Problem with Rank 5

Teklow82 · Jun 22, 2015

Seriously.. why the crazy increase between R4 and R5 .. wouldnt it be alot more attainable if maybe like 3500 merits and a 15mil reward.. or is some sort of slap in the face to all the super rich players. with nothing better to do in the game aside then spend it on a credit sink for meager rewards?

i just dont see how a casual player could get this rank ..

Alex Brentnall · Jun 22, 2015

Well thats just the thing. I remember Devs stating somewhere that this was for those that had done everything else, got the top tier ships and were unsure what to do next. Its to get them involved in the politics and background changes more.

The other tiers are there for the players that want to contribute but are not in the highest ships/profit ranges yet. The problem with Elite is that everyone is competitive and wants to be best, Im happy knowing im probably not even in the top 10% of players and never will be.

Andromalius · Jun 22, 2015

I'll be rank 4 next week withut paying, it requires some serious playtime already. The main issue I have with it is I didn't play today, but I made sure the game was launched and to come by the computer every 30 minutes. If I was of a cheating mind this kind of gameplay is premium botting territory.

Arsen Cross · Jun 22, 2015

Andromalius said:
I'll be rank 4 next week withut paying, it requires some serious playtime already. The main issue I have with it is I didn't play today, but I made sure the game was launched and to come by the computer every 30 minutes. If I was of a cheating mind this kind of gameplay is premium botting territory.

This is pretty much true. The collect action timers need to be separated out badly. Separate times for each control station, or at least separate timers for each action. Right now the 30 minute timer is just long enough that it encourages AFK maintenance.

I for one happen to work from home, so once I achieve rank 5 through undermining, I'll be maintaining it by collecting cargo every half hour during my shift and doing a short run once an hour. I'll be earning 900 merits per night of my shift without dropping a single credit on the collect actions.

The only preventing measure against bots at this time is cargo space.

CMDR Atmosfera · Jun 22, 2015

same reason why there is ships that cost 70 million and ships that cost 140 millions....big jump but that payout tho,took awhile to get a big ship,almost gave up a few times but needed to concentrate on a goal-not process so i did it
it wont be quick to hit 10000 merits but in due time and it really is my best bet for those very pricey ship upgrades

Alex Brentnall · Jun 22, 2015

Haha, I worked out that purchasing rank 5 will cost 96mil. Assuming you let the merits die naturally you get 50mil week 1, 5mil week 2, 5mil week 3 and 500k week 4.
Thats a 60.5mil return meaning you loose 35.5mil credits.
For the 200% exploration bonus on Li Yong-Rui its worth paying since a longer trip netting around 30mil will net you 90mil, meaning the overall +/- is now up to +24.5mil bonus (only counting the +60mil bonus thats given).

Based on my calculations and understanding of the system if you want to scrape through with rank 5 each week you need 5334 merits per week.
Week 1: 5334 merits = rank 2

Week 2: 5334 + (5334/2) = 5334+2667= 8001 = rank 4

Week 3: 5334 + (5334/2) + (2667/2) = 5334+2667+1333 = 9334 = rank 4

Week 4: 5334 + (5334/2) + (2667/2) + (1333/2) = 5334+2667+1333+666 = 10000

The week 4 status will continue forever and take 53.3 hours to maintain if you hit it perfectly each time, it will take more hours to get there initially though as you don't have 50 power commodity allocation until you hit rank 5.

wenkman · Jun 22, 2015

Based on the Howto i think there are 2 ways to calculate this. Hasn't this been clarified? I'm unsure

Method A, your version:
Current merrits = (merrit Gain cycle-1)/2 + (merrit Gain cycle-2)/4 + (merrit Gain cycle-3)/8

Needs a steady supply of 5334 merrits each week to maintain rank 5
if you buy the power commodities you need 53mil, but get only 50mil reward
this is roughly 14 trips in a big trading vessel
ramp up is ca. 100mil and many trips, this does not pay off

Method B:
Current merrits = (merrit value cycle-1)/2 + (merrit value cycle-2)/4 + (merrit value cycle-3)/8

Needs a steady supply of 1250 merrits each week to maintain rank 5
if you buy the power commodities you need 12.5mil, but get 50mil reward (37.5mil profit)
this is roughly 3 trips in a big trading vessel
ramp up is ca. 100mil and many trips
pays off in approx 5 weeks.

i didn't PP the first week so i have no decay value from that. can someone help here?

Zulu Romeo · Jun 22, 2015

wenkman said:
Based on the Howto i think there are 2 ways to calculate this. Hasn't this been clarified? I'm unsure

Method A, your version:
Current merrits = (merrit Gain cycle-1)/2 + (merrit Gain cycle-2)/4 + (merrit Gain cycle-3)/8

Needs a steady supply of 5334 merrits each week to maintain rank 5

if you buy the power commodities you need 53mil, but get only 50mil reward

this is roughly 14 trips in a big trading vessel

ramp up is ca. 100mil and many trips, this does not pay off

Method B:
Current merrits = (merrit value cycle-1)/2 + (merrit value cycle-2)/4 + (merrit value cycle-3)/8

Needs a steady supply of 1250 merrits each week to maintain rank 5

if you buy the power commodities you need 12.5mil, but get 50mil reward (37.5mil profit)

this is roughly 3 trips in a big trading vessel

ramp up is ca. 100mil and many trips

pays off in approx 5 weeks.

i didn't PP the first week so i have no decay value from that. can someone help here?

I don't think this difference has been clarified by the people in charge. The wording in the official documentation still leaves significant room for ambiguity and misinterpretation without seeing it in practice.

We will know for sure once the first few cycles have been completed.