EVE New Citizens Q&A

Why is this mission so ********? Here I was expecting some kind of tactical 1v1 frigate combat in a level 4 security mission. Which, gauging by the description involves some sort of high speed web/scram kite ship. So, naturally I fit out a kiting frigate of my own with EWAR to weapon range and sensor damp. Which would be the natural counter.

Then I get to the acceleration gate, and where does it drop me? RIGHT NEXT TO THE ******* SHIP!!! Web. Scram. Boom. Dead. I'm mean What the **** CCP. Don't you know how to design a bloody mission? Is it so difficult for you to design a game where all the tactical elements of manoeuvre might actually be employed - and of all the things which were most important. YOU DIDN'T SAY HOW FAR OFF THE TARGET I'D BE WHEN I'D WARP IN.... I'd expect to at least be able to pick my range, and approach the target on grid.

So lesson learned. I refit a ship for brawling... No sense in EWAR. So now having noticed that this ship is moving about 1000 m/s I'm thinking I need to fit webs, and maybe a scram just in case he has MWD. AB propulsion cause I'm going to be scrammed. Warped in. Then guess what happens. Stasis web and warp scram can't activate. The target is outside 10 km.

CCP what the ****? How can it be that this ship is able to web and scram me when it's outside of 10 km? What is the point of going to all this trouble reinforcing game mechanics when the AI ships just break them? How am I supposed to adapt or anticipate when the scenario doesn't follow the rules?... and why do you have to make the learning cure so steep that it doesn't create any room to adapt?

I think your game is ill-conceived and you need to put more effort into designing the missions that create interesting and thought provoking challenges. Which require in-game adaptation. Not things which blow my ship up in 20 seconds and force me to start trawling through google searches.

Yes, it was the Sanshas Burner mission. Extreme afterburner with longer range beam lasers. Web and Scram. I noticed that the Ship being flow has a sensor range of 35 km. So my first tactic was to use a Maulus (tech I meta fit, with tech II armour repair), and sensor damp it's targeting range down to buggery. But, that didn't quite work. My tank was very quickly broken in a few volleys, and the Amarr ECM failed to break lock.... One dead frigate.

The next attempt I tried a tech I fit Incursus, with tech II armour repair, 200mm plate, EM and Thermal Hardeners. 2x Nano Pump, 1x Trimark Pump. 3x Neutron meta blasters, with web, and scram, and compact AB. Part of the problem here is that in my zeal, I overheated everything when I landed on grid. Ended up burning out my armour repair module and it went offline. I think I was actually tanking the damage until my modules were burned out. However, I couldn't web him (even though he was webbing me) and therefore couldn't close to blaster range.... Two dead frigates.

At least I dropped an MTU on grid. So my dropped modules can be retrieved when I cancel the mission.

The problem I'm seeing with these burner missions is they'd likely present no challenge at all if you know how to do them, but, if you don't know how to do them they are very unforgiving. There is no middle ground where you can get to a stalemate, experiment during that struggle, or break off the skirmish. It is that middle ground where the fun is to be had and I'm not finding it in these missions... It's just one impossibly fast ship which is completely unforgiving and deadly.

I'm just resisting the urge to google fits to run this one. I'm trying to figure it out. But, it's painful.

looking at the stats from this page http://games.chruker.dk/eve_online/item.php?type_id=34145 this fit looks pretty close to those stats, also think about what it would look like if you added in a snake or crystal set and some 6% implants. And I didn't get to adding command links yet either. Oh yea and it is a frigate fight so you can assume they overloaded every module. The only thing that even looks overly exaggerated is the scram range.

[Succubus, Atomic man]
True Sansha Heat Sink
Domination Tracking Enhancer
Damage Control II

Gistii A-Type Small Shield Booster
True Sansha Warp Scrambler
True Sansha Stasis Webifier
Gistii A-Type 1MN Afterburner

Small Focused Pulse Laser II, Scorch S
Corpii A-Type Small Energy Nosferatu
Small Focused Pulse Laser II, Scorch S

Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing II
Small Energy Locus Coordinator II


and yea these missions are a bit harder than the usual grind, considering they pay out ~10mil isk and ~20mil worth of lp and can drop faction loot. Also I don't mind the slightly exaggerated stats as it is an npc and wont react like a player to various situations like bringing friends, and it can't warp out.

Oops