Pardus/Ranking

Ranking is a very often referred to part of Pardus, but to the new ones, it's very confusing to them. This here is a brief recap of ranking.

Ranking is a way of acquiring better ships and equipment in pardus. In it you join a faction, and you complete missions set up by NPC residents of the faction to gain rank in it. At each rank you get the ability to purchase and use equipment available at that rank. For example, in the union once you get to Bookie (4) you can get a Rustfire. The order of the ranks in your faction can influence what ships you use and what you do at certain parts of playing. For example, in the Empire, it lacks a high quality battle-ship excepting the Dominater which isn't very great statistically, which leads to most high-end imperial fighters choosing the Libbie for a battleship.

To rank, you get a ship that works for which type of ranking you want to do. Package or assassination (explained later). Then you choose a route that you wish to do. It should have multiple starbases with high populations to let you get the most missions. Then you get multiple missions from the bulletin boards at planets and starbases. that you can complete (called stacking). Etc., get 15 kill 2 YSD missions. You'll only need to kill two to complete them all. After that, you complete them (This is explained in higher detail in the mission type specific sections.)

Package ranking
Package ranking is made for traders who wish to rank. In this, you take missions that ask you to move packages from one place to another. Although this is usually much safer than assassination ranking, it's quite boring and the money isn't as good usually. For this, first choose a route (circular is preferred) that goes by many high population planets and starbases. You pick up package and explosives (if you have the rank and MAN skill) then continue going in your circular route picking up packages and dropping off packages. In general, only get small-medium sized missions for your skill level and try to avoid neutral and large missions unless you know that it won't interfere with your ranking etc. you only need to take them to the next SB.

Something important to remember with package ranking (as with all ranking) is that proper planning will change how well you can do. If you plan poorly, you may find yourself losing more rank than you are gaining. You can always stack missions, picking up extra packages on your way to your final destination.

Explosives
Explosives are the package ranker's counterpart to fighter's VIP missions. They give you much more money, but the risk of failing is much higher, and in package ranking, it can result in death. In explosive missions, starting at rank 6 in all factions. These will give you small loads of explosives. In general, the size of them usually isn't a problem being much smaller than package missions but there's a catch to them. If you take Wormhole damage while carrying them, all your explosives will explode and deal damage to your hull. If the hull of your ship is too weak to withstand it, you will die. This damage is unaffected by armor and shield. It's recommended that you get a very high MAN before you try these missions, usually above 60.

Assassination
When you accept an assassination mission, you should probably know if you are able to beat the enemy in the quantities listed. The first assassination mission everyone takes is a certain number of space maggots. This is a great starting point, and don't become too impatient with ranking this way (that is, trying to kill an ESD or a Lucidi Mothership). Make sure you ALWAYS stake out your prey while you are looking around to stack your assassination attempts. There is nothing worse than accepting a handful of Kill 4 missions, with a few kill 3 and 2, only to have your work erased by the lack of a 4th kill. (Remember, if you don't complete a mission, you lose more than you would have gained!)