Missions & Complexes

Glad you liked the arc :) That's a cool guide you put together! Thanks for sharing!

Well done Omnicide Incarnate, and the pictures are a very nice touch.

Having started several guides and the like myself, I am impressed at your having finished this one. Great stuff, you have inspired me to get back on the job with the guides I'm building.



Jowen Datloran has published a number of epic arc guides, including the guristas and angels pirate arcs. They're in PDF format on his lorebook site (http://lorebook.eve-inspiracy.com/).

The Datloran guides include very good 'overview' diagrams showing the layout and inter-relationships between the mission arms. They also include the text of all the agent messages and lists of the various NPC ships you meet. They also include a little how-to info and tips on mission completion, but not as much as you have.



I agree. I enjoy those arcs, and wish I could repeat more often than three monthly. I run them in tandem, with a main and alt both running them, and use a wolf for the encounter missions with the other character in a cheetah providing scouting support and EW / repping if needed.

The PvP activity in the guristas mission area is not as heavy as you will meet when you take the angels arc. I regularly find myself muttering "Curse never sleeps" while I potter around trying to complete the angels missions. The nullsec access routes are similar with hisec / lowsec and lowsec / nullsec interface systems often very active and camped, but much of the rest of the routes fairly quiet until you get to the pirates' NPC-nullsec regions. The angels arc has a shorter nullsec access route though, 4 jumps from Doril, if you choose that route.



Your guide is tidy, succinct, and an easy read. It does not, however, cover the three starter agents and getting to the Venal guristas agents from each of them. You only cover the Caldari-agent access route.

I am almost finished my angels epic arc guide, and am working on my guristas version at this very moment [/me waves from H-PA29]. These are larger and more complex pieces of work, but are intended for sale ingame rather than as a freebie. My efforts may be a flop, but I figure there's no harm in trying. I'm planning to offer a full set of bookmarks (safespots, gate and station approach points, agents, station exit instawarps etc) for every route you take during the arc (from the three agents and within Curse) along with an ingame 'guide' (using bookmark comment sections) as well as the out-of-game PDF guide.

If you decide to run the angels apic arc, and have standings to access the first agent, give me a call ingame (or oog email substantia.nigra.eve1@gmail.com) and I'll give you a bookmark set and a copy of the (draft) manual ... both to make it easier for you and so you can be my first test 'customer' :-)

As an example, here's a copy of the access routes outline diagram from the draft guristas arc guide.

Nice work.

Not as objective in the layout, if I may say so, but reading about your personal experiences is also far more enjoyable. Of course, you only describe one path through the arc but maybe the others will be added later on?

At least mentioning the other starter agents for the arc would be highly recommended.

Btw. register yourself as user on eve-files and upload through your account. It is easy and free and you can then delete files at will. Also, if you delete a file and upload a new version with the exact same name all external links will point to the new version.

About how much tank/gank is required to run these missions? I was EFTing and I can get 165 DPS out of a Rannis (203 with Void), but it only has about a 33DPS omni tank in EFT (though it can be cap-stable with MWD off if I have 2x CCC). Would that be sufficient for running the missions or is there more tank/gank needed? It'd be nice to know ballpark numbers of what to shoot for with those.

The initial story for the Guristas epic arc was actually written by a freelance writer, though I heavily edited and developed it. Together with some of the other content designers (namely CCP Bettik and CCP Gilsev, if I remember correctly), we forged the Guristas arc into what it is today. It was fun to make, and hopefully fun to play :)

Hopefully we can finish the rest of the pirate arcs sometime. Unfortunately, that's not my call. But it would be nice :D Thanks for your blessing, though. I'll let my bosses know we have your permission.

Thanks for the info. I went and tossed your fit and mine into EFT and loaded the All Vs on both of them and it looks like my fit does about 20 DPS more with equivalent ammos (CN Antimatter vs IN Multi, etc). Also, I have good drone skills and two Hobgoblin 2s that can do 34 DPS while I orbit at range (might be slow, but it'll make kiting for a while while I take out some of their DPS easier). And I trade 10 DPS peak tank for a tank that I can run for longer (and permarun with the MWD off).

And it might be a ways out there, but I'm not afraid of 0.0. Besides, since I already have the DED mods I'll use (Coreli C-Type rep and MWD), the entire fit will only cost me about 12-15M or so, which is nothing (and maybe 30M total). If I switch to a clone before heading out and I die, I'll just get someone to pod me to shortcut back home, lol.

The only thing I'm still trying to figure out is if it'd be better to run with a C-Type ANP or a DC2 (especially given the massive hull on the Rannis. The ANP gives me 7% (Exp) to 3% (EMP/Kin) better resist and 3 DPS better omni tank, but only has 2/3 the total EHP (3800 with DC2 and 2500 with ANP).

• >[Omnicide Incarnate]Getting much better responses than I expected!

You’ve made a genuine effort to do something useful, and you’ve offered it up for others.

Usually when ppl do that they get genuine, helpful, and interested responses … and not too many ego-tankers or trollers.

I guess it’s just a manifestation of the old “Reap what you sow” parable (or is it metaphor, or whatever).

• >[Omnicide Incarnate] @Substantia Nigra: Wow! I don't blame you for not completing the guides you have attempted before if you are giving that much attention to detail. I simply wrote down everything that happened as I was doing the missions and added the screenshots every time I was given the next mission. But it has to be a ton of work to get all the bookmarks and everything. Also, sorry for potentially damaging your business :( I'm always looking for ways to make isk that I actually enjoy, and it seems like you found one, hopefully my guide is not good enough to compete.

Don’t worry about it. My effort has been a medium-term one, and you’ve galvanised me back to working on it … while I am also gathering BMs for the guristas version’s alternative access routes.

Like you seem to, I enjoy trying to write-up these sorts of things. If my attempts do not end up being decent isk-spinners it’s not going to be a huge problem. I’m still living off my w-space savings and they’re gonna keep me comfortably for a wee while yet before I need to ‘get a real job’ again J

Now I was eyeing off your nice screenshots as potential subjects of plagiarism … with due acknowledgement of course.

Anyways, as I said earlier, I’d be happy to share (gratis) my angels arc guide with you if / when you decide to go visit Curse and get yourself a cynabal BPC.

• >[Omnicide Incarnate]@SomeoneStrange: You really should! The Pirate Epic Arcs are really fun, its great to be able to do something that is going to net you some good money in a frigate for a change. The Empire level 4 Epic Arcs require battleships or similar and are more along the lines of "normal" missions but the backstory is still pretty good for them too.

I agree with Omni here. They are fun and for many they’re a great way to rack-up some nullsec experience. The encounter missions themselves are not too challenging and the real danger is moving around and surviving in nullsec … where it’s wise to assume that **everyone** is trying to kill you.

• >[mxzf]About how much tank / gank is required to run these missions?

I’m no EFT (eveHQ) guru, but my wolf (below) has no troubles at all. I do have to be careful when I’m up against the named NPCs, but otherwise the encounters are not at all troubling.

Subs’ Arc Encounter Wolf

Lowslots
1 x Internal Force Field Array I
1 x Nanofiber Internal Structure II
2 x Gyrostabilizer II

Midslots
1 x Medium F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
1 x 1MN Afterburner II

Highslots
4 x 200mm AutoCannon II
1 x 'Arbalest' Rocket Launcher I

Rigs
1 x Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I or II
1 x Small Core Defence Field Extender I or II

By dropping one gyro, and fitting a co-processor, you can swap the T1 high-meta items for all T2. You may also be able to do this if you have higher skills, or mebbe better implants, than me. This setup is my higher-DPS approach, with eveHQ showing it as CAP-stable, delivering 160 – 220 DPS, moving at just over 1km per second, having around 7500 effective HP, and tanking 21DPS. Basically it works just fine.

So, if the specs of your ship is vaguely similar to this, you should have little difficulty with the encounters.

When I am travelling, even just a couple of systems, I put most of the gear in the hold and fit dual prop, nanos, and a cloak. I then dock and refit for the encounter part of the mission.

Subs’ Arc Travel Wolf

Lowslots
3 or 4 x Nanofiber Internal Structure II

Midslots
1 x 1MN Afterburner II
1 x 1MN MicroWarpdrive II

Highslots
1 x Improved Cloaking Device II

Rigs
Same

You could fit warp core stabs into the lowslots, but I tend to prefer plain old manoeuvrability … because bubbles are usually the prime problem, and being scrammed / pointed is a secondary one

• >[Omnicide Incarnate]And it is a long enough trip that if you find out your fit did not work, you might get too frustrated to go down with another fit to try it again.

I’ve been taking a bundle of alternative fitting equipment into Venal / Curse with me, but then I have been using a covops as a mini-hauler to help me with these arcs.

• >[CCP Jasonitas]Hopefully we can finish the rest of the pirate arcs sometime. Unfortunately, that's not my call. But it would be nice :D Thanks for your blessing, though. I'll let my bosses know we have your permission.

Aside from the ‘permission’ I think there are many of us (yeah, yeah, I’m a carebear) who’d love to see more such piratical arcs. Of course they also offer the PvP piratical types some benefits. By steering us into nullsec and lowsec, in the search for fun and riches, you’re offering all those wannabe killers the opportunity to try chase, catch, and kill us … and occasionally succeeding

Yeah, that was kinda my thinking too. The only thing that gives me pause is the hull on the Rannis compared to the armor. The hull has 879 HP while the armor only has 548, so the DC does add a TON of buffer once you get into hull (rather than the 0 resists that it normally has). That an the DC adds to shield resists too, which will give me longer before I get into armor in the first place.

I think I'm going to go with the DC2 for my first time out atleast, I like the idea of having more buffer if I take too long to realize I'm loosing, especially when it's only a difference of 3 DPS regen. I also like that the DC2 is MUCH less expensive than a C-Type ANP if I do end up loosing the ship, lol.