill.. Oh, sorry, I meant.. 'shame'.

So embarrassing..

 

[Truesilver]

And this is how you "earned" your Elite rank? lol you must be a really good pilot

Combat rank and piloting ability are not linked. When my team won the first PvP League undefeated, iirc our typical combat rank was Dangerous, even though the game was already over a year old and the Elite rank was common (including amongst the other wings in the League).

This is because we had put hundreds of hours into more effective methods of improving combat ability than farming NPC's. I min/max everything I do in-game to facilitate my PvP progression, that is all.

 

[Tassier]

Combat rank and piloting ability are not linked. When my team won the first PvP League undefeated, iirc our typical combat rank was Dangerous, even though the game was already over a year old and the Elite rank was common (including amongst the other wings in the League).

This is because we had put hundreds of hours into more effective methods of improving combat ability than farming NPC's. I min/max everything I do in-game to facilitate my PvP progression, that is all.

I have no doubt at all that Truesilver's ability is better than mine, my only real PVP interaction has been running a blockade (run by some purple headed fiends) down in the Pleiades during a CG, fortunately I was in my battleconda (stuffed with cargo holds) again so was able to dock without being destroyed.

My post here was about increasing combat rank, which is also what Truesilver commented on. I don't say that killing Thargoid scouts will make you a PVP god, although the NHSS 6 sites are definitely challenging. The idea here is to help people increase their rank as easily as possible, which given the fact that the ATR have invalidated Truesilver's method either means finding and killing lots of elite NPCs or slaughtering scouts.

I'm guessing quite a few people would like to make elite so that they can say they have, so they can take elite ranked missions or so they can enter founders world, in either case killing scouts seems the easiest method to do so.

As such come and join the fun in Dalfur (this week, next Thursday will be somewhere else).

 

[Factabulous]

As such come and join the fun in Dalfur (this week, next Thursday will be somewhere else).

Out by one error detected

This week the targets are Nauni and Kung Mu

(But I agree with the OP - shooting scouts is fun (if you can find the systems) - certainly compared to relogging to kill a sidewinder as suggested above ... )

 

[Truesilver]

I'm guessing quite a few people would like to make elite so that they can say they have, so they can take elite ranked missions or so they can enter founders world, in either case killing scouts seems the easiest method to do so.

Yes, in my case the only motivation for quickly min/maxing up to Elite was to increase the frequency of Elite-ranked combat mission spawn, which in turn increases the rate of g5 material acquisition for PvP RNGineering purposes.

This is still a thing now but was much more of an issue before 3.0, ofc. I also jacked my Explo rank up to Elite using the Road to Riches method, for the same reason. (Trade rank was already there due to the cash cows.)

If it wasn't for the PvP RNGineering incentive, personally I would either have ranked up legit or more likely never. Because I hardly ever fight NPC's I'd been at about the same Deadly % for 18 months.

 

[GTwannabe]

Checkpoints in Anarchy systems. Full of Elite pilots in Eagles and infinite respawns.

 

[V'larr]

Don't forget to not *dare* touch multicrew or wing content if you want to rank up quickly. Even having an NPC crewmember aboard will slash your XP gains by half, and that becomes a smaller fraction for every additional member in a crew and/or wing.

*Why*, you might ask? Beats me. It's awfully daft unless you enjoy knowing you're being punished for trying to enjoy a thing.

 

[Aaron T]

I never have tried that, is it better than a CNB?

 

[Illidan]

Checkpoints in Anarchy systems. Full of Elite pilots in Eagles and infinite respawns.

Agreed. Though those are quite hard to find...

 

[Shiro Akai]

Don't forget to not *dare* touch multicrew or wing content if you want to rank up quickly. Even having an NPC crewmember aboard will slash your XP gains by half, and that becomes a smaller fraction for every additional member in a crew and/or wing.

*Why*, you might ask? Beats me. It's awfully daft unless you enjoy knowing you're being punished for trying to enjoy a thing.

Because crew makes it easier. In FDEVs eyes. Is it actually true - who knows, probably not that much. FDEVs want things to be "dangerous", launching SLF as a decoy for you to shoot at target unopposed could make ranking easier than intended. Hence progress cut.
That's my educated guess.

 

[V'larr]

Because crew makes it easier. In FDEVs eyes. Is it actually true - who knows, probably not that much. FDEVs want things to be "dangerous", launching SLF as a decoy for you to shoot at target unopposed could make ranking easier than intended. Hence progress cut.
That's my educated guess.

I've never actually seen Fdev say this themselves. Either way, it's nonsense. If anything, we ought to be rewarded a bonus to XP gains for playing with a crew and/or wing - give a real benefit to paying out the nose for a crewmember's salary, or going through the hassle of finding other players to play with.

How many popular multiplayer games do you know of that, rather than reduce, *increase* your XP gains when you play with friends? I can name a few, and I'm not much of a popular-multiplayer-game player.

I've already gone over such discussions in my thread too, IIRC.