So I recently finished my Federation rank grind, and swore I would never do that nightmare again for the Empire, which had not been touched at all. A few weeks later, I wasn't using the Corvette much anymore because of that terrible jump range, and I start eyeing that Cutter. It was calling for me.
I looked up the best systems to use and found Ngalinn/Mainani, which was pretty close to where I was hanging out anyways, and decided to check it out and see. Ngalinn's one station requires a ship that can land on a medium landing pad, so I left my Anaconda at home and took out my new Krait Phantom for a spin to find out.
I was astounded at how many data courier missions spawned in Ngalinn without even board flipping. 4 factions are allied to the Empire, which was a huge help. Even crazier were the donation missions. I probably spent almost 80 million just on those damn things, which is a lot of credits, but it made things go so fast. So obviously to take advantage of this huge perk you need to have deep pockets. I was able to grind it out in less than 24 hours, partly because I work a night job and can do whatever most of the night, so I play Elite sometimes, and spent most of my shift grinding rank.
I figured i'd throw this out there for anyone thinking about doing this, as it is a daunting task starting from scratch like I did. This was still a miserable grind, but it didnt take 4 days of grinding to just finish the last 4 ranks needed for the Corvette in Ceos/Sothis, which I now realize is not a good choice from only having 1 allied faction to get missions from. Hopefully this post helps at least one person not torture themselves trying to experience this exciting content, because I know the pain.
Fly Safe Commanders,
o7 CMDR Darrin Scroyle