Very helpful and thoroughly explained. With my specific experience it seemed to be indeed bugged. I had been running mission after mission and getting finally both Allied with the major faction and Midshipman rank (Fed) I should have received the invite to Sol mission at that point however it never popped. No matter what I did the mission never came out. Thankfully though FD responded to my ticket and confirmed the bug and their current efforts to fix it.
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Guide / Tutorial Yokai's guide to rank progression (reputation) and working around the seeming bugs
- Thread starter Yokai
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I wish they would just make the system more transparent. Right now I couldn't care less how close I am in the combat/explore/trade ranks, but I'd like to know if the missions I'm driving myself insane with are actually getting me closer to the next damn rank.
I'm at allied status with all 3 major factions, and yet I'm stuck at Warrent Officer for Federation, and Master for Empire.
I'm at allied status with all 3 major factions, and yet I'm stuck at Warrent Officer for Federation, and Master for Empire.
hey,
i am about to start ranking up with the empire to get me a sweet imperial clipper. Now with the powerplay in full swing, did anything significantly change on how one ranks up with one of the major factions? Does it make sense to pledge with one of the empire powers, does it help in anyway?
i am about to start ranking up with the empire to get me a sweet imperial clipper. Now with the powerplay in full swing, did anything significantly change on how one ranks up with one of the major factions? Does it make sense to pledge with one of the empire powers, does it help in anyway?
I think I am stuck with my progression.
I took a break pre-wings and returned post-powerplay. I am allied to the Empire (major faction) and EVERYTIME I enter a system I am ALLIED to EVERY Imperial system faction (regardless of whether or not I have ever set foot in that system before or not). I cannot find any non-allied Imperial system factions. It appears that I am allied to EVERY SINGLE Imperial system faction gamewide!
If I complete missions for system factions I get the little blue triangle to show an increase in reputation but now never get a blue arrow for the major faction. I have probably completed in excess now of 100+ missions and my rank is stuck at Marquis and I never experience any blue triangles (for major faction). I always get blue triangles for system factions.
Is it possible I cannot progress my major faction reputation anymore because I cannot find any system factions in which I am not allied? Is there a cap to major faction reputation? which I might have reached recently because I was doing excessive numbers of positive missions at the previous maximum rank (Earl)?
Is there a cap to minor faction reputation? I am assuming not because I always get blue triangles at system faction level.
I tried to test this by decreasing my reputation in system factions and I get red triangles for both system and major factions. Under these circumstances I can repair the "damage" and I see blue triangles for major and minor. But further increases stop for major but the blue triangles continue at system level only? It is like I am hitting cap constantly at major faction level.
I am not participating in powerplay.
I took a break pre-wings and returned post-powerplay. I am allied to the Empire (major faction) and EVERYTIME I enter a system I am ALLIED to EVERY Imperial system faction (regardless of whether or not I have ever set foot in that system before or not). I cannot find any non-allied Imperial system factions. It appears that I am allied to EVERY SINGLE Imperial system faction gamewide!
If I complete missions for system factions I get the little blue triangle to show an increase in reputation but now never get a blue arrow for the major faction. I have probably completed in excess now of 100+ missions and my rank is stuck at Marquis and I never experience any blue triangles (for major faction). I always get blue triangles for system factions.
Is it possible I cannot progress my major faction reputation anymore because I cannot find any system factions in which I am not allied? Is there a cap to major faction reputation? which I might have reached recently because I was doing excessive numbers of positive missions at the previous maximum rank (Earl)?
Is there a cap to minor faction reputation? I am assuming not because I always get blue triangles at system faction level.
I tried to test this by decreasing my reputation in system factions and I get red triangles for both system and major factions. Under these circumstances I can repair the "damage" and I see blue triangles for major and minor. But further increases stop for major but the blue triangles continue at system level only? It is like I am hitting cap constantly at major faction level.
I am not participating in powerplay.
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The clue is that you're not really allied with the minors, just the majors they are affiliated with. This means you now can't see your specific standing with any minors anymore, which is a bit of an annoying thing. Your best bet is to just go somewhere totally brand new and do like 10 or 20 missions for each minor faction and move on. Also check out my quick guide series for rank progression on my channel if you're up to the challenges of doing it the quick way
To clarify;
If the minor faction reputation is hidden by being allied to the major faction. Why when I enter a new system and do 20+ missions do I not get blue triangles for major faction increase but do at system faction level? and how come the blue arrows never stop at system faction level regardless of the insane number of missions I might do there?
+1 I have exactly the same problem and it sucks tbh.
Experiencing the same problem in Federation Space.
Question to Drkaii: Is system reputation hidden by major faction reputation in just the right-hand display or is it hidden behind allied when I hand the missions in and get the mission completion screen (the one with the bar showing influence and the red/blue triangles)?
Editted to add:
Every mission turn-in screen gives me allied blue triangles for the system faction.
The spacestation dialogue also addresses me as "respected ally"
Question to Drkaii: Is system reputation hidden by major faction reputation in just the right-hand display or is it hidden behind allied when I hand the missions in and get the mission completion screen (the one with the bar showing influence and the red/blue triangles)?
Editted to add:
Every mission turn-in screen gives me allied blue triangles for the system faction.
The spacestation dialogue also addresses me as "respected ally"
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Really random that I saw this as I haven't been following this thread for months!
It's hidden in both I'm afraid
No, haven't gotten around to sussing out PP yet but came back from The Black to work on Ranks; don't like being a Serf.
Have not, and will not, pledge and got the Rank-Up (RU) mission to Squire without any problems; in fact had 3 different Empire bases each offering their own RU mission.
I wanted to do this without affecting my Rep with the other two Majors so I ran missions in Empire Space. I was surprised, from what I had read about PP that working Rep for one of the Empire's Minors did not affect my Rep with the other.
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I think that's a pretty common situation. I have maxed out my rep with Fed and Empire since a long time ago, but I always get +rep for Fed or Empire-aligned minor factions when I turn in missions. So I guess there is a rep cap for major factions but no cap (or a MUCH higher one) for minor ones.
Just keep running missions. The promotion to Count/Lt. Commander or higher takes at least 20 donation missions, or more if you mix it with other low impact ones. I was only doing massacre and assassination after PP update and now waiting for the Prince mission.
So to confirm. You are getting blue triangles for minors but not blue triangles for your major - but you still got rank up missions despite not showing any progress in majors (blue triangles)? If this is the case then that is awesome! I have no issue with a long grind for the the highest ranks but I do have big objection to being stuck.
I haven't seen a blue triangle for Fed since I got Warrant Officer, and not for Empire since reaching Knight, but I still managed to Post Commander and Earl in 1.2 and now I'm at Duke.
If you are interested you can check my working hypothesis in post #156 https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=102810&page=11&p=2312047&viewfull=1#post2312047 Right now I'm pretty convinced that naval progression missions have no bearing on major faction rep.
Yes. I suspect you may be right. But I had always observed blue triangles for the major factions (unlike you). I maxed Earl and PC pre-wings. The lack of them and the lack of ranking missions I assumed (or still assume) was an indication that I have a problem. I dumped about a quarter of a million into charity missions yesterday in addition to taking a fair few normal trade missions. I was extra careful and made sure I didn't recieve any red triangles too. Nada. It isn't the end of the world. It took me about 80 missions to get to Earl. I still have the scrap of paper in which I wrote the missions down on but returning to the game I have not kept record of the new missions *sadpandaface*.
Mothertrucking... !
Just got a mission asking for 3k credits for Rakkaia Monarchy (an empire aligned minor faction that was already allied) and now I got red arrows with fed, alliance AND empire ! EVEN the Rakkaia Monarchy has a red arrow. Looks like a bug, right ?
Seems I can only lose rep these days
EDIT : yeah, no, I'm done. Just handed 300.000 Cr worth of bonds to Gliese 58 Inc, got red arrow to federation, empire, alliance and basically every minor faction in the system.
Just got a mission asking for 3k credits for Rakkaia Monarchy (an empire aligned minor faction that was already allied) and now I got red arrows with fed, alliance AND empire ! EVEN the Rakkaia Monarchy has a red arrow. Looks like a bug, right ?
Seems I can only lose rep these days
EDIT : yeah, no, I'm done. Just handed 300.000 Cr worth of bonds to Gliese 58 Inc, got red arrow to federation, empire, alliance and basically every minor faction in the system.
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Ok, so I was in a unique position in that I had zero rep with Alliance. Over the last 3 days, I decided to try and become Allied with Alioth Independents. So I've got a good gauge on how it works after 1.3 and I'll try and elaborate, as well as give some general tips to watch out for.
Note that I was also trying to get Allied with Phekda Society, which didn't end up happening. I didn't die or come close to dying in the entire process. I did accrue 3 five-day bounties for murder
My PF Ranks:
What ship I used:
What systems I took missions from:
Total time it took:
What missions I did: *
I generally ignored the rest in most cases.
*Take special note of this if you are already Allied with the major faction. This way you can estimate how much work you need to do for a faction before it becomes unproductive. There's no way to tell your stand with the faction as it always says "Allied" even when you aren't actually Allied with them. So don't do more than this as by then you're probably Allied with them and rep contributions to the Major faction greatly reduce.
Missions in more detail:
How the new assassination and hunting missions work:
I am making this section so you know how they work. Otherwise you might think that things are bugged, or you might not know what to do to get them done. If you read this, you'll be able to do them as efficiently as possible.
Assassination missions:
Hunting Missions:
Other important tips:
That's it for now. I still want the Phekda permit (I really want to go to those ELW moons of the gas giant!) but it is really time for something else!
Note that I was also trying to get Allied with Phekda Society, which didn't end up happening. I didn't die or come close to dying in the entire process. I did accrue 3 five-day bounties for murder
My PF Ranks:
- Combat: Novice
- Trade: Broker
- Explorer: Ranger
Bare in mind that these determine the difficulty of the missions you are given, especially with regards to your combat rank. Not sure if the harder ones give higher rep, but they will take longer so bare this in mind when reading this guide.
What ship I used:
- Imperial Courier with this loadout: http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=707,5Rr7u59qS3we3h00_g0mI,2-6Q4s4s2C4s3I5A,7Pc7fE03w03w9qm2UI
What systems I took missions from:
- Sobek
- Ethgreze
- LP 131-66
Total time it took:
- Didn't measure but if I had to estimate, I'd say 12-15 hours. About a third of that was waiting for good missions to appear on the bulletin.
What missions I did: *
- Donate missions as often as I could - I probably did about 10-20
- Assassination missions - I probably did about 10
- Hunting missions against pirates - I probably did about 10
- Delivery missions - I probably did about 5
- Occasional smuggling missions - I did one or two
I generally ignored the rest in most cases.
*Take special note of this if you are already Allied with the major faction. This way you can estimate how much work you need to do for a faction before it becomes unproductive. There's no way to tell your stand with the faction as it always says "Allied" even when you aren't actually Allied with them. So don't do more than this as by then you're probably Allied with them and rep contributions to the Major faction greatly reduce.
Missions in more detail:
- Donate missions are great. I mostly did the ones that only need money. For those that needed food or medicine, I'd first check if it was convenient (see if any of my other missions take me to systems that have those items). If I did take those latter ones, I'd make sure they gave enough time (generally 1 hour plus)
- Assassination missions give by far the most rep in my experience. But now you have to be much more careful since 1.3. When accepting one this is the rule: don't take ones that take you to systems that are policed BY THE GIVING FACTION (unless they specifically say the target is a pirate). Always check the target system and see who is in charge. If it someone you don't give a monkey's about, then by all means, go ahead. Just be warned you will have a bounty there by the end of the mission, which will make it more of a headache to go there later.
If you do, you will very likely end up with a target who is clean. And as soon as you kill him you will lose a lot of rep and get a 5 day bounty with the faction you are trying to impress. It doesn't make sense, I know, but that's the problem.
I ran into that mistake twice. The first time it was ok because it wasn't Alioth Independents. The second time it was ok because it was close to the end so I ignored it until I got the permit I wanted. I was then able to just discard it. - Firstly, only pick hunting missions against pirates. Fines and bounties all have negative impact on your rep with the major faction controlling the system, which in some cases can hinder you.
Secondly, I don't know if the rep given is proportional to the number of targets. For that reason I only chose ones with 1 or 2 as they are all pretty quick.
Thirdly, if you are trying to get rep with multiple minor factions at the same time, then pay attention to the affiliation of your pirates. They may be wanted by your mission giver, yes, but they may also be members of one of the other factions you are trying to impress. When you kill them, you lose rep with them even though they were wanted. Bare in mind that when in the system looking for pirates, you will find them from more than one faction (at least I did). So you can keep scanning until you find one with a neutral affiliation. - These give "medium" rep, so sticking these in whenever you can is always helpful. I did them mainly if they were places I could go, like one of the other mission giving systems.
- These give "low" rep, but if I was just stuck with nothing else after several refreshes, I'd take one simply to do something.
How the new assassination and hunting missions work:
I am making this section so you know how they work. Otherwise you might think that things are bugged, or you might not know what to do to get them done. If you read this, you'll be able to do them as efficiently as possible.
Assassination missions:
- Unlike before, the target will almost always appear in supercruise. You will need an FSD Interdictor. As you can see, for me the 2D was absolutely fine. Not a single one ever escaped.
- There was ONE time I found him in a USS. I went into at least 100 USSs during these missions. I also don't know if this guy could only have appeared in the USS or if he could have appeared in supercruise too. He was one of the "religious" cult leaders, flying around talking about salvation. I could see him talking in the Local Chat in supercruise.
- They seem to always appear from a planet or star.
- They may appear the second you enter the system, but they may not. There seems to be a mechanic in place to make them appear instantly. I found after a lot of watching, that they rarely appear if not in the first 30 seconds, but they can.
- If they don't appear after 30 seconds, drop out of supercruise anywhere, and then go straight back in again. Repeat until they appear.
- If you haven't already, make a binding to cycle targets. Best way to go through the ships on your radar. Also, make good use of your Contacts list.
- You will often get a guy come and say something like "So glad I found you, follow my wake". Just ignore him. He doesn't impede the mission in any way - the target can still appear, even when this alternate path guy is still around.
- At Combat Novice level, they were all either Anacondas, Type-6s, Pythons or Vipers. Not sure if they can be anything else. They were all Mostly Harmless or Novice. I never had any trouble killing one.
- They can have others in their wing. One time the two other ships were Dangerous Vipers. I just ignored them and they barely made a difference to the fight.
- The target may flee the fight. If they escape, don't bother chasing them. I did it once, found him (well there was a Contact-Contact Lost split second as I entered but he was in that wake), killed him but the mission didn't finish. I had to go back to the system and find him again and start over.
- Don't forget shield cells, make sure you target their power plants, and make a quick getaway when you're done.
- A kill-warrant scanner is extremely useful, often adding 200,000cr to the bounty and mission reward if the target is wanted.
- If they are clean, you are going to get a bounty no matter what. Even if you provoke them into opening fire on you, they don't get "Wanted". Even if they jump to an anarchy system, you can't finish the mission there. So as above, just be very picky about which ones you choose.
- Overall, an assassination mission takes anywhere from 20-45 minutes to complete.
Hunting Missions:
- As with assassination missions, they appear in supercruise and will need to be interdicted (although you could wait for them to drop and enter their wake.
- I never found them in USSs, and I looked maybe 20-50 times.
- When they appear, they appear instantly. So if you enter a system/enter supercruise and they don't show up for 30 seconds, drop out of supercruise (anywhere) and go back in. Repeat.
- They occasionally show up slowly AFTER 30 seconds of supercruise, but this is rare and not worth waiting for (trust me).
- When they do appear in the former case (i.e. instantly), it will be in great number (6-12) and will be RIGHT BY YOU. You can't miss it. All those bright lights entering supercruise makes a lot of noise!
- When you pull them out, even if they are in a wing, the wing members rarely join you.
- They were almost always sidewinders, eagles, diamondback scouts and rarely, haulers. They were almost always Mostly Harmless or Novice. There were always a couple that didn't have shields (so if you are just doing Hunting missions, you might want a kinetic-only loadout).
- There were a couple of times they were Competent, Expert or Master. There were a couple of times they were Asps or Pythons. I just ignored those in my small ship. One Master Eagle was too good to take down before he escaped.
- If I were you, I'd target their drives. I had quite a few escape on me.
- Overall, a hunting mission with 1-3 targets takes anywhere from 10-30 minutes to complete.
Other important tips:
- If you are doing this to get a permit, note the following: the "unavailable" permit missions will have two associated factions. Ignore this. You have to get Allied with the faction controlling the system, being Allied with the other one doesn't grant you access.
- If you are doing this to rank up with a Major faction, be very careful now. It definitely seems that a lot of stuff you do can negatively impact a minor faction aligned with the Major faction, and losing rep with the former makes you lose rep with the latter. This mainly occurs in the realm of combat. Killing someone associated with a minor faction, even if he is wanted, will make you lose rep with that faction, which filters through to their major faction.
- It's hard to tell how much effect that has, it's pretty minor if you are doing a lot of "high" rep missions. I'm not sure if every backward step removes several forward steps like it used to. Doesn't seem so.
- When you are neutral with the faction, missions are far and few between. That's the slowest bit. Once you are friendly, you get a lot more missions. Even better is if you are already friendly or allied with the major faction, as you'll automatically be friendly or allied with your goal faction.
- I've said it above but I'll say it again - be very picky about which missions you choose. If it's an assassination mission, think very hard about where it is taking place before you accept. Do you really want to have a bounty there?
- Donation missions don't seem to make you lose any rep with rival factions in the system as far as I could tell.
- If you have got a bounty in a local system, it's still pretty safe there. Just keep an eye on your back, if any radar targets start moving behind you in supercruise, drop out and come back. If you have to dock at a station there to hand in any mission, it's possible so long as you don't get scanned on your way in. Silent running and speed are your friends.
- As always, try and take a few missions at once. Preferably ones that take place in the same systems. Think about their durations. It helps to take missions in systems where your goal faction gives missions, so you can go back and forth and be productive there.
- If there are any rare commodities, take them every time you can and bring them to a station controlled by your goal faction.
- If you have any exploration data or bounties to claim, do it in stations controlled by your goal faction.
- I'm not sure if it's an exploit or not but switching between Solo and Open seems to refresh the bulletin forcefully a little bit. Doesn't always work.
- If you have other stuff to do outside the game, save it for mission refreshes.
- Don't fail any missions, don't abandon them or run out of time. Don't get caught doing any serious crimes by your goal faction. These things make you take backward steps!
That's it for now. I still want the Phekda permit (I really want to go to those ELW moons of the gas giant!) but it is really time for something else!
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Great write up, much of it is what I am also experiencing. I'm finding the only naval rank missions on either Empire or Federation that seem to actually give me the promised rank always seem to be smuggling, ie. go find a black box or experimental chemicals at a weak signal source and smuggle them back in to the station. I did 4 rank missions for master rank today (including care missions for fruit & veg etc.) none of which ranked me up, the 5th came in, and finally got my rank. I can live with everything else but I just wish the rank missions would not appear unless they actually give you a rank...
Also even with the current fixes for mission text it's still happening:
Also even with the current fixes for mission text it's still happening:
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