Distracted far too long - ranking up..

Arnoldo

A
I decided to take a break from travelling out in the black to rank up Trade and Combat to Elite. Trade was easy enough, a few Sothis/Ceos runs, a CG or two and lots of profitable 'normal' trade routes. Finding Combat extremely slow though; currently at 20% Deadly and am using a Compromised Nav Beacon as Asphodel to gain points. Am in an armed Annie and also have an FDL.

Any advice on best ship, loadout and tactics to use in order to maximise speed of rank gain?

Note: I'm a lousy combateer so I need a ship that can protect me and can kill quickly.

Also, money no object ;)

Thanks in advance Cmdrs,
 
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Iskariot

Iskariot
Arnoldo said:
I decided to take a break from travelling out in the black to rank up Trade and Combat to Elite. Trade was easy enough, a few Sothis/Ceos runs, a CG or two and lots of profitable 'normal' trade routes. Finding Combat extremely slow though; currently at 20% Deadly and am using a Compromised Nav Beacon as Asphodel to gain points. Am in an armed Annie and also have an FDL.

Any advice on best ship, loadout and tactics to use in order to maximise speed of rank gain?

Note: I'm a lousy combateer so I need a ship that can protect me and can kill quickly.

Also, money no object ;)

Thanks in advance Cmdrs,
Click to expand...

Personally I feel that the Python is the best ship for this.
It can land everywhere and therefore take on any mission, which is a boon when you are doing ranking.
It can defend itself, deal considerable damage, and it can haul a good amount of cargo.

In fact the Python is the only ship in that niche. You have no choice really.
I hope FD will eventually introduce competitors for the Python.
 
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Kuroshio

Kuroshio
If it's ranking up you're after, one really important thing is to only engage targets of your rank and higher. There's a multiplier applied to kills based on the rank difference - as a Deadly pilot, killing anything below Expert doesn't increase your rank at all. That's why Combat Zones are, in my opinion, the best places for ranking: fewer low-rank targets.
 
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Arnoldo

A
Thanks, aware of this and trying to be discriminate in my attacks. Have risen from 17 to 23% today which I don't suppose is too slow but, I'm sure I could do better.

Have tried a CZ or two, couldn't seem to get the hang of staying alive long enough for it to be worthwhile :) (I did say I was a lousy combateer)
 

Andurol

Andurol
Mainly trader here, but when I just want to go pew pew, recently switched out my python for a vulture. Super fun to run in combat. Agile and deadly. Not engineered either. Hardly lose shields, and can stay behind almost anything. pretty cheap too. Thinking about temporarily switching out the class 4 hull reinforcement for a fuel tank (jump range sucks), and running over to mod it to make it better.

my build
https://coriolis.io/outfit/vulture/2patfFalddksif31e1e00030505B22b2o2525.Iw19kA==.MwBhrSrAWMg=
 
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Ian Doncaster

Ian Doncaster
For combat efficiency versus NPCs, a big ship (Python, FDL, Anaconda, Corvette, Cutter) with heavily engineered weapons and shields will be virtually invincible even in a high CZ, and will have enough firepower to get those high-end kills quickly.

That said, if you're making 6% a day already, and don't have long-term interest in owning a high-end combat ship, you're probably quicker carrying on doing what you're doing.
 

marx

marx
I'd say CZ-s too, and avoid getting targeted by multiple enemies. The best way to do is is to jump into the zone and wait half a minute or so before choosing a side. Later on, if you find multiple targets shooting at you, it's best to jump out.

Also, like Ian Doncaster wrote above, heavily engineered ships can be very good at NPC combat too. Go for the shields especially. In addition, I'd recommend trying out smaller ships too: you won't kill as quickly, true, but in my opinion, they are much more fun to fly. This is subjective, of course. For example, a well-engineered Courier is very quick, has excellent shields and a very small size - quite hard to hit. Trading some of that agility for more firepower, a Vulture can perform very well too.
But if you want to powerlevel your combat rank, then big ships are the fastest. I'd just say that fun is worth considering as well, and you might have more fun with smaller ships - that's subjective, however.

Some specific tips: focus on engineering your shields first. For prolonged NPC combat, get some bi-weave shields, at least two shield boosters, and mod them. Modding your armour and HRP-s helps too, but it doesn't reinforce your canopy: you might end up with much more armour, but get your canopy blown out at 60%. In my opinion, it's better to save that weight and be nimbler instead. Then if your shields should drop, retreat.
 
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Arnoldo

A
thanks for the info folks, much appreciated..

I've got:
8b power plant
8a power dist
7c bi-weave
a whole heap of shield boosters & hull reinforcement
4a beam
3c beam
2 x 3c MC
2 x 2F MC
2 x 1g MC

I'm not engineered in any way so, given above loadout, still look at engineering shields first?

Cmdr A
 
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Ian Doncaster

Ian Doncaster
Arnoldo said:
still look at engineering shields first?
Click to expand...
Yes - conventional setup would be thermal resistant shields, two resistance augmented shield boosters, and the rest of the shield boosters heavy duty (all at grade 5 if you can get them, but if you only go for one of Lei Chung and Didi Vatermann, the 5/3 combination that allows is still good). That gives you extremely powerful shields compared with the firepower NPCs can throw out.

Then for weapons, a (single, small) gimballed multicannon with corrosive special effect will let you take down hulls extremely quickly.
 

Arnoldo

A
Thanks Cmdr Lamarr, I'm trying to get my combat-Elite, not too fussed about empire or federation ranking (unless required to get a ship that will speed up combat ranking).

I've seen that video and its very useful..
 

Cosmographer

Cosmographer
Andurol said:
Mainly trader here, but when I just want to go pew pew, recently switched out my python for a vulture. Super fun to run in combat. Agile and deadly. Not engineered either. Hardly lose shields, and can stay behind almost anything. pretty cheap too. Thinking about temporarily switching out the class 4 hull reinforcement for a fuel tank (jump range sucks), and running over to mod it to make it better.

my build
https://coriolis.io/outfit/vulture/2patfFalddksif31e1e00030505B22b2o2525.Iw19kA==.MwBhrSrAWMg=
Click to expand...

Almost exactly the same as my vulture. I highly recommend modding it :) it is an awesome boat and it only gets better with engineering.
 
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