UnmarkedBoxcar wrote:I believe Julissa has mentioned in another thread that depending on which support ticket gets answered/referenced from the FD forums, there are several different FD answers as to what will help you rank up more quickly. It would appear, as Julissa also noted, that FD is doing its best to keep people in the dark about how ascending the rank ladder actually works.
Sadly, this has been the result of my own investigations through the FD forums and poking support. Lots of 'official' information, and all of it contradictory. The only things we do know "for sure" are that there is a hidden value that applies specifically to the naval rank of each faction, and that the reputation you have with minor and major factions *DO NOT MATTER* when considering ranking up. Doing missions for minor factions improves this hidden naval rep value but the precise return per mission, or how types of mission affect that hidden rep, can only be hinted at by circumstantial and uncorroborated evidence.
Basically, "do missions" is the right answer, but precise what missions is up in the air. There are other things, as mentioned in this thread, that are apparently supposed to aid this naval rank value, such as trade and combat zone bonds, but such rewards are impossible to evaluate and I haven't seen a single report of someone getting rank missions after doing such activities, so either they don't contribute at all (or very, VERY little) or they're simply bugged (as some people suspect).
I wish I could be of more help, but we can only offer conjecture and base anything we say on observed patterns that could be affected so many sorts of bias or hidden modifiers as to be barely useful except in the very broadest sense. "Generally accepted wisdom" is charity missions are still the way to go, with the notional evidence points to people having done those and received more rank missions in a shorter time.