Missions & Complexes

So, a little break from WH space. I was wondering if COSMOS missions and Epic Arcs worth doing (in terms of ISK) compared to level 4s. And I have no idea about complexes. I just know that there are two types, those that require scanning and those that are warpable via a beacon.

Any insight would be appreciated, thanks.

List of rewards even: http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/COSMOS_constellation

Epics: http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Epic_mission_arcs

IIRC, the Caldari Epic Arc was the only one worth running of the four major faction arcs in terms of ISK gained vs. time spent. By the end of it you can expect to have earned close to 1bil ISK, though you may need to spend some ISK for some of the tags you'll need - unless you don't mind farming the tags from static complexes.

At most you'll need a decently tanked T1 battleship or, better yet, a T3. A few of the missions take you into a lowsec area of Caldari space that is camped by pirates who are well aware of the areas significance as a COSMOS mission hub, You'll also need a T1 industrial (can be easily purchased in the area when you need it) and a Covops or other cloaked ship for a brief run into Nullsec.

In regards to PLEXing, and despite what Lordfiend claims, it is best done wherever you feel most comfortable. Highsec PLEXes (the DED variety that need to be scanned down) randomly drop Deadspace loot with value ranging from only a few million, up to and over 1bil ISK. Lowsec PLEXes are very similar, though with far less competition, a slightly higher degree of difficulty as well as slightly increased value of potential drops. Nullsec really requires you to have access to local stations as you'll want to travel cloaked, but you'll not likely want to run the sites with a cloak (especially if you're in a T3). Also, High and Lowsec let you avoid the Logistical hassle that Nullsec can be unless you're part of an entity which has already established themselves in Null.

I can answer for the angel cartel epic arc. The rewards from this series include 1 domination target painter and a 1 run cynabal blueprint copy. Plus bounties from the missions in the range of 40-50 million. If you check the price of the faction target painter on contracts and a cynabal on the market, you can see that the payout is pretty good for a series of missionis that take less than one day to complete. For the time it can take, I think this beats level 4 missions. (Although I thought that wormholes were the most lucrative areas except for a technitium moon collection). The downside is that the pirate arcs are in 0.0, so bubble camps can be a big problem, and not paying attention or staying awake can have a bad outcome if your mission gets probed down. The angel arc can be done in a stealth bomber except for the final mission. T2 frigates can enter the mission areas (assault frigates, interceptors) but no cloaky tengus. As referenced in an earlier reply, there is a guide/collection of bookmarks available for purchase to help with navigating the hazards.

If you make the right choice for the caldari faction arc, the reward is a hyosuda (I know that is spelled wrong) mobile laboratory, check contracts for mobile laboratory and the reward will show up there. One of the minmatar faction arc choices gives out RSS scanning probes which are a touch better than sisters' probes, so those might be worth your time. The faction epic arcs are much more time consuming than the angel arc, and my impression is that the faction arc combat missions are more difficult than level 4 missions (certainly doable, but requiring more warpouts before finishing).

Just pick the cosmos missions that give out decent rewards; michi and akemon implants plus various storyline cloaks.

Ok, Pirate arcs are worth your time, rest is not, that's if you look at isk only.