Missions
Here is a site that lists a lot of missions. It is listed in the forums as having every mission in the game, but that is somewhat unlikely. It has a very basic interface. It does list damage types, enemy ships, and almost everything else you'll want to know before accepting a mission. Click here to check it out.
The EVElopedia page for missions is here.
Corporate division: Each agent belongs to a corporate division. The agent's division determines the type of mission they will offer.
Distribution (Courier missions)
Mining (Mining missions)
Security (Combat missions)
Research (Research and Development)
There is a picture that is displayed at the bottom of the mission being offered. This picture is a great way to quick reference the mission being offered. The picture will show you if the mission is combat, courier, mining, or research oriented. This does not mean that you will be hauling a huge amount of cargo, or that you will even see an enemy ship. Some missions have the combat picture, but you won't see any combat. The mission is combat oriented though, and will probably chain into a combat mission. Below are the pictures and the type of missions they correspond with.
The EVElopedia page for missions is here.
Corporate division: Each agent belongs to a corporate division. The agent's division determines the type of mission they will offer.
Distribution (Courier missions)
Mining (Mining missions)
Security (Combat missions)
Research (Research and Development)
There is a picture that is displayed at the bottom of the mission being offered. This picture is a great way to quick reference the mission being offered. The picture will show you if the mission is combat, courier, mining, or research oriented. This does not mean that you will be hauling a huge amount of cargo, or that you will even see an enemy ship. Some missions have the combat picture, but you won't see any combat. The mission is combat oriented though, and will probably chain into a combat mission. Below are the pictures and the type of missions they correspond with.
Distribution (Courier Missions)
Mining (Mining missions)
Security (Combat Missions)
It seems to me that the most common of the missions are Security, then Distribution. Mining and Research missions seem to be a bit harder to find. If your wondering which missions are best, that depends entirely on what you have in mind. If you want the most money, loyalty points, and standing the fastest, then Security is the way to go. If you want to play it safe because you don't have good combat skills, then mining or distribution is the way to go. It all depends on what you have in mind as ideal for the situation. Just be careful of the destination area. If you are close to low security, the agent may send you there.
The following section has been copied off the Eve Online Forums and was written by Akita T. All credit goes to Akita T for her work. This repost is to place only the Mission info on this page. The full post can be found here. Akita T is not associated with Broadscope Corporation.
While most of the information below is good, there have been some updates since it was written. The most notable of these is that Eve no longer has 15 (or close to that number) agent divisions. While Akita doesn't mention agent quality, other posts out there do. Agent quality has been removed. The mission system has been simplified.
The following section has been copied off the Eve Online Forums and was written by Akita T. All credit goes to Akita T for her work. This repost is to place only the Mission info on this page. The full post can be found here. Akita T is not associated with Broadscope Corporation.
While most of the information below is good, there have been some updates since it was written. The most notable of these is that Eve no longer has 15 (or close to that number) agent divisions. While Akita doesn't mention agent quality, other posts out there do. Agent quality has been removed. The mission system has been simplified.
Akita T's mission guide
MISSION RUNNING
Right now, there are four main types of missions you can be offered : courier, trade, kill and mining.
Mining missions are a relatively recent addition (or return, some might argue).
Agents give you various types of missions, depending on their division (it's in their showinfo).
Most agents' divisions are pretty obvious... for instance, Command and Security agents give you mostly kill missions, Storage agents give you mostly courier missions, and so on and so forth.
While there are plenty of listings of "types of missions for agent division" floating around, none of them are quite accurate, as they also depend on several other factors AND also a lot of randomness (for instance, while unusual, a Command agent might offer you 10 courier missions in a row).
So, in most cases, just go with your gut... worst thing that could happen is you reject a mission.
If you accept a mission however, the wisest course of action is to complete it succesfully, there are penalties (in standings) for failing a mission.
So, ALWAYS check the mission info BEFORE you accept it.
Check the mission type, and check the route you have to take to complete it.
You might want to reject kill missions if you only have an industrial ship, and you might want to reject a courier that has you going into or through a lowsec system... or, you might want to reject a mining mission if you have lousy mining skills.
Of course, you can always risk it and take all missions, but in the early stages, while you learn the ropes, it's best to avoid missions you're not suited for.
The "time bonus" on each mission is optional. Mission expiration date is the important thing (one week from the moment you took the mission, or the first mission in the chain, in case of chained missions).
FAILING to complete a mission in one week or telling the agent you are unable to finish it will bring a standings penality.
There are some special missions we like to call (or at least I like to call) "chained missions".
I've mentioned them before. You will recognize them by their name.
For instance : "Enemies Abound : 1 of 5" (or "Enemies Abound 1/5").
They are usually a set of missions of several types, and to get to the last one (usually the best paying one) you have to complete each of the previous ones first.
Failing or rejecting one of them means you're not offered the rest.
There are drawbacks to REJECTING a mission too.
If you reject a mission, a 4 hour timer for that agent starts (the timer is now displayed in the agent conversation box).
IF you reject ANOTHER mission before the timer expired, you will take a standings hit with the agent, his corp AND HIS FACTION.
While the standings hit is not huge, it's a good idea to avoid it nevertheless. That's why areas with multiple agents for the same corp or faction are prefered by mission-runners, since you can just ask another agent for a mission while the timer expires on another mission you were offered and you want to reject.
MINING MISSIONS
The missions are pretty straightforward.
You have to go to some location and mine out some "special" ore (one that can't be reprocessed, AFAIK) from some asteroids, and bring the ore back to your agent.
It's a good idea to have decent mining skills for this type of mission, obviously.
COURIER MISSIONS
These are the easiest missions you could possibly ask for : pick up stuff in station A, deliver it in station B.
They are also a bit boring, but unlike mining, they make you move around a lot, yet you do not have to constantly check the market to see what's best to mine at the moment.
You can usually complete them in any ship with a large enough cargo.
Most of them don't even have to be completed in a single trip, since they're made out of several identical packages... the mission description tells you how many packages they are and the total volume (so you can easily calculate how large one single package is - that's the minimum cargohold space you NEED to finish the mission).
If you have a small ship and a large cargo, you might have to forefit the bonus reward as you are forced to take several trips... but you still get the regular reward, and all the standing increases, so it's not tragic.
Things to watch out for ?
Destination or routes going through lowsec (try to avoid them, check route before accepting mission) or packages to large to fit in your cargo (the warning comes for the TOTAL cargo, not one package, so you have to check manually, like I said).
TRADE MISSIONS
This mission is basically "half a courier mission".
You don't have to pick some package up and deliver it somewhere else... you just have to deliver something to the destination.
HOW you get the goods is not any of your agent's concern.
You will usually buy them from the market, either where you find it cheapest or closest to the destination.
Things to watch out for : even if in most cases the agent will offer you a lot more ISK or an object much more valuable as a reward, in some rare cases, the cargo he asks for is valuable yet the reward nearly worthless.
So you have to check how expensive the desired mechandise is, and how much is the reward worth (in case they offer an item instead of just ISK - this type of offer might have been removed lately, but you never know).
KILL MISSIONS
Well, what's there to be said ?
Go in, kill stuff, optionally you might be asked to collect some item from one of the killed ships or structures and return it to the agent.
Sounds simple, but it's also the most dangerous mission type around.
At the same time, it's also the most lucrative type too, offering the greatest rewards both directly (ISK and Loyalty Points), but also indirectly, in form of bounties, loot, salvage, ocasionally tags or alloys instead of bounties... all from the wrecks of the destroyed enemies.
While the direct rewards (ISK and LP) might vary according to agent division, skills, standings and system security rating, all of the indirect rewards are almost identical (except for the normal randomness) for a certain mission.
Also, the secondary/indirect rewards are usually much higher than the direct rewards, and because of that, highsec "kill mission" running is the favourite ISK-making activity of a lot of pod pilots.
Another reason is that it only requires skills you could also use in PVP combat, so it's even more of an incentive.
There's a lot to be said about missions, skills you might need and so on and so forth, and I simply lack the space to even begin describing it.
It is best if you head over the missions subforum and read the things in there, maybe ask your own questions too.
Even if pilots were able to complete some L4 missions solo in ships as small as assault frigates, they were experts, and it still took a long time.
You usually want to fly a frigate only in L1s, a cruiser in L2s, a battlecruiser in L3s and battleships in L4s.
It's not a strict rule, but more of a general guideline, and feel free to either experiment or ask around about alternatives.
It's also a good idea to try and run missions together with other people you trust.
STORYLINE MISSIONS
These are special types of missions you are offered after completing 16 missions of a certain level for agents of a faction.
The agents do not matter, only their faction and the agent level. The storyline agent "triggered" will belong to the same faction and offer you a storyline of that particular level.
Completing 15 L1 missions and 15 L2 missions for the same faction will not trigger a storyline, but if you complete one more L1 or L2, a corresponding level storyline is triggered soon (within seconds or minutes, usually).
Storyline missions are THE ONLY REPEATABLE WAY TO GAIN FACTION STANDINGS.
The only other ways are non-repeatable (rookie missions and COSMOS missions - once you complete them you never get them offered again on the same pilot).
COSMOS
This is a lot like mission-running, after a fashion.
The big difference however is that you can only do it in the "COSMOS" constellations, and NPCs respawn continually in there.
A list of empire-based COSMOS areas can be found by a simple site google search, but here's one of the possible results : Eveinfo - Caldari COSMOS page
EVEinfo is also a decent resource for regular missions too, in case you want to have an idea of what to expect in them.
Right now, there are four main types of missions you can be offered : courier, trade, kill and mining.
Mining missions are a relatively recent addition (or return, some might argue).
Agents give you various types of missions, depending on their division (it's in their showinfo).
Most agents' divisions are pretty obvious... for instance, Command and Security agents give you mostly kill missions, Storage agents give you mostly courier missions, and so on and so forth.
While there are plenty of listings of "types of missions for agent division" floating around, none of them are quite accurate, as they also depend on several other factors AND also a lot of randomness (for instance, while unusual, a Command agent might offer you 10 courier missions in a row).
So, in most cases, just go with your gut... worst thing that could happen is you reject a mission.
If you accept a mission however, the wisest course of action is to complete it succesfully, there are penalties (in standings) for failing a mission.
So, ALWAYS check the mission info BEFORE you accept it.
Check the mission type, and check the route you have to take to complete it.
You might want to reject kill missions if you only have an industrial ship, and you might want to reject a courier that has you going into or through a lowsec system... or, you might want to reject a mining mission if you have lousy mining skills.
Of course, you can always risk it and take all missions, but in the early stages, while you learn the ropes, it's best to avoid missions you're not suited for.
The "time bonus" on each mission is optional. Mission expiration date is the important thing (one week from the moment you took the mission, or the first mission in the chain, in case of chained missions).
FAILING to complete a mission in one week or telling the agent you are unable to finish it will bring a standings penality.
There are some special missions we like to call (or at least I like to call) "chained missions".
I've mentioned them before. You will recognize them by their name.
For instance : "Enemies Abound : 1 of 5" (or "Enemies Abound 1/5").
They are usually a set of missions of several types, and to get to the last one (usually the best paying one) you have to complete each of the previous ones first.
Failing or rejecting one of them means you're not offered the rest.
There are drawbacks to REJECTING a mission too.
If you reject a mission, a 4 hour timer for that agent starts (the timer is now displayed in the agent conversation box).
IF you reject ANOTHER mission before the timer expired, you will take a standings hit with the agent, his corp AND HIS FACTION.
While the standings hit is not huge, it's a good idea to avoid it nevertheless. That's why areas with multiple agents for the same corp or faction are prefered by mission-runners, since you can just ask another agent for a mission while the timer expires on another mission you were offered and you want to reject.
MINING MISSIONS
The missions are pretty straightforward.
You have to go to some location and mine out some "special" ore (one that can't be reprocessed, AFAIK) from some asteroids, and bring the ore back to your agent.
It's a good idea to have decent mining skills for this type of mission, obviously.
COURIER MISSIONS
These are the easiest missions you could possibly ask for : pick up stuff in station A, deliver it in station B.
They are also a bit boring, but unlike mining, they make you move around a lot, yet you do not have to constantly check the market to see what's best to mine at the moment.
You can usually complete them in any ship with a large enough cargo.
Most of them don't even have to be completed in a single trip, since they're made out of several identical packages... the mission description tells you how many packages they are and the total volume (so you can easily calculate how large one single package is - that's the minimum cargohold space you NEED to finish the mission).
If you have a small ship and a large cargo, you might have to forefit the bonus reward as you are forced to take several trips... but you still get the regular reward, and all the standing increases, so it's not tragic.
Things to watch out for ?
Destination or routes going through lowsec (try to avoid them, check route before accepting mission) or packages to large to fit in your cargo (the warning comes for the TOTAL cargo, not one package, so you have to check manually, like I said).
TRADE MISSIONS
This mission is basically "half a courier mission".
You don't have to pick some package up and deliver it somewhere else... you just have to deliver something to the destination.
HOW you get the goods is not any of your agent's concern.
You will usually buy them from the market, either where you find it cheapest or closest to the destination.
Things to watch out for : even if in most cases the agent will offer you a lot more ISK or an object much more valuable as a reward, in some rare cases, the cargo he asks for is valuable yet the reward nearly worthless.
So you have to check how expensive the desired mechandise is, and how much is the reward worth (in case they offer an item instead of just ISK - this type of offer might have been removed lately, but you never know).
KILL MISSIONS
Well, what's there to be said ?
Go in, kill stuff, optionally you might be asked to collect some item from one of the killed ships or structures and return it to the agent.
Sounds simple, but it's also the most dangerous mission type around.
At the same time, it's also the most lucrative type too, offering the greatest rewards both directly (ISK and Loyalty Points), but also indirectly, in form of bounties, loot, salvage, ocasionally tags or alloys instead of bounties... all from the wrecks of the destroyed enemies.
While the direct rewards (ISK and LP) might vary according to agent division, skills, standings and system security rating, all of the indirect rewards are almost identical (except for the normal randomness) for a certain mission.
Also, the secondary/indirect rewards are usually much higher than the direct rewards, and because of that, highsec "kill mission" running is the favourite ISK-making activity of a lot of pod pilots.
Another reason is that it only requires skills you could also use in PVP combat, so it's even more of an incentive.
There's a lot to be said about missions, skills you might need and so on and so forth, and I simply lack the space to even begin describing it.
It is best if you head over the missions subforum and read the things in there, maybe ask your own questions too.
Even if pilots were able to complete some L4 missions solo in ships as small as assault frigates, they were experts, and it still took a long time.
You usually want to fly a frigate only in L1s, a cruiser in L2s, a battlecruiser in L3s and battleships in L4s.
It's not a strict rule, but more of a general guideline, and feel free to either experiment or ask around about alternatives.
It's also a good idea to try and run missions together with other people you trust.
STORYLINE MISSIONS
These are special types of missions you are offered after completing 16 missions of a certain level for agents of a faction.
The agents do not matter, only their faction and the agent level. The storyline agent "triggered" will belong to the same faction and offer you a storyline of that particular level.
Completing 15 L1 missions and 15 L2 missions for the same faction will not trigger a storyline, but if you complete one more L1 or L2, a corresponding level storyline is triggered soon (within seconds or minutes, usually).
Storyline missions are THE ONLY REPEATABLE WAY TO GAIN FACTION STANDINGS.
The only other ways are non-repeatable (rookie missions and COSMOS missions - once you complete them you never get them offered again on the same pilot).
COSMOS
This is a lot like mission-running, after a fashion.
The big difference however is that you can only do it in the "COSMOS" constellations, and NPCs respawn continually in there.
A list of empire-based COSMOS areas can be found by a simple site google search, but here's one of the possible results : Eveinfo - Caldari COSMOS page
EVEinfo is also a decent resource for regular missions too, in case you want to have an idea of what to expect in them.