The Blood-Stained Stars/Chapter 4 - Queens And Drones
- Main article: The Blood-Stained Stars
Mission 22 - Royal Jelly
ExpandMission briefing |
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ExpandFood Relief Corporation |
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Objective
Evacuate the Food Relief Personnel (15 x FR Personnel - 15.0 m³) from the area. You might get surprised by rogue drones. Stay on task, though. Location: Arnon
Notes
This is a rescue mission - and it is remarkably easy if you have a fast ship, despite a large number of rogue drones that will fill your overview. Fit a micro warp drive (MWD) or an afterburner to your ship, if you can. When you warp to the mission location, the Habitation Module will be about 80 km away. Head towards that container at top speed. Rogue drones will begin to appear, and appear, and appear - about 30 of them, in total - at ranges of 50-75 km away. Don't panic - you have plenty of time to pick up the personnel and get them into your cargo hold, as the growing swarm does not attack right away. When they finally do, it comes piecemeal, only a few rogue drones at a time. You do not have to destroy them - just pick up the personnel and return to the Arnon IX - Moon 3 - Sisters of EVE Bureau station to complete the mission.
Sister Alitura will be thankful: Bless you for saving those people. I know you didn’t do this out of charity, but your help is appreciated anyway. You have been paid, but when you’re ready, I have another lead on this drone.
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Habitation Module – Personnel Quarters |
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18-23 x Drone Belphegor/Mammon/... Apis | ||||
7-12 x Frigate Infestor Alvi |
Mission 23 - Nature Pictures
Type | Courier |
Objective | Transport Encoded Data Transmission (50 m³) |
Rewards | 150,000 ISK + ~185,000-210,000 ISK (bonus) |
ExpandMission briefing |
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ExpandThe Guristas |
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Objective
Go to Atlangeins V - Moon 13 - The Scope Development Studio, and pick up 1x Encoded Data Transmission (50 m³). Transport it back to Sister Alitura at Arnon IX - Moon 3 - Sisters of EVE Bureau station (0.8).
Notes
This is a simple, safe courier mission. Set your destination for Atlangeins and travel the four high sec jumps there. Pick up the cargo, return to Arnon, and report back to Sister Alitura to complete the mission.
Mission 24 - Tracking or Scanning
Type | Agent interaction |
Objective | Choose your path |
Rewards | 150,000 ISK + ~1,000 ISK (bonus) |
ExpandMission briefing |
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ExpandPicking Sides |
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This is the first mission in the arc that gives you a choice in where you want to pursue the story.
This choice will only affect your next three missions and will not change the final reward.
"Accept option" auto completes Tracking or Scanning and starts next mission.
Mission 25 A - Tracking the Queen (Part 1)
ExpandMission briefing |
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ExpandMordu’s Legion |
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Objective
Get the Scope reporter, Corin Risia (1 m³) and return him to Sister Alitura at the Arnon IX - Moon 3 - Sisters of EVE Bureau station
- Possible glitch on mission reads "and destroy his captors." This will not let you turn in the mission by snatch and grabbing Risia. Warping back to the mission and briefly engaging frigates allowed mission completion of the mission. Note: In this instance, Mordus frigates were heavily tanked and used web and point. I warped out when scram failed.
Notes
Fit an afterburner or micro warp drive on your ship if you can - speed helps here. When you warp into the mission, Risia's Wrecked Ship container will be about 45 km away. Make a beeline for it, and loot it to put Risia into your cargo hold. When you do this, you'll see seven Mordus frigates appear at 45-60 km range. You do not need to destroy these ships to fulfill the mission - just warp back to Sister Alitura's station before they can get in range. If you wait too long, the enemy frigates will web you - don't wait around to let this happen.
ExpandOn arrival - Corin Risia |
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Risia Wrecked Ship |
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Group A (59-60km) | ||||
3 x Frigate Mordus Gladius | ||||
Group B (55-60km) | ||||
3 x Frigate Mordus Katana | ||||
1 x Frigate Mordus Bounty Hunter |
The Bounty Hunter leaves its group and rapidly approaches. At about 20km the web starts.
Mission 26 A - Tracking the Queen (Part 2)
Type | Courier |
Objective | Deliver 1x Corin Risia (1 m3) |
Rewards | 150,000 ISK + ~80,000-138,000 ISK (bonus) |
ExpandMission briefing |
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This is a simple high sec courier mission. Don't forget to move Corin from Items in the station to your ship cargo hold. Take Corin Risia to his hideout at Attyn V Moon 2 station (two high-sec jumps) so he can transfer the rogue drone data to you.
Mission 27 A - Tracking the Queen (Part 3)
ExpandMission briefing |
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--The mission can be completed remotely and the next mission can be accepted remotely.--
Load the tracking data to a jet can at the designated mission location - don't forget to put the data container into your ship first. When you do, you may encounter six Mordu's Legion frigates at close range who will attack you. One will web you if you are within 10 km of that ship. You are not required to kill them to complete the mission. Fit an afterburner for speed, if you can. If you get destroyed and lose the Drone Tracking Data, don't worry. You can repeat the mission, but standings WILL be lost. TIP: Kill Mordus first, then get tracking data from station and put it in ;-)
ExpandOn arival - Corin Risia |
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Delivery Jetcan |
ExpandWhen Mordus frigates spawn - Mordu's legion captain |
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5 x Frigate Mordus Gladius/Katana | ||||
1 x Frigate Mordus Bounty Hunter |
Mission 25 B - Bag of Blood
Level | 1 |
Type | Courier |
Objective | Transport Wolf Burgan's DNA (1 m3) |
Rewards | 150,000 ISK + ~92,000-136,000 ISK (bonus) |
ExpandMission briefing |
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Objective
Pick up 1 x Wolf Burgan's DNA (1.0 m³) from Attyn V - Moon 13 - Poteque Pharmaceuticals Biotech Production station, and deliver it to Sister Alitura at Arnon IX - Moon 3 - Sisters of EVE Bureau station.
Notes
Simple courier mission. Set destination for Attyn - two high sec jumps away. Pick up the "Wolf Burgan's DNA", and deliver it to Sister Alitura in Arnon.
Mission 26 B - Planting the Body
ExpandMission briefing |
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Warp into the deadspace mission room and place 1 unit of Wolf Burgan's Body Double into “Wolf Burgan's Hideout” container. There will be 12 enemies protecting this container and they will fire on you. Few more will also spawn once the body has been placed in the container.
You can choose to fight them or just rush in, place the DNA, and warp out. You will take a lot of damage as you get in range of the drop-off container. Use an afterburner, if you can, to maximize your speed.
warp-in
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11 x Frigate Coreli Watchman/Patroller/Guard/... | ||||
1 x Destroyer Corelior Infantry |
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4 x Frigate Coreli Spy/Agent | ||||
1 x Cruiser Corelum Chief Scout/Spy |
Mission 27 B - Chasing a Nightmare
Type | Encounter |
Objective | Follow the mysterious drone |
Rewards | 150,000 ISK + 159,000 ISK (bonus) |
ExpandMission briefing |
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Warp to the mission site. Then follow Wolf Burgan's instructions that pop-up. You will travel through one acceleration gate and then three “Spatial Rift” gates that act the same way as an acceleration gate. You will see the Mysterious Drone as you warp in, but it will quickly leave (making the Spatial Rifts upon exit). After the second drone sighting, Bargan will lose the signal and have you return to the station with the mission completed.
Mission 28 - Burning Down the Hive
ExpandMission briefing |
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The epic arc has a few missions that can be difficult - and "Burning Down the Hive" is one of these. Rare is the new player who does not suffer his or her first ship loss in this mission.
The first room of this mission features multiple Strain Infester Alvi rogue drones that webify and warp disrupt your ship. If the rats get within range and point you, then you will not be able to warp out of the mission deadspace to preserve your ship. This is one of the only Level 1 missions that has warp disrupting rats; you will not see them commonly again until Level 3 missions.
How do I survive?
You must do two things to survive: Fit your ship properly, and use the correct tactics. In missions up to this one most players will have been taking the approach of diving in to the enemy group and fighting them at short range, warping out if you bite off more than you can handle. In this mission the presence of warp disruptors and the large number of enemy ships makes this unlikely to work. The key tactic to this mission is one called "kiting", where you fit long range weapons and keep the enemy at range so that they can't damage you much, and to avoid being caught by warp scramblers and webs.
The key here is to be fast, and to destroy the warp disrupting drones from outside their range (approximately 10 km). An afterburner is essential as these drones have a speed of 900 m/s. You should use long range weapons, aiming for a range of 15km. Tracking is not an issue. As usual for rogue drones, EM and/or Thermal damage is preferable. If your ship has a drone bay then this will help a lot, since your drones can damage enemies up to 25 km with no problems.
A Punisher with pulse lasers and long-range crystals (microwave or radio) has been effective in this mission, but for other races, fit light missiles, railguns, or artillery to get the range you need. A Destroyer with its range bonus and increased DPS (but reduced speed) may work better than a frigate. With the addition of drone destroyers, such as the Algos and the Dragoon, you can easily take down the entire mission with light drones at range. The choice is yours.
Tactics
When you first warp to the mission location, there will be a few rogue drone ships and an acceleration gate. Destroy the drone ships; this first group has none of the scrambling ships. Once you are done, activate the acceleration gate.
Once your warp is done, sit and watch the rats move for a short time. You will receive a message that your drone - cruiser size and called the Mysterious Drone - has left through an acceleration gate. You will see that there are two groups of rogue drones, 14 in total, which merge and then separate. You will want to engage the two groups separately, unless you feel lucky. Once you see two distinct groups, lock one Strain Infester/Render Alvi and fire at it; you will likely miss since you are out of range, but that group (and only that group) of rats should still start chasing you.
Once the drones are chasing you, turn your camera 180 degrees in the opposite direction from them (so that they are 'behind' you) and double-click in space to move away from them. This is a tactic known as "kiting", where you move steadily away from your enemy while matching speed with them, keeping them at your optimal range. Keep an eye on your overview, and start shooting drones when they enter your range. If they're not catching up, slow down your ship; if they're gaining too fast, activate your afterburner. Make sure that none of the Strain Infester/Render Alvi drones get closer than 10km to you. The drones have short range weapons and will do very little damage at over 10km, while your weapons should be able to damage them consistently. Continue until all drones in the first group are destroyed, then repeat the process for the second group.
Fly back to the next acceleration gate and finish the mission; the drones in the last room pose no significant challenge.
Walkthrough
Multiple gated deadspace pockets. The acceleration gates are not locked. So once the warp disrupting drones are dead you can proceed to the next pocket.
Mission is completed when the frigate rats in the last room are dead.
Blitz: if you have a MWD it is possible to hit the acceleration gate before you get warp scrambled (but this is risky)
ExpandPop-up - The Drone is escaping |
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8 ships (20-30km) | ||||
2-6 x Drone Belphegor/Mammon Apis | ||||
2-6 x Frigate Infester/Render/Decimator/Sunder Alvi | ||||
1 x Cruiser Mysterious Drone |
ExpandPop-up - The Drone is escaping |
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Group A | ||||
8 x Frigate Infester/Splinter/Render Alvi | ||||
Group B (6 ships) | ||||
4-5 x Frigate Sunder/Raider/... Alvi | ||||
1-2 x Elite Frigate Strain Infester/Render Alvi | ||||
1 x Cruiser Mysterious Drone |
ExpandUpon warping into the 2nd pocket |
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5 x Frigate Render/Decimator Alvi | ||||
1 x Cruiser Wrecker Alvum | ||||
1 x Cruiser Mysterious Drone | ||||
1 x Cruiser Mysterious Ship |
Mission 29 - It's Not Over Yet
Type | Talk to Agent |
Objective | Report to Keita Eslin |
Rewards | 150,000 ISK + ~169,000-258,000 ISK (bonus) |
ExpandMission briefing |
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Objective
Report to a new agent, Keita Eslin, located at Hek IV - Krusual Tribe Bureau station.
Notes
Time to see another agent, this time in Minnie space. Set your destination to Hek, and make the 13 high-sec jump trip, and report to Agent Eslin at the designated station.
Check your way before start this journey.
Next chapter: Chapter 5 - Shifting Foundations