Missions & Complexes

WHY U NO HAVE Weapon Upgrades IV?

Seriously, T2 Ballistic Controls on a Raven are not an option they are MANDATORY

Yes they are that important.

Stop training whatever it is your training right now and add weapon upgrades IV to your queue, then come back and read the rest of this post.





A simple like isn't enough to stress the above, the skill makes a huge difference in helping missiles apply their damage to small targets.

Finish off Drones V so you can field a full flight of them and open up access to Drone Interfacing, it increases their damage by 20% per level which greatly increases their ability to kill frigs. Take it to 3 initially as 4 is several days and you would be better served using that time for other skills. Combat Drone Operation is another one you want to 4 as time permits for the 5% damage increase it gives. Once those are out of the way get Scout Drone Interfacing V to open up access to T2 drones. Drone Durability and Sharpshooting will make them more survivable and better at hitting fast moving frigates.

The skills that directly effect the Ravens dps are:

Caldari Battleship: 5% Rate of Fire per level hull bonus
Cruise Missiles: 5% damage increase per level
Rapid Launch: 3% rate of fire per level
Warhead Upgrades: 2% damage per level

The skills that help with damage application are:

Guided Missile Precision: 5% reduction in missile explosion radius
Target Navigation Prediction: 10% decrease per level in factor of target's velocity for all missiles.

Skills that effect missile range are:

Missile Projection: 10% missile velocity
Caldari Battleship: 10% missile velocity hull bonus
Missile Bombardment: 10% flight time
**note the missile velocity bonus skills are preferred as they mean damage is applied sooner


You should have the damage group skills at IV and then start training Cruise Missile V to open up T2 launchers. Download EVEmon and add the skills to a plan and sort them by training time, start with the shortest ones first so you get the benefits quicker. Once you have Cruise Missile Specialization at IV I would suggest Target Navigation Prediction V and Guided Missile Precision V. Also take a look at the missile Hardwires, slot 8 and 9 specifically as they improve GMP and TNP. Use the most expensive ones your willing to lose. Faction missiles are also a good idea as they provide a quick but not exactly cheap boost to damage, save them for knocking down BS and BC in a hurry to cut incoming dps. Remember gank is tank.

As for your survivability, I can't stress enough what others have suggested. Use EVE Survival to know what your up against. Tailor your tank according to the rats you'll be facing and watch those triggers. The Raven getting another mid slot with the last round of rebalancing means you can over tank it rather easily now, here's a prime example that "should" fit with the skills you have.

[Raven, Brickshithouse]

Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Internal Force Field Array I

X-Large C5-L Emergency Shield Overload I
'Copasetic' Particle Field Acceleration
'Copasetic' Particle Field Acceleration
****Rat Specific Resist****
****Rat Specific Resist****
****Rat Specific Resist****
Heavy Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I, Cap Booster 800

'Arbalest' Cruise Launcher I
'Arbalest' Cruise Launcher I
'Arbalest' Cruise Launcher I
'Arbalest' Cruise Launcher I
'Arbalest' Cruise Launcher I
'Arbalest' Cruise Launcher I

Large Warhead Rigor Catalyst I
Large Warhead Rigor Catalyst I
Large Warhead Rigor Catalyst I

Goblins and Hammerhead drones unless your up against Angels, use Warriors and Valkyries in that case.
T1 ammo for cruiser and below and faction ammo for everything above.

The main goal with the fit is to be able to stay in the mission longer killing stuff and making isk rather than warp out. Since your dps skills are low you need to compensate for the time being by overtanking the ship. The Damage Control is there not only for the small shield resist it provides, but also the armor and hull bonuses in case you get overwhelmed. The faction ammo will cut into your bottom line a bit but the only thing that will solve that problem is time spent training. Readjust the fit with an Afterburner if EVE Survival says there's gate travel in the mission. You'll have to drop one of the boost amps and probably swap the DC for a Co Processor so be mindful of what EVE Survival says about what your jumping into in the next room and be ready with faction ammo loaded just in case.

If you do have trouble with the fit consider getting a Genolution Core set as they'll increase CPU and PG along with a couple other stats as well as increasing Intelligence and Perception attribute by 3 so you train faster.

Let me address the Micro Jump Drive issue, I know a lot of people like to say use them to make missions easy mode. I agree they can do just that.

**BUT

For missile boats they actually end up costing you time due to missile travel. I used a T2 CM Raven in null for a while to clear anoms, it had most of the tank replaced with multiple scripted SeBo's and a Signal Amp in the spare low. I ended up switching to an Oracle with T1 Tachyons and T1 crystals that made me more isk/hr with fewer skills simply because I wasn't waiting around for missiles to travel +100km. Oh and lets not forget the hassle of counting volleys and wasting a lot of ammo if you don't.

So yeah, for turret or done boats which deal instant damage MJD's can be great, but for missile boats they suck.

I don't have HQ at work, but I would suggest you firstly switch the amps for fields. Always tank mission specific and read the survivals guides. Medium drones are a waste, fill up with hobs, or if you doing angel missions use warriors. Get T2 drones ASAP and get drone interfacing and other skills up. Light drones will save a mission runner when scrammed. Get these before T2 launchers. It may also be worth adding a Damage Control till you get used to running missions. Drop the extender for another tank mod, maybe even an invuln, depending on stacking, just check in HQ which works best. Get T2 BCS's, they quick to train.

How long does your cap last with this fit? I will play with some fits and post them if I remember, but as suggested Laurang's is a good fit to use.

It really needs a cap booster, then you can get rid of all the other cap mods, but I remember I really battling with using it in the beginning. You can always go and practice on the test servers. Best it to fly with someone your first few times out. If you don't have someone to help out join the "helpmymission" in game chat, lots of helpful pilots there who will be willing to come out and help.

My strategy to make the MJD work is to fit a Sensor Booster (have targeting range script in cargo hold but not loaded)
Avoid missions versus Gurista's when you can, because they hit you at any range, and jam... Damping is less of a problem with this module.

No need for shield extenders if you are a sniper that will use range and speed tank to avoid being shot as much. Generally use all rig/module slots that boost your damage output. I do fit an active shield boost, for comfort.

You might want a webifier for frigates but scram/web are not such an issue if you have MJD. You can use MJD once you are webbed and scrammed, however if they apply the debuff while you are engaging the drive they may tackle you. Hence use it ONCE you are tackled and running out of shield boost.

1) Jump into mission deal damage - kill highest dps enemy ships that are not triggers

2) If webbed and scrammed and low shields.. THEN use the MJD .. pop off 100km

3) If you can't target the foe now then turn of Signal booster or Signal Booster II, if you want more range pop the script in. Don't run with the script when things are in range. The range increase lowers locking speed...

4) Speed tank by driving away, transverse or at them if few remain. Kill them all.

If you do two 100km jumps away you can do a small 200km warp back without needing the MJD timer to reset
If there are a few rooms I try to be 100km or 200km from the gate for an easy jump or hop once the room is clear.

Some mission like Worlds Collide I will use the MJD as soon as I get through a gate... others I will keep it up my sleeve in case I'm tackled and battered.

That's a very bad fit even for experienced mission runner.

Problems:
- omni tank
- ASB probably works as long as you have cap boosters in it but when you have to reload it you're a sitting duck.

Thinking like that is a great way of losing a battleship. It only take 1 frig to take you down wich is why everybody is telling you to get your support skills higher. Drones are life savers if you ever get pointed. Lot of people think going from lvl 3 to lvl 4 only require to sit in a battleship but it's not the case. To have any efficiency in lvl4 you need the BS and the assorted skills leveled so your shiny new BS does not end in a glorious fireball.

I've ran thousands upon thousands of missions with an omni tank and never had a problem. The DPS from npc in L4 mission isn't really that bad. If you handle the aggro carefully and only aggro one group of npc at a time. That or have a crap tonne of dps yourself in which case you kill everything that fast your tank matters very little.

The general rule when you're learning is to overdo it on the tank until you're comfortable with damage mitigation, then swap out tank modules for offensive modules to improve your firepower. It's less profitable for a given stretch of time, initially, but as you learn, get used to the mechanics of mission running, and feel ready to take more risks, you'll go through the missions more quickly and earn more ISK as you go.

And one more reason to train Drones to V even if you're going to stick with T1 drones: Drones V unlocks Drone Interfacing, which gives you a 20%-per-level increase in the firepower of any drones you deploy. It's potentially one of the highest-powered buffs in the entire skill tree.

I fully agree with being able to field 5 drones ... I just don't agree with the people who said that he should get into T2 drones asap. Maybe I wasn't clear enough, sorry.

Edit: Rereading the thread I realized that only 2 persons mentionend T2 drones before I posted. Somehow it felt like there were more.

With his current skill set, he should run lvl 3 anyway. If he's going to run lvl 4 with such skills, he might as well go the overtank route so he can at least keep his 100+mill ship alive even if it means his completion time are ridiculous. Learning aggro is of course important and somethign he should do but at the moment, a single misstake could mean a dead ship a few minutes later especially if he go with a cap booster fit where you ahve to plan ahead more than a straight cap satble tank or at least one he can run a few minutes before it breaks. Learning everything at the same time is a good way to make misstakes. Judging incoming DPS from a number of ships is muich easyer if you don't also have cap management to think about because the cap b ooster cannot just be run until it's empty or it will be a huge waste.

Unless he's rich and don't care about replacing a few BS hulls when things go sideways...