Missions & Complexes

I would say it's situational. In theory Hails should give ~ 140 DPS more (with my skils, that are perfect for projectiles and the fit of Machariel I use for mission running) than faction short range ammo EMP, Fusion or Phased Plasma, but taking into account the shorter falloff, tracking penalty and profile or not profile damage type I'd say that you'll loose all the benefits of using Hails if you'll be fighting anyone else but Angel pirates. These tend to fight at close range and damage profile of Hail fits their vulnerabilities. Other factions of pirates should be better fought with faction ammo IMO. But all this is just my theory crafting - I don't do a lot of missions these days anyway - just don't like playing solo in MMO game :-). And actually I often use the simple T1 ammo on Machariel in missions if I go for full clear (ammo cost versus time difference does not favor more expensive T2 or faction in this case - DPS difference is like 10-20 % and the price is twice higher for T2 and 4-5 times higher for faction). If it will be about blitzing, then sometimes ammo type might save you some seconds, but often will matter even less, because you'll be doing very few kills anyway.

This is the correct answer.

Well, It depends on how fast one does the missions and how much time the better ammo can actually save. Even the most expensive ammo isn't that much expensive that it can't be used being afraid of its cost, as you'll earn more anyway. Shooting intensely with faction ammo on AC Machariel for about one hour (in incursion fleet as I didn't make such calculation in missions and I presume that in missions you'll consume less) would consume about 5000 rounds - that's about 5-6 kk isks +-. You will certainly earn way more in that time. But is it cost effective - thats the question everyone needs to answer himself.

Bleh...so it's strictly about LP now? That sucks because I've already sunk a lot of time and money into a Noctis loot/salvage alt that I follow my Mach around with. I'm certainly willing to listen to advice, but is looting & salvaging really that bad these days (as far as ISK/time efficiency)? When I left Eve, I remember the general concensus being that blitzing vs. looting/salvage was about 6 or 1/2 dozen either way, and it really boiled down to personal preference.

I sincerely appreciate any helpful info you guys can toss me!

Both mission loot and salvage was heavily nerfed some time back, they are worth less ISK overall now. I used to loot/salvage all missions, but now I only loot certain missions with high value loot, such as Gone Berserk, Surprise Surprise (empire tags, with 0 standings loss), etc.

Yeah actually, after reading the input here, I decided on that very thing last night and made a new skill training plan for my alt. Gonna save up for some extractors and repurpose him. Thanks again for the help!