Missions & Complexes

Character Overview
This is designed to work and optimally run with three characters (in practice, two hasn't proved sufficient and more than three is actually a hinderance). With the new Skill Extractors and Injectors, this is now even easier to setup and maintain. All your characters need to be primarily missile-based, so here is the base skillset you'll need to get started. When it comes to missiles, more is obviously better (IVs and Vs), so after getting all the base skills focus on improving those next.

Base Skillset
Gunnery II
Weapon Upgrades IV
Afterburner III
High Speed Maneuvering I
Navigation III
CPU Management III
Power Grid Management III
Cybernetics IV
Science III
Shield Upgrades I
Shield Emission Systems I
Spaceship Command IV
Target Painting I

Weapon-Specific Skillset
Auto-Targeting Missiles I
Heavy Missiles V
Heavy Missile Specialization I
Light Missiles III
Missile Launcher Operation III

Caldari Skillset (optional)
Caldari Frigate III
Caldari Destroyer III
Caldari Cruiser III
Caldari Battlecruiser III
Caldari Battleship I-III

Minmatar Skillset (optional)
Minmatar Frigate III
Minmatar Destroyer III
Minmatar Cruiser III
Minmatar Battlecruiser III
Minmatar Battleship I-III

Mordus Legion Skillset (preferred)
Gallente Frigate III
Gallente Destroyer III
Gallente Cruiser III
Gallente Battlecruiser III
Gallente Battleship I
Caldari Frigate III
Caldari Destroyer III
Caldari Cruiser III
Caldari Battlecruiser III
Caldari Battleship IV

Desirable Skillset (recommended)
Acceleration Control
Evasive Maneuvering
Warp Drive Operation
Guided Missile Precision
Missile Bombardment
Missile Projection
Rapid Launch
Target Navigation Prediction
Warhead Upgrades

Once you have the base skillset in addition to any enhancements in-place for your two alternate characters, it's time to farm these for skillpoints to PLEX the alternate accounts for free. The difference between a Skill Extractor and Injector is about 385m ISK, and with +4 implants you can harvest 3 of these per alt per month. This yields a total of approximately 1.155b ISK less the monthly PLEX cost of (currently) 915m ISK for a net gain of 240m ISK per alt or approximately 480m ISK total. This mays for half your PLEX cost on your main character, which means you only have to play for 3-4 hours a month to sustain this.

Here is what you'll be utilizing for implants:

Mid-grade Ascendancy Alpha
Mid-grade Ascendancy Beta
Mid-grade Ascendancy Gamma
Mid-grade Ascendancy Delta
Mid-grade Ascendancy Epsilon
Eifyr and Co. 'Rogue' Warp Drive Speed WS-615
Zainou 'Deadeye' Missile Projection MP-705
Zainou 'Deadeye' Guided Missile Precision GP-805
Zainou 'Deadeye' Target Navigation Prediction TN-905
Zainou 'Deadeye' Rapid Launch RL-1005

Why Ascendancies? Running solo you're only going to see a marginal benefit (most of this is psychological). But with ships geared to optimize clearing times, a warp speed in excess of 3.5 AU/sec will cut minutes off your overall mission time - especially ones featuring multiple acceleration gates.

Here's a quick overview on how this style of mission multi-boxing works. First and foremost, utilize safe docks for agent hubs and both safe docks and undocks for major trade hubs (this will cut down on mission transition times). You'll either want corporate or personal bookmarks for each character. In addition, make sure you have hotkeys predefined for Align, Approach, Warp/Activate, Orbit, Keep At Range, MWD, Missiles (grouped), Target Painter, MWD, Remote Shield Booster and D-Scan.

Second, after you accept the first mission - fleet up (any Leadership skills will boost your shield strength, align time and targeting range once you undock). Warp your squad to either the mission entrance or target system gate(s). If transitioning to another system, after going to warp click the destination gate for each character and hit the Warp hotkey (this will ensure all ships warp together at the same speed and auto-jump on landing). Don't auto-pilot!

Once the mission has commenced, one or more of your ships will be aggressed by NPC enemies - but the others may not. It's very rare for all three ships to get aggressed though, which is why we have target painters. By default the first thing I do is select the largest, closest NPC target for each and begin moving to any navigation points or objectives. Once the target locks, paint for each ship and activate the missiles.

The way auto-targeting missiles work is that they will always invariably seek the closest target. This is both a blessing and a curse: While pesky web and scram frigates are always prioritized when they become a threat, it also means that larger targets that adjust position in relation to your ships can sometimes temporarily mitigate damage by spreading it out. This is also why the modules and rigs focus on missile velocity to cut down and eliminate lost volleys due to travel time. For hard objectives I always carry a small stash of Fury heavy missiles. You can also use drones, but I find them more of a nuisance than anything else.

It's a good idea to create a cheat sheet with the types of ammunition you'll need and pre-load what is efeective against particular NPCs. You can also hedge your bets by splitting your launchers into pairs of different ammunition. With practice you can usually time your reloads to occur while at warp or transitioning through acceleration gates.

The key to these fits is a passive buffer shield tank with remote shield booster for backup (as needed). The main tank is the offensive DPS, which ranges from a low of 681 to well over 900. Per ship. Typically one ship will draw more aggro than the other two, so it's relatively easy to quickly assign shield boosting as needed. Once you have a high enough skillset and experience with this particular play styel, you may find you no longer need these.

While in-mission, ensure your ships are always moving towards either objectives or acceleration gates (I set my Keep At Range to 1500m and cycle the MWD as needed). You don't really need to worry about capacitot levels as you'll rarely fall below 50%. MJDs can be beneficial in a handful of missions, but by and large most of the distances you need to traverse are less than 50km. On nearing mission completion you want to either pre-align to the mission Dock or to the return gate out of the system (these few simple things can drastically reduce mission times).
.....

These are the ships you'll be running with. Upgrading to a Raven Navy Issue, Typhoon Fleet Issue or Barghest (recommended) can and should be done once you acquire enough ISK. I don't recommend the Rattlesnake in this list as it's too skill intensive and cannot apply EM or Explosive damage. It does have an awesome tank along with considerable damage from drones, so I'm certainly not going to deter anyone from this path. In my experience, however - the Barghest is the ultimate end game.

[Raven, Mission]

Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Auto-Targeting Heavy Missile I
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Auto-Targeting Heavy Missile I
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Auto-Targeting Heavy Missile I
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Auto-Targeting Heavy Missile I
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Auto-Targeting Heavy Missile I
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Auto-Targeting Heavy Missile I
Gistum A-Type Medium Remote Shield Booster

500MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive
Pithum C-Type EM Ward Amplifier
Pithum C-Type Thermal Dissipation Amplifier
Pithum C-Type Kinetic Deflection Amplifier
Pithum C-Type Kinetic Deflection Amplifier
Large Shield Extender II
Phased Scoped Target Painter

Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Missile Guidance Enhancer II
Missile Guidance Enhancer II

Large Hydraulic Bay Thrusters II
Large Hydraulic Bay Thrusters II
Large Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II
.....

[Typhoon, Mission]

Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Auto-Targeting Heavy Missile I
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Auto-Targeting Heavy Missile I
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Auto-Targeting Heavy Missile I
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Auto-Targeting Heavy Missile I
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Auto-Targeting Heavy Missile I
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Auto-Targeting Heavy Missile I
Gistum A-Type Medium Remote Shield Booster

Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Missile Guidance Enhancer II
Missile Guidance Enhancer II
Damage Control II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II

Pithum C-Type EM Ward Amplifier
Pithum C-Type Thermal Dissipation Amplifier
Pithum C-Type Kinetic Deflection Amplifier
500MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive
Phased Scoped Target Painter

Large Hydraulic Bay Thrusters II
Large Hydraulic Bay Thrusters II
Large Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II

First of all is this thread "The Ultimate Care Bears Guide to High-Sec Missioning"
or this "The Care Bears Guide to Ultimate High-Sec Missioning".

I think the later is the case in the previous posts.

Now for a second opinion.

If the player has progressed enough to get to L4s, and in doing so their main weapon of choice has been missiles. They've gotten to the point where they can really dish out some damage. They also should have pretty good shield skills.

A respectable amount of income can be made by running L4s in a Raven. The player can move on to a CNR or a Golem later. If the Golem is used then the player can salvage as they go.

Don't worry about the time you spend in doing 2 or 3 missions in an evening. Take your time, it doesn't have to be a race. So, in that respect you do not need the Ascendency Implants. You're only saving a few seconds here and there, to and from the mission, by warping faster. They really don't help you in the actual mission.

Use the 1-5 slots for something that will really benefit your ship in the mission, like Crystal Implants. They will help tremendously in your shield boosters.

Also in the 6-10 slots, you do not need the "5s", like RL-1005. RL-1003 is good enough for the money starting out. You can get the "5s" later.

I personally would stay away from the RHMLS, and auto-targeting missiles. I just don't like them.

For the beginner I would make sure you have a good tank. If you have to warp out, to save your ship, that's almost a fail.

When you can afford it, buy and use 4 Caldari BCUs. The 4th one is like having a +5 implant.

For a Raven fit, this is what I would use. This is really a solid fit for a beginner, and is akin to Liang's old tried and true fit.

Rigs: 2x rigors, 1x flare

Highs: 6x Cruise Missile Launchers T2, with mission specific furys
Tractor Beam T2

Mids: A or B Type Pith XL Shield Booster
Shield Boost Amp T2
2x mission specific hardeners
1x mission specific amplifier
Heavy Cap Booster T2, with 800 charges
Target Painter T2

Lows: 4xCaldari BCUs
Signal Amp T2

Drones: 10xMission Specific Light T2

Have about 15 800 charges in the hold, the rest with missiles. You could use a mobile tractor if you want some of the salvage.

Later on you can move up the ultimate fits, and use multiple characters.

Golem fit to come.

-Kirst

+1 for all the work done in writing this up.



DMC

I will echo this sentiment. Even with a Faction target painter and T2 rigs you're going to be hard-pressed applying full damage to anything other than battlecruisers and battleships. Even the Golem stuggles to achieve this, and this is on top of the missile explosion velocity and target painter bloom bonuses. At a minimum you will need a heavy stasis grappler/stasis web, a flight of light drones or Precision ammunition to deal with Elite cruisers and most types of frigates.

Unless I overlooked something I didn't see any missile guidance computers in your fit, and there's a big difference between +3 and +5/6 implants because these aren't stacking penalized. For example, a +5% damage implant yields more raw damage than a 4th Faction BCS and T2 Warhear Calefaction Catalyst rig combined.

In most instances you're better off switching to Precision ammunition as you're never going to single-volley Elite cruisers and frigates anyway (regardless of how much damage application you pile on, there just isn't enough raw damage to begin with). A pair of precision-scripted missile guidance computers will actually provide more damage application than full T2 rigs (and for a fraction of the cost). This also frees up your rig slots for a wide array of ship augmentations.

Just FYI, there's no stacking penalty when you run a pair of rigor rigs (you actually get something like a 102% bonus on the second rig). It's when you add the third rigor or flare that you get dinged or when you combine these with a missile guidance computer or missile guidance enhancer. The highest missile application bonus you'll get is from running a pair of precision-scripted missile guidance computers, one T2 rigor, one T2 flare and the +5/6 missile application implants (in addition to hull bonuses). You can marginally increase this with a second T2 rigor but its often not worth it as it takes a huge stacking penalty hit.

The Raven Navy Issue had the best potential missile damage application due to both the third rig slot and the fact that explosion radius is more of a determining factor than explosion velocity. Where the Golem exceeds this is in the use of target painters.

OK, I see you changed the name to -


"The Care Bears Guide to Ultimate High-Sec Missioning".

There is a difference between "Ultimate Guide", and "Ultimate Missioning".



So, I am sorry to have added my thoughts, as now they are not for "Ultimate" missioning.


-Kirst

What I'm saying is that due to higher resistances there's no missile system that applies enough raw damage to be able to destroy them in a single volley, regardless of whether or not the necessary damage application is in place. Rather than trying to achieve the impossible you're better off switching to Precision ammunition since you don't need that extreme level of damage application with Fury missiles against most targets.

I will also echo the comments The Bigpuns made with respect to missile guidance computers in that I think you misunderstand how they work. When precision scripted you do not loss missile range and velocity - you just receive bonuses for missile explosion radius and explosion velocity.

Heavy stasis grapplers can be used out to a range of 34km, although the effect at this distance is fairly negligible. Where they shine is against spider drones and frigates that orbit less than 5km. Having used both stasis webs and grapplers quite extensively in PvE, I can attest that at least insofar as applying damage with missiles is concerned - neither is desirable. You will always be further ahead with another target painter or missile guidance computer.

The Bigpuns, I don't have the link to the stacking penalties Wiki handy, but the effects of subsequent modules and rigs are cumulative despite having diminished returns. Thus, the second module or rig is always slightly (we're talking a really small amount here) more powerful than the first and why to get the maximum benefit you always want to run a minimum of 2.

Ion Kirst, I revised the title. Hopefully this suffices?

Arthur said:

"Heavy stasis grapplers can be used out to a range of 34km, although the effect at this distance is fairly negligible. Where they shine is against spider drones and frigates that orbit less than 5km."


Kirst said,

"I don't like the grappler as it's optimal is about 10km (?) and closer. So it's useless for targets beyond that range"


That's almost saying the same thing in different ways, but lets not really nit pick this to death.



-Kirst

sometimes when i read threads like this i feel i am doing it all wrong as the fits and techniques vary to what i do

i have always used raven or typhoon but now my gun skills are better, the nightmare and machariel kill stuff so quickly its unreal as no waiting for missile travel time.

compared to fits posted, i also seem to overtank. i would usually run dc2, invuln 2, 2 different mission specific hardeners, large shield extender 2 and l or xl booster. it seems to work well and i rarely have to warp out. rest of the mids are dedicated to application. this is for my raven

also fury cruise for bc and bs, precision for anything smaller