Pirate Epic Arcs
From UniWiki
The Pirate Epic Arcs are recently introduced PvE mission chains that should be well within reach of more advanced Uni students. What follows is some information about how to do these and their rewards and drawbacks. There are two Pirate Arcs; one for the Guristas, the other for the Angel Cartel. This page is mostly about the Guristas arc, the Angel arc is very similar and should be able to be completed the same way.
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Prerequisites and Cautions
Warning: The Guristas Arc takes place in Venal, requiring you to travel through player-controlled 0.0. This is currently not permitted for Uni students. The Angel Arc should be fine, as Curse is readily accessible.
To start the Guristas arc, you need to be able to access one of the following agents:
- Atma Aulato - Caldari - Ytiri
- Arment Caute - Gallente - Federal Intelligence Office
- Yada Vinjivas - Guristas Pirates
- Kori Latamaki - Guristas Pirates
For the Angels arc,
- Aton Hordnert - Minmatar - Republic Security Services
- Arajna Ashia - Amarr - Amarr Navy
- Ellar Stin - Angel Cartel - Dominations
- Abdiel Verat - Angel Cartel - Archangels
The missions themselves are in Venal and Curse, each of which are fairly dangerous 0.0 areas, so be sure to be prepared to evade camps, etc.. I had to run 2 or 3 camps and a couple of station undocks doing these during EU prime time. Many of the missions can be handed in and/or accepted without docking; be sure to always do "Start Conversation" in the Journal. On your trip to 0.0, consider avoiding Doril and M-OEE8, as these systems are almost always bubble camped. I would suggest taking the long way to Curse starting at B-VIP9 in the Great Wildlands.
Be familiar with survival techniques like the cloak/MWD trick before you attempt these missions. To be even safer, go with a cheap frigate first and make tactical gate bookmarks and instant-undocks. Also, research the routes to get to the mission sites and avoid the dangerous ones (some highsec to 0.0 gates, for example, are often heavily camped).
Rewards and Drawbacks
The Guristas missions are generally vs. Caldari NPCs; mostly frigates and destroyers with the occasional cruiser. I lost .75 Caldari standing; not that bad. I also gained 3.55 Guristas standing. This effect is mirrored in the Angels epic arc.
The Angels missions have three possible enemies, depending on your choice of mission paths. At first you can choose to fight either the Guristas, or Sansha's Nation. After that you are required to fight the Boundless Creation corporation of the Minmatar Republic. The highest class of npc encountered was a Battlecruiser.
The missions pay decently; I got 57 mil. ISK from mission rewards, as well as a DG Multispec (~6mil) and a Gila BPC (~140 mil). Not so bad for 12 missions.
The Angels Epic arc total came to about 400 million isk, including the Cynabal BPC (250 mil) and Domination Target Painter (100 mil).
Ships to Use
I recommend doing these in an AF. The CCP description says Inty, but many people have reported poor results with that ship class. You might be able to do it in a well-fit frigate, but be sure you are able to handle multiple cruiser/destroyer spawns. It is essential to fit a speed tank of the Angels epic arc, due to the Minmatar NPC's having huge alpha dps at long ranges. These npc's will break any active tank on a frigate unless the said frigate can close distance and orbit very quickly.
[Ishkur, Epic Arc] Adaptive Nano Plating II Small Armor Repairer II Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II Cap Recharger II Cap Recharger II Limited 1MN MicroWarpdrive I 125mm Railgun II 125mm Railgun II 125mm Railgun II Improved Cloaking Device II Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I Small Capacitor Control Circuit I
Cloak/MWD is def. recommended for evading camps; this technique saved me two or three times. Once you reach the mission destination it is recommended to switch your speed module to an afterburner, thus facilitating your speed tank.
Other Stuff
The missions themselves are pretty cool - nice storyline and optics, so I recommend reading the text :) Definitely a nice change in comparison to standard empire missions.
http://www.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=713 has some more info, focused on the Angel arc which takes part in Curse and requires standings with Minmatar or Amarr to start.
