What’s the Problem?
So, if you’re like me and spent a long time doing missions for one faction, like the Gallente Federation, for example, then these missions will likely involve you fighting against NPCs of other factions, such as the Amarr Empire. This results in an increase in reputation for the former and a degredation of the latter… with long-lasting effects on your ability to deal with these factions, or indeed fly through their space, without being shot to shit!
One of my characters, Acesulfame Sorbate, suffers from this problem, as he cannot fly through Amarr systems without being called out for immediate termination. His standings with the Empire are -8.94, but if you add the offset provided by his diplomacy skills, he has an overall effective standing is -5.91. This would not necessarily be a problem, if he didn’t have business in their space.
What is the Solution?
So, I did some research and the only way to help increase his standings, so that he is not shot on sight, and able to utilise level 1 Amarrian mission agents to begin to build on his reputation further, is to undertake one of the time-consuming and long-winded epic storyline arcs. Completion of an Epic Arc gives the reward of immediate increased standings to a faction of your choosing, of between 7 to 8.75%, depending on your “Social” skill level.
The information I am using is from the UNIWIKI, and I’m only covering one of the four main epic storyline arcs (The Blood-Stained Stars); the one Ace has to use to get his reputation with Amarr Empire repaired to above -4.99. This storyline arc does involve travelling into Amarr space for a couple of missions, but is generally safe to do.
Side note: Whilst doing this Epic Arc, I trained the last level of “Diplomacy” to level 5, as it was only four at the time. This reduced my overall standing from Amarr Empire to -5.15, but this was still too low to not be shot on sight! I still needed to do the missions.
The direct link to this information is: https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/The_Blood-Stained_Stars
What Are the Basics?
There are 51 missions to accomplish. Once you complete the final one, you get a boost to the standings of the faction you choose to assist, in mission 49 of 51 “The Missing Piece“.
It may seem daunting, and yes it takes some time to do, but a lot of the missions are either travelling to other agents or just warping into a deadspace area and observing what’s there. For the reward, the slog is well worth it.
The Missions
The following are the missions and their UNIWIKI description pages:
Chapter 1: Quality of Mercy
1 Beacon Beckons
2 Agent Inquiry
3 Of Interest
4 Retrieving Red
5 Alerting Alitura
6 Jet-Canning a Janitor
7 Chivvying a Chef
8 Delivering a Doctor
9 Engineering a Rescue
10 Going Gallente
Chapter 2: Automaton Impediment
11 Studying the Scene
12 Rendering Assistance
13 Lair of the Snakes
14 Data Retrieval
15 Crossing Enemy Lines
Chapter 3: Shadow Puppets
16 Passive Observation
17 House of Records
18 Mercenary Distractions
19 An Economy Under Threat
20 Every Drone Inside
21 A Sense of Dread
Chapter 4: Queens And Drones
22 Royal Jelly
23 Nature Pictures
24 Tracking or Scanning
25a Tracking the Queen (Part 1)
26a Tracking the Queen (Part 2)
27a Tracking the Queen (Part 3)
25b Bag of Blood
26b Planting the Body
27b Chasing a Nightmare
28 Burning Down the Hive
29 It’s Not Over Yet
Chapter 5: Shifting Foundations
30 An Eye on Everything
31 The Uses of Force
32 Goading the Leader
33 Hunting the Lieutenants
34 Valuable Cargo
35 Marked for Death
36 Thwarting the Succession
37 Certificate of Death
Chapter 6: A Breach of Trust
38 A Matter of Decorum
39 New Friends (Amarr Space)
40 Recovery (Amarr Space)
This mission was undoable with Ace, so I had to bring in my main account (who has good standings with Amarr) and I had him warp to Ace as he entered the site. Ace warped back to station and Cmdr Lox took out the bad guys and hacked the can for the item.
41 Of Quiet Nights Long Past (Amarr Space)
This mission was the same. Ace could not stay in the deadspace area long enough to achieve the objective so my main had to warp in on top of him and do it himself (and pick up the item from the container).
42 Revelations
43 A Call to Trial
44 Brothers and Sisters
Chapter 7: Closing In
45 A Stranger’s Face
46 The Sisters and the Spy
47 Sealing the Deal
48 Chasing Shadows
49 The Missing Piece
IMPORTANT: It is in this mission that you choose which faction to side with. Pick carefully as this will be the faction for which you will gain considerable reputation with, once the arc is complete. (The whole point of this exercise!)
So this guy is a nightmare to take down. I was in a Sunesis the entire arc, with light missiles and EM drones. Dagan is a shield repper, and you will need to make sure you swap ammo and drones to explosive and still wait forever to finally break him. You could also call out in local for help. I myself went back to help another who was struggling. The reason I didn’t ask myself is because I was concerned whoever showed up may have taken Dagan from the can, thereby messing up my mission!
The Final Result
I cannot reiterate how annoying this arc is, in length and of course maybe having to recruit help when in systems which hate you (if you are between -10 and -5, that is), but I finally finished the arc and my reward was a good boost to my Amarr standings.
My reputation with the Amarr Empire went from a base of -8.94 (-5.15 with skills) up to a new level of -7.29 (-3.83). This is a really good spot to be in, because now I can fly around Amarr space without being labelled a criminal. This still means I only have access to level 1 Amarrian agents, but this is fine with me, I can start to build on that with the right missions.
Words of Warning
- If your standings are below -5.0, during the arc, and you need help from someone to avoid getting shot by Empire navies, be cautious about asking in local for a volunteer. They may well be okay and help but you would be an enemy in that system and any other player can tackle and fire on you. That would be a bit shit! Maybe consider asking a corp-mate.
- When you have bumped up your reputation with the faction you chose, and you decide to continue to work on it using their mission agents, be careful which other standings you are affecting and by how much. You don’t want to have to do it all over again just to regain rep with another faction!
Good Luck out there, Capsuleer, and Fly Safe!
