Increase militarty rank progression for combat missions

[Agony_Aunt]

A long time ago we were told combat missions increase rank more than other missions, which makes sense.

However, i'm not sure this is true, and even if so, in terms or risk/reward and time taken, overall it works out a lot worse, especially when compouned by the new AI.

Examples:

2x Courier missions. Time taken - approx 10 mins. Risk - almost zero. Rank increase - approx 1%.

1x Kill 15 targets in CZ. Time taken - almost 2 hours (had to run several times for repairs, new AI is dangerous). Risk: High. Rank increase, approx 1%.

By the way, this is at Squire. Not exactly far up the rankings.

I was at 55% squire when i started last night and 59% when i finished. 2 hours to get 1% doing combat, the other 3% (roughly) came from 30 mins work running courier and salvage missions.

Since the military are meant to value combat, surely so much effort and risk should be rewarded? For all the work i did, i was hoping for at least 10% rank increase.

Currently makes no sense for me to run combat missions, when non-combat missions will result in quicker progression.

Also, do the maths: 1% increase from combat mission at Squire.... would need to do 100 of them to get next rank... isn't that just a tad crazy? How many combat missions at the next rank or the one after? People know i don't look at this game like a grind, but i am looking at the raw numbers and thinking... wow, this is insane.

 

[racer1]

Yes the combat missions don't seem worthwhile.

At viscount I'm making on average about 0.5% per mission (Rep++). I guess that is ok if you think of it like one of 3 main ranks...

Has anyone seen a Rep+++ mission (High rep increase) since 2.1?

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Yes the combat missions don't seem worthwhile.

At viscount I'm making on average about 0.5% per mission (Rep++). I guess that is ok if you think of it like one of 3 main ranks...

Has anyone seen a Rep+++ mission (High rep increase) since 2.1?

Erm... not that you mention it, i don't think i have, even when allied.

Also, i've seen easy Rep++ missions and hard Rep+ missions... which seems a little out of whack.

Although its worth keeping in mind, Rep is not equal to military rank improvements. Support clearly stated there are hidden variables at play, like how combat missions should increase rank quicker than non-combat missions, which brings us back to my suggestion

 

[Marc_Hicks]

I doubt that there will be any significant changes to the military side of the game until about 2.3. Michael Brookes has mentioned-multiple times-that they are planning a significant overhaul of the entire military component of the game to.....as he said "make it more like a viable career path".

 

[DocLooshkin]

Hello, all.

+1. The current system doesn't make very much sense, I'd like it to be a bit more rational.

Regarding rep+++ missions, they might be in the game, but unseen. Mr Braben suggested in an interview a few months ago that being friends with a specific faction - as opposed to all Federal or Imperial factions - would lead to missions and opportunities that few will see otherwise. The corporate representatives in 2.1 suggest a similar thing, when no missions are available: destroying rival faction ships will be recognised and may be rewarded somehow.

I'm not inclined to try this out*, but for Commanders with no established in-game sense of morality to worry about, it may be an option they want to explore.



*(I've been playing as a law and order type for too long: suddenly switching gears to become this kind of racist, sociopathic terrorist seems like too much of a headache for me to bother with it. I may try it if and when I ever decide to clear my save and start afresh.)

 

[[VR] Marrs]

Do you have a link for that interview? That sounds very interesting.

 

[DocLooshkin]

Do you have a link for that interview? That sounds very interesting.

Hello, Marrs.

Almost didn't find it. One very last search did it.

It's not that interesting - it's mostly stuff we've heard everywhere else. Considered alongside comments by local faction reps, this did stand out for me:

“There are missions out there I know almost no players have seen,” he says. “But we haven’t communicated it properly. There’s so much in there, and what we see from play patterns is that many do the same thing over and over. In that cycle, they just don’t get to see some of the variation. I’m not blaming players. We got it wrong.”

Braben adds that even when he was playing the game in a certain way, he wasn’t seeing everything. “I wasn’t making friends with the minor factions. I was missing out on missions. And most players do that,” he says. “It’s a shame, because the missions actually drive you around the galaxy. But if you keep going back to the same place, you won’t venture very far. We need to change the way we communicate that.”

Here's the link.