Elite Dangerous: Naval Progression. How to

1. Find a Good System

1. Federation or Empire System
2. Very High Population
3. A Lot of Stations
4. Dual Economy System (Preferable with one Agriculture Station)

2. Ranking UP

1. Check which Minor Factions are allied with Empire or Federation
2. Do any missions for them until you see REPUTATION GAIN missions
3. Do Naval Progression missions (One mission per each rank needed)

3. Missions

1. Missions are updated every 10 min
2. Switch between game modes (Open, Solo and Different Private Groups)
3. Only Reputation Gain count (Food Needed, Need Covert Help etc.)

4. Mission Objectives

1. Bring Food, Weapons, Medicine (All kinds of commodities: Fish, Grain, Algae, Food Cartridges, Agri-Medicines, Non-Lethal Weapons etc. etc.)
2. Illegal activities like Slaves (ignore those)

5. Naval progression

1. Delivery Missions (Deliver messages, can involve outposts)
2. Assassination Missions like Kill General, Kill Pirates - all combat oriented ships with bounties (Search for those at Unidentified Signal Sources)

6. Rankings

Empire:

1. Outsider
2. Serf
3. Master
4. Squire
5. Knight
6. Lord
7. Baron
8. Viscount
9. Count
10. Earl

Federation:

1. Recruit
2. Cadet
3. Midshipman
4. Petty Officer
5. Chief Petty Officer
6. Warrant Officer
7. Ensign
8. Lieutenant
9. Lieutenant Commander
10. Post Commander

7. Ship

Multi-Purpose - You need a ship with big cargo bay, ready to fight and that can land on outposts.Python would by my top choice, but any ship will do.

Video