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Question on Current state of looting and salvaging, and ship choice
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Antonio Steele
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#1 - 2015-01-18 19:26:16 UTC  |  Edited by: Antonio Steele
I've been away a few months now. It seems I am seeing people talking about looting and salvaging not being all that worth it any more. I always did find sorting all my loot between stuff to sell and stuff to scrap rather tiresome, and I finally discovered how to best use my LP for making isk as well.


Currently I fly a Machariel with T2 Autocannons coupled with heavy drones and very good drone skills. I am debating between staying in the Machariel, or training for a Vargur. I would hate to spend a month training Gallente BS V for the Machariel only to end up getting a Vargur instead.

I am also toying with the idea of flying a tengu if I forgo looting and salvaging. I was planning on flying one once upon a time, and as such have caldari cruisers V, but changed my mind after getting all the subsystem skills to 3, and I haven't trained the strategic cruiser skill yet. I also have mediocre missile skills that would need to be polished up. Only level 3 for heavy and HAM missile skills and 3's and 4's for the other support skills.

I figure I should also mention that I have all racial BS skills to 4, large hybrids and lasers to 3, cruise missles to 4, 4's and 5's for gunnery support skills, and drone skill are probably the best fleshed out offense skill set (I have a love/hate relationship with drone boats). I have almost perfect armor and shield tanking skills (just lacking in passive specific resist boost skills and ones that are not a big deal (like shield upgrades nAlso I have all racial BC skills to 5 in-case anyone thinks a Command ship would be a good idea.

I also would like to add that I hate parking my ship way out far away from my enemies and sniping, so camper setups (especially sentry boats) are out.

If anyone has other ships to recommend I'm open to suggestions.

I know a lot of this might be subjective to personal preference, but I would like to hear about it anyway.
Tsukino Stareine
Garoun Investment Bank
Gallente Federation
#2 - 2015-01-18 20:47:35 UTC
Honestly, level 4 missioning in high sec has had it's income neutered so much it's almost a waste of time these days.

Only way to get some decent money through missioning now is by getting maxed connections and blitzing level 4s for pirate factions

Art of Explosions
Tsukino Stareine
Garoun Investment Bank
Gallente Federation
#3 - 2015-01-18 20:47:52 UTC
these forums..

Art of Explosions
Novah Soul
#4 - 2015-01-19 06:45:16 UTC
After some experience you will learn which missions are worth the extra time to loot and salvage. In all honesty, there really is only a handful I can think of offhand, and that is really dependent on where you mission, like "World's Collide," the Angel/Sansha one is more profitable, whereas the Serp/Gurista one is only marginally worth doing, and that is just the serp pocket.

As far as Marauders go, even if you only occasionally loot and such, I find them a good benefit for it (large cargo hold, MTU, and a flight of salvage drones, yay!) As far as which one? Really a matter of preference and playstyle. I'm partial to the Paladin and Golem. Both are relatively lazy with their own pros/cons.

From my understanding the other 2 are lackluster. Kronos preforms well as an in-your-face style but suffers at range compared to the others, and the Vargur, from what I've heard, really only excels if you are facing Angel missions a good bit.

Hope my 2 isk worth of opinion was helpful. Blink

A man is known by the quality of his friends. - Lex Luthor
Antonio Steele
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#5 - 2015-01-19 06:55:03 UTC
Novah Soul wrote:
After some experience you will learn which missions are worth the extra time to loot and salvage. In all honesty, there really is only a handful I can think of offhand, and that is really dependent on where you mission, like "World's Collide," the Angel/Sansha one is more profitable, whereas the Serp/Gurista one is only marginally worth doing, and that is just the serp pocket.

As far as Marauders go, even if you only occasionally loot and such, I find them a good benefit for it (large cargo hold, MTU, and a flight of salvage drones, yay!) As far as which one? Really a matter of preference and playstyle. I'm partial to the Paladin and Golem. Both are relatively lazy with their own pros/cons.

From my understanding the other 2 are lackluster. Kronos preforms well as an in-your-face style but suffers at range compared to the others, and the Vargur, from what I've heard, really only excels if you are facing Angel missions a good bit.

Hope my 2 isk worth of opinion was helpful. Blink



LOL I've actually been doing missions off and on for 2 years with this character, yet never thought to gauge which ones give better loot. I should probably think about that more. I mission in Minmatar space, so I face a lot of angels.

I had thought of using a vargur with a MJD and AC's, and actually jumping into the thick of things rather than away from enemies, then turning bastion mode on and laying waste to everything in range. Might be fun.

I've been reading more about using tengus these days for L4's, and I think I should steer clear for now. I might look at T3 cruisers once they get their rebalance pass.

Also, I do realize that a lot of the boats that park at long range and snipe are very efficient, but I've tried them and found them very boring. An efficient ship isn't all that great for me if I don't mission as often and instead BS in corp chat because missioning was making me weary. The Mach has remedied that, but I can't help but wonder what else there is to fly.

I doubt I'll be moving into null sec or PVP in general anytime soon. I live at home while going to college and my mother is having back surgery in 2 days and will be layed up for 6 months to a year. If she needs help I'll need to be able to get safe in 5 minutes or less ideally, and getting caught in a pvp situation would not work so well if I get called for help.
Little Kicks
Republic Military School
Minmatar Republic
#6 - 2015-01-19 17:19:10 UTC
Quote:
I had thought of using a vargur with a MJD and AC's, and actually jumping into the thick of things rather than away from enemies, then turning bastion mode on and laying waste to everything in range. Might be fun.


I did the Mach --> Vargur jump a month or two ago, and I love it. With the mobile structures and bastion mode, a new playstyle opens up. In the Mach I'm always burning away from DPS or chasing down BS to get in range. Not anymore.

[Vargur, SquatMaster]
Damage Control II
Capacitor Flux Coil II
Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizer
Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizer
Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizer

Large Micro Jump Drive
Phased Weapon Navigation Array Generation Extron
Tracking Computer II
Tracking Computer II
Gistum B-Type Adaptive Invulnerability Field
X-Large Shield Booster II

800mm Repeating Cannon II
800mm Repeating Cannon II
800mm Repeating Cannon II
800mm Repeating Cannon II
Bastion Module I
Small Tractor Beam II
Salvager I
Salvager I

Large Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer II
Large Anti-Kinetic Screen Reinforcer II

Warrior II x5
Salvage Drone I x5
Acolyte I x5

This is my standard setup. Omni tanked in bastion is 73% EM and 85% EXPL. Falloff within 72km (optimal range scripts). I change my fittings once in the room, though. Once I've assessed how long I'll be in the room (and completed any LMJD positioning). I squat down in bastion and drop a Mobile Depot and MTU. Start your DPS grinder, and once your Depot is online, swap out your LMJD for another painter. I keep all my spare mods in a cargo container to keep them organized. (sensor boosters, AB, MWD, webs, cap chargers, gyro, TE, salvagers, tractors, whatever).

I love geting AE4. In the bonus room I jump right into the fray, bastion up, and gank my way out. I'll usually trade my TCs for EM and EXP shield amps before I warp in, and then adjust as it progresses.

For drones, I keep Scouts to chase down frigs in close. The acolytes are in case the drone agro gets bad. The salvage drones work faster than the MTU, so you've gotta time it right to stay efficient. Use TP and webs to help the drones out. You can even pop the frigs that orbit around 14km with the Fed Navy Web. (they stop to change course when initially webbed...)

For mission completion time, keep on eye on the bastion and turn it off when you're almost done. Nothing sucks more than sitting there salvaging small wrecks while you wait for the bastion timer to finish.

Anyway, while I'm not zooming around the site like a Mach, I still keep busy during the mission. Swapping out mods onl the fly really opens up gameplay, while the MTU does all the tedius work. I don't have a problem with non-angel missions. I prefer Angels (their salvage seems better, and loot is ok), but with your omni tank and massive gank, the only station refit is for ammo.

I miss the warp speed of the Mach. And I had to learn to leave behind medium wrecks, and to sort the loot on isk density. But I haven't gone back. It didn't take long to get the Maruader LV 4, so if you regret it you won't lose too much time. If you are straight blitzing missions, the Mach might be faster. But I like to clean up a little and I don't really think in terms of isk/hr. (though I do skip the small wrecks..). Good luck.
gulftobay
Mesotopia
#7 - 2015-01-19 21:41:20 UTC
Although a bit dated, you may find this guide helpful in regards to your question:

Jesters Trek Level IV Mission Running