Cydroid Pilot Rank, PIPs & Perks Guide

Pilot progression has three separate parts that are easy to mix up:

• Raiding score is earned continuously through collection, combat and streaks.
• Rank is your position on a 16-step ladder, from Novice (Rank 0) to Ace (Rank 15). Score moves you up it.
• PIPs are the currency awarded in a lump each time you cross a Rank threshold. They are not another name for score.

After Ace, Rank stops at 15, but further score bands keep awarding PIPs until the career ceiling is reached. Earth2 quotes 654 PIPs awarded across a full career, including those post-Ace bands. That figure is a lifetime total, not your unspent balance, and it is a live setting that can change.

Rank and PIPs do different jobs. Rank decides which Cydroid rarities and land tiers you may fly. PIPs are spent in the Advancement Console on chassis ratings and Pilot perks. PIPs belong to the Pilot, not to a Cydroid, so they carry across every frame you fly, including ones you do not own.

PIP award amounts are live balance values, so check the Advancement Console for the current grant at each Rank.

Rank Flex builds your rank badge in the air above your Cydroid mid-raid, visible to every Pilot there. A Rookie badge is a few plates snapping together, while an Ace badge is a longer build under a crystal aura. It is pure theatre, sits on a cooldown, and is unavailable while cloaked.

Ace Uplink is an Ace-only tenth slice on the F-Wheel. It opens the Command Deck directly over Avatar mode, with no logout or loading screen. Your Avatar stays standing in the world, visible and vulnerable, while you fly. See our RT9 quality-of-life guide for details.

Every Pilot upgrade lives on one of five rails in the Advancement Console. The console shows a live preview of your resulting stats, and nothing is spent until you confirm with SAVE & LOCK.

PIPs and Jewels draw against the same ceiling for every Cydroid Systems stat. If your Pilot has maxed handling, a handling Jewel on the Cydroid adds nothing. Pilot investment applies first, on the principle that a Jewel you can remove should never eat into a permanent spend.

Exact costs are live settings and have already changed during development. These are the headline figures Earth2 listed, plus what each perk does.

Why Owner Filter is a bargain: a Pilot who only flies for a few trusted Owners can buy the full-offer guarantee for far less than it would cost to reach the top Reward Split rung. The two stack: Reward Split raises what you can ask of any Owner, while Owner Filter hands you a specific Owner's whole offer.

Strong perks have counters. Frequent streaks can attract Pilots who bought Streak Radar. Haul Estimate can challenge a concealed haul, though it only gives limited information on smaller pools.

A spent PIP cannot be moved or refunded on its own. The only way back is a full Pilot Reset, which clears:

• Your raiding score and Rank.
• Rank-gated access to Cydroid rarities and land tiers.
• Every spent and unspent PIP, with no refund. The capabilities those PIPs bought switch off.

You start again at Novice and must earn score, Rank and PIPs before building a new allocation.

The control is called RESET PILOT and sits at the foot of the command rail, as far from SAVE & LOCK as the layout allows. You must pass two confirmation steps and then hold the button for three seconds. Releasing early or dragging off the button cancels it. The warning panel is filled in with your own score, Rank and PIP figures. If you have earned nothing yet the control is greyed out.

• Fly first, spend later. Earth2 suggests flying plenty before spending much. There are more upgrades than PIPs by design, so even a top Pilot ends up specialised.
• Start with what pays on every raid. Early investments that help in most raids, such as collection and movement stats, are safer than perks for situations you have not met yet.
• Learn the bank turn before buying Bank Kick. It only helps if you use the roll keys. See the flight and combat guide.
• Check the preview. The stat card shows your resulting values before you confirm, and lower-is-better stats such as radar signature render downward on purpose.
• Check current numbers. Rung costs and ceilings have already moved once and will move again. Treat any written figure, including these, as a snapshot.

• Cydroid Raiding for Beginners (RT9)
• Cydroid Raid Rewards and Economy Explained
• Cydroid Raid Flight and Combat Guide
• Command Deck and Launcher 2.0.0 Setup Guide

Source: Earth2 Reality Thread 9 announcement on earth2.io. Earth 2® is a trademark of Earth Version 2 Pty Ltd. E2 University is an independent community resource.