Table of Contents

Mission Running


Overview

Running missions in high sec is dangerous, even more so if you're in a busy system. If you intend to run missions on a character in TEST, take advantage of the agents in NPC space. This guide will emphasize doing this, but the principles are essentially the same if you choose to stay in highsec like a terrible person. At times this guide will also emphasize only working for Security agents. Distribution and Mining agents may also be valid options, depending on the corporation for which you choose to run missions.

Pros

Cons

Social Skills

Yes you will need to train some new skills in order to maximize mission running.

What you need to get learn to get started

Safety

Auth is the center of Test's IT infrastructure, it is used to associate your identity on our services with your ingame account. This is necessary so that we know you're actually a member of TEST and not just some random nerd.

Standings

Every NPC corporation that offers missions has at least one L1 agent that is accessible to anyone, regardless of your standing with their faction.

Earning Loyalty Points (LP)

Once you've achieved enough standings to get offers for level IVs, you've almost finished the standings grind. But you're only halfway done learning. Missions are not like anomalies. If you show up, shoot each wave until they stop coming, and go home, you are wasting valuable time and you are losing out on isk. Learn to Blitz!

LP Cashout

The real money making part of missions, but cashing out can be a chore. You can turn these in at an “LP Store” for rewards, like implants, skill books, faction ammunition, faction ships, and faction BPCs.

Safety

Basically you need to read Stayin' Alive for this.

  1. Tactical bookmarks: Make perches on all gates on both sides, as well as the stations in system. Make an instant undock. As you progress, your need for tactical bookmarks will increase as you're taken into the different systems in the constellation.
  2. Cloaky alts: you can position him over the gate to your system and pay attention to people entering your area.
  3. Dscan: Keep it open and active – rescan every time you switch targets, if not more so. You can not scan too often. Your mission objective is always in a deadspace pocket, so the only way for someone to find you without being in your fleet is with probes. If you see combat probes on your dscan, safe up. Having probes on your overview and using “Active Overview Settings” makes this much easier; however make sure you have probes visible before you check that or you will be caught by surprise.
  4. Watch local. Report neutral and red activity in an intel channel if TEST has one for that region.

What its like to be in a PvE ship in EVE!


Standings

To be able to accept level 4 missions, you need 5.0 standings with the faction, or the corporation or the agent. Corporation will open up all the agents of that corporation, and the faction will open all the agents of that faction. You will want to aim for faction standings eventually.

Every 4 hours, you are able to freely reject any missions. This is an important judgement call to make. If you do reject a mission beyond this, expect to lose standings, with the agent, the corporation- roughly 3% of your standings, or around 0.5 standings at 5+ standings. You can lose access to missions this way if either the agent or corporation goes below -2.0 even if your faction standing is good enough to accept it. The big advantage of faction standings is that when you reject a mission, you only lose 0.014% standings. Allowing you to reject missions sustainably.

Every 16 missions you run, you will gain access to a storyline mission. It will give you faction standings. I have reached the point where I gain 10% with the faction with each one I do. This means ultimately I can reject as many missions as I like within reason. The fastest way to gain Angel standings is via the Epic Arc.

Storyline Missions can be any mission type, a long combat mission arc, delivering goods, or as simple as acquiring a bunch of Kernite. The latter is incidentally available on market in most of the mission hubs and can be completed instantly. Most of my standings have been gained by moving 40k m3 worth of items 2 jumps.

  • Level 1 agents have no standings requirement.
  • Level 2 requires 1.0
  • Level 3 requires 3.0
  • Level 4 requires 5.0
  • Level 5 requires 7.0

Agent Finder

Your gonna need to start grinding level 1 mission in order to get them standings up to 5.0 so you can do level 4 missions. Best way to find the agent you need is open up the Agent Finder window. You can find this window in the Neocon menu in top left of your EVE client. Check the Business folder and click Agent Finder. Your agents will be sorted by distance from you, so you should always get the closest agents first. If there are more than 6 agents in your results, you can use the Prev/Next buttons to browse. You can then use the slider to select what level of agents you like. Put the slider Agent Level 1 and open up the Filter Options section.

Mostly you will select Agent Type as Security to do the pew-pew missions, they give better standings per mision then the others as well. Now Select the corporation you wish to work for, if you get to many results narrow it down by region. You can hide the filter options again to see the simple view, but your filters won’t change. Set a destination and go run those missions!


Friend Assistance

Find a friend who is already running level 4 missions and ask if he will share the reward with you. You have to be in the system with the mission runner and be in fleet with them. As the complete missions and “share” the reward, you will gain LP and Standings with that corporation. Continue doing this til you have 5.0 standings with the corporation and now you can get L4 missions by yourself. Remember they are doing you a favor and lossing LP while doing it. Paying them back for the LP loss is the only bro thing to do.


Level 1 Missions

Should be done in a T1 frigate or destroyer. T2 frigs can be used, but will probably be overkill. Some missions won't let you use a cruiser.

Ship Fits

<EFT> [Kestrel, L1s] Ballistic Control System II Ballistic Control System II

Small Shield Booster II Limited 1MN Afterburner I Medium F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction Cap Recharger II

Rocket Launcher I, Scourge Rocket Rocket Launcher I, Scourge Rocket Rocket Launcher I, Scourge Rocket Rocket Launcher I, Scourge Rocket

[empty rig slot] [empty rig slot] [empty rig slot]

Scourge Rocket x5000 </EFT>

<EFT> [Thrasher, Grinder T1] Gyrostabilizer I Tracking Enhancer I

Medium F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I Sensor Booster I, Targeting Range Script

250mm Light Artillery Cannon I, EMP S 250mm Light Artillery Cannon I, EMP S 250mm Light Artillery Cannon I, EMP S 250mm Light Artillery Cannon I, EMP S 250mm Light Artillery Cannon I, EMP S 250mm Light Artillery Cannon I, EMP S 250mm Light Artillery Cannon I, EMP S [empty high slot]

Small Ancillary Current Router I Small Ancillary Current Router I Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I

EMP S x5000 </EFT>


Level 2 Missions

Destroyer should be fine, cruisers work as well. The general consensus is that Assault Frigates are the way to go for these.

Ship Fits

<EFT> [Vengeance, L2 Missions] Small Armor Repairer II Multispectrum Coating II Ballistic Control System II Ballistic Control System II

Experimental 1MN Afterburner I 'Langour' Drive Disruptor I Cap Recharger II

'Arbalest' Rocket Launcher I, Scourge Rocket 'Arbalest' Rocket Launcher I, Scourge Rocket 'Arbalest' Rocket Launcher I, Scourge Rocket 'Arbalest' Rocket Launcher I, Scourge Rocket [empty high slot]

Small Bay Loading Accelerator I Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I </EFT>

<EFT> [Retribution, L2 Missions] Small Armor Repairer II Capacitor Power Relay II Heat Sink II Damage Control II Multispectrum Coating II

1MN Afterburner II 'Langour' Drive Disruptor I

Small Focused Pulse Laser II, Scorch S Small Focused Pulse Laser II, Scorch S Small Focused Pulse Laser II, Scorch S Small Focused Pulse Laser II, Scorch S [empty high slot]

Small Capacitor Control Circuit I Small Energy Collision Accelerator I </EFT>

<EFT> [Hawk, L2 Missions] Ballistic Control System II Capacitor Flux Coil II

Small C5-L Emergency Shield Overload I Cap Recharger II Multispectrum Shield Hardener II 1MN Afterburner II Cap Recharger II

Rocket Launcher II, Scourge Rage Rocket Rocket Launcher II, Scourge Rage Rocket Rocket Launcher II, Scourge Rage Rocket Rocket Launcher II, Scourge Rage Rocket [empty high slot]

Small EM Shield Reinforcer I Small EM Shield Reinforcer I </EFT>


Level 3 Missions

Assault Frigates or Battlecruisers, even a T2 fit Destroyer will do for L3's most of the time.

Ship Fits

<EFT> [Thrasher, Mission Grinder] Gyrostabilizer II Tracking Enhancer II

Medium Shield Extender II Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I Sensor Booster II, Targeting Range Script

250mm Light Artillery Cannon II, Quake S 250mm Light Artillery Cannon II, Quake S 250mm Light Artillery Cannon II, Quake S 250mm Light Artillery Cannon II, Quake S 250mm Light Artillery Cannon II, Quake S 250mm Light Artillery Cannon II, Quake S 250mm Light Artillery Cannon II, Quake S [empty high slot]

Small Ancillary Current Router I Small Ancillary Current Router I Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I

Quake S x5000 </EFT>

<EFT> [Drake, L3 Mission Boat] Ballistic Control System II Ballistic Control System II Ballistic Control System II Shield Power Relay II

10MN Afterburner II Large F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction Large F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction Explosive Shield Hardener II Explosive Shield Hardener II Multispectrum Shield Hardener II

Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Scourge Rage Heavy Assault Missile Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Scourge Rage Heavy Assault Missile Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Scourge Rage Heavy Assault Missile Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Scourge Rage Heavy Assault Missile Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Scourge Rage Heavy Assault Missile Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Scourge Rage Heavy Assault Missile [empty high slot]

Medium Core Defense Field Purger I Medium Core Defense Field Purger I Medium Core Defense Field Purger I

Warrior II x5 Scourge Fury Heavy Missile x3500 </EFT>


Earning Loyalty Points (LP)

Level 4 Missions

To start completing level IV missions, you'll want to be able to fly a battleship or better in order to complete some missions in a decent amount of time, though most missions can be completed in a Drake.

Once you've achieved enough standings to get offers for level IVs, you've almost finished the standings grind. But you're only halfway done learning. Missions are not like anomalies. If you show up, shoot each wave until they stop coming, and go home, you are wasting valuable time and you are losing out on isk. Whether you're in a Drake, a Dominix, or a Typhoon, going in blind and killing everything is almost always a waste of your time.

The other rewards are less important. Think of them as a bonus. They are never worth trying to maximize over LP.

Even with Negotiations trained up, the isk rewards for doing missions aren't great. You're looking at like 4,000,000 isk tops. Now about the loot dropped on missions, use Mobile Tractor Units you will want to bring a few to your L4 system and drop them in every room, bookmark them and come back later to collect the juicy Faction Tags. Missions where you kill DED or Faction ships (Minmitar/Gallente/etc) drop tags that sell REALLY good don't lose out on this income source. 90% of the time you're not even going to get bounties (this is what really separates empire missioning from nullsec missioning). The money is in the LP.

Let me repeat that, just so you get it: the money is in the LP!

EVE-Survial.org Mission Reports


Blitzing

The doorway to this LP is your mission objective. So it behooves you to finish your missions as quickly as possible. The funny thing about missions is, sometimes you can run them faster in a small ship than in a battleship or T2/T3 ship.

If you haven't bookmarked EVE-Survival.org's mission reports already, do so now: EVE-Survival.org Mission Reports. This is your lifeblood. Read those mission reports. At the bottom on many of them you will see “Blitz.” This section is incredibly important: BLITZ EVERY MISSION. Even if you are lucky and your mission has rats with bounties. Blitz it.

Blitzing is basically what it sounds like: achieving the mission objectives as quickly as you possibly can, often at the expense of actually “doinitrite” by shooting all the rats. Some missions can be run in five minutes if you blitz them. Some missions will take you 1 or even 2 hours in a battleship with decent skills. Some missions give less rewards (like 2-3k LP w/o skills). Some give a lot more (like 5-6k LP). So it behooves you to figure out how to get those LP in as little time as possible.

For example, look at this section of the report on the mission "The Damsel in Distress":


Declining Missions

Some missions aren't blitzable, unfortunately. They have no shortcuts. Generally, these missions are the type with several deadspace pockets, each with several groups of rats, though some of these missions do have shortcuts. These missions can be declined, though you may want to reserve your decline option if you have a high dps, high tank ship option (such as a T3 or Command Ship) that can complete these missions fairly quickly.

Declining missions can be done once every four hours without any penalty. If you decline a mission more than once every four hours, you will take a fairly hefty negative bump to your standings with that agent and his corp. It is strongly recommended that you do not do this. The standings loss is quite significant. This loss has multiple effects: your lowered standings with the agent mean that completing his missions will give you diminished rewards. Also, you can actually hurt your standings enough that the agent won't offer you any more missions, and you'll have to go back to doing L3s until you grind your standings back.


Burner Missions

For a more complete understanding please check out the Burner Missions page.

Burner missions are a new type of level 4 security mission that were first introduced in the Hyperion expansion in frigate only form. The Mosaic expansion in April of 2015 introduced the cruiser version of these missions. Let me just say this, if your trying to earn LP and focus on that decline every single burner mission. Yes they reward you with really nice LP if you win, but normally you'll have to travel several systems to complete them and trust me when I say these missions ARE NO JOKE!!! You will get blown up lots, only serious people with money to spare attempt!!!

  • Burner Missions are 100% optional. There will be no standings penalty for turning down or failing these missions. Your friendly neighborhood security agent knows that not every capsuleer will have the equipment or skills to take on these missions and won’t be offended if you decline.
  • Frigate Burner Missions can only be completed in frigate-sized ships. The pirate Burners operate from bases protected by acceleration gates that only allow access for frigates. All types of frigates (Tech One, Tech Two and Faction) can enter the bases.
  • Cruiser Burner Missions allow frigates, destroyers, and cruisers of all types.
  • Burner Missions pit you against a single enemy NPC. This NPC is an extremely powerful frigate with stats based on those of a player flying a pirate frigate with officer/deadspace gear, pirate implants, and command links. All of these NPCs use warp disruption, and most of them use scramblers that turn off microwarpdrives the same way player scramblers do.

Right now EVE-Survival only has information on the frigate missions, see here for details on each. To read the Dev Blog on frigate missions see here.


TL;DR

  • LP is your main source of isk income running L4s.
  • Blitzing missions is the key to maximizing your income.
  • Decline missions that aren't blitzable, if possible to do so without damaging standings.
  • Running missions most efficiently will require several sizes and classes of ship.

Where?

List of some Nullsec Faction Agents:

Angel Cartel Faction Missions

Guristas Pirates

  • Unique Items:
    • Worm, Gila, and Rattlesnake Blueprints
  • L4 Security Agents Venal Region

Mordu's Legion Command

  • Unique Items:
    • Garmur, Orthrus and Barghest Blueprints
  • L4 Security Agents Pure Blind

Ship Fits

Use whichever Dominix fit suits you best.

Slightly better tank, less dps. <EFT> [Dominix, Mishun] Drone Damage Amplifier II Drone Damage Amplifier II Drone Damage Amplifier II Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II Damage Control II Large Armor Repairer II

Omnidirectional Tracking Link II, Optimal Range Script Omnidirectional Tracking Link II, Optimal Range Script Omnidirectional Tracking Link II, Optimal Range Script Sensor Booster II, Targeting Range Script Large Micro Jump Drive

Drone Link Augmentor II Drone Link Augmentor II Drone Link Augmentor II Improved Cloaking Device II Heavy Unstable Power Fluctuator I Civilian Gatling Autocannon, Civilian Autocannon Ammo

Large Auxiliary Nano Pump I Large Kinetic Armor Plate I Large Explosive Armor Plate I

Garde II x5 Bouncer II x5 Warrior II x5

Tracking Speed Script x3 Scan Resolution Script x1 Nanite Repair Paste x100 Mobile Tractor Unit x2 </EFT>

Better dps, slightly less tank. <EFT> [Dominix, L4 Runner] Large Armor Repairer II Reactive Armor Hardener Drone Damage Amplifier II Drone Damage Amplifier II Drone Damage Amplifier II Drone Damage Amplifier II Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II

Sensor Booster II, Targeting Range Script Large Micro Jump Drive Omnidirectional Tracking Link II, Optimal Range Script Omnidirectional Tracking Link II, Optimal Range Script Omnidirectional Tracking Link II, Optimal Range Script

Drone Link Augmentor II Drone Link Augmentor II Drone Link Augmentor II [empty high slot] [empty high slot] [empty high slot]

Large Drone Scope Chip I Large Drone Scope Chip I Large Drone Scope Chip I

Garde II x5 Warden II x5 Warden II x1

Mobile Tractor Unit x2 Mobile Depot x1 Improved Cloaking Device II x1 Tracking Speed Script x3 Scan Resolution Script x1 Nanite Repair Paste x100 </EFT>

<EFT> [Typhoon, L4 Missions] Ballistic Control System II Ballistic Control System II Ballistic Control System II Drone Damage Amplifier II Drone Damage Amplifier II Capacitor Flux Coil II Damage Control II

Large Micro Jump Drive Multispectrum Shield Hardener II Multispectrum Shield Hardener II Phased Weapon Navigation Array Generation Extron Caldari Navy Medium Shield Booster

Cruise Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Cruise Missile Cruise Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Cruise Missile Cruise Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Cruise Missile Cruise Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Cruise Missile Cruise Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Cruise Missile Cruise Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Cruise Missile [empty high slot]

Large Warhead Flare Catalyst II Large Warhead Rigor Catalyst II Large Warhead Rigor Catalyst II

Hobgoblin II x5 Curator II x4

Mobile Depot x1 Curator II x5 Garde II x5 Bouncer II x5 Improved Cloaking Device II </EFT>


Storyline Missions

Every 16 missions, an agent will send you a notification in your mail and journal, telling you that they need your help urgently. While it is not necessary to complete these missions (nor actually urgent), the offer will stay in your journal for 30 days at which point absolutely nothing will happen except you'll lose that offer. The offer will always come from one specific corporation in the faction you're working for, and you may have to travel a good distance to get to that agent, sometimes into even more dangerous territory. If you do manage to complete a storyline mission, some interesting things happen.

  • First of all is the obvious thing, the corporation that gave you the mission will like you a bit more for doing work for one of their agents. Other corporations in the faction however don't care, so you shouldn't see a change in your standings with them. The not so obvious benefit from completing storyline missions is that the faction as a whole will like you a lot more than they used to. Additionally, because you did a good job for the faction, other factions may also change their standing with you, depending on how they relate to the one you're working for.
  • If you can keep turning in storyline missions, you may also see one other benefit: if a corporation or agent has no relationship with you, they will defer to their faction standing to see what to do with you. If you can get your faction standing high enough, ALL the corporations in the faction will like you, giving you even more opportunities to swim in an ocean of LP.

Epic Arc Missions

You must use a small ship for these (smaller than a cruiser) due to acceleration gate restrictions. People have reported success using destroyers, assault frigates and interceptors. Faction frigates would work but the missions can occur in very dangerous space so it's probably not worth risking one. Regular t1 frigates are unlikely to have either enough tank or enough dps to handle the missions, but feel free to try it.

LP Cashing Out

Now you have all this juicy LP sitting around in your Journal and wish to turn it into isk. Well find a station owned by the corporation you have LP for and dock up. You will see a new button on the top right near undock button its called the Loyalty Store. Now don't just go buying any old items off the store you want to maximize what is worth the most isk currently. There are various LP helper websites which will help you discover the greatest isk/LP ratio you can achieve, however it is important to note that a good ratio doesn't matter if the item does not sell. Look for items with a high volume that you can unload your LP into which won't take forever to clear. Check out Fuzzwork's LP Store Cashout Database.

Your ability to cash out LP will depend upon the limitations of your logistics capabilities, either personal or corporate or hired. Blueprints take essentially no volume and functionally can be exported in a limitless manner to highsec via a interdiction nullified T3. Small quantities of modules can be moved in a similar fashion.

Larger volumes can be moved with a Blockade Runner, but by it's nature should not be trusted with high value goods. Jump freighter logistics are important for moving those. As Push X prices from a nullsec pocket are in the magnitude of a few hundred mill per trip, the value/volume must be good enough to be justify it.

Once in highsec, goods can be moved via public courier, always maintain a collateral above the value of the items.

The most important metric for cashing out LP is the volume traded, and you should not exceed the daily traded volume on any individual item.


Reference Materials

Useful Websites

Old Wiki Articles