I finished my tutorial earlier this week and found myself with a level 3 distribution agent, Brakur Ondgert with the Pator School. And so I started doing distribution missions. I had read that storyline missions were a good way to grind standing.
The problem is that almost all the storyline missions I am getting involve combat and this is level 3. I don’t have a ship that can handle level 3 combat missions. How do I get past this? Agent Fratt Asurdik whose division is distribution gave me the Kidnappers Strike series. Out of 6 storyline missions, 5 include combat and only one seems to be distribution. Of the agents, 3 are security agents, one is mining and 2 are distribution.
I don’t understand what is going on. Am I doing something wrong? I thought I would be getting distribution storyline missions. So the missions and their reward that are combat based and that I can’t handle just end up expiring? Seems like a waste.
Storyline agents can give courier or encounter missions. I have never seen mining. For a new player, the expectation is that you will start running level 1 and 2 missions and work your way up. That said, if you have the standing to run level 3, the pay is a lot better!
You can decline the storyline encounter missions without penalty - a lot of mission runners do that anyway because they don’t want the standings loss with the opposing faction. The main reason for running storyline missions is the faction standing boost with the faction that awards the mission (derived standings loss with the opposing faction) - they don’t give LP and the reward isn’t much better than regular missions.
Yeah, not necessarily. Just as doing 16 combat missions will see you end up with a storyline offer from an agent that might give a combat mission OR a distribution mission OR an ore delivery mission (mine it, buy it, haul it, whatever)… storyline mish offers from doing distribution missions are similarly quasi-random.
The type of storylines you get has nothing to do with the type of regular missions you run to get them. The only things that matter are the level of the agents and the faction they belong to. Other than that, they’re all drawn from the same pool.
This is actually a good thing for players running missions for standings, because you may choose the type of missions you prefer to run the first 15 missions, then do the 16th mission for an agent of any type that’s closest to the agent you want to get the storyline from.
Although it wouldn’t have answered your question, you may learn more about missions here:
Thanks for the referral but I’m like everybody else on this topic. CCP has never released any info about the amount or type of missions available in the Storyline pool.
Personally I’d like to think a Storyline Agent would be coded to only offer missions from their Division, however from my experience I’ve found that not to be the case. Also it seems to me the Storyline pool has more encounter missions than any other type.
I think CCP has set it up so that the majority of the time the type of Storyline mission that’s offered will be opposite from the previously completed regular missions. I’m not sure but it could be based on just the 16th mission. Meaning that if you’re doing regular Distribution missions, the Storyline offer will be a Security mission, etc.
Anyway, @Exia_Aturin, if you’re looking to gain standing, there’s easier ways to do that than grinding 16 missions for a Storyline mission. Check out the ‘Faction Standing Repair Plan’ thread for more info.
This is normal. What I have found is that when doing combat missions normally the storylines are hauling or mining ones with an occasional combat one.
Conversely if you do hauling missions normally, they usually throw you a combat storyline but rarely can be a hauling or mining one.
I think this is just some mechanic to give you a challenge. After all for haulers a combat one is harder and for combat toons the 40k m3 colossal container storyline is the annoying one.
I, and probably others, don’t really count that one as a mining storyline mission because… mining L1, L2, L3, L4 missions all feature fake ore that’s LIKE one of the real ores but isn’t the real ore. But the ores you need for the mission you’re talking about (Materials for War Preparation) are real ores.
So yeah, it’s more of a buy or haul or mine it yourself but it’s REAL ore, unlike (most) mining missions… quasi-mining storyline. ;D
Yeah, pretty much. Also, I think it’s for variety’s sake as well. And to get people who just haul to try some NPC combat… and to get people who just do NPC combat to try some hauling, etc.