There are thirteen reputations, each with six tiers, and each takes weeks to finish. That is why new level 50 players lose so much time here: the order you do them in matters more than the speed. Here is the plan first, and the numbers behind it after.
The community's new to level 50 guide from STO BETTER backs the first step: Discovery Legends is first for everyone, because it holds the best engine, core, and shield combinations, weapons, ground armor, and reputation traits. The Romulan, Iconian, and Dyson reputations come next, for their critical hit and healing traits.
It depends on your build, according to the same guide:
Competitive Wargames offers very powerful engines, especially for slow ships, but the guide calls it the hardest to level because its content is unpopular. Leave it for later. The builds these serve are described in The Anatomy of a Meta Energy Build, Torpedo Boat Fundamentals, and Exotic Damage (Science) Builds Explained, and Selecting the Right Deflector, Engine, Core, and Shield explains the gear each reputation unlocks.
Reputation becomes available at level 50. Each reputation is a faction you earn standing with, such as Task Force Omega, Iconian Resistance, or Discovery Legends, and every tier unlocks traits, projects, and store items. You advance by running two kinds of project, paid for with that reputation's marks, energy credits, and expertise:
Each tier also needs one short project that costs 5 marks to finish it. The detail to remember is sponsorship: once you reach Tier V in a reputation, you are sponsored for it across your whole account, so your other characters advance twice as fast.
If you run only the 20 hour project, the community's tier table gives these totals:
| Tier | 20 hour projects (unsponsored) | Marks | Energy credits | Expertise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | 2 | 65 | 30,000 | 4,000 |
| II | 4 | 125 | 60,000 | 8,000 |
| III | 7 | 215 | 105,000 | 14,000 |
| IV | 11 | 335 | 165,000 | 22,000 |
| V | 16 | 485 | 240,000 | 32,000 |
| VI | 30 | 905 | 450,000 | 60,000 |
Tiers I through V together come to 40 twenty hour projects, 1,225 marks, 600,000 energy credits, and 80,000 expertise, which is 100,000 reputation experience.
Running one 20 hour project and three 1 hour projects every day uses 75 marks a day, which is why marks, not time, become the limit. You get 55 bonus marks per reputation once a day, and the rest must come from task force operations.
Tier V also pays a mission reward of 750 marks (500 for Omega). Tier VI is the longest single step, at 30 twenty hour projects and 905 marks, and sponsorship does not help it. It is still worth finishing, because it halves the price of that reputation's set items, as the gear guide shows.
Marks come from task force operations and events, and each reputation has easy sources.
Most reputations also have elite marks, a separate currency used to buy gear.
Reputation projects can also be a source of unrefined dilithium. Thirty marks in the 20 hour project returns 340, and fifteen marks in the 1 hour project returns 140 up to three times a day. At Tier V the turn in window opens: 50 marks give 500 unrefined dilithium, and 3 elite marks give 1,000. That makes any spare marks worth something once your gear is done.
Plan which pieces you need in the Build Planner so you know what is worth the marks. A tank build has its own priorities, which Tanking in Advanced and Elite TFOs covers.