Missions & Complexes

Ok so i never played EVE a great deal and i am back to try it again.

I am trying to run level 4 missions in Caldari space, i have a Raven setup listed below, i read a post that said it would be a great starting point, i also have 4 Hammerhead I drones as i cant use Hammerhead II yet

the first part of the mission i went in i was ok i could out weigh the damage and was able to take down the elite drones and so-forth no problem, i jumped into the next gate and i got jumped by about 20 small drones they were about 3000m to about 7000m away from me and being webbed, in a Raven it is impossible to get anywhere in a hurry to start with.

the damage i was taking was crazy my shields were dropping quick started to hit the armour so thought i would bail out before i went pop.

I know it is only a guide and does not mean you are going to be adequate to fly the ship but i have all the skills and requirements on the Guide for the raven.

I have no knowledge on the correct way to go around this and any help would greatly be appreciated, from knowledge i used to be able to run level 3 missions with no problem in a drake

overall i think i would like to try out Minmatar ships they look way better

Intelligence 22
Perception 25
Charisma 18
Willpower 22
Memory 20

Capacitor Flux Coil II
Capacitor Flux Coil II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II

Kinetic Deflection Field II
Kinetic Deflection Field II
Thermic Dissipation Field II
Large Shield Booster II
Shield Boost Amplifier II
Shield Boost Amplifier II

'Arbalest' Cruise Launcher I, Mjolnir Cruise Missile
'Arbalest' Cruise Launcher I, Mjolnir Cruise Missile
'Arbalest' Cruise Launcher I, Mjolnir Cruise Missile
'Arbalest' Cruise Launcher I, Mjolnir Cruise Missile
'Arbalest' Cruise Launcher I, Mjolnir Cruise Missile
'Arbalest' Cruise Launcher I, Mjolnir Cruise Missile
[empty high slot]
Small Tractor Beam I

Regards

Pauhe Gunor

Missles are getting buffed in the Retribution patch on Dec. 4th but even so guns will outperform them 9/10 times. Max DPS I could squeeze out of a raven is around 750 with light drones (I always use light drones because they get to the target faster).

A pimped raven fit would something like this:

[Raven, Missions]
Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System
Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System
Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System
Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System
Damage Control II

Target Painter II
Shield Boost Amplifier II
Thermic Dissipation Field II
EM Ward Field II
EM Ward Field II
Gist X-Type X-Large Shield Booster

Cruise Missile Launcher II, Mjolnir Fury Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Mjolnir Fury Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Mjolnir Fury Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Mjolnir Fury Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Mjolnir Fury Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Mjolnir Fury Cruise Missile
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]

Large Warhead Rigor Catalyst II
Large Warhead Rigor Catalyst II
Large Warhead Flare Catalyst II

Hobgoblin II x5

270 sustained tank on EM/Therm and 783 dps with all level 5 + 5% implants. The shield booster can be downgraded to a lower one obviously. The Navy Issue Raven gets an extra launcher which helps a ton and you can get close to 900 dps in it.

http://eve-survival.org/wikka.php?wakka=MissionReports is a good site to read up on any mission before you do it.

I'd suggest getting in a pirate faction battleship with guns (Nightmare/Machariel/Vindicator) to efficiently do level 4 missions. Pumping out 1000+ DPS with no flight time from missles with 250 sustained tank makes short work of any mission.

As soon as you can go Raven -> CNR (Raven Navy Issue)

This is a problem, you should be using an extra large booster on a battleship. If you have shied operation V use the T2 version if not then use the X-Large C5-L Emergency Shield Overload I and a single boost amp II. You free up a mid slot this way and can fit a cap booster until your skills are higher and your better at managing cap usage. Only use it to refill your cap if you need to, don't use it to try and run the shield booster constantly. Once you get the skills and experience you won't need it and can put something else there like an afterburner, a web or a target painter. As was stated, use eve survival to find out what rat specific hardeners you should be using.

Rigs are missing from the fit so I'm 'assuming' you don't have them. ;-)
Large Warhead Rigor Catalyst I rigs to cut down the explosion radius of your missiles thus making them hit small ships harder are the ideal choice.

For your lows I would suggest 3 BCU II's and a power diagnostic system and a damage control if you want even more tank. You could also go with 4 BCU's and a damage control to squeeze out every last bit of damage from your missiles irregardless of stacking penalties. Carrying some faction missiles is a good idea as they give you a nice bump in damage output. Use them on BS and BC sized rats and stick to T1 ammo for everything else.

As far as your wanting to try out Minmatar ships, the Maelstrom is a shield tanker like the Raven but it has a shield boost bonus on the hull so it will have a better tank. I'd suggest 1200mm artillery for missions as they are the best combination of damage projection and ease of fitting.

I'll join the chorus, T2 light drones are a priority. Warriors for Angels and Hobgoblins for everything else.
Drone Interfacing and Combat Drone Operation to 4 as soon as possible to help get rid of pesky frigates.

Respectfully, I disagree. While CNR is definitely the best long range missile battleship, its main advantage is in one extra launcher you get over the normal Raven. Unless you can capitalize on that, which requires great missile and fitting skills, you're actually better off in the navy Scorpion - even more so if you're unused to missions and you have issues with tanking, as the OP does.

Pauhe Gunor, I suggest you look at the Liang Raven fit. It will help you maximize your damage output and help you get used to level 4 missions with a safety net in form of cap booster. Once you get used to them, you can omit the booster in favor of shield boost amplifier and switch to a more expensive ship. What's more, Liang's good old fit centers on dealing maximum damage with enough tank, something you'll want to work on when you're in a navy ship.

If you don't mind going back and training the gun skills, Minmatar leads you into Mael, then either Vargur or Mach, both of which make a mockery of mission running.

If you stay with Caldari, you'll likely want a couple of ships. My alt rolls with a lightly pimped Raven NI and a lightly pimped Nighthawk. The latter is for mission where there is considerable gate travel time. In fact, you'll probably end up with 4 mission ships:

Navy Raven
Nighthawk or Tengu (which costs about 4 times the Nighthawk TBH and lacks a drone bay) for travel missions
Stabber (for cruising quickly through the Green Cloud of Death)
Shuttle (cargo delivery and a few others)

Thanks to everyone that replied, appreciate your advice and help

Listen to Paikis.. get your drone skills up first and always carry a light set of drones before anything else, warriors for angels and hobs for everything else.. they will be the only things that will get you unscrambled so you can warp out, lauren has a good starting fit for ravens on the eve wiki, just google it.

If you want to try out minnie ships, do it!
Really.

I'll tell you about minnies vs caldari judging by my own experience.

Minmatar ships are 100 times better on missions than Caldari ones.

My ~5 bil Golem performs very bad compared to ~2.5 bil Vargur.

There are too many things that make almost every missile system bad:
1. You have to use PAINters. Painters have 10 sec cycle, so even if you 1-shotted a rat you have to wait for the cycle to end, otherwise you'll loose the damage (assuming your target is smaller then a BS).
2. If the target moves too fast, especially Angels, you loose a lot of damage. Rigs and other things help a little to reduce this penalty.
3. You can't shoot at very small targets, like elite frigs. Well... you can but the damage will be very small so it's just a waste of ammo and time.
4. If you don't use Torps rats will be shooting your missiles with defenders which will reduce your damage.
5. Since your missiles fly a little slow you will be making unnecessary shots. The damage is not instant so you will be launching missiles at the dead target. You can reduce it by knowing how many shots you need for a target, but MWD, AB, high velocity and other things prevent this.

TL;DR
ACs outperform missiles almost in every situation.
If you have a slightest love for minmatar ships and ACs try them for sure! Forget about missiles.