Originally by: Aiko Intaki

---

You'll want to do a few things:

1. Either buy the EvE Strategic Maps or download the 2d EvE Maps by Ombey as a system reference while you search.

2. A good place to start searching for agents is the EvE Agent Finder site. Don't spend your time looking for the Veldspar Heavens system, or Chribba's Veldspar Factory though... they don't exist.

3. You want to maximize (Agent Quality + (100 - (100* Sec Level))). So, a -10 quality agent in 0.5 sec (40) is superior to a 20 quality agent in 0.9 sec (30).

4. If you're interested in combat missions primarily, consider the agent's mission type against what's found at EvE Geek. Most people target Command and Security agents, primarily because they largely give out kill missions, but also because the skills involved in increasing LP payouts by agent type happen to overlap. Intelligence and Internal Security are also somewhat popular. If you're willing to run or decline the occasional delivery mission, consider Administration or Legal division agents, as you'll likely end up in a much less crowded system.

5. You'll also want to verify that the agent won't send you into Low Sec as part of a kill mission, so check the agent's system against the map you downloaded earlier and make certain you can't get to a low sec system from the agent's system inside of 2 jumps.

6. The truly discerning mission-runner will also likely check for the story line agent nearest the L4 agent in question, as that's who you'll be sent to. If it's five jumps out, you'll be sent five jumps out every time you get a story line mission. If you're lucky enough to get one in the same station, all the better. You should also be curious about the corporation of the story line agent, as you will get large faction and corporation increases for each story line mission completed under them.

7. After you think you've found the agent you want to work for, hop in a frigate and run a quick L1 mission from a nearby agent in the same corporation so you can get a few easy LP. This will let you look at the Corporation's LP store. If you don't like what you see, it's better to find out now than after working your way up to L4 agents.

Summary: Ideally you want as high a quality agent as possible, which gives out a high percentage of kill missions in a 0.5 sec system that has no low sec system within 2 jumps of it. In a perfect world, your story line agent will reside in the same station as your L4 agent, and belong to the same corporation you're running missions for, or another corporation you want standings with. To make the hypothetical near impossible, the corporation your running for should have a wonderful LP store to boot.

I said "near impossible" quite deliberately, as these agents do exist. The ones that are well known are crowded beyond belief. The ones that aren't well known probably won't have any pilots aware of them advertising their presence here.

---