Penumbra

"In the heartland of State space, inter-corporate tensions come to the fore as Nugoeihuvi makes a move for some quick ISK, and you must choose who to trust and who to betray. The moral ambiguity continues through to the end, as the player begins to unravel an even darker side to corporate self-interest and the ongoing conflict in Black Rise."

"Penumbra" is the Caldari epic arc and as all epic arcs it follows a story that covers some inner dealings of its faction. You are initially hired by an agent of Nugoeihuvi, one of the seven megacorps that run the Caldari State. During the arc you will witness and participate in the power struggle between these megacorps and have the option to defect to the Hyasyoda megacorp.

Requirements

To start the Epic Arc you must have a standing of 5.0 or higher with Expert Distribution or the Caldari Faction.

These missions have great rewards, but do require some advanced skills and ships to complete safely. Recommended:

• You can easily solo Level 4 missions
• A proper PvE fitted battleship or equally capable ship such as a strategic or heavy assault cruiser. Kinetic is the best damage for all missions with thermal being second best. The incoming damage is also almost completely kinetic and thermal with single mission dealing also electromagnetic damage. The incoming damage is not very high and all combat missions can be blized so some tank can be sacrficed for speed in ship selection.
• An instawarping frigate (low sec hauling) OR instawarping interceptor (null sec hauling)
• Data analyzer and ability to use it (only Hyasyoda path)
• Blockade runner (low sec hauling, only Caldari State path)

Starting Agent

Penumbra Starting Agent

Agent	Corporation	Faction	System	Region	Mission
Aursa Kunivuri	Expert Distribution	Caldari State	Josameto	The Forge	The Intermediary

Walkthough

The missions in this epic arc are generally short. All the combat missions can be blized by only completing the single given objective. The epic arc requires you to do at least one hauling mission to either low or null security space.

There are also multiple branching missions so you won't need to complete all the missions listed here.

The branching nature of the first chapter. (click to enlarge)

Super blitz

The missions in Penumbra are highly blitzable. This can be further augmented by preparing multiple ships in key locations.

Preparations:

• Ships at Poinen IV - Moon 13 - Nugoeihuvi Corporation Development Studio:
  • A strong combat ship. Battleships are good for this.
  • A Travel interceptor. Fit sub 2s align time, MWD and data analyzer.
• Ships at Uuhulanen VIII - Caldari Navy Logistic Support:
  • A Weaker combat ship. It needs to kill some elite frigates so fit for good application. Also fit a data analyzer. Battlecruisers are good for this.

Arc workout:

• Grab your interceptor.
• Start the arc.
• Complete the fly-around missions with your interceptor.
• Use your strong combat ship for Their Loss, Our Profit.
• Use your interceptor for rest of chapter 1 and beginning of chapter 2.
  • Remember to pic Hyasyoda path in the branching mission.
• Use your second combat ship in Uuhulanen for Right Tool for the Job.
• Use your interceptor for rest of chapter 2 and beginning of chapter 3.
• Use your strong battleship for Across the Line.
  • Accept mission with interceptor, grab combat ship from Poinen, do killing, drop off combat ship in Poinen, go back to agent with interceptor.

Rewards

Your choice in mission "Paths That Are Hidden" leads you to either Hyasyoda or Nugoehuvi path blocking the reward from the other corporation. In final chapter both these paths offer Caldari State path as third option.

The Hyasyoda path rewards you with:

• Standup Hyasyoda Research Lab Blueprint (1 run, 8% ME, 8% TE). The Standup Hyasyoda Research Lab is faction module for Upwell structures. Like the normal research lab the Hyasyoda variant allows blueprint research but uses less fuel and powergrid.
• 10% Caldari State faction standing increase (12.5 at Social V).

The Nugoehuvi rewards you with:

• 20x Nugoehuvi Synth Blue Pill Boosters. The boosters increases shield boosting by 5% with no drawbacks for 33 minutes (duration increased by Biology).
• Caldari State faction standing increase.

The Caldari State path rewards you with

• 25 million isk.
• Caldari State faction standing increase.

See also

• Caldari Epic Arc guide by Jowen Datloran (pdf) for a detailed description of all branching options and mission briefings.