And how do I get political favor? The wiki is extremely unhelpful on this matter.

political favor is a quasi material you gain from doing certain missions(has a gold chess piece looking icon as its symbol) used to build certain items as your gaming progresses

Any idea when those start to show up?

Yes. It is called the 'Soldier Outpost" and it is your third mission teir reward(After you COMPLETLY finish 9[I think] missions you can build this for 5 political favor). And there are other, better ones that come rank 100+

Sorry, I should have been more clear. I meant to ask if you have any idea when the special missions for earning political favor start showing up.

Rank 20 according to the wiki, it could be wrong though.

There must be more to it than that, I'm at rank 58 and have never seen that chess piece icon.

The mission is called Dangerous Rescue, it is the first mission that rewards political favor. it is near the bottom of the list(At least for me)

It is in the special category under the trade tab. The symbol is a golden crown that does look close to the chess piece of the king or like the checkers pieces when you king them. You don't get very much of it at the start but as time goes on you get more and more and the things you can build with them start to cost more and more. You will understand what they are for once you get something that uses them.

Same here - yet to obtain any political favor - rank 55 nor have I seen that mission mentioned above. so there must be something more than to get that mission at level 20+

Same here rank 45 Have an item to build but requires political favor ,
the all mysterious item which no one seems to know how to get .

Im gonna throw something out here maybe just maybe its only awarded to those who have paid to play

The way to get political favor up to lv 90 is three missions. The first one is Dangerous Rescue that grants 2 per completion and chance to get 1 every attempt (it has a chance of failure). The second is Attack on the Resistance that (even though it does not say so) has a chance to grant Political Favor every attempt. The last one I have been able to find is Priceless Transport (at a much higher level) that also has a chance of failure as well but rewards more. I have not tried Priceless Transport yet but I can clearly see it on my missions tab.