Blood-Stained Stars, Level 1 plus

- 50 missions make up the first epic arc
- A week is required for the average casual gamer to complete the arc
- New-player friendly arc after completing the 5-part tutorial missions
- Altering tactics and ship setups will be required, helping new players dramatically

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].

Arc Details

Factions: Most Major Factions
Mission types: Couriers and Encounters
Space type: High Sec (0.5+)
Standing required: -1.99 or better to all four major races

It may be necessary to do at least one very low level mission for the Sisters of EVE before you begin.

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?

Beginning Location: Arnon IX - Moon 3 - Sisters of EVE Bureau, Essence region
Beginning Agent: Sister Alitura

Detailed Mission by Mission Guide

Keith Neilson developed a detailed guide to all the missions in the epic arc.
If you need the details, see his website: http://keithneilson.co.uk/eve-epic-mission-arc-guide-addendum/
Note: After subpages (Chapters) load using his navigation links, press the "X" [stop] button on your browser. This will prevent the pages from continually updating their advertising feeds and thus reduce your wasted cpu cycles and stop hogging Internet bandwidth.

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.

(Note: in the website linked above, the notes for the Scanning branch are in the Addendum, not the regular pages.)

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.

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