Blood-Stained Stars, Level 1 plus
- 50 missions make up the first epic arc.
- Reward is 7% base (8.75% w/ Social Lvl 5) standings with selected faction
- A week is required for the average casual newbie gamer to complete the arc
- Speed Run - Harbinger, afterburner, 119 DPS - 52 + 31 + 32 + 67 + 41 + 56 + 61 = 340 minutes=5 hours 40 minutes
- New-player friendly arc after completing the 5-part tutorial missions
- Altering tactics and ship setups will be required, helping new players dramatically
- Blitz for high skilled chars: T3 Destroyer is strongly advised due to mode versatility and damage projection. It is also very agile and warps at better speed. Most of the time spent will be travelling. My average mission combat time was 30 seconds to 1 minute; Also you do not have to worry about damage types.
Amarr Confessor T2 guns fit (2x Nanos 2x Heatsink 1x Repair, MWD and 2x Tracking Computers+range script, 1x damage + 1x capacitor Rigs) highly recommended. This fit never got me below 75% shield, never had to use armor repair. Also the Confessor does not have to deal with the ammo problem.
Your tank will be your blapping rats off instashot. If you are really spooky/unconfident of your skills, just bring an AB along and speed tank the whole thing.
Change modes accordingly within missions (snipe, speed..)and have long range T2 fitted so you dont loose time approaching rats. Snipe them off from distance while approaching objective. Close range faction/T2 ammo for DPS to kill Dagan or other ships that come close.
Approach mission objective (usually drop or pickup something in a can) with a MWD. Ungroup your turrets, much faster to kill each rat with one turret.
Focus on the mission completion objective.
Following these tips will have you complete this arch in less than 4h sure thing, if you dont get distracted (chats with friends/corp, storyline missions, etc).
CCP's Apparent Purpose
The Blood Stained Stars epic mission arc takes a relatively new player from his first battle worthy Frigate into his first Cruiser. Mission rewards, without time bonuses, total about 8m and will pay for your Cruiser and its first set of fittings. You may need the time completion bonuses to buy and train necessary skills. [Start doing this when you start the epic arc; don't wait until you need the Cruiser at mission 46].Recommended
- Do the whole arc with a friend who is at the same skill level as yourself. The teamwork and discussions you'll have will vastly improve the experience and your learning.
- Train Salvaging skill and get a Salvager I module before you begin. The salvage parts you get from the wrecks will pay for the rigs you may find your new cruiser needs.
- Redo the arc every three months to get faction standing increase.
Last edited by TheLegatus:
high skill blitz description. reward more visible
Sat, 20 Jun 2015 10:19 UTC
high skill blitz description. reward more visible
Sat, 20 Jun 2015 10:19 UTC
Arc Details
Factions: Most Major Factions
Mission types: Couriers and Encounters
Space type: High Sec (+1.0 to +0.5)
Standing required: Personal Security Status above -2.00 and all Empire Faction standings above -5.00 is required to travel safely and not be attacked by Empire Navy NPC's.
Reward: Faction Standing increase +7.00% base up to +8.75% with Social Level 5 trained.
Damage dealt: Varies by mission
Extras: See details below
Web/scramble: See details below
Recommended damage dealing: Varies by mission
Recommended ships: Frigate with four high slots to start, Destroyer, Cruiser
Where do I begin this epic arc?
Starting Location: Arnon IX - Moon 3 - Sisters of EVE Bureau, Essence Region
Starting Agent: Sister Alitura
Detailed Mission by Mission Guide
You can find mission reports categorized by chapters here: MissionReportsEpicArc
Tips on Specific Missions
Mission 20: Every Drone Inside
There are 30 something rogue drones in four or five groups. "Strain" drones will web you at 20 km and warp scramble you at 10 km. Change your setup for kiting -- if you can hit them with EM or Therm weapons from 30+ km out and are fast enough to stay ahead of them, you can solo this mission.
Mission 24
Click on the large titles in the agent's discussion to read the alternative choices before you select [accept] one. For Caldari and/or Amarr players, note that the default choice ["Tracking"] requires you to kill a few ships from Mordus Legion, who are Caldari allies -- this may cause mild reduction in your Caldari state standings. The other choice ["Scanning"] has Serpentis NPCs ("rats") which you'll be killing anyway.
(The notes for both branches are now in the regular page. These choices now seem to be labelled "Tracking the Queen" and "Bag of Blood", respectively.)
Mission 25b: Planting the Body
Sensor dampeners are employed by the Serpentis. The whole room may aggro shortly after you enter. Kiting the lot will be successful. Remember to re-arm to kill Serpentis --EM/Therm which you were using for kiting drones will NOT work too well.
Mission 27: Burning Down the Hive
Despite the pleas you'll see in Arnon local chat, you can do this mission by kiting the rogue drones. Remember to refit to deal EM/Therm damage. "Strain" drones are the webbers/scrammers, so kill them before they get within 20 km.
WARNING! Burning Down the Hive is the mission on which more new players lose ships than any other single activity in EVE. Arnon is the lost ships capital of EVE because of this mission and the web/scram capable drones.
Mission 46: Sealing the Deal
The recommended method, to kill the cruiser and ignore the frigates may be difficult to do in your frigate as they'll all converge on you to batter your solo frigate to death. You can "speed tank" the cruiser like the earlier cruisers in the mission arc [orbit it at 500 meters so its weapons can't keep a lock on your ship] and thus buy the time to kill the frigates. Or, your new cruiser, with an appropriate tank, can kill the cruiser while tanking the frigates. [A cruiser equipped with drones can use them to kill the frigates while its guns kill the cruiser. Of course, most Caldari and Amarr cruisers do not have both drones and guns/missiles.]
Mission 47: Chasing Shadows
The Battlecruiser opponent in this mission is a Harbinger and fairly well armor tanked, plus has an armor repper. Further, it has supporting frigates. You can't easily speed tank the BC while killing the frigates because it uses a cap drainer on you [unless you've weapons that use almost zero cap]. I found that the Harbinger's armor is most vulnerable to EM damage and that it can't hit you very often if you're kiting the lot from 35 km out.
So, one possible strategy is to kite the lot while killing the frigates first -- go out beyond 40 or 45 km so the BC can't hit you and whack the frigates as they try to catch you. Then come back in for the BC, or go get your new tanked cruiser for the BC. Another strategy would be to get in close to the Harbinger [he can't hit well at less than 5,000 meters] and use your drones or light weapons on your cruiser to take out the frigates first and then the BC.
A cruiser that has no weapons suitable to take out the frigates [has only medium weapons] will have problems doing this mission alone. That's when you need a buddy in a frigate killer ship or to switch ships in the middle of the fight. [Don't worry, the BC won't disappear if you warp out to re-arm or change ships -- he'll still be there gunning for you when you get back.]
Mission 48: The Commander
You have to choose which of the four major races will supply the allied ships for mission 49. I believe that the choice you make also chooses the types and resistances of the opponents in Mission 49. Probably, the major [BC] opponent in mission 49 will be set up to resist very well the navy of the ally you choose -- this suggests that you choose an ally as much unlike your cruiser as possible. [Example: if you are flying a Gallente cruiser, choose the Caldari as allies so that the BC will be set to resist Caldari and thus be vulnerable to the Gallente, etc.]
Click on the Commander Titles in Sister Alitura's discussion to read each choice. Then accept the one you want.
Mission 49: Our Man Dagan
Dagan flies a 200k isk bounty Battlecruiser. Your frigate probably won't even dent his shields although speed tanking will allow you to kill his supporting frigates. Dagan has the mods most likely to give you fits if you chose unwisely in Mission 48. He's have Defender missiles if you chose Caldari plus Kinetic resistance boosters. He'll have active armor tanking and massive EM/Therm resist if you chose Amarr. He'll throw heavy Kinetic damage missiles if you chose Gallente and may have Target Painting as well. And he'll probably have short range blasters or autocannon if you chose Minmatar and a cap drainer on top of that.
After you've taken out the frigates, figure out what type of damage Dagan is most vulnerable to and then re-configure your cruiser to deal that damage, preferably at a range that Dagan isn't good at. Then get your buddy to come in his cruiser as well and the two of you should whup Dagan easily.
CategoryMissions
Kritsan Parthus wasn't much of a problem due to my ship and fit being practically immune to nos and able to speed tank.
I didn't know that Dagan changed his stats depending on your path, and I picked one randomly (and I don't remmber which it was, I think it was Amarr as the agent was nearest). I was unable to break his (Dagan's) tank with the Rifter, and tried a Thrasher, using 7 autocannons, 1 rocket, 1 afterburner, 1 web, 1 nanofiber, 1 gyrostabiliser and (don't remember other mid). I was able to burn to him on a zig zag to evade his fire, and then speed tank him (no joke, he can't hit a Thrasher with a web and a nano) and defeat him, although it took a while and a lot of ammo. If it helps to work out which ally I picked, he (Dagan) had lasers and a decent shield tank, but once that was gone, his armor was quite weak. He had no defender missiles. New characters will probably need a cruiser.
fittings for the whole arc: 2 adaptive nano plating IIs, medium armor rep II, 2 medium pulse IIs, damage control II, 1mn afterburner II, cap recharger II, I didn't bother refitting the cloaking device and co-processor I have normally fitted.
Nos might come in handy for Kritsan, but he only took me down to 1/4 cap.
3x arba std missile launcher, cap recharger II, invuln field II, gistii b-type small SB, meta 3 AB, meta 1 SeBo, BCS II, meta 3 DC, 2x CCC and Anti-Em rig.
Except for the mission vs Dagan my ship felt overpowered. Dagan took a while to kill.
It appears you get a +8.4% standings boost with the faction you choose, and no loss to other factions.
Exception: I refit to 3x cargohold expander's for the 150 M/3 drop off mission and i swapped out one of the invuln II's for the civilian code breaker mission.
I was able to stand toe-to-toe with dagan (after picking amarr in mission 49) and kill both him and his escourts in one go.
RESISTS:
Thermal - 81.3%
Kinetic - 77.5%
Explosive - 73.8%
EM - 85%
Drone Link Augmentor I
125mm Gatling AutoCannon I, EMP S
Salvager II
1MN Microwarpdrive II
Sensor Booster II, Targeting Range Script
2x Omnidirectional Tracking Link II
3x Drone Damage Amplifier II
Small Auxiliary Thrusters I
Small Drone Durability Enhancer I
Small Drone Speed Augmentor I
Warrior II x4
Soloed complete arc with above fit, speed tanking at just over 3km/s and +60km negates any problems.