Couldn't find any guides that went into detail on this topic, so I thought this was worth sharing. Dulfy's spreadsheet on Google Docs helps tremendously, but doesn't elaborate on how to use the data to maximize efficiency and determine one's best option. Link to the spreadsheet here. It shows the number of gifts(of each rank and quality) needed to reach the next bracket of influence ranks, as well as the cost. Influence ranks are grouped into seven different brackets: 1-5, 6-9, 10-14, 15-19, 20-29, 30-39, and 40-50. Gifts become less effective as higher influence brackets are reached on a companion, especially the cheaper gifts. However, the cast time needed to give a gift doesn't change regardless of gift rank or quality. By taking these factors into account, and doing a little math, one can determine their best route to influence rank 50. The color quality of gifts as shown in the spreadsheet may seem confusing to players. Previously, legendary quality gifts had a dark purple background, which made the artifact quality ones look slightly pink by comparison. To keep things simple: Green = Premium(green background in-game) Blue = Prototype(blue background in-game) Pink = Artifact(purple background in-game) Purple = Legendary(now a gold background in-game) Gifts come from many sources, but the fastest and most dependable way to obtain them is to simply buy them from the vendor located on the fleet at the cost of credits. Always use the companion's LOVE reaction gift that gives the most influence. Be sure to unlock the character perks that increase the amount of influence gained from gifts, located on the legacy panel(costs 90k credits). Also, unlock the perks that reduce the time needed to give each gift(costs 1.2 mil credits total). You can unlock every rank of this perk if you want, but the last one may not be worth getting as it's rather expensive and will only save you 0.3 seconds per a gift given, since the global cooldown prevents giving another one until at least 1.5 seconds have passed anyway. This guide calculates time based on one gift being given every 1.6 seconds. Totals rounded up. To achieve rank 50 influence through gift-giving in an optimal manner, one must decide between saving time vs saving credits. Here are some example routes I recommend, depending on your preference. Cheap route: Buy 6,083 rank 1 greens. Use from influence rank 1-40. Buy 226 rank 5 pinks. Use from influence rank 40-50. Total cost: 3,476,600 credits. Total time: 2 hours and 50 minutes. Balanced route #1: Buy 196 rank 1 greens. Use from influence rank 1-15. Buy 930 rank 2 greens. Use from influence rank 15-30. Buy 358 rank 5 pinks. Use from influence rank 30-50. Total cost: 4,177,200 credits. Total time: 40 minutes. Balanced route #2: Buy 196 rank 1 greens. Use from influence rank 1-15. Buy 175 rank 2 greens. Use from influence rank 15-20. Buy 434 rank 5 pinks. Use from influence rank 20-50. Total cost: 4,484,200 credits. Total time: 22 minutes. Fast route: Buy 481 rank 5 pinks. Use from influence rank 1-50. Total cost: 4,810,000 credits. Total time: 13 minutes. The rank 6 green, blue, and pink gifts as seen in the spreadsheet apply to CM droid and creature companions, and are purchased from the jawa scrap vendors on the fleet. Choose a route based on how you value the different qualities of jawa scraps.(Apparently, some non-CM companions accept these gifts as well) Balanced route: Buy 162 rank 6 greens. Use from influence rank 1-20. Buy 337 rank 6 blues. Use from influence rank 20-40. Buy 169 rank 6 pinks. Use from influence rank 40-50. Total time: 18 minutes. Tips: I do not recommend EVER buying rank 6 purple(legendary) gifts from the Odessen vendor, even for the final push from rank 40-50. The small amount of time they save is insignificant when you consider that they cost *25 times* the price of the rank 5 pink(artifact) gifts. They are a huge waste of credits. If you have some rank 3 or rank 4 gifts in your storage, I recommend using those at either the 15-20, or the 20-30 brackets before switching over to rank 5 pinks. Rank 6 purples(legendary) should be saved for the 40-50 bracket. Keep in mind that using extra gifts will lower the amount of gifts needed to be bought from the vendor, so consider buying smaller stacks to avoid unwanted leftovers(shift click the item to buy/split stacks). The difference between rank 40 influence and rank 50 is not overwhelmingly significant. If you are on a budget, consider only gifting to rank 40, and then slowly work towards rank 50 through conversations, crew skill missions, and gifts you come across naturally while playing. It will take a while, but will save a lot of credits, especially if you use this tactic for multiple companions. Don't be too discouraged by the idea of spamming the gift button for what seems like long periods of time. You can simply give gifts while waiting for a queue to pop, or at any period of time where you remain inactive and have nothing better to do in-game. Consider turning off the sound(Ctrl-S keybind) and listening to music instead. This will prevent you from going insane from constantly hearing the same line of dialogue every time your companion receives a gift. Finally, one must consider all of this in relation to a commander's compendium, which is an item that instantly boosts a companion to rank 50 influence. Consider the cost and time of each gift-giving route, and weigh it against a compendium that is: -listed on the CM at the cost of CC -listed on the GTN at the cost of credits -available from the guild flagship vendor on the fleet at the cost of 4,250,000 credits plus 3 Dark Project MK-1 Again, it all comes down to saving time vs saving money. You just have to consider the options, and choose according to your own preference.