Ships & Modules

If you're running missions for Amarr agents, odds are you're fighting Sansha or Blood Raiders. The former tracking disrupt, the latter neutralize capacitor. It sounds scary, but when you figure out what to shoot first (ie the EWAR bad guys first), it's really not much to worry about in most cases.

That said, lasers are awesome and if you want to continue with lasers (I recommend them because they're lasers and lasers are awesome), an Apoc is probably the safest choice - strap on some beam lasers, a MJD and a bit of tank and there you go. There are good arguments for efficiency (especially time efficiency) to using different ships - like the Dominix - though. A Domi mission more or less goes like so: Warp in, MJD, drop drones, agress a bad guy, go make a cup of tea, when every NPC is dead move on to the next room, MJD, drop drones, agress, drink tea, repeat until mission's done.

As for the "I want to skill towards PVP relevant skills/ships" - pretty much anything that deals any sort of damage is PVP ready. Lasers work well on the Slicer, Crusader and NOmen, for example. Personal preference.

Dominix seems like an interesting alternative. Especially due to the fact, that Drones Lv5 is going to be skilled anyway.
I imagine PvE can get quickly repetitive. So MJD'ing out, dropping a mobile tractor & sentries and the returning from something like reading or watching a movie would be an ideal scenario. But I've read, that recently the NPC aggro management got changed and drones have a higher chance of being targeted and destroyed. So being in pure afk mode isn't possible anymore, or is it?



With PvP skill I meant areas like navigation, thermodynamics, frig & cruiser Lv5, or T2 for small and medium energy weapons. Things which didn't have a high prio for me so far in terms of PvE.



From what I've read, the Paladin is an awesome ship and certainly a long time goal in case I decide to go the Pew Pew route. My biggest worry was the time dedication required in skilling up to heavy energy weapons T2 (and potential waste of time, in case they suck vs non-BR & non-Sansha). From what I've read pulse without scorch is pretty horrible. But a few minutes ago I saw to my reassurance a YT-vid where someone with pretty low skills and low dps (500) was doing "Angel Extravaganza" in an Apoc with T1 beams, and it looked pretty smooth. So it doesn't seem to be that bad after all.

Drones are targeted pretty frequently, but at the sort of ranges Sentries can attack things from, that isn't much of a problem. And you can fit remote reppers to keep any Sentry that's taking aggro healthy.

Dropping Sentries and an MTU and going AFK will get you killed. Griefers attack your MTU to get suspect status, your drones engage them, and they can kill you safely without CONCORD interference. And all of this can happen without you knowing.

So, basically, never go AFK.

Thx for the responses, will stick with Amarr.

Sorry to go off topic, but which corp would you recommend Damien? I started with Amarr Navy but I it seems now this was a bad choice, since they have only single agents in the same system at Lv4. Sucks if you have to decline one mission. I heard the Theological Council is a legit choice, since there are two within the Sasoutikh system.

Domi and Raven are the more semi afk options.

If you fly amarr you should be at the controls all the time and chose a setup tight on cap and tank so you spend most of the slots for dps and range. Amarr hulls, proper flown and skilled beat any kind of alternative in Amarr space, can be even quite fast against angels(because targets will be in conflag range all the time and high tracking at medium range is fairly optimal to dps them down quick during approaching) and only suck vs Guristas(damn high EM resists). A apoc is a excellent starter ship, a proper skilled and fitted navy Apoc can rival the macharial(by most considered as best mission ship) for the most part, by combining 1200 dps at 30km, hitting out to 100km with ease and moving at a 1100m/s bringing you in max dps range in no time and let you ignore tracking disruption nearly completely because range will never be a issue for you. Nightmare and Paladin are also fairly good options and pushing a huge amount of dps at medium range.

Well, the Armageddon is the Amarr Dominix, so no problem there.


But are drone based ships realy capable of flying AFK since the AI changes? I have frequently NPC changing the target, especialy Gurista and Mercenary.

Have you ever flown a mission in gallente or caldari space?

Amarr E-War is at least counterable with standard PvE Fitts, no one is going for 3 ECCM Modules against gurista jamming or multiple sensor booster against serpentis. Both, cap drain as well as tracking disrupt, have counter measures that you already use for normal missionrunning.

I'd agree to some extent, but (and it's a large but) when lasers shine, they really shine. (I started out with Minmatar battleships, switched to Caldari, then trained Amarr. Amarr was the first I decided to get Tech II weapons & BS level 5 for.)

Nightmares/Paladins with tachs can simply clear out certain missions far faster than their competitors. With selective mission choice you can make insane amounts of ISK. E-War can be a pain on the Nightmare, though.

To be fair, Marauders can ignore it most of the time. Bastion makes you immune for a reason.