Missions & Complexes

I'm currently LV4 missioning with a Vargur, i found that dropping a MTU and letting it do the work may be more profitable than having a salvaging alt following you gate by gate, is it only a impression or can it be a viable way of maximizing revenues?

It used to be viable but the recent loot nerf and reprocessing nerf obviously has an effect. There is no one answer it will depend on your skills and also who you mission for (ISK/LP is relevant as is what sort of loot the local rats drop)

Best bet is run an experiment:

1) do some missions with a salvage alt and tally ISK/Hour

2) run the same missions with your alt flying a logi/bomber/ship-of-choice and semi blitz ignoring salvage then tally ISK/Hour


Compare 1 and 2 and see which is better at your skill levels for your corp. If your ISK/LP ratio is high and local rats are loot poor a second ship in mission may be a better option.

Also remember there are loot collecting corps that will do it for you for a cut of the loot.

We don't know how fast you run missions, which factions you're shooting at, or your LP conversion rate. Some people do AE4 with bonus in 45 minutes, and some do it in 90 or more. You will really have to time yourself and count the loot, with and without the alt.

If you are using an alt in a second account, remember that it could be running missions instead so you also need to compare a) running mission with main, b) running mission with main and salvage alt, c) running two missions at once, d) using main and alt to shoot rats in the same mission.

Really, this question is stupidly complex and you're going to have to determine the answer experimentally.

edit: For myself personally, I use a single account with a Golem, I launch MTU and Salvage drones on entering the mission, kill everything and leave after no targets remain. I don't wait for the MTU/drones to complete cleanup. I get a sustainable conversion rate of 1750 LP per ISK which I could maintain for over 90K LP per day (Yes I know someone wil say they get 3,000+ ISK/LP in high sec but it won't work for 90K points per day).

Approximately a quarter of my mission income would come from salvaging, if I was to do the salvaging myself. Salvaging costs me time, so when I can complete a mission in under 20 minutes I would need to finish the salvaging in under five minutes otherwise that time salvaging becomes worth less than simply contracting the salvaging to someone else or even just forgetting the salvage altogether.

I have alts on different accounts. I do not use them for salvaging my missions because they make more ISK/hr hauling stuff to market or running missions (if I run two missioning characters in parallel I end up making 50% more ISK/hr, due to loss in efficiency thanks to my inadequate human brain and fingers).

If you have the alt already and you want to use it for salvaging, go for it. A Noctis or Nereus can be configured to "AFK" salvage using drones and an MTU, for those who prefer just flying the one missioning character.

Even a command ship can handle "AFK" salvaging with an MTU, assuming the missioning character is doing the looting. So you can run higher DPS & lower tank on the missioning boat, boost the tank with the command ship, and even have a "get put of gaol free" card by ensuring that the command ship has some capacity for remote repairs and shooting elite frigates.

Just be sure to fit some buffer (armor plates or shield extenders or bulkheads) so the suicide gankers don't have an easy target.

meh, lately I've been declining Enemies abound just because I feel like I have to loot it, and its what 100m+/hour in loot?

looting just annoys me at this point

I've found best practice to drop MTU or number of them and loot\salvage while I'm doing the mission. saves time and doesn't interfere with me shooting stuff.

If you have two monitors and can easily run an alt, it would be worth the extra isk. However, if you don't currently have a salvage alt and have to take time to train it, I would say its not worth it. But if you have a lazy salvage alt, then put it to work.

There are ways around the 48 km. Like fitting a MWD and burn in position to tractor everything and if theres anything outside of range after that, just aggro it and kill the rest while they close in. 3 tractors to that will make your missions completion times the same as without salvaging anything

Salvage alt are history.
Salvage nerf + reprocessing nerf = retired salvage alts

The salvaging alt would be better put in another mission boat to allow you to complete missions even faster, you can just contract all the loot to ProSynergy to salvage/loot for you so you get a cut of the loot with 0 effort. The second combat character will make you far more money than a salvaging alt.