EVE General Discussion

Grats, level 3's are much more profitable and fun. The level 3 - level 4 standing grind is a lot longer than the 2 - 3 one even if both are 2.0 worth of standing to grind, mission completion takes a good bit longer on average.

As for level 4 alpha solos, I'd say "not at all", instead of "not yet". Not under the skill and ship restrictions alphas fly with at the moment anyways. If CCP change the current set up, which I highly doubt, it could be done.

I'm a returner from a few years ago (played for about 4 months), still alpha for now. I already had the standings for missions through L4, but I was sticking with L2s in my Caracal. Was able to skill into a few more T2 mods, and started doing L3s. Was having some success, and turning down some that sounded too involved. Then I bought a Gnosis last week, and started doing more L3s. It's the first armor-tanked ship I've flown (it's not a great ship for shield tanking). The L3s have been absolutely no problem so far. As to the "blinginess", Pyfa says my ship fits cost ~26.6M, on top of the ~44M ISK for the ship itself. I'm using as many T2 modules as are allowed for alphas, and I'm not using any faction/special mods (except Caldari Navy Missiles).

Then last night, I got an L4 storyline (I'll run a few L4 Distro missions when I only have a short time to play, or want to watch TV at the same time). I was going to turn it down, but decided to try it anyway (Covering your tracks). Completed it in one pass (i.e. didn't have to warp out and back in), except to warp in one time and make a bookmark, so I could leave and warp back at a distance.

I think if you have good fitting skills (i.e., it's not the first or second week of the alpha account, but instead you've got a couple million well placed skill points) and are willing to be patient and use some smart tactics, L4s are possible. Fast? Likely not, L3s would probably be faster ISK and LPs. But quite a few of them CAN be done.

For reference, I have ~7.2M SP, but only ~2.5M of that is active, the rest are skills which are for Omegas only.

Tat

Why not? What would you do with all the available mid slots? Besides the low slots are great for increasing damage.

I think he's wrong, unless the change is after 12/06 instead of Ascension.

Cargo Delivery and Recon (all 3) can be done by anyone can fly a frigate with a 5MN MWD and basic tanks.
and I think among other lv4 missions, blood raider spies, right hand of Zazz, stop the thief, pirate invasion, serpentis assault, unauthorized military presence, pot and kettle (1/5) and surprise surprise should be handable for a maxed-skilled alpha clone with lots of player experience, solo by blitzing. I'm sure I'm miss some others.
if they want good isk/hr, they should go to check for the cargo delivery and recon (probably also stop the thief and pot and kettle 1/5) missions. and if they've fleeted, 2 should be enough for team burner and 3 for agent burner, maybe 3 and 4 for more efficience.

Well, given my level of experience (not a ton), the Gnosis can't be shield-tanked well >by me<. I have been relying on as much passive shield regen as I can for my shield tanking, and then using distance to snipe (well, last pass, when I was Omega). I don't get nearly the range on the Gnosis, and it's passive regen stinks, mostly because the shield regen time (2500s) is pretty slow given the size of the base shield. Playing with active shield boosters, I can't get anywhere near the boost that I can compared to armor tanking.

(To compare, Gnosis is 4000 shield, 2500 sec recharge time. Drake (Caldari BC) has 5500 base shield, with a 1400 sec recharge time. MUCH more passive regen. And a 25% bonus to missile range).

I found a fit on Osmium that allows me to get ~280 (effective) HP/sec boost (armor) on the Gnosis, completely cap stable, with AB running, and with still decent DPS and missile application. It was ~265 HP/sec when I started (and ~9 minutes of cap), but I've skilled into more T2 mods. Once I skill into the last two I need, it will be up to ~314 HP/sec.

It's enough boost that I can get in close instead of sniping, and then I can use my drones as well. Caldari alpha have a 20km drone control limit, so they're useless unless you're up close. And since the Gnosis is the only boat I can fly which has a drone bay that fits 5 drones, it's nice not to waste them.

Then the other thing I've been enjoying about this new style (for me) is that the wrecks from my missions tend to be more closely grouped, so salvaging goes quicker :)

Tat

PS - sorry, guess I didn't really answer your question. For my mid slots, I've got 3 cap rechargers and a battery (which help keep all that armor boosting cap stable), a missile guidance computer (selecting range or precision scripts, as needed), and an AB.

have been doing L4 like 2 weeks ago with my 1.7m sp alpha toon, not difficult...except the burner, normal L4 is doable, using a ONI with 17k tank and 300dps, use as much as T2 mod allowed, snipe with different crystals...done, take a bit time to grind, but good isk, done a few time silence the informat, becuz elite drone AI, you can made about 70/80m in this particular L4...lol

3's can be done in a navy cruiser. The vexor navy is perfect for the job.

"Brexan, from the earlier post in this thread, is my main character actually, made this alt when alpha state went live to try out the Amarr's interstellar disco ships out. Been around a little longer than this toon would have you believe "

I may not be what I seem to be either. My Omega has been running L4s for about 8 years, and that is helping me a lot. I am looking forward to seeing what L4s I will be able to run.

-Cassy

From reading the burner/blitzing guides, they just take the missions that work for that method, and have no trouble keeping the faction high enough, even with all the declining that they do.

I assume, if there are enough missions that can be completed by an alpha (so, different criteria, different set of missions that meet the profile, but assuming the size of that set is about the same), you should be able to take just the missions you want, and decline the rest.

I have no idea if this assumption is true, but if it is, you don't have to wait 4 hours to request another mission.

Tat

I was doing lvl4 in Confessor.