EVE General Discussion

I have been solo'ing Level 2 missions for about a week and a half now and enjoying them. I had a Caracal fitted with launchers and it was working well for the missions. A few I would need to warp out once or twice to recharge shields and warp back in but I had no real troubles.

Tonight was a great moment as, after weeks of mining, I finally upgraded to a Drake. I loaded it up with launchers and drones and shield boosters and and took it out on repeat lvl 2 security mission (I had done this same mission, exact same text, same rewards, before, in the caracal).

...and got wrecked. I mean within 10-20 seconds I was completely jammed and getting my structure demolished, so I warped out.

Okay, I just have a crap fitting, right? Well I spent all night jumping to systems to try new gear, trying ECCM (which did help with the jamming), new types of launchers, rapid light, heavy, heavy assault. I added heatsinks. I added shield boosters. I added shield extenders. I added damage controllers. I added armor repairers. I added every item I could think of or find in the market. I have upgraded every skill I can find relating to combat.

My eyes are bleeding.

My Drake cannot survive more than 20 seconds or so in this exact repeat of the exact same level 2 mission I ran just a few systems away in a Caracal.

Upgrading to a better ship, with more damage, more shields (WAY more, my Caracal had maybe 2k shields, this Drake has 10k shields with the extenders I added and this is the same mission at the same level in the same region I beat with a Caracal), more tanking, and more skills has made me unable to play the game now (at least, solo PVE) because the instance difficulty seems to increase (in an unbalanced way).

Why?

(And please don't tell me to join a corp or fleet up. There should at least be some semblance of balanced solo PVE. I don't want to fleet up, I'm enjoying solo PVE, and I was enjoying it very much in my Caracal. But now suddenly (after getting a better ship?!) I can't do the one thing in the game I was enjoying. Can't begin to express how frustrating it is to invest a month of my time in a game that suddenly goes completely out of balance to the point where I can't continue playing.)

Hearing the words "upgrade" and "drake" in one sentence is weird... anyway
As the guy before me posted always use hardeners mission specific. And dont forget about speed and signature. Correct me but a drake is a bc while a caracal a cruiser. Signature gone up while speed down causes you to take more damage, which probably was avoided by speed tanking.

Caracal base signature radius: 125m
Drake base signature radius: 295m

This is a main component in damage calculation, affecting how well guns track you and how much damage you receive from missiles. Bigger is not always better.

Also, you are not doing "solo PVE", you are grinding missions.

Idle curiosity, do you not need a TP with the rigors?

OP, you might consider using the Caracal until you hit level 3's - a BC isn't really the right tool for the job

No idea, I haven't actively done missions since my first month of playing.

I am doing lvl 2 in assault frigate with no problems.

+1 Throwing more ISK at fittings works wonders.

Something's wrong somewheres. Both my high-lvls do lvl 2 mission in BCs - Myrmidon and Cyclone - and neither of them even really gets redded up. That's why, in fact, I do lvl 2's in BCs - I want to do them, loot them, and go. Time constraints mitigate against constant out-warping, but I hardly have that problem with these two spacecraft, both of which blast through T2's like they're practically insignificant.

Both BCs are pretty thoughtfully fitted, both are shield tanks, and both my high-lvls have considerable skill points. That's about all i can offer you.

Both of my high-lvls are also crosstraining Caldari, so I'll be able to soon comment first-hand on the newly renovated Drake.

Ok many years ago on another character, when one started with lower attributes, a few thousand sp, and there was no accelerated training, I had trouble with an Omen and a Cyclone (back then both ships were pretty much **** too). But I knew very little about supporting skills, resists, and proper fittings, and thought a Cyclone with arty (big gunzzzzz) and a large booster alone (no boost amp, hadn't even figured out what those were) and cap rechargers and power diagnostics (terrible fitting skills and tried to be cap stable with **** cap skills) would be enough. It wasn't. The arty could not track the little buggers up close. And the booster had to perma run because my resists were crap, and I capped out (really ****** starting skills back then, did I mention).

Basically, you sound like where I was at the time. But really, level 2s are easy. Once you realize what is an appropriate ship and fitting. Most importantly, train up skills other than ship skills. You see you remind me of what I was back then. I prioritized ship skills. Thought once I had the BC skill I was the ****.

Ok, what to do. The ship is not the problem. It is likely your skills and your fitting choices. Level 2s are full of small sized ships and occasionally a cruiser. So fit RLMLs. Heavys are not appropriate for these rats. Even if you had tech II heavy precisions trained RLMLs would be a better choice. Light missiles are made for frigates.

As for tank, it is the resists that matter the most tbh. So against Guristas you should prioritize your kinetic shield resist percent and then your thermal resist percent. Other damage types do not matter as long as you only are fighting Guristas (at this level of pve). If you fly the Drake then after you fit the resist mods and the eccm, passive shield fit it (2 LSEs in the mids and maybe one SPR plus 3 purger rigs). This should be all the tank you will need. Beyond that your lows are ballistic controls and maybe a DC.

But really this is overtanked for level 2s because your light missiles should be murdering the rats. So it leads me to believe you have not trained your missile support skills much. Guided Missile Precision, rapid launch, etc. are what you need to get some levels in it appears. Get them all to 3, later 4, and eventually you will have these skills at 5 (it comes faster than you would think especially now with easy starting changes to sp accumulation that have come into the game over the years).

Regardless, go back to the Caracal. Focus your training and fittings on killing the rats quickly. The Caracal will do fine for level 2s once you fit and train for the mission. Keep the Drake for level 3s where it will shine. Then get a Raven for level 4s. It all may seem difficult at this eve age for you (a couple weeks) but it really isn't rocket science

edit - btw there is a missions subforum. read up and ask questions there

Right-click->show info.

(something you may not have realised yet)