Hi guys! First, FD (if you guys read this,) I'd just like to say that I love ED and I only want it to improve. 
Out of all of the threads I've read about Rank missions in E, there's one overwhelming agreement that seems to be consistently stated.
"What a pain in the ass."
This shouldn't be the case.
That being said, here's my own personal take on what I'd like to see Rank missions become. Right now, it's pretty hosed up and confusing as all hell, but why does that have to be? I can appreciate you guys wanting to have us figure things out for ourselves, but if we're working to get benefits from what are literally Galaxy-spanning Powers, shouldn't it be a little bit easier to understand? (For opposing reference, I've worked alongside the United States Social Security department for a number of years, so I know exactly how it feels to have government things be as completely obtuse and agonizing to understand as humanly possible.)
So, as I posted on the Reddit, here's an example of a test mission/coms blather:
"Greetings, Commander. We're representatives from the Federation Hamfist/Imperial Basking Lads/Alliance Party Bus. We've noticed that you've been laying waste to pirates/hauling metric asstons of goods/dumping thousands of credits worth of Explo data in our systems and we'd like you to take care of a job for us. If you succeed, you'll get noticed. Keep doing what you've been doing and maybe we'll help you get noticed even more."
Basically: let us keep doing what we already love doing (blowing stuff up/hauling tons of crap/Exploring Thargoid space), until the Feds/Imps/Alliance notice us. Give us a mission that fits our highest Rank (Combat/Trade/Explo) OR a mission that is of a difficulty Rank relative to the associated Fed/Empire rank gained (whatever) in order to progress. Rinse/Repeat until we're satisfied with our standing/cool new overappreciated/underappreciated spaceship. THE END.
This way, it's organic to what we're already taking part in as Commanders. It begins a track of "as long as I keep hunting/trading/turning in exploration data to these guys I'll get a Rank mission if I want to do it." Hell, the missions don't even have to change that much (if at all, really) compared to what we already get. They just get assigned to you based on your preference/most time spent, whatever.
Now, please understand, I know that these things take both time and money from the team. I'm not ignorant of the sheer amount of effort it takes to just fix things you've already implemented. I'm not saying these things shouldn't be difficult for us to attain, but I just think it would be cool to say, "Oh, yeah, I received my Federal Corvette because I did a lot of work on the side for the Feds. Having friends all over the Galaxy pays off."
Anyway, those are my 2 cents worth on this subject.
Also, to you fellow Commanders who worked your asses off to get your Imperial and Federation ranks up, my hat is off to you, because damn.
Out of all of the threads I've read about Rank missions in E
, there's one overwhelming agreement that seems to be consistently stated."What a pain in the ass."
This shouldn't be the case.
That being said, here's my own personal take on what I'd like to see Rank missions become. Right now, it's pretty hosed up and confusing as all hell, but why does that have to be? I can appreciate you guys wanting to have us figure things out for ourselves, but if we're working to get benefits from what are literally Galaxy-spanning Powers, shouldn't it be a little bit easier to understand? (For opposing reference, I've worked alongside the United States Social Security department for a number of years, so I know exactly how it feels to have government things be as completely obtuse and agonizing to understand as humanly possible.)
So, as I posted on the Reddit, here's an example of a test mission/coms blather:
"Greetings, Commander. We're representatives from the Federation Hamfist/Imperial Basking Lads/Alliance Party Bus. We've noticed that you've been laying waste to pirates/hauling metric asstons of goods/dumping thousands of credits worth of Explo data in our systems and we'd like you to take care of a job for us. If you succeed, you'll get noticed. Keep doing what you've been doing and maybe we'll help you get noticed even more."
Basically: let us keep doing what we already love doing (blowing stuff up/hauling tons of crap/Exploring Thargoid space), until the Feds/Imps/Alliance notice us. Give us a mission that fits our highest Rank (Combat/Trade/Explo) OR a mission that is of a difficulty Rank relative to the associated Fed/Empire rank gained (whatever) in order to progress. Rinse/Repeat until we're satisfied with our standing/cool new overappreciated/underappreciated spaceship. THE END.
This way, it's organic to what we're already taking part in as Commanders. It begins a track of "as long as I keep hunting/trading/turning in exploration data to these guys I'll get a Rank mission if I want to do it." Hell, the missions don't even have to change that much (if at all, really) compared to what we already get. They just get assigned to you based on your preference/most time spent, whatever.
Now, please understand, I know that these things take both time and money from the team. I'm not ignorant of the sheer amount of effort it takes to just fix things you've already implemented. I'm not saying these things shouldn't be difficult for us to attain, but I just think it would be cool to say, "Oh, yeah, I received my Federal Corvette because I did a lot of work on the side for the Feds. Having friends all over the Galaxy pays off."
Anyway, those are my 2 cents worth on this subject.
Also, to you fellow Commanders who worked your asses off to get your Imperial and Federation ranks up, my hat is off to you, because damn.
