So I’ve been playing around with level 4 high-sec missions for the last few days, and this question occurs. Do you guys think it is worth it to use Tech 2 ammo, or ammo bought for LP, for this purpose?
Either will get the job done, but there is definitely a significant price tag (relatively speaking) to buying those.
Has anybody done the math on this? Does the increased DPS, and the faster completion times it brings, warrant the cost?
Yes the DPS obviously increases
Your ammocosts go up but completion times go down
Its worth more if you blitz the missions and just kill necessary ships
Some weapontypes gain more from T2 ammo
I personally dont really use faction ammo but use T2 stuff a lot
t2 missiles are really good
scorch and aurora are really good too
i think those are the only useful ammo types in pve
in pvp void is good for ganking and heavily webbed targets
conflag is good against heavily webbed targets
i dont like the other t2 ammo types for pve or pvp personally
but maybe someone else has more expertise on the other types i would be interested to hear more about them
Faction ammo is more expensive than T2.
That’s another interesting factor. In my experience, most of the ISK gained from running missions comes from bounties. Does the speed of blitzing the missions make up for the lost bounties somehow?
At a glance, it seems to me that the best ISK making strategy is to use cheap standard ammo, and kill everything that moves for the bounty. Perhaps try to avoid as many missions with low bounty potential as possible.
The difference is not very big, but still favors advanced ammo if we assume the increased DPS is real (no overkill, no drawbacks).
It also really depends on who or what you ate facing and with what ship. A rattlesnake focusing on drone damage and only using rapid heavies to take smaller stuff may be better off with faction ammo. An ishtar with some ACe just to draw agro and let the drones do all the work, plain ammo is fine.
A T2 cruise golem may like faction for smaller stuff and t2 for bigger stuff, but will switching slow you down?
As for the LP route… I would avoid that. Generally there are better options to spend your LP on, sell those, then buy whatever ammo you prefer.
Yes it does.
Normal mode for missions brings the majority of your ISK from pay, bonuses and bounties. Blitz brings the majority of the ISK from buying things with the LP you gain and then selling them on the markets.
Standard ammo across all types has the worst stats. It’s primary advantage is it is cheap to buy, if you make your own it is even cheaper.
Faction ammo. Better than T1 and in some cases and for some weapons systems better than T2 but it is the most expensive to buy. That cost can be reduced to some degree by buying or making T1 and then converting it to faction at a loyalty points store.
T2 ammo is in a general sense the best across all weapons types and for most situations. It is less expensive to buy then faction but making it yourself may not be any cheaper than buying it.
So the real question is which is better for you and your specific needs and for that no one can answer the question but you. Experiment with the options and see what works best for you.
Personally and for PvE I always use T2 in a missile ship, usually use T2 for laser and always use faction for projectile or hybrid weapons.
hail is very good on a mach
It is said blitzing missions can reach 100-200m per hour, dividing that number by 3600 seconds means you save 27-55k for every second you save.
By using T2/faction ammo you can increase your dps by 10-20% (thus saving every 0.09-0.16s per second you spend) and the extra rate of isk expense is only around 2000/s for Machariel using faction ammo and far less for other cases, so I think it is worth using faction/T2.
That’s an approach I hadn’t considered. Very interesting, I’ll have to examine that. Thanks.
I’m a little skeptical of those numbers, I have to admit. Could you point me to any sources that explain that in detail?
dps? how
(rattlesnake dps 1000)
I found this one for L3
https://forums-archive.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=3738792
they claim 60M/h
also consider doing them in NS : in a 0 system you will make 4/3 what you make in a .5 system (and 2 times what you can make in a 1 sys), what’s more you can have better isk/LP in NS ( eg https://www.fuzzwork.co.uk/lpstore/buy/10000002/1000159/withblueprints ). also you can have several agents in the same station, so chaining and blitzing becomes easier.
burners i think
I think doing burners and only 100M/h means you have an issue somewhere.
according to my analysis, right now soe is around 190M/h doing burners, and some other are around 230M/h (two days ago it was 260M/h)
I guess he is talking about non-burner, blitzable L4s, which do not needs billions in ships.
For any ship that uses heavy/assault missiles such as the Drake, Nighthawk or Tengu, then the answer is definitely yes. Use Fury missiles for battleships and battlecruisers, as they’re a big enough target to get full damage application despite their drawbacks. Especially useful if your dps is marginal for running level 4s. Switch to standard ammo for the smaller stuff.
well precision and javelin are both really good too
precision mainly for cruise and and javelin mainly for ham
I’ve never really bothered with precision. With decent skills and fitting, heavies and even cruises should demolish frigates quickly enough anyway. Any increase from precision isn’t worth the hassle of changing ammo.
I am not sure about what calculations are used for what.
But when i use a Golem, i keep t2 ammo for just in case PvP.
T1 ammo serves me fine, between LP/Isk conversions, Bounties, Loot, Salvage i have proven even to my skeptical friends that i can produce 90-230 million ISK per hour (depends on the missions given) killing everything and clearing the field.