The Blockade, level 4

Dominix, 2x kin armor hardener II, 2x therm armor hardener II, 1x EANM II, 2x faction LAR: easy, most of the time 1 LAR is enough, but can take hours.

20M in bounty prizes and 5 large neutron blasters loot... Dominix, 1xkin, 1xtherm, 1EAM, 1xDCU, 1xcap, 2x LAR but used one most the time unless you let the BS get too close, I recomend 1x sensor booster with targetin range script and Warden T2.

great mission one of the best just takes time and alot of ammo so fill ur hold the cruiser really dampen you so make sure you have drones set to aggro if you are using duel reps 2 kin and a therm hardener will work fine you rarely have to use second rep

the building Starbase Ship-Maintenance Array dropped loot (industrial goods)

Just got one where group 4 had five battleships, 4x Core High Admiral, 1x Core Admiral (trigger)

In the version where group 4 has 4x the same battleship, the trigger seems to be the one that comes in the group with cruisers/frigs. The other three are a bit on their own.

It's a good idea to fit 2 sensor booster for long range and shoot the NPC's from a sniper position (100km). Most of the dampening cruiser are then an easy target.

Had a "Shadow Serpentis Baron" spawn.
3.75 Million ISK.
Faction loot.

He spawned on last wave of Battleships.

Destroyed every structure, confirmed Starbase Ship Mantenance Array dropped trade goods, thats it.

Some of the ships stay 50+ k out. If you are running a drone boat, it's nice to include a drone link. I'll confirm with XoddHil, that fitting on a Dominix tanks easy. I never turned on the second repairer.

Confirming Kiaystryx's comment, ran this 4th of April '09 and got shadow Baron spawn with faction loot

4th Group:
4x Core Admiral, the 3rd was the Trigger for the last (5th) group

Dominix does well here, sentry's and rails.
When group two triggered i warped out and came back at 100km, got my Garde's out in time with aggressive mode on and they started popping targets as they flew to me.
With 2 each N-Type Therm and Kin hardeners all i needed for this was a MAR II to tank most of the damage, used a LAR II for a couple of cycles with group two but wasnt really needed.
Tip: Get your drones out as quick as when group 2 shows, if you havent got them attacking before you get damped then warping out is the only reasonable option for a drone boat.

Passive T-2tanked drake does fantastic. I never had to warp out but i did stay about 50k in front of them at all times :)

Done with a Gila, Kin-Missiles, Warden, Hammerheads and Ogre since you have to move a bit when the small frigs , cruisers and destroyers come closer. They do that since you cannot target anything mostly. The dampening is really a bit too much for my mind.
But with Gila easy going. When the Waves spawn I put Drones on Aggro and do the Hammerheads do their work. Just watch them if they shoot the trigger. Bring an Afterburner and get closer if you cannot target anything. Target and direct your drones to the dampers. Those are mostly cruisers.
All in all: If you know how it is very easy.
I really have problems with a Megathron though, since I rely on range in that ship.

last spawn had a Shadow Core Port Admiral 825k bounty not loot this time

Group three just had one of the Rear admirals be the trigger. WTH?

Caution- 08 Apr 2010: Performed mission in Tolle. Every (and I mean every spawn) had the same class of BS. No way to determine trigger. Some evil do'er has changed the mission or something just glitched for me. Keep an eye on this and post if this isn't an issue. I had to warp out many times and place bookmark on wreck just to gain distance and deal with undetermined trigger(very difficult). If this mission has changed, it is a change that isn't worth doing the mission.

I can confirm, that something is wrong with this mission, i had full room agro after warp in, warp out and coming back did not help, very hard to do something with this dampening, domi with 2x t2 LARs, 2x T2 kin hard,2x therm hard, and T2 adaptive nano, cant tank it long, be careful !

So i took it again today, and can say ***** DON'T ACCEPT THIS MISSION *****, it has been changed, all BSs in first spawn has same name, u can't know which one is trigger !
If u want to try it, be aligned and ready to bail out...

I'm reasonably certain that's not a change, I know Angel Blockade starts off with 95% BSes, for example. The names in question are randomize as are the spawns.

Just flew this mission again and checked comments. I got it exactly as it is said above. No change here in Fricoure.
Ran in Domi with 2 each T2 Therm and Kin hardeners and a DCU2. MAR2 for most of it, pulsed LAR2 on group two. Gallente drones set to aggro. AB to chase down the BS's to reduce transversal for rails to speed up pops.
20mil bounties with 5 large guns to sell, and lots of salvage.

i did it in a myrm.
i had no tanking issues (even when blitzing 3 spawns at the same time)
about 17 mil bounties + 10 mil loot

so i took it 3* after Tyrannis, mission is again normal and can be done like said at the top of topic.

First time, completed in a Myrmidon in about 2 hours. My 3rd spawn group contained 5 Core Admirals, not sure if the trigger for the last spawn was the BS with the frigates or if it was kill all.

Done easily in an Ishtar few different spawns tho.

Spawn 2 i had different

5x Battleships:
1x Core Admiral (Trigger)
2x Core Rear Admiral
2x Core port admiral
2x Destroyer (Corelior Sentinel)
2x Frigate (Coreli Guardian Patroller)

Spawn 3 was

1X Core Rear Admiral (Trigger)
3x Core High Admrial
3x Frigate (Coreli Guardian Patroller)
3x Corelium Guardian Chief Watchman

Spawn 4 was the same as above

Got different spawns but the trigger ship was always the different BS.
Domi, 2xlar, 2x kin and ther hardener II, DCU II. managed aggro.
~31mil total reward = agent+bounty+salvage+loot

Sometimes there is no way to tell which ship is the trigger, as you will often get 4 of the same type of battleship. I have done this mission 3 times and in all 3 I have gotten at least one set in which the trigger shared its type with a non-trigger, in one trial there were two such sets.

I'd advise against accepting this mission unless you rarely have difficulty tanking level 4 missions. The dps output is pretty high with one group alone, but it's just too easy to get stuck with more, and it's hard to gun them down quickly because they attack at long range while using sensor dampeners.

Spawn 3 - I got 5 Core Admirals. However one arrived with the cruisers and frigates, the other four arrived as a separate group coming in from the opposite direction. Tagged the one in the cruiser/frigate group to keep track of it, and it proved to be the trigger for the final spawn. Something to look out for when all the battleships are the same.

This mission used to take me about 70 minutes to complete in a Drake but now I can do it in 34 minutes in a CNR (full kill, no blitz). I use F.O.F. missiles and drones to kill the jammers, after moving 40 or 50 km away from the merchant gate. Everything else is popped with T2 Wrath Fury missiles. I made a total of 35.2 million ISK (Reward/Bonus: 2.6, Bounty: 19.4, Loot/Salvage: 13.2).

Just done this easily in a standard Domi setup. Took a long time though, just using drones.
The ship types were different, but could always identify trigger.
Tried it in a CNR first. Not recomended!!
Did mission before logging off, so left the last ship, & can do it again tomorrow. Must be the most profitable L4 mission, along with worlds collide, though I never seem to get the faction loot in that one.

Not too bad in a CNR:

2x Heat, 1x Ballistic, Large Booster, SBA, Sensor Booster

Took approx 40 mins

Running Blockade in a Deimos

Highs: Drone Link Augmentor and 5 T1 Neutrons
Mediums: MWD and Cap REchargers
Lows: 1 Armor Repper and 3 resists, Cap Power Relay and a MagStab

Rigs = 2 CCC

This ship is a beast, gotta run away every once in a while to recharge armor, but it melts stuff.

Not as good as an Ishtar on raw damage with Sentries, but still very good, surprisingly effective.

I'm pushing 450 DPS and 220-250 Armor Tank.

Last Spawn, Coreli Guardian Spy warp scrams. Completed with a navy geddon, 7 mega pulse II, Ogre IIs, Heavy NOS, 2x Kinetic, 2x Thermic hardners, 1 Large armor repper, 2 Aux nano pumps, 1 nanobot accel.

The Shadow Serpentis will aggro your drones. Since there was no drone aggro, I wasn't paying attention to my drones, ended up losing two drones before I realized it.

I ran this in a Scorpion Navy Issue with a 537dps active tank on kin/th.
Had a friend pop in with remote sensor boosting and additional drones, still got dampened from 165km targeting range with sebo to 20km at one point which rendered me useless for a little while.
The tank held up, sometimes I was bleeding some HP though.
Had the case happening that's described here:
"Spawn 3 - I got 5 Core Admirals. However one arrived with the cruisers and frigates, the other four arrived as a separate group coming in from the opposite direction. Tagged the one in the cruiser/frigate group to keep track of it, and it proved to be the trigger for the final spawn. Something to look out for when all the battleships are the same.", obliviously shot the trigger accidentally, but the tank held up nonetheless.
Only do this mission solo with really serious sensor boosting at about 200km undampened.
scramming frigs were easy to take out, even damped, because they got very close.

Ran with Vexor Navy Issue with high (88% th/kin) armor resists, active tank with single MAR II and MWD. My tactic was - pick a BS and close the distance quickly; orbit it at something like 1000 meters. NOS (2x Medium Diminishing Power System Drain I) ensured that cap was stable with all tank modules working. Light drones took care of the small stuff, then heavy drones chewed through the rest. Damping was insane, but who cares when orbiting at 1000 m.

Drones may be set on Aggressive, but should be watched - don't let them engage trigger targets prematurely.

The tank held very nicely; armor was above 85% most of the time and only once fell to about 60%. Cap rarely fell below 50%.

Overall, fun mission to do in Vexor, although somewhat time consuming.

This is a wonderful mission to farm, as the bounties can make it a guaranteed 20M per day.

Run this in a rattlesnake with sentry+auto-targeting cruise missile (around 1,200 DPS). Mission is completed within 20 min with 3/4 missile reloads. I think this mission requires the least operations. Always in the same system, no gates. Just warp in, launch drones, turn on resis, repair & launchers, launch mobile tractor, then all you need to do is to open fire again after reload (2 or 3 times).

The initial spawn is close therefore the incoming dps is high, and drones tend to target the trigger (most incoming damage), so the second spawn may appear before you clear the initial group. The initial group may begin to orbit if they get close enough, which is not good for auto-targeting missiles (they always aim for the closest enemy, and orbiting enemies may often change positions as they orbit at the same distance), so I suggest handling the initial spawn manually (with fury missile if you want it even faster).

The fit is as below
[Rattlesnake, Rattlesnake fit]

Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System
Imperial Navy Drone Damage Amplifier
Imperial Navy Drone Damage Amplifier
Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System
C3-X 'Hivaa Saitsuo' Ballistic Control System
C3-X 'Hivaa Saitsuo' Ballistic Control System

Pith X-Type Kinetic Deflection Field
Pith X-Type Thermal Dissipation Field
Pithum C-Type Adaptive Invulnerability Field
Missile Guidance Computer II, Missile Precision Script
Missile Guidance Computer II, Missile Precision Script
Gistum C-Type Medium Shield Booster
Omnidirectional Tracking Link II, Tracking Speed Script

Caldari Navy Cruise Missile Launcher, Scourge Auto-Targeting Cruise Missile I
Caldari Navy Cruise Missile Launcher, Scourge Auto-Targeting Cruise Missile I
Caldari Navy Cruise Missile Launcher, Scourge Auto-Targeting Cruise Missile I
Caldari Navy Cruise Missile Launcher, Scourge Auto-Targeting Cruise Missile I
Caldari Navy Cruise Missile Launcher, Scourge Auto-Targeting Cruise Missile I
Drone Link Augmentor II

Large Warhead Rigor Catalyst II
[Empty Rig slot]
[Empty Rig slot]

Warden II x2