Fed rank grind fest.
I'm not sure what FD done with fed / imperial ranks, but they are hard to achieve now. MUCH harder than before 1.5/2.0.
Done 3 days of "normal" playing, hasn't received promotion. 40% of rank, you're shitting me, right? But i want that federal corvette!
A little bit of google and i can give you some guide (i used those techniques couple of hours ago. Started from midshipman, ATM i'm Post Captain.
You will need:
1) ~10-15 mil creds for donation missions. That's for Admiral, if you don't want corvette and just need FAS/FGS it will be much less (twice or so). Yeah, that's gonna be boring. Make sure to pickup nice TV series for that grind. The Expanse, if you haven't watched it yet. Ranking 0-14 will probably take ~10 hours. Maybe slightly more.
2) Ship with decent jump range and good fuel scoop. Some fuel tanks will be nice too. And get some cargo hold (see last paragraph for info). Light exploration fitted Asp is ideal for that "mission", since you will be travelling to distant system ~500 LY away. Make sure to equip weapons as well.
3) Knowledge of smuggling. My promotion missions was 100% "Find shit in system X and smuggle it to base"
Let's go.
Open your travel computer, search 17 Draconis. Yep, that one, in the middle of nowhere.
Travel here, make sure you always refuel at 50% of your fuel tank. A little bit of safety never hurts, since i found shitton of unscoopable stars on my way to 17 Draconis.
Dock on paradiso (the only station here), open bulletin board and check for donation missions. Accept them, complete them, when they end relog to different mode (ie if you play in solo and done donation missions already, logoff, log into open, donate, logoff, then to solo again). Repeat until promotion mission appear. You can watch rank % progress in status panel.
Now, take a look at that promotion mission. If it sends you to some distant system (300LY away) do not accept it! Relog again and look for another. After some time (usually 4-5 relogs) you will find mission in close empty system. Be aware, however, that there is griefers sometimes. And it's very unlikely you got fully equipped combat ship in that shithole. Got mission with finding trade / military plans? Just open your navigation pane and fly in one direction. It says "look for wreckage", but i always find quest items on weak source signals and never on "salvageable wreckage". Found it? Good, back to paradiso, smuggle those items carefully, dock and....
Repeat until you get desired rank. Couple of evenings and you can rank up all the way to Admiral.
Got what you needed? Time for some money making before you leave. See those long-range smuggling missions with 5 million payout? Grab 5-10 with same relog technique (it's not exploit and ED will not ban for this, if you're wondering, everybody stacks missions), and try to smuggle it. Start from outposts since they often got zero security, and end with normal stations. Also be prepared for fighting interdictions - they will happen ALOT when you have those illegal goods. But ATM this is most paying job in E: D, it's also fueled with adrenaline (just try, you'll see what i'm talking about), and just fun.
Good luck.
I'm not sure what FD done with fed / imperial ranks, but they are hard to achieve now. MUCH harder than before 1.5/2.0.
Done 3 days of "normal" playing, hasn't received promotion. 40% of rank, you're shitting me, right? But i want that federal corvette!
A little bit of google and i can give you some guide (i used those techniques couple of hours ago. Started from midshipman, ATM i'm Post Captain.
You will need:
1) ~10-15 mil creds for donation missions. That's for Admiral, if you don't want corvette and just need FAS/FGS it will be much less (twice or so). Yeah, that's gonna be boring. Make sure to pickup nice TV series for that grind. The Expanse, if you haven't watched it yet. Ranking 0-14 will probably take ~10 hours. Maybe slightly more.
2) Ship with decent jump range and good fuel scoop. Some fuel tanks will be nice too. And get some cargo hold (see last paragraph for info). Light exploration fitted Asp is ideal for that "mission", since you will be travelling to distant system ~500 LY away. Make sure to equip weapons as well.
3) Knowledge of smuggling. My promotion missions was 100% "Find shit in system X and smuggle it to base"
Let's go.
Open your travel computer, search 17 Draconis. Yep, that one, in the middle of nowhere.
Travel here, make sure you always refuel at 50% of your fuel tank. A little bit of safety never hurts, since i found shitton of unscoopable stars on my way to 17 Draconis.
Dock on paradiso (the only station here), open bulletin board and check for donation missions. Accept them, complete them, when they end relog to different mode (ie if you play in solo and done donation missions already, logoff, log into open, donate, logoff, then to solo again). Repeat until promotion mission appear. You can watch rank % progress in status panel.
Now, take a look at that promotion mission. If it sends you to some distant system (300LY away) do not accept it! Relog again and look for another. After some time (usually 4-5 relogs) you will find mission in close empty system. Be aware, however, that there is griefers sometimes. And it's very unlikely you got fully equipped combat ship in that shithole. Got mission with finding trade / military plans? Just open your navigation pane and fly in one direction. It says "look for wreckage", but i always find quest items on weak source signals and never on "salvageable wreckage". Found it? Good, back to paradiso, smuggle those items carefully, dock and....
Repeat until you get desired rank. Couple of evenings and you can rank up all the way to Admiral.
Got what you needed? Time for some money making before you leave. See those long-range smuggling missions with 5 million payout? Grab 5-10 with same relog technique (it's not exploit and ED will not ban for this, if you're wondering, everybody stacks missions), and try to smuggle it. Start from outposts since they often got zero security, and end with normal stations. Also be prepared for fighting interdictions - they will happen ALOT when you have those illegal goods. But ATM this is most paying job in E: D, it's also fueled with adrenaline (just try, you'll see what i'm talking about), and just fun.
Good luck.
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