<--- To be Edited, SEO'd and Blogged once ready --->
If you're like me you've probably found that Powerplay in Elite: Dangerous is a complete grind with little to no payoff unless you're able to sink countless hours into dull repetitive tasks.
Well I found a way to spice things up a little bit and make decent merits in the process. The best part is that it's quick and if you follow the advice contained below, you'll make 30 merits for each kill; yes, this is Combat.
Essentially you're not waiting for Powerplay to tell you what to do, you're taking a pro-active approach to making a quick 30 Merits per kill.
Now I'm not going to lie, this is dangerous work and will see you killed frequently unless you have the following:
Now to address the previous points one at a time:
1. A capable ship: I'm using a slightly upgraded Python but I'm sure you can use whatever you want provided it's maneuverable and combat capable. A Viper would probably be better, even a well kitted ASP Explorer could probably do a better job than my underwhelming Python.
At the bare minimum I'd suggest the following upgrades:
You'll need all of these, trust me. I've been pulled out of supercruise by a wing of 3 with Cobras and Pythons tearing me up. Your ship needs to be able to take this abuse for a short time and run away quickly.
2. A penchant for combat: This system only works if you're a war mongering asshole. This is why I've pledged allegiance (temporarily, 16 weeks and counting lol) with Zachary Hudson as he settles everything in combat. In fact, he looks like the polymimetic alloy Terminator 2 which is pretty badass if you ask me.
3. A long term goal: This is also extremely important as you may not always want to stay with a Faction you're currently aligned to. In my case I'm looking to pimp myself out to one of the Duval babes (either the cougar or the teeny-bopper) so shooting Empire would be silly. So I examined my long term goals and found myself the perfect enemy, Edmund Mahon.
I mean just look at this guy, it looks like he's been spoon fed excess his entire life. He's soft, likely never worked a day in his life, probably doesn't even know what callouses, sore feet or a sore back are.
I hate him just to look at him so he's perfect!!!
Plus he's Alliance, they're big, they're powerful and won't affect my future plans with Federation or Empire.
4. Common Sense: If you don't have it then that's fine. Just substitute in a little crazy and it's all good.
Time to Farm Merits:
The Systems:
Now you need 2 systems that are hopefully in rather close proximity to one another (3 or less jumps). Both systems are controlled, not occupied, or opposed.
The first system is the one where you'll be repairing and rearming your ship as well as turning in all your glorious Merits.
The other system is the one controlled by a pleb such as Edmund preferably one which has multiple large docks. This means there will be a strong military presence as well as plenty of harmless little cargo ships to pick on.
Now don't worry too much about the military presence because if you've upgraded your ship in the manner I have then you can run away quickly; and run away you will, often.
This is why I suggested common sense because you need to carry the attitude "run away and live to fight another day".
...sadly I don't carry enough of this attitude so I substituted boat loads of crazy :dance2:
Making Merits quickly:
Now's the time to put that upgraded FSD Interdictor to work so target a large dock and keep it targeted.
The space outside it will be where you operate as traffic is always coming in and out of these docks.
Find yourself a nice, soft, defenseless Type 7, Type 9, or even Cobra but make sure they're aligned to your enemy. Do not shoot anyone who isn't aligned to your enemy because you don't want the entire system coming after you.
You will receive bounties and fines against yourself immediately. I've only jumped into the same system 3 or 4 times now and my bounties are up to around 125,000 credits.
...killing good guys is expensive business.
After you've killed 5 or 10 good guys carrying the enemies mail the local military presence will start actively hunting you.
Don't panic, this is indeed a good thing. Since they're Alliance (in my case) military they are aligned to my enemy and as such also gain Merits.
If you're being interdicted all you need do is throttle down to zero and submit. This will allow your FSD to immediately come online should you require a hasty escape.
Oftentimes though a Cobra will pull you out of supercruise and if your Johnny on the spot you can usually kill him before his wing shows up.
If the wing drops in immediately or if you're pulled out of supercruise by a more capable ship then Run Forrest, RUN!!!
Rinse and repeat.
Over the course of 2 hours I made close to 400 merits with 38% hull remaining. I could have easily come out of it a lot stronger but like I said, I substituted crazy and wanted that extra 30 merits.
That extra 30 merits likely cost me another 40,000 credits in maintenance bills but oh well, c'est la vie.
<--- MORE TO COME --->
If you're like me you've probably found that Powerplay in Elite: Dangerous is a complete grind with little to no payoff unless you're able to sink countless hours into dull repetitive tasks.
Well I found a way to spice things up a little bit and make decent merits in the process. The best part is that it's quick and if you follow the advice contained below, you'll make 30 merits for each kill; yes, this is Combat.
Essentially you're not waiting for Powerplay to tell you what to do, you're taking a pro-active approach to making a quick 30 Merits per kill.
Now I'm not going to lie, this is dangerous work and will see you killed frequently unless you have the following:
- A capable, well armed and upgraded ship
- A penchant for combat
- A long term goal (extremely important if you're going to make enemies)
- Common sense
Now to address the previous points one at a time:
1. A capable ship: I'm using a slightly upgraded Python but I'm sure you can use whatever you want provided it's maneuverable and combat capable. A Viper would probably be better, even a well kitted ASP Explorer could probably do a better job than my underwhelming Python.
At the bare minimum I'd suggest the following upgrades:
- Upgraded Shields
- Upgraded Power Supply
- Upgraded Boosters
- Good weapon loadout (gimbled lasers and multi-cannons)
- Chaff launchers
- FSD Interdictor (fully upgraded for maximum range)
- Fully upgraded fuel scoop (you do not want to be pulled out of supercruise this close to a star...and yes, it can happen!). For this reason it's not a bad idea to fill fast.
You'll need all of these, trust me. I've been pulled out of supercruise by a wing of 3 with Cobras and Pythons tearing me up. Your ship needs to be able to take this abuse for a short time and run away quickly.
2. A penchant for combat: This system only works if you're a war mongering asshole. This is why I've pledged allegiance (temporarily, 16 weeks and counting lol) with Zachary Hudson as he settles everything in combat. In fact, he looks like the polymimetic alloy Terminator 2 which is pretty badass if you ask me.
3. A long term goal: This is also extremely important as you may not always want to stay with a Faction you're currently aligned to. In my case I'm looking to pimp myself out to one of the Duval babes (either the cougar or the teeny-bopper) so shooting Empire would be silly. So I examined my long term goals and found myself the perfect enemy, Edmund Mahon.
I mean just look at this guy, it looks like he's been spoon fed excess his entire life. He's soft, likely never worked a day in his life, probably doesn't even know what callouses, sore feet or a sore back are.
I hate him just to look at him so he's perfect!!!
Plus he's Alliance, they're big, they're powerful and won't affect my future plans with Federation or Empire.
4. Common Sense: If you don't have it then that's fine. Just substitute in a little crazy and it's all good.
Time to Farm Merits:
The Systems:
Now you need 2 systems that are hopefully in rather close proximity to one another (3 or less jumps). Both systems are controlled, not occupied, or opposed.
The first system is the one where you'll be repairing and rearming your ship as well as turning in all your glorious Merits.
The other system is the one controlled by a pleb such as Edmund preferably one which has multiple large docks. This means there will be a strong military presence as well as plenty of harmless little cargo ships to pick on.
Now don't worry too much about the military presence because if you've upgraded your ship in the manner I have then you can run away quickly; and run away you will, often.
This is why I suggested common sense because you need to carry the attitude "run away and live to fight another day".
...sadly I don't carry enough of this attitude so I substituted boat loads of crazy :dance2:
Making Merits quickly:
Now's the time to put that upgraded FSD Interdictor to work so target a large dock and keep it targeted.
The space outside it will be where you operate as traffic is always coming in and out of these docks.
Find yourself a nice, soft, defenseless Type 7, Type 9, or even Cobra but make sure they're aligned to your enemy. Do not shoot anyone who isn't aligned to your enemy because you don't want the entire system coming after you.
You will receive bounties and fines against yourself immediately. I've only jumped into the same system 3 or 4 times now and my bounties are up to around 125,000 credits.
...killing good guys is expensive business.
After you've killed 5 or 10 good guys carrying the enemies mail the local military presence will start actively hunting you.
Don't panic, this is indeed a good thing. Since they're Alliance (in my case) military they are aligned to my enemy and as such also gain Merits.
If you're being interdicted all you need do is throttle down to zero and submit. This will allow your FSD to immediately come online should you require a hasty escape.
Oftentimes though a Cobra will pull you out of supercruise and if your Johnny on the spot you can usually kill him before his wing shows up.
If the wing drops in immediately or if you're pulled out of supercruise by a more capable ship then Run Forrest, RUN!!!
Rinse and repeat.
Over the course of 2 hours I made close to 400 merits with 38% hull remaining. I could have easily come out of it a lot stronger but like I said, I substituted crazy and wanted that extra 30 merits.
That extra 30 merits likely cost me another 40,000 credits in maintenance bills but oh well, c'est la vie.
<--- MORE TO COME --->
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