Missions Shmissions

I spent an evening or two investigating level 2 security and distribution missions. Conclusion: Meh.

Meh

My standing with the Sisters of Eve was high enough to try a harder challenge.  The level 1 security missions are now easily done in an Imicus equipped with Hobgoblin I drones, so I wanted to see if I could do level 2 missions. Short answer: yes, especially if I added a remote armor repair system to my ship so I could heal my drones without needed to retreat to a station.  Long answer: Yes, but its still not really worth it. The rewards are low and the loot/salvage not great. Maybe 500K total per mission?

I also spent to time in Arnon and Ignebaener locating level 4 mission runners and sniffing around their loot. I was excited; this was where the Good Stuff was! Sadly it wasn't as quick, safe or lucrative as I'd hoped. Of the 5 or so battleships I found doing missions, 3 of them were in the midst of the mission itself (a lvl 4 missions takes a LONG time to run) and I got shot at by some scarily huge pirate ships. I was able to salvage a couple of wrecks and found the usual kinds of stuff, though with more Armor Plates (100K each) than usual.

Overall, for the time required to find these guys and the patience needed to wait for them to finish the fight and move on, its not something I want to put much effort into. I have two variations more to try: scan them down and bookmark them to visit later (like 5 hours later) and see if anything got left behind, and secondly I read that low-sec ninja salvaging with a focus on "Elite" wrecks is what you really want to do.

Woohoo

What has worked nicely in the last couple of days is hunting for lost drones and station trading, plus some hauling. While being sent hither and yon for the Sisters of Eve, and also on the long haul to my friend's system for PvP, I picked up some items that are now selling well. I have 33 open orders and doing well with ammo, ship modules and some weapons.

The hunting of lost drones is particularly lucrative: with just a few minutes effort I've found dozens of Tech 2 and even named drones. One memorable find was twenty-four Hobgoblin IIs!  That must have been a helluva fight; perhaps a group of level 4 mission runners got killed or fled?

I'm studying along two lines at the moment: Tech 2 and Drone skills. My main fighting tactics involve launching drones and using long-range guns ("kiting"). I can fly five drones (4 in the Imicus) and have some good drone damage multipliers, though my control range needs to be better, especially in the Algos, where I can target at 44km, but only control drones at 35km. I'm studying tech 2 skills so I can be better prepared to do some faction warfare in a kiting Tristan.

Ships Used

Imicus, Algos

[Imicus, Imicus Scan AND Salvage]
Nanofiber Internal Structure I
Co-Processor I
[empty low slot]

1MN Microwarpdrive I
Data Analyzer I /OFFLINE
Cargo Scanner I
Relic Analyzer I /OFFLINE

Small Remote Armor Repair System I
Salvager I
Expanded Probe Launcher I, Core Scanner Probe I

[empty rig slot]
[empty rig slot]
[empty rig slot]


Hobgoblin I x4
Salvage Drone I x4

[Algos, Missioning]

Drone Damage Amplifier I

[empty low slot]

[empty low slot]

Limited 1MN Afterburner I

Medium Shield Extender I

Adaptive Invulnerability Field I

75mm Compressed Coil Gun I, Iron Charge S

75mm Compressed Coil Gun I, Iron Charge S

75mm Compressed Coil Gun I, Iron Charge S

75mm Compressed Coil Gun I, Iron Charge S

75mm Compressed Coil Gun I, Iron Charge S

Small Remote Armor Repair System I

[empty rig slot]

[empty rig slot]

[empty rig slot]

Hobgoblin I x5

Hammerhead I x2

Salvage Drone I x3