Problems

I have encountered two problems. The second resolved itself and I am hoping for the same for the first!

Sister Alitura finally sent me to Minmitar space and yay! It was Hek she sent me to, and I love the place. First, Minmatar space is just beautiful, with the red nebulae. Secondly Hek is where I started trading 6 years ago, and where I made my first few millions. Hek was where I made my first corporation, and where I had my first pvp encounter and where I made so many new friends. Lots of wonderful, and some painful memories!

The problem was that when I checked in with the agent at Hek, the mission with Sister Alitura did not complete. When I try and 'Read Details' for the mission, nothing pops open, and the mission continues to shows itself in the journal as 'accepted'. This has continued even after completing a series of missions around Hek and moving on to Amarr space. How this will eventually impact the arc, I do not know, but am hoping that going and talking to the Sister may sort it out. In the meantime, I am far away doing courier work for someone's "Lord", and trying to win over their confidence.

The second problem seemed like an arc-breaker, but I was delighted to find that the mission arc is pretty idiot-proof. I was supposed to collect an engineer out of a habitat, but the guy said no. So up pops a window where the agent says to scare the guy by firing a couple of volleys at him. As I activated the module, I got distracted (by one of those Minmatar babes), and before I knew it the habitat was lost! I panicked and rushed towards the container I noticed in the area, and in the process managed to somehow shoot another couple of volleys at it! Within seconds there was nothing left, and with the mission objective destroyed I had no hopes left either. I had thoughts of now trying this arc after another 3 months, but the agent did not notice the missing engineer for some reason and let me complete the mission.

Even though there is that pending issue with Sister Alitura, I am continuing to mission in Amarr space. 

The Hawk

A courier mission

So I got sick of the namby pamby missions, and even though the agent told me not to, I engaged a large number of frigates during a mission and had some fun. The ship (Hawk) is really cool. With the MWD on constantly, it is cap stable at 66%, and speed alone is enough to tank lots of frigates. Also tried the Javelin T2 rockets which have a range of 20km. Most frigates require just one burst, though due to the really fast rate of fire, by the time they reach the target, another volley has been discharged and ends up wasted. Totally worth it, as the rocket effects are just superb.

Engaging, against advice!

After a short stint behind enemy (Caldari) lines, I am back to the start system (Arnon) with the Sister Alitura, whose giving me these courier missions that I hate.

Some action!

Another courier mission

Finally, a fight

Mission loot!

Heading back behind enemy lines

The missions now are a little more challenging. Finished a series of five missions for the Gallente agent I was sent to. In the last two missions there were about 10 frigates and a cruiser to kill. I turned on the invulnerability field for a bit, though the shield booster was still not needed. 

Do not see much impact on my Gallente standings yet, and it is possible that the Gallente stint is over, as I am being sent behind "enemy lines" to Caldari space!

The Dead Drop

After 4 or 5 quick missions in the start system (Arnon), I am been sent to "Gallente space", despite the fact that Arnon is also in Gallente space. I managed to rescue the Chef, the Engineer and the Doctor from the original crashed ship/s, and they are all "cooperating". Apparently the Sisters have their ways to make them talk. I also retrieved a datacore in one mission, and there is someone in Gallente space who will help decipher the information therein, thus I am on my way.

The ransom money

In the last mission I did for sister Alitura, I was double crossed while trying to ransom the (sexy) doctor. They wanted to take the money and keep the doctor, so I shot them down. And though I rescued the doctor, I was not allowed to take the ransom money, which is still lying in deadspace along with the wrecks of the abductors :(

Beautiful Rockets

Beautiful Rockets. 

I've completed a series of missions for Mr. Jack and the epic arc start agent Sister Alitura. The ship performed great. The rockets have a range of 13km, and the frigates I encountered all needed just one hit each. The rockets look amazingly good, and I think I may persist with this fit for a while. Have not needed to use the booster or the invulnerability field. The MWD nearly makes the ship lose control, and I would probably prefer an afterburner, though again am going to persist with the MWD as pulsing it now and then seems to make sense.

The heat attack.

The missions themselves were pretty straightforward. Kill ships and collect and deliver items or people to the agents. In the first mission I nearly had a heart attack as I saw that there was another capsuleer in the deadspace area! Just as I noticed this guy, a pop up asked me to collect stuff from a can. I was sure the ninja would grab the item and ransom it, so I rushed to collect from the can and overshot it a couple of times thanks to the MWD! Only after I had the item safe in my hold did I realize that this was an overview bug, and in fact I was all alone.

Factions that Like me.

Factions that Dislike me.

Heading back to Sister Alitura

I have taken a couple of shots of my standings for the sake of record. After a month of work on my Gallente standings, I'm hoping that this current effort will cement them firmly in the positive.

Corporations that Like me.

Contempt or Jealousy?

Contempt or Jealousy?

Apparently 'capsuleer' is a like a swear word to the Sisters of EVE (SoE). They have a most condescending attitude towards all of us, and most reluctantly got me started off on the arc. Think they may be jealous of our immortality.

The first mission was just to go and check out some wrecks. The coolest thing was that once I was there, a window popped up and I did not have to return to the agent, a couple of jumps away, to complete the mission.

Approaching the start station in Arnon

I was sent to see another agent called Tevis Jack. This proved to be tricky, as I could not find the option to start a conversation with this fellow. Apparently there was this beacon there, which I kept trying to interact with. Eventually I realized that the iteron-type ship this guy was flying also had a small cross that needed to be right clicked for the option to be revealed. Wasted a few hours figuring this out, and thus missed the time bonus for completing the mission.

The all important option.

I see other people doing this arc as well. The start station (Arnon) was pretty busy, with lots of activity in space, as well as about 30 people docked (should start trading here). People were showing up in Thoraxes, Caracals, Catalysts, Thrashers and the odd frigate while I tried helplessly to talk to Tevis Jack, and worried about all these ships ganking up on me. Think others are also having this issue about talking to the agent, as they seem to hang around for a long time. I have just realized that the issue may be sorted by right clicking the agent in space and selecting "Add agent in space to overview".

So Mr. Jack wants me to go and kill a few pirates who are desecrating the crash site, and I am on my way. 

The Tight Fit

Fitting the Hawk was tricky. The damn thing is so tight on CPU that I had to look at lower CPU versions of every single module. Totally forgot about light missiles, but persisted with T2 rocket launchers. The rest of the fit got more and more expensive as I kept switching to lower and lower CPU versions.

Looking at lower CPU versions of modules, using the Compare tool.

The eventual fit. The salvager in the high slot is offline.

The strategy was straightforward; use the lower slots and rigs for damage mods, and the mid-slots for tanking and propulsion. The ship has bonuses to microwarpdrives (MWD). The fit would have been much easier with an afterburner, but I've decided to try the MWD first, and possibly switch later. There is also a bonus to shield boosting, thus I've added a boost amplifier. 

As soon as I put a second launcher rig, the CPU became inadequate, thus finally I've gone with a T2 launcher damage rig, along with an agility rig, as I could not think of anything else. Was forced to add Caldari Navy ballistic control systems in the low slots as they use 24 CPU compared to 40 used by BCS IIs.

The fit is nowhere near cap stable, but the idea is to possibly keep the invulnerability field on, and use the booster and MWD sparingly, when needed. Have gone with an omni taank, using a passive EM shield resistance amplifier. 

I was about to set off on autopilot for the epic arc starting system, when I suddenly realized that the ship is after all a  (pimped) frigate, and easily gankable. Have thus decided to pilot it manually. 

The Arc

So I've decided to finally try the Sisters of Eve Epic Mission Arc. A friend told me about this arc ages ago, when I complained about my Gallente standings. He also told me to stop killing them, which later proved to be the right advice. So the aim is to do the mission arc, try different fits and ships, get some standings and hopefully have fun doing it.

The decision was made at an impulse. I had just finished setting up market orders in a remote mission hub and was heading back to base to set up manufacturing and research jobs. The ship was on autopilot and I was looking at some info about this mission arc. Did not read much, but apparently there is a mission near the end where a big mother of a ship kicks ass. Best not to know too much.

I looked at the station, as the Crane slowly approached from a strange angle. I somehow felt detached, and numb. As the ship docked, I looked in the hanger and found an unfit Atron, and headed straight for Jita.

Have bought a Hawk, which is an Assault Frigate. These ships were broken for a long time. At least, this is what the rumour was when I joined Eve six years ago. This sort of put me off and I never flew these ships, but I believe they have been fixed in the relatively recent re-balancing (I could be wrong here) and thus worth a try.

I tried a T2 fit with light missile launchers but ran out of CPU very quickly. Have bought less CPU intensive versions of the modules and will try and refit. Have also had the brilliant idea about using rockets. Lets see how it goes.