I went to Faction Warfare and all I got was this lousy Scorpion Skin
It's been a while since my last (and first) blog post, and I decided to get back into it by writing about something different this time. I haven't felt like writing lately, and in EVE I've been looking for something different to break up the regular old cycle, and I think I found it in the unlikeliest of places: High Security Space. I've had such a fun time over the past few days, and am so impressed by this content as a way to get players into and around Faction Warfare, that I decided to document the journey here. Read on!
Part 1: The Squids
Two and a half months ago the EVE Online Cradle of War expansion was released, and with it came a new feature in the game that I had completely overlooked: Military Campaigns. On launch, I had assumed that these were basically like public freelance jobs, do some boring grindy tasks for some trivial payout. Now, for some context, I live in a C5 wormhole with my corporation Voidlings where we get the premium wormhole gas, so grinding some public freelance Veldspar mining jobs didn't sound like a good use of my increasingly limited game time, especially since it would mean -1 pilot for any in-chain PvP that I might get pinged for. And more importantly, I'd have to put my gas huffing income on hold in order to…mine some Veldspar. Yeah, no thanks.
But then I saw this reddit post by AdmiralJacksonWolfe a few weeks ago, where he fully completed all 4 empires' campaigns, and in the process got some achievements and…oh my sweet baby Jesus, did you see that Scorpion skin?! It's rare you say? I need to do how many objectives to get it?! I don't even care, I want it. I'm getting it. It's mine. As soon as we had a Jita Highsec in chain, I flew out of Anoikis and made my way to Onnamon, the Caldari Faction Warfare headquarters system and enlisted. For the State!
I've done Faction Warfare before, and always burned out after a day or two. But Cradle of War added FOUR new types of Faction Warfare complexes that I was eager to try:
- Scout BSC-1 — only allows T1 combat and attack frigates, 5-minute capture timer, pays out about 11k LP.
- Small Interceptor-1 — interceptors only, down-tuned NPCs, only spawns in Command Ops systems, pays out ~25k LP.
- Moderate NVY-3 — navy battlecruisers and below, bonuses to battlecruisers, 15-minute capture timer, over 50k LP per pilot.
- Contested Field Research Facility Elite-10 — T3Ds and below, random applied effects, 45k LP per pilot for up to 10 pilots on a 10-minute timer.
To be completely honest, I actually forgot that these new sites were added, I was just eager to yeet a Hyperion I had sitting around at the first Open complex or gate camp that I could find. As I landed in Onnamon, that's exactly what I found; an Open complex with a couple of cruisers and destroyers sitting in it. Easy work for my Hyperion—or so I thought. As I landed, all of the ships but one warped out, a Coercer which I managed to catch and tear to shreds with my Neutron Blaster Cannons shooting for over 1200 dps. As my self-satisfaction grew, a Slasher landed on grid and a Warp Disruptor icon appeared on my HUD above my capacitor. Against such a small and fast ship, there wasn't much I could do. I launched my Warrior IIs at him, but they struggled to match his extreme speed. Not long after, one of the cruiser pilots landed back on grid in an Armageddon, with a couple of other pilots in Exequror Navies. Of course the Slasher was his alt, and he just wanted to keep me there while he brought in the Armageddon No Fun Police. With my capacitor under arrest, there wasn't much more I could do than sit back and watch my ship slowly burn as I struggled to inject rep. By the end, I had traded a Hyperion for a Coercer. Actually, a Hyperion and an Ishkur as I forgot I had one sitting in my frigate escape bay. Not off to a great start.
Back in the Onnamon Caldari Navy Anchorage, I contemplated how to get back on the Faction Warfare horse. I had a handful of ships staged there from my previous unsuccessful forays into FW. A hull tanked Brutix, a HAM Caracal Navy, some Dragoons for afk capturing while watching a movie, and 20 Railgun Raptors. Now, I wouldn't say that in my experience the Raptor is a good ship, but it's a cool ship. Fit with blasters, it's basically a slightly upgraded Merlin, at 5x the cost, and still worse than a Navy Comet. With Rails, like the rest of the Combat Interceptors, it struggles to even compete with the Navy Slicer for kiting. I came out here for the challenge, so I grabbed a Raptor and headed back out to the war zone. Every system I jumped through, I looked for an ADV complex I could slide my T2 Raptor into, but every time I found one, I would get swarmed by Guristas militia. I had a couple decent fights, but overall it was kind of oppressive. Until on my way back to Onnamon, I came across something new I had never seen before: A Scout Interceptor-1 complex. I'm in an interceptor. That's an interceptor-only complex. Screw it, let's try it out. While the low-dps Raptor normally struggles to kill FW complex NPCs, the ones in the Interceptor complex were surprisingly easy to dispatch. After maybe about 12 minutes of total capture and killing time, I received my payout: 25k LP, not bad at all for 10 minutes of work, that pays off my ship. A couple more complexes later, and a couple more solo fights, and I made my way back to Onnamon, only to realize none of the progress I made capturing complexes, or killing and damaging enemies had registered in the Military Campaign objectives at all. I earned some LP, but I was no closer to that sweet Scorpion skin I was after, and I lost some nice ships in the process. Apparently you have to click "Participate" on each objective to get them to track your progress. Annoyed, I returned to High Class wormhole space to sit in my ivory tower, free from the worries and politics of far away war zones.
Part 2: Freedom Fries
A week later, my corporation gets a wormhole connection to Gallente High Security Space, just a couple jumps from both Dodixie, and the Bulwark systems. A Bulwark system is a High Security system of strategic importance, with certain objectives requiring activities to be completed in one of these systems specifically. The Bulwark systems also spawn a new limited time ore, which when reprocessed gives a limited time mineral which you can exchange in the FW HQ systems for skins, boosters, and new faction items. At this time, Gallente had the most campaign objectives available, and some looked pretty easy. Hack in Bulwark system, hack in lowsec, capture some complexes, damage, kill, and remote repair in the war zone, and manufacture some drones. Turning traitor to the Caldari cause, I clicked Participate on every Gallente objective I could.
I started with the easy objectives first. Someone had a contract package of a blueprint plus materials for the Build 5 Algoses in Gallente Bulwark objective, so that was easy. Hack 36 cans in lowsec, that'll take a bit longer. Hack 36 cans in Bulwark, same thing but without the danger. I decided to pick up an Astero, and PvP fit it. I'll be able to refit to hack whatever I need to, run any low-level DED sites I find while scanning, and chase off any other explorers that I might come across. I managed to finish the lowsec hacking objective without issue, only once a Loki and Nemesis came after me, and I only wish I could have seen the look on the Nemesis pilot's face when he decloaked and scrammed me, only to get scrammed back while I orbited beyond rocket range. That faction scram of his made for a juicy killmail.
But the Highsec hacking sites didn't seem to be progressing the hack in Bulwark objective, and I quickly learned that only special faction Intelligence Cache sites count, and they were limited to Navy frigates and below, which meant my Astero couldn't enter. No worries, I bought a Heron, slapped a MWD and Data Analyzer II on it and nothing else, and jumped into one of the sites…and immediately died.
Having forgotten everything I read in the patch notes two and a half months earlier, I had no idea there were hostile NPCs that scram, web, and neut you to death, all while you're trying to hack. To make it worse, you go suspect upon entering the site, so you're a free target for anyone else who enters after you, or who may be waiting inside already. I ended up completing this objective with a PvE-fit Heron Navy, though I did have a few run-ins with another pilot in a Rifter who I think was only out for those rare legal Highsec kills.
After finishing up all of the non-FW objectives, it was time to enlist back in FW, this time for Gallente. Liberté, égalité, fraternité!…or something.
The first Faction Warfare objective looked easy, complete 4 level 1 missions. Basically, fly 6-10 jumps in a T1 frigate, kill some NPC frigates, return to base, repeat 3 more times. I may be enlisted with Gallente, but I'm Caldari at heart, so naturally I picked the Condor, fit it for long-range PvE engagement and travel speed, and knocked out the missions as fast as I could. On the way back, I noticed another new complex I had never seen before, the Scout BSC-1 complex. Curious, I jumped in with the Condor, and made quick work of the lone NPC guard, and was pleasantly surprised to see the timer was only 5 minutes. With an objective to capture 10 complexes, I could complete this objective twice as fast running these Scout BSC-1s compared to any other small/scout complex, so I finished it up, and captured 9 more. Making some solid progress on the Gallente campaign, I turned my attention to the remaining Faction Warfare objectives, damage, destroy, and remote repair.
These would have been more fun if I had joined a fleet to get them done…but I admit, I was in a hurry and decided to cheese them. Enlisting a co-conspirator, I gave him 6 navy comets and paid him to let me blow them up. Objective complete. I then enlisted an alt in Gallente, and repaired him while I shot him with another alt in the opposing faction. Objective complete. I then shot the other alt. Objective complete. Do I feel bad? No. Am I going to complete the other empire objectives legitimately?…yes…? Maybe? Who cares, I want those damn rare battleship skins! All in all, with a 100 million ISK initial investment, by the time I had finished 9/10 objectives, I had over 500 million ISK in assorted loot, 250k FW LP, and made over 120 million liquid ISK. Almost a billion ISK; all earned with frigates, within just a few jumps of Dodixie over two evenings.
With just 1 more objective left to hit 10/10 and get an Exequror Navy skin, I decided to switch sides yet again, and knock out some Amarr objectives while they're still available. New objectives are continuously added to each empire's campaign, so even as objectives are completed more opportunities will be available. Unfortunately, I got into the campaigns with only 30 days left when most of the empires are already 2/3 completed, and that late start means most of the ones left are the more challenging ones. Getting 20 done for each empire is going to be tough. Onward to Amarr!
Part 3: Bob Wills It
Packing up my Astero, I began the long 10-jump journey from Gallente space to Amarr space through lowsec, hacking every can I could find on the way to start making progress on those Amarrian objectives. I actually stopped short of Amarr itself, and set up shop in Kuomi, the central of the three Bulwark systems neighbored by Otelen and Tuomuta, and only 2 jumps from both Amarr and Minmatar lowsec. Maybe I could even get started on some of those Minmatar objectives while I'm here?
Compared to the Gallente objectives, Amarr was easy. Amarr space is massive, so I just flew around aimlessly hacking everything I could find, and running every low-level DED site on the way. The Min/Mar war zone is a hodgepodge of ever changing sovereignty, so hacking in one system might count towards the Amarr objective, while hacking in the next system might count towards Minmatar. The Bulwark suspect hacking site objective only required 4 hacks (FOUR!) compared to the 36 I had to do for the Gallente objective. I built some Dragoons, and even built some Valkyries remotely to knock out both factions' manufacturing objectives. Shoutout to Minmatar Production and Reproduction Inc for having complete build packages on contract so that I didn't even have to set foot in the station. The Highsec part of the campaign was fairly chill, and really easy, and I never once even ran into anyone out to get me while hacking in lowsec.
I will say that I did switch hacking ships for the Bulwark objective at this point. The PvE-fit Heron did well enough on the Gallente objective, but it was now the weekend, and you couldn't go 30 seconds without a new exploration ship breaking gate cloak and dropping probes in the Bulwark systems. I needed something with a bit more teeth. Enter, the Imicus Navy. Enough mid-slots to fit a Data Analyzer plus the prop/scram/web holy trinity of PvP, the bare minimum low slots for a decent armor tank (4, the answer is 4. Looking at you, Ishkur), and decent DPS at all engagement ranges. Whereas my Heron Navy was cap stable, the Imicus Navy is booster injected, and will require a bit more carefully managing my cap while fighting NPCs, so that I don't burn through all my cap charges just before a player shows up to fight. Here is the fit I used. I scanned with the Astero, so there's no probe launcher on this fit, but you could add a probe launcher and just offline/online modules between scanning and running sites. Just don't forget to online all your combat modules before going in, you don't want to be caught with your armor repper offline or something disastrous like that. I didn't actually fight anyone with this ship…one guy ran away when he saw me, but I bet it would work.
[Imicus Navy Issue, Imicus? No Youmicus.]
Damage Control II
Multispectrum Energized Membrane II
Coreli A-Type Small Armor Repairer
Reactive Armor Hardener
Warp Scrambler II
Small Capacitor Booster II
Data Analyzer II
5MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Light Neutron Blaster II
Light Neutron Blaster II
Small Auxiliary Nano Pump II
Small Trimark Armor Pump II
Small Trimark Armor Pump II
Hornet II x5
Hornet EC-300 x5
Navy Cap Booster 400 x10
Void S x2000
Navy Cap Booster 200 x10
Null S x2000
Once I was finished with all of the non-combat objectives, I enlisted again in FW, this time with Amarr. And this time, I was better prepared. After running the Gallente complexes in a PvE-fit Condor, I knew a T1 frigate was the best option to get the capture complex objective done quickly, so I grabbed a couple of ships in Amarr and hauled them out to the war zone. I ended up settling on a—don't judge me—hull tanked dual web scram kite rocket Kestrel. Say that five times fast. The combination of extreme range control with double webs and selectable damage type with fully applied rage rockets made me think of it like a budget Hookbill able to punch up a bit. And it was beautiful. Even more beautiful now with 4 shiny new kill marks on it. The Min/Mar war zone was a lot busier than the Cal/Gal zone, and nearly every BSC-1 I attempted had someone slide in, including a couple of seagulls who stole my hard earned LP. To deal with them, I brought over a neutral alt in a Tristan to scare them away. Fight dishonor with dishonor, my Romulan grandfather always used to say.
I only once had to use him when an unenlisted fellow wormholer slid in near the end of a fight that I barely won, with less than a minute left to capture the complex. I regret nothing. You want a fair 1v1 in FW, step 1: enlist in faction warfare. The way he slid in as a suspect, for all I know he was the neutral alt of the guy I just killed, sliding in late. Alright, I lied, I do feel a bit bad about it, but I'm not going to let that get in the way of farming these objectives. Have you even seen that Armageddon skin?!
With 10 5-minute Scout BSC-1 complex captures, and 4 kill marks on my Kestrel, I was happy to have one more objective complete, and half of another objective complete—or so I thought. What I hadn't taken into account, is that the ship destruction and the damage objectives both require the enemy player to be flying a navy or faction ship. And the BSC complexes I've been running only allow in T1 ships, strangely almost all Tristans or Rifters. Not one of those kills, not a single point of damage caused, counted towards completion. I think I'm going to have to up-ship to a battlecruiser, find some fleet mates, and go run some Moderate NVY-3s to finish off some of those other objectives before switching over to Minmatar or Caldari.
After a day of running Amarr campaigns in the Astero, Imicus Navy, and Kestrel, exploration loot totals over 500 million ISK, Amarr FW LP earned is over 250k, and liquid ISK earned is over 50 mil. Before this week, I never would have thought it would be possible to earn almost 2 billion ISK over 3 days, just a couple jumps from a trade hub in T1 and Navy frigates. So far the military campaigns have been a great experience, combined with the changes to FW have made it a lot of fun to engage in. I would have loved to have something like this as a new player to help push me towards different activities, and FW and PvP in particular. The ISK rewards for some of the objectives combined with the LP rewards are enough to jump-start any new player into flying Navy ships and quickly earning back isk and LP for even more navy ships. It's hard to compete in the war zone, but it seems like these campaign objectives help players get on the right foot. I hope to see more campaigns after this one ends in 30 days, maybe even one to bring back Niarja? One can only dream.
Stay tuned for the next entry where I try out Minmatar and Caldari campaigns!
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