Hello boys and girls!
I haven’t updated for a while due to being lazy. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.
I ran one of these this morning for the first time. Normally I find Outgrowth Drone Hives in Gallente Low Sec, but this morning, at 7am, having had no sleep due to a coughing child and a belligerent wife, I stumbled across it in a 0.4.
It’s fun, I’ll say that. I’d definitely recommend something with a range over 40km though. I think an inexperienced pilot in anything without missiles would struggle with it.
A brief synopsis…
Serpentis Corporation Hydroponics Site
The complex is the DED 5/10 rated Serpentis plex. As such, it’s not ‘difficult’, but it shouldn’t be taken lightly either. There are no nasty surprises (other than the webbing in Room 3) and no extra spawns. Once you enter each room, what you see is what you have to deal with. Sadly, unlike the Guristas Hallucinogen Supply depot 5/10, you DO have to clear the first two rooms to get to the goodies. There’s no tank and run I’m afraid.
I ran the site solo in a pretty standard fit PVE Tengu. Something similar to what many of you would consider to be a normal L4 mission fit.
Highs
6x Heavy Missile Launcher II ( Carried 4000 Scourge Furys and 1000 Scourge Precisions)
Mids
Invulnerability Field II
Pith B-Type Small Shield Booster
Dread Guristas Heat Dissapation Amplifier
Dread Guristas Kinetic Deflection Amplifier
Dread Guristas Shield Boost Amplifier
Republic Fleet 10MN Afterburner
Lows
Damage Control II
3 x Ballistic Control II
Subs
Dissolution Sequencer
Accelerated Ejection Bay
Amplification Node
Fuel Catalyst
Augmented Capacitor Resevoir
Rigs
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer
Medium Warhead Calefaction Catalyst
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit
Normally when running lowsec plexes, even in a PVE fit I’d stick at least one Magnetic Scattering Amplifier on, even if it isn’t pertinent to the enemies damage – just in case I get jumped by someone that’s clued up about the chinks in my armor. However, on this occasion and as it was very quiet – I decided to beef up my primaries. Next time I won’t. it tanked more than well enough.
So… I scanned down the plex and, as per usual sat my probing alt 50km off the gate to see if anyone in local had pre-scanned the plex and was planning to ruin my day…
Room 1
Room 1 is pretty easy. In fact in reality the whole plex is. If you’ve run L4 Serpentis missions you’ll know roughly what to expect from the first 2 rooms. A little sensor dampening (actually I experienced none, despite Eve Survival’s assertion to the contrary… but then this is Eve Survival we’re talking about) and not much else.
The initial (and only) spawn appears about 30km from warp in and auto-aggros:
3 Battleships
2 Battlecruisers
7 Cruisers
20 (ish) Frigates
Easy. Dispatch them and move along. The acceleration gate is about 40km from warp in. As mentioned previously you need to pop everything to proceed.
*Pro-tip Time*
When running any lowsec plex, always get as much distance as you can between yourself and the warp in point as is reasonable and practical. Remember that pirates can see wrecks on D-Scan and / or may have previously scanned the plex out. By doing this you are getting yourself out of initial point range of most ships and will give yourself more time to get out if necessary if someone comes in. I have a cloaked alt to watch the plex entrance for me at all times. This means you can fit out for full tank / damage without messing around with cloaks / warp stabs and all that other extreme carebear garbage 
Room 2
Again – all ships are present – no extra spawns. Main bulk sits at around 35km from warp in. You may get some sensor dampening. I didn’t. They’ll all want a piece of you as soon as you land:
11 Battleships
11 Battlecruisers
11 Cruisers
3 Destroyers
6 Frigates
Same drill – kill everything and proceed. The gate, again, is about 40km from your warp in. orbiting the gate is a good idea
Room 3
This is where the fun begins. Take my advice and proceed as follows if you have the range. There will be 3 Stasis Towers at about 35km from warp in (hence my range requirement mentioned initially). Flick your prop on and burn away from them whilst taking them out. The main group of ships is arranged in a semi circle with the Overseer taking up position in the left. Flank the left side of the semi-circle at top speed, take him out and, if you have the tank for it, swoop in and grab the loot. If not you’ll have to spend some time taking out the incoming DPS. There are no elite frigates in here so no more web and no scram to worry about:
7 Battleships
1 Battlecruisers
10 Cruisers
11 Frigates
3 Serpentis Stasis Tower
1 Serpentis Cruise Missile Battery
1 Serpentis Heavy Missile Battery
2 Serpentis Light Missile Battery
9 Tower Sentry Serpentis II
1 Sarpati Family Enforcer (Goodies – Overseer Battlecruiser)
This is blitzable with a good tank. Providing you knock out those towers first! Once they’re done it’s a much easier room to deal with than room 2. You only need to kill the Overseer to get the loot and he’s got about as much tank as a wet newspaper. In total I think the plex took me about 25 minutes to complete.
What do you get out of it?
This 5/10 drops Corelum B-Type loot (if you’re lucky) and 18th Tier Overseer’s effects. My personal drop consisted of a Corpum B-Type Refletive Membrance, 18th Tier Overseer’s Effects and a Vigilant Blueprint. Truth be told if the Vigilant Blueprint hadn’t dropped I’d have been pissed 
It comes to about 400m ISK in total which isn’t bad for 25 mins work. However, it has the potential to drop more.
I hope this write up on the Serpentis Corporation Hydroponics Site 5/10 was helpful. If it wasn’t (or it was) – let me know and I’ll do some more
Ladar o/
