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Two of the main factions offer rewards for rising through their ranks. These rewards come in the form of unlockable ships, access to engineers, and permits to permit-locked systems like Facece and Sol, easily one of the most beautiful systems to visit in Elite.
Fastest Way to Grind Empire Rank
To farm Empire rank in Elite Dangerous quickly and reliably, take courier missions between the Ngalinn, Aitval, and Mainani systems. The stations there only have landing pads for medium or small ships. The ship must also have a 20.25ly Jump Range. Consider using an Automatic Docking Computer and Supercruise Assist Module too. This well-known farming technique is repetitive, but Elite isn’t known for being one of the longest PC games to beat for nothing.
Here’s the step-by-step process:
Head to the Ngalinn system and dock at Hickam Survey. Go to the Mission Board and check out the Transportation missions. Accept missions that go to the Mainani system. Only select missions offered by Imperial factions. Fly to the Mainani system and turn in missions at Mies van der Rohe’s Claim. Take Transportation missions that go to the Aitval system. Fly to the Aitval system and land at Flettner Station. There aren’t usually any Transportation missions that go to the Ngalinn system. Fly back to Ngalinn and dock back at Hickam Survey to turn in the missions. Repeat this process many, many times.
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Tips
The following tips are helpful to keep in mind along the way:
To advance in ranks, the commander needs to complete an “Imperial Navy” advancement mission. Advancement missions are generated randomly. Eventually, a Transportation mission will come up that heads to one of the systems in the loop. Progress made towards a rank in excess of 100% spills over to the following ranks. Take the Reputation reward when completing each mission. Donation missions (in the Support category) appear randomly at each of the stations. Complete them to shave a few hours off the grind. It might be helpful to make a lot of credits before taking this on.
This method is the most efficient, reliable method for grinding rank with the Empire. Thankfully, the missions in this loop are much more abundant than in the similar grind for Federal rank. Only a few hours of this are required to attain “Rear Admiral,” at which point the final unlockable from the Empire becomes available: the Imperial Cutter. The Cutter is an incredibly capable and versatile ship. One place it really shines is in being the best trade ship in the game.
Elite Dangerous is available on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
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