Kill missions - comparisons

[TheDreamr]

I remember what it was like being brand new to EVE and trying to work out what the differences between the various levels of kill missions were and how tough they were - hopefully anyone starting out down the agent kill missions route will find this helpful.

These are primarily from a Caldari ship user's point of view (ie shield tank & ranged combat), based on a mix of running Amarr Navy / Caldari Navy L1s & L2s

Any comments are welcome because with only a couple of months under my belt it's pretty obvious I still have a lot to learn.

L1 Missions

You'll be facing frigates which are mainly armed with turret type weapons.  As long as you have the most basic weapon & support skills and aren't in the rookie ship you'll have no problems handling the damage and killing your targets with a generic setup.   Only real tips are don't aggro too many ships at once and learn to read the mission brief properly (ie learn what you need to kill and what you can avoid fighting).

You shouldn't run into warp jammers (ie they stop you warping out), webbers (ie they reduce your speed) etc. so escaping is always an option provided you don't leave it too late.

A well setup frigate or destroyer will clear out L1s but some missions (worlds collide for example) require you to adopt different tactics and possibly have stronger skills.

L2 Missions

You'll be facing frigates in larger numbers than before, often led by advanced frigates - there are cruisers and weak interceptor encounters but they are infrequent and low powered.   Most ships still use turrets, however light missiles, heavy missiles and rockets are extremely common and can cause big problems when they're used in swarms.

The biggest difference between L1 missions and L2 missions is that you need to think about setting your resists correctly - there are easy L2s and there are hard L2s, the harder missions can quickly cost an unprepared pilot their ship as they take massive amounts of damage against one of their weakest resists.

Preparation starts with your journal - read the mission information and work out what you'll be facing.  Check eveinfo.com etc to see what type(s) of damage they do, whether they use turrets or missiles and which types of damage they are weak against.

You will get warp jammed / webbed from time-to-time, but they're rare encounters - normally one small ship, maybe two if you're fighting navy ships.

The low-value L2's are doable in a well setup frigate, but a decent cruiser with resists will let you tackle any L2 quickly and effectively.

L3 Missions

From my limited experiences in L3's...

There aren't many more ships than L2 missions, but the frigates tend to be advanced / elite frigates packing increased firepower.  Cruisers are common encounters and sentry towers seem to be very powerful and long ranged.

Setting resists & damage is extremely important, but it's more difficult than before because you'll encounter a wider spread of damage types than in L2 missions.

Warp jammers and webbers are more frequent so plan ahead you intend to rely on warping out or kiting.

[Polysorbate80]

Level 3's...

A lot of variety; some are easy as hell--kill a cruiser and 4-5 frigs; others can kill a battlecruiser easily if you're careless.  A lot of cruisers, the occasional battlecruiser or tough interceptor/HAC.

A lot of webbers, but very few scramblers.  They do exist, but you'll quickly learn which missions may have one.

Level 4's...

Same as the others, just more so and with battleship spawns.  I stick with the easier ones solo; always look up the mission and know what you're getting yourself into.  Until you're highly skilled with a bunch of T2 or faction gear (or have learned exactly which ships are the scramblers to kill first), fit a WCS; you're probably going to have to take missions in chunks at first.  Otherwise, you should know how to run missions by now :)

[Venkman]

Nice guide Dreamr! Just some thoughts from a Minmatar still on Level 1s.

Even a crappily equipped Rifter is going to win most missions easily. Level 1 Missions can pay anywhere from 20k to 110k in my experience, based on Agent Rating (I think) and Social skills. In addition to mission payout is the mob payout from each target destroyed and then the sale of whatever looted equipment you don't use or reprocess down to sell as their mineral sub-components. The Agent at our station mostly gives missions that don't even requiring leaving the system. The most I've ever had to go is two jumps though, and never below 0.4 security.

Ratting pays out even better. The bounty for each ship is many multiples the bounty from some Mission rat.  An ok-equipped Rifter with Level 3 across Gunnery support skills, and equipped for turret-range fighting, can handle anything in 0.5 security space in an interesting fight. 0.4 gets risky but is doable. 0.3 alone even more so. 0.2 alone, maybe. This is where equipment and understanding the performance dynamics of your ship become critical. What I learned from exactly one fight in 0.2 space last night was more than I had learned in 100 missions. Level 1 Missions are just that comparatively easy. Eyes-closed type stuff, even if the ships are marked "Deadly".

[Mr_PeaCH]

And Darn, you might want to start looking for your L2 guy.  Since you're a Minmatar like me you'll find the nearest one to Neesher base (where you're seeing the L1 guy, right?) is 2 jumps away in Kizama.  (There are two stations there iirc; sorry, can't remember which one he's in.)

I began L2 missions in my frigate and tried them in a destroyer as well.  I'm definately down off of my destroyer high-horse.  (Whoever said the destroyers have all the hitpoints of a frigate together with the target size of a cruiser and maybe a dab more firepower nailed it... 4TL)  In my cruiser though all the L2's so far have been cake.  I'm vaporizing rat frigs faster than I can target the next one once I close range and I've got enough armor (and yes, resists are key I'm fiding; I do research and rotate modules accordingly) to survive a few waves of missles from the 'veterans'.  Cruiser-on-cruiser I'm deadly as well.  Payouts seem to range from about 50k to 150k plus bonus and I always appreciate ISK as bonus and not the ammo or what-have-you.

[Venkman]

Oh good point on Ammo.

All of my ammo I make. And all of the minerals have come entirely from reprocessing loot that wouldn't sell well on the market and/or I can't/don't want to use. Nocxium is rare, but I've never had a problem keeping enough ammo on hand.

Sounds like L2 Missions in a Cruiser are like L1 Missions in a Frigate in the easy factor.

I'm not that rich though :). I have about 4.6mil, and while that'd be enough to get a well-priced Cruiser, it's not enough to easily replace it. If I stop buying these stupid skills and ship upgrades, I could probably clear 1mil a night take-home.

I'm at 4.7 with the Agent in our station. You mentioned doing L2 Missions in your Frigate but then went to Cruisers. Did you win those missions in your frig? ;)

[TheDreamr]

Destroyers - encountered my first NPC destroyers last night, heavy missile'd them on a whim ... they died so fast I wasn't sure whether to laugh, cry or swear I'd never use one again.

Missions -

Best paying L1 mission I ever had was Worlds Collide, think it paid around 200k w/ bonus plus whatever bounties you worked.  Classic case of read the briefing - doesn't say anywhere you have to fight the ships in the first or second area, and the ships in the third area are far more what you'd expect from an L1.

Best paying L2 missions (besides drones) were those one's that gouged my standing with the opposition's navy (although they were fun) which paid 500k+ w/ bonus, on top of tags & loot the navy guys drop.

[Venkman]

I just got a side mission to bring 100 Amarr Navy Insignias to some Agent for 500 loyalty points but to receive 500k credit. Personally, since our base is in Amarr space, I'd rather still be able to enter the system at whim :)

[Venkman]

Somewhere in these forums is a post about what sort of L2 missions to avoid in a T1 Frigate, noting that other L2s are doable. I can't find it though. Can anyone tell me what L2 missions I should avoid? I'm just about to the point of getting the agent over in Kizama to talk to me, as I'd rather not travel 40 jumps just to do L2 missions way "north".

Edit: Nevermind. Found WayAbvPar's response:

Do NOT attempt Silence the Informant or Human Cattle in a frigate, whatever you do. They are fucking deathtraps. The rest of them are reasonably doable in frigates provided you keep your wits about you.

[/i]

[Furiously]

Silence is doable once you have some decent armor. Just takes a while. I hate refusing.

[TheDreamr]

Most of the big "avoid these" missions I came up against were vs. Minimater and Galente due to being an Amarr mission runner but YMMV.   Majority of anti-pirate missions for L2 weren't particularly difficult as their frigates and cruisers relied on ineffective turrets making them only fractionally more challenging than L1 missions.

vs Opposition Faction

Tech Secrets (3 stages) - lots of missile spam from multiple waves of Thukker mercs.  If you warp out early you'll come back to find all waves are sitting there waiting for you.  Standing hit vs. Thukker Tribe.

Intercept the Saboteurs - lots of missile spam generally but you'll be fighting a fleet Stabber in one encounter and an Officer in another - both have high damage outputs, so potentially *might* require cruiser weapons to kill.

Illegal Activity (3 stages) - mainly frigates but they also have officers (higher dmg output) and support (webbing etc).  Large standing hit vs. Galente Navy in comparison to what you actually killed.

vs Pirate / Mercenary Missions

A Criminal Brought To Justice - three pirate cruisers and one strong frigate, the gate in point puts you within the cruisers firing range and all three attempt to rip your shields to shreds with heavy EM missiles.

Eliminate the Pirate Campers - similar to the L1 version except there's a strong frigate w/ high damage output and decent resists present.

Silence the Information - lots of missile spam from mercenary frigates, the group (2 regulars, 2 elites?) guarding the gate aggro you the moment you warp in.  If you can survive that then you're free to pick off the other groups and the occasional ship that respawns at the gate.

The Seven's Brothel - half a dozen pirate frigates, a cruiser and a light missile equipped sentry.  Not hard in the same sense as the others in this list, but because of the way it's setup you will take damage before you're close enough to attack the frigates and sentry.  Cruiser is also heavy-missile equipped.  With a bad setup you'll take too much damage on the way in and not be able to hang around long enough to kill the targets.

[WayAbvPar]

Silence is doable once you have some decent armor. Just takes a while. I hate refusing.

It would a hell of a lot of work in a frigate. It is much much much easier in a cruiser- you can stay and tank most of the first wave instead of hoping you get 1 kill before you have to warp out and repair like you do with a frig. I guess it is doable, but damned tricky. The good news is frigates are basically disposable, so it doesn't hurt too bad if you get one popped.