Basic Mechanics
The general name of the game in faction events is to have as many successful shuttle completions as you can. Despite being called a "faction event" - it's really just sending shuttles like you would to complete dailies anyway.
Difficulty ramps up from 2 VP for 1 minute shuttles to 4,000 VP for 3 hours shuttles. If you're just starting out, you probably will not make it to 4k shuttles, and that's OK. Do the best you can - and even if you're failing right and left, you'll still be getting useful trainers and faction items, depending on the one that you chose to run.
The faction you choose to run has no bearing on your event performance (aside from the skills required by the missions, sometimes), so just go ahead and pick the one that has the most useful loot.
Four shuttles are paramount to success in events and will also help you immensely day to day with getting faction-only items and trainers. If you’re a newer player, buy them immediately.
See the chart below from the wiki for details:
Each successful shuttle completion counts as 1 success, and a failure (as noted) is -1.5 successes. This means, if you fail enough shuttles in a row, you may be knocked down a tier of difficulty on the above chart until you can build up enough successes again to advance. Faction events rely upon the base stats only of your crew and are therefore among the most difficult for newer players. Event crew (those featured as rewards in the event) will have a 3x multiplier applied to their base stats and all boosts. Featured crew (those who are listed as featured in the event notes) will have a 2x multiplier applied to their base stats and all boosts. Your own personal skill boosts will also have an impact.
See the table below for an example of an event where Desert Archer is event crew and variants are featured:
As you can see, the value of the skill boost (in this case a 3* command boost) is also multiplied by the bonus that the crew gets. If you are going to skill boost, it’s important to understand how to optimize your crew. Set the boost before setting your crew. The boost math will apply to the selection screen so you will be picking the best crew each time. If you are running 85%+ shuttles, you probably do not need to skill boost. I would personally not reduce anything below 80% odds unless you are really desperate or running a failboat strategy (see section on failboating below).
Quick Starts and Mission Selection
Faction events will feature 1-3 factions with a limited number of missions. Depending upon the event setup, the number of missions available can range between 12 and 40.
As the goal is to get to the highest VP tier in as little time as possible, many people employ a method of kickstart or quick start. The basic premise of the quick start is to do as many shuttles as possible to ramp up to the highest VP amounts in the shortest amount of time (i.e., get you as far along as possible on the shuttle success chart in terms of difficulties and VPs as quickly as you can).
When you are in doubt, look for boostable breakpoints. For example, 10-11 shuttle successes will always result in 1.5 hour shuttles, which can be completed instantly using 3* time reducers.
If you can complete 40 shuttles, you will be at 4,000 VP, which is the maximum VP level possible. While it was once possible to skip directly there, DB has been preventing this by varying the amount of shuttles that you can open at event start. Most common is 16-24 shuttles, which will land you at ~2750-3500 VP when using a quick start.
There are 3 universal methods you can employ:
Option 1:
Open all available missions (1 minute)
Complete 11
Open 11 new (1.5 hour)
Complete 2 with a blue boost
Open 2 new (2 hour)
Complete with a purple boost
Complete the remaining 1.5 hour missions with a blue boost
Complete remaining 1 minute missions
Option 2 (will yield most VP):
Open and complete 11 missions (1 minute)
Open the max you can new (1.5 hour)
Complete 2 with a blue boost
Open 2 new (2 hour)
Complete with a purple boost
Complete the remaining 1.5 hour missions with a blue boost
These two options take advantage of the breakpoint at 11 missions in order to use 3* time reducers to complete instantly. They will take a *lot* of your 3* boosts.
Option 3 (the Paladin method):
Open max 1 minute missions
Send and complete the same *one* shuttle mission using time boosts as they scale
Stop when you hit 2 4* boosts
Complete the remaining 1 minute missions
This option will yield slightly lower VP than the others, but will also use fewer 3* boosts and will allow you to use lower rarity boosts as you scale.
Remember that there will be a display bug that will often display the wrong time to completion on open shuttle missions. If you tap the VP icon on the mission, it will show you how much VP each is worth. You can use that (and the first chart above) to check how long the mission will last for. Remember, 2 VP missions are always one minute in length, despite what the timer is displaying.
If you don't mind burning merits, make sure you open the maximum amount of missions possible for each faction before sending any missions. This way, you can scroll through and choose the 4 best for you. If you have the maximum number open, and claim each one at a time, you can get the same mission right after you claim it. This allows you to figure out which shuttles and seats work best for your crew at the start of the event, and you can be on autopilot for the rest of it.
For example, suppose you are sending Fed missions with a maximum number of 6. You open all six (missions 1-6) and choose to send out missions 1, 2, 5, and 6 because 3 and 4 don't work for your crew. When the shuttles come back, you can claim mission 5 and then when you open a new mission, it will be mission 5 again. Then, if you claim mission 2, it will be 2 again when you open next. If you claim all 4 before opening, you'll have all of the available bonus crew sitting there and will need to figure out how to slot the missions again. Note: Again, this only works if you have the max number open - which is easier and cheaper to do with 6 mission events.
One final advantage to pre-opening all possible missions is that all missions that are opened at a certain VP level stay there. If you are suffering from some really bad RNG or struggling to stay at a certain level, make sure to open extra missions at the higher VP level. If you get knocked down a VP peg, your previously-opened missions will still be at the prior level, so you won't be sacrificing VP while you try to rack up more successes.
Depending on the amount of bonus crew that you have, it is best to try to disperse them across shuttles. Remember to set your boosts first to help with the selection. For many people, the shared crew is going to be a 3x event crew and will be their best crew. It’s not worth wasting that on a 3-seater shuttle unless you plan to time reduce it. If you will be skill boosting, try to put your shared crew on a 4-seat shuttle with a boost that is complementary to your other crew. Run your strongest 2x bonus crew on your 3-seat shuttles. Run 2 or 3 2x bonus crew on 4 seat shuttles. Do not run 5 seat shuttles. Ever. I don’t care what the boost and percentages are telling you – you’re wasting good crew that could be used elsewhere.
Squad Leading
Set shared crew by entering the event screen and scrolling all the way to the right (past the boxes with the event characters). The shared crew screen is hidden by the threshold rewards box. Tap the empty box to set your shared crew. The amount of squad VP is shown directly below. You will get 25% of the VP earned for every completed shuttle with your shared character on it.
While it is tempting to think that you will get a guaranteed boost by leading a squad, your success as a leader will depend largely on the depth of your roster. Newer players will largely benefit more from having a strong shared crew and higher success chance than from leading a squad and getting 25% of their squadmates’ VP. Longer-term players with a deeper bench will likely benefit more from leading a squad when going for a top rank.
Failboating & Rental Shuttles
Nowadays, if you want to safely secure a top 1.5k rank, rentals are your friend. A rental shuttle will act like using 1.5 hour boosts, in that it will allow you to send more shuttles throughout the day. Unfortunately, with the introduction of campaigns and the free rentals being handed out each month, you’ll probably have to use both rentals and reducers in order to rank. If you're running low on time reducers, using a rental with a 2x boost will have the same impact as running 1.5 hour reducers.
You can also buy shuttle rentals when you run out of tokens. The cost starts at 50 dil and scales for each one that you have out. It’ll reset after each round is completed.
Of course, it goes without saying, you'll need to have the crew to support the rentals, so megas or events with lots of bonus crew are generally your best bet. In most modern faction events (post the introduction of rentals), people will send an average of 6 time reduced shuttles a round to hit inside the top 1.5k.
Failboating refers to sending an obscene number of shuttles out at one time courtesy of rental tokens. Unless you have a full stable of golds, you’re probably going to be sending some low percentage shuttles. Still, you’ll get fail VP for each one that you fail, so if you are sending 24 shuttles with low odds and overnight (9 hour) boosts to double the VP, you’ll end up with a large slog of points regardless of if you are passing or failing.
However, If you are going to failboat, make sure to watch how many failures/successes you are racking up. If you get knocked back a VP peg, it will hurt the strategy.
Final Thoughts
Faction events are the most pay to win type of event. It’s possible to autocomplete obscene amounts of shuttles using dil in order to achieve a top rank. It’s also possible to stockpile tokens and boosts and perform very well if you plan on making a single strike in a chosen event. But, “very well” is not a win. Wins are usually purchased here.
Faction events also favor deep rosters that are usually found on long term players or whales. It’s possible for low spenders to do well after investing enough time to build a deep bench, but factions are very frustrating for newer players. The good news is that fails still award VP and trainers. There’s no reason *not* to play these events, even if you’re just starting out.