X-Treme Fighting Rank - How?

[Bill Huntington]

I’m 5 days into this game, and I’m not doing the HUB plot this time. I want to make it to X-Treme fighting rank. I’ve been to Legend before, and now want to make it all the way. I’m at Battlemaster 10% right now, and a J or K is worth 1 point.

I’m waiting on my marines right now. Once they are 3 x 100, I’ll give them fight training, then take a Tyr and a Skirnir and get serious about the Xenon sectors. Right now I’m in a Tiger and I’ve killed the J and K in all the sectors. They are spawning in X472 near BHS and Core 023. I ignore X101, unless they are close to the gate. I won’t kill the SYs until I get a Tyr. Then I’ll kill all the SY except Core 023, and have about 15 J and K to kill at one time, jump out, jump back, rinse and repeat.


Question: Is there a faster way to get to X-Treme?

The points you get for killing a J or K go down with each rank. Does that happen at the highest ranks? How much do you get for a K at Overlord and Legend Rank?

Thanks.

[hisazul]

Xenon core sectors and leave their shipyards alone. Just tear apart everything else. Basically the same thing as you want to do.

Pteranodon and to a lesser degree megalodon(flais on capital ship make dealing with fighters a breeze) is the best ship to do this with if your playing AP. If TC... erm... Hyperion probably with plethora of wraith missiles. Reunion... I don't even know there isn't anything that universally viable against all classes. You either get mowed down by capitals or you get drilled down by fighters. But since you said skinir... I'm guessing AP. And I do recommend taking a Ptera or Mega for xenon clean up. Kyoto could work too just not Tyr. Thats OOS ship it handles like crap... at least with Kyoto you can steer with Tyr you'll have easier time steering Valhalla which is actually an option... just need to position it right and funnel xenon to you. Skinir while as awesome as any other terran ship... is a missile boat and missiles aren't all that hot in AP. You'll need an arawn full of ghouls and shadows just to clean one sector.

Last rank is... BAD. But then again... I gained most of my combat ranks in AP from educating argons on how one should deal with terrorists. So meh... RRF are like infinite supply of pinatas.

[Timsup2nothin]

The points you get for killing a J or K go down with each rank. Does that happen at the highest ranks? How much do you get for a K at Overlord and Legend Rank?

Technical correction...the 'points' are the same, it's just that it takes a lot more points to make a rank so the displayed 'percentage of rank' requires more points for each percentage to click over. The example I know off the top of my head is race rank not fight rank, but it will do...

If you are three ranks negative and 0% with a race you are actually at -10,000 points. The next rank kicks at -1000 points, so if you do something for them and gain 5000 points you will jump all the way to 55%. Unfortunately if you are one rank deeper in the hole at 0% you are at -100,000 points and the same 5000 point gain will only jump you to about 5%. If you are a rank deeper than that at 0% you are actually maxed out at -1,000,000 points and getting 5000 points won't even bump the meter.

I only know the actual numbers for the negative side of race rank, but basically everything works the same. The number of points from one rank to the next expands geometrically. When you reach top rank you are only a fraction of the way to an actual 'max out', and that top rank takes a huge number of points to cross.

[hisazul]

The points you get for killing a J or K go down with each rank. Does that happen at the highest ranks? How much do you get for a K at Overlord and Legend Rank?

Technical correction...the 'points' are the same, it's just that it takes a lot more points to make a rank so the displayed 'percentage of rank' requires more points for each percentage to click over. The example I know off the top of my head is race rank not fight rank, but it will do...

If you are three ranks negative and 0% with a race you are actually at -10,000 points. The next rank kicks at -1000 points, so if you do something for them and gain 5000 points you will jump all the way to 55%. Unfortunately if you are one rank deeper in the hole at 0% you are at -100,000 points and the same 5000 point gain will only jump you to about 5%. If you are a rank deeper than that at 0% you are actually maxed out at -1,000,000 points and getting 5000 points won't even bump the meter.

I only know the actual numbers for the negative side of race rank, but basically everything works the same. The number of points from one rank to the next expands geometrically. When you reach top rank you are only a fraction of the way to an actual 'max out', and that top rank takes a huge number of points to cross.

To add to this, with numbers , at least for races its from -1mil to +1mil. Race rank 9 is reached at 100k, rank 10 at 333k.... and rank 10 100% at 1000k.

Rest is what Tim already said. For races each rank requires 3 times as much work as previous one.

[Bill Huntington]

Thanks, Hisazul and Timsuptonothin. I'm in TC. I guess I have a lot of killing to do. But it's okay. They're Xenon. They need it.

[Rapier]

Your approach is pretty much the one I took. The only one I can think of faster is to attack everything, though that can have some negative side effects. A search of the forums with a properr search engine shuld turn up a list of combat ranks.

Edit: or we could just read the FAQ.

[Timsup2nothin]

Your approach is pretty much the one I took. The only one I can think of faster is to attack everything, though that can have some negative side effects. A search of the forums with a properr search engine shuld turn up a list of combat ranks.

Edit: or we could just read the FAQ.

Attacking everything may be a bit extreme, but I have found that having one race as an enemy makes the game fun...and if you are looking for fight rank bulldozing some sectors certainly helps.

[Black_hole_suN]

I only noticed this now but..

Ship kills by player owned ships piloted by the AI does not add up to the player's fight rank??

is this true???

[Rapier]

is this true???

It is consistent with my own observations. I typicaly station pairs of cap-ships at gates to Xenon sectors late in the game and don't see rank increases when I'm not in combat myself for prolonged periods.

[Nanook]

I only noticed this now but..

Ship kills by player owned ships piloted by the AI does not add up to the player's fight rank??

is this true???

Yes. Fight rank is a personal stat, and as such, you have to personally perform the kill.

@Bill, blowing up stations gives a significantly higher fight rank increase than blowing up even the largest ship. If you really want to go after that elusive X-Treme combat rank, make one of the races your enemy and start wiping out entire sectors. Most of the stations will eventually get rebuilt in one way or another, so you shouldn't run out of targets anytime soon. IMO, the best race to do this with is the Terrans since they have so many more combat ships, and hence targets, floating around their sectors than the other races. Happy hunting.

[Black_hole_suN]

Fight rank is a personal stat, and as such, you have to personally perform the kill

So that is why my rank never moved from Battlemaster 27% for days now even though I constantly wipe Argon and Terran forces at war sectors using an M1 fleet

thanks for the tip

[Nanook]

Note that you don't actually have to 'pull the trigger' on each kill. Kills made by turrets on your personal ship also count.

[jlehtone]

Back in X2 they just parked their Oddy next to spawn point and had a long cup of tea.

... Then I’ll kill all the SY except Core 023, and have about 15 J and K to kill at one time, jump out, jump back, rinse and repeat.

Question: Is there a faster way to get to X-Treme?

Use the available generic combat missions when you have surplus time to kill.

You will get there.

[Rapier]

Back in X2 they just parked their Oddy next to spawn point and had a long cup of tea.

Back in X-Tension there were no player capships so taking on a Xenon sector was a bit more challenging. Once you'd cleared it though you could sit just above the spawn point in an Orca and every time a cap spawned* you could swing your nose down using the upside-down mouse trick and ram it to destruction for minimal shield loss.

* which they did whilst in sector in those days