@Erethond: I didn’t need the faction standings. I already have 9.1 standings with Amarr. Also, I ran a storyline mission about 1 hour after and receive a 9% increase in standings anyway, so I don’t consider that much of a benefit. The gameplay was in fact awful: Warping a Golem 7 jumps here, 9 jumps there, etc etc was pretty obnoxious and time consuming. Any additional isk I earned I could have easily matched with a few hours of running an astero around in null.
@DeMichael_Crimson: I took both of my characters with me. I set up PI to continue for the 3 days, but the launch pads filled up while I was gone. I would have had to set up jump clones in citadels to alleviate that problem. That seems more trouble than it is worth.
50 million from level IV missions isn’t hard to do in the same amount of play time as I put into the Epic Arc for each day.
‘If you don’t have anything positive to say, then don’t say anything at all’.
Pot, meet kettle.
A warning to anyone attempting the Amarr Epic Arc in the future - it takes you through Retaka and Palas repeatedly in your expensive ship. Those systems are regularly gatecamped by suicide squads. You’ll want to scout those gates ahead before you jump through, or do the missions during off-peak times.
Heh, I’m not the one badmouthing the game here, you are. Also I’m currently running the level 4 Epic Arcs solo in a T3 Cruiser and it only takes a few missions to easily net 50 mill.
Hey I get it, you don’t like the Epic Arcs just like I don’t like PI. In fact PI is nothing more than a boring click fest.
It looks like content that’s not for everyone, which is good to know before trying it. The quick outline of the income (looks like the vast majority besides rewards is loot and salvage, actually) is quite interesting as well… I’m starting to just kill things and complete objective. Good to know it might not be the best for this kind of content.
I just completed the level 4 Amarr Epic Arc again and yeah I agree, some parts of it are a pain but it’s still doable with a Loki T3 Cruiser.
If Neut Towers are out of gun range when I first land on grid, I just burn away and get out of Neut range and then work the NPC pack as they approach.
As for the TD from the ships, I just get right in their face so the guns will hit.
The last mission of the level 4 Caldari Epic Arc definitely can’t be completed solo with a gun boat due to the Elite Cruisers perma-jamming. I use to just have a fleet mate warp in to help take out those Ewar Cruisers but due to the sub-system changes I now just fit up missiles for that mission.
I’m normally doing L4s in a Cerberus, which fits the “missile fire-and-forget” style I like. I couldn’t see the benefits of running it in a Tengu. I tried to, but it did not feel that much different. For the fun of it, I sometime switch to a Sleipnir, just for the Dakka and because I really like that hull
Now as those Epic Arcs seem a little more painful than the normal L4 missions, I suppose a Cerberus or a Sleipnir won’t do it here. I like Cruiser/Battlecruiser hulls, because they are so much faster than Battleships.
I saw the blingy Loki fit which seems to fit my needs but is a little out of budget
Do you have some other ship&fit suggestions specifically for the Gallente Epic Arc?
Running the Gallente Epic Arc in a Cerberus is perfectly viable … I’ve tried and succeeded without getting blown up once. It was no “full” bling fit, just a Faction AB and a Faction Medium Shield Booster.
If you adapt to the incoming damage by fitting a Explosion Hardener and/or a Assault Damage Control, you won’t get into trouble. The last combat missions (Studio 1 and Showdown) will feature high incoming damage from the Elite battleships. The Studio1 battleships feature short range weapons and will want to stay closer then 20-30km. If you keep outside this range, you’re pretty safe. Showdown is the other way round - get inside their damage range of about 20km and you’re free to shoot them. I was mostly circling one of the battleships and shot the others.
Yes, they are really fast. I had set up several warp-to bookmarks to avoid them. They are also quite slow to turn around and change direction. You can use this against them as well.
The guide at Uniwiki is heavily recommended to stay alive
I do it in a Navy Scorp. Double Adaptive invuln, + EM resist Amp, double prop MJD + MWD, 1k+ DPS @ 130km + with cruise. Switch ammo to precision (10 secs relaod time) and kill frigs even at point blank. I do all these arcs on same ship, same fit. No docking to refit, no faction specific anything. 1 ship, 1 fit, all these arcs.
I should add, fit is 1.3 Bil total. Ship hull + all modules.
Has anyone here done the last Caldari mission after ECM changes? I’ve read somewhere (dunno if here or on reddit) that if two ships are jamming you, you will be unable to target either one of them.
With lower skills, I would prolly opt for drone ship. They will apply loads of tracking disruptions on you. Drones might be better to mitigate that.
However, keep in mind that L4 epic arcs are in general harder than regular ones. I am affraid (based on your skills, judge for yourself) that you might have issues with mission called Cowardly Commander. If you can’t get rid of the neuting towers fast it might leave you without cap and they have 250km neuting range. You could go sniper fit for guns and then MJD out and try to snipe the towers while keeping range on normal enemies in case that your capacitor gets drained
That’s not correct if this quote from the October balance pass is still valid, it was until i quit a month or so ago: " To start us on a path towards a healthier balance for ECM, we are making one critical change to its mechanics: while jammed, you can always lock the ship that is jamming you.
