Basics: Gain ISK and LP by completing and turning in missions. Missions are against npc's (non-player "rats"). They generally involve destroying an object (like a reactor), or a head honcho rat (like a Sector Commander). With ISK you can purchase whatever you need off the Eve markets. LP you use to purchase items in your corporations Loyalty Points Store (LP = Loyalty Points).
How lucrative is mission running?
It depends on the tier the faction is at in the warzone. If you complete 20 missions, you should on average at Tier 3 get a payout of about 40 million ISK and 450K-550K LP. At about 700 ISK/LP that translates to about 350 mil. ISK. At Tier 4, those same missions completed should pay out 650k-850k LP. This would translate to about 550 mil. ISK.
Current doctrine suggests that if you're Amarr fighting against Minmatar, the best ship to use on Level 3 and 4 missions is a Stealth Bomber called the Hound. You can stay at range from your target and blap away. The chief reason a Hound over other Stealth Bomber options is that the damage bonus it provides is what Minmatar rats are weak on: Explosive Damage.
Tools to use: If 'Pirates Little Helper' is not available or is broken, use the web-based site: http://evescout.gladiolus.fi/. When you come into system, copy and paste the list of people in 'Local' into the search box and it'll give you the chief stats to let you know the likelihood that they're dangerous to you or not.
Some tips before we get started:
Tip: Never warp directly to the mission gate! Even if nobody is in-system except you. I've come into system, seen it empty, cracked open the mission and by the time I get to the gate someone has come into system and met me at the gate.
Here's what I do when planning and doing missions. You may find a better way for yourself:
1. Collect missions. Use a shuttle and go around to all the Corp Stations (indicated by '24th Imperial'). At each one ask for a Level 3 mission first as a habit. If you don't want the mission they offer, decline and ask again. This is key: DON'T decline a second time for that level at that station! If you do, you'll be demoted. Instead, if you don't like the second mission they offer, click on the 'X' in the top-right of the dialogue. It'll exit and the offer will remain, but just don't do it. Just right-click and remove the offer while you're doing the mission run ('Missions' tab of Journal). After requesting the Level 3 mission, request the Level 4 mission.
After I've gone by all the stations, I go to the station that has my Hound and I 'optimize' the route. It ends with a far point, but that's okay. If for some reason I can't finish a mission on the way out, I try to pick it up one the way back. If I have a bunch of missions (over 13 stops in optimization seems to hang the game), what I do is I go down the list initially and right-click and set Waypoint on the Level 4's, optimize, then start down on the Level 3's, adding their Waypoints. Once I've added a total of about 11 or 12, I figure I'm ready. If there's any Level 3's I haven't added to the list I can add them as Waypoints on the way back, optimize and complete them.
2. When I come through each system gate, I hit the warp-to and immediately hit the cloak button. It minimizes the time I'm out of cloak and so minimizes the chances anybody on a gate has to lock me. Only something like a Gnossis should have a chance to lock you and even then it has to be quick on the draw.
3. When I come into a system that has one or more of my missions, I immediately look to see who is in Local. If nobody is, I immediately warp to the mission at 20 km cloaked. I've been caught by going directly at 10, by someone coming into system just as I've warping to mission, so stick to 20 km cloaked for safety. If there are others in system and I don't know who is dangerous and who isn't, I immediately warp cloaked to a random celestial at a random distance (never to 0 or 10, though). I then run everybody through PLH or the website mentioned above to evaluate my options.
4. Crack open the missions. Do this by right-clicking in space, going down to the missions and choosing 'warp to'. Then, immediately hit the Ctrl+Space so that you don't actually warp there. This cracks open the missions so you know where they are in-system.
5. I try to get closer to the intended mission (as close as possible without warping directly to it). I use DScan and see how far away others are. If there's one or more close and they're likely to be dangerous, I'll either wait it out for a bit to see if they move, make a calculated risk to hit the mission (not recommended for longer missions), or I leave and come back later. On the ones I take the chance on I warp to 20k from the gate (NEVER at 10 unless I'm intending to go straight in). This allows me to warp in cloaked and not to lose the cloak. I then have the time to continue to use the DSCAN to see if there's movement I need to be aware of. It also allows me to take stock of the objects I may need to align to once I get into the mission. If there's a single mission, I also take note of where the gate is to the next destination. Once I've decided to go ahead and take the gate, I select it and as I slowly drift towards it I continue to keep an eye on DSCAN. Once the cloak starts to vanish (too close to the gate), I immediately click on the range computers and prepare to align as I warp in. I also lower the D-Scan from 14 AU to 1. This will allow me to keep an eye on the acceleration gate to see if someone's on it and planning to warp in on me.
It's at the acceleration gate that you have to decide how you're going to run the mission. If it's a Level 3, it's pretty much straightforward: Align to a celestial, burn in that direction, shoot the target, warp to celestial chosen. However, Level 4's take longer and you have to decide to either orbit the target or else align to one (and once doing it, usually more than one), celestial and make a series of adjustments (new celestials to align to). If nobody is in-system or if you think nobody will jump in on you, choose orbit. Even when orbiting, though, adjust your view so that some celestial is at the head of the direction arrow so that if someone does decide to warp in on you, you have something to align to and try to align and get out in time. The Hound takes a long time to align, so my suggestion is to orbit on Level 4's, but be right on that D-Scan and the moment you see someone at 1 Au, find the celestial most in line with your direction and immediately select and warp-to option.
6. If I'm not orbiting but choosing to align to celestials, having warped into a mission, I immediately align to one (preferably 90 degrees from the mission target, and immediately hit the afterburner so I'm headed in that direction. I then immediately rescan with DSCAN to see if someone's jumping on my gate, having seen me. If so, I'm already aligning so I warp out. If not, I lock the mission target, and hit the fire button and look at DSCAN again. As long as nobody is showing up at 1 AU on my DSCAN I know nobody is at the gate trying to warp in on me. As I run the mission I continue to look at that scan to be sure i'm not being jumped in on. If I see anybody show up, I make sure I'm aligning so that by the time they actually hit the beacon I'm already prepared to leave.
7. Assuming nobody is warping in on me at any point, I run the mission. I run those with a single objective (listed below). The main things to remember about is to keep your distance from the rats and try to maintain a 90 degree profile to them when reasonable. I use the tactical grid to give me an idea what new tangent to use as a guide and double-click in space at the end of each tangent to both maintain distance and profile to rats. When the objective is completed, you'll get a nice little green check mark beside your mission.
Tip: If you're in the middle of a mission and notice someone on your gate (ie. 1 AU), you do not necessarily have to warp out. If you're far enough away from the beacon (2k), and NOT being targeted, you can cloak up. This turns off your guns/torps and your AB/MWD, but it does cloak you up. Then, the person can look around a bit in the hopes of running close to you, but will generally give up eventually and warp out, after which you can uncloak (remember 10 sec. wait to recloak), and target and resume shooting and AB'ing around target.
8. When you've finished running your missions, go to ANY station in any system owned by your faction (ie. Amarr), and you can turn ALL your missions in at that one station. So, while you have to jump in a ship and travel to all the corp stations to pick up missions, you only need to go to a single station (any station in a system owned by your faction), to turn them all in. If the system is Amarr-owned, yes you can enter the Minmatar stations and turn them in there.
9. The level your faction is in will determine the mission pay out. If your faction is at Level III but awfully close to Level IV, the reward difference is substantial enough that it is almost always worth it to donate LP to get to that next level. To do that, go to the shortcut to the Faction Warfare on the left of your screen, and sort systems by level. Choose a blue system with as low a level as possible (which will mean you pay the least in donation to raise it), and travel to that system. Once in that system, find and go to the iHub (within 2,500 meters), and right-click the iHub to bring up it's control panel. Click the Level bar it's at and below it, enter a donation amount and hit Enter. If you've donated enough to bring that system up a level, it will be reflected in the overall level your corp is at, and the result will be much higher LP payouts when turning your missions in. It does take up to 15 minutes for the effects of the donation to be registered.
Are there particular people that you can count on to jump in on you?
Absolutely! If you're in Gebuladi there's two that do it often. One is Mar-Touf, the other Victor Vuld. They will reliably do it every time if they're paying attention, so count on them taking a run at you. Victor Vuld tends to do it in something quick like a Crucifier or Slicer. Mar-Touf uses a Malediction. If you have a level 4, my advice is to crack the mission open and then move onto the next system, and consider taking a shot at it when you come back through on your way back home. They're quite good at it, so please don't underestimate them.
If you're up around Brin and Arnstur Olive Treetop runs around in an Astero and will definitely jump in on you. The issue with him is that he's cloaked up so you won't see him until he's on your gate. He's very aggressive, the same way Victor Vuld is.
Where do I pick up Missions?
There are 17 '24th Imperial Crusade' stations (where you pick up missions). Three of them are a fair bit out of the way so I restrict myself to an efficient route of 14 of them. As Kurniainen is on the edge of the mission field, that's where I start/end missions and mission retrieval. This is the route I use to pick up missions:
Which missions do I take?
Level 3
TAKE Target
------------------------------------------------------------------
Level 4
------------------------------------------------------------------
Ways to Run Missions;
1. Alone
Self-explanatory. Gather missions and run them yourself.
2. Fleet up with one or more other pilots doing missions
Two or more pilots agree to gather up missions and do missioning together, in a fleet. They accompany each other through the various missions, alerting to dangers and assisting in completing missions. At the end, everyone turns in their completed missions and everyone shares equally in the awards.
3. Team up with one or more other pilots doing missions
Two or more pilots team up and accompany each other through the regions, but don't fleet up. At the end, each person gets the awards that they completed.
4. Team up with one or more pilots to serve as protectors
One or more pilots fly non-mission ships and serve as protection for a mission runner. The benefit to the mission runner is the ability to get to the missions much faster and with less worry, and can be alerted if anyone is at their gate. The protection benefits by sharing in the awards. A recommended payoff is for the mission runner to pay in ISK 15-20% of the value of the completed missions.
How lucrative is mission running?
It depends on the tier the faction is at in the warzone. If you complete 20 missions, you should on average at Tier 3 get a payout of about 40 million ISK and 450K-550K LP. At about 700 ISK/LP that translates to about 350 mil. ISK. At Tier 4, those same missions completed should pay out 650k-850k LP. This would translate to about 550 mil. ISK.
What do I use to run missions?
Current doctrine suggests that if you're Amarr fighting against Minmatar, the best ship to use on Level 3 and 4 missions is a Stealth Bomber called the Hound. You can stay at range from your target and blap away. The chief reason a Hound over other Stealth Bomber options is that the damage bonus it provides is what Minmatar rats are weak on: Explosive Damage.
Tools to use: If 'Pirates Little Helper' is not available or is broken, use the web-based site: http://evescout.gladiolus.fi/. When you come into system, copy and paste the list of people in 'Local' into the search box and it'll give you the chief stats to let you know the likelihood that they're dangerous to you or not.
Some tips before we get started:
Tip: Never warp directly to the mission gate! Even if nobody is in-system except you. I've come into system, seen it empty, cracked open the mission and by the time I get to the gate someone has come into system and met me at the gate.
How do I mission?
Here's what I do when planning and doing missions. You may find a better way for yourself:
1. Collect missions. Use a shuttle and go around to all the Corp Stations (indicated by '24th Imperial'). At each one ask for a Level 3 mission first as a habit. If you don't want the mission they offer, decline and ask again. This is key: DON'T decline a second time for that level at that station! If you do, you'll be demoted. Instead, if you don't like the second mission they offer, click on the 'X' in the top-right of the dialogue. It'll exit and the offer will remain, but just don't do it. Just right-click and remove the offer while you're doing the mission run ('Missions' tab of Journal). After requesting the Level 3 mission, request the Level 4 mission.
After I've gone by all the stations, I go to the station that has my Hound and I 'optimize' the route. It ends with a far point, but that's okay. If for some reason I can't finish a mission on the way out, I try to pick it up one the way back. If I have a bunch of missions (over 13 stops in optimization seems to hang the game), what I do is I go down the list initially and right-click and set Waypoint on the Level 4's, optimize, then start down on the Level 3's, adding their Waypoints. Once I've added a total of about 11 or 12, I figure I'm ready. If there's any Level 3's I haven't added to the list I can add them as Waypoints on the way back, optimize and complete them.
2. When I come through each system gate, I hit the warp-to and immediately hit the cloak button. It minimizes the time I'm out of cloak and so minimizes the chances anybody on a gate has to lock me. Only something like a Gnossis should have a chance to lock you and even then it has to be quick on the draw.
3. When I come into a system that has one or more of my missions, I immediately look to see who is in Local. If nobody is, I immediately warp to the mission at 20 km cloaked. I've been caught by going directly at 10, by someone coming into system just as I've warping to mission, so stick to 20 km cloaked for safety. If there are others in system and I don't know who is dangerous and who isn't, I immediately warp cloaked to a random celestial at a random distance (never to 0 or 10, though). I then run everybody through PLH or the website mentioned above to evaluate my options.
4. Crack open the missions. Do this by right-clicking in space, going down to the missions and choosing 'warp to'. Then, immediately hit the Ctrl+Space so that you don't actually warp there. This cracks open the missions so you know where they are in-system.
5. I try to get closer to the intended mission (as close as possible without warping directly to it). I use DScan and see how far away others are. If there's one or more close and they're likely to be dangerous, I'll either wait it out for a bit to see if they move, make a calculated risk to hit the mission (not recommended for longer missions), or I leave and come back later. On the ones I take the chance on I warp to 20k from the gate (NEVER at 10 unless I'm intending to go straight in). This allows me to warp in cloaked and not to lose the cloak. I then have the time to continue to use the DSCAN to see if there's movement I need to be aware of. It also allows me to take stock of the objects I may need to align to once I get into the mission. If there's a single mission, I also take note of where the gate is to the next destination. Once I've decided to go ahead and take the gate, I select it and as I slowly drift towards it I continue to keep an eye on DSCAN. Once the cloak starts to vanish (too close to the gate), I immediately click on the range computers and prepare to align as I warp in. I also lower the D-Scan from 14 AU to 1. This will allow me to keep an eye on the acceleration gate to see if someone's on it and planning to warp in on me.
It's at the acceleration gate that you have to decide how you're going to run the mission. If it's a Level 3, it's pretty much straightforward: Align to a celestial, burn in that direction, shoot the target, warp to celestial chosen. However, Level 4's take longer and you have to decide to either orbit the target or else align to one (and once doing it, usually more than one), celestial and make a series of adjustments (new celestials to align to). If nobody is in-system or if you think nobody will jump in on you, choose orbit. Even when orbiting, though, adjust your view so that some celestial is at the head of the direction arrow so that if someone does decide to warp in on you, you have something to align to and try to align and get out in time. The Hound takes a long time to align, so my suggestion is to orbit on Level 4's, but be right on that D-Scan and the moment you see someone at 1 Au, find the celestial most in line with your direction and immediately select and warp-to option.
6. If I'm not orbiting but choosing to align to celestials, having warped into a mission, I immediately align to one (preferably 90 degrees from the mission target, and immediately hit the afterburner so I'm headed in that direction. I then immediately rescan with DSCAN to see if someone's jumping on my gate, having seen me. If so, I'm already aligning so I warp out. If not, I lock the mission target, and hit the fire button and look at DSCAN again. As long as nobody is showing up at 1 AU on my DSCAN I know nobody is at the gate trying to warp in on me. As I run the mission I continue to look at that scan to be sure i'm not being jumped in on. If I see anybody show up, I make sure I'm aligning so that by the time they actually hit the beacon I'm already prepared to leave.
7. Assuming nobody is warping in on me at any point, I run the mission. I run those with a single objective (listed below). The main things to remember about is to keep your distance from the rats and try to maintain a 90 degree profile to them when reasonable. I use the tactical grid to give me an idea what new tangent to use as a guide and double-click in space at the end of each tangent to both maintain distance and profile to rats. When the objective is completed, you'll get a nice little green check mark beside your mission.
Tip: If you're in the middle of a mission and notice someone on your gate (ie. 1 AU), you do not necessarily have to warp out. If you're far enough away from the beacon (2k), and NOT being targeted, you can cloak up. This turns off your guns/torps and your AB/MWD, but it does cloak you up. Then, the person can look around a bit in the hopes of running close to you, but will generally give up eventually and warp out, after which you can uncloak (remember 10 sec. wait to recloak), and target and resume shooting and AB'ing around target.
8. When you've finished running your missions, go to ANY station in any system owned by your faction (ie. Amarr), and you can turn ALL your missions in at that one station. So, while you have to jump in a ship and travel to all the corp stations to pick up missions, you only need to go to a single station (any station in a system owned by your faction), to turn them all in. If the system is Amarr-owned, yes you can enter the Minmatar stations and turn them in there.
9. The level your faction is in will determine the mission pay out. If your faction is at Level III but awfully close to Level IV, the reward difference is substantial enough that it is almost always worth it to donate LP to get to that next level. To do that, go to the shortcut to the Faction Warfare on the left of your screen, and sort systems by level. Choose a blue system with as low a level as possible (which will mean you pay the least in donation to raise it), and travel to that system. Once in that system, find and go to the iHub (within 2,500 meters), and right-click the iHub to bring up it's control panel. Click the Level bar it's at and below it, enter a donation amount and hit Enter. If you've donated enough to bring that system up a level, it will be reflected in the overall level your corp is at, and the result will be much higher LP payouts when turning your missions in. It does take up to 15 minutes for the effects of the donation to be registered.
Are there particular people that you can count on to jump in on you?
Absolutely! If you're in Gebuladi there's two that do it often. One is Mar-Touf, the other Victor Vuld. They will reliably do it every time if they're paying attention, so count on them taking a run at you. Victor Vuld tends to do it in something quick like a Crucifier or Slicer. Mar-Touf uses a Malediction. If you have a level 4, my advice is to crack the mission open and then move onto the next system, and consider taking a shot at it when you come back through on your way back home. They're quite good at it, so please don't underestimate them.
If you're up around Brin and Arnstur Olive Treetop runs around in an Astero and will definitely jump in on you. The issue with him is that he's cloaked up so you won't see him until he's on your gate. He's very aggressive, the same way Victor Vuld is.
Where do I pick up Missions?
There are 17 '24th Imperial Crusade' stations (where you pick up missions). Three of them are a fair bit out of the way so I restrict myself to an efficient route of 14 of them. As Kurniainen is on the edge of the mission field, that's where I start/end missions and mission retrieval. This is the route I use to pick up missions:
Kurniainen - 24th Imperial Crusade Logistic Support
Oyonata
Sahtogas
Tannakan VII - 24th Imperial Crusade Logistic Support
Anka
Iesa IV - 24th Imperial Crusade Testing Facilities
Netselaka
Myyhera III - 24th Imperial Crusade Logistic Support
Sasiekko III - 24th Imperial Crusade Logistic Support
Sosala IV - 24th Imperial Crusade Logistic Support
Gammel III - 24th Imperial Crusade Logistic Support
Sosala
Kamela V - 24th Imperial Crusade Logistic Support
Lamaa
Tzvi VI - 24th Imperial Crusade Logistic Support
Sifilar
Arzad VIII - 24th Imperial Crusade Logistic Support
Tararan IV - 24th Imperial Crusade Logistic Support
Halmah IV - 24th Imperial Crusade Assembly Plant
Asghed III - 24th Imperial Crusade Logistic Support
Sosan
Oyonata VI - 24th Imperial Crusade Logistic Support
Kurniainen IX
Tannakan VII - 24th Imperial Crusade Logistic Support
Anka
Iesa IV - 24th Imperial Crusade Testing Facilities
Netselaka
Myyhera III - 24th Imperial Crusade Logistic Support
Sasiekko III - 24th Imperial Crusade Logistic Support
Sosala IV - 24th Imperial Crusade Logistic Support
Gammel III - 24th Imperial Crusade Logistic Support
Sosala
Kamela V - 24th Imperial Crusade Logistic Support
Lamaa
Tzvi VI - 24th Imperial Crusade Logistic Support
Sifilar
Arzad VIII - 24th Imperial Crusade Logistic Support
Tararan IV - 24th Imperial Crusade Logistic Support
Halmah IV - 24th Imperial Crusade Assembly Plant
Asghed III - 24th Imperial Crusade Logistic Support
Sosan
Oyonata VI - 24th Imperial Crusade Logistic Support
Kurniainen IX
Which missions do I take?
Level 3
TAKE Target
A Left Hook Tactical coms relay
Chain Reaction Starbase Main Reactor
Fathers and Sons Sector Commander
Exposed Field Commander
Contingency Plan Take out a ship commander
Level 4
TAKE Target
The Reprisal Sector Commander
Uproot Starbase Main Reactor
The Cost of Hubris Fleet Commander
Dead Men Tell No Tales Minmatar Tactical Command Post
Lethal Strike Fleet Commander
------------------------------------------------------------------
Also doable (but not single-objective)
Level 4
Shades of Grey 6 Industrial ships
------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Alone
Self-explanatory. Gather missions and run them yourself.
2. Fleet up with one or more other pilots doing missions
Two or more pilots agree to gather up missions and do missioning together, in a fleet. They accompany each other through the various missions, alerting to dangers and assisting in completing missions. At the end, everyone turns in their completed missions and everyone shares equally in the awards.
3. Team up with one or more other pilots doing missions
Two or more pilots team up and accompany each other through the regions, but don't fleet up. At the end, each person gets the awards that they completed.
4. Team up with one or more pilots to serve as protectors
One or more pilots fly non-mission ships and serve as protection for a mission runner. The benefit to the mission runner is the ability to get to the missions much faster and with less worry, and can be alerted if anyone is at their gate. The protection benefits by sharing in the awards. A recommended payoff is for the mission runner to pay in ISK 15-20% of the value of the completed missions.
Comments
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