Ships & Modules

Hello all,

I would like some advice as to what ship to train for next for doing lvl 4 missions.
I have been doing lvl 2 missions in Kestrel while training for a Drake. I have a DNI now with all support skills at 4 and will do lvl 3 missions. So what is the next logical step?
Specifically, should I train for a Golem or a Tengu? Or as a friend suggested for an Ishtar?
I want to do lvl 4's comfortably and reasonably fast. As I started out with missiles, I would prefer to stick to them for now.

I've been looking around, but most information seems to be rather outdated.
Also found a lot about an issue with bastion mod leaving you in space and not ewarping if you DC. Has that been addressed by CCP? Luckily for me, I dont DC often or randomly. Unfortunately for me, I DC once every day between 1 and 2am with almost 100% certainty and avoiding missioning for 1 hour would suck since I dont get that much time to play anyway...

get a golem if u intend on doing a solid amount of level 4.

you will not regret it.

I like the classic caldari progression through to golem. It's all perspective. If you're the kind of guy that has to be the bestest most efficient (you pick... time, isk, LP.... whatever) then the caldari route is not it.

Like the other guy said, if you hang your hat on laziest then caldari is your path. I see missions as a means to an end. You make isk and get stuff while you train your skills up to what ever your current end goal is [titan, wh, incursion pimpmobile],

Missions are a good way to learn the basics that will keep you happy your entire eve career. Tanking, sig radius, ship fitting.... all that gets worked out while climbing the mission ladder. I think of it as a large pvp tutorial myself. It doesn't teach you the finer points of pvp but it does cover the basic mechanisms behind pvp success.

An armor-tanked Typhoon works astonishingly good as well. The Typhoon is best if you don't want to run missions forever. I use my mission-chariot to run the level 4 epic arcs every three months, for example. The rest of my skills is invested in cruisers and frigates, since I do a lot of exploration and like fast, nimble ships.

The funny thing for me is: Even with a 1600mm armor plate, my Typhoon alignes faster then my old Raven.

its not like a golem wont require near max skill just to be flown anyway.

It really depends on what you plan to do outside of missions, if anything. As you are training missiles, the golem is a beast at missioning. If you have plans to go to wh's or PVP a tengu would be the better choice. the reason for this will be you will have to get youre base skills up and cruiser 5 for a tengu. Cruiser 5 unlocks a lot of other options.
Tengu is still a beast at running lvl4 missions.. and don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise. A HML tengu will kill smaller ships faster than a cruise missile bs and will be only few seconds behind on a BS kill IF you are shooting kinetic weak rats. It still works against others.
If you going the BS route.. I would say go scorp navy if you can afford it first as it is geared towards lower skilled players and will perform almost as well as a raven navy but has the safety of a decent tank.
zaqq has a youtube video on a pretty decent t1 raven fit.

I wouldn't use strat cruisers for missions, they've got the tank but the dps is a bit low.

So given what uve mentioned go golem; however, if ur not completely determined to use missiles, I'd recommend the kronos or the vargur.

Missiles don't give user as open a mission setup IMO. For example, on the other marauders you often get an optional rig + hardwiring 6 and 8 as optional. Whereas the golem should take rigor rigs in both slots, and have missile buffs on slot 6 and 8.

Training is also a little better IMO, you don't need to train target painters and if u max out the gunnery support skills, they apply to 3 sets of weapon systems instead of one.

Missiles boats are often not desired in incursions.

Last is kinda a minor point but if you run with other ppl for the lulz on occasion, the instant dmg will of guns will sometimes kill things uve fired missiles at before ur missiles get there.

First thing to note about eve, is everyone has their own opinion on what works and how well it works.
I have just about every ship and have run missions in almost all, vargur is the last and will do so in 13 days.
Generally they will all work, some better than others depending on what you shooting at, ie a laser boat will work against angel's but no where near a well as a ship that does explosive damage, ie projectiles and missiles. This again depends on the ship as a tengu does really well against guristas as it gets a kinetic bounus but pretty meh against others.
The tengu is imo the only viable T3 that can do missions, albeit best suited for guristas, it will kill a BS almost as fast as the RNI or golem, it will take more volleys but the rate of fire is higher, the difference is only a few seconds. it will of course kill the small stuff quicker.
As to missiles not used in incursions, I have never had a problem getting in to a fleet in a scorp navy, you won't get in to the shiny fleets.. but unless incursions is going to become youre way of life it doesn't matter that much.
The best advice I can give is if you gave a goal in mind, ie pvp, wh's etc stick with the HML and HAM's if you plan to train missiles. i did it this way and I have never had problems gettign stuff done, even after the HML nerf.
If you not that sure, just go with the cruise missiles and save cross training for when you know what you want to do.
Also its handy to use the test server to test fits, as many will have their own opinion and we all play differently.
I dc fairly often, so my golem is cap stable and I have never come back to a pod. Zaqq has a youtube of a cap stable raven, which also works like a charm. Cap stable fits aren't always optimal, but are key for new players imo, who cares if you take an extra volley or 2 to kill stuff.
Play the game the way you want, its far more fun. Shout if you ever get stuck and need help.

As far as I know the Golem does not get a missile HP bonus. No ship does. Also I am pretty sure that NPC defenders do not follow the same rules as player defenders. IE: They actually work; because they ignore things like missile HP and velocity and always hit every time.