Intro

This guide was written to give a simple explanation to how you can grind up a fresh character to be able to use 5 lvl4 Mechanical Engineering agents. This guide will focus on Minmatar/Gallente agents from three corps: DuVolle Laboratories, Core Complexion and Boundless Creation.


Step #1

This guide asumes you have 0.0 or better standing with Minmatar and Gallente.

The first thing you need to do is train Social IV and Connections IV. Continuing with the guide before those are done will increase the grind you have to do, and is not recommended for your own sanity. With that done, it's time to start getting some pirate tags. Per Character you will need the following tags:

Angel + Serpentis Copper Tag: 30
Angel + Serpentis Bronze Tag: 20
Angel + Serpentis Silver Tag: 20
Angel + Serpentis Brass Tag: 20
Angel + Serpentis Paladium Tag: 20
Angel + Serpentis Gold Tag: 20
Angel + Serpentis Electrum Tag: 20
Angel + Serpentis Crystal Tag: 20
Angel + Serpentis Platinum Tag: 20

These tags will all be used at Faction Data Centers to increase your faction standing instantly.


Step #2

Step two will be the majority of the grind. This is where you get your Minmatar + Gallente standing to 6.8. If you look up the highest quality Mechancical Engineering agents in the game you'll see that they require 6.8 corp OR faction standing AND at least 4.8 corp standing. This means we can soften the grind for all corps by getting 6.8 faction and only having to get 4.8 corp. The way to do this is a mix between turning in the pirate tags you bought and grinding cosmos missions.

From scratch you should be able to get your standing up to around 2.7-2.8 with both minmatar and gallente by turning in copper + silver + bronze tags. The tags are turned in at the following datacenters:

Gallente System: Abenync - Wenda - 10 serpentis copper tag (0.0) System: Ekuenbiron - Beteux - 10 serpentis copper tag (0.0) System: Muer - Jaak - 10 Serpentis Copper tag (0.0) - Blique - 20 Serpentis Bronze tag (1.0) - Alliot - 20 Serpentis Silver tag (2.0) - Mobas - 20 Serpentis Brass tag (3.0) - Alon - 20 Serpentis Palladium tag (4.0) - Amatin - 20 Serpentis Gold tag (4.75) - Fims - 20 Serpentis Electrum tag (5.0) - Hana - 20 Serpentis Crystal tag (5.0) - Carvaire - 20 Serpentis Platinum tag (6.0)

Minmatar System: Arlulf - Jachael - 10 angel copper tag (0.0) System: Engosi - Apheta - 10 angel copper tag (0.0) System: Emolgranlan - Hakno - 10 Angel Copper tag (0.0) - Altan - 20 Angel Bronze tag (1.0) - Frera - 20 Angel Silver tag (2.0) - Frie - 20 Angel Brass tag (3.0) - Adari - 20 Angel Paladium tag (4.0) - Sanderi - 20 Angel Gold tag (4.75) - Habad - 20 Angel Electrum tag (5.0) - Skia - 20 Angel Crystal tag (5.0) - Eget - 20 Angel Platinum tag (6.0)

Turning in a tag for minmatar yields 80% of the standing increase for gallente, and vice verca, which make this a great way of gaining standing with both factions (the same applies to storyline missions). Whenever you cant turn in more tags to increase your standing, you will be running missions in the Minmatar cosmos constellation, Ani. A great overview of all the agents and their various locations/attributes can be found on eveinfo.com. I recommend starting with lvl1 agents and working your way through systems, then levels as you progress. I never had to do any of the level 4 agents to get to 6.8 with both minmatar and gallente, lvl3 was enough. I did them all in a sleipnir (rupture where the sleipnir couldnt enter), but a Hurricane or Cyclone (or your non-superior race equivilant) should also be fine.

I turned down every cosmos mission offer that wasnt a 3-part storyline. The 3rd mission will always be an important storyline, which gives significant faction boost. The others will only give corp boost which in most cases will be useless to you. The exception is the Boundless Creation agent which will increase your standing with (shocker) Boundless Creation, which you will need later on.

Keep circling back and fourth between cosmos missions and datacenters until your standing with minmatar and gallente is 6.8 (or very close).


Step #3

This is where you grind corp standing with Core Complexion, Boundless Creation and DuVolle Laboratories. Since you now have 6.8 standing with both minmatar and gallente, you'll have access to lvl3 and lvl4 agents for all of these corps. I personally recommend running lvl3 agents since they are quick and efficient. Here's what I did:

Gallente Corp: DuVolle - Agent: Brens Devalon / Personnel - Station: Scuelazyns VII - Moon 1 - Duvolle Laboratories Factory

Minmatar Corp: Core Complexion - Agent: Aflur Gulhikur / Personnel - Station: Suroken VIII - Moon 15 - Core Complexion Inc. Factory Corp: Boundless Creation - Agent: Jarsk Drald / Administration - Station: Evati X - Moon 2 - Boundless Creation Factory (LOWSEC!)

Run missions for each of the corps until you get a storyline, then do the storyline. For me, one storyline per corp was enough to push me above 4.8 corp standing needed to get the max level R&D agents. If it isnt for you, just keep running more missions for the same corp until you get another storyline and you should be well over 4.8. Once you are done with this you will have 6.8(+) with Gallente and Minmatar, aswell as 4.8(+) with Duvolle Laboratories, Boundless Creation and Core Complexion. This means you have access to 5 high quality Mechanical Engineering agents.

Good luck!