After my fiasco doing that level 1 agent's mission, I have sent two pilots off, away from the wormhole and away from markets. Off to get some experience that is not 'tend my farms' (otherwise known as wormhole PI) or starter missions.
I would like jump clones. I could join a specialist corp but would rather earn it on my first couple of pilots at least. I am hoping that jump clones can be installed from faction rep but suspect I will actually need corporation standing.
My two pilots in question have moderately good standing with Servant Sisters of Eve (7 and 6 respectively), Gallente and Minmatar (6 and 5.5). It is a pity that no corporations hold me in similarly high regard. I earned most of my standing by doing newbie missions ad infinitum and a bit of 'keeping crime in check'.
I have heard about that 'Sisters of Eve' epic arc, with its attending "large" faction boost.
The Eve University has a good page with a description of the arc, though it seemed a bit different towards the end. Jowen Datloran's PDF is also worth following. I am sure there are other guides too.
For this arc, I flew an Algos and a Moa with two pilots running in parallel, under the theory that dual boxing will be faster, even if only while jumping. Truth be told, after that last mission, I wanted a safety blanket of backup.
The Algos, with its drone bay was more than adequate for everything but one mission. I fit the ship with short range guns (falloff 3K), but ended up staying at 25k and using a mix of hobgoblins and hammerheads. The only mission I had any problems was about 2/3 through the arc where I had to destroy a structure. All hostile ships were dead, but I was doing zero damage to the target with either drones or guns. I am unsure whether it was a bug or if I had insufficient weaponry. Problem solved with the Moa in short order.
The Moa, with railguns and medium range ammo was faster. For a couple of fights having the hobgoblin drones help peel off annoying frigates was helpful. Most of the time the drones stayed in their bay; and the Moa took very little effort or time. If I ever do this arc again; it will be in something like the Moa.
For the missions itself, most are quick. Some take time. The worst was 'go jump 25 systems to meet someone.', which is no problem if you want to AFK at that point in time. I didn't want to AFK.
The biggest issue is that there are 50 blessed missions. That takes time. 50 mixed but easy missions, when I could be doing 30 or 40 L4 distribution missions which take only a little longer, picking up a few L4 storyline missions on the way. The SOE arc did give me an easy storyline mission (I think L1) part way through.
Did I mention that the arc was longer than one of my blog posts? It is really long.
SSOE faction went from standing 6.99 to 7.02, and my target faction went from very roughly 6.4 to 6.6.
As a counter point : 60 starter career agent missions get me to faction standing of just over 5 (with a few points each of social and connections), doing all 3 sets of my target faction then all 3 sets of the allied faction.
In other words : I did a load of work for very little improvement. There was 10M ISK in benefits; good enough for a series of newbie missions, but I am a beyond needing that kind of ISK/hour.
There is one benefit. These missions did not affect other faction's standing. That is; it did not tank my already poor off-faction standing. You get to choose who will like you out of the mission arc. If I do this again, I will use the opportunity to boost the regard my off factions hold me in.
Maybe in the months it takes the mission to become available again; I will get amnesia and run it for that other faction. Maybe.
For the missions itself, most are quick. Some take time. The worst was 'go jump 25 systems to meet someone.', which is no problem if you want to AFK at that point in time. I didn't want to AFK.
The biggest issue is that there are 50 blessed missions. That takes time. 50 mixed but easy missions, when I could be doing 30 or 40 L4 distribution missions which take only a little longer, picking up a few L4 storyline missions on the way. The SOE arc did give me an easy storyline mission (I think L1) part way through.
Did I mention that the arc was longer than one of my blog posts? It is really long.
SSOE faction went from standing 6.99 to 7.02, and my target faction went from very roughly 6.4 to 6.6.
As a counter point : 60 starter career agent missions get me to faction standing of just over 5 (with a few points each of social and connections), doing all 3 sets of my target faction then all 3 sets of the allied faction.
In other words : I did a load of work for very little improvement. There was 10M ISK in benefits; good enough for a series of newbie missions, but I am a beyond needing that kind of ISK/hour.
There is one benefit. These missions did not affect other faction's standing. That is; it did not tank my already poor off-faction standing. You get to choose who will like you out of the mission arc. If I do this again, I will use the opportunity to boost the regard my off factions hold me in.
Maybe in the months it takes the mission to become available again; I will get amnesia and run it for that other faction. Maybe.
