Mission-running guides

Hi, folks. I've been piddling around in Eve while I'm moving and don't have my multiboxing stuff setup. I'm enjoying running missions so far and am up to a Caracal missile boat doing the (I presume?) level 1 epic mission arc. Any links you would suggest for skill training, equipment suggestions, etc.? I haven't found any easily-navigated guides to mission running as a lot of the acronyms people use might as well be greek to me. I'm a complete noob in Eve inasmuch as I wouldn't know the difference between an "active tank" and a CNR if it hit me in the head. Some of it I'm figuring out but I'm suffering acronym overload something fierce.

I'm currently setup with:
Caracal
5x assault missile launchers (3x Flameburst + 2x Piranha)
2x Lg. Shield Extender I
2x Invuln. Field I
2x BCS I

So far, it's doing well in the level 1 stuff but I figure I might as well start learning the differences and recommended tracks/setups now while things are easy. ;) I'm up to about 3.5mil ISK so I've got some cash to change things around if it'll help.

Cheers,
Ugh

In EvE you really need to kind of plan ahead otherwise your skill training will be all over the place.

I haven't played EvE in a long time but there used to be an amazing skill training tool that hooked up with the EvE server and showed you which skill is training and allowed you to do different plans and play around with the priorities. EVEMON I think it was called.

There was another tool I used that did ship loadouts for you. So you pick the ship, add the mods you want, add your skills and it tells you whether you need CPU or Power Grid or other skills related to the modules or ship. Once you knew what you needed you could feed the skills into EVEMON and work out a skill order.

You also have to allow for some weapon skills too so you don't completely suck at DPS.

From a Caracal I would go -> Drake (battlecruiser) -> Raven (battleship)

Back when I was playing a passive tanked Drake was an amazing ship. I was caught by 2 pirates once and even though they locked me down completely they couldn't break my tank as it was all passive. You will need to find a good Drake loadout and put it in a tool that will tell you what skills you need and then you can plan on how and when to train the skills.

I don't know how the game evolved in the last year or two though, might have to go a completely different route.

From Caracal I went --> Vexor --> Ishtar --> lol interceptors --> ???

Stuff happens and I had a free year. I love the idea of the game, but I haven't really gotten to the point that I know what to do enough that I can sit down and play for a few hours. Besides doing agent missions over and over, which gets effing dull. I also failed to get my wife interested in it, which makes it a less likely candidate for time allocation unless I get really, really hooked somehow.

Oh, and I have enough skills to fly a Drake too, if not enough to be a "good" Drake pilot. They're still funny...you can damn near AFK many missions.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thinus

From a Caracal I would go -> Drake (battlecruiser) -> Raven (battleship)

Back when I was playing a passive tanked Drake was an amazing ship. I was caught by 2 pirates once and even though they locked me down completely they couldn't break my tank as it was all passive. You will need to find a good Drake loadout and put it in a tool that will tell you what skills you need and then you can plan on how and when to train the skills.

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That's the route I'd like to go for missions.

I guess I'm gonna have to go find out what exactly "passive tank" means in terms of modules/skills. I suspect it is large amounts of shield/cap regen/boost, but I'm sure there is more than one way to skin that cat. Learning the terminology is half the battle in finding the data online. :P

Cheers,
Ugh

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ughmahedhurtz

That's the route I'd like to go for missions.

I guess I'm gonna have to go find out what exactly "passive tank" means in terms of modules/skills. I suspect it is large amounts of shield/cap regen/boost, but I'm sure there is more than one way to skin that cat. Learning the terminology is half the battle in finding the data online. :P

Cheers,
Ugh

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Passive means you don't use capacitor. The trick is to get your shield HUGE by using Shield Extender modules and then to increase your passive shield regen rate. The regen rate is already a percentage formula based on the total size of your shield. And I think there are some rigs that boosts the regen rate and also some modules. You need to find a balance that works with minimum skills and then as your skills grow you can modify the loadout. Your Caracal fitting looks like a passive tank and you will be aiming for something similar in the Drake.

Active tanks are where you either use a shield booster that drains cap and boosts shield or you use an armor repairer that drains cap and repairs armor. Caldari ships suit shield boosting. Active tanking makes you vulnerable to cap drains but you can also use modules that will boost your shield very quickly but drain your cap quickly as well. Active tanking means micro managing your shield and cap constantly by activating and deactivating modules as required. Capacitor is king and you will need decent cap skills for shield boosting. If you can run your shield booster indefinitely then you have a perma tank but it will take a few named modules and good skills to reach this point.

It is a bit of a learning curve, find a discussion where they already did the math and get a basic loadout and then adapt it to minimize your skill training time. A lot of time in EvE is planning unfortunately.

I recommend EVEMON as an excellent app and also take a look at EFT (EVE Fitting Tool) for ship fitting. I think either EVEMON or EFT came with the ability to get rated ship fittings which make decent starting points.

EDIT: I don't know what the prices are like now but back when I was playing a Drake was 30-40mil with basic modules and double that with decent launchers and modules.

Passive: regen tanking or just having a crapton of EHP, no cap use
Active: repair tanking, lots of cap use

EVEMon and EFT use is basically mandatory.

And EVE has a ton of theory even before the stage where you get obsessed with the game, evidence me actually knowing this stuff when I'm still looking for my hook.

Something happened to the prices over the summer...plus Dominion is supposed to do a lot of resource tweaking and T2-related stuff. Weird part, T3 cruisers are suddenly in the 100s of millions instead of > 1b ISK. If they were worthwhile I could see flying one...the skill loss on death (if it's still there) is still bloody put-offish though.

First, train some learning skills if you have not. Get the 1x skill to at least 4 and the 3X skill to at least 3 in everything but charisma ASAP. (if you can't afford the 3x, wait on them but the sooner the better).

I will second (third?) EveMon. Just Dl it, and find a ship and add the skills you need to fly it. This will give you an idea of where to go. Since you are going Caldari - you will want Missiles and Shields. So just browse the market/evemon for Shield hardeners, repairers, and missile systems (look at the ships you want to fly and see where there bonuses are and look at those missiles/systems). Add the devices you see to evemon and train those skills to 3 or 4. Then look in the evemon skill lists and look under Shields and Missiles. Add the non-required skills that look good. I use gallente/amarr so don't know exactly which skills you want but any that increase ROF, damage, shield repair, etc.

Active shield tanking is probably your best bet as passive tanking is more skill intensive I believe. Just look up active shield tanking guides or go to battle clinic and look at loadouts of ships you want to fly (especially if labeled mission running or active shield etc.).

(btw a good way to get immersed in the variety of ships, styles of tanking, etc would be to watch Alliance Tournament VII on you tube in CCP's Channel. You will see many types of ships and sometimes the announcers explain different types of tanking. It is not focused on beginners, but you will pick up things as it goes along)

There's a thread with links to all the tools you need in this subforum:

http://www.dual-boxing.com/showthread.php?t=21126

Before you get intoo far I'd just like to say that EVE is not fun. I've tried it a few times and really gotten into the character building and planning aspects only to find that when I actually play the game its boring as hell.

Wait a few months and play Star Trek Online instead, I've seen some of that already and it looks to be much more fun than EVE. I can see EVE subscribers flocking to STO once it's going which means the only people left playing EVE will be the ones who have too much time and money invested in it. You don't want to be a new player when all the veteran players are hunting around for noobs to nuke.

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Originally Posted by RobinGBrown

I can see EVE subscribers flocking to STO

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I can't.

Look, it's not just the genre. EVE is tactical...it's not supposed to be a shoot 'em up.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RobinGBrown

There's a thread with links to all the tools you need in this subforum:

http://www.dual-boxing.com/showthread.php?t=21126

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Doh! Completely forgot to check the stickies. Thanks!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RobinGBrown

Before you get intoo far I'd just like to say that EVE is not fun. I've tried it a few times and really gotten into the character building and planning aspects only to find that when I actually play the game its boring as hell.

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I'm having fun playing it right now and that's really all that matters.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thinus

Passive means you don't use capacitor. The trick is to get your shield HUGE by using Shield Extender modules and then to increase your passive shield regen rate. The regen rate is already a percentage formula based on the total size of your shield. And I think there are some rigs that boosts the regen rate and also some modules. You need to find a balance that works with minimum skills and then as your skills grow you can modify the loadout. Your Caracal fitting looks like a passive tank and you will be aiming for something similar in the Drake.

[*SNIP*]

EDIT: I don't know what the prices are like now but back when I was playing a Drake was 30-40mil with basic modules and double that with decent launchers and modules.

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I'm finding more info now that I know what to search for. Looks like I was on the right track with skilling up all the shield upgrades/power grid/etc. for all the passive regen options. And drakes are listing for 29mil as of last night, so not too bad as I'm up to a bit over 6mil from a good weekend of playing (including all the upgrades to the Caracal I've been doing as I go.) I found a post with some math on optimizing passive shield regen, so my next step is figuring out where the sweet spot is for a relatively poor noob like me. EVEMon helped with some skill planning. Next up is finding EFT and figuring out some cheap builds.

I've been looking at combinations with extenders/relays + hardeners and I think the trouble was that I'm working with a relatively small ship. Most folks on the forums seem to be assuming everyone is in a Battlecruiser or higher, with 90% of the discussion revolving around Battleship fits. Those give you a lot more power grid and slots to work with.

Cheers,
Ugh

One point, battleships are way to effing slow if a smaller ship will do. Reason 1 that I don't spend more time in a Domi.

I ran two eve accounts before I ragequit.. 1 toon with 30+ million skill points ran my Marauder DPS/scavenger and another toon who only had maybe 5 million sp (1month or so of training) flew my tech2 Drake tank. I had more fun playing the tank just sitting there soaking everything. Here are the fittings I used and where I got the setup from. As it says below, I ran Lvl4 missions easily but obviously couldn't DPS for crap hence the Marauder. If you can train up your toon using evemon to fly the Drake below you can do most missions, albeit slowly, and really make money.

FYI I used to make 50million profit just buying CNR's (Caldari Navy Raven) at a major trade hub and flying it elsewhere for resale. I actually ended up selling (Legal for Eve's TOS) one my first toons for 6.x Billion isk ingame.


[Drake]
Beta Reactor Control: Shield Power Relay I
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II

Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Ballistic Deflection Field II
Ballistic Deflection Field II
Heat Dissipation Field II

'Arbalest' Heavy Missile Launcher, Scourge Heavy Missile
'Arbalest' Heavy Missile Launcher, Scourge Heavy Missile
'Arbalest' Heavy Missile Launcher, Scourge Heavy Missile
'Arbalest' Heavy Missile Launcher, Scourge Heavy Missile
'Arbalest' Heavy Missile Launcher, Scourge Heavy Missile
'Arbalest' Heavy Missile Launcher, Scourge Heavy Missile
'Arbalest' Heavy Missile Launcher, Scourge Heavy Missile
[empty high slot]

Core Defence Field Purger I
Core Defence Field Purger I
Core Defence Field Purger I

Hornet II x5

Yeah, it's EXPENSIVE. But, it works like a hot damn. I ran L4s in it for over a year.

No booster, just straight natural regeneration. The ship has 16000 shield points, and has a regen time of 408 seconds. The peak regen rate is almost precisely 100 points per second with absolutely no input. Combined with the Drake's natural resists plus the hardeners, I could quite literally go make coffee while there were a dozen battleship rats trying to kill me.

Pasted from <http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=369662&page=5>

The rpgnet link above is a forum I frequent. The rpgnet folks have guilds on the wow rp server Kirin tor but they also have a corp in Eve called VGO ..just go to the rpgnet chat channel and ask around.. They are very helpful to new folks and you don't have to join the corp.

Well, last night was interesting. I'm on the last set of missions in the L1 epic arc. My passive-tank Caracal can basically tank the Kritsan Parthus ship forever but I can't stay in range of him for my missiles to have any sustained effect. :P Getting outrun in a cruiser by a BC = lol. Going to have to go train jamming 1 and see if I can put a webifier on for that guy, assuming a webifier will last long enough for me to finish him off before my cap drains.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ughmahedhurtz

Well, last night was interesting. I'm on the last set of missions in the L1 epic arc. My passive-tank Caracal can basically tank the Kritsan Parthus ship forever but I can't stay in range of him for my missiles to have any sustained effect. :P Getting outrun in a cruiser by a BC = lol. Going to have to go train jamming 1 and see if I can put a webifier on for that guy, assuming a webifier will last long enough for me to finish him off before my cap drains.

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I understood every part of that. I hate having all this useless knowledge and having wasted so much time in EVE.

Grrr.

You'll need to train cap skills to get anywhere too. This is one reason why I gave up, it takes forever to train a character for anything serious. you need tanking skills, cap skills, ship skills, weapon skills, etc, etc. Some of those you have to train to 5 in order to get access to the useful ones.

Get EVEMon and plan out everything you need to fly a battleship with Tech 2 weapons - then go play another game while paying for 9 months of EVE. When you get back you'll still be years behind everyone else.

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Originally Posted by RobinGBrown

I understood every part of that. I hate having all this useless knowledge and having wasted so much time in EVE.

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Such a huge waste given that he's talking about stuff you can easily get to after a few hours of gameplay.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RobinGBrown

Get EVEMon and plan out everything you need to fly a battleship with Tech 2 weapons - then go play another game while paying for 9 months of EVE. When you get back you'll still be years behind everyone else.

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Putting more than a few tens of millions of SP on a single character is arguably a bad idea. You can skill up one character from now until forever, but you can only use so much stuff, and anything extra just drives your clone cost up when you die.

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Originally Posted by yaki

Such a huge waste given that he's talking about stuff you can easily get to after a few hours of gameplay.

Putting more than a few tens of millions of SP on a single character is arguably a bad idea. You can skill up one character from now until forever, but you can only use so much stuff, and anything extra just drives your clone cost up when you die.

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In my limited experience, I agree completely. Spending a few million working on a specialized guy for missions and one for mining, say, makes sense. I can't see spending all that time on just one guy. Especially since, as you noted, the epic L1 arc missions are pretty freakin easy and quick to get into.

After my first month of Eve, I was daunted by the skills that took weeks to train, too, but I was making the mistake of thinking that I needed a bigger ship as opposed to a broader or more specialized set of skills to be able to use the right tools for the job in a smaller ship. My Caracal was pretty stupid easy to get into and I've gone from having no skills further than halfway through frigates to having cruiser IV and level 3 skills on assault missiles, shields, caps, rigging, drones, EW, survey, etc. to allow me to basically permatank NPC BCs (one at a time) and missile them from 32k range with light missiles. Sure, I'm sorta broke :D but it's been a hella fun week and a half getting back into things.

I really think the biggest problem is how little the game guides you into proper skill training for noobs so people end up training skills all over the place and then getting pissed when the skills they want are not only expensive but take a week to go from 1-5. Having EVEMON available to help plan stuff is HUGE. Most folks see the Tech 2 stuff and go "DAMN. Requires L5 skills which will take me MONTHS." When really, to get good Tech 1 stuff only takes about a day each to go from skill 1-4, meaning you can be into a battlecruiser in a couple weeks if you manage your money and skills right.

At least, it's been my experience, anyway. :P