Missions & Complexes

Do anyone have a good exploration fit for combat sites and DED complexes?

I'm only around 3 months old so i cannot fly any t3 cruisers yet.
infact i cannot fly T2 yet either so if anyone has a good T1 fit that would be great.

I have been doing relic and data sites since odyssey came out, and i must say i have been enjoying myself so far. I was thinking of going to null sec for more loot, but since i cant properly hack mainframes i probably wouldn't get much.

I was thinking combat exploration would be good change of pace, hence the topic of good exploration fits :p

Edit: i'm flying gallente ships and im using both blasters and rails.

Edited my post

I hear good things about the NVexor, but that's really neither a rail boat nor a blaster boat. And actually, that's kind of the trend with Gallente exploration: drones are usually the way to go.

If you can swing that, you can pretty easily get started in a plain Vexor and then choose to either step up to a Myrmidon or a NVexor. Eventually that would lead you to an Ishtar, which is a damn fine ship for exploring.

Edit: oh, and don't go to null in anything short of that Ishtar. You'll just end up disappointed that you can't run any of the sites. Try low sec instead -- and pick your rats carefully.

Yeah i have trained drones to V so a droneboat would probably work out great. But on the topic on ded plexes, is it worth getting a destroyer instead and doing the 2/10 complexes? or is the vexor the way to go ?

I would get an Imicus first and try to do the sites. You'll see how it goes for you. I have no clue what's your experience in handling drones, but if you're going to keep on that niche, then I guess it would be great to use Imicus for starters. I think it should handle the 1/10, 2/10. After an Imicus, the next one is drone destroyer.

Also you'll keep your scanning bonuses and you will get better and better in scanning and managing the drones and the ship.

EDIT: I did not track that much of DED sites because I could not be bothered before Odyssey have come but it seems they did not change anything much. Will see if I'll get some time to see how that rolls out. I think I've mentioned before, when I do the DED sites in HIGH-sec, I'm using Hawk and only in Serpentis space due to it's natural resists. And it has yet to fail me. It's not most efficient one, but it's sure fun by just running around and not getting hit by anything.

Gallente have their own special assault frigates : Ishkur for drones and Enyo for speed tank and blasters.

EDIT #2: I'll be AFK for a while now. If you want, you can contact me in game and then we can see what we will come up. Of course this thread will get updated just for the sake of completeness.

Anyway ... soon after, Voider has found a DED complex (unrated). Before you even start doing DED complexes, it's advised to read the content on the Internet. That's why, I've linked the given link which details the complex from start to the end. http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Serpentis_Watch. Unfortunately, I was already too late because he started the complex. Being the first complex as it is, he has managed to activate the additional spawn. It's not a bad thing since he has already kited them, but why having an extra effort when you can do it really easy and without stress?

We've cleared the first room and then we've learned one important thing. Although there are a lot of wrecks there, sometimes, it just doesn't pay off to clean them up. In case you really want to salvage and loot wrecks, then you select a wreck, right click on it and save location. Never loot as soon as you've cleaned the room since another person can come inside and then he can proceed in next room and take the kill on most important thing - the commander. Commander loot and wreck is what it's worth. Not to mention, escalation is pretty nice thing (especially if you get lucky).

So we proceed in the second room, and got ****-scared because of the major spawns. But, we handled that like the big guys and slapped those silly serpentis soldiers back to their home. Fortunately enough, the commander could not face the disgrace and has come to avenge the death of his main general. Unfortunately for him, he was not prepared and got stuffed with few rockets.

After we've killed Shadow Serpentis, we got an escalation "Jet-Set Hooligans". Then we've learned what does a 'Journal' mean and where you can locate the 'Expedition'. We've went through every escalation part and unfortunately to us, we came to a last part - the part which has lead us in the LOW-sec. And of course it has lead us in, for me, worst LOW-sec in game (Tama). I don't get it why was escalation part 18 jumps away, but it was.

I've never seen the ending stage of that escalation so I've decided to take an alt to scout me in, with my Hawk. Unfortunately, guess what was on a gate? Well, a gate camp of course. What did you expect? So, I got an alt in covert-ops inside of the LOW-sec. I created a safe spot in middle of space and have created a spot just above the gate (165 KM from it) in order to look at the gate. I didn't expect they'll move so fast, so we've done the following: he has left his Vexor in the HIGH-sec, and came inside with a Capsule. Then he has warped to the location of escalation, and I've followed with the covert-ops. I've saved the location and then have returned to a gate. The capsule has gone to safety of a HIGH-sec.

After few minutes, the Cynabal and other ships which Hawk was threatened by have left the gate. That was a window of opportunity where I sneaked my Hawk inside. It was a scary sight, seeing flashy Bhaalgorn, Tempest and few more overly-sized ships on a gate but it's not like they can lock a frigate.

I got in a final site, and I have thought that my Hawk can handle the Madcats which were on container, but boy was I wrong. They tanked my 256 DPS and I couldn't handle it. I've done a mistake here ... Knowing that would be too much damage for the Vexor, I should've just cleaned the room from DPS and then bring him inside in order to kill the Wildcats. But no, instead I was shooting like a douche-bag in hope that their repairing will stop. It did not. After few moments, the battleships have moved away and suddenly local was being flooded by typical 'You need X people to kill me. You're bad. BLA BLA'. Well, that was a sign that Vexor could probably get in. And yes, he did. Unfortunately, even with his DPS it didn't go well. We were not able to kill the cats, and he had to warp off because of heavy incoming damage. Then I've decided to clean the room, which did help out for a short moment because, unfortunately, the big spawn has come and we had to warp away because we were risking to lose ships against the scramming frigates and too big damage. I guess they've slapped us back :P!

So yeah, since we were powerless, I've decided to move back to Dodixie and have said that he should accompany me. I've said something from start ... sometimes, you get something, something you get everything and sometimes nothing. You have to live with that.

But what did we learn from this escalations:

- Never go in LOW-sec if you don't know what's ahead of you.

- Try to get eyes.

- And always read the guides which are put on the Internet. Of course, this part is not always true since guides may be outdated but they'll give you an overview of how things are working out (this does not apply to R&K video where they've done Incursion :D).

Damn. Where was someone like you when I was new. I learned half this **** on my own and by reading these forums

^^

That's really a great time. I know that I've been reading about EvE even before I've started so I was familiar with few stuff even before I decided to pay for my game since. It has seemed like a lot time investment, so I approached the game seriously. The experiences you can create from this game are marvelous. I like my every single experience which I've had, both in PvP and PvE content.

Thank you for sharing.

EDIT: I hope I'll have enough time to give it a try with all exploration ships and my fits, in order to post it either as video resource back with text, or just a text. I like Arbitrator and Pilgrim.

I would use sentries too. But can't we use them.
I would use an Ishtar too. But we can't use it.

He'll work his way through and get them eventually. Same goes for the Ishtar if he'll like it. I've played with the regular Vexor and have tried the DED 4/10 and had no issue what-so-ever, so I can guess the Vexor Navy Issue will do just the same, if not bit better because of tracking bonuses.

New players should do what they want to do and proceed as they want to do. He knows what he can do and now it's matter of taste and nothing else.

EDIT: Please read the whole thread in order to see that this is not generic loadout. It is something what is suited to his skills. He will grow. If you can add something to his topic about him wanting to do combat sites 3/10 and 4/10, please input your loadouts and thoughts.

EDIT #2: If you don't see Hammerheads (Medium Scout Drones), it does not mean they're not there. First you have to get used to pick your drones constantly and not leaving them behind. After that, you're ready for hammerheads ... And for those, I would maybe add drone tracking optimizers on mid powers. They'll deal enough damage to any DED 4/10 commander.

So there we go : ).

A future path into the DED sites and drone boats. If you can only post your fit here as well, so others who come to a thread would know what to eventually get (for completeness).

EDIT: Some extra tracking enhancer on mid is needed or? Would you use micro-warpdrive to go on distance first and why? Etc.