These forums have been archived and are now read-only.

The new forums are live and can be found at https://forums.eveonline.com/

Missions & Complexes

 
  • Topic is locked indefinitely.
 

Level 2 Missions/Caracal fitting for them/MIssion solo questions
Author
Previous Topic Next Topic
Daron Rostar
#1 - 2011-11-02 09:25:54 UTC
Is the Caracal a good ship for level 2 security missions? I have the fitting on the wiki and was wondering if it would be enough for solo.

Also, what's the highest mission level I can do solo (plan on getting a Drake once I save the creds) before I have to start grouping? A busy schedule only lets me do so on weekend, and was wanting to hop in during the week to blow some ships up for the highest profit.
zatazon
State War Academy
Caldari State
#2 - 2011-11-02 10:17:43 UTC
That fitting is not bad, but as it says its not the best either. All that being said the Caracal should beable to do any lvl 2 mission. I use a similar setup for some L3's. I would advise getting up to a Drake sooner rather than later and/or start training your support skills to enable you to fit T2 gear.
Varrinox
Shadows of the Empire
Curatores Veritatis Alliance
#3 - 2011-11-02 10:39:51 UTC  |  Edited by: Varrinox
Hey, no the fitting on that link in the wiki is not good. Mainly because it is running passive and active shield tank modules, you want one or the other not both.

Personally I would say Caracal is a passive shield tanked ship as its capacitor is weak, like a lot of Caldari ships so it struggles with active tank, it also has enough mid slots to passive tank.

Anyway, I have thrown together a fit for you which will easily stomp any level 2 mission.

(Designed with all 5 Skills so just fit as close to that as you can - downgrade to Tech 1 and Meta's etc)
[Caracal, PvE, Standard]
Lows:
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II

Mids:
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Photon Scattering Field II - Rat Specific Hardener*
Photon Scattering Field II - Rat Specific Hardener*
Heat Dissipation Field II - Rat Specific Hardener*

Highs:
'Arbalest' Assault Missile Launcher, Sabretooth Light Missile - Rat Specific Damage Type*
'Arbalest' Assault Missile Launcher, Sabretooth Light Missile - Rat Specific Damage Type*
'Arbalest' Assault Missile Launcher, Sabretooth Light Missile - Rat Specific Damage Type*
'Arbalest' Assault Missile Launcher, Sabretooth Light Missile - Rat Specific Damage Type*
'Arbalest' Assault Missile Launcher, Sabretooth Light Missile - Rat Specific Damage Type*

Rigs:
Medium Core Defence Field Purger I
Medium Core Defence Field Purger I
Medium Core Defence Field Purger I

Drones:
Hobgoblin II x2


" Rat Specific Hardeners, this means the enemies you are going to fight, find out what damage types they deal and equip the relevant Resist Hardeners.

* Rat Specific Damage Type, this means the enemies you are going to fight, find out what damage types they are weak to and load the relevant ammunition into your missile launchers.

^ Doing this above is a very good habit to get into early with missions.

Judging on you flying a Caracal it's a fairly safe bet you are running missions in Caldari space, for the most part you will fight Gurista's Rats who....
Deal - Thermal and Kinetic damage to you (equip Thermal and kinetic hardeners)
Are weak to - Thermal Damage (equip Thermal missiles into your missile launchers)

Tactics for flying this ship are simple, get within range to hit the enemy with your missiles. Keep moving so you are harder to hit and take less damage, and if they are firing turrets at you stay as far away as you can whilst remaining inside your own range reducing the chance they can hit you. Also primary the smaller ships in mission as the cruisers/frigates will be the only ones who can apply their damage onto you well, you can 'speed tank' battle cruisers and above fairly well in a cruiser.

http://surviveve.com/Wikka/wikka.php?wakka=MissionReports - possibly the most useful website for mission runners in Eve can tell you what damage types enemies do, and are weak against, along with lots of information about how best to do missions.

That about covers it, hope I helped
Varrinox
Heun zero
MAYHEM BOYZ
#4 - 2011-11-02 12:16:35 UTC
An added benefit of passive tanking a caracal while training up for the drake is that you'll be working on the same skills you need for a drake.

It will mean though that by the time you get into a raven, or possibly a tengu you will have to train the active shield tanking skills after all. But as a caldari pilot you'll be wanting to train them evenautally, so I would take the above posters advice on passive tanking the caracal and switch to lvl3 missions in a drake when you've outgrown these lvl 2 ones
hoshirito
Doomheim
#5 - 2011-11-02 13:56:21 UTC
[Caracal, missions]

'Arbalest' Assault Missile Launcher, Bloodclaw Light Missile
'Arbalest' Assault Missile Launcher, Bloodclaw Light Missile
'Arbalest' Assault Missile Launcher, Bloodclaw Light Missile
'Arbalest' Assault Missile Launcher, Bloodclaw Light Missile
'Arbalest' Assault Missile Launcher, Bloodclaw Light Missile

Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Invulnerability Field II
Invulnerability Field II
10MN Afterburner II

Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II

Medium Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I
Medium Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I


This is what I run. It blows through level 2's really quickly. The AB is necessary because there are quite a few missions that require you to fly around a bit in level 2's. You do have to pay attention a bit because the tank isn't all that amazing. But it could be mitigated by using rat specific hardeners or rigging it differently. But given the standing changes you shouldn't be using this ship for too long anyways. (just enough to get to level 3's which even a crap fit drake can run with ease)
Daron Rostar
#6 - 2011-11-02 14:05:16 UTC
Ah, thanks for the useful replies.
Nevryn Takis
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
#7 - 2011-11-02 15:11:42 UTC
Running 2 rat specific hardners rather than 2 invulns is invariably better

On the other point in the OP a properly fitted drake with the right skills will solo all bar 1 or 2 of the L4 missions.. once you get to this level you will find that T2 missiles help with some of the L4's as well (and are economically vaible to use).

In addition - when you get to running a drake make sure you have decent drone skills - you'll need it in some L3 and a lot of L4 missions for killing web/scram elite frigates - and again run the right drones for the mission rats encountered.
Sandrestal
Pakistani Taxi Drivers
#8 - 2011-11-02 16:38:29 UTC
Varrinox wrote:
Hey, no the fitting on that link in the wiki is not good. Mainly because it is running passive and active shield tank modules, you want one or the other not both.

Personally I would say Caracal is a passive shield tanked ship as its capacitor is weak, like a lot of Caldari ships so it struggles with active tank, it also has enough mid slots to passive tank.

Anyway, I have thrown together a fit for you which will easily stomp any level 2 mission.

(Designed with all 5 Skills so just fit as close to that as you can - downgrade to Tech 1 and Meta's etc)
[Caracal, PvE, Standard]
Lows:
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II

Mids:
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Photon Scattering Field II - Rat Specific Hardener*
Photon Scattering Field II - Rat Specific Hardener*
Heat Dissipation Field II - Rat Specific Hardener*

Highs:
'Arbalest' Assault Missile Launcher, Sabretooth Light Missile - Rat Specific Damage Type*
'Arbalest' Assault Missile Launcher, Sabretooth Light Missile - Rat Specific Damage Type*
'Arbalest' Assault Missile Launcher, Sabretooth Light Missile - Rat Specific Damage Type*
'Arbalest' Assault Missile Launcher, Sabretooth Light Missile - Rat Specific Damage Type*
'Arbalest' Assault Missile Launcher, Sabretooth Light Missile - Rat Specific Damage Type*

Rigs:
Medium Core Defence Field Purger I
Medium Core Defence Field Purger I
Medium Core Defence Field Purger I

Drones:
Hobgoblin II x2


" Rat Specific Hardeners, this means the enemies you are going to fight, find out what damage types they deal and equip the relevant Resist Hardeners.

* Rat Specific Damage Type, this means the enemies you are going to fight, find out what damage types they are weak to and load the relevant ammunition into your missile launchers.

^ Doing this above is a very good habit to get into early with missions.

Judging on you flying a Caracal it's a fairly safe bet you are running missions in Caldari space, for the most part you will fight Gurista's Rats who....
Deal - Thermal and Kinetic damage to you (equip Thermal and kinetic hardeners)
Are weak to - Thermal Damage (equip Thermal missiles into your missile launchers)

Tactics for flying this ship are simple, get within range to hit the enemy with your missiles. Keep moving so you are harder to hit and take less damage, and if they are firing turrets at you stay as far away as you can whilst remaining inside your own range reducing the chance they can hit you. Also primary the smaller ships in mission as the cruisers/frigates will be the only ones who can apply their damage onto you well, you can 'speed tank' battle cruisers and above fairly well in a cruiser.

http://surviveve.com/Wikka/wikka.php?wakka=MissionReports - possibly the most useful website for mission runners in Eve can tell you what damage types enemies do, and are weak against, along with lots of information about how best to do missions.

That about covers it, hope I helped
Varrinox


Pretty much the way I'd set up the Caracal. You really don't need a AB as lvl 2 rats are just about all frigs and will fly to you. Standard missiles really are a quick end to the frigs, with assault launchers holding enough missile you won't have to reload.
Mara Rinn
Cosmic Goo Convertor
#9 - 2011-11-02 19:57:48 UTC
I would experiment with the above fittings, but look at using range as your tank. Here's an example of how I'd do it:

Highs:
5 x best heavy missile launcher

Mids:
Afterburner
3 x shield hardener (2+1 rat specific)
Cap recharger
Shield booster

Lows:
2 x best BCU

Rigs:
Medium Warhead Rigor Catalyst (this helps the heavy missiles do the most damage to frigates)
Medium Auxiliary Thrusters (more speed lets you dictate range)
(a third rig to suit your taste)

The third rig - warhead calefaction catalyst or bay accelerator will help you do more DPS, bay thrusters will buy you more range. A core defence capacitor safeguard will let your shield booster run longer without emptying your cap.

In most missions, you should be able to maintain your distance to the enemy at the extreme edge of missile range. Get into the habit of counting how many missiles you need to blow things up, and stop firing at that target once you have that many missiles launched. This often means you'll have two salvos in flight to one target while you're firing at the next target.

Day 0 Advice for New Players
hoshirito
Doomheim
#10 - 2011-11-02 20:32:57 UTC
Sandrestal wrote:


Pretty much the way I'd set up the Caracal. You really don't need a AB as lvl 2 rats are just about all frigs and will fly to you. Standard missiles really are a quick end to the frigs, with assault launchers holding enough missile you won't have to reload.


I disagree about the AB. It's not really about getting into range of the rat to shoot them but more to cut down the time it takes to get to gates or pick mission objectives. Not to mention it adds to the tanking ability of the ship.

The fit that I posted is for blitzing level 2's as quickly as possible. Max damage per volley, minimum tank and speed to get objectives faster. I honestly have not run into a level 2 that this fit cannot handle. You just can't AFK fly it.

Besides the Caracal should only be a stepping stone to the drake. You want to get into the drake running level 3's as fast as possible because the income gain is significantly more than what a Level 2 will give you.
Fedimart
Doomheim
#11 - 2011-11-03 02:06:51 UTC
I use the same fit as hoshirito minus the rigs just because I'm cheap. It's a solid fit. If you find yourself having issues with tank with this fit something is wrong. Try to get your missile support skills to level 3-4. Everything is dead before I even take much damage. No need to tank the wrecks lol. Also for level 2's assault launchers are much better than heavy launchers. Assault launchers fire light missiles at a high rate of fire and will quickly destroy frigates.