Newcomer / Intro Imperial rank - does it have to be boring?

CMDR SleepyDelegate

CMDR SleepyDelegate
I decided to get the Imperial rank for the Cutter, so I was doing Robigo runs for a day or two, but it is incredibly boring and nothing is happening... I am doing the passenger missions, getting reputation from the only Imperial agent in Robigo, but after two days (roughly 4 hours playing), I have not managed to get a single promotion mission and I am still at 100% of the outsider or whatever is the first level...

If it continues like this, I will die of poisoning due to indigestibility of nails...

Is there any other better way to get the Imperial or Federal rank? Which one is faster? I would be happy with Corvette as well...
 

CMDR SleepyDelegate

CMDR SleepyDelegate
Para Handy said:
Ngalinn - Mainani was the go-to method, I assume it still is. Fill-up with courier missions - both ways - might take a while for Duke though.
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Thanks, that was the other recommendation on YT... But since the Robigo run was supposed to do the same, and it is incredibly boring, I thought I will first ask here on the forum, whether there is any recent experience with grinding the Imp rank, before I commit to something equally dull...
 

Crank Larson

Crank Larson
CMDR SleepyDelegate said:
I have not managed to get a single promotion mission and I am still at 100% of the outsider or whatever is the first level...
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Likely the promotion missions do not spawn where you are. When you are at 100% for the ranking up, a mission will automatically spawn if it is available at the station (which would need to be an Imperial station). If you've been doing lots of missions, likely you have a few promotion missions ready to go once you get to the correct location.

I looked up Robigo on eddb - it is independent. You won't get the promotion missions there.
 

CMDRQuainMarln

CMDRQuainMarln
I did Ngalinn - Mainan mostly courier missions June July last year. It takes longer than older YouTube videos say, but the promotion missions do come up. Sounds like you might get a few in a row. You can vary things a bit with planetary scan missions and such, so it doesn't have to be just courier missions.
I'm glad I got the Cutter. Made billions in it and have enough for a Fleet Carrier now. Being the fastest large ship, it's the best large ship to large ship PvP option and very effective at killing Thargoid Interceptors. The Vette and Conda are just too slow. I still can't face doing the Fed rank grind, but I don't enjoy combat in large ships that much, so don't have the motivation for it.
 

CMDR SleepyDelegate

CMDR SleepyDelegate
CMDRQuainMarln said:
I did Ngalinn - Mainan mostly courier missions June July last year. It takes longer than older YouTube videos say, but the promotion missions do come up. Sounds like you might get a few in a row. You can vary things a bit with planetary scan missions and such, so it doesn't have to be just courier missions.
I'm glad I got the Cutter. Made billions in it and have enough for a Fleet Carrier now. Being the fastest large ship, it's the best large ship to large ship PvP option and very effective at killing Thargoid Interceptors. The Vette and Conda are just too slow. I still can't face doing the Fed rank grind, but I don't enjoy combat in large ships that much, so don't have the motivation for it.
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Honestly speaking, after flying the Anaconda for a while, I can't imagine using a large ships for fight. I love my Python and FDL for anything pew-pew... I just though I should add the Cutter, perhaps for some really difficult assassination missions or so...

But maybe I will change my mind after I get the ship... If I ever get it, because the grind is painstakingly boring...
 

CMDRQuainMarln

CMDRQuainMarln
CMDR SleepyDelegate said:
Honestly speaking, after flying the Anaconda for a while, I can't imagine using a large ships for fight. I love my Python and FDL for anything pew-pew... I just though I should add the Cutter, perhaps for some really difficult assassination missions or so...

But maybe I will change my mind after I get the ship... If I ever get it, because the grind is painstakingly boring...
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I definitely would not grind rank for a Cutter just to do combat in it. It's speed means combined with long range weapons and the fly backwards reverski manoeuvre, it is effective at defending it's cargo and the shields means it survives well in CZs and HazRes. But the ridiculous slow turn rate (even fully engineered) it's tendency to drift in the direction you were originally going even when you have finally convinced the nose of the ship to point somewhere else, and the undersized power distributor for weapons loadout, means combat takes longer to win. It's like wading through treacle.
The Anaconda is more fun in combat despite its lack of speed, due to better power distributor and turn rate. In this situation the Cutter being effective in combat doesn't means it's fun while doing it.
 

CMDRQuainMarln

CMDRQuainMarln
The Cutter excels at
  • being invulnerable to pirates while hauling huge amounts of cargo
  • laser mining due to huge cargo capacity and ability rto run 7 mining lasers without cooking itself (the reason a Python can't run more than 4 properly despite having the same power distributor as the Cutter). This vapourises asteroids in seconds.
  • probably being good at killing Thargoid Interceptors using it's speed and shields for commanders like me determined to do it but lacking the skill to get results with a Cheiftan
  • looking drop dead gorgeous
  • having drool worthy sounding thrusters and boost (reason enough to do a cargo run from time to time)
 

CMDR SleepyDelegate

CMDR SleepyDelegate
CMDRQuainMarln said:
The Cutter excels at
  • being invulnerable to pirates while hauling huge amounts of cargo
  • laser mining due to huge cargo capacity and ability rto run 7 mining lasers without cooking itself (the reason a Python can't run more than 4 properly despite having the same power distributor as the Cutter). This vapourises asteroids in seconds.
  • probably being good at killing Thargoid Interceptors using it's speed and shields for commanders like me determined to do it but lacking the skill to get results with a Cheiftan
  • looking drop dead gorgeous
  • having drool worthy sounding thrusters and boost (reason enough to do a cargo run from time to time)
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You have presented convincing arguments...
 

Robert Rockbite

R
I remember my time at Ngalinn and Mainani (at the end of 2021) with a certain fondness.
I spiced things up with some pirate murder missions once in a while. Was in for a surprise when I did my first "murder the pirate king in an FDL with 2 Vultures thing". It was even more surprising when I discovered that I also had 2 queues of Anaconda Assassins on my tail. Oh boy. And I was in a Cobra and not far above Harmless. Luckily, it was a sniper Cobra, so it basically resulted in tedious FA off reverski target practice. Took about 1 hour to chew through all the enemies I had acquired - and a significant drain on synth materials to recharge my rain gun slugs.
 

Para Handy

Para Handy
Robert Rockbite said:
.....
I spiced things up with some pirate murder missions once in a while. Was in for a surprise when I did my first "murder the pirate king in an FDL with 2 Vultures thing". .....
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I think there is a "sucker" setting on those down there - I remember a promotion mission for not very much, rated novice, went to the system, mission target found, "Threat 1" it said - dropped in to find the target was a deadly furrydancer winged with two dangerous eagles. Yeah threat one! ( my bottom ) :rolleyes:
 

CMDRQuainMarln

CMDRQuainMarln
One way to make these missions faster and more fun is a small light weight ship with enhanced performance thrusters with dirty drive tuning and drive distributors. I've got an Imperial Courier used for winning elections that boosts to 850m/s. Being small it never has to wait for the medium outpost pad to be free, and the super fast boost means it's almost immediately out of mass lock after take off and charging the FSD for the jump.
Viper, Imperial Eagle, even the Hauler and Sidewinder do well with this set up. The Cobra engineered 4A thrusters makes over 645m/s boost and is good too.
 

aRJay

aRJay
The thing with missions to get Federal or Imperial rank is to choose somewhere with multiple suitably aligned factions so you have more mission choices, ideally this place will have missions to locations where you can pick up missions for the return journey, this is what rules Sol out as a great location for Federal ranking because you don't get missions to permit locked systems.

Also with how easy credits can be consider just buying your rank via donation missions, it might be slightly less efficient in rank per mission but the time per mission is much better.
 

metatheurgist

metatheurgist
Eh, you went to the grind spot and found grinding boring. I'm shocked.

Just go somewhere deep into imperial space and do jobs for them. Take which ever ones you think you might enjoy and let them take you wherever you feel like. If you must be efficient focus on courier and small cargo deliveries, just don't stack too many at a time because you will spend more time evading interdiction than making progress.
 

Ronzer

Ronzer
Alec Turner said:
Funnily enough I got a slight hankering for a Cutter last week and did two days of Ngalinn. It's incredibly boring. Now I remember why I don't have a Cutter. I think I might abandon this and go drive around another planet.
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Is that as awesome and time consuming as it sounds?
It'd be great if they somehow compensated with money, the amount you drive. The drive could be "confirming" terrain, or something, and you could cash that in. Sorta like terrain exploring/verifying.
 
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