I hear that when you get to the ration of 10:1 for Energy to Level you begin auto-ranking. I currently have 1667 max energy and am level 161. I find that using a neural interface and completing missions I only get about 2/3rds of the way to the next level. I've been trying npc's as an alternative, but that has gotten me to about the same place, though my weapons tech is a little behind I think.

Anyone who knows about auto ranking, is there an optimum attack/defense/shield/hull, that you use to autorank?

Thanks.

You need a 4 exp/energy ratio for that to work, so you'd need to hunt NPCs. I think 20 attack/level should suffice, but keep in mind it's tougher at lower levels, because matched NPCs will take more hits to kill.

Ya you can't do it with missions. I have more then 10:1 energy at my rank and I still can't do it with just missions. Takes a refill and I still use all of that energy with missions and/or putting it in the base.

Highest missions are like 3.0 to 3.5, but it's not going to really work. You can hit 4.0+ on npc, but only if you have really high attack. And -- math proves the energy+ is better to get you there than increasing attack in almost all cases. So focus on getting 13-14 en / rank instead , and any attack tech/mod you don't have. Radiant cannons at rank 800+ are a good purchase. Also, changing to drannik will boost your attack without adding a bunch of tac.

i get somwhere from 3 xp per nrg npc hunting only more if i am very lucky with drops so you n at least 2 prisoners per 3 levels invested in nrg i on top of investing each level in nrg and keeping up your attack with buffs you get 4-5 att per rank in tact point and assasins increase 15 def every odd level i stay at 19k art an hour and i pull almost every hour and i get 1-7 prisoners a day some people are using a cheat to get more prisoners i dont and usually you have to be drannik to autolevel so you need at least 1 prisoner in tact every two levels some of this can be subsidized by modules but there is a limit to 8katt def and i think 3k nrg optimally you want to do nothing but npc hunt till your level 600 take nothing but art planets try to get all your decks from art pulls and npc drops and put all your points in tact officers and nrg

i am rank 850 i need to pull about 500 more prisoners to be able to auto rank and should take me 4-12 months to do it

correction you are rank 956

Not the best example to follow. If you want to autorank effectively, contact BinaryMan or BobdeBouwer. They know what they are doing.

To effectively autorank I have found that 11:1 energy to rank ratio and 25:1 attack to rank ratio (buffed) works very effectively. This is what I teach the members of my legion and it is working out well for them. Obviously the more att/energy you have the better as it allows some leeway if you do hit a particularly bad run whilst npcing.

I dont auto rank much these days because I have a little too much RL stuff going on but when I do I tend to be able to rank up 3/4 times in 2 hour runs.

My current stats:
Rank 592
Race Drannik Fixer
Decks 2400 (Lower damage cap v's higer upkeep from more modules)
Energy 6205 (lowered by 190 because of Exotic Pulsers and Ion Pulse Cannons)
Att 8141 (buffed Im at 21k which is just over 35:1 att to rank ratio)

I could paste the whole doc I typed up months ago but I doubt anyone would wanna read it again lol. Heres a link to the post

The 8K number is pre-Drannik bonus, right? Trying to see how far off my numbers are - if I work it right, you would be just under 25:1 as a non-Drannik/Kongul, so the race bonus is a big help.

Yeah 8141 is my standard unbuffed/unmodified attack and yes the drannik/konqul bonus is a huge boost whilst npcing if you want to auto rank.

missing baltar here, he was the master of auto rank
on NPC hunts i'll need another 1K energy to autolevel (without rsl) ill get closer when i change over to talth excavator

Didn't know Baltar all that well to see his game-style. Besides... Kinda hard to get tips from someone that's permabanned....

It can be done. I can probably gain 200 ranks off of just doing missions atm.

What's the fun on auto ranking with missions. When you auto rank with ... let me just shut my lips.

when I first started, i autoranked, hit rank 18 in about 10 min, I was Inergon and put all RP into engineers, then picked the best missions. I have found it harder as the ranks go up (like it should). I do think that if you set up right it would be possible but I do not think it would be smart because it would make for a weaker ship, this is just My opinion.

Never said it was fun, just saying it can be done.

The practical reasons for having all that extra energy is that it's useful. I've been in the Dominion for around a week and have already contributed 35k energy to the base just off the excess that I have before ranking up. I've contributed around 2.5 million energy to Ni's base and can contribute another 2.5 million energy still without having to buy energy refills. For non CC players, it's the most effective route to go.

The fun part is that I never have to wait for energy. I can pvp, do missions, kill npcs and fight bases whenever and for as long as I want.

Yeah, you'll definitely have a weaker ship in the beginning. That's a choice you have to decide on. But, in the long run you'll be stronger. If you rank quickly it's about colonizing as many "good" planets as you can to get the highest amount of resources you can as quickly as you can. And players that I fought early on who have taunted me by saying how weak my ship was, I've been able to disable while they were actively defending at their keyboards. So, yeah. Your ship will be weak for awhile. But, in the long run you'll be stronger.

The planet comment has "good" in quotes. I've got about 8 open planet slots and have some small oceanic rich artifact planets available. Is this "good" enough? I've waited because it seems like I could do better, but each hour it seems I'm sacrificing whatever artifacts I could be pulling if I had colonized that planet.

thoughts?

From what I've heard, nothing less then average, IF it's mega-rich

I put good in quotes because, I feel it's a judgement call. For me early on the more empty planet spots I had the lower the requirements for it to be considered "good", also how fast I was ranking played a factor.

Having said that, I have 6 small artie planets that are rich. They have no defense and produce 118 artie points and hour and 126 total production an hour. I've had them for over a year and no one has ever attacked them, because no one wants them.

Looking at the numbers. If it produces just 100 artie points a day. In one year it has accumalated around 850k total production.

I'm glad I colonized those small rich artie planets instead of just leaving my planet slots empty, but that's just my opinion.(I should mention that my definition of "good" planets for mineral and research are much higher)