Balancing the Books (1 of 10) is the first mission in the Buisness Career Advancement arc in Eve Online. After being directed to Hakkaras Ihora, the corresponding career agent, he presents me with the first task in this mission arc. Entitled ‘Balancing the Books (1 of 10)’ this mission is a simple courier type mission, requiring me to transport one unit of Data Sheets (specific item) (1.0 m3). The rewards for this mission will be 32,000 credits for completing the delivery, with a 46,000 Isk bonus reward for completing the mission within 1 hour and 2 minutes; however I will have to cough up 142 credits as collateral for the cargo I’m transporting. Collateral is a common part of any courier mission, where the player basically puts an amount of credits equal to the value of the item, if lost, which is returned along with the mission reward after successful mission completion.
Bringing up the mission journal screen presents me with the following mission briefing; “Transport the Data Sheets from your agent to the specified location. They contain various files that relate to matters of national security. Once you have delivered them, fly back to Uitra VI – Moon 4 – State War Academy School and report to your agent” No problem since I’m guaranteed not to encounter any enemies on route, I load up the Data Sheets in my Condor, since its speed will knock a few seconds of the time this mission will take. For Capsuleers who have yet to perform the other career advancement paths, this will provide the introduction to the courier type missions.
It is entirely possible for players to use a civilian shuttle to move the data sheets due to their small size; it can make a longer trip much more endurable considering the shuttle’s cargo capacity of 20.0 m3 is suitable for this item. Undocking from the station with my Condor, I hit warp to 0 on the Unpas gate, and turn my auto pilot on, so as to make my ship auto trigger the jump gate the second it drops out of warp, another useful time saving feature. Docking in the station in Unpas allows me to turn in the documents and complete ‘Balancing the Books (1 of 10)’, however a mini tutorial pops up after my Isk rewards are deposited, explaining to me the benefits of salvaging, which is the art of scooping up wrecked ships and extracting parts from them to be used in the assembly of jury rigs. After reading all the panels, I am provided with two skill books, Survey and Salvaging, both valuable skills, but I have survey trained already, so I sell that book, and set survey to train to level 3 so I can train salvaging afterwards. (Survey level 3 is a prerequisite of Salvaging)
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