Worth grinding rank once got Sol access if you don't want Fed ships?

[CMDRQuainMarln]

I'm not bothered about owning a Federal Corvette or any of the other Federation ships - at least not for the foreseeable future.
I'm up to Petty Officer for Sol access which is what I really wanted.
Is it worth gaining further ranks for access to the other planets: https://elite-dangerous.fandom.com/wiki/Federation/Ranks
I've already reached Duke Imperial Rank as I am interested in the Cutter, but I've never had reason to go to permit locked Imperial systems other than Archenar to practice high G planet landings.

 

[Riverside]

The main incentive is unlocking access to the ships, otherwise it's roleplay or just something else to do. I never maxed out my Imp rank (although I have access to the Cutter), nothing against the Empire just never got around to it

I like the Corvette, the rest of the Fed ships have their fans too, if you try them yourself you can find out whether you like them first-hand, and if you don't there's no downside (other than roleplay if you 'hate' the Feds). Same with the other system permits.

 

[varonica]

I didn't even realise there was a permit for Sol when I started playing, I just played and by the time I made may way there I just flew in, no grinding rank, nothing, didn't even know about ranks for permits.

 

[CMDRQuainMarln]

I didn't even realise there was a permit for Sol when I started playing, I just played and by the time I made may way there I just flew in, no grinding rank, nothing, didn't even know about ranks for permits.

You must have been doing missions with Federation factions by chance rather than by intent and taking the Federation Navy missions when you saw them come up.
It has not taken that long to get to Petty Officer for Sol access, so I'm not surprise it can come by accident.

 

[CMDRQuainMarln]

The main incentive is unlocking access to the ships, otherwise it's roleplay or just something else to do. I never maxed out my Imp rank (although I have access to the Cutter), nothing against the Empire just never got around to it

I like the Corvette, the rest of the Fed ships have their fans too, if you try them yourself you can find out whether you like them first-hand, and if you don't there's no downside (other than roleplay if you 'hate' the Feds). Same with the other system permits.

No reason to become "King" for the sake of it ;-)
I stopped chasing Imperial reputation once I hit Duke. I could use some more credits to buy the Cutter at the right specification or just leave Reactive Armour for later as it doubles the price.

I'm also happy with the Krait MKII for my medium ship and the Anaconda when I want something bigger, but the Cutter would take work away from the Anaconda.

 

[Riverside]

You must have been doing missions with Federation factions by chance rather than by intent and taking the Federation Navy missions when you saw them come up.
It has not taken that long to get to Petty Officer for Sol access, so I'm not surprise it can come by accident.

Yes it was the same for me with Fed rank. I was doing my stuff in Fed space & was already Admiral well before 2.0 introduced the Cutter & Corvette, and bought a Corvette the day it was added. I couldn't quite afford to buy & equip a Cutter, got one a few days later.

I have four Cutters, two are shieldless miners dedicated to refuelling my carrier & that of a friend, one is a shieldless fuel tender for my carrier (for buying fuel in the bubble and for transferring fuel from storage to the main tank while my Carrier is travelling) and the 4th (first I bought) is a well shielded & armed hauler.

I have four Corvettes too, but only regularly use one for PvE combat (CZs & gathering bounties for inf). I took one to Beagle Point & back as part of a grand tour of the galaxy back in 2017, lovely ship to fly.

 

[CMDR Harada]

Currently there is no reason to go above what you have, if all you wanted was Sol access. Admiral and King are pure vanity titles. Much like the new "Elite++-Ultra Mega Super Pilot 5" ranking. But I digress...

There were rumors that FDev was going to add something for higher levels ( Panther Clipper ? ), but nothing confirmed.

I look at it as "buffet style" ranking. Get what you want, leave the rest.

 

[TFB Daerist]

I'm not bothered about owning a Federal Corvette or any of the other Federation ships - at least not for the foreseeable future.
I'm up to Petty Officer for Sol access which is what I really wanted.
Is it worth gaining further ranks for access to the other planets: https://elite-dangerous.fandom.com/wiki/Federation/Ranks
I've already reached Duke Imperial Rank as I am interested in the Cutter, but I've never had reason to go to permit locked Imperial systems other than Archenar to practice high G planet landings.

One more rank and you get access to Vega - has access to a Rare. I like trading Rares. Rares are nice. And occasionally silly.

 

[CMDRQuainMarln]

One more rank and you get access to Vega - has access to a Rare. I like trading Rares. Rares are nice. And occasionally silly.

Due to deciding to finish up the outstanding missions I had going when I gained Petty Officer rank, the Chief Petty Officer navy rank mission came up so I did that too. I have access to Vega and now I've stopped. I'm off to go up from 25% Tycoon to Elite trader next. May well check out Vega for some rare item trading just for variety. Regular trading is down at about 20,000 credits per ton best profit today, when it's normally 23-25,000.
I don't like mining much, so don't do it unless there is a really good reason and even then only laser mining.

 

[HounderODark]

About five ranks away from the Corvette and six ranks away from the Cutter. Defintely want the Corvette. Thing is a monster especially when fully engineered.

 

[Mrat13]

Where do you normally fly around. Having the permits for the areas you fly around might make flying around a little easier.

 

[CMDRQuainMarln]

Where do you normally fly around. Having the permits for the areas you fly around might make flying around a little easier.

I seem to spend most of my time between Diaguandri and Robigo/Sothis/Ceos with regular visits to California Nebula and Pliedies.
I'll probably rebase to Jameson Memorial once I have Elite trader and then I'm off to Colonia, Sag A* and "I may be gone for sometime" ELW hunting "south" of Sag A* with a group.
I intend to do trading one day with a Cutter when I have enough to buy it at the right spec. (got Duke rank). So if there were profitable trading routes at the permit locked worlds or other "unknown treasures" I might considering ranking up more.
I wanted Sol access so I can visit it before I head off on my long (months) exploration.

 

[here_it_comes]

Thing [Corvette] is a monster especially when fully engineered.

Eh . . . an engineered medium ship butchers NPCs blindfolded. The Corvette is vastly over-rated for PVE unless you're not very good at combat. And it's not great at PVP. After I got my first one, engineered it and took it out, I jumped back in my Chieftain and mothballed it.

 

[CMDR Harada]

About five ranks away from the Corvette and six ranks away from the Cutter. Defintely want the Corvette. Thing is a monster especially when fully engineered.

It should be noted about the Corvette, it's one of the few that NEEDs to be engineered. In stock form, it's a solid "meh" and not much better than an Anaconda, or heavily engineered medium ships. It's hitbox is massive as well, so you can really forget about dodging much incoming fire. And good luck getting it home with the base FSD jump range if you've loaded it up with weapons. Seriously, it's jump range is around 12 LYs.. All in all, un-engineered is not impressive for a 'combat specific' ship.

Once you've made the rounds with it, however, it starts to shine. Good handling for a big ship. Firepower for days. It's been said that it doesn't matter what you load it out with for PvE. Shields second only to a Cutter. Armor beyond military composite is overkill, but is darn nice to have.

All that being said, it's kind of boring in PvE : Line 'em up, hose 'em down. Rule CZs and the HazRES with ease. Just note that PvP is not what this thing is about. More nimble opponents with optimized ammo based alpha strikes with will cut you to ribbons.

For fun, I prefer my Vulture. For slaughter ( IE stacked massacre missions or BGS CZs ), the Corvette.

 

[CMDRQuainMarln]

Interesting comments about engineered medium ships. Now I have an Anaconda with fully engineered multi canons except two turret beams on the rear small mounts. It's great as an armed cargo vessel that destroys anything that interdicts PVE. It's a beast for laser mining and earns credits on passenger missions too.
The fact is my Krait II kills anything faster than the Anaconda can even though it has only 3 x fully engineered multi canons and 2 x stock burst lasers. Don't have access to Broo yet. Much faster and more manoeuvrable so more time on target.
This is why I'm not bothered about a Corvette. I'd rather engineer the Krait more and build an AX Cheiftan. Not interested in an FDL - hard work to pip manage and engineer and I'm one of those people that demands a central seating position in a combat ship.
I'm even doubting the Cutter as armed transport due to the class 7 power distributor vs Anaconda and Corvettes class 8, but its probably OK running multi canons.

 

[Mrat13]

I'm even doubting the Cutter as armed transport due to the class 7 power distributor vs Anaconda and Corvettes class 8, but its probably OK running multi canons.

Corvette is the best armed trade ship from what I've heard. Cutter is the best at running away. Conda is for when you need jump range.

 

[HounderODark]

Eh . . . an engineered medium ship butchers NPCs blindfolded. The Corvette is vastly over-rated for PVE unless you're not very good at combat. And it's not great at PVP. After I got my first one, engineered it and took it out, I jumped back in my Chieftain and mothballed it.

I know about the limits of the Corvette. At the moment, I personally enjoy using my Krait MKII for combat. Haven't tricked out my FDL or my other ships yet.

It should be noted about the Corvette, it's one of the few that NEEDs to be engineered. In stock form, it's a solid "meh" and not much better than an Anaconda, or heavily engineered medium ships. It's hitbox is massive as well, so you can really forget about dodging much incoming fire. And good luck getting it home with the base FSD jump range if you've loaded it up with weapons. Seriously, it's jump range is around 12 LYs.. All in all, un-engineered is not impressive for a 'combat specific' ship.

Once you've made the rounds with it, however, it starts to shine. Good handling for a big ship. Firepower for days. It's been said that it doesn't matter what you load it out with for PvE. Shields second only to a Cutter. Armor beyond military composite is overkill, but is darn nice to have.

All that being said, it's kind of boring in PvE : Line 'em up, hose 'em down. Rule CZs and the HazRES with ease. Just note that PvP is not what this thing is about. More nimble opponents with optimized ammo based alpha strikes with will cut you to ribbons.

For fun, I prefer my Vulture. For slaughter ( IE stacked massacre missions or BGS CZs ), the Corvette.

I know that in PvP the Corvette gets handled by more experienced commanders in decked out medium ships. Very differenet dynamic playing in PvP than PvE as with most games. Still though, I think I will give it a go with Thargoid hunting when I get the chance.

 

[Far Beyond Driven]

Once I learned to fa off Conda the vette was relegated to material collector. Those sweet triple seven slots.

 

[here_it_comes]

I know about the limits of the Corvette. At the moment, I personally enjoy using my Krait MKII for combat. Haven't tricked out my FDL or my other ships yet.



I know that in PvP the Corvette gets handled by more experienced commanders in decked out medium ships. Very differenet dynamic playing in PvP than PvE as with most games. Still though, I think I will give it a go with Thargoid hunting when I get the chance.

The fact that it is too slow to gain any distance from any Thargoid, combined with the fact that much of it's firepower is in it's Huge hardpoints which has no AXI weaponry available, makes it a poor AXI ship. Easily the worst of the big 3. Your Krait II is a far superior AXI ship.

Corvette is for looks and the fun of twin Huge hardpoints.

Don't let any of this stop ya, by all means go for it. Just don't expect it to be great for combat unless you aren't great at combat.

 

[CMDR Harada]

I'm even doubting the Cutter as armed transport due to the class 7 power distributor vs Anaconda and Corvettes class 8, but its probably OK running multi canons.

I don't bother with many weapons on a Cutter, it can easily outrun anything that might pose a threat. I mount ER laser turrets on the pylons and casually fly away. They can chase me until they drop from my instance due to 15k range, or watch me wake out if they can close. If they're really annoying, just ram 'em. Nothing touches those 12k+ (effective) mj shields. EXCEPT cascade reverb in PvP.. There are only three things it's good for : Cargo, CG's, and basking. But a Cutter is so boring to fly, and it drifts so horribly you have to plan turns so far in advance you're using a calendar. I only take mine out for CGs.

Fly a Cutter for a week and the Vette will feel like the best handling ship you've ever flown.