Level 2 missions: Oops

[Erland_Kanenald]

Apologies in advance. I’m still very much new to things. Lots of things about Eve make my head hurt…

For context, I have 3.1mil SP and 55mill ISK net worth. I’m sure I’ve trained into all the wrong things, but generally have gone into PvE combat and mining. I don’t really do mining anymore – I got as far as flying a Retriever, and decided there must be more to life than this…

I’ve been doing what is probably the classic N00b thing of wanting to earn more money more quickly, and therefore have been trying to grind missions, but mainly security missions. I’ve done very little exploration, and actually have just joined a corp who I think will help me with this side of things more, and will start to train into this as well.

However:

I’ve been a flying a Thrasher with the fitting from the Eve Uni for Basic PvE. It’s been going well – I mean, almost comically easy. It absolutely minces through L1 missions (did the Blood-Stained Stars arc), and though I think it might have been better with a Salvager, and though I don’t really know how use it for exploration (and really should probably I imagine just be using a Probe anyway), I got impatient, and thought I should get into L2 missions because the rewards would be better.

I did 2 missions, and they were fine, and then did a third and absolutely got my ass handed to on a silver platter. Researching this mission further, it turns out it was The Blockade, and I gather is something probably better suited to a Cruiser (and I have a Rupture that I could have used – ironically, I didn’t want to lose it…) than a Destroyer.

The problem I think I had is that this fit with the Gallium Machine Guns with 6km effective range is that this encourages/demands what I think is called brawling, but the reality of brawling with a dozen reasonably effective ships meant that I was constantly warping back to dock to have repairs, and then warping back in again until inevitably, I mistimed it and lost the ship in Wave 3.

Well, whatever. It’s only 1.5mill in ship and fitting, and also properly learnt me the pointlessness of having an aesthetic skin on a ship.

However, I am intrigued by what I should have done. Kiting, I guess, but with a different ship? I’m trained into Gallente Cruisers to L3 but not yet to support appropriate weapons for them. Minmatar Cruiser? Gallente Cruiser? Or should I fit a kiting fit to the Thrasher, or concentrate on a different ship? Or possibly just not doing L2 missions until a certain point in the future, and put up with the low payment in the mean time (although, like I said, they had been going almost trivially simply).

Any thoughts gratefully received.

[ISD_Sakimura]

For further details on The Blockade mission look here, a Destroyer class ship can for the most part easily run level 2 missions. But as you have learned; it’s not without risk. The recommended ship class for those few mission, like The Blockade, that are dangerous is indeed Cruiser. If you want to give it another try, in a destroyer class ship, you should do a little study the triggers in the mission, if you can manage those you should be fine. Or perhaps you could try out some of the other Destroyers; like the Gallente/Amarr Droneboats

For a Gallente cruiser I can recommend the Vexor if you want the laid-back approach (let Drones do the work for you) or the Thorax if the more hands on approach (brawling) is more your style.

[Leah_Crowleymass]

One thing you will definitely want to do is to check out the mission write-up in EVE Survival before heading out:

https://eve-survival.org/wikka.php?wakka=MissionReports

This will let you know what you will be facing by way of enemies, damage to deal, and damage dealt. When doing PVE, it’s common to make slight adjustments to your fit (ammo and tank modules) to accommodate the specifics in the mission, and you can learn more about doing that by reading the mission reports and getting some experience with each of them.

One other thing to be aware of is that The Blockade is a little unique for L2 missions in that you have “trigger” ships that will cause another wave of ships to spawn when they are killed (this becomes pretty common in higher level missions). If you do not manage those triggers and spawns correctly, you can easily get swarmed and not be able to handle the incoming DPS. The mission reports will also give you info on what the triggers are so you can manage those more effectively.

[Xuxe_Xu]

Since you have evidently chosen to train the lesser races equipment rather than the naturally superior and glorious Amarr’s, the Arbitrator drone cruiser or the Omen cruiser probably are not available to you.

Try the gallente Vexor with drones.

You can put projectile (minmatar) guns on another race’s ship. For droneboats like the vexor (and myrmidon, and dominix) the drones are the main weapons and guns don’t matter much anyway. Couple of drone damage amplifiers in the lowslots, a tracking link with tracking speed script in midslot, the right damage type dealing drone, and you should be fine.

For exploration use one of the dedicated exploration frigates, they have bonus’ for exploration.
Magnate - Amarr
Imicus -gallente
Heron - caldari
Probe - minmatar

[Sepheir_Sepheron]

Please don’t listen to the guys telling you to go drones or lasers. You already made the best choice going minmatar autocannons. Machariel is the best mission ship in the game and minmatar ships are very versatile in pvp allowing you to branch very easily. As for mixing guns and afk boring drone gameplay bleh omg the above advice is making me want to puke.

If you wanna do missions rush ship classes as fast as you can afford. Get into a battleship as soon as possible because lv4 missions pay dramatically more than the lesser. Any of the min battleships are decent, I prefer the Maelstrom because of the tank bonus allowing you more slots for dmg.

[Xuxe_Xu]

Hey einstein, you think the guy can afford a machariel anytime soon? Maybe if he bought plex for isk…otherwise… Drones certainly don’t have to be used afk at all. You’ve never encountered drones being used in pvp? The guns thing was trying to use what the guy probably has available.

Don’t go choke on your own vomit. Wouldn’t want you doing that.

[Sepheir_Sepheron]

Yeah then when you get to bs have a good time trolling around with instant aggro heavies while t1 min bs just stomps on everything. Also machs are cheap, even in newbie relativity.

[Terak_Romaller]

There are missions similar to The Blockade at all levels. They all all tough fights if you don’t manage the rate opponents attack you. I’ve lost ships to them. At Level 4 the NPCs will point you to stop you warping out.
The Level 2 one can be done in a Destroyer, but it’s slow, long range work plinking away at ships. In general the range bonus on Destroyers points them at long ranger weapons, using distance as be mobility to reduce the incoming damage.

A Cruiser will dice it’s way through most Level 2 missions including The Blockade (which will feel like a fight). The Rupture is a good mission ship - I use one.

Your thinking and approach is generally good - each race has ships at each size that are perfectly good mission runners. Make sure your fitting and weapon skills are sound - you don’t need Level V (IV is a sweet point) for everything - but being able to use a T2 defence and reasonable turret skills will help significantly.

Ship choice is personal, and based on many things - including “Gallente ships are horrible blobby things”. If you can use Medium Projector Turrets, then train Minmatar ships - even from cold it’ll only take a day or so. Or train hybrids, it’s as quick and opens some options.

Good luck and happy hunting.

Btw: being able to fly a mining barge is never a waste - it gives you options and a break from combat.

[erg_cz]

Simple answer is - Gnosis. Level 2 missions can be done even with passive shield tank. Level 3 will require active tank and missiles + drones. Low SP char will benefit most from that unique ship. It also have bonuses for probes strength.

[Nora_Maldoran]

If I was in your siutation with my experience, I would go for a Rupture with artilleries as main weapon system.
Artilleries will give you good range - but they track much worse than autocannons. So you want a cruiser sized propulsion module (10MN Afterbruner or even better, a 50MN Microwarpdrive) to stay at range to the NPCs. Some small ones will still be able to catch up to you before you can shoot them down.
That’s where your drones come into play. Use light drones to deal with the small ships (frigates usually) that make it “under” your guns. Nearly all ships bigger than destroyers can use at least a flight of light drones. So being able to use 5 of them will benefit you for nearly all of your combat carrier.

If you can kite, a passive tank should be enough.
But if you should decide to go close and personal with autocannons on the Rupture, I would recommend an active tank.

Both are very viable ways to do missions.

P.S.: Be aware that the type of ammunition can heavily inflict range, tracking and damage type of your guns. Projectil turrets are after missiles the most versitile with their damage types while hybrid turrests and lasers are locked with only two damage types.
What is best to shoot with depends mostly on the typ of NPCs you are fighting.

[Boldly_Gone]

Minmatar… Nobody proposed the Stabber yet - I like that quick light cruiser. It’s fast and can handle frigates as well as cruisers. I fight even WH-Sleepers in Gas Sites or C1 combat sites with a Stabber.
Give it a try - a Rupture is cool too, but not as quick and agile as you might like when warping out.
And always remember: Reparatures are free in Player owned Stations, so you don’t have to pay any repair fee there. This will be quite handy when you like ratting

[Erland_Kanenald]

FWIW, I went back with a Vexor, fitted as per Eve Uni, and though it put the armour tanking to the test, got through it first time (I think I warped out once to pick up more drones and repair armour, as I remember).

Then went from there straight into trouble on Mission Of Mercy. Hey ho…