Mission tips

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Most of the low level agent missions are trivially easy, but there are a few "gotchas!".

The classic is the "Villard Wheels" which are apparently required at one of the stages of the 10-part tutorial misison that you get from your second agent. The rookie channel is full of plaintive requests for how to find these things, to the extent that one experienced pilot had put the answer in his bio and just referred questioners to that.

The answer is that you neither need to find nor make Villard Wheels. They are, to quote WS Gilbert "Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative." What you actually have to do is go through the "invention" option in the drop-down menu. This will give you the chance to invent the perpetual motion machine using the data you have retrieved from the young scientist. The second "gotcha!" is that you probably won't be able to actually do the research at the station you are on. Change the tab to region, select a reseach line and fly to its location. You do not have the skills to submit research remotely and attempting to do so may cause a lock. Once the research is complete (like manufacturing) you will obtain a one-run blueprint for a perpetual motion machine and you can return to the original station to build it.

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Maximizing mission profit.

Many missions are trivial but you may be lucky and get a seek & destroy mission. Actually, if you are still in your rookie ship or even in a basic frigate this may be bad luck ...

This sort of mission will direct you to destroy a particular ship or installation, warning you about guards. You may need to recover something from the wreckage. The mission will usually take place in a deadspace complex - effectively an instance dungeon.

It is often possible to do this as a hit&run - destroy & loot the target then warp out before the guards mob you to death. However, this is not financially optimal. Killing the guards will earn you bounties. Looting their ships can recover usable goods, or at least sellable stuff. The key point is that the deadspace complex hangs around until you have contacted your agent to say you have succeeded. It is therefore quite feasable to make several runs through the complex until all the guards are dead and then loot all the wreckage.

I did one of these last night. I cleared the first room (4 guards) and warped out for repairs. The second room had the target and about 10 guards. First pass took out (and looted) the target and destroyed one guard. I dumped the mission loot at station and made two more runs to complete the slaughter, plus another to finish looting.

Overall I made about 450,000 ISK. Mission reward accounted for 120,000 of that, which is all I would have got for a hit & run. I kept considerable spare ammo and two of the desirable Nosferatu energy drain devices. I debated keeping some of the other devices but I need the cash for my cruiser.

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Loyalty points.

Many missions award loyalty points. I had assumed these were in some way faction related but last night I found the offers tab in journal. Once you have sufficient standing with an agent (s)he will offer to trade goods for loyalty points. So far I have been offered skill books and minerals. I believe that as time goes on the rewards escalate and may include faction-specific goods & services.

[Greebo]

For a villard wheels walkthrough, type "Villard Wheels" in the chat window, then highlight it and right click and create a link to a character.

Then click it and READ THE BIO.

Yes, someone MADE a character JUST to explain that quest. It helped me loads! :)

[Aananla]

The last mission I received was to take out a convoy. the convoy consists of 8 ships. My Bantam is about as decked out as it can get, but I am still unable to take out even one of the convoy ships. Now, the race is on to aquire a better ship with armament to finish the mission before the time expires. I am afraid the mission will expire before I accomplish this.

The moral of the story: Always be on the hunt for better ships and equipment if you're going to be a mission runner.

[Barrack]

I am still on the first set of missions (just after the training) and found outsomething, the next mission appears in your journal just after you compleate the mission you are on, so you get a sneak peek and can have a chance at maximizing your reward.

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The last mission I received was to take out a convoy. the convoy consists of 8 ships. My Bantam is about as decked out as it can get, but I am still unable to take out even one of the convoy ships. Now, the race is on to aquire a better ship with armament to finish the mission before the time expires. I am afraid the mission will expire before I accomplish this.

The moral of the story: Always be on the hunt for better ships and equipment if you're going to be a mission runner.
I found that the bantam is fine as a miner and crap as a combat vessel. Even the Navitas you get in the training mission will outperform it.

I upgraded to a Kestrel. With the right training this is quite a handy combat frigate, with 2 missile & 2 gun hardpoints. Even against an 8 ship convoy I could probably take out a couple before running for the hills. After that it just gets easier.

If I show up while you are online give me a call. If you are not out of reach I'll come over and give you a hand.

[Aananla]

I found that the bantam is fine as a miner and crap as a combat vessel. Even the Navitas you get in the training mission will outperform it.

I upgraded to a Kestrel. With the right training this is quite a handy combat frigate, with 2 missile & 2 gun hardpoints. Even against an 8 ship convoy I could probably take out a couple before running for the hills. After that it just gets easier.

If I show up while you are online give me a call. If you are not out of reach I'll come over and give you a hand.
Thanks. I may request some aid.

What are the hardpoints for? Launchers? What else?

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All guns and weapons fit in high slots. Some or all of a ship's high slots will be dedicated to guns or missiles. The others can be used for a variety of devices, such as Nosferatu energy taps. The Bantam has two turret hardpoints and no launcher hardpoints. The Kestrel has two of each.

There are a few advanced boats where the number of weapons mounting hardpoints exceeds the number of high slots. In that case some of the hardpoints can be thought of as dual-purpose.

[Lycos]

My tutorial was all screwed up. I did get some missions completed, but now I can't get anymore. What do you guys do in that case? Just work on mining for a while? I also bought the nice Mining Frigate, and I should be mining tonight. Is it possible to put on better mining lasers without running into power problems, etc? Should I upgrade my combat lasers? And can I sell my beginner ship? How do you sell them? Contracts?

[Aananla]

You can check the Agents at other star bases for missions. I had a heck of a time finding a new agent after the tutorial. Finally found one in Amarr space. (I'm Caldari)

You should be able to mount 2 Miner I lasers on the frigate, Or one Miner II and one Miner I. You'll run into Power Grid problems, as I have unless you've upgraded your engineering skills.

I have three primary ships now. Bantam for mining with Miner II and Miner I, Badger II for hauling ore, and a Merlin for fighting with one Missile launcher (Piranha missiles), and two Carbine rail guns.

[Lycos]

Thanks for the help Aananla!

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See my posts in Westwood Industrial Corp thread for hints on managing CPU/powergrid usage. I have my merlin with 2 missile launchers and 2 150mm railguns