Elite Dangerous
Elite Dangerous
Elite Dangerous
18
Last changes 07.22.18
Pay attention that relevance and last changes are not the same thing. I could change only one guide
section, not checking relevance of the others. However, such changes consider only design, text or minor
information, not touching the basics. If guide is extensively updated all of its sections are checked to be
relevant.
Nevertheless, information «oldness» does not mean its invalidity because it can stay the same for a long
period of time and author just have nothing to update. To make sure that guide is not forsaken you just
need to look at the dates of last comments from author or write yours and wait for the answer. If it comes
– the guide is not forgotten, and information is still relevant.
If you are searching for easy money farming – pass by, because ranks raising is much more often an
expense rather than a profit.
First sections are designed for the players who are only starting to play the game, so if you know
everything about the ranks and only interested in the relevant raising methods – scroll down and look for
the rank that you need.
WHAT THE RANKS ARE, WHAT TYPES OF THEM EXIST AND WHAT THEY NEEDED
FOR
Ranks are your statuses in various game factions. There are 3 main types of ranks and there is a
reputations which is also important: Pilots Federation Ranks, Superpowers Naval Ranks, PowerPlay Ranks,
Superpowers Reputation and Minor Factions Reputations or as they are also called – parties. You can see
all your ranks (PowerPlay ranks will appear after pledging alliance to one of the Powers) and a
Superpowers Reputation in the ship`s right panel (default key 4).
PowerPlay Ranks
Actually, PowerPlay is a quite complicated thing, and I would recommend you to see full wiki article.
Currently there are 11 Powers in game, each of which has 5 ranks. A total novice will not be able to
pledge alliance to a Power, at least one Pilots Federation second rank in any aspect is required. Every rank
in every Power gives a certain (and the same, regardless of it) number of Power Nominations (PN), Power
Commodity (PC) and weekly credit reward (see the table). Every Power also has their individual bonuses
for the ranks and your presence in them. You can see the full list clicking this link[elite-dangerous.wikia.com],
starting from «Table of Rating Rewards» headline.
This is a relation of a superpower or a party personally to you. There are 6 reputation stages: Hostile –
Unfriendly – Neutral – Cordial – Friendly – Allied. It affects your presence in the system controlled by this
party or superpower: having negative reputation will possibly lead to assaults on you by its members.
I also want to clarify things about engineers: yes, you need to have certain ranks of all types except
PowerPlay and CQC to unlock them, but they are usually low (maybe excluding only last engineers in the
branches) and players often have them already raised. However, if you came here because you have to
get a certain rank for engineer unlock the guide can still help you. If you somehow do not know who the
engineers are, there is a link for you.
Because the guide came out very complicated, even for the every single rank, I am expecting you to,
firstly, read all about the wanted rank and only then take any actions.
Combat Rank
Actually, Combat Rank is the hardest for the raising (apart from CQC due to the circumstances) so
personally I would recommend you not to bother about it and just fight time to time, enjoying the
process, and the rank will raise itself sooner or later.
Only for direct destruction of ships and fighters. The crime status (wanted or not) and ship type do not
matter – only enemy`s rank.
At the moment there is no precise data on how many points are needed for each rank, though it was
empirically found out that for the raising from Deadly to Elite you will have to destroy about 2000-2500
ships of these two ranks.
Actually, there is no some relevant and universal way to raise this rank, so I will describe three most
popular and you will decide which fits you better.
We do not consider other RES types because high-ranked ships rarely appear there, though there are the
police in them, which will assist us.
1) Go to RES Distances Calculator[edtools.ddns.net], type your current system, put a tick in [Haz] parameter
and press «Search». The site will give you a list with systems with hazardous RES. Remember that the
more system population is – the more ships will be in RES.
2) Go to one of the systems look for hazardous RES in the gas giants` rings. It is desirable a station with
the repair, restock and refuel facilities to be nearby.
3) Jump there and start to destroy wanted ships with needed rank.
Good points:
Drawbacks:
- You will have to fly away several kilometers from the rings to be able to engage supercruise.
Actually, there are lots of systems like this but if someone needs: BD-15 447, Yz Ceti, V886 Centauri.
II. Conflict Zones (СZ)
1) Find the system on the galaxy map with more than a 5 million population and in the state of a war or a
civil war.
2) Go there and find high intensity CZ. It is desirable a station with the repair, restock and refuel facilities
to be nearby.
4) Jump there, scan ships and analyze, which side of the conflict has more odds.
5) Choose it in the ship`s right panel in «Functions» tab «Faction» line and start destroy enemy ships
(they are red with the default HUD colour).
Good points:
- Your allies will assist you.
- You will get profit from ship destruction.
- You can attack ships that are already attacked by your allies and do not bother with the battle.
- You can engage FSD and go into supercruise in any time. The only problem can be slow charge because
of big size ships nearby but you can fly from them quickly with a fast vessel. The exception is a capital
class ship arrival: in this case you will get a mass lock and will have to fly away several kilometers from it
to start FSD charging.
Drawbacks:
- The money amount is fixed for every ship type, regardless of its rank or modules.
- You can decrease a party/superpower reputation to hostile if you fight against it for a long time.
Systems change their state pretty quickly and war usually lasts for 3-4 days, so there is no point in writing
something here.
2) Go there and look for CNB. It is desirable a station with the repair, restock and refuel facilities to be
there.
Good points:
- You can destroy any ships and it will not lead to a bounty in the system.
Drawbacks:
- Some NPC can attack you if you attack miners and traders.
- You will have to fly away several kilometers from the rings to be able to engage supercruise.
Anarchy is extremely unstable and can last either for 3-4 days or for several weeks, so there is no point in
writing something here.
In fact there are only two perfect variants: engineer upgraded Vulture with a Bi-Weave Shield Generator
or engineer upgraded Federal Corvette with a Prismatic Shield Generator. To build the first you will need
about 25 millions and access to most engineers, to build the second you will need 12 rank in the Federal
Navy – Rear Admiral, about 1,5 billion, access to most engineers, third rank in Aisling Duval Power and
being in it for 4 weeks. Vulture is quite maneuverable, can easily stay in ship blind spots and do a lot of
damage meanwhile. Federal Corvette is pretty shielded, able to do lots of damage and destroy large ships
easily.
1) I would choose the second raising variant because, in my opinion, it is the easiest and most profitable.
There is also my Vulture fit[www.edsm.net] if someone needs.
2) Always, regardless of the ship type, choose Powerplant as a sub-target and try to get under the ship:
this technique can greatly reduce fight time because when you destroy ship`s Powerplant it completely
stops and cannot shoot or move before it reboots which usually takes about 1-2 minutes. And during this
time you will be able to fully destroy the ship. Also if you are shooting in 0% Powerplant module the ship
will automatically blow after some time, regardless of how much hull integrity left.
3) Check if enemy has Shield Cell Banks: if he does, I recommend you to firstly think about engaging him
because battle can just become a simple completion in who has more of them.
4) If your ship uses some kind of ammo (bullets, rockets, mines, etc.) and you have Horizons Expansion, I
would recommend you to gather some materials on the planets surface at least for the first grade
synthesis for this ammo, so you will not have to get back to the station after all of them used.
5) If enemy started to regenerate his shields and recharging goes regardless of your damage – stop to
shoot and wait until this effect stops (it looks like lines flowing on a shields) and only then start shooting
again. The thing is that after full shield recharge Shield Cell Bank will be working idly, so if shield still
regenerates under fire, you will be just wasting your ammo and energy.
6) You can try to ram enemy after he used Shield Cell Bank and he has less than a 1 full shield circle, that
you will not have time to deplete with your weapons. Though I highly do not recommend this tactic if
your own ship has less than 1.5 shield circles because you can deplete your shield too.
7) Do not engage wings with more than two strong ships even if all of them are elite. Except you have
fully upgraded Corvette because it is a real problem to survive in such circumstances flying other ships.
8) Always compare time you will spend for ship destruction and points gotten for it: sometimes it is better
to destroy some lower ranked ships than a one high ranked.
9) If you are flying small ship in CZ stay away from enemy bunches to avoid the situations when you are
attacked by several ships at the same time. Try to «catch» them attacking from a distance. If you still
were attacked fly through allies groups several kilometers away from CZ but do not go into supercruise: in
90% enemies will leave you and start attacking your allies.
10) If you do not want to get critical reputation decrease with one of the factions fighting in CZ, I
recommend to fight one party and then another – alternate them. Yes, you will raise reputation with no
one but you will not decrease reputation with anyone.
Trade Rank
For net profit from selling commodities (the rank does not decrease in case sell losses) and reward
from missions that require trade rank (passenger transport in populated systems, cargo delivery)
You buy goods in one system and then sell in another, getting profit (similar with missions and
passengers). To reach each rank you must earn certain amount of money from selling (completing
trade missions, transporting passengers in populated systems). See full tables below.
Notice that list shows how much profit is needed for raising the certain rank from the bottom. So,
simply put, you will need 1 billion to get from Penniless to Elite, and to get from Tycoon to Elite you
will have to subtract the value for Tycoon from value for Elite.
After patch 3.0 release new ways of fast money making are found nearly every week, and sometimes
they are connected to the trading, so I would recommend you to check whether some new ways of
earning with a trade were found.
One of the easiest ranks for the raising, along with explorer.
You only have to find two systems: where from and where to carry the cargo and you can use this
route. Nevertheless, the process is pretty boring and takes quite a lot of time. There are two relevant
methods at the moment:
Approximately, you will get about 15 millions from your missions and about 50 from every other
wingmate`s missions. So: alone – 15, with one member – 65, with 2 members – 115, with 3 members –
165.
1) Find friends that have trade ships for a wing, preferably three.
2) Find station that gives «Source And Return» wing missions. Their mark is two arrows going in
opposite directions, in the lower left corner there must be a wing mark – three dots connected with the
arcs. As experience shows, these missions are usually given in systems with a lack of a certain
commodity.
3) Every wingmate goes there and takes 2-3 missions. It is recommended to get those that give more
than 3 millions and require not more than 2500 commodity units.
4) After taking missions, everyone goes to the EDDB[eddb.io] site to a «Find Commodity» tab. In
«Commodity» section choose the needed commodity and in «Include Planetary» choose «Yes», because
some commodities are produced mostly on planets, in «Current System» type system where you are, in
«Buy Or Sell» choose «Buy», and click «Find Stations».
5) You will see the list of stations. The price, in fact, does not matter, because it will give only 2-3 millions
of profit. What is matter are only «Supply», «Distance» and «Information Relevancy». The first should be
not less than 5 000, second – not more than 100 light years, third – not older than 3 days. After finding
the station, check its distance from main star: it is not recommended to go to stations that are more than
20 000 light seconds from it.
6) Everyone starts to carry cargo on his own route and hand it over on the station. Before finishing the
mission the player must share it with other wingmates and only then take the reward. Others will be able
to get from mission board after docking with the station.
Good points:
Drawbacks:
HR 1064.
1) Go to EDDB [eddb.io]site.
2) Open «Stations» tab, in «Including Planetary» section choose «No» and scroll down to the station
table.
3) Click twice on the «Arrival Distance» filter to filter the table from the farthest stations from their
systems` stars.
4) Find stations that are 1 000 000 – 2 000 000 light seconds away from their main star and look at the
systems where these stations are.
5) Find one of these systems on the galaxy map and look for nearby systems with more than a 5 million
population.
6) Go to one of them, stack 20 missions (max amount – if you try to take 21 game will show the message
about a limit) that require VIP passengers (it is a crown near the suitcase) transporting for a lot of money
to the distant station in a nearby system. If there is no more missions go to a different game mode (Open
Play, Private Group, Solo) and search them there. If there are several distant nearby stations in the
system you can take missions to all of them but take in account the stations types (Orbital Station or
Outpost) and your ship`s size.
7) Jump to system and direct your ship to the station. The flight takes from 30 to 50 minutes so you can
do your business during this time. But watch out for interdictions.
Good points:
Drawbacks:
If you are interested in Eddb, and want to help it with information updating – you can write me, and I will
explain how to do it.
What jumps well and has a decent cargo capacity. Perfectly – Python if you are going to land on Outposts.
If not – Anaconda or Imperial Cutter if your imperial rank gives you access to it. Be sure to set Chaff
Launchers, Point Defences, and Electronic Countermeasures to fight back pirates in case you are
interdicted.
Trade Rank (Continuation)
Personal Tips
1) Do not remove Shield Generator to gain additional cargo or cabin capacity. Yes you it can give you a
lot of it but will highly increase your chances to die at the same time. Plus, if you are landing with
braking your ship will get hull damage and you will have to repair it. Moreover VIP passengers usually
cancel missions if hull damage is taken.
2) Nearly all VIP passengers are very whimsical and can send you messages like: «Please find me some
units of this thing. I wish to make this journey more comfortable ». Do not cancel or accept them – just
ignore them and continue flying to the station.
3) Because VIP passengers completely occupy the cabin, and it is impossible to place others there, send
VIPs to cabins where the least empty seats left. Also always think if the mission is really worth the
reward.
4) I recommend to do raising in Solo mode to evade piracy and unnecessary scans (see more about
them below) from other players.
5) Nearly all VIP passengers are afraid of scanning and can cancel mission even when you have been
scanned during docking with the destination station when you are almost ready to disembark them. So
I recommend, firstly, to disable all unnecessary modules to avoid extra ship heating and set one
Heatsink. Quickly fly out of station with taken passengers but be careful and not crash into a wall or
other ships. Target the needed system beforehand and jump there as fast as you can. Approaching the
destination target the station`s entrance already in supercruise, after dropping from it and gaining 7,5
kilometers from the station require docking and use heatsink about 1-2 kilometers from it. Fly in
quickly but again – carefully and calculate your braking. After entering the station look for your landing
pad and land on it as fast as you can.
6) Initially, because of low reputation, you can be not able to accept a big amount of missions,
especially high paid ones, so I recommend to choosing reputation as a reward when you have only
stated raising.
Explorer Rank
Also can be raised for finding resources on planets and completing missions that require explorer rank
but the increase is so low that we do not consider these methods.
Notice that list shows how much profit is needed for raising the certain rank from the bottom. So,
simply put, you will need 300 millions to get from Aimless to Elite, and to get from Pioneer to Elite you
will have to subtract value for Pioneer from value for Elite.
After discovering system first you will get a 50% of system`s value bonus but in our case we will be
using already discovered systems.
Despite easy actions, it is quite a complicated rank for the raising, because for effective raising you
need to have a third-party tool - ED Pathfinder program and a 5-th rank in Li Yong-Rui Power, because
it gives additional 200% profit for selling exploration data in systems under this Power`s control that
also goes to the rank raising. So the most profitable and fast way is collecting and selling data in the
systems under Li Yong-Rui`s control.
1) Pledge alliance to Li Yong-Rui Power and look what day of the week it is: to get the best efficiency
you have to start to do the raising on Thursday so if it is not Thursday – wait for it.
2) On Thursday after 7:00 galaxy time fly to Li Yong-Rui and gain 10 000 merits (see PowerPlay Rank
raising below).
3) You have almost two weeks for Explorer Rank raising: you will get 5-th rank next week and the week
after it will drop to 4-th. You can sell data after next Thursday but not later than Wednesday of the
week after because your rank will decrease.
4) Open ED Pathfinder, click Valuable Exploration Router. Choose Earth Like Wolds and Water Worlds,
set max list of 250 systems and minimal value at 2000k. Set tick for skipping already scanned systems,
type your current system in «Current System» and press «Create A Route».
5) Start to fly on this route, scan in reaching limit (see about it below) all stars and planets of types:
Earth Like World, Water World, Ammonia World, Terraformable Water Worlds and Other
Terraformable. You can additionally scan Gas Giants, Metallic worlds and Other Atmospherics. You
need to scan about 50-60 systems to get from Aimless to Elite. But be sure to come back to the end of
the next cycle (that means on Wednesday of the week after) for data selling. If you are late you will not
be able to get +200% for selling data because your rank will drop to 4-th with 2500 merits. Of course it
can be raised, having exploration data, but it is much more dangerous because of the risk of losing
them after death.
6) Search a system under Li Yong-Rui`s control on the galaxy map and sell exploration data there.
7) If you have not gained rank that you want – repeat steps from 2 to 6.
Something that jumps farther. We need only Advanced Discovery Scanner, Detailed Surface Scanner
and Fuel Scoop with us. It is desirable to have an FSD engineer upgraded for the jump range and
Detailed Surface Scanner for the scanner range. Moreover I recommend to set an Auto Field-
Maintenance Unit (AFMU) in case of module damage. So, in fact only two variants left: Anaconda if you
have 200 millions or Diamondback Explorer if you have 20.
The program has 3 functions but here I will describe only Valuable Exploration Router that is needed
for an exploration. Other you can examine for yourself, if you wish.
Open it, in the top right corner, in Tools menu, choose Valuable Exploration Router and we get an
additional window. At the very top you can choose world types: Earth Like Worlds, Water Worlds,
Ammonia Worlds, Terraformable Water Worlds and Other Terraformable. Further you can select
Maximum Worlds In Route (it is better to always leave 250), Minimum Estimated System Value (In 1000
credits); better to set about 1000-2000k not to loiter in cheap stuff, but do not select max value because
the distances between the systems will be 200-500 light years and put a tick to skip already scanned
systems (Explored System Filtering) – you will not get anything from them. Then you will need to type a
Starting System and an Ending System (Leave empty for loop) if you are going to a particular place. After
clicking «Create Exploration Route» you will have a systems list in a separated window. Selecting one of
them automatically copy its name to the clipboard and you will only have to paste it in game on the
galaxy map. The table has the following columns: systems` names (System), distance to it from the
previous (Distance), summary distance (Cumulative Distance), planet types in the system (Planets),
estimated value (Est Value), summary estimated value (Cumulative Value). The «Rescan Journal» button
redefines the list if new data was entered.
Personal tips
1) Plot the route for scanning not with the system map but with the radar: planets can be on the different
system`s edges, but follow each other on the map.
2) Do not fly to stars and planets that are farther than 500 000 light seconds from the main star because
you will spend a decent amount of time for a flight, considering the fact that in other systems with the
same planets this is done much faster.
3) Watch the fuel level and level and star class in systems you are jumping in, not to suddenly stay
without the fuel. But in case this happens I recommend watching this guide.
4) The list of spectral star classes with possibility of fueling forms the phrase «FOMA KGB» that can be
easily learnt. Though personally I recommend turning off on the galaxy map filter only L T Y Proto stars
because other «unfueling» stars are met quite seldom and sometimes are unique places.
CQC Rank
Attention! At the moment CQC Rank raising is nearly impossible because players mostly (or at all) do
not play this game mode. Also some information needs to be rechecked and reconfirmed!
Still I will write about its estimated raising in case someone is interested.
CQC mode has its own rank system that does not relate to Pilots Federation Rank. For convenience, I
will call it «Levels». Totally, CQC has 50 levels. After obtaining them new ships and kits will be
unlocked. After achieving 50 level you can reset them losing all unlocked ships and kits and get the fist
«Prestige Level». «Prestige Level» increases credits reward from the matches and gives access to CD-43
11917 system in standard game, where, at Attlius Orbital station, various ships and modules are sold
with different discounts. It is not a Shinrarta Dezhra and not all modules are sold there, plus, these
discounts are quite random, though the most remarkable one is a 20% on a Fer-De-Lance. Also after
gaining «Prestige Level» a special icon appears in front of the player`s name. Max «Prestige Level» is
eight.
CQC Rank is raised as Combat Rank and levels are got depending on your efficiency in a match.
CQC Rank is raised similarly to Combat, except the quantity of conventional points is smaller. Points for
raising CQC levels are counted from the ratio of your kills, deaths and general benefit for a team (in a
team match).
Only for competing missions from parties that have affiliation to Federation: on a mission board, in the
left list, there is a federation icon in party`s rectangle.
For every rank you need several conventional points which go into percent. After gaining 100% you will
have to do a special mission to proceed to the next rank. It usually sounds like: «Do something for the
Federal Navy». I will also remark that after gaining 100% on a certain rank, conventional points for
mission completing do not stop to accumulate and automatically increase percent on the next rank. So,
simply put, it can be that you will accomplish a bunch of missions with 100% on the current rank,
complete the mission for the rank procedure, and after this you will already have 100% on the next
rank. You also need to remember that rank procedure missions will be only given by parties with
friendly and allied reputation.
At the moment there are two relevant raising methods: donate missions and data delivery missions.
For the first you will need about 500 millions and 10 hours, for the second – a relatively fast ship and 20
hours. Also while completing donate missions you most likely will be able to gain only percent and will
not get rank procedure missions, so you will have to do them separately. The chosen reward does not
affect the rank so you can take any of them.
I. Donate missions
1) Find Federation system in the state of a famine or an outbreak with more than a 5 million
population.
2) 2) Check on the system map that there are at least 3 federal parties in the system.
3) Go there and start do donate missions from federal parties. If there is no more missions go to other
game mode (Open Play, Private Groups, Solo) and look for them there. Considering the latest
information, the donate amount affects the rank increase, so there is no need to look for cheaper
missions.
4) Donate about 400 millions (if you are raising from the very bottom) and after that start raising with
the second method. The only difference is that you only need to do rank procedure missions, though
delivering usual data for additional percent will be useful. The problem is that such missions are given
only with good reputation with local factions. See personal tips about its fast raising.
You will need to transport data between three systems: Gang Yun, HIP 64706 and Byggvi. There is only
one outpost in every system so raising is possible only on a small or a medium ship. The algorithm of
actions is quite simple:
1) Go to Gang Yun and stack 20 missions (max amount – if you try to take 21 game will show the message
about a limit) from federal parties for data delivery to HIP 64706 and Byggvi. If there is no more missions
go to other game mode (Open Play, Private Groups, Solo) and look for them there. From rank procedure
missions accept only those that are data delivery. If they have not appeared after gaining 100 percent do
not worry and keep doing regular missions – rank raising missions will appear eventually.
2) Fly out of the station and jump to HIP 64706. Station is 24 000 light seconds away, so flight takes 5-7
minutes.
3) After docking complete all missions to this station and get another missions to Gang Yun and Byggvi up
to 20. Also go to other mods if missions are over. In Gang Yun it is a planetary base along with an outpost,
where data delivery missions can also go. We do not need to go there, so skip such missions: it is a
planetary logo in the mission rectangle.
4) Fly out of the station and jump to Byggvi. Dock to the station and complete the missions. As in the
previous step, stack missions to HIP 64706 and Gang Yun, avoiding the data delivery to a planetary base
in the last.
This section considers only the second method. With the first you can use any ships – the main thing is to
dock with the station in the system.
Something that flies faster because during docking the simple ship speed can save tens minutes. But
because Gang Yun, HIP 64706 and Byggvi are at the edge of the populated systems (the bubble as it
called by the players), you will have to take a ship with a good jump range and a Fuel Scoop to get there.
Nevertheless, you have two variants:
1) Use exploration ship. In this case take Diamondback Explorer, set Fuel Scoop, A class FSD, go to Gang
Yun and start delivering data.
2) Transport fast ship from the bubble to these systems. In these case we also have two variants. If you
have first imperial rank and access to the engineers buy Imperial Eagle, set Enhanced Performance
Thrusters on it, upgrade them to maneuverability, maximally lightweight the ship, but watch the jump
range to be not less than 15 light years. If you do not have it – buy Viper Mk.III, maximally lightweight it,
set A class thrusters and also watch the jump range to be not less than 15 light years. Go on any ship to
HIP 65371 system to Wagner City station, transfer your ship there, wait for it to arrive, go to Gang Yun
and start delivering data.
Personal tips
1) Do not remove Shield Generator to gain additional cargo or cabin capacity. Yes you it can give you a lot
of it but will highly increase your chances to die at the same time. Plus, if you are landing with braking
your ship will get hull damage and you will have to repair it. Moreover VIP passengers usually cancel
missions if hull damage is taken.
2) Initially, because of low reputation, you can be not able to accept a big amount of missions, especially
high paid ones, so I recommend to choosing reputation as a reward when you have only stated raising,
but if you want to raise allied reputation with the dominant faction – you need to take 5-6 million
exploration data to the station. For its fast gathering you will need ED Pathfinder program (see «Explorer
Rank» section for guide about it).
3) It is unnecessary to raise using only one way. You can combine them, raising some part of the rank
with donations and other with data delivering. Moreover, sometimes donation missions appear in Gang
Yun, HIP 64706 and Byggvi, so you can spend earned money on them. Just do not jump from one method
to another because raising time will highly increase.
4) Sometimes systems go to lockdown and stations stop to give missions. This state usually lasts for 3-4
day and if you have faced it do not worry – just wait a few days and find other things to do.
Only for competing missions from parties that have affiliation to Empire: on a mission board, in the left
list, there is a imperial icon in party`s rectangle.
How exactly raised
For every rank you need several conventional points which go into percent. After gaining 100% you will
have to do a special mission to proceed to the next rank. It usually sounds like: «Do something for the
Imperial Navy». I will also remark that after gaining 100% on a certain rank, conventional points for
mission completing do not stop to accumulate and automatically increase percent on the next rank. So,
simply put, it can be that you will accomplish a bunch of missions with 100% on the current rank,
complete the mission for the rank procedure, and after this you will already have 100% on the next
rank. You also need to remember that rank procedure missions will be only given by parties with
friendly and allied reputation.
At the moment there are two relevant raising methods: donate missions and data delivery missions.
For the first you will need about 500 millions and 10 hours, for the second – a relatively fast ship and 20
hours. Also while completing donate missions you most likely will be able to gain only percent and will
not get rank procedure missions, so you will have to do them separately. The chosen reward does not
affect the rank so you can take any of them.
I. Donate missions
1) Find Empire system in the state of a famine or an outbreak with more than a 5 million population.
2) Check on the system map that there are at least 3 imperial parties in the system.
3) Go there and start do donate missions from imperial parties. If there is no more missions go to other
game mode (Open Play, Private Groups, Solo) and look for them there. Considering the latest
information, the donate amount affects the rank increase, so there is no need to look for cheaper
missions.
4) Donate about 400 millions (if you are raising from the very bottom) and after that start raising with
the second method. The only difference is that you only need to do rank procedure missions, though
delivering usual data for additional percent will be useful. The problem is that such missions are given
only with good reputation with local factions. See personal tips about its fast raising.
You will need to transport data between Ngalinn and Mainani systems. There is only one outpost in every
system so raising is possible only on a small or a medium ship. The algorithm of actions is quite simple:
1) Go to Mainani and stack 20 missions (max amount – if you try to take 21 game will show the message
about a limit) from imperial parties for data delivery to Ngalinn. If there is no more missions go to other
game mode (Open Play, Private Groups, Solo) and look for them there. From rank procedure missions
accept only those that are data delivery. If they have not appeared after gaining 100 percent do not
worry and keep doing regular missions – rank raising missions will appear eventually.
2) Fly out of the station and jump to Ngalinn. Dock, complete the missions and accept new.
This section considers only the second method. With the first you can use any ships – the main thing is to
dock with the station in the system.
Something that flies faster because during docking the simple ship speed can save tens minutes. But
because Ngalinn and Mainani are at the edge of the populated systems (the bubble as it called by the
players), you will have to take a ship with a good jump range and a Fuel Scoop to get there. Nevertheless,
you have two variants:
1) Use exploration ship. In this case take Diamondback Explorer, set Fuel Scoop, A class FSD, go to Gang
Yun and start delivering data.
2) Transport fast ship from the bubble to these systems. In these case we also have two variants. If you
have first imperial rank and access to the engineers buy Imperial Eagle, set Enhanced Performance
Thrusters on it, upgrade them to maneuverability, maximally lightweight the ship, but watch the jump
range to be not less than 15 light years. If you do not have it – buy Viper Mk.III, maximally lightweight it,
set A class thrusters and also watch the jump range to be not less than 15 light years. Go on any ship to
HIP 11241 system to Esposito City station, transfer your ship there, wait for it to arrive, go to Gang Yun
and start delivering data.
Personal tips
1) Do not remove Shield Generator to gain additional cargo or cabin capacity. Yes you it can give you a lot
of it but will highly increase your chances to die at the same time. Plus, if you are landing with braking
your ship will get hull damage and you will have to repair it. Moreover VIP passengers usually cancel
missions if hull damage is taken.
2) Initially, because of low reputation, you can be not able to accept a big amount of missions, especially
high paid ones, so I recommend choosing reputation as a reward when you have only stated raising, but if
you want to raise allied reputation with the dominant faction – you need to take 5-6 million exploration
data to the station. For its fast gathering you will need ED Pathfinder program (see «Explorer Rank»
section for guide about it).
3) It is unnecessary to raise using only one way. You can combine them, raising some part of the rank
with donations and other with data delivering. Moreover, sometimes donation missions appear in Gang
Yun, HIP 64706 and Byggvi, so you can spend earned money on them. Just do not jump from one method
to another because raising time will highly increase.
4) Sometimes systems go to lockdown and stations stop to give missions. This state usually lasts for 3-4
day and if you have faced it do not worry – just wait a few days and find other things to do.
Currently absent.
PowerPlay Rank
I would say once more: PowerPlay is quite a complicated system and I recommend fully investigating it, if
you are really willing to help your power and play a role. Only rank raising will be described here.
For getting merits in your Power`s systems. The merits themselves are got for helping the Power:
destroying other Powers ships, delivering cargo of your Power, etc.
You kill enemy Power`s ships, transport your Power`s cargo and get merits for it. Their amount can be
seen in the transaction menu in ship`s left panel. Different number of merits are given for different
activities. They can be redeemed in systems under your Power`s control (they redeem automatically after
cargo delivery). All unredeemed merits are gone after death. Every Thursday, at 7:00 galaxy time, at the
start of the new cycle, you get a rank depending on the amount of collected merits, their amount reduces
for a half and unredeemed merits are gone. For getting 1 rank you need to have 0 merits, for 2 – 100, for
3 – 750, for 4 – 1500, for 5 – 10 000.
At the moment the fastest raising way is transporting cargo for system fortifying from the Power`s
capital. For this you will need 100 000 000 credits and 1-3 hours depending on your cargo hall. These
commodities can be named variously but all have a shield logo during collecting at the station.
Algorithm of actions:
1) Come to your Power`s capital, open «Contacts» - «Power Contacts» get free fortifying cargo and then
buy the rest until full cargo capacity is loaded.
2) On the galaxy map set PowerPlay filter – control and look for nearest system that requires fortifying: it
is marked with a shield (color is not important). Go there and deliver cargo (as I said, merits are redeemed
automatically).
What jumps well and has a decent cargo capacity. Perfectly – Python if you are going to land on Outposts.
If not – Anaconda or Imperial Cutter if your imperial rank gives you access to it. Be sure to set Chaff
Launchers, Point Defences, and Electronic Countermeasures to fight back pirates in case you are
interdicted.
Personal Tips
1) Because new cycle starts on Thursday at 7:00 galaxy time I recommend starting to raise on this day.
2) Do not remove Shield Generator to gain additional cargo or cabin capacity. Yes you it can give you a lot
of it but will highly increase your chances to die at the same time. Plus, if you are landing with braking
your ship will get hull damage and you will have to repair it.
Reputation
Superpowers Reputation
For helping the party that has affiliation to needed superpower. The kind of help itself depends on one
factor: if party is dominant at the station or not. Yes – it is displayed on the main station page. You can
find out where each party dominates in the tab that appears after aiming the station with the cursor.
I. Yes
You can increase your reputation selling commodities, exploration data, redeeming bounty vouchers,
combat bonds (if you have fought for this party) and just completing its missions.
II. No
You deliver exploration data, cargo, complete missions, redeem bounty vouchers and combat bonds. It
depends on party dominancy in this system. For all those actions your party reputation increases along
with the superpower reputation.
1) Go to RES Distances Calculator[edtools.ddns.net], type your current system, put a tick in [Haz] parameter
and press «Search». The site will give you a list with systems with hazardous RES. Look for the system
that is under control of the needed superpower with the station that has dominant party with affiliation
to this superpower. It is desirable this station to be with the repair, restock and refuel facilities and
nearby. Remember that the more system population is – the more ships will be in RES.
2) Go to one of the systems look for hazardous RES in the gas giants` rings.
3) Jump there and start to destroy wanted ships with needed rank.
4) Some time later go back to the station and redeem bounty vouchers. You need 10-12 millions to get
reputation to allied.
Everything is the same, as with reputation raising. The only difference is you will need vouchers for 20-25
millions to recover from the very bottom. Also not to be killed look for stations with parties connected to
the needed faction in independent systems.
Personal tips
1) I would choose the second raising variant because, in my opinion, it is the easiest and most profitable.
There is also my Vulture fit[www.edsm.net] if someone needs.
2) Always, regardless of the ship type, choose Powerplant as a sub-target and try to get under the ship:
this technique can greatly reduce fight time because when you destroy ship`s Powerplant it completely
stops and cannot shoot or move before it reboots which usually takes about 1-2 minutes. And during this
time you will be able to fully destroy the ship. Also if you are shooting in 0% Powerplant module the ship
will automatically blow after some time, regardless of how much hull integrity left.
3) Check if enemy has Shield Cell Banks: if he does, I recommend you to firstly think about engaging him
because battle can just become a simple completion in who has more of them.
4) If your ship uses some kind of ammo (bullets, rockets, mines, etc.) and you have Horizons Expansion, I
would recommend you to gather some materials on the planets surface at least for the first grade
synthesis for this ammo, so you will not have to get back to the station after all of them used.
5) If enemy started to regenerate his shields and recharging goes regardless of your damage – stop to
shoot and wait until this effect stops (it looks like lines flowing on a shields) and only then start shooting
again. The thing is that after full shield recharge Shield Cell Bank will be working idly, so if shield still
regenerates under fire, you will be just wasting your ammo and energy.
6) You can try to ram enemy after he used Shield Cell Bank and he has less than a 1 full shield circle that
you will not have time to deplete with your weapons. Though I highly do not recommend this tactic if
your own ship has less than 1.5 shield circles because you can deplete your shield too.
7) Do not engage wings with more than two strong ships even if all of them are elite. Except you have
fully upgraded Corvette because it is a real problem to survive in such circumstances flying other ships.
8) Always compare time you will spend for ship destruction and points gotten for it: sometimes it is better
to destroy some lower ranked ships than a one high ranked.
Parties Reputation
For helping party. The kind of help itself depends on one factor: if party is dominant at the station or not.
Yes – it is displayed on the main station page. You can find out where each party dominates in the tab
that appears after aiming the station with the cursor.
I. Yes
You can increase your reputation selling commodities, exploration data, redeeming bounty vouchers,
combat bonds (if you have fought for this party) and just completing its missions.
II. No
You deliver exploration data, cargo, complete missions, redeem bounty vouchers and combat bonds. It
depends on party dominancy in this system. For all those actions your party reputation increases. If a
party connected to a superpower, your reputation with the last will also increase.
The method depends on party dominancy at the station. Still «No» is not always a definitive answer:
sometimes party is minor at one station and dominant at another. So check other stations in this and
nearby systems and only then make a definitive conclusion: «Yes» or «No».
I. Yes
2) Open ED Pathfinder, click Valuable Exploration Router. Choose Earth Like Wolds and Water Worlds, set
max list of 250 systems and minimal value at 2000k. Set tick for skipping already scanned systems, type
your current system in «Current System» and press «Create A Route».
3) Start to fly on this route, scan in reaching limit (see about it below) all stars and planets of types: Earth
Like World, Water World, Ammonia World, Terraformable Water Worlds and Other Terraformable. You
can additionally scan Gas Giants, Metallic worlds and Other Atmospherics. You need to scan about 6-8
millions to get allied reputation.
Only for mission completing and war in Conflict Zones (CZ). If system is not in a war state – only for
mission completing. I will not describe this method, only say the try to take not very difficult missions, that
has reputation reward. If system is in a war state:
It is quite complicated situation. If party is dominant – everything is the same as in the first method. The
only difference – you will need about 10-12 millions to recover from the very bottom. If not – firstly check
other stations here and in nearby systems, maybe, it will be dominant there. If it is not dominant
anywhere – only destroying other factions` ships. I cannot tell certain numbers but for recovering to
neutral reputation you will have to destroy not fewer than 50 ships.
If party is dominant
Something that jumps farther. We need only Advanced Discovery Scanner, Detailed Surface Scanner and
Fuel Scoop with us. It is desirable to have an FSD engineer upgraded for the jump range and Detailed
Surface Scanner for the scanner range. Moreover I recommend to set an Auto Field-Maintenance Unit
(AFMU) in case of module damage. So, in fact only two variants left: Anaconda if you have 200 millions or
Diamondback Explorer if you have 20.
If party is minor
In fact there are only two perfect variants: engineer upgraded Vulture with a Bi-Weave Shield Generator
or engineer upgraded Federal Corvette with a Prismatic Shield Generator. To build the first you will need
about 25 millions and access to most engineers, to build the second you will need 12 rank in the Federal
Navy – Rear Admiral, about 1,5 billion, access to most engineers, third rank in Aisling Duval Power and
being in it for 4 weeks. Vulture is quite maneuverable, can easily stay in ship blind spots and do a lot of
damage meanwhile. Federal Corvette is pretty shielded, able to do lots of damage and destroy large ships
easily.
Parties Reputation (Continuation)
Personal tips
1) Plot the route for scanning not with the system map but with the radar: planets can be on the
different system`s edges, but follow each other on the map.
2) Do not fly to stars and planets that are farther than 500 000 light seconds from the main star
because you will spend a decent amount of time for a flight, considering the fact that in other systems
with the same planets this is done much faster.
3) Watch the fuel level and level and star class in systems you are jumping in, not to suddenly stay
without the fuel. But in case this happens I recommend watching this guide.
4) The list of spectral star classes with possibility of fueling forms the phrase «FOMA KGB» that can be
easily learnt. Though personally I recommend turning off on the galaxy map filter only L T Y Proto stars
because other «unfueling» stars are met quite seldom and sometimes are unique places.
6) Always, regardless of the ship type, choose Powerplant as a sub-target and try to get under the ship:
this technique can greatly reduce fight time because when you destroy ship`s Powerplant it completely
stops and cannot shoot or move before it reboots which usually takes about 1-2 minutes. And during this
time you will be able to fully destroy the ship. Also if you are shooting in 0% Powerplant module the ship
will automatically blow after some time, regardless of how much hull integrity left.
7) Check if enemy has Shield Cell Banks: if he does, I recommend you to firstly think about engaging him
because battle can just become a simple completion in who has more of them.
8) If your ship uses some kind of ammo (bullets, rockets, mines, etc.) and you have Horizons Expansion, I
would recommend you to gather some materials on the planets surface at least for the first grade
synthesis for this ammo, so you will not have to get back to the station after all of them used.
9) If enemy started to regenerate his shields and recharging goes regardless of your damage – stop to
shoot and wait until this effect stops (it looks like lines flowing on a shields) and only then start shooting
again. The thing is that after full shield recharge Shield Cell Bank will be working idly, so if shield still
regenerates under fire, you will be just wasting your ammo and energy.
10) You can try to ram enemy after he used Shield Cell Bank and he has less than a 1 full shield circle, that
you will not have time to deplete with your weapons. Though I highly do not recommend this tactic if
your own ship has less than 1.5 shield circles because you can deplete your shield too.
11) Always compare time you will spend for ship destruction and points gotten for it: sometimes it is
better to destroy some lower ranked ships than a one high ranked.
12) If you are flying small ship in CZ stay away from enemy bunches to avoid the situations when you are
attacked by several ships at the same time. Try to «catch» them attacking from a distance. If you still
were attacked fly through allies groups several kilometers away from CZ but do not go into supercruise: in
90% enemies will leave you and start attacking your allies.
Conclusion
You will also tremendously help guide and will be able to appear in this list if you help with «Relevant
systems for the raising» in some guide parts: you just need to write systems` names in the comments.
Methods, ships and systems described in the guide are far from the only ones and you can freely use
other. Also I do not recommend diving in raising something because game becomes a boring grind and
interest starts to go away.
If you have any questions left, found a typos, out-of-date information or have a guide improving idea – do
not hesitate to write in comments below!
Fly safe!
O7