If you are going to be a professional mission grinder you will need to work in all areas of high sec.

Something to consider. While I don't disagree with the plan/use of the orca to move from hub to hub, there might be a simpler most-in-one solution.

Instead of having many different ships for each of the varried levels a single Ishtar can do (almost) all of them. Additionally the training time into Ishtar+T2 heavy and T2 sentries will be much lower than into a gila and an orca.

Any old frog frig can do L1 and the occasional HaC restricted L2. And with the bonus specific to the ish the heavy drones will shred frigs quite effectively if they close under the (soon to be) reduced tracking of the sentries.

The when you are ready to move on you can just scrap/sell the T1 frig and without ammo or a multitude of ships away you go to the next hub/faction.

I am slightly confused as to what the goal of this guide is. You open up with "I'm going to approach the subject from the perspective of pure L4 grind". From that I would expect a guide to maximizing your ISK/hour while doing L4 missions. Yet you keep going on tangents such as lack of effort, PvP, incursions, WHs, and such. In fact you offer no advice pertaining specifically to missions at all, except for "you will need to work in all areas of high sec". Which, given your goal of "pure L4 grind", is actually counterproductive - time spent moving from region to region is time you're not using to make ISK. And you don't care about your standings with other empires if you're just grinding your agents in one small pocket of space (as is the most efficient way).

I expected considerations such as ISK return on blitzing/salvaging/salvaging with an alt, agent selection, which missions to decline, which missions to blitz, which missions to clear. Fitting suggestions like DPS versus tank trade-offs, choosing a ship and weapon system against specific NPC types, etc.

To sum up, I don't think this is the mission running guide people are looking for.

Get an ishtar , pirate BS or missile based BS.
Run SOE lvl 4's.
don't bother looting.
grow fat on the LP/isk ratio.

There you go OP.
was that so hard?

It's more of the end aspect for mission runners and what pilots will need so they can think about what to choose when they are first starting.

Bad thread is well, bad.

if you want to put something like this together, I would highly recommend writing it up offline, proofing and editing it. As it stands it mostly looks like you vomited words in a post. it is all over the place and poorly organized.

If you are going to be making assertions make sure they are at least accurate.

You may like the Gila but it is no way "better" than an ishtar. they are both primarily drone boats, but the ishtar simply does drones better. it can out DPS and apply the drone damage better.


And for gods sake, if you are going to talk about a Pirate faction all over the place, spell their name correctly at least.



I hope no noobs read this and take it as good advice.

(( Gila is the shield / missile version of the Ishtar, but preforms slightly better ))

Sigh. I get it. You really, really love Guristas ships and you have for a very long time. But I just can't see this anymore. I was willing to more or less let it slide for a long time but with the Ishtar's rebalance... the Gila just loses. Period. There are exactly two situations where I'd take a Gila over an Ishtar: non-kin/therm pure passive tanking and Angels. And the latter is arguable at this point.

So with all respect due -- why, exactly, should I value the Gila as highly as you do?

The only thing a ishtar does with drones better is range but that will be of no use in the L3's and under.

I find the gila does far better at adding dps due to having the lows free.

The DPS/Tank ratio is far better in the Gila.

The range on the missiles v.s. blasters makes a huge difference too. I'd say Gila is a better ship on the over all.

The only thing a ishtar does with drones better is range but that will be of no use in the L3's and under.

Which is pertinent to L4 mission running how?

Look, either you're writing about specialized L4 mission running, or you're writing about general highsec PvE. There is nothing wrong with either of those. But don't write about one and try to sell your "guide" (or however you want to call it) as the other.

For my purposes the Gila is superior.

The DPS and tracking can be adjusted for with the extra rig/mid.
A drone omni and a sentry rig can go a long way although a sentry rig is over kill.

The DPS also has a factor of not being mission specific for the ishtar.
(( A small factor but a factor that makes up for a small % of the DPS gap ))

(( Drone onmi > gun tracking when drones are the bulk of your dps. ))

The Gila still wins out on ability to use it to help other mission runners (( L4's where you don't want to bring in your BS )) and has less un-packaged M3. Mission fit Gila also works better for jumping in a high sec combat site to help compared to mission fit ishtar as the extra tank goes a lot further. Using same ship for multiple purposes is always a plus.

Sigh. I get it. You really, really love Guristas ships and you have for a very long time. But I just can't see this anymore. I was willing to more or less let it slide for a long time but with the Ishtar's rebalance... the Gila just loses. Period. There are exactly two situations where I'd take a Gila over an Ishtar: non-kin/therm pure passive tanking and Angels. And the latter is arguable at this point.

So with all respect due -- why, exactly, should I value the Gila as highly as you do?

I love the hell out of the Gila, but no WAY I would ever consider it superior in any way, shape, or form to the Ishtar. It just isn't in the same class.

OP, the suggestion to build this kind of thing offline, verify the accuracy, and then proof the living daylights out of it is a stellar suggestion. I would also go so far as to state, uncategorically, that it's all PERSONAL opinion and actual facts and usage demographics aren't getting in the way of your conclusions.

Back to the original subject.

I have been running GÇ£Mobile mission baseGÇ¥ for quite a while. First you get a big industrial. I use a DST personally.
In your fully expanded indy, you place a packaged BC or CS, a packaged AF, and a packaged Venture. You pre-fit and save the fittings of all the ships. You can re-assemble and get everything together in a couple of minutes. You should be able to fit all the modules, hardener rainbows, and ammo you want, as well as some alternate fittings for the Venture, as that is a very useful utility frigate.

You now have the ability to do any L1 through L3 mission for any corp with ease. Venture will do mining missions and the DST for Distro. AF does L1 through L3, but BC/CS does L2 and L3 much faster.
You might say, Bah! Nobody does Mining and Distro missions, but if youGÇÖre after standing with a specific Corp and you find a sweet set of L3 sec agents in a station, but no L1 or L2 sec nearby, but there are Distro and mining agents. Then I run those until the L3 come available, which doesnGÇÖt take long.

This allows you to ditch the pre-reqs of learning to fly the Orca. Unless you already can, but I think the Orca is just too slow to move around, and doing a few quick distro missions in it would suck. The Orca is also not so great for low sec, but the DST is. So low sec stations are possible and you don't have to go where everyone else goes.

I donGÇÖt use rigs for the most part, as the ships are overkill already for the mission levels they are targeted for. If you want to use rigs, then just use tech-1s and treat them as expendables. I do install rigs in the indy, as it doesnGÇÖt travel packaged.
If I want looting, I have another char in a Noctis follow me around. The looting is independent of the mission running, so I am free to move to the next mission and let the salvage gang work the site. For the most part looting/salvaging L1 and L2 missions doesnGÇÖt net much.

It really doesnGÇÖt matter which racial ship you select. You just need to have the right class of ship available for all possibilities.
To do L4s, move in a well fitted BS to the place, as youGÇÖre going to be there awhile, while you can do L4s in a BC/CS, it is slower and only good for entertainment.

Finally, don't use faction ships, and/or expensive bling. Otherwise, you may go, "Hey what's up with all those Dessies..... Ah crap".....

As others have stated, your whole thread is based on false assumptions and littered with mistaken info while not actually explaining the point you seem to want to make.