Angel Vigil
Locating & Difficulty
This is a type of hidden combat site that can be scanned down with scanner probes, and can be found in high-security systems around Aldrat. It's gate allows Battlecruisers or smaller to enter, and a (well equipped) Battlecruiser or HAC is my suggestion for what you should bring. (Addition: after completing in a Hurricane Dooobles notes that resists over 60% exp/kinetic, robust T2 tank with substantial buffer, exp/kinetic dmg dealing, web, and tracking gear are ESSENTIAL; the incoming damage is very high and the mobs kite.)
On warp in, you arrive at an acceleration gate. Previous Explorers have commented that one of the gates requires a passkey. Alternatively, it can be bypassed by convincing the commander to unlock it. The overseer guards his shipyard vigorously.
First pocket
No web or scram reported on two separate runs.
Initial Wave:
- 10 turrets (Angel Tower Sentry)
- 3 Gistatis Primus (BC)
- 3 Gistum Liquidators (Cruiser)
- 1 Gistatis Smugler Guard (Frigate)
Second Wave:
- 2 Gistii Impaler
- 2 Gistatis Tribuni
- 1 Gistatis Smuggler Commander - Gate unlocks when Gistatis Smuggler Commander is destroyed.
It is possible to blitz this pocket by heading straight for the smuggler gate, shooting it and destroying the Smuggler Commander.
Miners: This pocket contains around 30 Plagioclase, 16 Pyroxeres, and 45 Veldspar asteroids. There are also 6 cargo containers - each containing a small amount of ammo.
Second pocket
On warp-in:
- 4 missile turrets (2 Heavy, 2 Light) SHOOTING THE MISSILE TURRETS TRIGGERS WAVE A
- 2 stasis turrets SHOOTING THE STASIS TOWERS TRIGGERS WAVE B
- 3 Gistum Phalanx (Cruisers)
- 4 Gistior Defiler (Destroyer)
- 2 Gistior Haunter (Destroyer)
- 3 Gistatis Primus (Battlecruiser).
Wave A:
- 2 Gistum Marauder (Cruiser)
- 6 Gistatis Primus (Battlecruiser)
- 3 Gistum Liquidator (Cruiser)
- 4 Arch Gistii Ruffian (Frigate - Target Painting)
Wave B:
- 2 Gistor Seizer (Destroyer)
- 2 Gistor Defacer (Destroyer)
- 2 Arch Gistii Ambusher (Frigate)
- 3 Gistatis Primus (Battlecruiser)
- 2 Gistatis Legionnaire (Battlecruiser)
Wave C: (Triggered by shooting Pat's Shipyard)
- Pat Wead (Faction Cruiser)
- 3 Wead Fighter (Frigate)
- 3 Wead Guardian (Battlecruiser)
On shooting 'Pat's Shipyard', this is emoted in local - Pat Wead: Alright, that's it. You barge in here uninvited, mess with my subordinates, and now you have the nerve to attack my shipyard! I see I'll have to take care of our little problem myself ... Pat Wead and his cohorts have exited the shipyard, ready for action.
Strategy
Before shooting any tower, focus on lowering the number of enemies in the pocket. The incoming damage is quite substantial so something with a decent tank, or warp-outs are necessary. You will be webbed down to ~10% velocity or less (14.0 m/s in a BC), so speed tanking isn't possible. After the area is cleared of most of the enemies, shoot one of the stasis towers. This pocket can easily become tank-melting if you target the turrets before clearing the initial ships. After all the turrets are gone and everything's dead, shoot 'Pat's Shipyard' for the final spawn and kill him off. There are multiple cargo containers in the pocket (containing a small amount of ammo, one had faction ammo). A large number of Veldspar asteroids are in this pocket.
Pat Wead dropped a Low-Grade Halo Beta when I ran this. (*Pat Wead drop for Dooobles Sept 22, 2010 - Domination 220mm autocannon, Domination Copper tag, 1000 Angel faction ammo)
Blitzing this pocket is possible but fairly impractical. Shoot Pat's Shipyard and kill Pat. You will probably want to kill all initial ships as you will be moving at the snail's pace of 14 m/s and the damage will be significant. Then kill stasis towers and Wave B. Ignoring missile turrets and Wave A will still allow you to complete the site and qualify for a potential escalation.
Blitz info edit: As stated above you only need to shoot the smugglers gate in the first pocket once to spawn gate keeper (smuggler commander) and the gate is open once he is destroyed. Do it quickly as his DPS is quite high.
In second room I suggest heading towards Pat's shipyard (obviously slowly due to webs) and take out the dessies and cruisers first (remove the dps). Once they are gone, shoot the shipyard to spawn Pat's wave as the bc's and Pat's wave don't have enough DPS to break a decent tank. Destroy the weed frigates and bc's while you wait for Pat to get closer. Once Pat is close, take him out and scoop wreck, and hopefully receive escalation. While slow boating to wreck (which is usually only 5000m away if done correctly) shoot other ships at your discretion - but never the towers. I find this easy to do in a Loki with a DC2, explosive deflection field 2, shield boost amp 2 and med shield booster running. Even though it seems a slow way to do the mission, it is still faster than shooting everything.
Rewards
For the initial exploration site (two pockets)
- 5M isk in bounties + loot, salvage, possible implant.
- Asteroids for mining listed in each pocket.
- (Addition: Dooobles - Commander can drop Domination faction or implants, I received 220mm Domination Autocannon.)
This site may also escalate to The Big Blue (Escalation).
