Oh My God, They Killed Me

There was a mass disconnection on Sunday that cost me a ship, at first I was pissed at myself but then I looked into my channels and saw no-one else and then it was Bex asking if I'd been disconnected too that I realised it was something I could petition.

Those damn angel rats managed to kill my Paladin in Angel Extravaganza whilst disconnected, the bastion module when active prevents all warping and this includes emergency warp. Unfortunately I wasn't able to kill enough of the incoming DPS before I disconnected to survive.

I've petitioned the loss and am yet to hear back but I hope it will be reimbursed, loot fairy was kind and dropped my deadspace repair module and nano membrane but the cost of the hull and other mods would mean a drop in wallet value.

Until I hear back on the petition I'm not doing much with the character and the insurance and modules I received aren't being spent/reused as I'm positive I will receive my ship back.

My CEO hasn't spotted it yet, at least if he has seen the loss he hasn't said anything, but this is one of the few times I've lost a ship that wasn't my fault. Honest.

I'll write an update about when I do hear back about the loss.

Prospecting

Back in June I finally got a couple of the new Prospect Expedition Frigate but I couldn't comment on how the ship flies as I hadn't trained into it on any of my characters.

It took a week or so of training and I was finally able to fly the ship and its just like a Venture in how it handles but with the ability to warp whilst cloaked thanks to the Covert Ops Cloaking Device it can fit.

I haven't used it for any ninja site mining but I do have a couple of them squirrelled away in a couple of systems where I run mining missions and these ships really come into their own when doing this.

Suitably fit, to make them extremely difficult to probe down, they allow a pilot to mine ore or gas in relative safety. The only issue I have with the ship is the lack of a drone bay which means the ship is defenceless and as a result I only use it in missions I know there will be no rats.

There aren't many of these missions but when I get a chance to use the Prospect I do and I can finish an ore/gas site in about 30 minutes solo or around 12 minutes if I use two.

Fitting

The following fit is what I use and I've found it to be very good for the purpose and you can fly it without maximum skills but the closer your signature radius is to your sensor strength the more chance you have of being scanned down.

With maximum skills it tops out with a top speed of 475m/s, a Magnetometric sensor strength of 79.2 and a signature of 30m. This makes the ship extremely difficult to probe down, I tried and failed with all but a Mid-Grade Virtue Clone in a Covert Ops ship specially fit for the job.

[Grizzled Veteran, Prospect]

Covert Ops Cloaking Device II

Gas Cloud Harvester II / Miner II

Gas Cloud Harvester II / Miner II

Conjunctive Magnetometric ECCM Scanning Array I

Conjunctive Magnetometric ECCM Scanning Array I

Conjunctive Magnetometric ECCM Scanning Array I

Reserve Magnetometric Scanners

Reserve Magnetometric Scanners

Reserve Magnetometric Scanners

Reserve Magnetometric Scanners

Small Low Friction Nozzle Joints I

Small Low Friction Nozzle Joints I

The fittings, at current Jita price, are around 9.5m to 10m ISK with the hull just 20.5m ISK. 

The meta modules fit are about 20% of the price of Tech 2 and there is plenty of CPU/PG for Tech 2 modules in the Rig/Mids/Low slots and low slots but as this ship doesn't have the +2 warp core strength the Venture has I don't want it to be pimped out too much that it causes a rather big dent in my wallet if lost.

And remember Rule #3, you should also be prepared to lose a ship; its not IF but WHEN it will happen.

Handling

The ship is rather agile and enters warp rather quickly when it needs to, I was not too happy that the +2 warp core strength bonus the Venture has is no longer present in the Prospect but instead of this being the "last resort" in case I'm caught the fact I'm much harder to probe down my best defence.

I was a little hesitant when I fit the ship that it didn't have a propulsion module as a lot of sites have objectives 20km/30km from the warp in point. Having a top speed of 475m/s has shown this isn't a problem and in all honesty being harder to probe makes up nicely for the lack of propulsion module.

Some missions are frustrating to mine, especially Ore missions, but the Prospect chews through them nicely and I most are finished in about 30 minutes. Some take longer when there are people trying to catch me but the Prospect has so far eluded them.

Venture or Prospect

The Venture is still the king, it requires considerably less skill training and is a fraction of the price even when T2 fitted compared to the Prospect.

I still use the Venture in 95% of the missions I get but in missions where I know there is no NPC's I will swap to the Prospect, especially if there are a few reds in local that I know may try to scan me down.

That said, the Prospect is certainly the more attractive looking of the two. 

High Sec L4's vs Null Sec L4's

I've been doing Mining L4's in null sec for about two weeks now and it certainly has a higher reward per mission than high sec ones. Security missions in high sec got me about 6000 LP per mission at nearly an hour a mission, in Null sec I can cherry pick two missions for over 15,000 LP and finish both in less than 30 minutes combined.

Gevlon Goblin has recently posted about Mining missions and how they can be farmed so the cats out of the bag in respect to that. Fortunately I haven't seen an increase in my null sec location of miners but I thank my Alliance and Appetite 4 Destruction for keeping the area well policed of pesky reds and hostile neutrals.

Risk vs. Reward

Of course it's a lot more risky in null sec but that's where the reward is and in all honesty I feel safer when I'm in null sec missioning because I'm actively focused on the Local window and have d-scan running, even when I know the people in local I'm still watching and ready to bug out.

I'm not watching a movie or browsing websites when I'm missioning, I have to pay attention to what I'm doing and what is going on around me.

Cost vs. Profit

For Security missions in high sec I have a 1.7billion ISK Maurder and T2/faction fittings. I worry about using it with lots of people in local and am cautious with it when I do mission. 

For Mining missions in null sec I use a 500k + 2m in T2 fittings Venture. I don't worry about losing it as people tend to ignore a Venture as it's not worth that much and is quite hard to catch with the +2 warp core strength bonus.

Average mission in High sec brings in 6000 LP and two to four million ISK whereas a null sec one gives five to six million ISK and 8000 LP. Storyline missions are about the same in rewards (standard implants + big faction standing bonus).

Overall the risk I have to put up with is high sec based, sure I have local and d-scan to watch in null sec but the rules there are, don't know them safe up, whereas high sec is different and the first you know they're bad is when they are shooting you with 20 of their friends in gank catalysts.

Boredom

One thing I do like about the Mining missions are they are not boring like Security missions, yes they are as repetitive but they are much shorter and don't require you to keep pressing the F keys and locking up targets, in the right order.

This takes the boredom out of missioning, I've done entire days of Security missions and had to take a few days off because I was just over it but with Mining missions I haven't had that. In fact I've actually logged in from work to see what the next mission I'm offered is then decline or delay that depending on if I want to do it.

Conclusion

The null sec missioning is definitely more profitable, I actually cashed in LP for a couple of Low-Grade set of Snake implants and have moved them out of the area ready for selling. Actually one has been offered to another blog writer at a discount because I misread what implants he recently lost (DOH!) but the offer is stil there and I've already started work on getting the implants he does want.

Null Sec missioning is more enjoyable and much more rewarding and I will be getting another two characters up to speed with standings to maximize my income when I do mission. Having the potential to bring in nearly 30,000 LP per character per hour of missioning is certainly worth my investment in skill training and asset acquisition.

Comfort Zone

I've been playing EVE for nearly four years, that's four years of living in wormholes, null sec and high sec. I've yet to live in low sec but there is plenty of time to do that and the one thing that these things all have in common is I've been very comfortable in what I've done.

I've felt safe, secure and have always had the backup of people I trust. Very recently though I've started branching out into null sec without the safety net I've been used to and as a result I'm out of my comfort zone and I feel I've grown as a player.

Hermit Behaviour

For three months I've not left the system where I'm based except to jump to high sec or in the case of one character, move to a station in the next system over where I can jump clone to/from. I've led a sheltered life, very sheltered if I'm to be honest.

I've mined, reacted and manufactured without a care to the goings on around me and whilst I've done well I could do better and over the past week I finally decided to do something else.

Missioning, again

"You can earn 12,000 LP for one gas mining mission, no more than 15 minutes with good skills"

That was the quote I've heard four or five times from various corporation/alliance people and I've listened but did nothing about it. It doesn't help that most of my characters have high negative standings with the two corporations I'd need to get the missions from.

But salvation come in the unlikely form of my boosting alt, he had absolutely zero standings with any faction and only a couple of corporations liked him, a bit. An alliance mate offered to give me a hand with basic standings so I could run them myself and he did seven missions over the two corporations and I magically had 1.0 standings with both in less than an hour.

Fortunately you can get standings just by being in a fleet when a mission is completed and I took the chance to drop off some materials in Jita for sale (before Burn Jita started) and buy myself some modules for use on a Venture that I'd use for the missions.

Skills Need Work

I also purchased the Mining Connections skill book and made sure this was injected and trained to IV. I also remembered that the Criminal Connections skill would be helpful for standings increases with the NPC entities I would get the missions from and may help me get to the magic 5.0 standings sooner.

I now have Criminal Connections IV and Mining Connections IV trained and am working on Level V for both after I finish Mining Frigate V.

Results, are promising needs more work

It's been four days since I started mining missions and I've got just over 20,000 LPand 3.80 standings (4.43 modified). Nearly enough for Level 4 missions and they're the ones that will bring in the big LP amounts.

I'm getting between 300 and 1000 LP per mission at the moment and this has been great. I'm used to getting no more than 300 LP for a distribution or mining mission in high sec but here in null the rewards are much greater. The dangers are too but these can be mitigated by good decisions and using d-scan regularly.

The LP store has Snake implants so my plan is to get a low-grade set of Snakes for the market and then if they sell move up to the high-grade set. It's a plan and the Storyline missions at least give me the implants I need for LP exchanges.

Lowering Broker Fees

I've previously mentioned that I was looking to see if I could save more ISK by lowering further the 0.75% broker fee incurred when setting up Sell Orders on my Trading Alt.

 

I'm happy to report that I've managed to lower this to 0.70% as of today but I don't believe I will get this to what I thought was the lowest level of 0.1875%.

 

0.7% Broker's fee and dropping

Standings were increased by being in fleet with an Alt missioning for Caldari Navy and then sharing the rewards when completing the mission. For Level 1/2 missions this was frustratingly slow, but training Connections to IV and Social to IV on my Trading Alt improved the rate at which I gained standings.

 

A little extra training to make the standings increase faster

The 0.05% reduction in my Broker Fees seems to correlate with a 2.00 standing that I have with the Caldari Navy. Based on this I believe I should see a maximum reduction of 0.05% per 2.00 standings, meaning a total reduction of 0.25% or a final figure for Broker Fees of 0.50%.

 

Current standings after a weekend of grinding

It's not a huge amount but over trades I do a month this will add up to be several tens of million ISK and that's no longer being removed from my wallet.

 

 

Standings

Standings 101

 

Standings are an ever present thing in EVE be they Faction, Corporation, CONCORD, NPC or even Player. Most are not that important but Faction and Corporation standings are important for the access they give to better items in LP Stores.

 

None of my characters have high standings with a lot of factions or corporations, I try to keep Amarr positive as I live in Amarr space but the others I really don't mind. I just want to avoid that situation where the standings hit -5 and I can be attacked by Faction Police. I've also got good standings on my industry characters for a couple of Corporations so that when I reprocess I can get that elusive 100% refining (with no loss or tax) in high sec stations.

 

Changes

 

I've recently audited all my characters and decided that I need to really get all faction standings positive and on two characters that PvE I want them to be +5 so I can benefit from Level 4 missions and the LP rewards they allow me access to.

 

So I'm starting the slow grind again, on five characters. Fortunately friends have pointed me to a couple of good systems where I find multiple Level 2 and Level 3 Distribution agents in the same station to get my standings up quickly and open up Level 4 agents.

 

Learning New Things

 

I've also decided to return to Osmon as there are good Level 4 agents there (not to mention Sisters of EVE) but more importantly in the same system are two Faction agents I can use to get good boosts to my Faction standings with Minmatar and Caldari.

 

What I did not know is that completing Storyline Missions (available every 16 completed normal missions) for one of the major races also affords minor increases/decreases with other factions. Run a Storyline mission for Minmatar and you get a large boost to Minmatar standings but a smaller positive boost to Gallente but a small decrease to Amarr.

 

Now run the Caldari storyline mission and you get a large positive increase to Caldari and a small one to Amarr with the small decrease to Minmatar.

 

The best bit though is the positive boosts are always larger than the negative boosts so over time the positive/negative boosts don't even out as you might expect instead the positive wins and by doing Storyline missions you'll improve standings with all four major races.

 

Skill Changes

 

So I'll be PvE'ing some more but I've restructured my training to make sure the characters all have maximised Social, Security/Distribution Connections, Negotiation and Diplomacy skills in order to improve rewards and standings I'll receive.

 

All up it's only about a 15 day variation in training to maximise these skills and it's a nice break from some of the long Level V skills I have been training.

 

So, back to the grind but the grind will be worth it. At some point I need to improve pirate faction standings and that'll be interesting as they don't exist in High Sec...

Distribution Missions - a waste of time?

One of my characters has a 9.9 standing with Sisters of EVE that he achieved via Security missions. However I don't like to multi-box missions (I've failed badly before at that) and as a result I don't want to run two Security missions at the same time.

 

So I decided that a Distribution mission I could do with a Security mission at the same time because of the autopilot (not into Low Sec obviously). And having a Level 4 agent means I should get good rewards.

 

How wrong I was.

 

My character has Distribution Connections V and the first mission I got asked me to move some Dolls five systems for a few hundred thousand ISK and 512 LP.

Whisky. Tango. Foxtrot.

512 LP for a single Level 4 Distribution mission, I'm used to getting a couple of thousand LP for security missions and last time I did Distribution missions I know I got a couple of thousand per mission not a paltry couple of hundred.

 

Have Distribution missions changed in their rewards or have I gotten things so totally wrong. I asked in a channel with some more knowledgeable people. Their consensus was that Distribution missions pay poorly and this reward was right.

 

I checked my standings with the Agent and I'm wondering if it's the agent standings that caused this. The faction and corporation I have 9.9 standings with but the agent I had only 1.46.

 

Does anyone know if the standings between your character and an agent have an effect on the rewards you get?

Unexpected Loot

I've continued my L4 mission running, aside from the fact that the LP is reasonable and the items in the store are very profitable I've actually found myself enjoying them again.

No more running to EVE Survival and reading on the blitz and then following the instructions I actually warp in, drop in a Mobile Tractor Unit and start shooting. I do wish the MTU had an extra tractor beam and/or was faster to pull stuff in but what it does is fine and if I pace myself all is good.

 

This process is what I've followed and salvage and loot have been reasonable, nothing to go WOW over but I get a nice amount of T1 salvage and the modules I sort and reprocess what isn't worth reselling.

 

This all changed a couple of days ago, I got a faction mission that sent me to retrieve a Special Delivery item from some 'bad guys'. I warped in and there were no more than a dozen ships, a couple of frigates, cruisers and a battleship in the form of the 'head bad guy'.

 

I dropped the MTU and then MJD'ed out of the initial spawn area and started Bastion mode. Less than 5 minutes later I'd killed everything but the battleship of the 'head bad guy'. I focused on this with Imperial Navy Multifrequency and some Range scripts in my tracking computers. He was dead within two minutes and at 47km from me within my ship tractor beam range.

 

So I locked the wreck and pulled it in and what I saw was this:

A Dread Guristas Cloaking Device, not an officer spawn but still this one module is worth five or six standard missions in ISK (~20million). I've never had a drop like this outside of an officer spawn (I've only ever had one of those and it was a bitch) and/or faction ship in null sec.

 

The module has been added to the faction items I have and may or may not be sold at a later date. Regardless what a nice reward it was.

Mobile Tractor Unit and NPC's

This thread over at Reddit is from a user who lost their Tengu in a mission and found their own wreck was looted by their MTU which in turn was killed by a fixed emplacement. They include a KM of the MTU loss that only shows NPC damage

 

I haven't had any situations where I've seen my Mobile Tractor Unit (MTU)being shot by NPC's but then again I have a set target elimination pattern and at the top of that list, after frigate sized ships are sentries and batteries, but it does seem that there is a chance that your MTU could be destroyed by an NPC fixed emplacement.

According to CCP in this devblog, the description of the MTU is as follows:

The Tractor Unit only takes 10 seconds to deploy, and takes up 100m3 of space when stored in cargo. Like the Depot, it can be deployed anywhere away from Gates, Stations and Starbases, which means that it can be deployed inside missions (where NPC pirates are not interested in shooting it), asteroid belts, or on the field of your big fleet battle at the Infrastructure Hub.

I have highlighted the relevant text and it does state that NPC pirates should not be shooting at MTU's. I would include [faction] sentries and [faction] batteries in this, after all they may not be ships but their names clearly indicate they are offensive/defensive emplacements of the faction.

 

So it seems we need to be a little wary with MTU's and NPC aggression, at least until CCP confirm that this is either a defect or correct behaviour (the former being the frontrunner) and then provide a fix if it is indeed is a defect then all mission runners need to make sure that they do not leave any active fixed emplacements when a MTU is active.

 

 

L4 Paladin Mission Runner - Revisited

After losing a Paladin to the Damsel I refit to add more survivability to my fit as well as increasing the DPS as much as I could without training further skills.

 

Now that Rubicon has been deployed I have had to modify my fit a little more as stasis webifiers no longer get a bonus. I have spoken to Bex a fair bit about my Paladin fit and he has shared his which I've modified to get what I now use.

 

I've used the following fit for nearly a week now and L4 missions are faster to complete than before Rubicon. DPS and tank are definitely increased when in Bastion mode and the reduction in MJD charge time really helps movement around the battlefield, if it's needed.

 

Fitting

My fit is as follows:

[Paladin, Knight]
Tachyon Beam Laser II
Tachyon Beam Laser II
Tachyon Beam Laser II
Tachyon Beam Laser II
Bastion Module I
Small Tractor Beam II
Salvager II
Salvager II

Large Micro Jump Drive
Tracking Computer II, Tracking Speed Script
Tracking Computer II, Tracking Speed Script
Tracking Computer II, Tracking Speed Script

Corpum C-Type Energized Adaptive Membrane
Reactive Armour Hardener
Core A-Type Large Armour Repair
1600mm Steel Plate II
Imperial Navy Heat Sink
Imperial Navy Heat Sink
Imperial Navy Heat Sink

Large Capacitor Control Circuit II
Large Capacitor Control Circuit II

 

Pyfa reports this being 1.21 billion for the hull and another 987 million for the fittings (for a total of 2.2 billion ISK). It hasn't cost me that much, I bought the armour repair and ENAM for a lot less than the prices Pyfa is showing (335m and 197m respectively) and two of the heat sinks I actually had from my previous Paladin and were dropped when that blew up.

 

I can hear what you're thinking, THREE tracking computers in the mid-slots. Well yes, I originally was going to have a Sensor Booster with a range script but the range of the Paladin was tweaked so I now can lock to 113.5km which means I don't need further range. All my targets either spawn much closer or up to around 110km.

 

The three TC's actually double my tracking and help me to alpha cruisers at 90km with Imperial Navy Multifrequency and a few times I've changed one to a Optimal Range Script and that has helped me increase DPS at 70km to 90km on Battleships.

 

I don't use drones either, I lost so many before Rubicon that I gave up using them for all but the frigates I could web and even then would still go through 15 at least a week. Now I've changed how and what I target first and small tackle no longer poses a problem.

 

Thoughts

 

I'm almost certain the Bastion Module has made the most difference, whereas before Rubicon I was MJD'ing around to keep out of frigate range and also to having to wait for ships to come into optimum range now I don't have to.

 

Faction Multifrequency crystals have an optimum of around 65km with a falloff to 96km. I can alpha cruisers at 90km with INMF and still hit battleships for around 800/900 per salvo at that range. When they come within 70km I switch to a Optimal Range script in a Tracking Computer and the DPS rises to around 1100. No more than 7 shots per Battleship to kill it.

 

Frigates (especially fast webbers like the Spider Drone) are primaries and even as they accelerate the tracking I have allows me to kill them. Destroyers and Cruisers are next and if they do get within 20km I now have the option of MJD'ing away and maintaining the locks I have.

 

So far the Bastion Module has meant that I do more DPS but more importantly my tank has increased from 1555 hp/12s to 3110 hp/12s when it's active. More than enough even for the Damsel mission when you have aggro from the whole room. As a result I've never gotten lower than 80% armour and I typically pulse the Core A-Type repair only when I get into the low 80's.

 

Outcome

 

I'm certainly doing missions faster, before I was following the Blitz guides and hating every second. Now I warp in, drop a new Tractor Module then start shooting. As I move around I'm still killing things and the Tractor Module is moving all my wrecks to one spot so I can salvage and loot when I finish.

 

It works well and I'm making more on bounties and loot that pre-Rubicon and I'm enjoying L4 missions more than I was. Previous posts show how much of chore I felt it was, now it's not so much a chore but a challenge to complete as quickly as possible whilst killing and looting everything.

 

I'm only using one character for this and he's a high skilled Gunnery and Amarr Battleship character. I worked out since the Wednesday after Rubicon was deployed he's made just under 1.2 billion in ISK either as bounties, rewards or loot from missions (excl. LP). This isn't solid missioning, this is at most four to five hours a day ad hoc (I estimate two missions an hour at most he's doing).

Damn Damsel

It was the first time I was given the mission with this agent, considering I must have done over two hundred missions and this was the first time I was a little surprised. I've saved the Damsel before and knew what needed to be done.

 

I undock and warp to the site, as I land I load Gleam L and target the structure containing the Damsel. It takes significant damage and more NPC appear, yellow then red boxing me. I align to a celestial and continue to pour fire on my target, I overheat my guns and the damage increases by a few hundred a salvo.

 

Incoming DPS has whittled by shields to 0 and I'm taking armour damage, hardener is active and the repair module is running. Twelve seconds is a long time per cycle and the damage is creeping up my armour status.

 

I prepare to warp out but the target is in deep structure and I continue to fire, I overheat the repair module and hardener. 60% armour now, nearly ready to warp.

 

What's that, my wife is calling there is a problem and I need to help her. I can't just leave so I click the MJD button to activate it, only it does not. I'm out of cap, how did that happen. 10% armour, dammit I need to warp so I click Warp and my ship turns around 180 degrees and starts to gain speed.

 

Wait, what... I was aligned to my out celestial why have I turned around 180 degrees. Never mind, need to warp so I look for an object where I'm pointing, there is nothing. The structure I was shooting at explodes!

 

90% structure, it's melting fast without that Damage Control II... too fast. 60%, 30%, 10%... I'm in my pod.

 

 

 

Bollocks.

 

That should not have happened, I should have saved her.

 

So I toddle off and sort out the reason I was being called by the wife and return and try to work out what to do. I'm a little lost, this hurts the loss is about 1.5bn and I hate to lose ships especially when I should not have lost it.

 

A few items have dropped in the loot and I'm sitting in the site in my pod ignored by all the NPC's around me. I have an alt else where who can fly a Paladin and I have enough ISK to buy a new one and fittings, off he is sent to Jita.

 

What a waste, I liked that ship... I was attached and proud of her. Damn Damsel, damn sentiment.

 

A new Paladin is purchased, given the same name as the lost vessel, and fittings are procured. I've upgraded a couple of components as well as buying some tracking computers for use when the webifiers bonuses are removed in a couple of weeks. 24 jumps from Jita to my missioning system, it's a long trip but I make it.

 

I refit my ship and reboard it, warp back into the site and grab not just my wreck and the Damsel, I manage to salvage my wreck (12 intact armour plates and a few small other T2 salvage items) and warp out in low armour. I get back to my mission base and hand in the Damsel and get my reward.

 

If the Damsel needs help again, I can't help... I'll be washing my hair.

 

Missioning - 99% complete

I'm nearly ready to stop mission running, nearly but not quite.

 

The Plan

 

I set myself a goal when I started about four weeks ago, an amount of LP I needed based on what I wanted from the LP Store. I mentioned my aim to a couple of friends and one asked me to get him a set of implants so I added that to my LP requirements and then it was time to start.

 

Security Connections V was trained and a suitable fit for my ship, a Paladin, purchased and found in storage containers.

 

A little help

 

When I started I used an alt in a Guardian to provide remote repair in a Guardian and for a couple of days I had another alt in a boosting Damnation providing help. In the end I've done 80% of my LP without boosts or assistance. Instead I've managed the sites and limited the incoming DPS combined with a faction repair module means I've only had to warp out two or three times in the several hundred missions I've done.

 

Starting out

 

I started the missioning with Mega Pulse Lasers and after two weeks of frustration at having to continually move and new waves always appearing "just" out of range of my guns I took the advice of someone and refit my ship to use Mega Beam Lasers instead and removed my damage control II in favour of an extra faction heat sink.

 

The other suggestion I received was to drop the micro warp drive and instead use a Micro Jump Drive, I did this and it was a revelation. Now damage incoming could be avoided by jumping 100km away and then sniping until they came close again at which point the MJD is recharged and I move again.

 

Refit

 

The refit immediately made a difference, I had to now remember different ranges for my crystals but this was quite simple but now I was hitting out to 108km with Aurora L an doing good damage but using Gleam L for targets under 30km I was doing ridiculous damage.

 

I rarely have had to use drones now, occasionally a frigate or spider drone gets under my guns and no matter what crystal I use they're moving too fast. Using the dual webs I have to slow the frigate down and setting drones on them solves that but if I get too many webbing or scram drones I just MJD away before taking the frigates out at range.

 

I thought I'd have to use the boosting alt with this fit but Level 4 missions haven't needed it, at times I've been down to 20% armour but a little overheating and changing primary targets to remove dps ships means I never have really been under threat. Small ships are a pain but as I mentioned above the webs and drones deal with them and even if I'm swamped the MJD is my saviour.

 

The Fit

 

This is the fit I'm using, a little expensive I know but this is a Marauder based mission running ship that deserves a little bit of expense to maximise your return.

 

[High Slots]

Mega Beam Laser II, Gleam L

Mega Beam Laser II, Gleam L

Mega Beam Laser II, Gleam L

Mega Beam Laser II, Gleam L

Large Remote Armor Repair System II

Small Tractor Beam II

Small Tractor Beam II

 

[Med Slots]

Large Micro Jump Drive

Cap Recharger II

Stasis Webifier II

Stasis Webifier II

 

[Low Slots]

True Sansha Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane

Reactive Armor Hardener

True Sansha Large Armor Repair

1600 Reinforced Steel Plates II

Imperial Navy Heat Sink

Imperial Navy Heat Sink

Imperial Navy Heat Sink

 

[Rigs]

Large Capacitor Control Circuit II

Large Capacitor Control Circuit II

 

I keep a full set of T1 Crystals in the ship, I've found X-Ray L to be the crystal I use most at the 30km - 50km range. T2 crystals are used to take on long range targets (Aurora) or short range (Gleam) and I made sure I have at least 20 of each.

 

Drones I use 5 hammerheads or 5 hobgoblins but rarely have to use them except as mentioned above.

 

Groundhog Day

I'm currently doing L4 missions for a faction to improve not just my Minmatar standings but also earn LP for some implants. I'm 85% of the way towards getting the implants but I've found my zest for missions to be somewhat less than I wish it was.

 

I know why, missions are so Boring. It is repetition over and over, combined with the guides at EVE Survival Guide you never really are challenged. Sure you can shoot the wrong ship or fit your ship with the wrong modules you can make it more difficult but it doesn't matter, you still get the same missions over and over in a never ending loop.

 

 

It wouldn't be so bad with some variation thrown in, but I've had to reject that mission to kill the damaged Amarrian battle cruiser sixteen times, I've captured over eight hundred militants and I don't know how many times I've destroyed the "massive angel taskforce" that was about to attack my employers.

 

I've maximised my Security Connections skill so I can get nearly 8,000 to 10,000 LP a mission  and these missions average 35 minutes to complete. That's not a huge profit but over time that's a nice income towards the implants. Adding a second character running the same missions and it's a lucrative income however you may well shoot yourself in the head because of the tedium.

 

After I'm done here I'm going to move up for Sisters of EVE missions, save up some LP before Rubicon is released. But I'm not sure if I want to do that, grinding the same missions, the same actions hour over hour for LP is not my idea of fun...