Angel Sound
OVERVIEW
What It Is
The Angel Cartel Epic Arc differs from most of the the other epics in two major ways:
- It takes place almost entirely in 0.0 space (nullsec).
- It can be completed solo in a small, fast ship in a single afternoon.
Why You Should Do It
First and foremost, the arc is fun. If you're looking for a break from the monotony of clunking around empire space in a giant battleship, this is the ticket. You'll face frigate-class NPCs (a couple of which are a real challenge) that offer fights not dissimilar to PVP.
You'll also make a bucket of isk. As of summer 2016, the monetary and item rewards (including a Cynabal BPC and a faction target) can add up to about 350 million isk for half a day's work.
You probably don't care about your Angel Cartel standings, but you can improve them by several full points. You may also lose a small chunk of standing (about .25) with the Minmatar Republic.
PREPARATIONS
As mentioned above, you will spend most of this arc in the Curse region (0.0 space), and you'll want to plan accordingly.
The one bright side to operating in Curse is that the space is controlled by the Angel Cartel NPCs, so you WILL be able to dock up in systems that have stations. You'll also more than likely be flying an interceptor (more on that below), which makes you super agile and impervious to warp disruption bubbles. (However, you should still be familiar with how they work and how they affect both your inbound and outbound warps.)
That being said, don't sleep on the fact that you're still in 0.0. Many of the systems in Curse will seem quiet, but there are most certainly pirates around. They know the mission paths and where to set traps; you'll see the remnants of gate camps along your route. Although you'll be in an interceptor, you can still get trapped. You should be using your D-scan, insta-undocks, gate perches, MWD-cloak trick, and so on. You should also remember how to create a safe spot on the fly in case someone tries to chase you down.
You may lose your ship, and you may get podded. As with any activity in EVE, don't fly what you can't afford to lose.
SHIPS AND FITS
On paper, any of the following frigate-class ships will meet the mission restrictions:
- Stealth Bomber
- Assault Ship
- Destroyer
- Rookie Ship
- Interdictor
- Frigate
- Shuttle
- Electronic Attack Ship
- Covert Ops
- Interceptor
Since the warp-bubble immunity role bonus that arrived with Rubicon, an interceptor is the stand-out choice. (Note: Prior to 2014, many pilots preferred a cloak-fit destroyer, and ran this arc successfully with those fits. However, those setups placed a much greater demand on the pilot, and were inherently riskier to fly. It can still be done, but it is not recommended.)
Many of the NPCs hit hard and move fast, so you'll need a decent tank, good propulsion, and most likely a web -- the last item is especially important if you're flying a close-range setup such as hybrid blasters.
Angels Runner Brawler
Light Ion Blaster II
Light Ion Blaster II
Light Ion Blaster II
1MN Afterburner II
Stasis Webifier II
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Damage Control II
Small Hybrid Burst Aerator I
Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I
Hobgoblin II x2
Void S x1
Angels Runner Kiter
Light Missile Launcher II
Light Missile Launcher II
Light Missile Launcher II
Light Missile Launcher II
1MN Afterburner II
Target Painter I
Medium F-S9 Regolith Compact Shield Extender
Damage Control II
Micro Auxiliary Power Core II
Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Small Ionic Field Projector I
Scourge Fury Light Missile
Regardless of your chosen ship and fitting, you should carry the following items in your cargo hold:
- Nanite Repair Paste or Cap Booster chargers (if your fit uses them)
- Nanofibers
- Warp Core Stabilizers
- Damage modifiers (Ballistic Controls, Magnetic Field Stabilizers, etc.)
- Warp Disruptor/Scrambler
For some missions you may feel the need to swap out agility for tank, or vice versa. While traveling home with your precious loot, you might want to fit stabs for a little peace of mind. If you are supremely confident in your piloting skills and don't mind the risk, there are fights to be had in Curse, so you may want to bring a point. (Note: PVP is strongly discouraged during this arc. Losing a mission item will result in failure, and you'll have to wait three months to start the arc over again.)
GENERAL TACTICS
A few notes:
- Think of this like a PVP mission with some PVE sprinkled in. The big difference here is that you're not going to be PVP'ing head-on -- you're going to be PVP'ing by out-piloting, outsmarting, and avoiding your enemies.
- Periodically check your star map for ship kills, pod kills, and jumps in the last hour. Compare these systems against your mission route to see if you can avoid those systems, or wait until the action has subsided.
- Keep an eye on local, but never speak. You don't want to give away the fact that you're active.
- The D-scan button is hotkeyed these days, so there's no excuse not to mash it constantly. Do a 360 scan every few seconds while running your missions. Look for combat scanner probes first and foremost (this is the only way pirates can find you inside a mission's deadspace pocket), but also keep an eye out for other ships so you know who's active in the system. You'll see lots of assault frigates and interceptors flown by other missioners and those hunting them.
- Some missions include waves of frigates and destroyers that can be quite punishing. Don't be afraid to cherry pick a few, dock up, repair, rinse, and repeat.
- Once you accept a mission you should minimize the agent conversation window instead of closing it. This way, once your objectives are complete the window will pop back up, giving you a clear indication that your work is done.
MISSION CHAIN
Start by visiting the agent named Ellar Stin in Konora. The standings threshold to start this chain are quite low, so nearly everyone should have access to this agent.
(Note: If you've already run this arc before, the first agent will warn you that you've already completed it, and that they'll need to wipe your memory. That's fine, just click "okay" -- it's simply going to reset your epic arc in your journal so you can start over.)
The mission sequence looks something like this. The exact details may change depending on the branch you choose and some randomization of where the encounters happen, so make sure you read the mission description closely, and let that information take precedent over what you see here. If they seem to diverge, keep checking back with the guide and it should eventually sync up again.
Wherever possible, choose the missions with the shortest travel distance, even if it means there is more NPC combat on the missions themselves. More jumps means more risk, so it's best to travel as little as possible.
Headhunted
- System: Konora
- Remote accept: No
- Remote turn-in: No
- Mission type: Travel
Visit the agent in Konora (Ellar Stin) to start the chain. She'll send you down to K-QWHE in Curse to chat with the next agent.
There are several routes into Curse from empire space, but jumping through Sendaya into Doril will be the most direct path for most players. Jumping into Doril will likely be the scariest part of the whole run. It's almost always bubbled and/or camped. You should fit your Warp Core Stabilizers for this leg of the journey. Although your interceptor is immune to bubbles, you can still be pointed. If you want to be extra careful you can use a cloaky (or simply disposable) alt to jump through first and scout.
New Opportunities
- Systems: K-QWHE > KLMT-W
- Remote accept: No
- Remote turn-in: No
- Mission type: Travel
- Ship restrictions: List above
Go to mission site, sit there for a minute until you get the mission complete dialogue, then head home.
Fight or Flight
Natural Consequences
- Systems: K-QWHE > EW-JR5 (or YKE4-3)
- Remote accept: No
- Remote turn-in: Yes
- Mission type: Combat
- Ship restrictions: List above
The waves seem to spawn at timed intervals.
- Wave 1: 4 frigates
- Wave 2: 2 cruisers
- Wave 3: 3 frigates
- Wave 4: 3 cruisers + 1 frigate
- Wave 5: 4 frigates
These can put out some damage, but if you kite them from 30km+ or keep a tight orbit you should be fine. The cruisers will tracking disrupt but that's not an issue for missile boats. It may be helpful to swap out some low slot items for extra DPS.
You may get the "mission complete" dialogue after killing the cruisers in Wave 4, so keep an eye out for that.
Serpentis Fill-In
- Systems: K-QWHE > EW-JR5
- Mission type: Courier
- Ship restrictions: None
Clear the Way
- Systems: MDD-79 (or RMOC-W)
- Remote accept: Yes
- Remote turn-in: Yes
- Mission type: Combat
- Ship restrictions: List above
- Wave 1: 2 destroyers + 2 frigates
- Wave 2: 3 frigates
- Wave 3: 3 destroyers + 3 frigates
Salvage Heist
- Systems: MDD-79 (or RMOC-W) > Farit (or HLW-HP)
- Remote accept: Yes
- Remote turn-in: Yes
- Mission type: Combat
- Ship restrictions: List above
Take out the stasis tower first so you can move around effectively. When the scramblers spawn in wave 2, you'll want to take down as quickly as possible. You don't actually need to kill any of the frigs that spawn as you fight Gath (you can just pop the guy and GTFO), but you may choose to do so if the incoming DPS is too high. Don't be too worried about the fact that there's a battlecruiser -- his damage is nothing special and he goes down easy.
- Wave 1: 2 missile batteries, 1 stasis tower, 3 frigates, 1 named battlecruiser Gath Renton
- Wave 2: 2 scramming frigates appear when you engage Gath Renton
- Wave 3: 2 jamming frigates appear when Gath gets to low armor
- Wave 4: 3 frigates appear when Gath gets to low structure
Rabbit Trap
- Systems: Farit (or HLW-HP) (you should still be there from your last mission) > MDD-79
- Remote accept: Yes
- Remote turn-in: No
- Mission type: Combat
- Ship restrictions: List above
- Wave 1: 7 frigates
- Wave 2: 7 frigates and destroyers (Some of them jam. It's annoying, but harmless.)
- Wave 3: 1 named frigate Yukiro Demense (he warp disrupts and has a decent tank, but as long as you're cautious he's no big deal)
Award: Domination Target Painter.
Dominus
- System: K-QWHE
- Remote accept: No (but you should be in station from last turn-in)
- Remote turn-in: No
- Mission type: Travel
- Ship restrictions: None
Fly to a different station in K-QWHE to talk to a new agent.
The Lesser of Two
Data Destruction
- Systems: K-QWHE > AAM-1A
- Remote accept: Yes (but you should already be in this agent's station from last turn-in)
- Remote turn-in: No
- Mission type: Combat
- Ship restrictions: List above
It seems like lots of rooms and waves (and it is), but you should be able to one-volley every NPC, so it goes quickly. After you destroy the last wave in the final room, you just need to pop the datacenter. A few cruisers will spawn when you begin shooting the datacenter, but you can ignore them. Just burn down the structure and GTFO.
- Room 1: Wave 1: 4 destroyers
- Room 1: Wave 2: 4 frigates
- Room 1: Wave 3: 4 destroyers
- Room 2: Wave 1: 6 destroyers
- Room 2: Wave 2: 5 frigates
- Room 2: Wave 3: 4 destroyers
- Room 3: Wave 1: 6 destroyers
- Room 3: Wave 2: 7 frigates
- Room 3: Wave 3: 7 destroyers
- Room 3: Wave 4: 3 cruisers (after you shoot the datacenter)
Situation Normal
- Systems: K-QWHE > RMOC-W
- Remote accept: Yes (but you should already be in this agent's station from last turn-in)
- Remote turn-in: Yes
- Mission type: Combat
- Ship restrictions: List above
This mission is less combat-intensive than 8a. You should take whichever mission has fewer jumps to destination -- the combat mission (Data Destruction) may take a bit longer to run, but it's worthwhile if it's only a single jump away.
Very straightforward. Destroy a single cruiser, loot the resulting wreck, then drop the Security Codes item into the Communications Array container.
Breaking the Lock
- Systems: ?
- Remote Accept: Yes
- Remote Turning: No
- Mission type: Combat
- Ship restrictions: List above
Go through each successive acceleration gate and destroy the rats. In the last room, you'll also need to destroy the structure called Boundless Creations Data Center.
- Room 1: 4 destroyers
- Room 2: 5 destroyers
- Room 3: 6 destroyers + 1 data center
Fear of Angels
- Systems: K-QWHE > AAM-1A
- Remote accept: No (You should already be in station from last turn-in)
- Remote turn-in: No
- Mission type: Combat
- Ship restrictions: List above
This mission is just a single named frigate- Marshal Treonis. This guy webs, hits hard, and is super fast (~3km/sec), so keep an eye on your tank and be ready to warp out to a celestial and reset. This was the only fight where I was legitimately nervous about my tank holding. Loot his wreck for the tag.
Award: Cynabal BPC, Faction Tag looted from Treonis' wreck
WRAP-UP
You made it. Now you need to get your shinies and head home. The item rewards should have appeared in the hangars of one or two stations in Curse. Make sure you double-check that you've put them into your cargohold before you leave; it can be a fairly long trip and you probably don't want to do it twice.
Remember that this arc (like the others) can be run every three months. Subsequent runs will be faster and easier.
