EVE New Citizens Q&A

Hi guys!

I'm a new player(two weeks old), and I'm still trying to figure out how things work. First off, I want to point out that english is not my mother tongue, so I hope I'm not going to make any mistakes.

I've decided to make a career in missioning so I've started looking online for fits for PVE minmatar. So far I have a Bellicose fitted with heavy missiles , shield extenders and an invulnerability field and I'm still running lvl 1 missions. My first question is: at this point of the game, is the ship's fitting really important? Or should I get into that later on?
I also see that I'm not making as much isk as I was when I was mining(because yes, I started the game by mining ), and I really want to know how to improve my income sources(as of right now, I think I've made more money with project discovery than with actual missions).
As of skills, I'm trying to train the skills recommended to have mastery of my ship. Is it the right thing to do?
Lastly , if I go one the whole heavy missile path, should I try to get a cyclone? Or should I wait until a certain level of missions?
I must admit that I really enjoy this game, and I'm looking forward to make the most out of it(if that makes sense), so any advice is welcomed. Thank you very much for reading!

The Bellicose can easily run level 2 missions - it's an excellent ship. You would be much better off using rapid light missile launchers to shred frigates in lower level missions. Train drone skills -they make a big difference! Cyclone is suitable for level 3 missions but you may also consider cross training Caldari and flying a Drake if you want to stay on the missile path. I used a Gnosis with heavy missiles when running level 3 missions - that works well too and they should be pretty cheap next week when CCP hands out the celebratory rewards. Typhoon will work for level 4 missions but you should look at the Gurista pirate ships once your income permits - Gila and Rattlesnake. In all cases your advantage is that you have 2 weapon systems - drones and missiles.

A Bellicose fit for level 2 missions with level 3 skills could look something like this. Upgrade to T2 where you can:

[Bellicose, Bellicose]
AE-K Compact Drone Damage Amplifier
IFFA Compact Damage Control
Type-D Restrained Shield Power Relay
Crosslink Compact Ballistic Control System

Limited Adaptive Invulnerability Field I
Large F-S9 Regolith Compact Shield Extender
Large F-S9 Regolith Compact Shield Extender
10MN Monopropellant Enduring Afterburner
Astro-Inertial Compact Missile Guidance Computer, Missile Range Script

Prototype 'Arbalest' Rapid Light Missile Launcher, Nova Light Missile
Prototype 'Arbalest' Rapid Light Missile Launcher, Nova Light Missile
Prototype 'Arbalest' Rapid Light Missile Launcher, Nova Light Missile
Prototype 'Arbalest' Rapid Light Missile Launcher, Nova Light Missile

Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Core Defense Field Purger I
Medium Core Defense Field Purger I

Salvage drone x3
Hobgoblin I x5

You can engage with missiles or drones at 30Km, ship is cap stable so keep it moving with the afterburner - orbit a wreck or whatever is handy in the mission pocket. Missiles will take a long time to reload so let your drones do most of the work. Recall them is they start taking damage. Warp out and heal if your shield alarm goes off. You are producing roughly 200 dps which will apply well and you can select damage type to suit the mission. Defense is omnitank with around 20K ehp and 75 dps passive regen. T2 mods and rigs will improve this considerably if you have the skills and budget.

If you accept missions against other empire factions your standing with those factions will suffer - a lot of people work with several agents so they can decline those missions and only accept missions against pirate factions.

You can also run combat anomalies. Use your probe scanner (without probes) to show anomalies. Rewards here are bounties, loot and salvage - http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Cosmic_Anomalies Higher end anomalies are the principal form of income for a lot of nullsec residents - these are the sites people refer to when they talk about ratting.

If you choose to remain in highsec as a mission runner, you'll want to do business with the Sisters of Eve - their loyalty points are quite valuable. They have a level 4 agent in Lanngisi in Minmatar space. You will also want a secondary source of income - PI is an option to consider.

Heavy missiles are for larger targets, you are losing damage against targets with a SIG RES smaller than the missiles EXPLOSION RADIUS (look at SHOW INFO for ships and missiles for these figures.

LvL1 missions aren't so much for money as for standings which allow you to run higher level missions for money, keep at it and eventually with lvl2 and 3 missions your income will increase.

I do not disagree with this I only offer an alternative thought.
For the first couple of months staying in high sec can be better for you overall simply because you will have a wider range of opportunists and things to try than you will in nul. Things like the tutorial agents, epic arcs to name just a few.
When you have a better idea of all that you can do, and have a little more experience with the client and EvE in general you will be better equipped to make a decision on where you want to go and what you want to do.