Powerplay Is it worth getting to Rating 5?

[Richard Bentley]

I've been at rank 4 with Aisling Duval since about week 4 of Powerplay. I don't have much time and opportunity to fly the ship but I can leave it docked and with the PC switched on, so I can load up PP allocations when I'm around the house doing other things. This way I have been able to collect the necessary 800 tons per week (for rank 4) relatively easily.
My main aim was to maintain access to the Powerplay faction module, but for double the weekly PP material collection I gained a tenfold return on the salary, plus gained more allocations per half-hour.
I just wish I could use the mobile app (for iPhone) to collect PP material allocations as they become available each half-hour, so I could return home to a full cargo bay ready to go. This would make participating in Powerplay so much easier for anyone like me who is out at work all day. Then rank 5 might just become more attainable without having to grind combat-based PP points all week, every week (seemingly) to the exclusion of everything else.

 

[Saiidin]

I'd be more inclined to try for rank 5 if it wasn't for the problems I have with interdiction not working right. As it is, I spend more time waggling my thrusters in supercruise trying to bait someone into interdicting me or waiting for FSD to cool down to try again because it's such a buggy RNG mess.

Rank 4 is easy and pays well enough. I may not make an extra 45m in RES sites every week, but I don't have to play grind for 20 hours to get enough merits to keep rank 5 either.

 

[IAXEM]

Are you sure you have a high rated FSD Interdictor? o:

I'm at 8,030 merits now. Two days to go.. Perhaps at least 1,000 each day to ensure I get Rank 5 by the next cycle. As bored as I am having to do this, eh.. I honestly didnt want to slowly make my way up over the course of a month. I sure do hope maintaining it will require much less work.

 

[ilo]

Just be aware that your salary this week will still be the basic 1k Cr, and you will get the 5/50M the week after you get the rating.. don't lost the hype, but don't make any plan for these 5/50M yet

 

[IAXEM]

Just be aware that your salary this week will still be the basic 1k Cr, and you will get the 5/50M the week after you get the rating.. don't lost the hype, but don't make any plan for these 5/50M yet

No worries, I know that xD I actually got to Rank 4 by the end of the previous cycle, so I'll be starting out the next one with 5M During the next week ( Assuming I reach Rank 5 ) I'll mostly be doing bounty hunting to get loads of credits, while also making sure I can maintain Rank 5 for the cycle after that.

 

[Iskariot]

Is it worth getting to Rating 5?

I was Rank 5 for a week or three.
The merit decay system nearly ate my soul and destroyed my will to live. .

I stopped my PP activities several months ago and am much better now.
I finally get around to doing missions and bounty hunting in HazRes etc.

I initially wanted to become rank 5 so I would get high bounty hunt bonuses, but I discovered that to get to rank 5 and stay there I had no time to do bounty hunting at all.

I am still loyal to my Power, but I am rank 1 now.
I hope PP will see some improvements soon, because I really like the bigger picture that PP adds to the universe of ED.
The fundamental philosophy behind PP is good, but the execution needs some work. FD knows. It will improve.

 

[IAXEM]

I was Rank 5 for a week or three.
The merit decay system nearly ate my soul and destroyed my will to live. .

I stopped my PP activities several months ago and am much better now.
I finally get around to doing missions and bounty hunting in HazRes etc.

I initially wanted to become rank 5 so I would get high bounty hunt bonuses, but I discovered that to get to rank 5 and stay there I had no time to do bounty hunting at all.

I am still loyal to my Power, but I am rank 1 now.
I hope PP will see some improvements soon, because I really like the bigger picture that PP adds to the universe of ED.
The fundamental philosophy behind PP is good, but the execution needs some work. FD knows. It will improve.

Oh noes, thats what i myself am worried about XD But I'll see.

I've done it! 10,300 merits.. Just enough to earn myself rank 5 tomorrow. I started a week ago... hear i am. Was exhausting DX Now I always feel the urge to attack trasnport ships for no reason XDD

Anyways, random question! Rank 5 has the +100% bounty bonus.. Does the 20% bonus from Rank 3 get added to this as well? So that it would be 120% total? o:

 

[Kruger]

Oh noes, thats what i myself am worried about XD But I'll see.

I've done it! 10,300 merits.. Just enough to earn myself rank 5 tomorrow. I started a week ago... hear i am. Was exhausting DX Now I always feel the urge to attack trasnport ships for no reason XDD

Anyways, random question! Rank 5 has the +100% bounty bonus.. Does the 20% bonus from Rank 3 get added to this as well? So that it would be 120% total? o:

From what I've read, yes. However, the 20/30/40/50% bonuses apply at kill, but the 100% bonus applies when you cash it in.

Congrats on getting to Rank 5 though. As much as I would like Rank 5, I'll settle on Rank 4 (For now). Perhaps I'll work toward 5 over the weekend...

 

[IAXEM]

From what I've read, yes. However, the 20/30/40/50% bonuses apply at kill, but the 100% bonus applies when you cash it in.

Congrats on getting to Rank 5 though. As much as I would like Rank 5, I'll settle on Rank 4 (For now). Perhaps I'll work toward 5 over the weekend...

Really? I haven't noticed so far o: Seeing the bounty that they've got on them, I earn basically the same upon killing them. Upon handing them in at a station, there is only the 100% bonus.

Thanks! And good luck with that! I might have to buy my way up from now on to avoid so much work x.x I would much rather help fortify/prepare instead

 

[ilo]

the other % only applies if the power complies with certain conditions, isn't it? eg being the wining power

 

[Kruger]

Really? I haven't noticed so far o: Seeing the bounty that they've got on them, I earn basically the same upon killing them. Upon handing them in at a station, there is only the 100% bonus.

Thanks! And good luck with that! I might have to buy my way up from now on to avoid so much work x.x I would much rather help fortify/prepare instead

Again, that's just what I've read. Dunno if it works or not.

the other % only applies if the power complies with certain conditions, isn't it? eg being the wining power

Yes.

It's a flat 20% as long as you maintain Rank 2. However, should your power be 3rd, that increases to 30%, 2nd increases it to 40%, and 1st brings it up to 50%.

And then the 100% comes from Rank 5. From what I've read on the subject, it seems that it stacks, i.e. the Rank 2 bonus plus the Rank 5 bonus; effectively allowing for 120%, 130%, 140%, and 150%. But not being Rank 5 myself, I can't really test it.

 

[Apos]

What about rank 4? about 1 hour for 5 mil. Or is that too little for barely paying out?

Rank 4 is a bit of a weird one.

It's quite easy to acquire and maintain, the 5M is really good for the time spent undermining to maintain it, but it doesn't pay itself if you want to fortify, nor does it provide any meaningful bonuses whatsoever for any power chosen. It also has a solid amount of nominations though (100), so you can help with preps in some small way.

 

[IAXEM]

Again, that's just what I've read. Dunno if it works or not.



Yes.

It's a flat 20% as long as you maintain Rank 2. However, should your power be 3rd, that increases to 30%, 2nd increases it to 40%, and 1st brings it up to 50%.

And then the 100% comes from Rank 5. From what I've read on the subject, it seems that it stacks, i.e. the Rank 2 bonus plus the Rank 5 bonus; effectively allowing for 120%, 130%, 140%, and 150%. But not being Rank 5 myself, I can't really test it.

Doesn't seem to apply with me. I only get a 100% increase o:

 

[guido1205us]

You don't get the bonus until after you earn it. So if you had 10000 merits right now today, next Thursday at 12:00am (mountain time anyway) you will become rank 5 and THEN get the bonus.

Serious? I had 10230 merits and now and reached rank 5, but only got 5 milion credits. I have to wait another week before getting 50 million? On top of that I have 4884 merits left - I thought the decay was 5000? Apparently it doesn't pay to go over the 10k mark?

 

[Gaarp Kobayashi]

Elite Dangerous is a pretty cool game.

Amen to that!!

 

[Kruger]

Well, another week has gone by and I'm still Rank 4. Honestly, I think I'll stay here. That 50 million is nice reward, but the sheer amount of work required to reach it is just too much. I understand the need for it to be a challenge, lest everyone be running around as billionaires. But to achieve Rank 5, the work you'd have to put in really is a bit much and then the decay rate every week is another kick in the teeth.

 

[guido1205us]

Well, another week has gone by and I'm still Rank 4. Honestly, I think I'll stay here. That 50 million is nice reward, but the sheer amount of work required to reach it is just too much. I understand the need for it to be a challenge, lest everyone be running around as billionaires. But to achieve Rank 5, the work you'd have to put in really is a bit much and then the decay rate every week is another kick in the teeth.

I solo average about 1k merits/1.5hr in a military zone so it's not too bad. Sometimes I get good RNG in that I get a lot of greens to "wing" with and at other times I aggro a spawn of 5 or more reds that I have to Sir Robin away from. This in a Cutter. I bet a Vette would probably work just as good. Don't feel like spending a billion to find out.

I guess the trick is to wing up with someone - haven't tried that yet.

 

[Kruger]

I solo average about 1k merits/1.5hr in a military zone so it's not too bad. Sometimes I get good RNG in that I get a lot of greens to "wing" with and at other times I aggro a spawn of 5 or more reds that I have to Sir Robin away from. This in a Cutter. I bet a Vette would probably work just as good. Don't feel like spending a billion to find out.

I guess the trick is to wing up with someone - haven't tried that yet.

That's still 15 hours total to get 10,000 merits from scratch. And if I stay around 1,500... that's still over 10 hours of grinding to make it to Rank 5.

I guess I need to try what you're doing. Though I'd feel better hoping into a military zone if my FdL had military armor on it instead of the Lightweight Alloys (Tin Foil).