Level 4 Recon (common parts 2 and 3)
Here is a video of part 2 and 3.
Recon (2 of 3), Level 4
Faction: Mercenaries
Mission type: Encounter
Space type: Deadspace (MWD works)
Damage dealt: All types (Thermal: 41%, Kin: 24%, EM: 21%, Exp: 14% from Ambush One.)
Web/Scramble: Mercenary Wingman
Extras: N/A
Recommended damage dealing: Therm/Kin
Recommended ship class: T2/T3 cruiser and higher or almost any fast ship to blitz.
Video: Ishtar blitz, Kronos Part 1,2 & 3
Pocket 1
No aggro upon warp-in. The locked acceleration gate (mission objective) is 72km away from the warp-in point.
The Mining Corporation Headquarters station is about 10km away.
Ambush Spawn 1 is triggered when the Mining Corporation Headquarters station is attacked OR when your ship is within 10km from locked acceleration gate.
Ambush Spawn 2 is triggered when your ship is within 10km from locked acceleration gate.
Ambush Spawn 1:
1x Mercenary Cruise Missile Battery (Cataclysm Cruise Missile)2x Mercenary Sentry Gun (Tower Sentry Caldari III)
4x Elite Frigates (Mercenary Wingman) (Web/Scramble)
3x Cruisers (Mercenary Commander)
2x Battleships (Mercenary Overlord)
Ambush Spawn 2:
1x Mercenary Cruise Missile Battery (Cataclysm Cruise Missile)1x Battleships (Mercenary Overlord)
Tip:
- To manage aggro, trigger the first ambush by attacking the Mining Corporation Headquarters station.
- The Mining Corporation Headquarters station drops mainly T1 modules and some Faction ammo.
- The mission is flagged completed once you have triggered both spawns i.e. by maneuvering your ship to within 10km of the locked acceleration gate or by destroying the station.
Blitz
- Fly to the gate in a shuttle, trigger the ambush, warp out. Better yet: Use a frigate with a microwarpdrive! Better still: use an MJD battleship, align towards the gate and hit the MJD, the mission will complete as soon as you land
- Note: The Mercenary Wingman frigates will spawn on top of the warp gate. You may get webbed/scrambled if you're not fast enough in warping out.
Mining
None.Note
- Mining Corporation headquarters has very high HP (approx. 306,550 total).
- Salvage&Loot about 2mil ISK
Bounty
1.374.990 ISKRecon (3 of 3), Level 4
Faction: None
Mission type: Recon
Space type: Deadspace (MWD works)
Damage dealt: All types (EM, Therm, Kin and Exp.)
Web/Scramble: None
Extras: Toxic gas cloud damage
Recommended damage dealing: N/A
Recommended ships: Any well tanked battleship (Raven, Dominix.) or battlecruiser (Drake, Myrmidon, Hurricane.) or a fast cruiser. (Stabber.)
Pocket 1
There are no NPC ships to kill. The next warp gate is 60km away from the warp-in point. The gate is configured to reject Capsules and Capitals.
Unconfirmed: Toxic cloud will be disabled upon losing your ship and will not re-enable.
(Confirmed by Dai Verdigris 14Aug2012. Lost a frigate, returned with battleship. No clouds))
(Confirmed by IcareAboutOre 09Dec2013 : Lost a rookie frig, came back in a MWD fitted frig. No cloud, no damage.)
(Falsified by IcareAboutOre 13Dec2013 : Trick did not work. Either they fixed it, or it only works *sometimes*)
(Confirmed by Lelira Cirim 30Dec2013 : Lost a shuttle, came back in a shuttle. No cloud, no damage.)
(Semi-Confirmed by Restrikt 08Feb2014. Lost Frigate, came back in Tengu. Cloud was there and received only one tick of damage)
(How it works: The waves take 4:00, if you warp back shortly after the final wave, they don't reset and you can fly to the gate unmolested. If you come back too fast they are still going and you can die. If you wait too long they start a new set of waves, or if someone else warps in that would restart it too. The way to do this safely is to start a 4 minute timer as you start to warp, then warp out as soon as you land (about half the time a shuttle can make it out), redock get a new shuttle if needed, be moving the same speed and direction you were last time you warped when the 4 minutes is up, warp in, fly to gate.)
The toxic environment will damage your ship in consecutive toxic cloud waves. Each wave deals EM, Therm, Kin, and Exp damage. First wave is 500*4=2000 raw damage with no shield/armor resists applied. Each successive wave has increased damage.
Wave 1 (~2000dmg) 0:15
Wave 2 (~2200dmg) 0:20
Wave 3 (~2400dmg) 0:40
Wave 4 (~2600dmg) 1:00
Wave 5 (~2800dmg) 1:20
Wave 6 (~3000dmg) 1:50
Wave 7 (~3200dmg) 2:10
Wave 8 (~3400dmg) 2:30
Wave 9 (~3600dmg) 2:50
Wave 10 (~3800dmg) 3:10
Wave 11 (~8000dmg) 4:00
A final giant toxic cloud wave 11 hits after 4:00. It deals 2000 per type = 8000 raw damage with no shield/armor resists applied.
After this final giant toxic cloud there will no more damage coming from the toxic environment.
Warning
- The toxic cloud waves will be reset after you have warped out.
- DO NOT try to warp to the (plagioclase/pyroxeres) asteroid field in the second pocket. As this is deadspace trying to warp into the second room (using a bookmark) you will land in the first room with the toxic cloud, resulting in a very quick death for any un-prepared mining ship.
Toxic Cloud Waves
500-950 EM damage (at 0% EM resistance.)500-950 Therm damage (at 0% Therm resistance.)
500-950 Kin damage (at 0% Kin resistance.)
500-950 Exp damage (at 0% Exp resistance.)
Final Giant Toxic Cloud (hits after about 10 waves.)
2000 EM damage (at 0% EM resistance.)2000 Therm damage (at 0% Therm resistance.)
2000 Kin damage (at 0% Kin resistance.)
2000 Exp damage (at 0% Exp resistance.)
Tip:
- Fit an omni-tank to cover for all damage types. Needs a minimum sustainable 200 dps tank for each damage type.
- Fit a microwarpdrive (or afterburner) to quickly cover the distance to the warp gate to save time and if your tank does not meet the minimum requirement.
- If you're on slow battleship fit a micro jump drive, align to the gate and jump, you'll only have to fly about 15km this way.
- Stabber setup: Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I, Adaptive Invulnerability Field II, 2x Large Shield Extender II, 4x Overdrive Injector. (43sec).
- Dramiel setup: Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I, 2x Adaptive Invulnerability Field II, Medium Shield Extender II, 3x Overdrive Injector. (24sec).
- The mission is flagged completed once you have activated the warp gate and landed in the second room.
- You can enter the pocket and approach the gate in a capsule without the clouds spawning. A fleetmate can then warp to you, activate the gate and complete the mission.
Mining
If you can get your Miner though the cloud in the second Pocket, you find:45 Roids Veldspar = 1382948 Units
30 Roids Plagioclase = 259119 Units
16 Roids Pyroxeres = 139845 Units
CategoryMissions
CategoryLevel4
1 Hornet t1
10 Cap Boosters 50
and a small cap battery.
NOT RECOMMENDED in killing the station.
just another setup FYI
This droped a can which contained faction ammo
782.24hp/s (EM: 90.56hp/s, Expl: 22.88hp/s, Kin: 197.06hp/s, Therm: 471.73hp/s)
Completed Part 3 in a Drake with 2xLSEII, 3xShield Recharger II, 3 Shield power relay II and a 10MN Afterburner II. (Shield never went below about 60%)
The Drake was fitted with 2 x Invul. II and a DC II. The waves hit for 250-350 each and the final one hit for 750.
Can someone confirm this?
LAR2/LAR2/Therm2/Kin2/Expl2/EANM2/DCU2
didn't have to turn on the 2nd LAR. the final big wave is barely noticable.
Log shows:
[ 2009.08.20 05:17:10 ] (combat) <color=0xffbb6600>Toxic Cloud Environment hits you, doing 482.0 damage.
[ 2009.08.20 05:17:10 ] (combat) <color=0xffbb6600>Toxic Cloud Environment hits you, doing 374.0 damage.
[ 2009.08.20 05:17:10 ] (combat) <color=0xffbb6600>Toxic Cloud Environment hits you, doing 171.7 damage.
[ 2009.08.20 05:17:10 ] (combat) <color=0xffbb6600>Toxic Cloud Environment hits you, doing 300.0 damage.
Notice how the damage is 4 times the normal amount.
I went back in with a Megathron, grabbed my dropped loot and slow boated it to the gate, total damage taken was 16,204.7!!!
Don't know if this is a fluke or they changed this mission. Beware.
3 of 3 is very easy in a Domi with omni-tank (2x LARII, 1x Thermic Hardener, 1x Kinetic Hardener, 1x Explosive Hardener, 1x EM Hardener and a DCUII). Only one repper is needed so you can fit a 100mn AB to speed it up.
MrHellcat - the toxic cloud damage doesn't even show in my log. Not sure why, never has for me.
Dps down the cruisers first to break the dps up on the inc. Cruise missile tower following that, and then bs. If your tank can't hang align on warp in and cruise out. This works only if you attack the station first to get 4 webs instead of scrams. Low skilled pilots and leave active drones out when you leave and when you warp back in they will have aggro buying you enough time to drop another ship if you are having trouble.
Destroying the station is a terrible waste of time. Terrible loot and mission completion off of shooting it once and then destroying spawn 1.
Happy hunting.
On 3 I did it in an passive shield ishtar with t2 fit with 1 ab, 1 em amp, rest shield ext. The damage couldn't break my tank, sat there for a while at the end just to test it.
All in all this is great for standing grinding.
Second time I did it, I made the mistake of not heading towards the gate, when my shield alarm went off, I warped out when I saw what I had done. After docking to refresh the shield, I came back and slow-boated over, and took not a single point of damage! The waves evidently go on for so long from your initial warp-in, then stop after the big final wave. Just warp out, go away for a few minutes, let the waves complete, then come back in, you could do this in a noob frigate (if you warp out quick enough initially, that is)
0 seconds: 500 EM, 300 Thermal, 300 Kinetic, 500 Explosive
5 seconds: 2200 perfect omnidamage
25 seconds: 2400 perfect omnidamage
45 seconds: 2600 perfect omnidamage
65 seconds: 2800 perfect omnidamage
95 seconds: 3000 perfect omnidamage
115 seconds: 3200 perfect omnidamage
135 seconds: 3400 perfect omnidamage
155 seconds: 3600 perfect omnidamage
175 seconds: 3800 perfect omnidamage
225 seconds: 8000 perfect omnidamage
By "perfect omnidamage", I mean 25% EM, 25% Thermal, 25% Kinetic, and 25% Explosive.
Total pre-resistance damage is 36,600 hitpoints if you stay for the final wave.
As with Recon Level 2, the wave at 5 seconds doesn't always appear. My Dominix observed it (1 test to measure if it was safe to use a Drake), my Drake has never seen it (used for the resistance measurements; 5 tests). Unlike Recon Level 2, most of the waves are perfect omnidamage, and it's even less worthwhile to try to optimize against one kind of damage.
Armageddon
LARII
EANMII
ExII+KiII+TmII
3x ODI II
AB
Made it through within 9 waves.
Caracal
4x LSE II
1x 10MN AB II
2x Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Rigs
3x Core Defense Field Extender I
High slots:
7 x XT-9000 Cruise Missile Launchers loaded with Cataclysm Cruise Missiles
1 x Drone Link Aug
Mids:
2 x Invulnerability Field II
1 x Photon Scattering Field II
1 x Heat Dissipation Field II
1 x Large Shield Booster II
1 x Caldari Navy Shield Boost Amplifier
Lows:
2 x Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System II
3 x Capacitor Flux Coil II
Rigs:
3 x Large Capacitor Control Circuit
I pull out my Drake and fit an afterburner for Recon 3 of 3. Piece of piss, shields never get below 80%, toxic cloud barely scratches it.
I warped in with a Caracal (was too hard), so i warped out again, getting my Megathron. After ~ 5min i warped back in again. I approached the gate without beeing hit at any time. Neither the 20s Waves, nor the "big" waves are triggered.
Can anybody confirm such an Experience?
Try the following:
- Warp in
- Warp out after first hit
- Wait 5 min,
- Then try it with SAME ship, if you are still beeing hit, try another ship...
Basically same comment as RentBoyUk, never got below 80% for 3/3 with AB
Warping to your bookmark gets you back to the beacon. Warping to your bookmark @ 50km puts you very close to the acc gate.
Also i can confirm my experience: The Waves aren't triggered with second warp in anymore... (Just the big one after 20 secs - if i would have waited longer, maybe it wouldnt, too....)
took me 5 mins with a megathron that way...
I went back in with a Stabber fitted as the OP suggested with two Large Shield Extenders, AB, and 3 overdrive injectors in the lows, and got destroyed as I was trying to warp out and still 10 km from the gate.
I don't remember this mission being so hard in the past. Beware!
I was able to do it with my Maelstrom battleship, which has an X-Large Shield booster and multiple hardeners and Shield Boost Amps. The only scary part was the last toxic damage hit, which took my shields to 50%. Then I was able to rep the shields and salvage my previous two ships. :(
N-Type EM
N-Type Therm
N-Type Kin
N-Type Exp
DCU 2
2x LAR (meta 4)
CRx3
Meta 4 AB
Final hit at 10km from the gate, barely made a dent in my armor.
Didn't need the 2nd repper at all.
12:38:42 Combat Toxic Cloud Environment hits you, doing 89.0 damage.
12:38:42 Combat Toxic Cloud Environment hits you, doing 83.9 damage.
12:38:42 Combat Toxic Cloud Environment hits you, doing 151.5 damage.
12:38:42 Combat Toxic Cloud Environment hits you, doing 121.4 damage.
etc
one medium repper, done in 6 cloud volleys.
Never was below 90% of armor.
Lows: DCl II, Power Diagnostic System I,
Meds: Gistii B-Type Small Shield Booster, Small Shield Extender II, 2xInvulnerability Field II
High: 3x Strip Miner
easy as.
LSB II, Boost Amp II, 3x IVU II, 1x Photon Scattering II, AB II
Made it to the warp out before final wave, was taking about 100-200 damage a wave.
Hung around to see what final wave would hit for, and it hit for about 500 damage.
1x EM Armor Hardener
1x Kinetic Armor Hardener
1x Thermal Armor Hardener
2x Medium TII Armor Rep
1x Medium AB
Never hit for more than 480 after resists, consider my ship's base armor is over 5k it was a very light hit, easily repaired dmg by turning on repair before next hit, I could have ran both reps the entire time but there was no need to.
For Recon (3 of 3), I used a megathon with a tech II microwarpdrive - cap was a bit tight but it worked out great, fast and I only had to turn on my armor repair at the very end as I slowly warped out from the gate.
(3 of 3) Got in my Apoc with 1 active hardener of each type and a DCU II with repper, tanked the damage easily. All waves were done before I was even halfway done slow-boating over to the gate. More free money.
[Crow, New Setup 1]
Overdrive Injector System II
Overdrive Injector System II
Overdrive Injector System II
Limited 1MN MicroWarpdrive I
Invulnerability Field II
Medium Shield Extender II
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]
[empty rig slot]
[empty rig slot]
After loosing my Burst (Frig) went on towards the gate in my egg without any more damage done to me. Took some time, the egg is not exactly flying along with stunning speed...
Messages:
Message > Someone has warped into the area, causing distruptions in the chemical balance of the toxic waste cloud. Explosions can be detected in the distance.
Message > Waves of radiation, debris and hazardous gas blast into your ship. Your computer detects that these deadly currents are growing. You should probably make your way to the acceleration gate as quickly as possible.
Message > Waves of radiation, debris and hazardous gas blast into your ship.
Message > Waves of radiation, debris and hazardous gas blast into your ship.
Message > Waves of radiation, debris and hazardous gas blast into your ship.
Message > Waves of radiation, debris and hazardous gas blast into your ship.
Message > Waves of radiation, debris and hazardous gas blast into your ship.
Message > Waves of radiation, debris and hazardous gas blast into your ship.
Message > Waves of radiation, debris and hazardous gas blast into your ship.
Message > Waves of radiation, debris and hazardous gas blast into your ship.
Message > Waves of radiation, debris and hazardous gas blast into your ship.
Message > Your computer detects that a giant wave of deadly gases and debris is incoming any second now! (text with red font)
Message > Waves of radiation, debris and hazardous gas blast into your ship. The dangerous currents have subsided ... for now.
However, when trying to jump I get this message:
This acceleration gate is not configured to handle your Capsule.
These ship groups are not handled:
Capsule
Dreadnought
Supercarrier
Titan
Freighter
Carrier
Entering this area again in my BS the damaging cloud was reset and started doing damage again. Still in a Maelstrom with medium shield skills and a 100 MN MWD this can be done without scratching the armor.
[Merlin, Recon 2]
Micro Auxiliary Power Core II
Warp Core Stabilizer I
Warp Core Stabilizer I
Limited 1MN MicroWarpdrive I
Medium Shield Extender II
Medium Shield Extender II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]
Small Core Defense Field Extender I
Small Core Defense Field Extender I
Small Core Defense Field Extender I
and 3/3
[Merlin, Recon 3]
Micro Auxiliary Power Core II
Overdrive Injector System II
Overdrive Injector System II
Limited 1MN MicroWarpdrive I
Medium Shield Extender II
Medium Shield Extender II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]
Small Core Defense Field Extender I
Small Core Defense Field Extender I
Small Core Defense Field Extender I
Damage log:012.06.28 03:34:27 ] (combat) <color=0xffbb6600>Toxic Cloud Environment hits you, doing 120.0 damage.
[ 2012.06.28 03:34:27 ] (combat) <color=0xffbb6600>Toxic Cloud Environment hits you, doing 86.4 damage.
[ 2012.06.28 03:34:27 ] (combat) <color=0xffbb6600>Toxic Cloud Environment hits you, doing 115.2 damage.
[ 2012.06.28 03:34:27 ] (combat) <color=0xffbb6600>Toxic Cloud Environment hits you, doing 240.0 damage.
[ 2012.06.28 03:34:32 ] (combat) <color=0xffbb6600>Toxic Cloud Environment hits you, doing 132.0 damage.
[ 2012.06.28 03:34:32 ] (combat) <color=0xffbb6600>Toxic Cloud Environment hits you, doing 211.2 damage.
[ 2012.06.28 03:34:32 ] (combat) <color=0xffbb6600>Toxic Cloud Environment hits you, doing 158.4 damage.
[ 2012.06.28 03:34:32 ] (combat) <color=0xffbb6600>Toxic Cloud Environment hits you, doing 264.0 damage.
(i did it with overheat of mid rack but i had 50%+ shield left)
[Stabber, Recon part 3]
Medium Inefficient Armor Repair Unit
Type-D Altered SS Overdrive Injector
800mm Reinforced Crystalline Carbonide Plates I
10MN MicroWarpdrive I
Large Supplemental Barrier Emitter I
Large Subordinate Screen Stabilizer I
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]
[high slots]
empty
[mid slots]
Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I
2x Upgraded EM Ward Amplifier I
[low slots]
Pseudoelectron Containment Field I
Upgraded Energized Explosive Membrane I
400mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Overdrive Injector System I
My base shield/armor/hull hitpoints were 548/2137/1273.
My base EM/Th/Kin/Exp resistances (without the field on) were 58/60/85/50 shield and 50/68/84/40 armor.
Switched the containment field on as I was arriving at the warp-in point. The initial wave at 0s took out my shield, the waves at 5s and 25s reduced my armor to 26% as I was MWDing towards the acceleration gate. Warped out long before the wave at 45s could hit (would still survive it, though).
The reward for Part 3 (standing increase, ISK, and LP) is rather unappealing compared to how much you get for the previous two parts, especially for Part 1...
"Unconfirmed: Toxic cloud will be disabled upon losing your ship and will not re-enable. (Confirmed by Dai Verdigris 14.8.2012. Lost a Frigate, returned with Battleship. No clouds)"
I can confirm it.
Lost a Rookie frig, came back in a MWD fitted frig. No cloud, no damage.
1st trip shuttle - destroyed as expected
2nd trip shuttle - destrodyed, surprise
3rd trip shuttle - trick worked
Recon. 2/3 Easy.. MWD recommended for faster travel.
Recon 3/4.
Easy.
Damage didn't even get into my armour:
[Dominix Navy Issue, Negh'Var]
Large Armor Repairer II
Damage Control II
Prototype Armor Thermic Hardener I
Prototype Armor Kinetic Hardener I
Prototype Armor Explosive Hardener I
Prototype Armor EM Hardener I
Reactive Armor Hardener
Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II
Large Micro Jump Drive (didnt need this, gate was 60km away)
100MN Microwarpdrive I
425mm Prototype Gauss Gun
425mm Prototype Gauss Gun
425mm Prototype Gauss Gun
425mm Prototype Gauss Gun
Drone Link Augmentor I
Drone Link Augmentor I
Large Capacitor Control Circuit I
Large Capacitor Control Circuit I
Large Capacitor Control Circuit I
Hobgoblin II x20
Salvage Drone I x5
Ogre I x9
Antimatter Charge L x1848
[L4 Recon 3 of 3]
Damage Control II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
50MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive
Upgraded EM Ward Amplifier I
Upgraded Thermic Dissipation Amplifier I
Limited Adaptive Invulnerability Field I
Medium Anti-Explosive Pump I
Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I