Ships & Modules

If you want to use artillery, use Rupture. Stabby lacks the powergrid to fit artillery in any sort of decent fit. That said, you should be using a Battlecruiser (Hurricane in your case) for L3s if your skills are lacking - an Arti Cane does just fine.

If you really want to fly the stabber, something like this might be OK. It feels VERY light on tank though - i've used all T1 mods: If you can fit T2 - Do it!

[Stabber, L3 missions]

Gyrostabilizer I
Gyrostabilizer I
Power Diagnostic System I
Power Diagnostic System I

Experimental 10MN Afterburner I
Large C5-L Emergency Shield Overload I
Adaptive Invulnerability Field I
Adaptive Invulnerability Field I

650mm Medium 'Scout' Artillery I, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
650mm Medium 'Scout' Artillery I, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
650mm Medium 'Scout' Artillery I, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
650mm Medium 'Scout' Artillery I, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
[Empty High slot]
[Empty High slot]

Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I

---

However with low skills the Genosis might work better for you (it has no level bonuses, once you are in it you are 100% effective as if you have level 5 battlecruiser)

[Gnosis, Arty Mission]

Damage Control I
Capacitor Flux Coil I
Capacitor Flux Coil I
Gyrostabilizer I
Gyrostabilizer I
Tracking Enhancer I

Experimental 10MN Afterburner I
Adaptive Invulnerability Field I
Adaptive Invulnerability Field I
Large C5-L Emergency Shield Overload I
Shield Boost Amplifier I
Cap Recharger I

650mm Medium 'Scout' Artillery I, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
650mm Medium 'Scout' Artillery I, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
650mm Medium 'Scout' Artillery I, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
650mm Medium 'Scout' Artillery I, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
650mm Medium 'Scout' Artillery I, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
[Empty High slot]

Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I


Hammerhead I x5

And please, dont even look those fits Maeltstotme posted, they make me eyes bleed.

Also +1 for hurricanes.

If you're insisting on using a cruiser then you should go for a Rupture, more dps and easier fitting. However Hurricane is the best choice for L3s if your skills are up to scratch.

For the tight fits, don't forget squire implants and or genelutions. Some of them are relatively cheap and you should almost never lose a pod in hisec so a bit of investment can go a decent way.

Though like the rest said a BC will do the work with less trouble and only slightly more invested.

If you lack isk, just keep runnin missions unless you want to do somethin else, level3s pay out decently and are rather safe and simple after you get hang of it. Theres little reason to get vagabond or similar ship unless you can buy couple spares. Hurricane or any other battlecruiser is a solid way of generating isk as new char. There are many other ways to make isk also but missioning is simple and always available.

I know people that have done this as well.

And I know people where it doesn't work no matter how hard you try. Most notably, me.

As stated, it is pure, dumb luck. What's the point in chasing luck when there are more certain opportunities?

Sure, I MIGHT win the lottery. But I should probably keep my day job.

It's not about "feelings". It's just cold, hard facts. I've tried several ways of making money as a newbie, following the guides and learning the mechanics. I'm a person with bad luck. Yes, luck exists and I have a ton of the bad kind. I could literally write a book about it. Although it would never get published.

So even following the rules, aside from missions which are low risk and medium reward, I have not once come out on top no matter how much effort and knowledge goes into the endeavour. I got the short end of the stick yet again. I can grind away in combat missions and the combat zones you can find in exploration can be interesting, but there is no point working on anything else when I consistently lose out even when I put in more effort than I do for combat with more knowledge.

It's called "logic", not "feelings". Some people will find that they can make money off of exploration. I bet a significant reason why EVE loses a lot of players is due to the mechanics I've just pointed out; more than you realize is dumb luck when you start out. You got lucky, you stuck around, you got good enough that the luck didn't matter anymore. Sure, plenty leave because they just aren't smart enough to play EVE, but I'm betting a small portion are people who just can't get lucky enough to get a decent start to the game and get frustrated and leave once they max out their cash reserves, even with friends.

And for the record, I have a good group of friends I'm playing with; for combat. One went exploration and helped me out. He makes 100 million ISK an hour on a good trip. I lost money even with his help and the use of the guides.

So I do the same thing as someone else and lose money while he's gaining ISK hand over fist. Know the same rules, understand the mechanics, did the same things. Still couldn't pull in the ISK and still lost it all in one unlucky encounter.

Because luck plays a bigger role than you realize.

I can live with that. But don't go pretending that luck plays such a small part and then telling new players to leave when they have a lot of bad luck.

Was planning on using the Vagabond for PVP in the Minmatar militia.

If your plan is to grind isk in lvl 3 missions to afford a Vagabond then sit in the Vagabond and go do PvP you will loose your vagabond within an hour of flying it in low or null sec.
This will probably ruin EvE for you before you ever got the chance to actually get to the good stuff.

Take Taoist Dragons advice and find a group of people that are successfull at what they do and learn from them.
Loosing vagabonds against T1 frigates is far less fun than killing said vagabonds in T1 frigates.