EVE New Citizens Q&A

Nah, OP, don't wait, jump right in and start doing lvl4s.
Get yourself a battleship, fit a microjumpdrive. Kill the frigs first, as they could potentially warpscramble you and prevent you from warping out if you need to. Kite 'em, draw the npc to you piecemeal if possible. When you warp into the pocket, launch light drones right away, turn around asap and start your microjumpdrive so it activates once you are pointed at least somewhat away from the npc. Target the nearest (potentially scrambling) frigate with your light drones as soon as you launch them. You'll leave them behind to fight the frigs on their own as you microjumpdrive 100km off (assuming you have your drones set to "aggressive") *poof* Your microjumpdrive activates and you are 100km away. T1 will do for the time being. Recall all but 2 light drones after you kill all frigs, launch mediums, kill cruisers, launch heavies to replace mediums and kill battleships with mix of a light or two and rest heavies (dazzle/smack method -they try to shoot lights that reach them first but can't usually hit them well, taking the heat off your heavies which deal the damage out). If drones get badly damaged, recall them to cargo, launch fresh replacements, fix later. Bottom line, just go for it. You'll find out what you like and what works for you. o/

I agree with the posters that suggest you go ahead and try lvl 4's if you want to. What's the worst that can happen? Losing a ship might get the adrenaline flowing or teach you something.

Two caveats:
1) You may find the missions are taking SOOO LONG that you're making less isk/hour than lvl 3's because you can't apply enough DPS or your tank is weak and you have to warp in and out.
2) What is your longer term goal? If it's to get into PVP, you might be better off keeping your skill training focused on smaller ships for now.

when are you ready for L4 missions ?
- when you have access to a L4 mission agent and can fit and fly a battleship

which one isn't really all that important, each empire has good mission friendly offerings.

does it need tech 2 weapons ?
- no, it does not
does it need a tech 2 tank ?
- no, it does not

either will make the mission easier, but neither of them are essential.

initially you may need to warp out of the mission to regen your tank back to full strength, this is fine, don't worry about it
yes, it will slow down your completion times, but an exploded battleship completes zero missions
as your skills improve and you move towards a more fully T2 fit, you will notice there is less need to leave missions
be patient, you WILL get there. eve is not a race

fly safe'ish'
have fun !!

I started them without having T2 gank&tank. It is certainly possible, but the risk's higher. In other words I did lose a BS at the time.

There are missions that will take like forever without T2 gank (I've had a hard time with smash the supplier at the time).

If you can afford the loss, just try it. It's certainly better than being bored in L3s.

You dont need T2 weapon skills, period!
Hell, I have seen Domi fits that forwent any guns but one civilian blaster to draw aggro and completely relied on Drones for damage, instead fitting Tractors and Salvagers in the Highs (that was before Rat aggro changes).

As for a T2 tank, I would advise in favour of it or at least being pretty close.


As you said you would consider a Dominix, that one is a nearly perfect starter ship for L4s, just fit 2 Large Armor Reppers and enough Cap Mods and you won´t have any worry about tank. It is terribly inefficient but there you are if you want to be on the safe side. Once you are familiar with a few L4s, you will want to swap out Tank for Gank (which is a kind of tank itself).
Oh, and that was before MJD so things got even easier since then.

That's the second biggest risk of moving to L4s for the first time. The first is that you don't know what you're doing, and quickly lose your mission running battleship.

Seraphi Nephalis, my advice is the following, constructed on the fly based on my own experience.

The moment you can get into a Raven hull and use cruise missiles and a MJD, you're ready for L4 missions. The moment you can get into a Dominix and field 5 sentry drones, fit drone damage amplifiers and omnidirectional tracking links, you're ready for L4 missions. I find the Dominix is "better" due to immediate application of DPS, while the Raven is "better" due to being able to provide more DPS (but each shot takes up to a minute to arrive).

The basic battle plan is: warp in, MJD away from the bulk of the NPCs, shoot them as they approach, closest first.

One huge advantage of the Dominix over the Raven is that when facing Serpentis or Guristas the drones will start shooting whatever is attacking you without you needing to be able to lock on to that target. You can drop a can, then MJD away from it a couple of times (that will take a few minutes) and drop another can, then warp back and forth between the two cans. This will remove all the NPCs target locks (it will also remove yours) while also giving you sniping roosts which allow you to dictate the range between you and the NPCs.

As far as training skills goes, focus on the ones that provide more DPS sooner. Eventually you'll be at the point that you can clear out all the NPCs in any one pocket before your MJD has cooled down. After that, getting more and more DPS is only going to shave a few seconds off mission completion times.

I have successfully run L4 missions in T1-fitted battleships. With the introduction of the MJD you barely even need to fit a tank except to deter gankers on the undock, or mission gankers, and even then your best tank is a cheap fit.

Don't fall into the trap of "bling fit" modules. Sure, that Pithi A-Type shield booster will run forever without running out of cap, but it's an open invitation to suicide gank your ship (we refer to these kinds of ships as "loot piñatas").

Once you know how to blitz missions, you can make more ISK/hr with a T2 sentry dominix than the other guy flying an officer-fit Raven Navy Issue who doesn't know what he's doing. Even with a bling-fit Raven Navy Issue, you're going to spend proportionally more of your time in warp and jumping through stargates, so the extra few seconds you shave off each battleship kill don't really matter.

So I guess my opinion is that you should get into a Dominix ASAP, focus on Sentry Drone DPS, and learn how to blitz missions.

And keep in mind a corporation called "Pro Synergy": they'll clean up all those wrecks for you, and pay you 45% of their take. This is nice supplemental income for someone who is blitzing missions since any time you spend salvaging is wasted time.

Generally your ship is going to be in danger only when there are webs. As long as you have a good feel for what situations you can and can't handle, you should be able to jump out before they cut your hull. In case of webs (usually frigates), you'll need either fast guns or drones to take them out ASAP so you can warp.

Just remember to check guides online to see what you're up against. If a mission seems to iffy to you, decline it. You get one every four hours, and even without that it's better to lose a little standing than millions on a battleship.

Like what you said, but I'd like to comment on one thing:
Sentry drones, I've just preferred regular, buzz-around type drones. Not quite as effective and I must not have been using them correctly? Perhaps. Just seems to me the mobile drones are more flexible.

Sentry drones are essentially designed to work like turrets. Turrets have much higher overall damage output because they're restricted in how the damage can be fully applied.

So essentially a lot of people like sentry drones because, used properly, they de facto give you a faster clear time on mission rooms. Moving drones are more flexible for sure, but have lower absolute numbers.

Though, again, L4s aren't exactly end-game-equivalent content here. Step 1: Use what works and what doesn't bore you to tears, Step 2: there is no step 2, if what you're doing works then you're fine.

Before this summer, don't try L4 without T2 sentries because it takes forever to complete the mission, not mentionning the travel time in a BS.

I did a dozen L4 with T1 sentries (on this char when it was at ~8M sp) while finishing training for T2 and basically lost my time compared to storming L3 in my Ishtar (T1 sentries are fine for L3)

Now with T2 sentries and better drone skills doing L4 starts to be much more rewarding.