Elite Rating
A central aspect of both the various Elite games and the Elite universe is the Elite ranking system.
Contents
Background
The Elite Federation, an independent body linked to most of the major organisations in Galactic space, introduced the Combat Rating in a drive to spur pilots towards self-defence. The Galactic Co-operative, at the time stretched to the limits of the police force by pirate activity, fully supported this move, even introducing combat training into their flight training programme.
Over the years, the Combat rating, now more commonly referred to as the Elite Rating, has become an integral part of any pilot's spacefaring life. Various organisations and departments have offered perks to pilots who attain the top rank that has given the system its name. Elite combateers are considered to be honoured veterans amongst pilots and non-pilots alike.
Overview
Simply put, the Elite Rating is a ranking system based on how many kills a pilot has accrued. Recording devices in all weapons systems transmit a signal to the Elite Foundation containing visual images and transponder codes confirming each kill.
The Elite Federation has come under fire from human rights protesters in recent years due to their policy of not questioning what sort of kills are made. They will award kills to pirates and lawful pilots alike without issue. This has opened up many claims that they support piracy and terrorism. The EF answer these charges with the same defence every time: "...it is not our job to protect against lawlessness or to assign blame for actions beyond our control. Our job is to assign ratings. A pirate is still a pirate no matter what his Elite Rating - it is up to the police and the Navy to deal with their crimes."
Ratings
The lists describe the available ranks and the kills required to reach them. All new pilots start out as Harmless.
| Elite & Oolite | |
|---|---|
| Harmless | 0 kills |
| Mostly Harmless | 8 kills |
| Poor | 16 kills |
| Average | 32 kills |
| Above Average | 64 kills |
| Competent | 128 kills |
| Dangerous | 512 kills |
| Deadly | 2560 kills |
| Elite | 6400+ kills |
NES Elite | |
|---|---|
| Harmless | 0 kills |
| Mostly Harmless | 2 kills |
| Poor | 8 kills |
| Average | 24 kills |
| Above Average | 44 kills |
| Competent | 130 kills |
| Dangerous | 512 kills |
| Deadly | 2560 kills |
| Elite | 6400+ kills |
| Frontier: Elite II & Frontier: First Encounters | |
|---|---|
| Harmless | 0 kills |
| Mostly Harmless | 8 kills |
| Poor | 16 kills |
| Average | 32 kills |
| Above Average | 64 kills |
| Competent | 128 kills |
| Dangerous | 1000 kills |
| Deadly | 3000 kills |
| Elite | 6000+ kills |
MSX Elite | |
|---|---|
| Harmless | 0 points |
| Mostly Harmless | 2000 points |
| Poor | 4000 points |
| Average | 8200 points |
| Above Average | 16350 points |
| Competent | 32800 points |
| Dangerous | 131168 points |
| Deadly | 655384 points |
| Elite | 1310768 points (unconfirmed) |
When attaining a new rank, you will receive the message "Well Done Commander".
For every 256 destroyed ships you will get the message "Right On Commander".
See MSX Elite for an explanation of points: but depending on the ship you destroy, you get between 3 (Orbit shuttle) and 150 (Thargoid, Wolf Mk III) points.
Explanation
Most traders could achieve a rank of Dangerous within about five years in space. Arguably, if a trader wanted the big profits, he wouldn’t last long unless he achieved a rating of that level. A great many pilots were Dangerous; it implied they were a seasoned space dog, ready for anything, though virtually all their kills would have been in self-defence.
Reaching the giddy height of Deadly required a lot more dedication. It meant a pilot had deliberately sought out danger, witchspacing into difficult systems and facing down fierce opponents; perhaps even taking on covert military missions. Deadly implied a pilot was not just a trader, but a fighter as well; going on the offensive, taking big risks. Deadly was a rank associated with advanced skills, a rank that indicated you were cut out for bigger things, that you might be ‘Elite’ material. It indicated a single minded fixation on killing for killing’s sake, a hunter, someone apart from normal society.
Elite, of course, is something else altogether.
Mutabilis by Drew Wagar, pg. 49
In-game significance
The higher your Elite rating, the more famous you are - and the more NPC's will remember if for example you were a pirate at an earlier stage... (See NPC for more on this).
Real-World Life
It can easily take 1-2 months of serious play to work one's way up to elite. More if one is not focused on it.
It takes 6400 kills, which is a lot. Just to get a feel for the number, that is 100 kills a day for 2 months. To make 100 kills a day, each and every day, you have to be very active. Also, you'd have to do pretty much nothing but kill. (Hoqlinq (2017)
Immediacy of gain in ranking
This would seem to imply FTL communications with the Elite Federation.
Cim has another explanation: I don't know that in core the game actually has any FTL comms shown. I think of the decaying bounty in part as an 8-bit attempt to simulate that it doesn't.
However ... it's not hard to handwave anyway: the rating displayed by your ship is an estimated one based on your confirmed rating plus your ship's computer's kill log (i.e. the information it will be sending to the EFP as evidence). It might be a few weeks after you reach a rank before the EFP is able to confirm it, but since the majority of the EFP processing must be automated anyway, most people are reasonably happy to trust a provisional rank a little higher than the confirmed one, especially if you provide the kill log of the difference.
People probably do occasionally attempt to commit fraud on this basis, but committing fraud against an organisation which measures the size of the shoulder chips of a bunch of Dangerous and Deadly bounty hunters is almost certainly even riskier than just getting the kills honestly. Cim (2014)
Lore
Imprint features description of the ceremony where Elite status was awarded to a pilot. This is set 20 years before Oolite debuts, and is set in the context of a battle against organised pirates.
Links
- Elite Federation
- AFE FAQ9: why 6400 kills?
- Elite Ranking, Communications & time taken (2024)
- How long until one reaches Elite rank? (2017)
- Data gathering - kill rates (2013)
- Kill points - what a can of worms! (2012)
- What's your combat rating? (2011 - with poll!)
- Who is the best Oolite player? (2010 - with ranking)
- right on commmander? yeeehawww! (2008)
OXPs
- Derelicts don't count OXP prevents your obliteration of derelicts (abandoned hulls or tumbling Thargons for example) counting towards your kill score.
