EVE New Citizens Q&A

Just on 3)

They're not unforgiving, they're actually quite easy. You don't want a high tank, low DPS or you'll actually be better off running L3s. Once you're on L4 income, battleships aren't expensive, at least the T1 ones aren't.

There's no one best ship or weapon.
Missiles are easy-mode
Lasers are efficient in Amarr space, less so everywhere else
Drones are awesome
Hybrids have huge range (or insane damage)

You're best off focusing on your core and support skills while you work your way up in both skills and ISK. Use that time to figure out how you enjoy flying ships, up close and fast, distant and sniping, etc

p.s. Don't ever fly what you can't afford to lose/replace.

I've heard couple of times how missiles are easier to use. Is there a reason for it?

Too bad for Lasers.

Missiles can't miss. Guns can. If you fly a gun boat you have to pay attention to transversal velocity. The reason the raven navy issues is popular the bonus to explosion radius that increases its damage on smaller targets.

The truth is, every BS can solo L4 missions easy. There are simply different degrees of easy. Drone boats can give the option of near AFK missioning. Set drones to aggressive attack, go eat lunch, come back and move on to the next room in the mission. This is actually a bad habit because there are ways that aggressive players can take advantage of such a playstyle due to a drone exploit.

Lasers are just fine if you prefer to mission for Amarr, they can fly missions for other races too but just not as fast. It is also possible to set up mission fits that are cap stable running one armor rep with 2 hardeners if you are feeling lazy, but ideally you will eventually want to pulse the rep and use the extra low slots for dps mods such as heat sinks. As Amarr though you will want to give Cap skills a high priority, they were the very first skills I raised to V. Also, keep in mind that standard crystals have no cap penalty, so switch to standards when cap starts getting low.

What is more important is deciding who you want to mission for,

I think you are going to find there is no easy answer.

I've run L4 missions in drone boats, a laser T3, and projectile battleship.

Each have pros and cons.

Drone boat was probably the 'easiest' but depending on NPC agro, could be very slow if you had to keep reeling in your drones to reset agro.

For me, the Legion was probably the most fun. Speed and signature tanking keeps it fun. So long as I did it right, rarely did my rep even get online. With good skills, they can be cleared pretty fast. Downside is if you want to loot and salvage as their cargo bays can be a bit anemic. But as mentioned, unlike missiles and drones, you do have to watch your transversals and sometimes have to turn away from your targets to get them to follow you so you can hit them (specifically, some of missions with drones).

I think my best all around was a Machariel. Good speed, good range, drone bay for the little ships and a set of salvage drones to clean up my mess. Honestly, the Mach was probably the most efficient mission running I had when you took a full look at full clears, loot, and salvage.

As far as tanking, that will greatly depend on the ship. My Mach was mostly a buffer tank. My Legion was set up for active armor. Each ship will tend to have a certain tendancy for tanking preferences. Generally, active tanking will usually mean your build is slanted towards more DPS. To get passive tanking, you are usually sacrificing DPS slots to get the tanking mods in. Shield based turret based ships are the exception, since their buffer and tank come mostly from Mid slots, and DPS mods are in low. But for armor ships, you are usually balancing DPS and tank.

You'll also usually find that as you get better skills, you may change your builds. A lot of times, the easiest and most efficient way of taking on L4s is to kill the NPCs faster, thus reducing your tanking requirements. When you can alpha most of the small ships before they are even in range, who needs to tank their DPS?

Running L4s isn't really about survival. Running any missions really aren't about survival, they are about efficiency. If you can't efficiently run L4s with your current skills, don't. You'll likely make better isk/hr in L3s. Trust me, I tried L4s way too early. Spending 1-1.5 hours kiting around and trying to clear a mission is not efficient. I went back to L3s in my cruisers and hacked away until my skills were better.

Do NOT passive tank a mission ship with a few rare exceptions.
To make a good passive tank you need to use far to many slots and will gimp your dps horribly.
There is a valid passive ishtar fit.
There is a soon to be extinct passive rattlesnake fit.
The june buffs to the rattlesnake will make using all the lows damage/ application mods the best way to go and likely need the rigs for missile application.
Higher dps from you equals dead rats and thus quickly reducing incoming damage and higher isk/hr and less boredom from watching a rat slowly die.

There's some truth to this, but there's also using the right tool for the job. My Enyo is probably not the best tool for level 4 missions, but its the most fun.

ok

Mission income scales with missions ran
Frigates are Cheap, L1 missions don't pay a lot
Battleships are semi expensive, L4 missions do pay quite well

By the time your ready to run L4's, you'll have earned enough isk from running L3's to buy a battleship
All four Major factions offer atleast 1 good missioning battleship
Another good option is a T3 Cruiser, but can be a little more pricey than a typical battleship

Whilst your running L1-3 missions train for a T2 tank, and just T1 small/medium weapons
When you start running L4's train the relevant weapon skill so you can train/use the T2 version

A T2 Active tank (Armour or Shield) needs 3-4 modules (1 repairer, 2-3 Hardeners)
That leaves the rest of your fitting slots free for DPS, DPS application and capacitor management
DPS Application is modules like Tracking Computers, Target Painters and such

A T2 Passive Shield Tank will need at least 6 Modules, based around +Shield HP modules, Shield Hardeners and +Shield Regen-rate Modules

A Passive Armour Tank (also called a buffer tank) is normally only used for PvP fits