Guide / Tutorial Yokai's guide to rank progression (reputation) and working around the seeming bugs

Kerenn · Apr 13, 2015

outlier said:
I am a Warrant Officer with the Federation.
The Federation as a whole has me as "Allied"
Every Federation faction in the whole galaxy lists me as "Allied"

So, why do I keep getting communiques telling me to go to Ross 128?

How can I advance to Ensign if I'm already allied with everyone?

Thanks,

Outlier

You, sir, are allied with the Federation as a whole. So each and every Federation-aligned faction will treat you LIKE and ally, but you're not a PERSONAL ally to them.

EDIT : to check your real reputation with a faction, do a mission for them and look at the mission completion screen.

drkaii · Apr 14, 2015

Kerenn said:
You, sir, are allied with the Federation as a whole. So each and every Federation-aligned faction will treat you LIKE and ally, but you're not a PERSONAL ally to them.

EDIT : to check your real reputation with a faction, do a mission for them and look at the mission completion screen.

i was just about to ask about this, but you answered it. Really appreciate that!

thematt917 · Apr 14, 2015

There has GOT to be some form of bug(s) that affects this all...

I am now at about 100 hours into farming Empire rep and have yet to get anything beyond Master. I check the board when I land, and before I leave for the missions. Things I have done:
- Gotten my combat status to "Elite" from bounty hunting in Empire systems.
- Earned ~20m cr from farming High Intensity Conflict Zones for Empire or Empire aligned factions.
- Traded ~10m cr between Empire aligned factions.
- I have traded ~2600 units for the current Community Event.
* I consistently completed minor missions for every station I've landed at. I haven't seen an Empire faction that I am NOT Friendly with in days.

The only thing I haven't tried is exploration. Maybe I need to throw on a scanner and I'll be at Baron in 15 minutes...

Kerenn · Apr 14, 2015

thematt917 said:
There has GOT to be some form of bug(s) that affects this all...

I am now at about 100 hours into farming Empire rep and have yet to get anything beyond Master. I check the board when I land, and before I leave for the missions. Things I have done:
- Gotten my combat status to "Elite" from bounty hunting in Empire systems.
- Earned ~20m cr from farming High Intensity Conflict Zones for Empire or Empire aligned factions.
- Traded ~10m cr between Empire aligned factions.
- I have traded ~2600 units for the current Community Event.
* I consistently completed minor missions for every station I've landed at. I haven't seen an Empire faction that I am NOT Friendly with in days.

The only thing I haven't tried is exploration. Maybe I need to throw on a scanner and I'll be at Baron in 15 minutes...

There always is some RNG involved, but what you're describing is the universe hating you. Sorry mate !
To expand a bit and be more constructive : even if you fill all the pre-requisite the mission might not show so you have to check everytime you land in an Empire-aligned station. Also, maybe try getting empire-aligned people to allied instead of friendly ?

drkaii · Apr 14, 2015

That does sound extreme. The naval progression missions do spawn randomly, they can take days, even weeks so I've heard. But I assume doing all that has taken you more than weeks so something seems off!

thematt917 · Apr 14, 2015

Kerenn said:
There always is some RNG involved, but what you're describing is the universe hating you. Sorry mate !
To expand a bit and be more constructive : even if you fill all the pre-requisite the mission might not show so you have to check everytime you land in an Empire-aligned station. Also, maybe try getting empire-aligned people to allied instead of friendly ?

If I understood correctly, you are referring to the bulletin board missions; I have gone as far as to check every 5 minutes (when the missions refresh). I'm going to give your 'allied' to 'friendly' idea a go tonight. Sans-Exploration I would say I've put the least amount of time into missions - every other jump or so I'd take one. Still quite a few, but not enough to get above friendly.

The funny thing is that even if I miss this enormous Clipper discount, I'll have made enough to pay "full sticker" by the time my rank increases....

drkaii · Apr 14, 2015

thematt917 said:
If I understood correctly, you are referring to the bulletin board missions; I have gone as far as to check every 5 minutes (when the missions refresh). I'm going to give your 'allied' to 'friendly' idea a go tonight. Sans-Exploration I would say I've put the least amount of time into missions - every other jump or so I'd take one. Still quite a few, but not enough to get above friendly.

The funny thing is that even if I miss this enormous Clipper discount, I'll have made enough to pay "full sticker" by the time my rank increases....

Go for it and let us know if that works. Getting "allied" with as many as possible seems to be the general advice. I'm also trying to get Baron and I have to say it is taking a LOT longer than Ensign. I've got allied with 3 factions, nearly 4 and still only Serf. I don't think I had ANY Allied status with any faction for the federation and I still got Ensign...

Anyway, if you want to do missions, I've got some guide videos on how that goes. Please check them out.

(part 2 and 3 are done, they will be uploaded tomorrow and thursday)

Full of useful information!

Elite: Dangerous - Quick Guides: Fastest Reputation & Ranks, part 1 - Basics

If you think they are useful, feel free to help me out and promote!

thematt917 · Apr 14, 2015

drkaii said:
Go for it and let us know if that works. Getting "allied" with as many as possible seems to be the general advice. I'm also trying to get Baron and I have to say it is taking a LOT longer than Ensign. I've got allied with 3 factions, nearly 4 and still only Serf. I don't think I had ANY Allied status with any faction for the federation and I still got Ensign...

Anyway, if you want to do missions, I've got some guide videos on how that goes. Please check them out.

(part 2 and 3 are done, they will be uploaded tomorrow and thursday)

Full of useful information!

Elite: Dangerous - Quick Guides: Fastest Reputation & Ranks, part 1 - Basics

If you think they are useful, feel free to help me out and promote!

I appreciate the help! Here's an odd turn of events... I started doing missions and finished about 4 between two stations. I ended up taking one for an opposing faction by mistake, and after seeing a red arrow for completing it I got the ascension mission for Squire. I just have no idea what's going on anymore.

Serpentstar · Apr 14, 2015

I can safely say that the Rank requirements for trading are not accurate. I have earned over 400 mil in trading and am still at entrepreneur.

outlier · Apr 14, 2015

Kerenn said:
You, sir, are allied with the Federation as a whole. So each and every Federation-aligned faction will treat you LIKE and ally, but you're not a PERSONAL ally to them.

EDIT : to check your real reputation with a faction, do a mission for them and look at the mission completion screen.

LIKE an ally? They list me as "Allied", both major faction and minor. All the minors. I'm delighted with this, but it's not as you say. They do NOT TREAT me like an ally, otherwise I'd see rank progression missions.

drkaii · Apr 14, 2015

thematt917 said:
If I understood correctly, you are referring to the bulletin board missions; I have gone as far as to check every 5 minutes (when the missions refresh). I'm going to give your 'allied' to 'friendly' idea a go tonight. Sans-Exploration I would say I've put the least amount of time into missions - every other jump or so I'd take one. Still quite a few, but not enough to get above friendly.

The funny thing is that even if I miss this enormous Clipper discount, I'll have made enough to pay "full sticker" by the time my rank increases....

drkaii said:
Go for it and let us know if that works. Getting "allied" with as many as possible seems to be the general advice. I'm also trying to get Baron and I have to say it is taking a LOT longer than Ensign. I've got allied with 3 factions, nearly 4 and still only Serf. I don't think I had ANY Allied status with any faction for the federation and I still got Ensign...

Anyway, if you want to do missions, I've got some guidonxedeos on how that goes. Please check them out.

(part 2 and 3 are done, they will be uploaded tomorrow and thursday)

Full of useful information!

Elite: Dangerous - Quick Guides: Fastest Reputation & Ranks, part 1 - Basics

If you think they are useful, feel free to help me out and promote!

thematt917 said:
I appreciate the help! Here's an odd turn of events... I started doing missions and finished about 4 between two stations. I ended up taking one for an opposing faction by mistake, and after seeing a red arrow for completing it I got the ascension mission for Squire. I just have no idea what's going on anymore.

So, interestingly, all my hard work paid off at once. I had been doing rep missions for days and was stuck on serf. Then today, it all kicked off. I got progression mission after progression mission, all the way to Baron. No breaks or pauses. Every time I returned one a new one was there.

FYI I had made ally with 4 sub factions, it kicked off roughly when I got ally with the fourth. I am also friendly with quite a few other sub factions. So that's about what you need.

Good to know also that the advice in my videos are were what made it happen, they are worth watching!

Good luck guys

Edit: also once I got Baron they stopped coming.

Doesn't matter, at least I got my discount Clipper at Nu. Now I can get back to trading and exploring.

Altrene · Apr 15, 2015

hi, i'm new to this series and to this game. and right now i am wondering if i can change faction if i already join one. maybe some of you know?

Kerenn · Apr 15, 2015

Altrene said:
hi, i'm new to this series and to this game. and right now i am wondering if i can change faction if i already join one. maybe some of you know?

As far as I know you don't "belong" to a faction and can still level up to max in the two navals paths.

@Dr Kaii : isn't Baron to highest rank ?
Nice to know it should be okay with 4 allieds, will try that when I come back from Sagittarius A*.

drkaii · Apr 15, 2015

Altrene said:
hi, i'm new to this series and to this game. and right now i am wondering if i can change faction if i already join one. maybe some of you know?

Kerenn said:
As far as I know you don't "belong" to a faction and can still level up to max in the two navals paths.

@Dr Kaii : isn't Baron to highest rank ?
Nice to know it should be okay with 4 allieds, will try that when I come back from Sagittarius A*.

You're right. All faction membership is independent as of now.

And no, there are three more ranks. Highest is earl.

See: http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Empire/Ranks

Altrene · Apr 15, 2015

drkaii said:
You're right. All faction membership is independent as of now.

And no, there are three more ranks. Highest is earl.

See: http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Empire/Ranks

i see thanks, so it doesn't matter which one i join since i can progress on both of them?

drkaii · Apr 15, 2015

Altrene said:
i see thanks, so it doesn't matter which one i join since i can progress on both of them?

Yep, you can be top rank in both and be allied with everyone in the galaxy. Good goal to set!

Altrene · Apr 15, 2015

drkaii said:
Yep, you can be top rank in both and be allied with everyone in the galaxy. Good goal to set!

i see good to know. thanks!

Pocketcow · Apr 16, 2015

I apologize if this was gone over anywhere before, but I did scan the pages and did not find much info about conflict zones. How much does this help naval progression? If you jump from warring system to warring system, and fight for the side allied to the feds/empire, is it just as effecting as running missions as far as eventually progressing in naval rank?

Kerenn · Apr 16, 2015

Pocketcow said:
I apologize if this was gone over anywhere before, but I did scan the pages and did not find much info about conflict zones. How much does this help naval progression? If you jump from warring system to warring system, and fight for the side allied to the feds/empire, is it just as effecting as running missions as far as eventually progressing in naval rank?

As far as I know, missions give the most reputations (especially those asking for money or good with no pay, only rep as a reward). Kills in warzones are akin to bounties so they help you get better rep with the faction chasing it in but I don't think there's a direct link between those and Naval progression (which is trigerred by reputations, so the link may be indirect).

drkaii · Apr 16, 2015

Kerenn said:
As far as I know, missions give the most reputations (especially those asking for money or good with no pay, only rep as a reward). Kills in warzones are akin to bounties so they help you get better rep with the faction chasing it in but I don't think there's a direct link between those and Naval progression (which is trigerred by reputations, so the link may be indirect).

Assassination missions are the best. Check out my video.

And it all adds to it, bounties, exploration data, it all helps get you rep and rep gets you progression (when the RNG gods smile upon you)