Missions & Complexes

After a lengthy absence from EVE I've returned to find Empire L4 missioning immensely more profitable. While I don't think it can match the peak sustained SoE blitz/Burner method, Empire hubs allow you to utilize your existing standings and get into this for far less investment into specialized ships and implants.

Something "beefier" like Marauders are generally recommended as it allows for more margin of error. I personally like the Kronos because I'm going through one of my love-hate phases with missiles and you can obtain awesome performance with just off-the-shelf T2 components (insane if you spring for a handful of Faction and Deadspace modules). When it comes to Marauders you really can't go wrong with any of them, so I'll leave the 'great Marauder debate' to those more inclined (it's the Kronos).

In my first session back I averaged well over 125m ISK/hour in salvage, bounties and LP conversion utilizing a single Marauder (no Burner missions) and no alts with the potential to go well above that (and I did) if you don't mind destroying opposing Empire standings with certain missions (I don't). Not bad for relatively safe 0.6 space within a few jumps of a major trading hub. A good MTU is a must (the 'Packrat' is reasonably priced), but beyond that you only really need the desire.

Well, risk vs. reward... I don't really have any desire to venture into WH or null-sec space, and I'm comfortable with my low to no-risk 125m-200m ISK/hour income. I don't need to PLEX my account every month, and I basically have everything I want - so there's nothing burning a hole in my wallet. The only consumable I need to replace is dirt-cheap T2 ammunition, and I already have a small fleet of ships to perform various mission-related errands. In essence, life is good.

There, happy? The variance is largely determined by how motivated or lazy I am... The average forum trolls/hour ratio has certainly increased in my absence, though.

There were a lot of Mac-related stability issues that made it hard to play at times, so I just cocooned up for a while, remapped and put some really tedious skills on to train while I lay dormant. I've popped in every now and then with the updates to pickup some cool goodies (Kronos Serpentis and the Cold Iron SKINs), but as my account was subbed for 2 years I wasn't really hard-pressed for ISK (you eventually get to a point where your needs and wants in EVE are covered for the most part).

I've got a Citadel hanging out in high-sec that I was sure would've been probed down and destroyed by now, but I don't think these are quite as appealing once they online.

I was really hoping for some new PvE content, but aside from the occasional event there really hasn't been much. The new NPC mining ops seem interesting, but for those of us who've worked our tail off to try and retain some decent standings I suspect it doesn't really hold a lot of appeal in its present incarnation.

So it's back to semi-occasional L4s for me. I'm running a new Kronos fit that delivers over 1300 DPS to 65km, aligns in just over 7 seconds with a 4.17 AU/s warp speed and tanks L4s with just a T2 damage control. Plus it comes in black now.

Thanks for the vote of support - I'm sure you'll see more of me. ;)

Not necessarily, although it makes it a lot easier to salvage on the go and then you don't need to drop multiple MTUs or bookmark to return later. I also like the additional 'oops' component with Marauders. The Kronos is one of the few examples where a MJD is indispensable with a blaster fit, and there are quite a few missions that lend themselves well to its features.

The main thing I like about Marauders is that they're the best 'jack of all' trades. They can clear, they can blitz and they can salvage without any extensive modification required to achieve all three. My Kronos aligns in just over 7 seconds, warps the 0-1 jumps for the vast majority of missions @4.17 AU/s, tanks anything and has over 1000m3 of cargo space for salvaging. I paired Genolutions with my Kronos to give it an overall performance boost (buffer, capacitor and maneuverability) because they're far cheaper than an Ascendancy set and I'm not really going to gain much from an additional 1-1.5 AU/s warp speed that I won't gain from a faster align, jump and stop time.

I see a lot of 'popular' Rattlesnake (etc.) fits in the 1600 DPS range, but these are almost always paper tigers and cannot hold a candle to any Marauder. Whatever might be gained by having a dedicated salvage ship is almost always lost in potential ISK/hour. Not too mention that with numerous Alphas now roaming about you really don't want to be leaving millions in salvage and MTUs floating around.

There are various missions worth blitzing solely for the LP, completing for the implants or clearing for the salvage. Some missions are now inherently more valuable than others for the aforementioned tags and salvage that were previously undervalued. Team Burners are still a no-brainer and relatively zero risk, so I look at those as icing on the cake and a welcome distraction. And there are still Factions outside of the SoE that have a decent LP/conversion rate (you just have to do some research and planning).

I'm still on the fence with Citadels. I think there were some missed opportunities (namely making them too hard to attack for small groups), a lack of rewards (asset safety) and the fact that any Joe Blow can deploy one so there are literally dozens in every system now. They're great for extending free repairs to missioners, but I haven't really seen a benefit with respect to trade hubs, resupply and reprocessing (maybe this is where the industrial arrays come into play). Jita still seems to be the major trade hub, so beyond lining the pockets of the 0.1% in Perimeter on PLEX trades I'm not really sure this has impacted the salvage market. I still sell most of my loot to market orders, so I guess I'm potentially losing out with the higher taxes but I'm generally to apathetic to care.

The vast majority of L4 missions (including the Empire variants) can certainly be done with a CNR, Rattlesnake, etc. You just have to be aware of the composition of NPC forces and adjust your fits accordingly. MJDs are a great GTFO option and highly recommended for newer players. The MTU/bookmark/Noxtis is a tried and true approach, although with more Alphas running around I wouldn't leave these unattended as much as they may have been in the past.

I can't say that SoE LP taking a hit comes as a great surprise as it was being overfarmed back when I was still fairly active. I always found SoE hubs to be a major gank magnet and we regularly observed some very nice fits falling prey.

Once you get into Marauders it becomes about efficiency and maximizing ISK/hour because they open up the potential to do everything with a single ship: blitz, clear and salvage. There are Faction ships that can do it slightly faster, but Marauders are basically idiot-proof and allow you to do other things... like read and respond to forums, for example.

It's not about the ISK, it's about the most efficient way of procuring it. Many of us that run L4s have already subbed or PLEXed our account, so it's not really about a means to an ends but the ultimate missioni experience. At one point this might have been with low-sec L5s, but with the rat changes they're not really viable as a solo option.

Alphas can't really run L4s or battleships anyway...

Stop teasing us Arthur, link the Kronos fit. I've recently switched from missiles to guns, huge difference on small weapon systems. I wonder how is it on bigger ones.