Career Mode Scoring Guide (2024)

Introduction
Career Scoring is a touchy subject. Some people think it's broken because certain ratings "can't be obtained". Some folks don't quite understand how it "works" (UPDATE: turns I'm one of them because it doesn't make sense).

With the introduction of Update 1.6, a Difficulty Score Multiplier has been introduced.

The Score Multiplier has a

value of 1.00 and a

value of 0.50.
This is a DIRECT Multiplier and not 'bonus' points on top of the regular points. This means that, for example the Mech Weight Class Completion category will grant you 10,000 points per completed weight class at "maximum" difficulty but only 5,000 points per weight class at minimum difficulty.

ADDITIONALLY: Pre-1.6 career saves do NOT reflect the actual Difficulty Score Multiplier of the settings. To take full advantage of the DSM values, you need to start a new career.

Scoring Mechanics
Based on scores that have been reported and the "way" the JSON file is laid out, it appears there are two types of categories:

• Those that have a defined limit based on in-game content.
• Those that do not.

Examples of categories with limits based on in-game content:

• Weight Class Completion - There are only 4 weight classes. You can never receive this award more than four times.
• Argo Upgrades - There are 35 upgrades available to the Argo. You can never get more than those 35.

Examples of categories with out limits on in-game content but that are capped to certain level:

• Contracts - You get 50 points for every level of contract difficulty you complete. 1 skull = 2 levels of difficulty.
• Mechwarrior Experience - You get 1 point for every 50xp gained by your mechwarriors.
• Mechwarrior Review Board Reputation - This extends beyond 1000.

Also note that some "limited" categories allow for scores

than the "maximum" displayed in the score sheet.

• Mech Chassis - This has a "displayed" maximum that accounts for 55 of the base game chassis. If you have the Flashpoint DLC or collect Star League mechs, it is possible to have a score higher than the displayed maximum.

NOTE: While the career is going on, your score

display as being over the target number if you happen to exceed it. However, in the post-career screen, your

score will show up!

Point Values
The scoring for each category below is modified by the Difficulty Score Multiplier to get the real value recorded in game. The target values below assume a Difficulty Score Modifier of 1.00.

• C-Bills
  • This is clear enough. You get 1 point for every 10,000 c-bills that enters your hand. Whether it's contract completion or selling to stores, every 10k == 1 point.
  • If you are good enough, this can exceed the 80,000k score target.
  • The maximum amount of C-Bills that you can have is 2,147,483,647. Any more and it wraps over into negative amounts. (This has been reported and hopefully HBS changes the C-Bill variable from a signed 32-bit integer to a long / bigint)
  • Target == 800 MILLION C-Bills in 1200 days.
• Contracts
  • Every half-skull of contract difficulty you complete gives you 50 points.
  • Target == 700 skulls worth of contracts
• 'Mech Chassis
  • 1273 points per mech chassis (active in Mechbays or in storage)
  • There is a confirmed score from @Prussian Havoc that would only be accessible by collecting 61 chassis. Higher scores will result from more mech chassises.
  • Target == 55 mech chassis. This is below the number of Star League and Flashpoint mechs available (There are 58 mech chassises in the base game without counting the SLDF ones).
• 'Mech Weight Class Completion
  • 10,000 points per weight class. Completing a weight class involves collecting all the non-SLDF, non-Flashpoint mechs for weight class.
  • There are four weight classes.
  • Target == 40k (all four weight classes)
• 'Mech Chassis Completion
  • Target == 25,000 for completing all four weight classes
• Mechwarrior Experience
  • Every 50xp gained by your mechwarriors (other than your immortal Commander) gives you 1 point.
  • Losing a mechwarrior causes you to lose the points for that mechwarrior.
  • Hiring experienced mechwarriors gives you points for the XP they have spent.
  • You do not need to spend XP on skill nodes for the XP to count.
  • Maximized training pods give you 1 point per mechwarrior that can use them PER DAY.
  • Mechwarriors with "All 10s" continue to gain XP in missions and continue to add to this score.
  • This can go over the 55,000 displayed maximum
  • Target == 55,000 for 2750000 xp (or 14000 xp beyond 24 pilots @ all 10s)
• Star Systems Visited
  • You gain 500xp for every jump point you visit. This only occurs the FIRST time you visit it.
  • One technique for maximizing this is to overshoot your target so you get time to pause the game at a jump point. Since you are at a jump point and not travelling to orbit you can change your destination and travel to new places. At 3 days per jump point, you can visit all 170 systems in 510 days (assuming you don't stop for other things like contracts).
  • Target == 170 systems.
• Star System Completion
  • Target == 25,000 for visiting all 170 star systems.
• Positive / Negative Faction Reputation
  • 100 points for every positive or negative point of reputation you have.
  • All 10 reputations are capped + or - 100
  • There are EIGHT factions that count towards this, meaning you may have the opportunity to exceed the displayed maximum. The Arano Restoration does not count towards positive or negative reputation (as noted by @Freakonair below).
  • Target == +/- 400 reputation.
• Faction Reputation Completion
  • 10,000 points for hitting +/- 100 with the factions
  • It is confirmed that scores can exceed the displayed maximum. Scores up to 80,000 have been reported.
  • Target == 50k for 5 Factions, but you can 10k for every faction you maximize.
• Argo Upgrades
  • 2,000 points per Argo Upgrade completed
  • Target == All upgrades (35 of them)
• Argo Completion
  • Target = 25,000 for finishing all 35 Argo upgrades
• Morale
  • 500 points per point of Morale
  • Target == 50 morale
• MRB Reputation
  • 45 points per point of reputation with the Mercenary Review Board
  • MRB rating can exceed 1000
  • Target == 1000 reputation
• MRB Reputation Completion
  • Target == 25,000 for getting at least 900 reputation with the MRB.

NOTE: While the career is going on, your score

display as being over the target number if you happen to exceed it. However, in the post-career screen, your

score will show up!

Tips for optimal scoring

• Know your allies and your enemies. Contract availability is key to maximizing every one of the scoring categories except Star Systems Visited. Without contracts, you can't raise / lower reputation, you can't improve your MRB rating, you can't earn cbills, build mechs, improve the Argo, or raise your Contracts score. Knowing which factions to raise or lower reputation with is KEY.
  • Major Faction w/ Fewest Enemies: Free Worlds League. Marik has three enemies: The Lyran Commonwealth, Capellan Confederation, and Pirates. Raising reputation with Marik and becoming an Ally will leave your reputation alone with more factions than any other.
  • Major Faction w/ Most Enemies: Capellan Confederation. Everyone other than the Draconis Combine and Arano Restoration is an enemy of the Capellans. Becoming an ally of Liao will seriously hamper contract availability as your reputation with your enemies can't exceed 0.
  • Minor Faction w/ Fewest Enemies: Arano Restoration. You can't ally with them, but their only enemies are the Directorate and Pirates. (Conversely, the Arano Restoration IS an enemy if you Ally with the Taurian Concordate). Additionally, Arano Restoration reputation DOES NOT COUNT in the postive or negative reputation category (pointed out by @Freakonair on 26/Dec/2018 well before I ran into it)
  • Minor Faction w/ Most Enemies: Pirates. Everyone hates the Pirates (except for Marik and the Taurians). Probably because they steal all the rum. If you ally with pirates, expect a very limited selection of contracts as your reputation with your enemies can't exceed 0.
  • Being Honored or Loathed by all factions should be a goal for attaining the highest score (and getting the most out of the rep completion bonus)
  • All that being said, remember that becoming an ally of a faction will remove ALL positive reputation from that faction's enemies AND PREVENT YOU FROM GAINING POSITIVE REPUTATION WITH THEM. DO NOT join an Alliance if you have positive reputation with the enemies if you want to keep your score from dropping.
  • Being Honored by the Pirates will make a heck of a lot of missions available in unaligned space.
• Get the third Training Pod update as soon as possible.
  • This will also allow you to have 24 pilots.
  • Every day with the 3rd training pod upgrade means your pilots who have spent less than 30k xp will gain another 50xp. That translates to 1 point / day / pilot that can use the pods.
  • Mechwarriors seem to stop accruing additional XP between 27,000 and 28,000 xp depending on starting stats. I had a number of 2/2/3/2 pilots that stopped at 27,550xp with dozens of days remaining in my career.
  • If you spend 30k xp on a pilot, that will raise their skills to two 7s and two 6s (if evenly spread)
  • DO NOT SPEND XP except when necessary. The XP score increments regardless of spent XP, so there is no need to spend XP and increase maintenance unless absolutely necessary.
• "Punch Up"
  • Taking contracts above your weight limit and being successful at it is key to four metrics:
    • Contract score (higher difficulty)
    • Chassis scores (heavier mechs) - Heavier mechs early means completing heavier chassis categories earlier and, as a result, leaving you time to farm the lighter ones.
    • Mechwarrior experience (more XP)
    • CBills (better rewards, more salvage, selling more in the stores)
  • Being successful at taking more difficult contracts early will help maximize those scores.
• Do NOT use your Commander.
  • Your commander is immortal. As a result, their XP doesn't count towards the Experience score since there is no risk of losing that XP through death.
• Inventory management
  • Keep 1 of each chassis in your Mechbay or in storage. If you sell the last copy of a chassis, you will lose the points for it across all categories that it applies to.
    • Example: If you have a Firestarter in a Mechbay and 3 in storage, you can sell all three from storage because the one in the Mechbay still counts.
    • Example: If you have a dozen Locust 1S in storage and zero Locusts in your Mechbays and sell them all, you will lose the Mech Chassis, the Weight Class Completion (for lights), and the Mech Chassis Completion points. In order to keep the points, you need to have one copy in a MechBay or in storage.
  • End up in a system you can purchase from. Sell everything else on the last day. And then buy everything you can. And then repeat. Until you can't buy any more. The score only counts the money coming in, not the actual ending balance so ending with 0 c-bills is not an issue.
• Skill to Tactics9 as soon as possible.
  • While not directly score related, pushing your pilots to Tactics9 will give them 'Called Shot Mastery' which will greatly increase the odds of Precision Shot yielding head hits (2% for Tactics5 and lower; 5% for Tactics8 and lower; 18% for Tactics9+) and larger quantities of mech parts.

Career Scoring Ranks
Below is the list of scoring ranks and their point values:

1. Unknown = 0+
2. Green = 80,000+
3. Regular = 160,000+
4. Veteran = 320,000+
5. Elite = 480,000+
6. Legendary = 640,000+
7. Kerensky = 760,000+

NOTE: While the career is going on, your score

display as being over the target number if you happen to exceed it. However, in the post-career screen, your

score will show up!

Difficulty Settings and DSM impact
NOTE:

DSM range:

• Minimum value: 0.50
• Maximum value: 1.00

This is a DIRECT Multiplier and not 'bonus' points on top of the regular points. This means that, for example the Mech Weight Class Completion category will grant you 10,000 points per completed weight class at "maximum" difficulty but only 5,000 points per weight class at minimum difficulty.

Difficulty settings that will make your scores higher (or lower):

• Ironman Mode
  • Toggles whether or not the game maintains a single save file (enabled) or generates a new loadable save point before and after missions, at events, and on entering orbit.
  • DSM Impact: 0.20 if enabled
• Randomize Starting 'Mechs
  • Toggles whether you start with the normal Vindicator, Jenner, Commando 1B, Spider, Panther or a random selection.
  • Randomized start picked based on slot (1 - 5)
    1. Blackjack BJ-1, Vindicator VND-1R, Centurion CN9-A, Enforcer ENF-4R
    2. Blackjack BJ-1, Vindicator VND-1R, Centurion CN9-A, Enforcer ENF-4R
    3. Commando COM-1B, Commando COM-2D, Jenner JR7-D, Panther PNT-9R
    4. Commando COM-1B, Commando COM-2D, Spider SDR-5V, Cicada CDA-2A, Cicada CDA-3C
    5. Locust LCT-1M, Locust LCT-1S, Locust LCT-1V, Urbanmech UM-R60, Spider SDR-5V, Commando COM-1B, Commando COM-2D
  • DSM Impact: none
• Parts / Mech
  • This will influence how quickly you get mechs, which will in turn influence how quickly you complete the various Chassis-related categories as well as how many C-Bills you gain (from selling excess chassis)
  • This can not be changed during the game.
  • DSM Impact: 0.05 per part above 3. 3 parts == no modifier, 4 parts == 0.05, ... 8 parts == 0.25
• Salvage
  • This will influence Chassis and C-Bills related categories
  • This can be changed during the game if you feel like you aren't getting enough salvage.
  • DSM Impact: Generous == no modifier, Normal == 0.10, Stingy == 0.15
• Contract Payment
  • This will influence C-Bill categories (and to some extent Chassis categories as you can more easily purchase parts from the stores)
  • This can be changed during the game, so if you feel that you aren't getting enough cbills, you can always adjust this.
  • DSM Impact: Generous == no modifier, Normal == 0.10, Stingy == 0.15
• Unequipped Mechs
  • Enabling 'Unequipped Mechs' will mean that you do not get the 'bonus' parts when building a mech from salvage, reducing the amount of saleable equipment you have.
  • This can not be changed during the game.
  • DSM Impact: 0.20 if enabled
• Enemy Force Strength
  • Changing this will adjust the difficulty of missions. Harder missions mean more contract points. Easier missions give you fewer contract points.
  • This is adjustable during the game, so once you get assaults, you may increase this in order to get more contract points.
  • Starting the game with this on "Hard" will accelerate your access to heavier mechs, but it can be dangerous if you aren't careful with your tactics.
  • DSM Impact: Easy == no modifier, Normal == 0.05, Hard == 0.10
• Mech Destruction
  • Enabling Mech Destruction will mean you run the risk of losing a chassis and any points associated with it if it was the only copy in your inventory.
  • This can be changed during the game, so if you feel like you are losing too many mechs, you can turn this off.
  • DSM Impact:0.10 if enabled
• Lethality
  • Enabling Lethality will mean you run a MUCH higher risk of losing pilots and the XP associated with them.
  • This can be changed during the game, so if you feel like you are losing too many pilots, you can turn this off.
  • DSM Impact:0.10 if enabled
• No Rare Salvage
  • Enabling this will make the stores your only source of + items, reducing your unit's effectiveness and saleable equipment.
  • DSM Impact: 0.10 if enabled
• Mechwarrior Progression
  • Slowing down progression means less XP per mission. Less XP means a lower score.
  • If you feel like your pilots aren't getting enough XP, you can change this. However, "Normal" is the fastest progression there is. Everything else is slower.
  • DSM Impact: Normal == 0.05, Slow == 0.10, Very Slow == 0.20
• Advanced Mechwarriors
  • This sets the frequency of high skill mechwarriors in the hiring halls. It allows for a quick and dirty point boost by hiring experienced pilots without having to train them.
  • If you feel the need to hire expensive, higher skilled pilots, you can change this.
  • DSM Impact: Often == no modifier, Normal == 0.05, Rare == 0.10

For the best score (in the current scoring system), the easier / more forgiving the settings, the higher your score will be. It's a bit counter-intuitive since you would expect that players would be rewarded in their score for playing at a harder difficulty level, but the current scoring system doesn't seem to take that into account.

NOTE: While the career is going on, your score

display as being over the target number if you happen to exceed it. However, in the post-career screen, your

score will show up!

Happy Hunting and may Kerensky bless your Career.

In playing my current career, I initially became disliked by the pirates but then there were a few juicy anti-Capellan pirate missions and my rep went positive. Once I was Liked by pirates, it seemed like pirate missions became much more common. It is entirely possible that a 'good' strategy with regard to reputation is this:

Another important note / thought:

CSX said:

The Kerensky achievement might not have been intended to be achieved until Urban Warfare, or even the third DLC is out. With the spoiler mechs and extra mechs from Flashpoint counting to the score, the later DLCs might be intended to add more points.

Click to expand...

@ninte000 posted their score screenshots and some pretty amazing insights here: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...vel-route-and-thoughts.1144098/#post-25035856

Update List

• UPDATED (18/Dec/2018) to clarify inventory management based on questions from @Icewraith and @Prussian Havoc
• UPDATED (18/Dec/2018) further testing based on feedback here led to updates above. It appears that, at the very least, C-Bills and Experience are capped.
• UPDATED (19/Dec/2018) further information from @Prussian Havoc about his career scoring.
• UPDATED (19/Dec/2018) added Difficulty setting information.
• UPDATED (19/Dec/2018) with further tip about alliances and reputation.
• UPDATED (19/Dec/2018) with additional tip about repeatedly performing sell/buy/sell for higher c-bill scores.
• UPDATED (19/Dec/2018) with additional information from @CSX confirming scores above the target level.
• UPDATED (20/Dec/2018) with additional thought on reputation and mission availability.
• UPDATED (20/Dec/2018) with spoiler tagged mech chassis information
• UPDATED (4/Jan/2019) with reputation update
• UPDATED (4/Jan/2019) with MRB Reputation / Completion update
• UPDATED (5/Jan/2019) noting that @Freakonair discovered the Arano reputation issue before I did.
• UPDATED (5/Jan/2019) added link to @ninte000's scoring post with their great resources and insights.
• UPDATED (9/Jan/2019) with additional note about the Enemy Strength setting and also a 'key' about pilot skills.
• UPDATED (11/Jun/2019) with 1.6/UW changes to career scoring and mech chassis