I’ve been mucking around with Distribution for a few days now. There are a few things I found out, and then a few things I’ve read. So I’m not sure what’s completely true and whats not.
Firstly. Level 1 Distribution Missions are not all courier missions, they resemble the tutorial missions, sometimes you have to ferry something, sometimes you have to kill something, sometimes you have to approach a location and wait. Something useful to know and prepare for. Sometimes you will recieve a Civilian Data Analyser for use in a mission. I was able to do all lvl 1 missions in an Imicus.
Secondly. Distribution Missions will take you within the constellation at Lvl 1 and 2, so it’s helpful to find a small constellation to do them from to minimize the number of jumps. At Lvl 3 and Lvl 4 they will usually take you outside of the constellation, so also try to find a constellation that is both small and has few connections to other constellations, otherwise you find yourself endlessly backtracking.
So there are 4 things you want out of a constellation. A high number of faction or corp distribution agents, small constellation size, minimal constellation connections, and finally an LP store that sells the things you want.
Thirdly is things I’ve heard but not sure if they are true or not. Agent and or Corp standing increases rewards from Missions. Another thing I’ve heard is, if you decline a mission, it will be less likely to be offered by that agent in the future.
Does anyone know if those things are true?
And Lastly the cargo hold size you will need for each type of mission I think this is still current, but I’m not sure.
Distribution missions, like all missions require a minimum level of standing with the faction, corporation or agent. You can always request a level 1 mission but need +1, +3 and +5 respectively for level 2, 3 and 4 missions.
If you decline 2 missions in a 4 hour period, you will take a standing hit. Best to work in a mission hub with several agents in close proximity so you have options if you are offered a mission you don’t want to accept.
Social skills: Social and Connections will improve standing allowing you to run higher level missions; Negotiation and Distribution Connections will improve the rewards.
A T1 exploration frigate is a good choice for level 1 missions - you could end up hauling, mining or fighting and these ships can do it all.
For higher level distribution missions use one of the fast haulers - Nereus, Wreathe, etc… They can easily be fit to accommodate standard cargo and the large cargo you can get with storyline missions can be split and moved in pieces. A Blockade Runner also works well if you have the skills to fly it.
These missions are a good way to grind standing but, probably not the best choice for getting rich. Pirate faction LP tends to be quite a bit more valuable than LP from the Empire factions so consider running L4 distribution missions for SOE out of Gicodel or Thukker Mix out of Totkubad or Oremmulf.
I found out it’s far preferable to have a small constellation with few agents, than a large constellation with many agents. If a single agent only requires 2 jumps almost every mission, you get better return than 6 agents requiring a round trip of 20 jumps.
For low level missions - perhaps. Higher level missions you’ll be travelling 6-8 jumps, to other regions and will occasionally be offered missions to lowsec - which you can decline once every 4 hours. You’ll likely be more interested in standing or LP than the ISK rewards which aren’t that great, even at level 4.
For those missions, you want a fast ship that can carry 8000 M3 cargo. Blockade runner is ideal if you have the skills and budget but the small T1 industrials are almost as good and much less expensive. Something like
[Nereus, Nereus fit]
Damage Control II
Expanded Cargohold II
Expanded Cargohold II
Expanded Cargohold II
Inertial Stabilizers II
10MN Y-S8 Compact Afterburner
Large Shield Extender II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
EM Ward Field II
Thermal Dissipation Field II
[Empty High slot]
[Empty High slot]
Medium Cargohold Optimization II
Medium Cargohold Optimization II
Medium Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II
Has a 6 second align, 5AU/sec warp and a decent buffer tank. You can back off to meta modules and T1 rigs for economy without hurting performance too much. You’ll need 8K M3 for the level 4 Beefing Up mission but, otherwise, can replace one of the expanded cargo holds with another inertial stabilizer for a bit more agility.
Wreathe does better in the L4 distribution speed runner for cheap. This is a full passive fit that even for an alpha is 8.3K m3 cargo with 20K EHP. Can be slapped together in Jita for roughly 7 million isk. For an alpha its a 7 second align, for a paid player with additional ranks trained its a 5 second align.
[Wreathe, L4 Distribution Runner]
Inertial Stabilizers II
Expanded Cargohold II
Expanded Cargohold II
Expanded Cargohold II
Damage Control II
Upgraded EM Ward Amplifier I
Upgraded Thermal Dissipation Amplifier I
Upgraded Kinetic Deflection Amplifier I
Large F-S9 Regolith Compact Shield Extender
Large F-S9 Regolith Compact Shield Extender
[Empty High slot]
[Empty High slot]
Medium Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I
Medium Cargohold Optimization I
Medium Cargohold Optimization I
I was running lv 4 Distribution missions for a while and I found it was better to run agents located deep within a deadend pipeline of systems.
First I’d get the mission offer from agent located at the end of the pipeline which always gave destination a few systems out. There I’d get offers from a few other agents. Most of their mission offers gave destination locations back into the deadend pipeline which I accepted. Any mission offers that had destination location out and away from the deadend pipeline were declined.
Basically I was traveling back and forth within the deadend pipeline doing drop-offs and pick-ups with active mission offers in my journal.
Speed is your friend in distribution missions. I ran a lot of them with industrial characters to grind standing for level 4 research agents. Not a huge income stream but it’s entirely passive once setup and 2000 datacores/year/character I don’t need to buy!
The Wreathe will be faster than the Mammoth. You want a hyperspatial to get your warp speed up to 5 AU/sec and 8K M3 cargo. Other than that agility is good (inertia stabilizers). I’ve never had anyone shoot at me running distribution missions so a fairly basic tank.
In my opinion faster warp speed isn’t that important, however agility and faster sub-light speed to get into warp is very important since that’s when you’re vulnerable to attack.
I ran a lot of L3’s for Lai Dai out of Haajinen. Crossing Oipo - 150 AU as I recall - you come to appreciate a hyperspatial rig!
You warp at 75% of base speed - whatever that happens to be so increasing base speed could actually take longer to warp. The fastest way to warp a ship is hit it with a web. If you have a mod that increases sublight acceleration that works well. I use 1 pulse of the afterburner to warp my DST but it doesn’t help a ship that’s going to warp in less than 7.5 seconds anyway.
Well, most of my transport ships are set up for faster sub-light speed and more agility with both rigs and mods. That works great for me even though I mainly use my Blockade Runner most of the time. It turns on a dime and goes into warp in less time than it takes for cloak to activate.
Hard to tell because it depends on security of the system, the demand for the items you can buy with the LP, and the size of the constellation you are working from.
I’ve been doing 4-6 Lvl 2 distribution missions in batches for SOE out of X-70MU. Since you are in nullsec the payout is 120k per lvl 2 mission instead of the usual 40k in highsec.
Also the low amount of stations in the small constellation means you typically get a mission to ferry everything to one or two stations. AND the SOE storyline guy is there as well.
It’s a textbook example of a perfect distribution mission system… if you can stand gatecamps and people trying to gank you.