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. 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 - the minimum recommended requirements are listed below.

• Recommended:
  • You have and can easily solo Level 4 missions,
  • You have a proper PvE fitted BS or equally capable ship (such as strategic or heavy assault cruiser),
  • You have the Hacking skill at Level 3 or greater (required to complete "The Breakout").

During this Epic Mission Arc several choices are presented to you - this guide follows only one of several paths through these missions; however, the path detailed here leads to the greatest overall rewards.

In this guide I will provide tips and suggestions based on how I completed the missions - this is not 'the' way to do the mission, rather, it is merely one possible way that worked for me. For each mission the reward is listed in terms of basic reward, time bonus and bounty - these figures are based on my particular skills so individual mileage will vary; however, this still provides a good indication of what to expect.

Penumbra is started by speaking with Aursa Kunivuri, at the Nugoeihuvi Information Centre in Josameto ("Beacons" and "Agents in Space" must be visible on the overview).

If you have any further questions feel free to EVE Mail or PM me (Ruggler82).

Mission 1

Title: The Intermediary

Agent: Aursa Kunivuri

Location: Nugoeihuvi Information Centre (Beacon) Josameto (System)

Reward: 250,000 + 1,768,000 (Bonus if completed in 6H 0M)

Enemy: Nil

Further Info: Travel 1 jump in high sec with 0.1m3 of cargo

Mission 2

Title: Trust and Discretion

Agent: Katsen Isha

Location: Poinen

Reward: 500,000 + 1,020,000 (Bonus if completed in 3H 38M)

Enemy: Nil

Further Info: Travel 1 jump in high sec with 3m3 of cargo

Mission 3

Title: Their Loss, Our Profit

Agent: Katsen Isha

Location: Josameto, or near by system

Reward: 5,000,000 + 1,620,000 (Bonus if completed in 6H) + ~15,000,000 Bounty

Enemy: Serpentis

• Further Info:
  • Recommend you kill all rats and then destroy the research facility
  • Initially there are 6 BS and 2 Cruisers - Trigger for next wave is Grand Admiral/High Admiral - obviously kill last
  • First wave is 5 BS and 4 Frig - this group has more DPS than the initial and annoying sensor damp frigs - Trigger is one of the Grand Admirals so leave both for last
  • Second wave is 4 BS 4 Cruisers and 5 Frigs
  • After the second wave has been dealt with, destroy the research facility - some more Frigs will spawn but these can be ignored/taken out with drones
  • Two cans will drop when the research facility is destroyed - one has the S.I Formula Sheet
  • When you warp in you will see a Security Compound some distance away (looks like a can on the overview) - it has some random corpse in it...if you're into that sort of thing you can go get it (it serves no purpose in these missions).
  • Completed in fairly standard PvE Raven with no difficulty

Mission 4

At this point you are presented with your first choice of mission - I recommend this one for max rewards.

Title: An Honorable Betrayal

Agent: Katsen Isha

Location: Poinen

Reward: 250,000 + 227,000 (Bonus if completed in 52M)

Enemy: Nil

Further Info: Take the S.I Formula Sheet and head 5 jumps away to talk to Arkio Kuretsu

Mission 5

Title: Proof of Intent

Agent: Arikio Kuretsu

Location: Wuos

Reward: 250,000 + 661,000 (Bonus if completed in 2H 36M)

Enemy: Nil

Further Info: This should take around 1 second to complete - just give the Formula Sheet to the agent

Mission 6

Title: Return to Isha

Agent: Arikio Kuretsu

Location: Wuos

Reward: 250,000 + 658,000 (Bonus if completed in 3H)

Enemy: Nil

Further Info: As the title suggests, travel 5 jumps in high sec back to Katsen Isha... don't forget the Formula Sheet!

Mission 7

You get another mission choice here - I suggest this one.

Title: Two Steps into Hell

Agent: Katsen Isha

Location: Poinen

Reward: 40,000,000 + 1,340,000 (Bonus if completed in 6H)

Enemy: Perhaps nasty Low/Null Sec pirates :o

• You need your cov ops cloaky for this one - must transport the S.I Formula sheet to Null Sec. If you are destroyed and lose the item the epic arc is over.
• For those in E-Uni, the Syndicate region is NPC null, so travel there is permitted.
• If you just go for the shortest route there will be many jumps through dangerous areas of Null sec - I recommend you travel to Bherdasopt and then shortest route from there.
• Take normal precautions in Null Sec, such as never warping directly from Stargate to Stargate (to avoid bubbles)
• You can warp to zero to the objective as this is a mission deadspace area - drop the Formula in the container as quickly as you can and get out!
• You can complete the mission remotely to get a huge amount of ISK!!

Alternatively you can choose:

Title: Playing it Safer

Agent: Katsen Isha

Location: Poinen

Reward: 30,000,000 + Bonus

Enemy: Perhaps nasty Low Sec pirates :o

• This option stays in low sec, and is recommended if you are unable to fly a covert ops. If you are destroyed and lose the item the epic arc is over.
• Since you are transporting a small item through low sec you can do this mission quite safely in a shuttle.

Mission 8

Title: Almost Unmasked

Agent: Katsen Isha

Location: Poinen

Reward: 250,000 + 1,690,000 (Bonus if completed in 6H)

Enemy: Nil

Further Info: 5 jumps in high sec to talk to Arikio Kuretsu - take a codebreaker and suitable ship for the next mission

Mission 9

Title: Some Light Theatrics

Agent: Arikio Kuretsu

Location: Wuos

Reward: 20,000,000 + 1,660,000 (Bonus if completed in 6H)

Enemy: Nil

• Further Info:
  • You need a ship fitted with a Data Analyzer
  • The habitation Module explodes and causes ~900 damage if you're still within 10 km
  • Habitation Mod was 54Km away from warp in
  • Simply use the Data Analyzer on the Habitation Mod - after a successful hack grab the people from the can, then fly away at least 10 km, and wait for explosion. (Mission doesn't complete if you just warp out).
  • Don't go afk, and pay attention while you are using the Data Analyzer - the Habitation Module explodes 30 seconds after a successful attempt - if you don't get the people out in this time I assume things will end badly...

Mission 10

Title: Untouchable

Agent: Arikio Kuretsu

Location: Wuos

Reward: 250,000 + 245,000 (Bonus if completed in 1H)

Enemy: Nil

Further Info: Once again go back and talk to Katsen Isha

Mission 11

Title: A General's Best Friend

Agent: Katsen Isha

Location: Poinen

Reward: 5,000,000 + 1,330,000 (Bonus if completed in 6H) + ~10,000,000 in loot mostly from tags

Enemy: Gallente Federation

• Further Info:
  • Encounter is 1 jump away in high sec
  • Take a highly tanked BS - Large amounts of Thermal, EM and Kinetic damage are served up
  • An acceleration gate is ~30Km away at warp in - shortly after you begin approaching it the first and only wave appears - Align to a station at this point and be ready to get out!
  • Wave is 6 BS (Sin) 10 Cruisers (Arazu) and 5 Frigs (Nemesis)
  • BS do large amounts of Thermal and Kinetic damage, but can be taken down fairly quickly
  • Cruisers shoot EM missiles and are also quite soft
  • Frigs did not web or warp disrupt me but don't count on this - they die very quickly to light drones.
  • I had to warp out several times in my Raven
  • After all NPCs have been dispatched, jump through the gate and approach the station (84Km away....)
  • When you get to within 15Km of the station the mission is flagged complete and you can complete it remotely.
  • Loot the wrecks!
  • This mission did not affect my Gallente standings at all

• Blitz: You can blitz this mission in a covops (or any fast ship with a decent tank).
  • The gate is unlocked.
  • Burn to gate, jump and then burn to the station. There are no NPC's in the second room.

Mission 12

Title: Meet Sinas

Agent: Katsen Isha

Location: Poinen

Reward: 250,000 + 1,580,000 (Bonus if completed in 6H)

Enemy: Nil

Further Info: Travel to Astoh and check in with Sinas Egassuo at the Caldari Navy Relay Nexus. For the next mission you will need a BS with a codebreaker fitted.

Mission 13

Title: Right Tool for the Job

Agent: Sinas Egassuo

Location: Caldari Navy Relay Nexus (Beacon) Astoh (System)

Reward: 10,000,000 + 1,350,000 (Bonus if completed in 6H) + ~30,000,000 in loot (mostly tags)

Enemy: Gallente Federation

• Further Info:
  • Need a codebreaker fitted
  • Encounter is 1 jump away in high sec
  • You can select your warp in range for this encounter - I fitted a sniper BS for this mission, warped in at 100km and kited the NPCs until I killed them all.
  • Using this method I didn't take any damage, although the mission will take a long time to complete.
  • To blitz, destroy the frigs near the shipyard, hack the shipyard container, take the item and then get out (You will miss out on about 30mil ISK worth of tags and loot)
  • Initial there are 12 Frigs and 4 Cruisers
  • There are 6 waves, spawning 5 minutes apart (therefore it takes 30min for all enemy NPCs to appear)
  • Wave 1: 4 Frigs and 2 Cruisers
  • Wave 2: 3 Frigs and 2 Cruisers
  • Wave 3: 5 Frigs, 5 Cruisers and 3 BS
  • Wave 4: 5 Frigs, 5 Cruisers and 4 BS
  • Wave 5: 5 BS
  • Wave 6: 1 Cruiser and 1 BS
  • The cruisers sensor damp very heavily - if you plan on taking out all NPCs, kill the cruisers first and keep them out of sensor damp range (> 80km should keep you safe)
  • Don't bring a salvager in until all NPCs have been killed - the NPCs do retarget and 'warp' back to their spawn point if kited far away.
  • Once all NPCs have been killed, hack the shipyard container, take the item and report back to the agent.
  • -2.4% Gallente Federation standing loss if comm array is destroyed. This prevents the waves from spawning but is not required to complete mission.
  • The Gallente standings hit if you kill all waves is minimal (much less than if you destroy the comm array to avoid reinforcements).
  • Killing all ships and leaving the comm array intact, I observed four negative entries in my Gallente faction transaction log:
  • -0.02% Combat - Ship kill (x3) and -0.0% Combat -Aggression (x1) -- this is very minor.

Mission 14

Title: The Breakout

Agent: Sinas Egassuo

Location: Caldari Navy Relay Nexus (Beacon) Astoh (System)

Reward: 20,000,000 + 1,570,000 (Bonus if completed in 6H)

Enemy: Gallente Federation

• Further Info:
  • You need to have the Hacking skill at Level 3 or greater to complete this mission (Hacking 2 and 2 rigs worked)
  • You need to scan down the "Federation Detention Facility" Cosmic Signature for this mission
  • The mission states that this site is somewhere within the Aokinen constellation - I believe that there is one of these sites in every system in this constellation, as I have always found it in the Astoh system where this mission is accepted
  • Warp to the Detention Facility. Provided you are on the arc the enemies will not attack you. The gate is not locked as long as you have the Federation Navy FOF in your cargo so all you need to do is approach and use it.
  • Once in the second room, approach any detention facility and hack it. Once it has been successfully hacked, grab the prisoner and return to the agent.
  • For those wishing to kill the NPCs, the first room contains 17 Frigs, 4 Cruisers and 7 BS
  • Second room contains 8 Frigs
• Blitz: buy the Caldari Prisoners of War on contracts.

Mission 15

Title: Whisper of a Conspiracy

Agent: Sinas Egassuo

Location: Caldari Navy Relay Nexus (Beacon) Astoh (System)

Reward: 7,500,000 + 762,000 (Bonus if completed in 3H 30M)

Enemy: Nil

• Further Info:
  • This is a low-sec courier mission. The item is small so it can be carried in a shuttle or covops.
  • You need to travel approx. 6 jumps to a randomly selected nearby low-sec system
  • Warp to the mission objective, approach the damaged radio telescope, retrieve the encrypted data fragment and return to the agent

Mission 16

Title: Practical Solutions

Agent: Sinas Egassuo

Location: Caldari Navy Relay Nexus (Beacon) Astoh (System)

Reward: 2,500,000 + 229,000 (Bonus if completed in 1H 4M)

Enemy: Nil

Further Info: High sec courier with 3m3 of cargo. Five jumps to Oipo then back to Sinas Egassuo

Mission 17

Title: Forewarning

Agent: Sinas Egassuo

Location: Caldari Navy Relay Nexus (Beacon) Astoh (System)

Reward: 5,000,000 + 165,000 (Bonus if completed in 34M)

Enemy: Nil

Further Info: Low-Sec courier, take 1 unit of Encoded Message to random low sec.

Mission 18

Last Mission choice here.

Title: Slipping away

Agent: Sinas Egassuo

Location: Caldari Navy Relay Nexus (Beacon) Astoh (System)

Reward: 250,000 + 1,130,000 (Bonus if completed in 4H 30M)

Enemy: Nil

Further Info: Report back to Arikio Kuretsu in Wuos (Best to arrive in a BS ready for the final mission)

Mission 19

Title: Across the Line

Agent: Arikio Kuretsu

Location: Wuos

Reward: One unit of Hyasyoda Laboratory + 1,740,000 (Bonus if completed in 6H)

Enemy: Nugoeihuvi (deal roughly 50% Kinetic, 50% Thermal damage)

• Further Info:
  • The objective is in the office facility.
  • Single pocket with the following NPCs: 9 Frigates, 4 Cruisers, and 6 Battleships.
  • Cruisers have very strong jams and range > 170km - expect to be nearly perma jammed.
  • Frigates warp scramble (2 warp strength).
  • The two points above make me recommend to bring F.O.F. missiles to shoot while jammed.
  • With good missile skills you can use FOF Cruise missiles from 200k+ which is well out of range from the NPCs.
  • Alternatively, equip a sensor booster to be able to target the jammers from outside their range.
  • You can also bring a friend in a fast frigate to draw their scrams and jams while you take those out. If the frigate maintains at least 600 m/s then it should be able to self-repair the reduced missile damage, but there is some more-sophisticated AI in this mission so the NPCs may switch targets anyway.
  • Very heavy damage is dealt by the BSs, which fire very long range torps - I had to warp out several times in my Raven.
  • If you warp to the facility at close range and get full room close-range aggro, expect in excess of 4000 pre-resistance DPS, primarily kinetic.
  • You can warp within the mission to structures. (In fact, since there is no aggression until you start to close the distance to the office facility, you can come in first with a MWD frigate and set up some bookmarks to use during combat. Then you will be able to warp around for awesome kiting, and each time you warp you will break all target locks and cause all the inbound torps to miss you. This method is great for a dedicated sentry drone ship (e.g. Dominix) since each warp breaks their jams so you can relaunch your sentries and assign them to another target before you are jammed again - your drones will continue to attack that target until it is destroyed, at which point you can scoop them, warp to another bookmark, and repeat.)
  • Once all NPCs have been killed warp/approach the office facility, get the family and return to the agent!