Depends on skills. With all 5 you can kill him in assault frigate but it is not the point. For low skill char Gnosis is swiss army knife, best all around ship, including missions. And you can do L1-L3 missions with the very same ship, just change passive tank to active as missions get harder.
Be aware that, for some reason, that tool doesn’t always show you all the available modules for a particular slot. You’ll sometimes find that a module the in-game tool doesn’t offer or can’t find is perfectly OK when dragged in from the regional market or ‘show info/variations’ windows instead.
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Fair enough - come to think of it, I did the Arc quite a while after I joined Eve, so I’d probably had time to train-up a bit more than most.
Ah, I have another question please.
I discovered on this page : Vindicator that there is a PVE “mod” (I don’t know how to call it), the Incursion. What is it please ? What ships are generally used in that game mode ? Can an Alpha Clone do it ? Is it possible as a solo character or do I need alts ?
Thanks in advance !
I’ll add more on missions when I have time to think, but for your immediate questions:
https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Incursions
They are tough, fleet orientated “missions” - PvE content. They can be highly lucrative, but are demanding.
There are a variety of Incursion running ships - they tend to be larger (battleships with logistics support) with fairly demanding skill and fitting requirements (think of them as like Level 5 missions). Yes, Alpha clones can work in an Incursion fleet.
No, you can’t solo them. Well, you can try. You can try anything. But it’s like putting your arm in the furnace - you’ll have permanent painful memories of it and not want to do it again.
You don’t need alts. You need friends. You can find them by posting in the incursion channel in Incursion areas.
(Alts: You can’t log in two characters on the same account at the same time. You can’t log in another account if it is an Alpha account.)
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Hello, it’s me again !
I recently saw this video : Nyx vs Blood Raider Dreadnought, of a Nyx-class supercarrier engaging a NPC Capital ship. I know that I am pretty far from using supercapitals for PVE application, or ever meeting a capital ship not controlled by a player (and taking it out), but I still have some questions concerning them :
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Are those spawns extremely rare or quite usual ?
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What can the wreck left behind those behemoths give to the player ? And if you salvage said wreck, what can it give it ?
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Do we always need to use a supercapital-class ship to take them out ?
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Are there only Dreadnought, or other Capital ship can spawn in similar sites ?
Sorry if those questions seems idiots and out of range for a newbie still in Alpha Clone state =/
P.S : Finally reached L2 missions for the Hyasyoda corporation, thanks a lot for your help !
The capital ships are beyond my knowledge too, but I hope you checked the Standings link Leah Crowleymass put up. The Social skills, to be precise. They’re limited as Alpha but Social 3 and Connections 2 would still mean you can raise standings with fewer missions (you’d need Connections 3 to skip L1 missions completely provided you had 0 Standing with a NPC Corporation). It might seem like many hours of training off your guns and ship support skills but it will also shave hours off getting to better missions. The more hours saved the more corps you want to get on the good side of, of course. 
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Alright, I tested L2 missions and it didn’t go as expected… I used my Cormorant and fitted it with seven 150mm ‘Scout’ Railguns and Antimatter charges. First, I did way less damage overall compared to my Merlin, then, I just noticed my Cormorant actually has less shield points compared to my frigate…
So, currently I’m training for Social skills to improve my rewards, but do L2 missions are really run with destroyers ? Aren’t those missions made for something bigger ?
I managed to survive and had to warp off multiple times to repair at a nearby station, but I managed to complete the mission. Sadly, I think I’ll stick to L1 for now, since I do them in less time…
A destroyer should be able to put out more damage than your frigate. It has double the amount of guns. You’re right in that it’s not made to tank. Your dps is your main tank, take out the targets fast, a little more skill (not skillpoints) is needed in flying a destroyer safely. Pull one group at a time, focus the targets you can kill quickly first and keep your speed / transversal velocity up at all times.
Generally speaking you want:
Frigate/destroyer for level 1
Cruiser for level 2
Battlecruiser for level 3
Battleship for level 4
However, in level 2 missions you also encounter a lot of frigate which might be hard to hit when you’re flying a low skilled cruiser. So generally, if you can speed tank, a destroyer should work fine in level 2’s. Some missions can be quite tough, you might’ve been just unlucky.
Pilot soft skills (you) and character hard skills (trained skills) have an impact on what you can achieve with a given hull. Destroyers are eggshells armed with sledgehammers basically. Keep a bit more distance, use split gun groups and potentially use longer range ammunition to even further capitalize on the extended range the Cormorant has.
If they die before they get within effective range of you the lesser defenses aren’t a problem. Most Caldari hulls want to kite what they are fighting. And if you are doing less damage with the Cormorant compared to the Merlin I suggest you look at your fitting skills and ship skills. The Cormorant is notable for having a sniper fit with over 80K range with good skills.
And the above post’s rule of thumb for ship hulls versus mission level applies more for basic T1 hulls on a newer character. They are not set in stone and certain ship hulls can swing well above their weight… especially certain T2 and faction hulls.
And yes certain missions are significantly harder than anything else of similar level. For L3s in Caldari space one example would be Cutthroat Competition.
And personally L2s with a Cormorant are extremely doable with a MASB + AB setup and long range rails for most missions. A couple that dump you right into the middle of things might be a little tricky until you reopen range… but mostly L2s are a joke after a few months and core skills being trained up.
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I’ve been running missions in Caldari Hybrid turret ships for some time, so hopefully I can offer a few insights.
Shield boosters are less capacitor efficient than Armour repairers. Cap stability in missions isn’t crucial (nice, but you aren’t going to get it without horrible compromises), but be aware of the heavy demand that propulsion systems and repairers and Boosters will put on it (and weapons since you are going down the Hybrid route). Killing things is a good way to reduce incoming damage! You will end up having to make the tactical balance between high speed, repair and firing - that comes with experience.
The Merlin is a good ship for level 1 missions. The logical progression for the Caldari Hybrid pilot is then Cormorant, Moa, Ferox.
The Cormorant isn’t popular, but can run Level 2 missions (devastating for level 1). Fit it with railguns and fight at range (longer range ammunition helps) - if you try close in brawling then you will get hurt. But you can kite nicely, using manoeuvrability and range to minimise the damage you’ll take (the hull has a range bonus - hint hint!). This flying style is a good thing to learn as it’s important in combat with other players.
One or two level 2 missions will take a while to whittle down, but you can do 'em. You’ve already realised that sometimes you have to step away to recharge the shields.
The Cormorant can fit seven turrets. Fit them all. And all the same. Load the same ammunition in all guns, group them and volley fire. Meta items (such as the 150mm Prototype Gauss Gun) are much more effective than the basic 150mm Railguns I. More expensive, but worth it. “25%+ improvement in damage per second” sort of better (less damage per shot, faster fire rate).
The Merlin has a hybrid damage bonus and a shield resist bonus. The bonuses for the Cormorant are range and tracking - this is a lightly protected long range sniper, not a brawler. Fly it to its strengths.
Railguns are a good long range weapon; use the range advantage to reduce the damage you would take from close range combat. Your lower skills to start with will mean you do less damage and have lower defence than a more established combat pilot. You can mitigate a fair bit of that by learning to fly well. With hybrids you want to fight near your optimal range - a little over is acceptable, but beyond falloff you’ll struggle to apply damage. Hover over the weapon button to see the figures.
Time and progression.
Is all based on building standings. https://support.eveonline.com/hc/en-us/articles/203217152-Standingshttps://support.eveonline.com/hc/en-us/articles/203217152-Standings
You can do missions as part of a fleet - it’s a good way of tasting harder missions. The higher standing player can start the mission and share the rewards from it. Beware that “harder” means watch what is happening and don’t be complacent.
Don’t race for bigger ships and guns - they will disappoint and Eve is not a “bigger = win” game. A good small 'un can easily kick an inexperienced big 'un.
Feel free to reach out to me in game. I’ll answer any questions I can.
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When I first started I used an algos with rails and drones ( Oh the joy of being able to field 5 drones for the first time).
Remember to check faction ammo whilst you are still low skilled. Iron for range(at cost of dps), lead for reduced cap use and plutonium for extra dps (at cost of range) IIRC.
I used algos for level III missions to, and also for the SOE arc. Dagan took a while, but still died.
I’d suggest looking at scanning and trying the DED 1/2 sites too whilst flying to/from missions. They are fun and have nice ‘jackpot’ moments, especially for new players.
Thanks guys !
I’ll dump the Antimatter charged then. Iridium were nice with Merlin, I think they’ll help more with range.
I two others questions, relating to things you said :
I currently use the ‘Scout’ variant, are they inferior to Gauss guns please ?
What is kiting please ? And how do I do it ? Generally, when I need to shoot down a target, I set my guns’ maximal optimal range as my orbit range and use my Afterburner to go fast enough to dodge some guns. But even if I overheat my module, Missiles and sometime even cruiser weapons still hit me (even more with Cormorant).
Kiting is basically keeping outside of the effective range of your opponent while still applying damage to him.
Check the current range of your guns with ammunition loaded - different ammunition does different damage and had different optimals. Take several different sorts with you. Don’t feel bad about changing ammunition as the range changes - losing five seconds is better than losing a ship.
I normally carry Iron (long), Lead (medium) and antimatter (short). Lead is also the most capacitor efficient.
Your approach is basically fine for missions (you’d need more active piloting against another player) - though watch out for other NPCs closing range on you. There is no point in orbiting a target at 40km to avoid damage if his friends are 10km from you and melting through your hull. Situational awareness is key. And takes time.
Missiles are normally going to be the threat. Speed is helpful because of how missile damage works, but at range they should be a smattering rather than overwhelming.
Train a couple of more levels of Caldari Destroyer to get more range. With 150mm Scouts you should have a 40km optimal with Iron loaded. 25-30km with Lead. Very little in a Level 2 mission has the range to apply significant damage at 40km.
And yes, Scouts are perfectly fine. Especially if you can’t afford Prototypes (cost is always a consideration).
One final gotcha. If you click “orbit at 40km” and you are less than that from your target you’ll start to move directly away from them. They’ll get perfect tracking on you and if you are in range then they’ll apply a lot of damage to you. Try to break away at angles - clicking in space tells the ship to go “that way”.
The upside is if they are just tail chasing you then you have good tracking on them. Kill them quickly.
Thanks again ! I suppose that ‘Prototype’ guns are the last step before Tech 2 guns ?
Last “step” is the wrong description - the Meta guns each have their advantages and disadvantages, much like the modules do. For example, one meta gun will have a longer range, one will have a lower fitting need but each trades off one advantage against a penalty.
If you compare it to Afterburners, the “Compact” is easier to fit, but more capacitor hungry than a “Restrained”. Trade Offs. In general, the Meta items are better than the basic item.
T2 items are normally more powerful and more demanding to fit as well as skill demanding. You use them were you need their performance, but you’ll not just fit them as standard.
Shame really: I make most of my ISK by making and selling T2 components.
There’s no “right or wrong” in Eve, just a lot of personal preferences and what works for you in the case you need it for. Better ton understand “why something works” rather than just “x is best”.
Except for Civilian modules. Don’t. Just Don’t. Really Don’t. Anything else is better.
There’s more than one way to ‘kite’ on PvE, I kite with drones. I have a Vexor set-up with 100km targeting and drone range, and an Algos and a Tristan set-up with 70km on both. I warp to within 100km (or 70km) of the target, launch my drones, then jettison a bit of scrap metal and orbit around it while the drones do their stuff. If anything gets through to me I have a couple of pulse lasers for close-in defence.
Thanks for your answers again =)
Alright, I know noticed that I don’t only gain ISK when I complete a mission, I also get paid with Loyalty Points. I currently have 3751 stacked for the Hyasyoda corporation and I also learnt that I can spend them to buy rewards in the Loyalty Store. Currently, none of the rewards seems interesting (maybe the Faction Ammo, for better DPS ?), so I would like to know :
- Is it possible to directly trade LP for ISK ?
- If not, can the reward brought in the LP Store be sold on the Market ?
- If the answer for the last question is yes, should I take, for example, Implants and sell them now, or wait to get the massive amount for a Navy Hookbill, Caracal, Drake or Raven, and then sell it ?
- There is also a third currency, “AK”, what is this please ?
Thanks again guys =)
Ah, the other part of mission rewards (I assume you’ve also looted the wrecks? - it does add up nicely)
In order:
No, you can’t directly trade LP for ISK.
Yes, the items you buy can be sold on the market.
https://www.fuzzwork.co.uk/lpstore/ to explote the options - remember though some items sell faster than others.
AK is an obsolete mechanism - Eve is complex with a long history, sometimes legacy stuff hangs around.
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Actually, I did not loot or salvage any wreck… I think my Cormorant is way too slow to do it effectively, and I think the best loot I ever got were the Insignas left by the Gallente ships in L1…