wraith of horus, I'm really not sure what my favorite feature is that is coming in 2.2, all of it excites me, the new station interiors, ship launched features, Volcanism on planets but I can tell you the one that intrigues me the most is the Alien stuff, can't wait for that
That is really great info on the Python btw, thank you, I still need to start engineer-modding mine, it's already mostly A-Rated, I think I just have the sensors and life support left to A-rate. My current jump range is horrible, something like 12-15ly, but I love taking it to conflict zones, RES zones and Nav beacons and just cleaning up with it. I accidentally rammed another ship (it was a FDS or FAS I think) I was engaged in a battle with another ship in my Python, and the other ship was trying to flank me, I took it's shields down instantly lol and only lost one ring of my shields, then I targeted it and finished the job quickly before switching back to the first ship I was engaged with to destroy it. Ramming is very effective with the Python, I remember
prousonhairy saying something to that effect, maybe next time I will try it on purpose.
I have the Python equipped with 3 Beam lasers (two of them turreted), frag cannons and missiles but that may change before I'm done. I originally started building it for the Ceos-Sothis run because it's a medium ship that can go to both stations in Sothis and has 212t cargo, but the jump range killed that idea.
I have the first 5 engineers unlocked, all of them are level 3 or higher, I have 3 more that appeared on my list, Marcos being one of them, I need to get on doing those soon. I think the next one I have to do is in the Yoru system and I need to be friendly with them,. One thing I highly recommend when gathering surface prospecting resources for Engineers is a Surface Scanner. I have one equipped on my Asp Explorer. When I go to my system map and highlight a planet, I scroll down to the bottom of the information box on the left (it might be the 2nd tab over to the right) and it displays all of the resources available on each planet. It evens displays the % of the chance to find each element. This feature came in a recent update and it's easy to overlook it if you don't know where it is. I noticed on planets that were not scanned with a ship that has a Surface Scanner equipped, this information is not displayed.
On the community challenges, I haven't been doing any lately, and now I am regretting it after reading your post, wow that is insane money! The most I made from a community challenge is 7 million credits, though I did make a Ceos/sothis run last night and netted 43 million, not too bad, it was my first run in quite some time, I haven't been doing them since Ceos was UA bombed and the mission board on the station was shut down. I'm now up to 330 million credits.
Regarding the Ship Kits and shop Paints for Xbox 1, I would certainly by more if the prices were say, cut in half of what they are now. I did by the ship kit for the Cobra MKIII and I love the Body options, I think it worked out to $7.50, a bit pricey if you know what I mean but I do love it. Since the Asp Explorer is my favorite ship, I will most likely buy a ship kit for it too. As for the paints, I usually wait for them to go on sale.
Regarding the Imperial Rank, it says I am cordial 20% but I have yet to really do anything on that front. I made a mental note on trying HIP 10716 - Wu Guinagi for rank when I'm ready. I'm currently a Warrant Officer at 69% in the Federation, once I receive 100% I will unlock the Gunship, my goal is still to get to the Corvette, but the lure of the Empire ships is strong. I still play this game just about every day (since March), still loving it just as much. I have yet to go on a serious Exploration and I have yet to really try mining.