Newcomer / Intro Federation Rank Gain

[Arkenbrien]

Hello, I'm not exactly new, but as I recently decided to work toward the corvette, I had a question regarding the rank gain system.

Spcifically, is rank increase tied to mission payout/donation amount? Or is there a set amount per +?

I ask because I'm studying to become a mechanical engineer, aka have no time/life, and I want to gain rank as efficiently as possible.

Thanks

 

[Chris Simon]

AFAIK all mission add the same amount of "ranking points" so if you want to work efficiently, the length of the mission is the most important factor, not payout or influence/faction rep.

What you will find out, though is that every consecutive rank needs more and more missions.

I am unpopular around here for saying this over and over, but... don't do it, man. If you have an hour a day to play the game, don't spend it grinding ranks. Just play the game, do what you find fun. If you keep yourself in Federation space, you will rank up eventually, anyway. And it's better to get the Corvette in a year, than never because you got frustrated and quit.

 

[Sadistic Savior]

Hello, I'm not exactly new, but as I recently decided to work toward the corvette, I had a question regarding the rank gain system.

Spcifically, is rank increase tied to mission payout/donation amount? Or is there a set amount per +?

I ask because I'm studying to become a mechanical engineer, aka have no time/life, and I want to gain rank as efficiently as possible.

Thanks

Rep is what advances rank. So a Rep+++ mission is the ideal mission you want to take. But even Rep+ missions will advance rank. Rank advancement gets slower the higher you go. So after Captain or so, it will seem to take forever, but you are progressing. The values are not fixed...they are just relative to each other. "+++" is much better than "+".

Influence determines your station rep, and how many of the contact's missions are available to you. So take INF+++ missions to improve your standings with the contact (and by proxy, the station).

I did my rank grinding at Tun...there is no easy way to do it. The Fed rank grind is probably the worst grind in the entire game. I did it by stacking Passenger/Data/cargo missions at Tun....Tun is surrounded by a bunch of other systems that trade with them, so I could get new missions at the destination of the old missions, and just do a circuit between them all. It was common to have 2 or 3 missions going to the same place. Passenger missions especially can get very lucrative. 5 Million or more per run to a system 1 jump away was not uncommon. Once you get allied with the stations, the money is quite good.

 

[Sadistic Savior]

I am unpopular around here for saying this over and over, but... don't do it, man. If you have an hour a day to play the game, don't spend it grinding ranks. Just play the game, do what you find fun. If you keep yourself in Federation space, you will rank up eventually, anyway. And it's better to get the Corvette in a year, than never because you got frustrated and quit.

I kind of agree with this. The Corvette will take a long time to grind for. It is the hardest thing to get in this game IMO. As a casual gamer, mine took about 2 or 3 months. But...Tun was reasonably easy and entertaining. If I had to grind, I would do it there. A larger ship (Python for example) will make it a lot easier.

 

[Seizewell Warrior]

OP could try Ceos/Sothis, there is only one Fed faction but the advantage is between the two systems there are only three stations so mission stacking and gaining rep is relatively quick as you don't spend ages dropping off two or three missions at half a dozen stations. The courier missions pay normal rate but some proc quite nice bonuses. If you have a ship capable of hauling cargo you will occasionally get a 200 - 300k payout for hauling silver or gold from Sothis Mining to Ceos. Last night I had a 500k one proc for my max 72 cargo capacity.

I got my Sol permit fairly quickly followed by Beta Hydri though I expect it will take a while longer to open up the Corvie.

The secret is to do it for a day or two then commute back to normal space and do something else. Also you will need a fuel scoop to get there and reasonable jump range on your ship as it's a little way out from the Bubble.

 

[Sadistic Savior]

I did Ceos/Sothis for a long time. It is in the middle of nowhere though, and I actually gained rank faster at Tun, because there were always missions available (Ceos/Sothis often dried up for me for long periods). Bonus: Passenger missions are also much MUCH more lucrative than data missions. So I got rich at the same time while grinding rank.

 

[Seizewell Warrior]

I haven't seen many economy pax transport missions in Ceos, admittedly, just tours. I think my passenger cabin must smell of pee or something as I wasn't getting many offers in Alliance space either.

I guess the economy cabin is the equivalent of an old German train compartment - a cluster of hard plastic seats!

Don't think I've been in the Tun area as yet, might check it out see how lucrative it is.

 

[Sadistic Savior]

I haven't seen many economy pax transport missions in Ceos, admittedly, just tours. I think my passenger cabin must smell of pee or something as I wasn't getting many offers in Alliance space either.

I guess the economy cabin is the equivalent of an old German train compartment - a cluster of hard plastic seats!

Don't think I've been in the Tun area as yet, might check it out see how lucrative it is.

At Tun, when the missions dry up (and they do occasionally) you can just switch gears and go to one of the other nearby systems. They all do missions to each other, so it doesn't really matter much which one you pick. That was the most frustrating thing about Ceos for me...once the missions dry up, that's it. It's hundreds of light years from real civilization, so it is not easy to just go to another system. You used to be able to kind of get around it by mode switching, but I don't know if that works anymore.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

Donation missions are what got me my Corvette and Cutter.
Buy your rank!

 

[Sadistic Savior]

Donation missions are what got me my Corvette and Cutter.
Buy your rank!

All the more reason to do passenger missions. You will need the money later.

 

[Arkenbrien]

Thanks for the replies. I think I'll try the passenger missions, I *was* turning in donation missions at a station I found, but after reading that it took one guy over 430 mil to get to r.a., I just don't want to spend it.

Plus, it gives me more time in my 40 LY beluga.

 

[Mano d'Oro]

Influence determines your station rep, and how many of the contact's missions are available to you. So take INF+++ missions to improve your standings with the contact (and by proxy, the station).

Wrong I'm afraid; your paragraph above this was correct, REP is the important factor here, not INF. REP advances your Reputation (obviously!) but with both the mission-giving minor faction and any major faction/Superpower they are aligned to. INF affects the Influence % that minor faction has within the system compared to the other minor factions, with the knock-on of adjusting their BGS state if enough of a particular type are completed by the next BGS tick (triggering Boom, Civil War etc.).

 

[Maenden]

I think my passenger cabin must smell of pee or something ....

That's the Uraninite in the cargo hold.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

Wrong I'm afraid; your paragraph above this was correct, REP is the important factor here, not INF. REP advances your Reputation (obviously!) but with both the mission-giving minor faction and any major faction/Superpower they are aligned to. INF affects the Influence % that minor faction has within the system compared to the other minor factions, with the knock-on of adjusting their BGS state if enough of a particular type are completed by the next BGS tick (triggering Boom, Civil War etc.).

It's been stated by customer support in an old Reddit thread that rank is another thing altogether.
This would make sense as to why rank and rep don't behave the same way; see decay.
I'm not sure how much that underlying system is in play now, but it would explain a lot of things.

 

[Nero Tacitus]

+1 for Tun, that's where I picked up my first 5 ranks doing assassination and massacre missions.

I'd also suggest checking out Sol, once you have the permit, if you want a change in pace. Great place to stack cargo missions to 1/2 nearby systems. Delivery missions only give 1 REP per, but you can stack 15-20 of them in 5 minutes in Sol, which actually makes them more efficient than combat missions; think I was completing about 50 missions an hour, which is the REP equivalent of 25 assassinations/massacre missions an hour.

There's also Sothis/Ceos, Niu Hsing/Col - though I'd suggest you avoid them, they're pretty much an exploit and ruin the experience of pursuing a Corvette IMO.

 

[Rob_the_Sparky]

I've ranked up Imperial in remote systems and Federation in the middle of the bubble and I found that the remote systems may be effective but they are boring after a while and this is not why we play the game. In the middle of the bubble there is a greater selection of systems to go to and MANY more stations per system so you actually have to think a bit when selecting missions to get good rank increases. For me at least this meant I actually enjoyed doing it and am likely to return to do some more for the fun of it sooner or later.
.
Also, unless you are Mr. money bags I would avoid the donation missions. You may gain rank quicker but do you know how much a Corvette costs? The money you make from the missions will be needed to pay for it.
.
N.B. I got bored of running passengers, they are good for cash but you complete relatively few trips compared to missions and you have to put up with their demands. I preferred a bit of combat with mission NPCs to break things up rather than having to panda to annoying passengers.

 

[Sadistic Savior]

Also, unless you are Mr. money bags I would avoid the donation missions. You may gain rank quicker but do you know how much a Corvette costs? The money you make from the missions will be needed to pay for it.

The money from passenger missions will MORE than pay for those donations. I took every single donation mission offered to me, including the million cr ones. I easily afforded them. Between Cadet and Admiral, I made around 300 million credits. Passenger missions are very lucrative for money. Fast turnoever and low risk as well.

N.B. I got bored of running passengers, they are good for cash but you complete relatively few trips compared to missions and you have to put up with their demands.

LOL no...unless they are luxury passengers, you can completely ignore their demands. I've never had problems ignoring them, and I've done hundreds of missions. For transport missions, their demands mean nothing. The only exception is Luxury passengers (which is why I don't do luxury passengers).

The main thing that can trip you up is illegal passengers (the money is usually good though, so it is worth learning how to stealth-dock...and it's entertaining because it can be challenging), passengers being scanned (I always evade scans, if for no other reason than practice), and getting attacked (a lot of passengers don't like hull damage). Some passengers will also get y if you break laws, like speeding and hitting another ship on the way out of dock.

But their demands mean almost nothing. The only time it might be a problem is "adventure" passengers. You can generally ignore their demands the first couple times...after that you risk losing them. For passenger missions that are less than 10 jumps, this is never an issue for me.

Adventure missions can be a problem because they are so long. I don't do adventure missions often because you cannot complete them till you return to the station...as opposed to transport missions, which are done once you reach the destination. So Adventure missions are hard to stack, and do not have a fast turnover, and you risk losing them if you fail to meet passenger demands. This matters if you goal is making money/trip or building rank quickly.

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

AFAIK all mission add the same amount of "ranking points" so if you want to work efficiently, the length of the mission is the most important factor, not payout or influence/faction rep.

What you will find out, though is that every consecutive rank needs more and more missions.

I am unpopular around here for saying this over and over, but... don't do it, man. If you have an hour a day to play the game, don't spend it grinding ranks. Just play the game, do what you find fun. If you keep yourself in Federation space, you will rank up eventually, anyway. And it's better to get the Corvette in a year, than never because you got frustrated and quit.

I agree with this, but you know, the meta is to grind rank and then complain about the grind.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

The money from passenger missions will MORE than pay for those donations. I took every single donation mission offered to me, including the million cr ones. I easily afforded them. Between Cadet and Admiral, I made around 300 million credits. Passenger missions are very lucrative for money. Fast turnoever and low risk as well.

Agreed, I took every single one I could find, often millions at a time.
>It's an opportunity cost thing.<
Since you're *not* doing lowball pay data missions, your average income is still much, much greater.

I bought my Cutter and Corvette immediately upon getting rank.
How are you going to afford a billion Cr ship doing 10kCr data runs?

 

[Chris Simon]

I agree with this, but you know, the meta is to grind rank and then complain about the grind.

Of course.
People don't play Elite to have fun. It's a serious business!