How long must I be considered 'Mostly Harmless'...

Oblivious · May 25, 2015

How many enemies do I have to kill to advance beyond 'Mostly Harmless'?
Because I beg to differ - I haven't lost a single fight I've been in, aside from the several times enemies have super-cruised away from the battle, and the few times I've had to do so due to being out-numbered and overpowered, but I haven't had a ship destroyed in combat yet. Far as I'm concerned, this makes me mostly deadly, not mostly harmless.

According to my stats, I've claimed 53 bounties, which means I've destroyed at least 53 enemy ships. I'm sure there must be some magic number I have to achieve to advance beyond 'Mostly Harmless', but I'm wondering what that number is, or if the game uses some other criteria for determining status.

Thanks for any replies.

LeetNoob · May 25, 2015

It's not exactly clear because the rank and type of ship you kill seems to affect how many kills you need to progress, and some people have reported some very unusual numbers for rank progression, but roughly 75 kills should move you up. So you're nearly there.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=117378

Colonel North · May 25, 2015

There are no definitive numbers (that I've been able to find) and there are claims that the 'quality' (rating/ ship) of your opponents is relevant. At a beacon or RES I'll have a go at anything 'WANTED' so opponent difficultly is not really a factor I can control or effect.

IMO it's another area of the game that I feel needs more clarity and information. I can have an exact percentage of how much the Jet Co or Crimson Gang like me (thanks for that) but little to no info on stuff that matters more to me.

Cmdr Zach · May 25, 2015

To rank faster, you generally get 'harder' ships at Combat Zones and Signal Sources than you do at Nav Beacons and Resource Extraction Zones. However, they are harder to beat too!

Colonel North · May 25, 2015

Cmdr Zach said:
To rank faster, you generally get 'harder' ships at Combat Zones and Signal Sources than you do at Nav Beacons and Resource Extraction Zones. However, they are harder to beat too!

Too right mate! I admit to having ran away from a couple of SSC's with my tail between my legs and modules in tatters!

Oblivious · May 25, 2015

Ahh, I see... I guess then I need to venture forth from the RES's and head to the combat zones...
Thanks, all.

Tuub t Tute · May 25, 2015

I hit Novice at 92 and Expert at 400-ish I think. Trader not a combat pilot, so those kills generally came out of necessity, missions, or NAV beacon hits at either end of trade routes.

There are a couple of big threads with lots of data and aggregated numbers. It boils down to there is no hard threshold, it depends on some variables.

B33 ENN · May 25, 2015

I remember it was like this in the original game. No information on how many you needed. It had only the combat rank, rather than the three now, but similarly each 'level' took seemingly exponential rising kill requirements to work your way to Elite.

Colonel North said:
There are no definitive numbers (that I've been able to find) and there are claims that the 'quality' (rating/ ship) of your opponents is relevant. At a beacon or RES I'll have a go at anything 'WANTED' so opponent difficultly is not really a factor I can control or effect.

I had a suspicion that might be a factor, but wasn't sure.

Colonel North said:
IMO it's another area of the game that I feel needs more clarity and information. I can have an exact percentage of how much the Jet Co or Crimson Gang like me (thanks for that) but little to no info on stuff that matters more to me.

I hear you!

I find that amusing too. It wouldn't be a bad idea to add a progress bar to your next level, but perhaps with no numerical indication in case they want to keep the forumla unknown.

Oblivious said:
Ahh, I see... I guess then I need to venture forth from the RES's and head to the combat zones... Thanks, all.

I wondered into a combat zone once after getting tired of bad spawns from the usual places. As soon as I picked a side and engaged, I got whooped in seconds and had to grab my hardpoints and kiss my asp goodbye as I ran for my life to warp out of there!

popuptoaster · May 25, 2015

I like that it is left fairly ambiguous, obviously there are actual calculations involved but I have deliberately decided not to go hunting for the answers for this question because I like the idea that the Pilots Federation will award me my ranks when it sees fit to do so.

i've been in right since the beginning, I don't play a huge amount and when i do I don't "powerplay" so things are going slowly, I am getting there though.