Edit: there are a couple of tips I've gathered from people in this thread, people in game and my own roaming around. Some of that stuff may not be for you, since it may involve some out of game tactics one can consider an exploit. Since the road towards Rear Admiral can be a massive pain if one really focuses on it all the time, I still believe any metaphorical analgesic/psychotherapy is valid
(original post)
o7 CMDRs, sorry for this rant / help asking. Read further at your own risk.
Man, this stuff is hardcore. Lots and lots and lots and lotsa missions all over the place. I've been mostly doing the Boom data deliveries, since they don't need cargo and give medium reputation. Still a Cadet
Do you guys know of any time efficient way of doing it? Currently using a DBX. Any faster ship, like, for docking, and does it matter?
Is it important to get higher than cordial rep level with the minor factions? Does it give higher rep missions?
There is an interesting guide thread from 2014. But it seems outdated, and got mod blocked.
Anyway, fly Dangerous!!!
Edit 1: another question: do assassinate missions targets only appear during the said time interval (03:30 to 05:30 for example) or are the targets scannable outside those times?
Edit 2: are surface scan missions those ones you have to drop into a planetary base and kill skimmers/ goliaths and data scan pylons with your SRV?
CMDR Maymo says:
I'll answer the ones I can...
Firstly, there are no other activities that can increase your rank, it's all about the missions and they always have to come from a minor faction that is allied with either the Feds or the Imps.
Yes there are definitely some missions that increase rank progression more than others. Pirate Lord missions for example award a higher increase. Planetary scan missions are worth around 2 data delivery missions. And donations are always very good, I was able to test donation missions at a very low rank and can confirm that they do increase rank more if you donate more credits.
But you should always factor in the time investment when pushing for rank...
If, in the time it takes you to do one pirate lord mission you could run several data missions then it's simply not going to be worth it. You have to hang around a planet for an unknown amount of time when doing pirate missions and it's the same for black box and salvage assignments. They eat time.
Even standard delivery missions mean you're going to have to jigsaw all the cargo together which is only going to slow you down.
The two best ranking up missions are data delivery and donations. Both can be done in any ship and don't require a large cargo hold or significant combat prowess. Unfortunately they're also the most boring.
Edit 3: so, people who love Elite Dangerous to the point of grinding your hearts and souls out for a Federal Corvette, I've gathered advice from this thread's contributors and my own trial and error mission piñata. Here it goes.
1. How to climb up the Federation ranks: do missions for minor factions aligned with the Feds.
When docked, open the Starport Services, click Missions, check the list of factions to your left. Those with the Fed emblem are the ones you need. Data Delivery and Donate missions give ++ rep, and are currently the fastest way to climb. They're also arguably mind-numbing after a while. Some kinds of missions give the most rep (+++) but the time to completion is hardly efficient when compared to the former, albeit funnier and a change of pace. Don't forget, though, that some Data Delivery / Cargo Delivery missions have a target Station which is very far away from the system center, therefore sometimes it's just best to ignore said mission; a 300000Ls SuperCruise is hardly worth it in terms of time efficiency.
Gaining rep with the minor faction accumulates rep with the Feds, but reaching Allied status with many minor factions will give proportionally more rep than grinding a single minor faction all the time. As you go up, the contribution achieved by each mission progressively decreases, so Data Delivery gives 2% towards the next rank when at lower ranks (probably up to Midshipman), but can give as low as 0.25% on the top Ranks.
After reaching 100% of the current rank, a Naval mission will appear in the list of missions of a minor faction. It'll be locked as "Requirements not met" if you're not Friendly with said minor faction yet. So, be sure to check the whole list of missions of any aligned minor faction you encounter after reaching 100% of a rank. The Naval mission itself can be of any type of mission: Donate, Data Delivery, Cargo Delivery, Source Commodities, Surface Data Scan, Smuggling, Settlement Assault, Salvage, Assassinate, Massacre (in Conflict Zones), Piracy ("liberate" hostages or goods), just as examples. They don't have to be immediately accepted, though; roaming around you may find other Naval mission, off different kinds, in other Starports of different Systems.
Systems such as NLTT 21440 contain six aligned minor factions or more, and more than one station close to each other, also near the system center, making it faster than seeking minor factions all over the bubble; aim for those kinds of places.
Combat Bonds, Bounty Vouchers and exploration data sold at Universal Cartoghraphics give no Fed rep. They give lots of rep with the minor faction that controls the Starport, though, which can make it easier to get more missions from them, and if you have those prizes with you when you spot an interesting locked Naval ascension misson, they're definitely useful for reaching Friendly status fast.
2. I've reached that point (past Petty Officer probably) when the stuff gets hardcore, but I'm still stubborn enough to not give it a break: if that's your case, there are unorthodox ways around the grind, but keep in mind they can be immersion breaking, arguably exploiting, or really not for you. Read at your own risk.
(Disclaimer: I've felt the need to put this stuff here because the way up the ranks is really, really a chore as of 2.3 version. I make a huge apology/autocritics at the end, stick with me).
Sothis is neighbor to Ceos (9+Ly IIRC).Sothis has Newholm Station and, close by, Sothis Mining station. Ceos has New Dawn Station. Since there are no other Fed stations in a 300+Ly radius, many missions go forth and back between both systems. There's only one Fed aligned minor faction, plus Sirius corporation and two others. Grabbing missions from these other three factions give rep for the Fed minor faction sometimes, as the deliveries eventually cross between all the four.
Here comes the thing. You're allowed to stack up to 20 missions at a time. Grab all Data Delivery missions in Newholm Station, quit to main menu and log into a different mode, grab the new Data Deliveries and go to Sothis Mining. Repeat there. Jump into Ceos and complete the missions in New Dawn Station, where you'll get more missions, switch modes, grab more missions and go back to Sothis. Rinse, repeat. Credits wise you'll get very little compared to some missions in the game, which can rise up to 3 million credits each. But the rank ascension will be fast.
Now my sincere apologies for exposing such vile tactics. As a matter of fact, the Fed ranks ascension can be achieved in an honest, organic and cheerful way: just do bits here and there. The Feds are wildly spread all over the bubble (it looks like, sometimes) so you can intertwine the missions with many other different activities. Right now, for example, at the Community Goal system, there's Fed presence. Every now and then Donate missions spawn there, giving fast and easy rep. When trading, pirating, returning Home from Beagle Point, smuggling, grinding Engineers, or any other activity really, just take a bit of time to do some Fed missions. Finally, this whole grind mentality might not be the best way to get enjoyment out of Elite Dangerous, which is a stunning, complex, awesome and painstaking game. After all, it doesn't matter having a Federal Corvette, if you have to get 400m more to fit it properly, grind Engineers to mod it properly, and take loads of practice from a Viper MkIII and up, to fly it properly, under the risk of throwing it away at CGs in Open because you didn't take time to learn what is Open properly.
(original post)
o7 CMDRs, sorry for this rant / help asking. Read further at your own risk.
Man, this stuff is hardcore. Lots and lots and lots and lotsa missions all over the place. I've been mostly doing the Boom data deliveries, since they don't need cargo and give medium reputation. Still a Cadet
Do you guys know of any time efficient way of doing it? Currently using a DBX. Any faster ship, like, for docking, and does it matter?
Is it important to get higher than cordial rep level with the minor factions? Does it give higher rep missions?
There is an interesting guide thread from 2014. But it seems outdated, and got mod blocked.
Anyway, fly Dangerous!!!
Edit 1: another question: do assassinate missions targets only appear during the said time interval (03:30 to 05:30 for example) or are the targets scannable outside those times?
Edit 2: are surface scan missions those ones you have to drop into a planetary base and kill skimmers/ goliaths and data scan pylons with your SRV?
CMDR Maymo says:
I'll answer the ones I can...
Firstly, there are no other activities that can increase your rank, it's all about the missions and they always have to come from a minor faction that is allied with either the Feds or the Imps.
Yes there are definitely some missions that increase rank progression more than others. Pirate Lord missions for example award a higher increase. Planetary scan missions are worth around 2 data delivery missions. And donations are always very good, I was able to test donation missions at a very low rank and can confirm that they do increase rank more if you donate more credits.
But you should always factor in the time investment when pushing for rank...
If, in the time it takes you to do one pirate lord mission you could run several data missions then it's simply not going to be worth it. You have to hang around a planet for an unknown amount of time when doing pirate missions and it's the same for black box and salvage assignments. They eat time.
Even standard delivery missions mean you're going to have to jigsaw all the cargo together which is only going to slow you down.
The two best ranking up missions are data delivery and donations. Both can be done in any ship and don't require a large cargo hold or significant combat prowess. Unfortunately they're also the most boring.
Edit 3: so, people who love Elite Dangerous to the point of grinding your hearts and souls out for a Federal Corvette, I've gathered advice from this thread's contributors and my own trial and error mission piñata. Here it goes.
1. How to climb up the Federation ranks: do missions for minor factions aligned with the Feds.
When docked, open the Starport Services, click Missions, check the list of factions to your left. Those with the Fed emblem are the ones you need. Data Delivery and Donate missions give ++ rep, and are currently the fastest way to climb. They're also arguably mind-numbing after a while. Some kinds of missions give the most rep (+++) but the time to completion is hardly efficient when compared to the former, albeit funnier and a change of pace. Don't forget, though, that some Data Delivery / Cargo Delivery missions have a target Station which is very far away from the system center, therefore sometimes it's just best to ignore said mission; a 300000Ls SuperCruise is hardly worth it in terms of time efficiency.
Gaining rep with the minor faction accumulates rep with the Feds, but reaching Allied status with many minor factions will give proportionally more rep than grinding a single minor faction all the time. As you go up, the contribution achieved by each mission progressively decreases, so Data Delivery gives 2% towards the next rank when at lower ranks (probably up to Midshipman), but can give as low as 0.25% on the top Ranks.
After reaching 100% of the current rank, a Naval mission will appear in the list of missions of a minor faction. It'll be locked as "Requirements not met" if you're not Friendly with said minor faction yet. So, be sure to check the whole list of missions of any aligned minor faction you encounter after reaching 100% of a rank. The Naval mission itself can be of any type of mission: Donate, Data Delivery, Cargo Delivery, Source Commodities, Surface Data Scan, Smuggling, Settlement Assault, Salvage, Assassinate, Massacre (in Conflict Zones), Piracy ("liberate" hostages or goods), just as examples. They don't have to be immediately accepted, though; roaming around you may find other Naval mission, off different kinds, in other Starports of different Systems.
Systems such as NLTT 21440 contain six aligned minor factions or more, and more than one station close to each other, also near the system center, making it faster than seeking minor factions all over the bubble; aim for those kinds of places.
Combat Bonds, Bounty Vouchers and exploration data sold at Universal Cartoghraphics give no Fed rep. They give lots of rep with the minor faction that controls the Starport, though, which can make it easier to get more missions from them, and if you have those prizes with you when you spot an interesting locked Naval ascension misson, they're definitely useful for reaching Friendly status fast.
2. I've reached that point (past Petty Officer probably) when the stuff gets hardcore, but I'm still stubborn enough to not give it a break: if that's your case, there are unorthodox ways around the grind, but keep in mind they can be immersion breaking, arguably exploiting, or really not for you. Read at your own risk.
(Disclaimer: I've felt the need to put this stuff here because the way up the ranks is really, really a chore as of 2.3 version. I make a huge apology/autocritics at the end, stick with me).
Sothis is neighbor to Ceos (9+Ly IIRC).Sothis has Newholm Station and, close by, Sothis Mining station. Ceos has New Dawn Station. Since there are no other Fed stations in a 300+Ly radius, many missions go forth and back between both systems. There's only one Fed aligned minor faction, plus Sirius corporation and two others. Grabbing missions from these other three factions give rep for the Fed minor faction sometimes, as the deliveries eventually cross between all the four.
Here comes the thing. You're allowed to stack up to 20 missions at a time. Grab all Data Delivery missions in Newholm Station, quit to main menu and log into a different mode, grab the new Data Deliveries and go to Sothis Mining. Repeat there. Jump into Ceos and complete the missions in New Dawn Station, where you'll get more missions, switch modes, grab more missions and go back to Sothis. Rinse, repeat. Credits wise you'll get very little compared to some missions in the game, which can rise up to 3 million credits each. But the rank ascension will be fast.
Now my sincere apologies for exposing such vile tactics. As a matter of fact, the Fed ranks ascension can be achieved in an honest, organic and cheerful way: just do bits here and there. The Feds are wildly spread all over the bubble (it looks like, sometimes) so you can intertwine the missions with many other different activities. Right now, for example, at the Community Goal system, there's Fed presence. Every now and then Donate missions spawn there, giving fast and easy rep. When trading, pirating, returning Home from Beagle Point, smuggling, grinding Engineers, or any other activity really, just take a bit of time to do some Fed missions. Finally, this whole grind mentality might not be the best way to get enjoyment out of Elite Dangerous, which is a stunning, complex, awesome and painstaking game. After all, it doesn't matter having a Federal Corvette, if you have to get 400m more to fit it properly, grind Engineers to mod it properly, and take loads of practice from a Viper MkIII and up, to fly it properly, under the risk of throwing it away at CGs in Open because you didn't take time to learn what is Open properly.
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