Okay, so for the game devs who apparently never grind standings in order to run missions, hereās an explanation of what we actually need from the Agent Finder:
You need at least 5.0 standings in order to run lvl 4 missions with any given corporation. Letās say I want to run lvl 4 security missions for the Federation Navy LP store, and/or lower my fees at Dodixie, but can currently only access lvl 2 agents. This grind will necessarily involve running dozens of missions. I want to get to lvl 4 security missions with Federation Navy as quickly as possible, so naturally I look for the most efficient path.
The ideal mission base for this standings grind has the following qualities:
- a cluster of Federation Navy distribution agents of the same level, preferably of a lower level, not just so I can access them but also because lvl 1 or lvl 2 distro missions involve fewer jumps and are therefore completed faster.
- a Federation Navy Storyline agent in the same constellation
- since I can fly an interceptor and/or blockade runner, I am looking for the lowest security space that meets these conditions, since the gains will be higher there and that is worth the operational risk to me.
It is important to note that I do not care whether this mission base is found two jumps or twenty jumps away. If itās on the other side of known space, then so be it. Iām planning on being there a minute, Iām happy to travel to it and set up my base. The same goes for finding the lvl 4 security mission base I will eventually set up; Iām looking for the right cluster of agent(s), for the right corporation(s), in the right security space, with a Storyline agent from the same corporation(s) in the same constellation.
After researching on Dotlan, I conclude that this Federation Navy mission base doesnāt really exist. There is a cluster of four Federation Navy lvl 1 distro agents in the Ancbeu constellation of Verge Vendor, but the Storyline agent there is with Federation Navy Academy. Those storyline missions will give me a nice boost in Faction standing, but it wonāt give me anything but the normal boost for completing any other mission toward my corporation standing. Grinding standings without a Storyline agent for that corporation literally adds hours to the process of getting to 5.0 standings.
However, I do a little more research, and I discover that fourteen jumps away there is another Federation Navy lvl 1 distro agent in Barleguet, with a Federation Navy Storyline agent next door in Aulbres. The efficiency of blitzing four lvl 1 distro missions at a time might make that worth it. So, I decide to do the missions in Ancbeu until the fifteenth mission, head over to Barleguet, turn in the 16th mission, do the Storyline mission next door, then go back to Ancbeu to repeat the process. It takes about seven round trips before I have the standings I need for lvl 4 security missions.
Some corporations have better bases for standings grinds than others. Some are downright easy to grind, whereas others verge on impossible. Some mission bases look really good on paper, but then you start working there and realize that the delivery paths are unusually long, etc., and you choose somewhere else. Players tend to complain about the homogeneous nature of EVE missions, but Iām actually rather surprised by how different an experience you can get depending on where you choose to mission.
However, the one deal breaker for me is always access to the storyline agent. I do not even attempt a standings grind with a corporation unless that corporation has a storyline agent in the same constellation, or one nearby that I can access in the above manner. I am still using Dotlan and my own spreadsheets to figure out where these ideal missions bases are located, because the game provides no adequate tools to glean this intelligence.
