I always wanted to try the Epic Story Arcs, but fate always intervened.
The story begins in a system known as Arnon, at the Sisters of Eve station. I had always wanted to try the story lines, but EvE is a place for social interaction. Every time I find myself looking for something new, I always end up searching for another corporation to join or another crusade to follow. Finally settled with ASCEE, I find myself weary from the constant war. What better way to unwind from the rigors of war than to take a nice stroll through cosmos.
As I said our story begins in Arnon, nestled deep within the Essence Region, in Gallente Space. I chose a simple ship to do this in, I wanted to see what a new pilot would, feel their experience. I chose an Algos. Don’t ask me why. Mayhaps it is the drones or the ease in which you can get into one. The Algos is a destroyer that fields a flight of either three mediums and two lights, or five lights. I felt Gallente Alpha clones were the best rounded, so I decided I would fly a Guardian Angel-Skinned Algos for this arc.
When I arrived at the station and docked up, I noted many newbros coming to and from the system like a revolving door. Maybe they, too, were running the Epic Arc? Maybe they were just running missions for the Sisters of EvE, which I imagine can be lucrative; everyone loves the Stratios. When I arrived and began my dealings with the Sisters, they were a bit uneasy and very unnerved by my presence. At best, they thought I was greedy and corrupt, subverting life and death at a whim. At worse a murderous heathen, who hastened the deaths of many like her. Truth be told, I’ll never know which is which; there are too many gray areas. I could easily be the hero or the worst of villains, all it would take is a single push.
As I was saying the dear sister sent me off to investigate a call from the Damsel. I found a few rogue drones, and a strange datacore I had never seen before. At first, the old greed of the capsuleer drove me to check the prices of these datacores. Maybe I would blow off the Sisters and go inject some boosters in Serpentis space, have a little me time. Fortunately for the galaxy, my greed had bounds and I took the datacore to the Sisters, hoping maybe some good would come from the job.
The Pay Was Alright
My first tick from the Sisters was decent, especially for what a young pilot would find themselves really needing. Some ammo here, some cap boosters there; who knows what kids use these days. My next stop was in space: I was sent to get some work from an ORE miner named Travis Jak. When I arrived, I found others who had the same idea as me, many little Algos’ all there to get the score from Mister Jak. Mister Jak sent me to dispatch the Pirate Red, and morbidly I returned with his space frozen corpse, just to prove the job was done. Travis Jak received a message from the Sisters requesting I return.
When I arrived, I had a nasty mess to clean up. One of their janitors was stuck at a small backward outpost and was besieged by pirates. When I arrived, I found the poor blue collar bastard jet-canned. He was hesitant to give me the location of a person of interest to the Sisters until I returned him safely to their charge. Once the janitor was safely returned to scrubbing floors and whatever else they had that poor bastard doing for the rest of his short life, I was dispatched once more to collect the Chef. I didn’t mind so much, as once I had him safely aboard my Algos, I immediately put him to work making me a sandwich.
Next was a physician, a very lively lass, who was being held for ransom. I was dispatched to make the drop, but as I arrived, I knew it was most definitely a setup. I was given a large stack of money and instructed to put it in a dead drop deep. It was a trap! The Coreli’s quickly started swarming, but they were no match for the CreoDron drones sitting in my drone bay. The fight was over in seconds, each Coreli that engaged was left slag, and float through space. For all my help, the good doctor was quick to disregard my advances. Oh well, at least the Sisters paid up.
I was quickly dispatched once more to collect an important engineer who’s ship had been popped out in Arnon. Once I arrived with the engineer in tow, the Sisters thanked me, paid me, and sent me towards the Federation to discover the plot behind all these rogue drone attacks. By now my curiosity had me: I had to know the truth of it all.
Part II: Blurring Lines
By now the missions all begin to blur together. I had decided to stay in a freeport that offered cheap drinks and cheaper women. I’m not certain why I’m here, but the CreoDron corporation sent me across enemy lines to a spy working in the Caldari State Protectorate. Many hands working to tackle this rogue drone threat. The Caldari were not yet ready to trust me with complicated missions, so they dispatched me as a courier about their region. At least my journey wouldn’t take me through Jita. I have enough dealings in that wretched place to last an immortal pilots lifetime.
Only those accustomed to living in Null Sec can know what the total shock to your system that accompanies High Sec space. Neutrals. Neutrals everywhere! I’m constantly trying to keep myself away from the edge of a mini freak out. Thankfully all the Caldari wanted from me was a quick clean and sweep of the rogue drones, then they sent me back to the Sisters of EvE.
The Sisters, being mostly humanitarian in nature, send me into combat with the intention of bringing back innocents trapped by the drones. The battles are light and I’ve yet to have to fire up my armor repairer. I imagine using five drones is somewhat at an advantage over the younger eggers only using a few, but I think even they will chew through these fights with a simple Algos. Soon after returning to Arnon I was dispatched out to talk with the Scope. Their development studio in Atlangeins was nice, not nearly as nice as our INN offices, but the Scope was a pleasant corporation to deal with. Nestled deep in the heart of InterBus space I picked up the encrypted datacore and began the trek back to Arnon.
My only recommendation at this point is something a bit faster than this Algos. Some of these missions I didn’t even need CreoDron’s help with, a nice travel fit frigate would have done me well.
The Sisters were finally starting to trust me. Two missions of time sensitive nature came and naturally I chose to rescue the trapped reporter in a doomed ship. I didn’t have to stay and destroy those Garmur, but I do enjoy watching them pop. I saved the poor lass and brought her back to the Sisters for medical treatment. The Sisters wanted revenge and soon after I was dispatched to handle the situation. The reporter also rode with me, she wanted to hitch a ride so I obliged her and took her a few jumps out. This wouldn’t be the last time I heard from her, my next mission involved me dropping off a tracking node to the rogue drones. Mordus definitely ambushed me, this was the first time I had to turn on my armor repairer. I barely survived.
The next few missions were more difficult, but less than the last. I’ve heard a name I’ve yet to hear, uttered in almost hushed tones. Dagan, a known terrorist thought to be dead. I hope I meet him soon, I look forward to the challenge.
Part III: We can’t stop here, this is smartbomb country!
Next, I was sent towards Hek, to speak with the Matari tribes and help them in any way I could to uncover this most heinous plot. The route led me straight through Tama, one of the most brutal low sec locations known to capsuleer kind. As I flew through Tama I thought about the Great White Buffalo, and was thankful I wasn’t here to stay. The Brutor people, my people, were simple in nature. Kill some spies, retrieve some data, face roll some pirates. These simple people gave me missions I could easily digest, the Gallente people had the most menacing of vibrations. It was all doom and gloom in Federation space. The Matari people were just happy I was turning ships into slag.
I was finally sent towards the Amarrian side of the map. The first mission was a breath of fresh air. Deliver a doll to a small girl. The mission went off without a hitch. The next few missions were charters and datacores. The Amarrians seemed to task me with technical missions, having me crack sites with a relic analyzer. After finishing a few missions for the Amarrians I was sent back towards the Sisters of EvE, in Arnon. The route was through lowsec, I’m sure I could have gone all High Sec but I’m not one to shy away from dangerous space. Besides, it was much faster. Upon reaching Arnon, the Sisters assured me they were almost done with me, I was almost finished with their grand schemes and delivery boy fuckery. I needed a nap, some solitude, not more of these carebear missions.
Part IV: The Climax, For Better or Worse
My next mission for the Sisters of EvE was altered identification chips for our operative looking to infiltrate Dagan’s group of terrorists. This mission was all too simple, but I knew the upcoming fight wouldn’t be. I burned through another ten missions, desperately seeking the end. The Sisters of Eve had me set up the trap for Dagan. I implanted spies, little Federation pets who were doomed to die with the terrorists, but wanted nothing more than to bring the menace down. By now it had all blurred together and finally, I was given the choice of a military commander to follow. I chose the Gallente for the standings spike. Dagan was a tougher fight than I would like to admit, my Algos didn’t take any damage during the fight but the drone attachment was barely enough to break his tank.
Dagan was flying a Battlecruiser, of Gnosis make. It could tank roughly around 110 DPS, so any alpha clones without drones trained to five likely would not have been able to crack it with the Algos. He had a few support ships with him, all in all, they decided to try and pop my drones but they failed spectacularly. If I had a choice of ship to take into the final battle, a Thorax or a Vexor would have done much better against the Gnosis.
Thoughts and Concerns
Having now finished it I will say my ship choice was wrong from the beginning. I only needed the Algos for maybe three missions and, even then, had I blitzed the objective and left everything else, I may not have. My recommendation now is for a much faster ship, seed your DPS ship into Arnon and fly a ‘ceptor or a fast frigate and burn the missions quickly. Slow boating in the Algos was utterly painful when I got about thirty missions deep. Also, make damn well sure you accept the offered mission. It’s utter fuckery to make ten jumps, only to realize it wasn’t accepted and have to fly back just to accept it.
Anyway, this is Johnny Crowe amid the Blood Stained Stars. I recommend this arc for newbie and bitter-vet alike. Just don’t try and do it in an hour for an article.
