Help me understand systems and mission

[DeFeCT]

Hello all.

I just dont get it, how can you tell what systems are good and give high paying missions? Im mostly interested in Hauling missions.

My starter area was Asellus Primus and the controlling faction used to give me hauling missions for about 900k every so often.

I then moved on to SOL, because all factions there are Federation, so all missions will give rep/rank for federation. But i have grinded it to death and only get missions between 100k-400k, i have NEVER got a mission that pays more than 500k there, and are Cordial/Friendly with all factions in the system.

Sometimes they only have one faction that gives missions, and only courier, take a look at picture, it crazy.

Is there a way to find a good system that give more high paying haul missions?
I dont want to go to a new system and start grinding again, only to find out it sucks

 

[smiths121]

Hello all.

I just dont get it, how can you tell what systems are good and give high paying missions? Im mostly interested in Hauling missions.

My starter area was Asellus Primus and the controlling faction used to give me hauling missions for about 900k every so often.

I then moved on to SOL, because all factions there are Federation, so all missions will give rep/rank for federation. But i have grinded it to death and only get missions between 100k-400k, i have NEVER got a mission that pays more than 500k there, and are Cordial/Friendly with all factions in the system.

Sometimes they only have one faction that gives missions, and only courier, take a look at picture, it crazy.

Is there a way to find a good system that give more high paying haul missions?
I dont want to go to a new system and start grinding again, only to find out it sucks

http://i.imgur.com/AbnNcQj.jpg

Hello Cmdr DeFeCT,

Missions are a little odd (the 0/0 that happens), other players affect mission availability for a faction, but there does seem to be some factors beyond this - intentional or not. However the below is true.

The biggest payouts are when you are allied.
The state of a faction affects mission numbers and type more than anything else. Factions in Boom state are good.
Government type affects mission types - although this is not as direct as we thought according to the ED live stream last Tuesday. In general illegal missions pay more becuase of the risk, so criminal factions such as Anarchy tend to generate these.

Factions exist in more than one system - rep from activities for a faction in any system counts for the faction.

It is tuff to try and rnk up with 5 factions at the same time all the way to allied! I would look at the surrounding systems and pick 1 or 2 factions where missions overlap (i.e the faction exists in the destination) to macimise missions. Do not discount trading between the worlds with spare cargo, you often already carry the risk of more interdictions if you are doing delivery missions.

The Frontier curiously tends to be the best source of mission payout and ranking - well it can be argued. A Fed colony outside of the bubble will have missions back to the bubble, often more than one to the same destination. This is just a function of economy type of the station, nearest systems (or in some case single system), and government types of factions in the near by systems. All the 30+MCr an hour posts by stacking are just a subset of this behaviour where distance limits all the factions to a single destination. You can search these forums for candidates, or use the galaxy map and try to find ones of your own. The former is easier, the latter is more fun (if you like that kinda thing) and is actually playing thr game.

States are transtory - but some good states:
Famine can net you up 2K profit per tonfor food goods. Outbreak can net you profits on basic medicines. Boom increases mission numbers, and tends to be a function of trading and missions.

There is no exact science as everytinhg is somewhat based on player actinos (including trade routes in the galaxy map). Distance and low player traffic make a system more predictable and stable, so this is why I recommend looking at the frontier.

Simon

 

[Jaiotu]

When did you start noticing this? They did make some changes to missions two weeks ago when 2.2.03 was released. You might also want to look for a system in a boom state. I believe that influences the mission board to produce higher paying missions (I'm no expert so hopefully someone else can reply and either confirm or counter that).

 

[DeFeCT]

Hello Cmdr DeFeCT,

Missions are a little odd (the 0/0 that happens), other players affect mission availability for a faction, but there does seem to be some factors beyond this - intentional or not. However the below is true.

The biggest payouts are when you are allied.
The state of a faction affects mission numbers and type more than anything else. Factions in Boom state are good.
Government type affects mission types - although this is not as direct as we thought according to the ED live stream last Tuesday. In general illegal missions pay more becuase of the risk, so criminal factions such as Anarchy tend to generate these.

Factions exist in more than one system - rep from activities for a faction in any system counts for the faction.

It is tuff to try and rnk up with 5 factions at the same time all the way to allied! I would look at the surrounding systems and pick 1 or 2 factions where missions overlap (i.e the faction exists in the destination) to macimise missions. Do not discount trading between the worlds with spare cargo, you often already carry the risk of more interdictions if you are doing delivery missions.

The Frontier curiously tends to be the best source of mission payout and ranking - well it can be argued. A Fed colony outside of the bubble will have missions back to the bubble, often more than one to the same destination. This is just a function of economy type of the station, nearest systems (or in some case single system), and government types of factions in the near by systems. All the 30+MCr an hour posts by stacking are just a subset of this behaviour where distance limits all the factions to a single destination. You can search these forums for candidates, or use the galaxy map and try to find ones of your own. The former is easier, the latter is more fun (if you like that kinda thing) and is actually playing thr game.

States are transtory - but some good states:
Famine can net you up 2K profit per tonfor food goods. Outbreak can net you profits on basic medicines. Boom increases mission numbers, and tends to be a function of trading and missions.

There is no exact science as everytinhg is somewhat based on player actinos (including trade routes in the galaxy map). Distance and low player traffic make a system more predictable and stable, so this is why I recommend looking at the frontier.

Simon

Thanks alot, i will look into this. Lots of good info here.

- - - Updated - - -

When did you start noticing this? They did make some changes to missions two weeks ago when 2.2.03 was released. You might also want to look for a system in a boom state. I believe that influences the mission board to produce higher paying missions (I'm no expert so hopefully someone else can reply and either confirm or counter that).

I only returned a couple of weeks ago, so all info is post-patch.

 

[goemon]

if you look to your screenshot upper left corner, you see the state of the minor faction. it is "none".

- mission generation and payouts highly depends on states of a minor faction and its influence level in system. to some extends on economy of the station population size of the system.

for trade missions:

- state: minor faction in boom, bust, outbreak or famine.

- economy: not: military or tourism. industrial and refinery a a safe bet.

- high population.

you can filter the galaxy map for states of system controlling factions as well as economies. after that you can use the system map to check states of other minor factions in systems and economies of stations.

getting better standing with the minor faction ("reputation") allows you access to better payed missions.
___

that said - the mission generation is erratic and sometimes frustrating. i tend to do sandbox activities like trading without missions, because it is more predictable. you don't need missions to play the game or to earn CR/rank or to back a minor faction.

 

[c00ky1970]

Improving your ranking with a faction can be achieved by the following:

Performing missions for that faction

Handing Bounty Hunting Credits for that faction (This only improves ranking with controlling faction)

Handing in cartogrpahic data (again this only improves ranking with controlling faction)

Best way is to select a "home" system, look for one where the factions have an affiliation with a specific superpower, look at system and does it have a star port that is not too far from star (ie. you dont want to have to cruise 1.7M Ls to hand in a mission), if a system has multiple star ports even better (as you can get missions that just ship stuff between in system locations).

Then just select all the missions for the main faction that provide influence increase, do some star scanning, do some bounty hunting, you might even get donation missions that you pay money to get better ranking with that faction. Just rinse and repeat. Very quickly you will be allied and mission payouts will jump a bit in Cr reward.

Now if you are bouncing around doing delivery missions, then ranking with other nearby systems will also mean you have a wider number of systems you can get better missions from, plus you will get allied with a number of factions (not keeping all your eggs in one basket).

Have fun!

 

[DeFeCT]

if you look to your screenshot upper left corner, you see the state of the minor faction. it is "none".

- mission generation and payouts highly depends on states of a minor faction and its influence level in system. to some extends on economy of the station population size of the system.

for trade missions:

- state: minor faction in boom, bust, outbreak or famine.

- economy: not: military or tourism. industrial and refinery a a safe bet.

- high population.

you can filter the galaxy map for states of system controlling factions as well as economies. after that you can use the system map to check states of other minor factions in systems and economies of stations.

getting better standing with the minor faction ("reputation") allows you access to better payed missions.
___

that said - the mission generation is erratic and sometimes frustrating. i tend to do sandbox activities like trading without missions, because it is more predictable. you don't need missions to play the game or to earn CR/rank or to back a minor faction.

Thanks for info.

- - - Updated - - -

Improving your ranking with a faction can be achieved by the following:

Performing missions for that faction

Handing Bounty Hunting Credits for that faction (This only improves ranking with controlling faction)

Handing in cartogrpahic data (again this only improves ranking with controlling faction)

Best way is to select a "home" system, look for one where the factions have an affiliation with a specific superpower, look at system and does it have a star port that is not too far from star (ie. you dont want to have to cruise 1.7M Ls to hand in a mission), if a system has multiple star ports even better (as you can get missions that just ship stuff between in system locations).

Then just select all the missions for the main faction that provide influence increase, do some star scanning, do some bounty hunting, you might even get donation missions that you pay money to get better ranking with that faction. Just rinse and repeat. Very quickly you will be allied and mission payouts will jump a bit in Cr reward.

Now if you are bouncing around doing delivery missions, then ranking with other nearby systems will also mean you have a wider number of systems you can get better missions from, plus you will get allied with a number of factions (not keeping all your eggs in one basket).

Have fun!

Thanks, will look into this

 

[Deleted member 115407]

Improving your ranking with a faction can be achieved by the following:

Performing missions for that faction

Handing Bounty Hunting Credits for that faction (This only improves ranking with controlling faction)

Handing in cartogrpahic data (again this only improves ranking with controlling faction)

Best way is to select a "home" system, look for one where the factions have an affiliation with a specific superpower, look at system and does it have a star port that is not too far from star (ie. you dont want to have to cruise 1.7M Ls to hand in a mission), if a system has multiple star ports even better (as you can get missions that just ship stuff between in system locations).

Then just select all the missions for the main faction that provide influence increase, do some star scanning, do some bounty hunting, you might even get donation missions that you pay money to get better ranking with that faction. Just rinse and repeat. Very quickly you will be allied and mission payouts will jump a bit in Cr reward.

Now if you are bouncing around doing delivery missions, then ranking with other nearby systems will also mean you have a wider number of systems you can get better missions from, plus you will get allied with a number of factions (not keeping all your eggs in one basket).

Have fun!

Very much this. Find a home, rep up with the factions there. As you do, you will notice that the system tends to always give missions going to the same places. Once you're friendly or allied with everyone in System A, choose a System B that is a common mission target. You will likely already have some rep there. Now go there and do the same thing. And so on and so forth, until you have repped up really well. Then you should always have your pick of the best paying missions and, if you plan it right, your missions will usually take you to places where you already have great rep.

Also, if you're comfortable with CZs, they are a great way to farm both sides of the conflict for rep. Never waste an opportunity

 

[Ano]

if you look to your screenshot upper left corner, you see the state of the minor faction. it is "none".

- mission generation and payouts highly depends on states of a minor faction and its influence level in system. to some extends on economy of the station population size of the system.

for trade missions:

- state: minor faction in boom, bust, outbreak or famine.

- economy: not: military or tourism. industrial and refinery a a safe bet.

- high population.

you can filter the galaxy map for states of system controlling factions as well as economies. after that you can use the system map to check states of other minor factions in systems and economies of stations.

getting better standing with the minor faction ("reputation") allows you access to better payed missions.
___

that said - the mission generation is erratic and sometimes frustrating. i tend to do sandbox activities like trading without missions, because it is more predictable. you don't need missions to play the game or to earn CR/rank or to back a minor faction.

Question for you, you seem keen on this. I have or had high federal influence, am already admiral and tend to chase system cops in backwater places that happen to be Federal. My Federal influence slowly tanked ofc, so back to Kudiyu where I have good allied status with most Fed minor factions in systems to bring that back up.

Kudiyu is in a state of None. 3 Fed factions, 2 in no state, one in boom. 10 missions (expansion data delivery, donate some slaves, deliver some goods), nothing raised superpower Fed standing, except an additional 3 mil in credit donation missions for 1% increase.

Any tips to improve this behaviour?

This progression would be too slow / costly for my liking. CZ for a Fed war may be more productive to raise my Fed affiliation.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks in advance.

Not meaning to hijack OP's thread, this is about raising super power faction rather than minor faction and some knowledge seems in effect here, thank you.

 

[goemon]

Question for you, you seem keen on this. I have or had high federal influence

i assume, you mean "Reputation", "Reputation: Federation" (Superpower Federation - not influence (which only a minor faction can have, not a cmdr), or rank.

your case sound rather strange, but here are some ideas which might have happened

- first of all, superpower reputation decays back to friendly, where it stops, while minor faction reputation doesn't decay. If you want to be allied with a superpower, you have to work constantly... the decay is around 1,5% per day; it also works for hostile to unfriendly ;-)

- super power reputation can take some time to refresh. when we were testing numbers, we finally did the log off- log on- game to see effects.

- superpower reputation is build by GAINING minor faction reputation. if you are at 100% allied with all federal minor faction in your system, it is time to move on.

- if a mission you take is giving out by a federal alligned minor faction, but it is also HURTING a federal alligned minor faction, you won't gain reputation, or you will gain much less reputation. Skimmer missions are a classic - you make one step forward, and one step backwards doing them...

- you can easily gain superpower reputation by doing non-mission work - combat bonds, and bounties issued by a federal minor faction, as well as superpower bonties will boost your reputation. trade and exploration data will be the same. if you are combat oriented, travelling in federal space from system to system and hunt in CZ, till you are allied with the controlling federal station - which is when you move on - is a very good way to get allied...

as you are already admiral, i don't have to tell you that there are major diffferences about actions gaining rank and actions gaining reputation - the list above is only valid for superpower reputation.

 

[Ano]

i assume, you mean "Reputation", "Reputation: Federation" (Superpower Federation - not influence (which only a minor faction can have, not a cmdr), or rank.

your case sound rather strange, but here are some ideas which might have happened

- first of all, superpower reputation decays back to friendly, where it stops, while minor faction reputation doesn't decay. If you want to be allied with a superpower, you have to work constantly... the decay is around 1,5% per day; it also works for hostile to unfriendly ;-)

- super power reputation can take some time to refresh. when we were testing numbers, we finally did the log off- log on- game to see effects.

- superpower reputation is build by GAINING minor faction reputation. if you are at 100% allied with all federal minor faction in your system, it is time to move on.

- if a mission you take is giving out by a federal alligned minor faction, but it is also HURTING a federal alligned minor faction, you won't gain reputation, or you will gain much less reputation. Skimmer missions are a classic - you make one step forward, and one step backwards doing them...

- you can easily gain superpower reputation by doing non-mission work - combat bonds, and bounties issued by a federal minor faction, as well as superpower bonties will boost your reputation. trade and exploration data will be the same. if you are combat oriented, travelling in federal space from system to system and hunt in CZ, till you are allied with the controlling federal station - which is when you move on - is a very good way to get allied...

as you are already admiral, i don't have to tell you that there are major diffferences about actions gaining rank and actions gaining reputation - the list above is only valid for superpower reputation.

Ah cool, so I will bounce back from < friendly to = friendly just leaving things be, and to accelerate that, improve minor faction in unaligned fed system via BH or CZ.

The lack of superpower movement for the work I have been doing in systems I am already allied in is counter intuitive, but as you explain it, it makes sense, since my minor faction bit is not moving at all.

Thank you, time to move on for a bit then. Indeed for your last line, I just did not want to go disliked / hostile to Fed as a superpower. Seems a bad idea, even if there is a bounce back it will take a long while at the % stated.

Thank you very much for your insight. Moving on to moving on.

 

[thirstyfish]

Pretty much like this:

You have superpower reputation and rank (where applicable). You gain superpower rep by increasing your rep with a minor power that is associated with that superpower. You gain rank by doing missions for a minor power that is associated with that superpower.

Your reputation with a minor power always starts a neutral and changes based on your interactions with that faction:
1. bounty hunting will raise rep with the controlling faction of a system (most of the time) and lower rep with the factions whose ships you destroy
2. Selling cargo/exploration data will raise rep with the faction that controls the station you are at (I think, might just be controlling faction of the system again).
3. Running missions for a minor faction will raise your rep with the minor faction that issued the mission, will influence the current and pending states of that faction, and can (depending on the mission type) influence your rep (I think) and the states of other factions, not just the ones in the same system. Missions can also alter a faction's influence in a system, war and civil war missions do this the most.
4. Criminal activity harms your rep with the factions of your victims (if piracy/murder) and can alter the state and influence of various factions in the system (again I think).

All of this is the basics before factoring in powerplay. Although at least powerplay is relatively independent of the primary rep system.

Note: I don't do a whole lot of BGS manipulation. I bounty hunt, trade and run missions based on my mood.

 

[DeFeCT]

Another thing happened recently.
I did as recommended, and chose another system, with BOOM state, ant the missions tend to be better paying, arount 400-500k most of them, so its alot better than 200k-ish
Then, i got a mission hauling stuff to another system, the same faction was present there, and when i checked the mission board at the destination, there was a 2 MILLION credit paying mission there for hauling 99 units of gold, about 40LY away, not an issue, as i have about 22k jump range atm, so ofcourse i took the mission and completed it.

Then i went back to that system again, thinking, this was a nice one, maybe they have more, but no.... they didnt... When i got back, there was only 200-500k missions again hehe.

The system that gave the 2 million credit mission was refinery/extraction, what kind of system is the best? The biggest paying mission so far, by a mile, what that gold delivery.
Is extraction systems better than say High Tech? Because of the chance to get gold delivery?

It look a bit like the higher price merchandise you haul, the better, ores and stuff seem to be more expensive than the usual High Tech stuff?

 

[CMDR Endincite]

You can see the galactic average price for things in the commodities market, and yes for haulage the highest of these will pay the best. Note that some of the very highest don't come up in missions (e.g. mining-only metals like platinum), or do very rarely.

If you got one good mission and found none on your return, it's almost certainly just RNG. Try a different port in the same system (with the same economy!) or leave & return, or wait 15 minutes for new missions to be added. Time spent gaining rep with factions in the system in the meantime (through e.g. bounty hunting or trade) is well worth it.

Edit: you can use the galmap trade overlay and filter for e.g. gold/palladium to see where things are sold near you (buy trade data on the galmap, or visit a place) or a tool like EDDB to see what's sold near anywhere.

Edit2: Be aware of the economy of the port you're visiting rather than just the system. The system might say extraction but if you're parked at a port with e.g. a terraforming economy you'll see no high priced goods.

 

[goemon]

You can see the galactic average price for things in the commodities market, and yes for haulage the highest of these will pay the best. .

uhm. no.

under the top 9 most profitable commodities (>3000 cr/t profit possible), there are commodities from 279 cr/t galactic average to 15984 cr/t.

 

[DeFeCT]

You can see the galactic average price for things in the commodities market, and yes for haulage the highest of these will pay the best. Note that some of the very highest don't come up in missions (e.g. mining-only metals like platinum), or do very rarely.

If you got one good mission and found none on your return, it's almost certainly just RNG. Try a different port in the same system (with the same economy!) or leave & return, or wait 15 minutes for new missions to be added. Time spent gaining rep with factions in the system in the meantime (through e.g. bounty hunting or trade) is well worth it.

Edit: you can use the galmap trade overlay and filter for e.g. gold/palladium to see where things are sold near you (buy trade data on the galmap, or visit a place) or a tool like EDDB to see what's sold near anywhere.

Edit2: Be aware of the economy of the port you're visiting rather than just the system. The system might say extraction but if you're parked at a port with e.g. a terraforming economy you'll see no high priced goods.

Ok, but do you know if there is any kind of economy that usually give better paying missions, or doesnt it matter at all?

 

[CMDR Endincite]

Ok, but do you know if there is any kind of economy that usually give better paying missions, or doesnt it matter at all?

Particular commodities are tied to specific economies, so those that produce higher value goods will be better. A mission of the same type, rank, tonnage, and commodity to the same distance will have the same credit reward everywhere, afaik.
Extraction and refinery produce the high-value metals. Generally good choices, with refinery the better of the two IME.

Note that there's no guarantee any given port will produce a given commodity, only that a port of a given economy can produce X, Y, Z commodities. Not all high techs produce all medicines, nor extractions metals instead of minerals.

There's an interrelation of economy, commodities produced/demanded, faction type, and state in determining what types of missions are available or more prevalent at any given port, and the value of them. Players so far have barely scratched the surface in understanding the whole matrix. It's hard to point you in a specific direction, I can only tell you what to look for.

 

[Ano]

Thank you, time to move on for a bit then. Indeed for your last line, I just did not want to go disliked / hostile to Fed as a superpower. Seems a bad idea, even if there is a bounce back it will take a long while at the % stated.

Thank you very much for your insight. Moving on to moving on.

As followup, bounceback to friendly from disliked does not seem to work if you log in every day. I have not bothered to skip a day to see if it does anything un-attended. Cheers,