Missions & Complexes

A Golem can push nearly twice that DPS and well over double that in tank, though for a steeper price on hull compared to a Tengu, though you generally don't need to rely on A-Types to get both that offense and defense at the same time. If you have some descent or better drone skills, a Rattler can actually still tank like the old days but now has a host of options to do even more damage as well since drones still do good solid damage and they now actually hit decently with missiles. That gives the Rattlesnake the ability to cross past 1K DPS range and even push 1.2K or more in some cases. CNR, still a pretty strong Navy boat when fit for L4s, could be a good stepping stone to the Golem until you have Marauders to 4 or 5 and have the isk for the boat. A Rattler would be cheaper hull-wise, but would require cross training another battleship skill and at least two weapon systems rather than one. The other BS boats I haven't had a lot of time in or any time in. As for the non-BS boats listed in particular, they can work, but not much better if at all better than a Tengu anyways.

For Burners, there's a guide floating around here that I've seen a few times. Either wait for the author to chime in after me or you could search for it yourself, but either way it would be a great start for someone trying out burners for the first time. First thing to point out about them is that they are NOT like L4's, so those same battleships are a no-go. You'll likely need to invest in several ships with very specific builds, ones that are fortunately inexpensive compared to the average L4 fit on a battleship.

How and why?
Any of the Marauders and most of the BS listed will have more tank and more gank than the Tengu.

The Tengu's only advantage over the BS and Marauders is speed. Yet the longer range of the weapons, the additional tank that means you simply point at the next gate and shoot while traveling, the higher dps and the ability to use MJD negates the speed advantage and in fact allows for faster completion of most missions. If you are blitzing level 4 non-burners then you want a Machariel anyway.

OP of the ships you listed I would advise against the Gila, Drake and the HAC's, not because they cannot handle level 4 mission, simply because they will be significantly slower to complete them compared to the other options.

Never flown a Claymore so I will not comment on that.

Of the ships that are left in your list the as a drones pilot at heart the Rattle would be my favorite.

just started marauders skill thinking about getting a golem

looking to break things up a bit in the normal mission routine

gonna look into the mach

does anyone use a claymore? the high rate of fire and non specific missile damage seems like a good choice or is it not worth fitting out for missions

If you are going to go Marauder the Golem is a good choice and it is my go to mission ship but then I have a somewhat unique set of reasons for liking it. I fly missions in all 4 major factions space because I have RL friends that choose to live all over the EvE universe and the Golem is a good fit for that because it has the most consistent killing speed across all NPC races. No it is not the fastest just the most consistent and that is more important to me.

If you mission is a singe area of space either the Vargur or the Paladin may be better options than the Golem, so I suggest you look into those as well.

I have never seen a mission fit Claymore, that does not mean there is not one out there somewhere just that I have never seen one. I have tried other command ships in the past, while they have the tank and DPS to run level 4's they lack the speed of the Tengu and that made for rather lackluster completion times. My suggestion is give it a try if you like the ship, because in the end flying what you enjoy is more important they how quickly it can complete a mission.

played around with a claymore setup

5x CN heavy missile launchers (mission specific damage type)
drone link augmenter
auto targeting system

gist x-type large shield booster
2x CN adaptive invullns
large cap battery ll
10mn AB ll
cap reacharger ll

3x CN Ballistic Control System
Drone Damage Amp ll ( gives more overall dps than a 4th CN Ballistic Control System)

Bay Loader Accelerator
Warhead Calefaction Catalyst

5x mission specific medium tech 2 drones

seems very similar to what i run in my tengu other than i would be running with drones and missiles
damage and tank are very close other than in terms of mission specific tanking claymore will be better vs EM and the tengu better vs kinetic

i do have very good drone skills (had a carrier years ago)

claymore is pocket change as i have all the fittings already and not to long to grind isk

i browsed around some golem builds and think ill have to start saving for that (have the isk but dont fly a ship unless i can replace it with all modules)

seems the mach is a blitzer does it tank well for completion missions?

played around with Nightmare on test server heart sank and disappointment to my expectations (probly with not having tech2 large lasers)

gonna test server rattlesnake, mach, and barghest
any fitting help with mission runner Battleships feel free to reply

Thank you for the reminder, I did not remember this until I read your post.

I have both a Tengu and a Rattlesnake on this char. for L4's, and have had a Golem in the past.
Sold the Golem a while back. With pretty good drone skills, I get over 1100 fit window dps from a passive tanked RS, with Gardes/Wardens/Hob's and a Gecko in the drone bay, 5 T2 launchers using t2 ammo. (kin/therm as the mission wants)

Isk/hr is highest for me on the RS, passive means I don't care about the odd neut mission, (SoE)
With the changes last year-ish in reprocessing, the salvage ability of the Golem became much less profitable per hour.

Also I can fit a RS and rig it (T2 purgers, Dread Gurista invuln and hardeners, 2x T2 DDA's, and T2 target painter), for 2-300 million less than the current cost of a Golem hull.
I still have the Tengu, and use it for the few missions I blitz. It does not do well in the missions with BS class neuts lol. The Golem cared, for the 5 seconds it took to kersplode the neut ships lol.

Mobile tractor in the hold for the missions that need you to pick up an item, and for cherry picking loot. ( I never bother to wait for it to finish, just take what it gives me by the time everything is dead or I get the mission objective.

Keep some Precision cruises in the hold for elite webbing frigs that will kill your drones, and good to go.
Omni tanked so never any delay jumping to next mission.

Gila used to be the same-ish for mission running time as my Tengu, when it could still use sentries, don't know about now.

So for me Rattlesnake is king for L4's, but it isn't overly engaging. And it wants 4 million plus SP in drones before it really comes in to it's own. YMMV.