Angel Watch

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 Battlecruiser or HAC is my suggestion for what you should bring, although if the triggers are managed correctly it would probably be practical in an assault frigate or cruiser. Throughout this site and the further expedition, there are several messages in local. Work In Progress, contributions are welcome.

On warp in, you arrive at an acceleration gate.

First pocket

Waves of frigs/destroyers with some mixed BCs, the trigger is always the named ship (Communications Officer, etc). After all waves are dead, the gate unlocks.

Blitz info: Very easy to blitz if you have a reasonable tank and high resists. There are 5 triggers in this pocket, each appearing after the previous trigger has been SHOT at (notice shot at, doesn't have to be destroyed) with the only exception being the last trigger (commander) who's death opens the gate to pocket 2.

Second pocket

About 10 mixed frigates/destroyers/BCs and some turrets on warp in, with 4 timed waves of additional turrets and BCs. When the area is clear (or before, if you feel the incoming damage is acceptable) you can shoot the Angel Drug Farm to spawn a wave of 1 BC (Commander) and 4 elite frigates. Killing the Commander can lead to the escalation, and can spawn a single Domination frigate. Based on the messages in Local, you may be able to stop 2 waves of reinforcements by destroying the bunkers and storage facilities. I personally would rather collect the rewards. "Gist Missile Batteries and ships have been deployed from bunkers and storage facilities nearby."

Blitz info: Upon warp in you will see the Drug Farm right in front of you. To save time and ammo you only have to shoot Angel Drug Farm once to spawn Commander, it doesn't have to be destroyed at any stage for completion or escalation. The supervisor appears 100 odd km directly behind the farm (thus in front of you) and it is the only target you have to destroy to complete for escalation. Note that if the pop up tells you the trail grows cold, there is no escalation, but check other targets first because a dommie frigate may still appear whether the mission escalates or not. The dommie rat usually only has faction ammo and meta junk, but i have in the past found a dramiel bpc and other such goodies.

Taar Al'Hass (4th July 2012)

Drug lab will drop contraband.

Total: 5.0M (Bounties:1.7M, Loot: 0.6M, Salvage 2.7M)

Nuclear Small Arms Project

This escalation has 4 stages, and the final stage is located in a low-sec system. It has a chance to drop deadspace items.

Stage 1

On warp in, there will be a stasis tower, some turrets and several mixed ships (frigs-BCs). Incoming damage is quite manageable. (Apparently) after a timer, you will either get the next location or a dead end. Shooting people seems to be optional, but there is almost always a faction ship. For me the escalation for this and the other stages in the expedition, happened immediately after destroying the "Dominion" ship. Again a message in local, "Attacking the missile battery triggers an alarm, more ships are incoming!" There are 4 missiles batteries and each one adds more ships to the fray. Attacking each missile battery will cause 3 cruiser, 3 destroyers to spawn.

Total: 4.6M (Bounties:2.0M, Loot: 1.0M, Salvage 1.6M)

Stage 2

On warp in, there will be debris and a single damaged Mammoth (mini industrial, large collidable object). You're prompted to 'interact' with it in some way. Shoot it. Watch the Drone Carriers warp in then leave. After you've either got the escalation or a dead end, wait for a minute and several BCs and frigates, including a faction ship, will warp in and engage.

Lots of Veldspar asteroids there.

Stage 3

On warp in, there are several ships and turrets located ~230k away. After a few seconds, you either get the escalation or a dead end. Engaging is optional, but you can warp to the asteroids near them and kill the faction ship for the loot.

Stage 4 LOW SEC

This stage has heavy incoming damage, and webs, so a significant tank is recommended. Also, range may be up to 40k (I honestly can't remember), so a long-range weapon is preferable. On warp in, you will be greeted by a significant number of enemy BCs and smaller along with stasis towers and missile turrets. Although it's probably possible to kill them, my strong suggestion is to immediately target the Secret Angel Facility (tower) and destroy it. This will spawn more ships, and at this point the incoming damage can easily melt a drake's shields in 20 seconds or less. Once the tower is destroyed, the following appears (typo intentional):

It looks like you have managed to destroy a facility developing one of the hottest new commodities in the galactic underworld, the Nuclear Small Arms. As far as you know, none of these new weapons have hit the market yet, but from the look of this place, it is not long until common criminals will go nuclear. You cant help wondering what is wrong with the good old sawed off shotgun.

Bookmark the cargo container that the lab dropped, warp out, and warp back to the container. Loot, then leave. This minimizes your time in low-sec, and makes it very hard for anyone to get enough time to scan you down. Loot consists of 130 Prototype Nuclear Small Arms, worth approximately 20m ISK on contract.