Null sec ratting
TLDR
To rat, do this in order, with these hot keys:
Need to see everyone in local, can't rat in main staging, watch intel.
Right click warp (Vexors do squads in drone regions!)
Run from infested carriers, diamond rats, Tyrannos
w to orbit
f2 to turn on AB
shift-f to launch drones
control to lock up
f to engae drones
shift-r to recall drones
Ship progression: algos - vexor - ishtar - paladin - revelation - nyx/hel (For drone regions)
See a hostile in local? pull drones, turn off AB (afterburner aka prop mod), warp to safety, report to intel.
See an infested carrier? leave drones, turn off AB, warp to safety, report it, right click ignore site.
Struggle with english? watch the video.
Edit: note, Patrols and Hordes now spawn NPC dread that points. However, bounties were increased.
Null Sec Ratting (Horde Space specific)
This is your Eve Tip of the day on the basics of ratting in null sec in Drone regions. Thank you to Snoopari for help!
Ratting in eve online is a 'solved problem'. People have already worked out the optimal strategies and now it's just working how you can get into those strategies. Details are here for those in Pandemic Horde: https://www.pandemic-horde.org/forum/index.php?threads/drone-lives-matter-a-drone-regions-ratting-guide-2-0.3340/ https://www.pandemic-horde.org/forum/index.php?threads/intervening-the-divine-ratting-guide-for-angel-space.3767/ if you are running in angel space.
Reminders, to rat safely you need to leave mj-5, you need to have local, bean-intel, and standing fleet open, all at the same time. An example is available on my Eve UI page.
The video below was recorded May 2nd, 2024, showing the average day of a ratter with a t1 ships during high pvp times.
General timeline
These instructions are mostly for Pandemic Horde. Each space is different, but most of these rules are the same. Ask the corporation you join for their fits or starter ships.
Start out in an algos. do 'belt' ratting, going from belt to belt, very easy to survive. (Note, you can also do skyhooks as well as belts!)
1a. This is a passive algos we have configured for the drone regions. Before you go out, stack your guns with the button to the left of the guns. Move the AB up to the top row, maybe to F2. Make groups of your drones, I prefer a mix. you want to max bandwidth and max to 5 drones. Algos is 2 infiltrators, 3 acolytes.
1b. You find an asteroid belt by right clicking in space, right click, warp to belt. Stick to belt ratting if you in an algos. Can move up to a squad in a vexor.
1c. When you land in an NPC site, you do the exact same things:
Is this site okay to run? Is there a friendly in it? is there a hostile in it? Is there an infested carrier? Is there an officer? Immediately warp out if it is dangerous or already claimed.
First, orbit. Find the center of the site or the biggest ship, a battleship. Hold down W, the orbit shortcut, and click on them for your default orbit.
Then, turn on your prop mod, aka your Afterburner or MWD. Move it to the top row and hit F2 for instance.
Launch drones, which is default to Shift-F.
Hold down Control key and click on the small rats. Wait till they start getting locked up and then hold down control again and click on the big rats. Frigates -> destroyers -> cruisers -> battlecruisers -> battleships.
Once the smallest frigate rats are locked, hit F to have your drones engage.
Done? Hit Shift-R to recall your drones, and F2 to turn off your AB, warp to next site.
Again: W, F2, Shift-F, Control, F. Repeat till dead. Shift-R, F2.
Note that salvaging is not worth doing on normal rogue drone wrecks, it doesn't pay out well. Sentients drop loot, and that can be very worthwhile, and you *should* salvage that wreck. MTUs are pointless in drone regions null sec space. They just don't drop that much for the time.
1d. If you see a Infested Carrier or Infested Dread or any other NPC capital, Warp out immediately.
1e. Go to the next belt. Out of belts? go to next system.
Here is a thing to save to a notepad to remind yourself!
right click warp
w to orbit
f2 to turn on AB
shift-f to launch drones
control to lock up
f to engae drones
shift-r to recall drones
Work towards a vexor. You can consider moving to a myrmidon or a praxis but it is not recommended. The Gila is actively discouraged due to the price.
You find the quiet system. https://www.pandemic-horde.org/forum/index.php?threads/horde-isk-making-rules-areas-and-industry-areas-updated-2023-10-12.3738/ has maps. Or use the dotlan version we give you, and click 'NPC kills' at the top right.
In the vexor, you start out doing 'Herds' in horde space. This is the training one. They have 5/10 escalations so don't pay out well but are easier to do.
You think you understand herds, you do a squad or a patrol. These pay you out in escalations, which are 10/10s, which are paying 130 mil Q2 2024.
You do not do hordes until you can clear them quickly, which is a LOT of skill points.
See below how to run all the sites.
The ishtar is the end game ratting ship till you get towards marauders. See https://www.pandemic-horde.org/forum/index.php?threads/drone-lives-matter-a-drone-regions-ratting-guide-2-0.3340/ for fits.
Marauders https://www.pandemic-horde.org/forum/index.php?threads/b-i-g-pankrab-hordes-cap-super-umbrella-crab-sigs-and-how-to-use-it-2-0.3765/ Need to join an ESI- gated group to join that. https://www.pandemic-horde.org/forum/index.php?threads/alliance-corporation-megathread-updated-2022-12-30.3276/ has the list of esi-gated groups.
In PC owned Sovereignty, Your payouts are influenced by the Encounter Surveillance System, aka ESS. They take 40% of your ratting and pay it out every 3 hours.
If a hostile entity enters your ESS, they can steal it. It takes them nearly 6 minutes, and you just need to get a response fleet to them before then.
If nobody steals it, it automatically pays out.
You can think of it as 5 ticks in an hour instead of 3, it's the easy math. (1 tick == 20 minutes. 3 ticks is the 60%, ESS is 40%, so 2 extra ticks)
Don't count on ESS money :D
Improve your skills so you can fly the vexor or whatever else well.
Find a system that you can rat in that is your non-gated/esi-gated group using this link: (check horde pages)
Find a citadel to operate out that way, hopefully a fortizar. Leave your ratting ship there, use a lighter ship to ferry between mj-5/efm and your ratting system.
Figure out the range you should be warping in.
Figure out the sites you'll be running.
Watch bean-intel or setup SMT - https://github.com/Slazanger/SMT This can help you see hostiles coming towards you. Releases shows the latest.
https://www.pandemic-horde.org/forum/index.php?threads/smt-a-guide.3556/ can help you setup SMT.
https://www.pandemic-horde.org/forum/index.php?threads/phrealm-your-definitive-source-for-intel-within-ph-space.4086/ explains how phrealm works, allowing you to alert on intel near you.
https://riftforeve.online/ if you are running linux and need a log monitor on there.
When to escape
When you land, orbit at current distance a wreck or a structure, target stuff, get aggression, launch drones, then start shooting. (`f` to have drones attack) :D
You see someone come into local, you warp to your fortizar, which you have hopefully bookmarked.
If you see an infested carrier, pull drones (shift-r), turn off MWD/AB, align to your safe structure. It **will** kill you.
Ratting basics:
IF there are towers on the anomalies, destroy those first
1) Kill frigates (ASAP tacling ones)
2) Kill Battlecruisers (cruisers after that)
3) Kill Battleships
When there is new spawn, repeat from the start of the list.
Orbit the middle object of the site at a range your drones can hit all (example 50-60km drone control range you might want to orbit example 35 - 40km)
When you see neutral in local, turn off your afterburner and align to the station. Warp off immidiately IF you want to be safest possible
When your ratting you want to turn off from route planner "Include Jump Gates" so you can see true distance of the neutral / hostiles reported.
Always Orbit / move, never stay still, have your fit cap stable and have your afterburner always on IF the fit has one or the ship is supposed to use with it.
The system doesn't matter that much.. maybe "close to MJ / staging", not on the pipeline where the neuts come from (that is hard for new ppl to know) site stuff, start from lowest site and work your way up carefully from lowest site from here https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Combat_sites Drone patrol and drone has both tricky version of the site.
My drones keep getting shot!
If that happens, dock up, eject from your ship, and then reboard it. The reason this happens is because you are not enough of a threat or you are too far away.
You can also add modules like an Auto Targeting System I and a Civilian gun. The Auto Target is cheap, like 20k, and uses a high slot. The civlian gun is also easy, board your corvette, strip one off, then reboard your vexor, and then trash the corvette. Note, you don't use either of these modules, you just have them fitted and online, but don't actually activate them. It causes the rats to think you are a bigger threat thanks to the way the AI is configured.
Note, you don't actually run the Auto Targeting System either. If you had 6 targets possible, and 8 things pop, and 2 are frigates with webs, your auto targeting targets them all but the larger ships lock up faster because larger sig. So you have to unlock and relock the frigates, giving them a better chance of webbing you.
If Rats turn yellow when you are fighting them, they are busy shooting your drones.
If they still lock up your drones, go to a safe, eject from your ship, and reboard it. Then orbit at 30km instead of 60km and see if they shoot them less.
Specific drone site ideas.
Each of the sites has their own unique characters.
Drone Herds is where most ratters in vexor start. You warp in at 20km, orbit a structure, kill small stuff. When you have more small stuff spawn, you kill it.
Drone Patrol warp at 30km, orbit at current. Only one Elite Drone AI Battleship is tricky because once you attack the battleship 8 tackling frigates spawn which you have to kill as fast as possible. keep killing small stuff, and then come back to the elite drone battleship after all the other spawns are done. Rest of the site is fairly easy
Drone Horde "Ring site" which has 8 towers around drone bunker: if you warp at the site at range other than 0km. Warp off and warp back to the site at 0km, immidiately as you land start orbiting the drone bunker at 7 500m with 100mn afterburner online. Those towers cannot track your ship good after you hit your max speed.
Destroy the towers as fast as you can DON'T kill the Battlecruiser on site because that is the trigger for the next wave which have those tackling frigates, which you want to kill as fast as possible, suggest after destroying those towers move to like 30km from the bunker and then kill the BC
Drone squad: Warp at 30km. the one with the big structure: Kill those towers as fast as you can, after that destroy the building orbiting it. destroy a ship and start orbiting that ship wreck.. rest of the site is just walk in the park after that (should be XD)
with that stuff I do with 100mn speed tanked vexor all the ratting sites without any issues except the Drone horde ring site takes me about 40% of armor for some reason, CCP must have made some small changes. That might be also added so ppl don't freak out as they shall drop to armor IF they have only one T2 shield extender, if your drones have the 57km, you should have that and start burning away from the BS after hitting it wit the drones and kill those closest frigates always as fast as you can.. the DPS and right set of drones is the key tho.. T1 drones will struggle
If all of this is confusing to you, has a video that shows it, just use our fittings we recommend. Rogue drones don't drop loot other than faction ones.
Snooppari's Ratting guide
Snooppari is the person who taught me about drone dratting, he's available nearly every day in Newbeans in game in horde:
Ratting basics: IF there are towers on the anomalies, destroy those first
1) Kill frigates (ASAP tacling ones)
2) Kill Battlecruisers (cruisers after that)
3) Kill Battleships
When there is new spawn, repeat from the start of the list.
Orbit the middle object of the site at a range your drones can hit all (example 50-60km drone control range you might want to orbit example 35 - 40km)
When you see neutral in local, turn off your afterburner and align to the station. Warp off immidiately IF you want to be safest possible (another option: turn off your afterburner, wait your drones to come back to your bay and warp off)
When your ratting you want to turn off from route planner "Include Jump Gates" so you can see true distance of the neutral / hostiles reported on the Bean-Intel.
Always Orbit / move, never stay still, have your fit cap stable and have your afterburner always on IF the fit has one or the ship is supposed to use with it.
IF Infested Carrier spawn at your site, TURN OFF YOU AFTERBURNER AND WARP OFF ♦ !!! Warp off immidiately !!! LEAVE YOUR DRONES WARP OFF
Why squads only:
1) vexor has 2x heavy 2x medium and 1x light drones - they're not effective in patrols and hordes as those have more battleships
2) squads don't spawn infested carrier
3 )Squads, patrol and hordes give you 10/10 escalations
General ratting concepts
Regular npc piRATes, or 'rats', are based off number off a page. x amount of damage with y tracking and z healing. This includes all the normal rats. There are four 'classes' of rats, the regular ones, elite ones, faction spawns, and then commander spawns. For example, for Blood Raiders, Pope - Elder Corpum Arch Priest - Dark Pope - Estamel? https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/NPC_naming_conventions has a list.
The longer the name, the more likely they are to do their ewar against you, better tank, etc. Most of the elite frigates have either scrams or webs, but they are uneven about applying it often. So that's why you generally kill frigates early on in ratting, the act of killing npc piRATes. The bigger and more elite the ship, the bigger the bounty. The faction spawns have a chance of dropping faction gear. Note, with a newbie, we killed a faction battleship in a pair of NBI algos. So they can die to them. Granted, he did die the first time we faced him. heh Note, these bigger ships have bigger numbers on the page, so the tank can overwhelm you in the high end.
There are also infested carrier and dread spawns that can one shot you.
Each of these rat types have a different type of damage they do, and a different resist profile. Each rat has a different ewar it does as well. These are easily encapsulated by the chart below.
Incursion rats are entirely different. They were built as a fleet comp. They had x types of battleships in a spawn, with a couple cruisers, and some tacklers. They have repairers, they have ewar, they have neuters, they have bombers, etc. And all the ships are built on real ships in game with real fits, though some of their gear is super charged, and don't drop. 😄 You get all your money from the LP pay out and the bounty for finishing the site, rather than killing individual ships.
Pay outs happen every 20 minutes, these are called 'tics'. Kill a 1 mil battleship? 600k goes towards your next tick, and 400k goes into the ESS.
https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Encounter_Surveillance_System explains the Encounter Surveillance System aka ESS, these pay out every 3 hours and can be stolen. Reporting it's getting stolen to bean-intel helps a lot. Think of it as holding 2 extra ticks per hour. So if you're making 5 mil ticks, you could make 15 mil if it doesn't pay out, and 25 if it does pay out.
So if you have 3 mil tics, you might only get (3x3) 9 mil an hour, which is terrible, or (3x5) 15 mil an hour. I can do 12 mil a tic in a vexor, so (3*12) 36 mil an hour without ess, or (3*12) 60 mil an hour. Note, Exploration pays around 60 mil an hour for new players right away, versus the vet skills to get there to make real money doing vexors.
To do Marauder ratting:
1) search for dead-end system
2) roll all wormholes
3) have alt next door as eyes
4) always have safe spot and before basion align fully to safe spot
5) never use bastion with auto-cycle
Ratting 'tiers' inside Pandemic Horde
There is basically a tier system inside pandemic horde that has a progression to it. Note, never rat in MJ-5.
Vexor ratting - the place everyone starts. 3 mil ticks for low skill players, 8 mil for high sp, 12 mil ticks for max effort. You do squads/patrols, not hordes.
Ishtar ratting - The 'goal', it's somewhat afk. 18 mil low end ticks, 24 mil high end ticks, maybe higher with high effort. https://github.com/Slazanger/SMT does alarms based on your intel channels when someone is close to you.
Praxis/Oracle/Marauder ratting - Mix of high effort, spend some isk, can vary a LOT based on skills. Marauder ratting with pankrab is great money. Note, these are very specific fits/things you have to do to succeed. To join Pankrab, you need a cyno 5 alt and join an esi-gated corporation.
Note, the praxis is a double edged sword. You can make more money, but you have to have your head on a swivel because it's very easy to catch and easy to kill and VERY expensive and often won't out earn it's cost. It also uses a SHITLOAD more skill points, like another 4 mil SP, just do match what a vexor can do out of the box with just 1.5 mil in drones.
The oracle, you die if any frigate gets close. Need specific fits and tactics against patrols. https://www.pandemic-horde.org/forum/index.php?threads/oracle-patrol-ratting.3696/ has a guide but if you mess up, you die.
Marauder, need that cyno to protect it. Because there are blue eyes sometimes, you cannot safely protect it yourself.
Escalations - This is the real way to make money with a marauder and is pretty safe if you use the bypass room. Buy escalations for 130 mil, make 300 mil or more sometimes. Gives SRP if you die if you follow rules in pankrab. Can also be done with t3cs. CAN be done with a praxis/Ishtar, but takes entirely too long, much easier to just sell and get paid.
Beacon - https://support.eveonline.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408566646162-CONCORD-Rogue-Analysis-Beacon-CRAB Make 150-300 mil an hour doing beacons under the watchful eye of pankrab using dreadnaughts or supers. If you die and did things right, you get SRP'd your ship. Usually done with a partner if you can. Details on running these are not found on my site for reasons.
There are a ton of other variations on this. But there are a bunch of ships NOT worth doing it in because the cost per ticks just doesn't make sense. I've done graphs on these on the third page of this post: https://www.pandemic-horde.org/forum/index.php?threads/drone-lives-matter-a-drone-regions-ratting-guide-2-0.3340/ If you are trying to do a gila or a myrmidon, they are a mistake.
Once you join an esi-gated corporation, you get access to way more space, and it's very easy to do if you have over 10 mil sp. You can also get access to -1.0 systems so you can officer hunt, which is VERY random.
Curious on what to upgrade? Get your drone skills up under your Mastery Tab and get your main ship skill up. Drone Interfacing, Drone Navigation, Drone Sharpshooting are the big ones. Get navy drones if you are flush, they track better and have better tank, see Meta Modules.
Ratting Anomaly Sites
This is just the 'difficulty' of ratting sites, higher being more battleships. Levels 1-4 are generally high/low sec ones, 5-10 are null sec ones. These lead to other escalations have other implications.
1 Hideaway/Cluster - Hid Fors Forl
2 Burrow/Collection - none
3 Refuge/Assembly - none
4 Den/Gathering - Hid Fors Forl
5 Yard/Surveillance - none
6 Rally Point/Menagerie - Hid Fors Forl
7 Port/Herd - none
8 Hub/Squad - Hid Fors Forl
9 Haven/Patrol - none
10 Sanctum/Horde - none
Same list outside of rogue drone space, in order of difficulty, which doesn't have these sub variants.
Sanctum
haven
forlorn hub
forsaken hub
port
hidden hub
hub
forlorn rally point
forsaken rally point
Yard
hidden rally point
Rally Point
Den
Refuge
Burrow
Hideaway
You are making a mistake
Vexor Navy Issue (vni) - While not a complete mistake, the VNI got heavily nerfed, it can no longer do 5 large drones. It's similar dps to the vexor with a bit more tank, and 5 times the price.
Gila - always a mistake for ratting because it's too expensive, you won't recoup your income and won't get that much better ticks, and can't save itself versus a frigate at all. Check out Abyssals and make sure to have a deep safe!
Most other cruisers - Not enough tank or not enough damage. Effective Damage is most important.
Myrmidon, Gnosis - cannot face tank everything, is slower to warp, cannot defend itself, and is VERY easy to lose.
Drake - Does crap damage compared to a vexor, especially against rogue drones. They shoot the wrong damage types.
Tengu, Proteus, Loki, Legion - You don't do belt ratting in these, you do escalations! Make even more :)
Rattlesnake, Raven, Dominix, Typhoon, any other battleship - Too expensive, too vulnerable to blue eyes. Blue eyes means that a spy can see your ship going out and target you specifically. Once spotted, you die from one of the easy to get spies into in horde. This extends beyond pandemic horde with filaments. See Bitter Vet to explain all major changes in the last 7 years, and why those ships just die.
Again, you CANNOT make enough money to outweigh losing these ships compared to the ratting ticks you'll get from the vexor.
This is a spreadsheet you can work out yourself to see your rate of return. It's cost of your ship minus the cost of the vexor over the difference between you and a vexor, with the vexor being the base amount.
Break evens per Q3, 2024 versus vexor for great skills after 40 hours. Again, Break even is 'You must rat for x HOURS to pay off your ship and make more than the vexor.'
Ishtar - 11.5 hours, ishtar makes 1.5 bil, vexor make .91 bil.
Gila - 17 hours, Gila makes 1.25 bil, vexor makes .91 bil.
Praxis - 21 hours, Praxis makes 1.14 bil, vexor makes .91 bil.
Oracle - 4.5 hours, Oracle makes 1.44 bil, vexor makes .91 bil.
On the low end, this can be worse, but has to be suited to how much you make, because a low end vexor is only 3 mil a tick.
Can put your actual numbers in and see how long you have to live to pay off your ship, versus make more than a vexor in the same time.
Note, in drone space you can find Independance, Hierarchy, and Radiance, but they are not usually worth doing because they pay less, have lesser escalations, and can shoot drones when you cross certain combat planes.
tldr: get into a vexor. Do NOT do a gila! The praxis is often a mistake. Move to an ishtar, it's so afkish. Work towards getting a marauder etc.
Let Me Lose An Oracle!
Sure thing!
Read the oracle guide linked above. Or take the master Snooppari's quick guide.
Oracle Usage:
1) Warp Patrol site at 70km
2) Align to station fully -> stop your ship
3)Shoot frigates first -> BC -> Cruisers -> BS
4)When BS reach 30km -> Change ammo Conflaug -> Start shooting
5)When BS come to range 25km (MAX) -> align to station
6)When close range BS done -> Scorch to kill long range targets
7)Remember to stop your ship again
Repeat depending on spawn and ranges
Sentient BS -> max transversal speed and kill first (depending ranges on other BS)
Infested Carrier -> Warp Off
IF you mess up - use MJD to get distance same with neuts in local if you wanna be safe
After clearing site always warp to station and warp to next Patrol
Combat site overview
I see some confusion here. There are 4 kinds of sites, as outlined in the combat sites page: https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Combat_sites
Anomolies. These are on the probe scan list, right clickable in space, easy to dscan to see where people are. They range from 3/10 to 10/10. They give escalations. See above for how to run those. These are the best in rogue Drone space.
Unrated complexes. These are probe scranned down. These vary from a 7/10 to 10/10 difficulty depending on the site. These give escalations as well. These are worthwhile in some parts of space but not in rogue drone space.
DED rated complexes. These are a mix of probe scanning down in empire or escalations based on anomolies or unrated complexes. You cannot probe down an escalation, but you can scan down the ship that's inside them. These drop overseers effects and npc loot.
Combat relic sites. These are also dscanned down, also known as unsafe sites. These are part of Exploration .
Combat signatures
Unrated complexes, aka combat sigs. There are some combat signatures you can probe down as well. Some of these are pretty good money, others are okay, and others are flat terrible.
Ask your alliance which sites are worth doing in your space in your newbro chat. In horde, the sites are not worth doing because they are less money per hour. There are some guaranteed things at the end, but it's often not worth your time compared to other ratting opportunities. The Hierarchy, Radiance, and Independence sites are just not as good as running another set of Drone Hordes.
Realize that some of these can lead to escalations though.
https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Combat_sites#Unrated_complexes has the list of the different sites.
Escalations
DED Rated complexes, aka escalations. Often termed as '5/10' or '10/10', based on their difficulty out of 10. These are escalations from either combat signatures or normal combat anomalies. These use specialized ships with specialized fits often, on a per site basis. A ship capable of running one type of 10/10 might not be able to run a 5/10 even though it's similar rats, for instance.
These require very good skills and great ships. There are cheese ways to do it, but it's site specific.
The most common ships to do these are the T3Cs and Marauders. Doing this in normal anomaly ratters like the ishtar is almost guaranteed to die or make less money than just doing hordes.
You can sell these escalations to people who specialize in running them as well. These escalations can go from anywhere from 50 mil to 200 mil a site. To do this, you warp to the site, make a bookmark, and then sell that bookmark to the person using a ACL gated bookmark list. Ask for help from your alliance to do this. However, they have only 24 hours to run these sites from when you are first given it, so some don't sell, so don't rely on this method.
Want to run these sites? First, have great skills for one of the ships that are used to run them. Then watch a bunch of youtube. This content has not changed much over the years, though the ships have. A marauder, setup for the right type of damage, can do a lot of these sites for instance, but needs a unique fit per type of 10/10.
Note, the 4/10 escalations are a lot easier to run, only require a battlecruiser. These can pay well as well, as they're not super common to run. But only in high sec.
https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Combat_sites#DED_rated_complexes has a list of the different sites.
Note, there are some sites like the Outgrowth Rogue Drone Hive that sometimes gets confused about what it is. It will say in game 'Difficulty 5', but it's not a 5/10 but actually a 10/10. You have to warp to the site to see which DED level it is. Herds can give you 5/10s, but patrols and hordes will always give you a 10/10. Warp to it, bookmark it, and sell it in the in game channel <url=joinChannel:player_-80954942>Zulu's Escalation Bazaar</url> to sell it.
To give proof, warp into the system too bookmark it, say something in local, screenshot the escalation and the local screen, to prove you are doing it live. :D
https://www.pandemic-horde.org/forum/index.php?threads/drone-10-10s-in-a-solo-ishtar-the-isktar.3967/ has a guide on running 10/10 in an ishtar.
https://www.pandemic-horde.org/forum/index.php?threads/drone-10-10-in-alpha-compatible-praxis.3662/ has a guide on running 10/10 in a praxis.
Both of these are pretty slow and not always worth doing.
New sites, see google for any other people with guides.
Drone Infested Starbase - Requires 4+ Marauders, 5+ Leshaks or a dread to clear
Drone Capital Hive - Dreads or supers only
Drone Infested Hive - Doable in an ishtar, but not really worth it other than the sentient
Germinating Drone Enclave - Unknown content, guaranteed officer spawn?
tldr: youtube the name of the escalation.
See below how to use the Opportunity window to find the location, the time left, and level (5/10 or 10/10) of the escalation!
You ONLY need the difficulty out of 10 if it's an Outgrowth Rogue Dronve Hive, the rest of the sites are uniquely named.
Buying/selling escalations in Horde
To sell an escalation in horde, check the pins in the newbeans channel. This will give you access to Zulu's Escalation Bazaar if you are in a non-esi-gated corporation like Pandemic Horde Inc.
You fly to the escalation in a shuttle, bookmark the hole, and then immediately leave. The person buying will give you a bookmark folder that you have to online first. You can then edit the bookmark to move it to that folder.
For the person buying, you first setup an Access List, aka ACL. This is under Neocom / Social / Access List. You make a new Access list, called like 'Escalations'. You can drag the person onto the list, or your alts.
You then go to Locations, make a new 'shared folder'. You setup 'use' access to the new ACL. You hit Submit.
The person can now submit edits to the folder. The real key is that you strip their access as soon as the bookmark shows up for you, so you don't have them remove it later. And confirm it is the right type of target, like an acceleration gate. Can read the description on Zulu's to avoid getting scammed. And always check brand new players before paying them.
Infested Carriers
Infested carriers were added to the game to deal with botting problems and going AFK. This ship does massive webs and massive alphas.
When you see an infested carrier on field, immediately turn off your AB, and warp out. You can try to pull drones, but it's not worth sticking around for them because they WILL alpha you off the field once they lock you.
At this point, you CAN kill it with enough multiboxers, but you cannot cheese it like you used to be able to. I've removed this content for now. It's easy to use a dread or super
If you're in horde, put DDD system name in standing fleet, and hopefully someone can come clear it.
Fits: Belt ratting Newbie Algos fit
This is a newbie algos fit for killing Rogue Drones. To do other types of content, you might have to change things around. And you can refit to do other types as well. This is a very beginner version, with room for extra drones or meta items.
[Algos, NBI Algos RATTING]
Shield Power Relay I
Shield Power Relay I
Shield Power Relay I
1MN Monopropellant Enduring Afterburner
Medium Shield Extender I
Medium Shield Extender I
150mm Light AutoCannon I
150mm Light AutoCannon I
150mm Light AutoCannon I
150mm Light AutoCannon I
Small Core Defense Field Purger I
Small Core Defense Field Purger I
Small Core Defense Field Purger I
Acolyte I x1
Infiltrator I x3
EMP S x6640
Newbie Vexor fit
This is a newbie vexor fit for killing Rogue Drones. To do other types of content, you might have to change things around. And you can refit to do other types as well. This is a very beginner version, with room for extra drones or meta items.
[Vexor, NBI Vexor RATTING]
Capacitor Flux Coil I
Drone Damage Amplifier I
Drone Damage Amplifier I
Drone Damage Amplifier I
Damage Control I
Large Clarity Ward Enduring Shield Booster
Large Compact Pb-Acid Cap Battery
Compact Multispectrum Shield Hardener
10MN Monopropellant Enduring Afterburner
Drone Link Augmentor I
Auto Targeting System I
Civilian Gatling Railgun
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Praetor I x2
Acolyte I x1
Infiltrator I x2
Pro Vexor fit
This is a pro vexor fit for killing Rogue Drones. This will die to a lot of other content if you don't adjust it for that content. But it shows how you can minmax the vexor. This does 500 dps and can tank the highest anomalies in rogue drone space, with a high risk of dying if you are bad at the game.
[Vexor, L5 - Max dps pro?]
Medium Armor Repairer II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Large Compact Pb-Acid Cap Battery
Omnidirectional Tracking Link II
Drone Navigation Computer II
10MN Y-S8 Compact Afterburner
Drone Link Augmentor I
Auto Targeting System I
Dual 150mm Railgun II
Dual 150mm Railgun II
Medium Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Medium Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Medium Explosive Armor Reinforcer I
Imperial Navy Infiltrator x2
Hornet EC-300 x5
Acolyte II x6
Imperial Navy Praetor x2
Iridium Charge M x2240
Optimal Range Script x1
Nanite Repair Paste x20
Antimatter Charge M x1920
Tracking Speed Script x1
Snooppari Glass Cannon
So, you are convinced that the MOST expensive ship you can run that isn't a marauder is the solution to your isk problem. It isn't. But hey, I can't stop you.
You only run this ship if you have a massive wallet, an inflated sense of ego that you can do anything in video games, and don't ever lose focus. You miss one frigate rat? boom, you're out 2.8 bil, never to recoup that lose. Miss someone entering local, inty points you? You're dead. Not running SMT? Whoops, dead. Get a bad infested super carrier spawn? Dead again. You can run with t2 guns, but why, you said you wanted max ticks.
Max ticks being 14-17 mil an hour with a huge amount of focus. When I can do 12 mil ticks in a T2 vexor that costs 43 mil. Or afk a vexor for 8 mil ticks.
You 100% need:
A scout to move this
T2 pulse laser skills
All the other support gunnery skills to 5
The following implants (Can paste to notepad in game to link to them) or the 5% versions:
<url=showinfo:9957>Eifyr and Co. 'Gunslinger' Motion Prediction MR-703</url>
<url=showinfo:24632>Zainou 'Deadeye' Guided Missile Precision GP-803</url>
<url=showinfo:13244>Eifyr and Co. 'Gunslinger' Surgical Strike SS-903</url>
<url=showinfo:13217>Inherent Implants 'Lancer' Large Energy Turret LE-1003</url>
Basically, don't be stupid. You were warned. But hey, you know better than everyone so ... :D
[Oracle, Glass Cannon]
Tracking Enhancer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II
Tracking Computer II
Tracking Computer II
Medium Micro Jump Drive
Polarized Mega Pulse Laser
Polarized Mega Pulse Laser
Polarized Mega Pulse Laser
Polarized Mega Pulse Laser
Polarized Mega Pulse Laser
Polarized Mega Pulse Laser
Polarized Mega Pulse Laser
Polarized Mega Pulse Laser
Medium Energy Locus Coordinator I
Medium Energy Locus Coordinator II
Medium Energy Locus Coordinator II
Conflagration L x26
Tracking Speed Script x1
Optimal Range Script x1
Scorch L x47
Imperial Navy Multifrequency L x15
NPC Null Sec rats
Different rats appear in different parts of space. Here is a summary. https://evemaps.dotlan.net/region has a list of the regions. I have pointed out the regions that are owned by the pirate factions as well, where they have level 4 missions to run. Not included: CONCORD, Deathless Circle, Drifters, EDENCOM, Jove Empire, Triglavian Collective. Full list: https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Category:Factions
I have also included a link to one of the zkill of BS rats that spawn in the biggest sites in these regions, so you have a guess how to fit your ship to rat against them. This is the strongest way to figure out the stock fits in an area, honestly. So you click on the zkill, find a ship that you are considering, opening like 4 of them in your price range, see which one seems most common, there ya go. What you fly! Or if hunting, what you target to kill.
The ship names are based on an SRE extract, and thanks to http://games.chruker.dk/eve_online/npc_ships.php for making these easy to find, versus the eve wiki which is VERY hard to use. It's broken into asteroid, deadspace, mission, or 'others'. Asteroid rats appear in space in asteroid belts, deadspace are in anomalies or cosmic signatures, mission rats appear in missions.
So to decipher a name: Strain Infester Alvi
Strain - Elite unit
Infester - Type of ship (Frigate)
Alvi - Rogue Drone, findable in the upper left of the map.
Angel Cartel
Shoot: Explosive, Berserker/Valkyrie/Warrior drones
Tank: Explosive, minor kinetic, minor rest
Ewar: Target paints (Struggle to sig tank as it increase your signature)
Spawns: in the East/Southeast
Null Regions: Cache, Curse (Angel space, Officers), Detorid, Feythabolis, Great Wildlands (Thukker space), Immensea, Impass, Insmother, Omist, Scalding Pass, Tenerifis, Wicked Creek
High/Low Sec Regions: Heimatar, Metropolis, Molden Heath
Ratting fits: https://zkillboard.com/group/594/
Largest Ratting site: https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Angel_Sanctum
Rat names: Gist* (ii,ior,um,astis)
Elite: Arch
Faction: Domination
Officers: Tobais, Gotan, Hakim, Mizuro
Blood Raiders Covenant
Shoot: EM, Thermal, Praetor/Infilitrator/Acolyte drones
Tank: EM, Thermal
Ewar: Nosferatu (Drains capacitor), Tracking Disruption (Struggle to use turret based weapons)
Spawns: in the South
Null Regions: Delve (Blood Raider space, Officers), Period Basis, Querious
High/Low Sec Regions: Aridia, The Bleak Lands, Genesis, Kador, Khanid, Kor-Azor
Ratting fits: https://zkillboard.com/group/603/
Largest Ratting site: https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Blood_Sanctum
Rat names: Corp* (ii, ior, um, atis, us)
Elite: Elder
Faction: Dark
Officers: Draclira, Ahremen, Raysere, Tairei
Equilibrium of Mankind (EoM)
Shoot: Kinetic, Wasp/Vespa/Hornet drones
Tank: Thermal, Kinetic
Ewar: None
Spawns: Missions only
Null Regions: none
High/Low Sec Regions: None
Mission fits: https://zkillboard.com/group/816/ (Less common to find!)
Level 4 Mission site: https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Gone_Berserk_(Level_4)
Rat names: NPC names
Elite: None
Faction: None
Officers: None?
Guristas Pirates
Shoot: Kinetic, Wasp/Vespa/Hornet drones
Tank: Kinetic, minor thermal
Ewar: ECM (Jams you, can only target the one jamming you)
Spawns: in the North/Northwest
Null Regions: Branch, Deklein, Geminate (SOCT space), Pure Blind (some Mordu's, some SOE), Tenal, Tribute, Vale of the Silent, Venal (Guristas space, Officers)
High/Low Sec Regions: Black Rise, The Citadel, The Forge, Lonetrek
Ratting fits: https://zkillboard.com/group/612/
Largest Ratting site: https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Guristas_Sanctum
Rat names: Pith* (i, ior, um, atis)
Elite: Dire
Faction: Dread
Officers: Estamel, Vepas, Thon, Kaikka
Mercenaries
Shoot: Thermal, Ogre/Hammerhead/Hobgoblin drones
Tank: EM, Explosive, minor rest
Ewar: None
Spawns: Missions
Null Regions: None
High/Low Sec Regions: None
Mission fits: https://zkillboard.com/group/816/ (Less common to find!)
Level 4 Mission site: https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/The_Damsel_in_Distress_(Level_4)
Rat names: NPC names
Elite: None
Faction: None
Officers: None
Mordu's Legion
Shoot: Kinetic, Ogre/Hammerhead/Hobgoblin drones
Tank: Kinetic, minor thermal
Ewar: ECM (Jams you, can only target the one jamming you)
Spawns: North
Null Regions: Pure Blind (some Mordu's, some SOE)
High/Low Sec Regions: None
Mission fits: https://zkillboard.com/group/703/
Level 4 Mission Site: https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Mordus_Folly
Rat names: Mordus
Elite: None?
Faction: None
Officers: None
Rogue Drones
Shoot: EM, Praetor/Infilitrator/Acolyte drones
Tank: Omni, depends on site.
Ewar: None
Spawns: Northeast
Null Regions: Cobalt Edge, Etherium Reach, The Kalevala Expanse, Malpais, Oasa, Outer Passage, Perrigen Falls, The Spire Note: no NPC space, Officers spawn anywhere
High/Low Sec Regions: None
Ratting fits: https://zkillboard.com/group/802/
Largest Ratting site: https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Drone_Horde
Rat names: Alv (i,ior,um,tis,us)
Elite: Strain
Faction: Sentient
Officers: W-634, P-343554, F-435454, D-34343
Sansha's Nation/True Sansha's Nation
Shoot: EM, Praetor/Infilitrator/Acolyte drones
Tank: EM, Thermal
Ewar: Tracking Disruption (Struggle to use turret based weapons)
Spawns: Southeast
Null Regions: Catch, Esoteria, Paragon Soul, Providence, Stain (Sansha space, Officers)
High/Low Sec Regions: Derelik, Devoid, Domain, Tash-Murkon
Ratting fits: https://zkillboard.com/group/621/
Largest Ratting site: https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Sansha_Sanctum
Rat names: Cent (ii,ior,um,atis,us)
Elite: Loyal
Faction: True
Officers: Chelm, Vizan, Selynne, Brokara
Serpentis
Shoot: Kinetic, Wasp/Vespa/Hornet drones
Tank: Thermal, Kinetic
Ewar: Sensor Dampening (Shortens your lock range up to 1/4th)
Spawns: West/Northwest
Null Regions: Cloud Ring, Fade, Fountain (some Serpentis space, Officers), Outer Ring (ORE space), Syndicate (Intaki Syndicate space)
High/Low Sec Regions: Essence, Everyshore, Placid, Sinq Laison, Solitude, Verge Vendor
Ratting fits: https://zkillboard.com/group/630/
Largest Ratting site: https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Serpentis_Sanctum
Rat names: Core(li,lior,lum,atis)
Elite: Guardian
Faction: Shadow
Officers: Cormack, Setele, Tuvan, Brynn
Thukker's Tribe
Shoot: Thermal, Ogre/Hammerhead/Hobgoblin drones
Tank: Explosive, Thermal, minor kinetic
Ewar: Target paints (Struggle to sig tank as it increase your signature)
Spawns: (NOT SURE!)
Null Regions: Great Wildlands (Thukker space)
High/Low Sec Regions: None
Ratting fits: None available, should be here: https://zkillboard.com/group/703/
Largest Ratting site: None
Rat names: Thukker
Elite: None
Faction: None
Officers: None
High Sec space areas
Guess I'll do this too since I'm already here. Hunting mission running, same thing.
Amarr/Ammatar Mandate/Khanid
Shoot: EM, Praetor drones
Tank: EM, Thermal (lasers pewpewpew)
Ewar: none
Spawns: Missions
Null Regions: None
High/low Regions: Aridia, The Bleak Lands, Derelik (Ammatar Mandate space), Devoid, Domain, Kador, Khanid (Khanid Kingdom space) Kor-Azor, Tash-Murkon
Mission fits: https://zkillboard.com/group/667/
Level 4 Mission site: https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Massive_Attack_(Amarr)
Rat names: Amarr/Ammatar/Khanid/Imperial
Elite: Devine
Faction: None?
Officers: None?
Caldari
Shoot: Kinetic, Wasp drones
Tank: Kinetic, Thermal
Ewar: none
Spawns: Missions
Null Regions: None
High/low Regions: Black Rise, The Citadel, The Forge, Lonetrek
Mission fits: https://zkillboard.com/group/674/
Level 4 Mission site: https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Federal_Confidence
Rat names: Caldari/State
Elite: Taibu
Faction: None?
Officers: None?
Gallente
Shoot: Kinetic, Wasp drones
Tank: Thermal, Kinetic
Ewar: Sensor Dampening (Shortens your lock range up to 1/4th)
Spawns: Missions
Null Regions: None
High/low Regions: Essence, Everyshore, Placid, Sinq Laison, Solitude, Verge Vendor
Mission fits: https://zkillboard.com/group/680/
Level 4 Mission site: https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Extract_The_Renegade
Rat names: Gallente/Federation
Elite: Elite
Faction: None?
Officers: None?
Minmatar
Shoot: Explosive, Berzerker drones
Tank: Explosive, minor Kinetic, minor everything else
Ewar: Target paints (Struggle to sig tank as it increase your signature)
Spawns: Missions
Null Regions: None
High/low Regions: Heimatar, Metropolis, Molden Heath
Mission fits: https://zkillboard.com/group/706/
Level 4 Mission site: https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Police_Invasion_(Minmatar_Republic)
Rat names: Minmatar/Republic
Elite: Chief
Faction: None?
Officers: None?