Rapid Rank III

[alienfodder]

Yesterday I came closest to achieving this award - Rank 8 as a Javat explorer. The weird thing was this was in House Thulun! There was a trade alliance but I'm surprised that I got more rep with the faction I wasn't trading with.

[absimiliard]

The rep you get for selling stuff can be strongly impacted by your negotiation skill. I've definitely had instances of selling loads of restricted tech goods, and even records, and getting no rep gain.

For me I found Rapid Rank III came more easily from a military officer doing missions for his faction. (or hers) Just be picky about your contracts and routing and you should get enough rep/creds to buy the ranks you want. In my most recent re-do of it (following an accidental uninstall) I basically ran a route back and forth from De Valtos Prime and Syndicate Core. I'd do as many contracts as I could that didn't go too far off the route from one De Valtos world to the other.

It's a tough award to nab, to be sure. But I don't think explorer is really the right path, unless you like Negotiation more than I do.

(in the "cheating bastard" category you can make it easier by doing most of the work in the free version and then importing the captain into Elite before going to the Palace to record your exploits. this is kind of cheaty because the smaller universe in the free version generally gets you better contracts, in terms of short contracts to nearby worlds, and entirely avoids any of those "Go from 0,0 to 33,33 and kill this guy" contracts)

-abs

{edit: getting lucky w. a nasty spy war and some record-selling or surveillance works pretty well too, but does require getting lucky}

[slayernz]

The highest difficulty level I achieved this award on was Demanding ... it's a really tough one to get because you do need star alignment and just the right amount of 15 leaf clovers.

My character was a Javat explorer, and he sold a ton of artifacts to Javat Mining under a shortage situation.

[blackgauntlet]

Try as I might, I really couldn't get this. I'll probably try the "Cheating Bastard" technique suggested by abs. Sounds good, since luck plays too much of a role for this one...

[alienfodder]

I don't fancy my chances doing missions in Elite-verse & would rather be able to look at myself in the mirror than abuse the free-verse.
I reckon my odds are better as an explorer - just have to keep trying and hope for that perfect storm of loot & shortage.
What do people think about Negotiation? I put all points into Explorer but don't notice any significant advantage.

Last game I only reached Rank 6 with Steel Song (5 with Javat) even with a rumour on a nearby wilderness.

[absimiliard]

Personally I find Rapid Rank III the hardest of the awards to get. I used to think it was Dark Nemesis, but once I stopped playing below Impossible in most games that became much easier. (first time I got it took me three weeks of real time, with pretty heavy play) As it is now Dark Nemesis takes a little luck, but once you get a lucky break it's not that bad.

Rapid Rank III on the other hand is all about getting lucky. I think highly of negotiation, but even with it (and if you're lucky a political officer) you still seem to have to get lucky with a shortage of something you've been hoarding up. And getting the hoard to get lucky with isn't easy when you're splitting your XP between explorer and negotiation.

Mission-running on the other isn't terribly bad, even in Elite. The early years have some built in mission limiters, which is why you don't get missions taking 100 weeks early on. So you have moderately good odds of getting lucky in stacking up missions from one of your faction's worlds to the other if they're fairly distant. (so NOT House Thulun or Rychart for example) Paradoxically you also want worlds that aren't too far apart because you want to run the missions quickly. (so not Steel Song) Lastly you want big economy worlds, which offer lots of contracts, which rules out Javat and would also rule out Steel Song if they were still on the list.

So I think you have the best chances by mission-running for Cadar or De Valtos. My choice was De Valtos because they have the premier economy and are far apart enough to offer missions to worlds in between their two primary worlds. Cadar could have done it, they're about the right distance and have intervening worlds to mission on as well, but they just don't seem to have quite as strong an economy for mission-runners as De Valtos does. (oh, they also feel like they offer more "Kill" and "Capture" missions as well, and early-game mission-running is all about delivery of packages, messages, and people since you can't really afford the fights)

So I think it's do-able in Elite. Choose De Valtos. Concentrate on doing multiple delivery missions at once. Do them to worlds in between Syndicate Core and De Valtos Prime. Get a little lucky. Cheesing the free version is (to me) less about getting lucky with the mission locations (since it's early-game) than about the chance of getting lucky with a shortage or officer.

-abs

[alienfodder]

I just tried a Rychart Spy.
Got 2 surveillance missions immediately.
Had weapons & electronics in the hold.
Both contracts took about 40 turns to complete with my ship taking regular batterings.
Fail.

Will try some normal contracts for De Valtos next, but I'm convinced Explorer will win.

[absimiliard]

Yeah, surveillance missions are rough. They take a long time to complete and can be tough on young characters.

I prefer deliver missions for speed and lack of combat. I like the military officer because buying the rank is cheaper, but a soy could work.

-abs

{edit: I suppose a SPY could also work, soy being not the greatest of beans for mission-running.}

[alienfodder]

Just had a game of attrition as a De Valtos military officer captain (hasnt he been renamed yet?).
Javat kicked off a solar war so I headed over and blockaded hoping for big rep gains and good repair funds. Only got rep for owning the ships sent after me (skills flying up fast) so switched to surveillance. Got a bit of cash for the records but not enough to keep up ship repairs. Went back to blockading. Survived to 61.15 in a battered ship but was only Rank 3 when the torp with my name on it said hello.

Game before was all contracts with same military captain. Very disappointing. Contracts were scarce and rep gain was lethargic.

[absimiliard]

Yup, contracts can be scarce. You need both a world with a decent economy and a little luck. You also need to accept that sometimes you'll get to the other world and there won't be any contracts, in which case you just have to fly back to the first one.

Buying and selling records can be a reasonably quick way to convert cash to rep as well, and Syndicate Core generally has a fairly big store of records.

I don't think much of blockading or surveilling for rep over time, compared to delivery missions. (and non-mission blockading is pretty much a waste of time) For young characters I tend to find that only the delivery missions are worth taking, you need too many skills to be successful with the others.

But yeah, there's a lot of good luck involved no matter who you are. Rapid Rank III can be a bear as a result.

Good luck w. it, you just gotta keep trying. (and it's pretty much "get lucky w. an explorer" or "get lucky w. a mission-runner")

-abs

[Cory Trese]

If you are taking the wrong types of missions you'll never hit the award, honestly.

Explorer or Harvester is probably easiest, or just a Merchant who uses Trade Permits and clever trading

[Cory Trese]

playing a character class that gets discounts really helps (even if you use the Explorer skill. consider there are MANY play styles out there.)

[alienfodder]

I'm playing different tactics each game (depending on what opportunities the game presents).
Some games I know won't come close to Rank 9, but I'll play to get a better understanding of the mechanics.
Last game was an explorer who quit any wilderness if there was 1 loot / captain injury. The game before was the opposite; captain died from injuries after 12 turns on first wilderness.

I don't understand the meaning of the word "quit".
I will play different styles but keep returning to Explorer.
I don't mind wasting a few minutes on a doomed style.
Eventually, I will get lucky. Probably. I hope.

[alienfodder]

Last two games I was a De Valtos zealot.
Could get to Rank 6 or 7 on Syndicate Core before 61.37
It was 64.xx by the time I had traded up to Rank 9 in the bountiful Exchange in the forlorn hope there might be a hasnt-left-planet time loophole.
I guess zealot needs a good blockade to sink his teeth into.

[Cory Trese]

are you buying and selling records for rep with your spare money?