ok, i'l start with what i have been getting up to for game progression since release and some observations:
initially, i was sick of grinding from beta and gamma so decided to try to make money from mainly bounty hunting NPCs after release. other than NPC opponents jumping away with 1-5% hull (why does none of their systems stop working with that much damage like player ships do?), it is actually a reasonable earner now. it is not that uncommon to find targets with sizable bounties at nav points so i can make a living from that activity. having a kitted out cobra for this task helps and is useful in conflict zones as well.
but, as i started needing more expensive upgrades for the cobra (to make it perfect for fighting and exploration), combat income became insufficient and trading became a necessity to raise funds quickly. so, i bought a type 6, upgraded it into a dedicated space truck (it is pretty much cargo space with big engines now lol). trading was unbalanced (exporters not having an export item even listed in their market and importers having lower prices on items than exporters?!) and i was making very little from it until i ran into Thrudd's site (http://www.elitetradingtool.co.uk/). Using that tool, money started rolling in properly and trading became profitable again (can make over 100Kcr per run now). trading does need fixing but the third party tool will do for now.
after making enough to install advanced and surface scanners on the cobra, i decided to try my hand on exploration and that is completely broken (similar to mining) and a complete waste of time at the moment. i did as highly detailed scans as possible on a few large and distant systems (took a fair amount of time) but made less money than i would have from bounty hunting on a single navpoint till security turns hostile.
as a summary, bounty hunting works, trading is broken but can be managed using Thrudd's trading tool but exploration and mining are minimal earnings for maximum time spent so are in effect useless unless you are doing them just for fun. i have no idea how profitable piracy is as it is against my commander's in game character (maybe someone else can inform us on this).
getting to the biggest problem; rating progress is too easy whereas faction progress seems impossible. i have done missions and taken part in many conflict zones and everyone is still neutral and i only have the lowest rank with the empire and none at all with federation and alliance. at the same time, all the effort made towards faction progress has resulted in me earning expert rank for combat, merchant rank for trading and scout for exploration. that seems completely backwards to me and is also the opposite of original Elite:
I know that there is that silly competition for rank and FD might have made ranks easier just for that (bad move if that is the reason) but i am finding it very annoying; basically, considering how many systems need permits, faction reputation building should be easier and quicker. On the other hand, i should not have the ratings i do considering how little time i spend in the game (busy life). i remember that with the original elite, it took me forever to get an expert rating and the ranks are supposed to be the main aim of the game. i can see the universe filled with Elite pilots in no time and that sort of takes away from its status. The faction problem simply means it would take me forever to earn permits and with most of the smaller ones, it doesn't even make sense to try.
Please feel free to correct me if i am incorrect with any of my observations or seem to be missing useful information on how i can approach them differently (as in the case of trading with the right third party tool). btw, fanbot trolling will be ignored.
Cheers
initially, i was sick of grinding from beta and gamma so decided to try to make money from mainly bounty hunting NPCs after release. other than NPC opponents jumping away with 1-5% hull (why does none of their systems stop working with that much damage like player ships do?), it is actually a reasonable earner now. it is not that uncommon to find targets with sizable bounties at nav points so i can make a living from that activity. having a kitted out cobra for this task helps and is useful in conflict zones as well.
but, as i started needing more expensive upgrades for the cobra (to make it perfect for fighting and exploration), combat income became insufficient and trading became a necessity to raise funds quickly. so, i bought a type 6, upgraded it into a dedicated space truck (it is pretty much cargo space with big engines now lol). trading was unbalanced (exporters not having an export item even listed in their market and importers having lower prices on items than exporters?!) and i was making very little from it until i ran into Thrudd's site (http://www.elitetradingtool.co.uk/). Using that tool, money started rolling in properly and trading became profitable again (can make over 100Kcr per run now). trading does need fixing but the third party tool will do for now.
after making enough to install advanced and surface scanners on the cobra, i decided to try my hand on exploration and that is completely broken (similar to mining) and a complete waste of time at the moment. i did as highly detailed scans as possible on a few large and distant systems (took a fair amount of time) but made less money than i would have from bounty hunting on a single navpoint till security turns hostile.
as a summary, bounty hunting works, trading is broken but can be managed using Thrudd's trading tool but exploration and mining are minimal earnings for maximum time spent so are in effect useless unless you are doing them just for fun. i have no idea how profitable piracy is as it is against my commander's in game character (maybe someone else can inform us on this).
getting to the biggest problem; rating progress is too easy whereas faction progress seems impossible. i have done missions and taken part in many conflict zones and everyone is still neutral and i only have the lowest rank with the empire and none at all with federation and alliance. at the same time, all the effort made towards faction progress has resulted in me earning expert rank for combat, merchant rank for trading and scout for exploration. that seems completely backwards to me and is also the opposite of original Elite:
I know that there is that silly competition for rank and FD might have made ranks easier just for that (bad move if that is the reason) but i am finding it very annoying; basically, considering how many systems need permits, faction reputation building should be easier and quicker. On the other hand, i should not have the ratings i do considering how little time i spend in the game (busy life). i remember that with the original elite, it took me forever to get an expert rating and the ranks are supposed to be the main aim of the game. i can see the universe filled with Elite pilots in no time and that sort of takes away from its status. The faction problem simply means it would take me forever to earn permits and with most of the smaller ones, it doesn't even make sense to try.
Please feel free to correct me if i am incorrect with any of my observations or seem to be missing useful information on how i can approach them differently (as in the case of trading with the right third party tool). btw, fanbot trolling will be ignored.
Cheers
