Ships & Modules

Bit of background first..... As a relatively new player who's skilled for the recent patch I find myself in the odd position of being racially agnostic in the ships I can fly and overly invested in the BC class (I also injected Command Ships to dodge the extra training time post-patch). I spend the majority of my time PvPing, which is almost exclusively in frigates. Spending time building out my support skills for PVP is a priority for me however I also occasionally like to run missions if nothing much is going on.

Running the same old level 3 missions in my Myr is getting a little boring and I'd like to do level 4 missions if I can. In a perfect world I'd train up either a T3 or BSs, however it's a lot of training for a T3 and BSs just won't be useful for the type of PvP I do. Given I can already get in a CS I'm wondering how viable they are for L4s. Does anyone have any recommendations on what, if any, turret based CS might be decent for L4s? If the training for the guns/ship can translate to useful small gang/solo PvP down the road then all the better. At first I was leaning towards an absolution but having looked at the Sleipnir it looks like it might be better (and perhaps be more useful as far as PvP skills go). Do you AC or Arty fit a Sleipnir? Anyone else have any opinions on the Astarte or the the Absolution for level 4s? All advise welcome (including 'don't fly command ships' advise).

EDIT: for a turret based command ship people seem to recommend the Sleipnir. Let me know what you think of the fit I'm considering (keeping in mind it's not a max ISK/SP fit)

http://eve.battleclinic.com/loadout/66275-Level-4-DED-4-Cheap-PvE-Sleipnir.html

I used to use a Nighthawk with great success before getting my Tengu. Put it short you pilot the same way as a drake, pick either passive or active tanking load up the lows with some BCU's highs with HML II's load kinetic fury missiles, turn on the AB drop a can with 1 ammo to set orbit and start shooting. Or pilot it towards something, either or. But the AB + orbit actually lets you semi speed tank.

That was pre heavy missile nerf though. Now days you might have to swap to those something else for the range. Tank wise its good, DPS is good, range though is the tough part as pre-nerf I got somewhere around 70km range now it's a fraction of that if I pilot one. So I don't think it's a very good option anymore.

As for the other command ships none of them caught my interest for lv4 mission running, so unless something big changed with this recent expansion (just reactivated account today) I think the same will hold true. From what I recall all the other command ships were a lot more inferior to BS's (now all with heavy missile nerf) for lv4's.

Though you can use faction ships with decent success it won't be the fastest thing in the world but it can get the job done. The Gila is a halfway decent drone boat to my understanding for lv4's. It doesn't have anything on the domi though, especially after the update but you still use your sub-bs skills for it minus training up for sentries for it.

Hopefully someone else chims in with more up to date advice but this should hopefully give you more information than you had before.

The AI changes don't affect sentries too much. If they catch aggro, you just scoop them in.

Haven't played with the Myrmidon since it got 100 bandwidth, but I'd guess it's at least competitive with the Ishtar. I'd base the Gallente Cruiser/Battlecruiser skill training decision on what else you foresee doing with these skills.

Thanks for the info. I might actually end up headed that way and just upgrade the Myr I'm using now. That said, if anyone has any opinions on CSs for level 4s (and which ships) do let me know. Just seems a shame not to use them when I've got access to them (although I would have to level up the CS skill to 4-5).

The Astarte should work well against Serpentis/guristas/EOM/Gallente/Caldari.
The Absolution gets a resist bonus against Exp/Kin, but deals EM/Th damage... for PvE, that means that the enemies that its resist bonus is useful for, its damage type sucks against, while the enemies it does good damage against, hit normal resists.
However, it does make for a good Omni armor tank, so should do well in PvP
The Sleipnir has a good omni shield tank, and with selectable damage and a range bonus, should do well against most NPCs

Their DPS is pretty good, almost as good as their equivalent BSs.
Their tank is pretty good, should be enough for lvl 4s

Their range is... meh I suppose you could use rails/beams/arty, and still track better than the BS's do.

I don't see why they wouldn't work for lvl 4s, I bought some for trying lvl 4s (the skill change let me bypass several skills, and get into them), I still haven't ferried them to my missioning hub/done much missioning after the patch.

I have a Sliepnir that gets close to 1300dps tank, right at 1000dps gank, moves around at 1250m/s it's not a cheap build but fun to fly. main problem is range getting within 16km to start hitting is frustrating (or switch to Barrage and the range hits 32km but DPS drops to 750) but that's what the MWD is for, tooling around at 1250m/s closing ranges solves most of the problems.

Fun ship to fly and worth every day of training to CS 5.

my next goal is an arty sleip, already perfected my myrmidon (almost, drone interfacing V a week away). Tauranon's numbers are a bit inflated, you won't be able to get 600+ DPS on a myrm and retain a 400 DPS tank without using deadspace mods though level 4s are still no match for a t2 fit sentry myrm. The only mission I've had trouble with is angel extravaganza bonus room where the sentry turrets (ironic, huh) destroy you and I had to break out the drake to tank that.

[Myrmidon, armourpve]
Armor Thermic Hardener II
Reactive Armor Hardener
Medium Armor Repairer II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Armor Kinetic Hardener II

Omnidirectional Tracking Link II
Omnidirectional Tracking Link II
10MN Afterburner II
Medium Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 800
Omnidirectional Tracking Link II

720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor M
Drone Link Augmentor I

Medium Nanobot Accelerator I
Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Medium Ionic Field Projector I


Garde II x4

this is what I currently use and it's literally just under 600 DPS with gardes (you can get more using faction short range ammo but it's kind of pointless the artillery is there to add to your ranged damage).

Gardes have a 52km optimal and 0.06 tracking which is enough to hit things at under 10km orbiting you cruiser sized and above.

every other sentry shoots further than you can target.

Only way I would improve this fit further now is by replacing one omni for a faction one and replacing the DLA I with a DLA II, which is a bit too much pimp for a T1 BC but im seriously considering it >.>. Could also make the repper deadspace but then were really just being silly.

Also the reactive armour hardener is epic.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I really thought I'd get much more 'NOOOOOOOO don't do it! train for a drake!'. Sounds like the Sliepnir is the way to go.

Thanks for the info. I'd like a turret based ship so it seems like Sleipnir is the one that everyone's recommending. If anyone has any comments on the build I'm thinking of please let me know (including whether you think it can handle level 4s etc).

http://eve.battleclinic.com/loadout/66275-Level-4-DED-4-Cheap-PvE-Sleipnir.html

As cute as this entire thread is.

Just train up a BS so you can be useful in groups that get in cap fights.

It might not be your thing right now but once you do L4's instead of L3's you will make a lot more isk.

Nothing will stop you from learning other aspects of PvP.