Ships & Modules

Such a ****** witty Rattler, shame...

Navy Raven - Great damage application, faster missiles speed. 8 effective launchers.
Scorpion Navy - RoF bonus(worst damage bonus for PvE) and bonus to tank. 7.5 effective launchers.
Rattlesnake - Dual weapon system, role bonus for drones(7.5 effective sentry/heavy drones), 7.5 effective launchers with kinetic/thermal damage and a bonus to tank.

The Navy Raven is a great missile boat. Since your 2-3 months in, your probably going to want to look for a cheap MJD sniper fit unless you feel like plexing a MJD fit.
Rating - 2nd in damage, tied first for damage application and 2nd in hull cost.

Scorpion Navy Issue is a meh missile boat. RoF bonuses are the worst for PvE as your goal is the reduce volleys. Less missiles launched = more isk saved = more time saved. The bonus to tank is nice, however tiny for 2-3 month old character.
Rating - 3rd in damage, 2nd/3rd in damage application and 1st in hull cost.

Rattlesnake as previously mentioned the hull bonus is what you want to look at here. Just being able to sit in this, gives you an effective 7.5 sentry/heavy drones or the equivalent of having Gallente Battleship 5 with the Dominix. Granted, it being a dual weapon system also makes it a bit more SP intensive to get into but it is by far the better choice. Also 7.5 Effective launchers with kinetic/thermal damage is annoying because 75% of the time, you will be shooitng into a secondary resist hole.
Rating - 1st in damage, tied first damage application(no application bonus for missiles like the Navy Raven but using Sentry drones makes up for it and 3rd in hull cost.

What's that? Yes the ship that has the highest dps is also has the cheapest hull. #mindblown.

[Rattlesnake, cheap PvE]
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II

Omnidirectional Tracking Link II, Optimal Range Script
Omnidirectional Tracking Link II, Optimal Range Script
Prototype 100MN Microwarpdrive I
Large Micro Jump Drive
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Medium C5-L Emergency Shield Overload I

'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
Drone Link Augmentor II

Large Warhead Rigor Catalyst I
Large Warhead Rigor Catalyst I
Large Drone Control Range Augmentor I

Bouncer I x2
Garde I x2
Warden I x2

Please note, the above fit is designed to be a cheap guideline and not a suggested fit. The theory behind this fit is less tank more gank. When you Micro Jump Drive(MJD) 100km out, the damage you take drops off sharply enough that a undersized shield rep will be more then sufficient to keep you alive. Please note then, that means when you enter a mission pocket you need the MJD ready to go as soon as you enter, otherwise this tank will not sustain you under any serious level 4 damage.
Fitting Guide:
Lows -
3x Drone Damage Amplifiers and 3x Ballistic Control Systems. This is a balance between the two so not one is penalized more then the other. You can change this ratio depending on your skill or remove either ore and place a Damage Control if you want more tank. Which will not be needed for this fit as this is a MJD fit.

Mids -

2x Omnidirectional Tracking LInks - scripted with Optimal range for best sentry drone result once your MJD'd out.

1x Microwarp Drive/1x Micro Jump Drive - I pick a dual prop system as if you miss with your MJD, the Rattlesnake isn't exactly a fast boat to get to the gate. If you have all the time in the world, then replace the Microwarp drive with PWNAGE the meta 4 target painter or a non scripted/scripted sensor booster to increase your lock range. Depending on your missile range you might get a way with a nonscripted booster and enjoy faster lock times.

2x Adaptive Invul field - standard omni tank, I'm a bit lazy but you can go with mission specific hardeners. Honestly though, with MJD builds, it's unecessary.

1x medium c5-l emergency shield overlord - a meta 4 medium shield booster. This is undersized for the hull and a larger one can be used. However, with a MJD I find that unecessary and undersized booster can be run longer, allowing for mistakes when handling your cap. Replace with a Large or X-Large at your discretion.

Highs -

5x Meta 4 Launchers - pew pew

1x Drone Link Augmentors - increase your drone control range as your engagement area has just increased to 100km_

Rigs -

2x Rigors - Rattlesnake has no application bonus, so you'll want these to land decent hits on cruisers and below.

1x Large Drone Control Range Augmentor - More range to your drone control.

All said and told, you could probably buy and fly this fit for a little over 400 million(Current price of the hull is around 395 million). As, I have no idea of your current skills, my assumption is that you will be around 900 dps, 139 tank vs Sansha(low) 222 tank v Angel(high) and around 5 minutes of capacitor running everything but the MJD and Microwarp Drive.

You couldn't even BUY a CNR/SNI Hull for 500 million.

Now this fit will not last you forever, you're going to want to bling it out. But that's a discussion for another time/place.
TL:DR, you can buy a fit a Rattlesnake to do more damage then a CNR/SNI for the price of the hull of a CNR/SNI.

Pretty sure this applies to ANY MJD fit. MJD Sniping Dominix is decent but it's damage cannot compare to the Rattlesnake. You would need Gallente BS 5 to equal the drone damage you get by sitting in the Rattlesnake hull. The tracking bonus is near useless because rats are flying at you in a straight line when you are using a MJD fit.

That said, Dominix is a decent missioning boat. If you shield tank it, you can do some sweet dps as well but not something i'd try and sell a 3 month old toon on.

Rattle is not a good ship for someone new to battleships, especially for level 3s.

They require more SP to use, more management and they are twice the cost of a raven. In level 3s you want to be moving to the next objective while you are shooting targets so rattles with sentries are right off the bat at a disadvantage in speed. If you use other drones then you have the flight time of the drones. On top of that you are managing two weapon systems at the same time.

Raven is much faster to train into and easier to use. Remember, OP is learning the basics of flying a battleship so tossing him into the most management intensive of all the battleships is not the best way to go about this.

Did you read the stuff above? Of all bs the rattler is the easiest to train into, its harder to maximize but to reach 750+ dps easily you need to spend like a week of training as its main damage comes from its role bonus.

Do you ever run lvl3 with Rattler, please be honest here.

Good troll is a good troll, enough said

Only missions i ever do are lvl 5s. (but i almost never do those). But how does that matter?

As much as I disagree on his point in the pvp thread, I have to say that he is spot on here.

Low SP rattle is far more effective than low sp Raven. With the low sp rattle you can throw out your drones, have plenty of tank and have missiles to back you up. With the raven if you are low sp you are either doing missions with the wrong weapon type, using crappy unbonused drones and you are slow.

Rattle is a great lvl 3 ship if you dont care about warp speed, and in this case blitzing is not what we are trying to teach the OP, mission running is. Rattle isn't some mystical creature needing 100mil sp to use. It is a Domi with Missile support.

i got nothing to add to already said