Ships & Modules

Hi Guys,

Hoping you can help me with some advice here. I just rejoined EVE after a very long absence and I forgot how to play. I'm looking to do lvl 4 missions and like everyone else I'm hoping to build a ship that can make the missions a cake walk. If that's even possible. I have about a 1.1b budget so not too much money, but I hope it's enough.

My Character is Caldari with about 18m skillpoints. I'm mostly skilled in
missles and shield. I was thinking of going Navy Raven route (have cruise V), but can anyone offer another build and ship I should look into? Or is a Navy Raven the only good way to go? If it is can you offer a great build?

Don't worry I'll be flying a frigate and do lvl 1-2 missions so I remember how to play before doing lvl 4's.

Big, huge thank you for any help you can offer! Cheers!

hanks for the help Mina! Yeah I would love to get a Golem, but last I checked the price for one of those is nearing
1billion. Sadly, that's too much for my budget :(. Caldari options seem limited here. I never looked at pirate ships
would they be better than a navy raven? This is kind of depressing.

You can do mission in most battleships very easy. All you need to do is find one you like.

Just stay a away from the Caldari Scorpion and the Abbadon. The Scorpion is not a good mission boat and the Abbadon has a terrible capacitor for a laserboat.

With missiles and shields as your main skills, Caldari is the obvious choice but Minmatar have ships that match up with missiles and shields as well, just not as many options as Caldari.

At destroyer level there is the Talwar, at cruiser level there is the Bellicose, at battlecruiser level there is the Cyclone and at battleship level there is the Typhoon and the Typhoon Fleet Issue with generally better stats, but the Typhoon FI weapon bonuses are split between missiles and projectile turrets.

If you want to go pirate faction ships, Guristas is the obvious choice for missiles and shields, but you'll need to train up Gallente ships because Guristas ships need both Caldari and Gallente ship skills to pilot them.

There is another option that isn't so obvious. Amarr drone ships can fit missile launchers, but to get the most out of these ships you'll need to train into armour tanking (Amarr ships have a noticeable lack of mid slots), Amarr ships and drones. Even though Amarr drone ships can fit missile launchers, there are only a few Amarr ships that get missile bonuses and they are all T2 ships. On an Amarr drone ship with missile launchers, the missiles are very much a secondary weapon system, the drones will provide most of the dps. Amarr drone ships also tend to be slower compared to missiles ships from the other main empire factions.

On top of that, in terms of training time it will probably take you significantly longer to train into the Amarr drone ships than to train into Guristas or the Minmatar missile ships. And assuming you made the effort to train into the drone ships, managing drones effectively does add an extra layer of work load.

So with those downsides on the table, why bother mentioning the Amarr drone ships?

Because they can be viable mission runners, if you have the skills and are willing to deal with the drone micro-management.
If you want a ship that you can run missions in with minimal attention and minimal micro-management, this is not the answer for you. On the other hand, it's not another cookie cutter ship fit that a thousand other players are using. If you like to try doing things in a different way compared to most players and you like to play in a way where you need to pay more attention to what you are doing and are more engaged in what you are doing, you might like this option.

I've personally been tinkering with some Armageddon missile fits on the test server. Cruise missiles and a combination of long range sentry drones as well as heavy and medium drones are showing some decent results. Not amazing results, but respectable. Snipe the small rats that are most likely to be a problem if they get close with long range sentries, then switch to heavies or mediums and brawl with the bigger rats. RHML's are also an option but there are some fitting problems with T2 RHML's on an Amargeddon that are easier to deal with by choosing T2 cruise launchers.

Rattlesnake is easy mode for L4s.

Basic tank, MJD, cruise and sentries. It's boring but works. Just warp in, MJD to a perch, drop sentries and fling missiles until something gets close, scoop drones, MJD to new spot, rinse and repeat. For a couple missions you can slap on an MWD as well, for others you won't need it. You'll barely need tank since you will MJD away from anything close enough to apply real damage. Most things pop long before they get that close though.

You can do L4's with T1 rigs and T2 modules (cheap). Anything more is just cutting down time for each mission, but you're never really at any risk from the rats themselves, so it's not like bling is required.

Rattlers are also popular in PvP right now, which is another reason why I like them.

You can use the link below and take a peak a few different setups. It will really depend on your skill and how much you are willing to spend. 500ish million is about as cheap as you are going to get, I would think, and still maintain enough dps/tank to get things done.

https://o.smium.org/search?q=rattlesnake+cheap


I used a rattlesnake for a while, until I got into my golem.

Rattlesnake >>>>>>>>>>>> golem

My favorite lv4 ship right now is the Machariel, but that doesn't seem to fit with your skill training. For the most part I agree with the CNR, a classic. Not sure a golem is a great upgrade path, mostly just a tankier cnr, although the tractor beam bonus is nice. Rattlesnake is another possibility and should make missions easy, however I don't really like the combination of drones and missiles. Also the rattlesnake hull is very slow. I typically use it as a ship to afk missions in, MJD to range and let sentry drones pick everything off.

This is a pretty cookie cutter CNR fit. There are a ton of small modifications you could make for personal preference. Now that it has 7 mids you have a lot of flexibility for tank or application and room for a prop mod. instead of the guidance enhancer in the low slot you could use a damage control for more tank, a drone damage amp for better drone damage, or a signal amp for better lock speed and targeting range.

[Raven Navy Issue, CNR t2 cruise]
Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System
Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Missile Guidance Enhancer II

Pith X-Type Large Shield Booster
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Heavy Capacitor Booster II, Navy Cap Booster 800
100MN Afterburner II
Republic Fleet Target Painter
Sensor Booster II, Scan Resolution Script

Cruise Missile Launcher II, Mjolnir Fury Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Mjolnir Fury Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Mjolnir Fury Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Mjolnir Fury Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Mjolnir Fury Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Mjolnir Fury Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Mjolnir Fury Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Mjolnir Fury Cruise Missile

Large Warhead Rigor Catalyst II
Large Warhead Rigor Catalyst II
Large Warhead Flare Catalyst II

Hobgoblin II x5
Garde II x3

Rattle is terrible against Frigates, which you will still have plenty of in L4's. Microjump/sniping isn't always the ideal solution either, and can start to cut into your completion times if you're looking for the most efficient L4 ship.

On the rattler sentries will one shot most frigs on approach, and a gecko eats orbiting frigs alive.


so many slots dedicated to cap regen for a tank that is so much overkill, I'd much rather just throw a cap booster on there and inject when cap is needed. most lv4s you hardly have to run the tank when you can put out ~1500 dps like the rattler can.

I like fits more like the one below. there are so many little preference chances players can make. changing focus on drones/missiles, changing prop mods, or changing between raw dps or application.

[Rattlesnake, DPS T2]
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Missile Guidance Enhancer II

Gist X-Type 100MN Afterburner
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Gist X-Type Large Shield Booster
Heavy Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 800
Republic Fleet Target Painter
Federation Navy Omnidirectional Tracking Link, Optimal Range Script

Cruise Missile Launcher II, Inferno Fury Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Inferno Fury Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Inferno Fury Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Inferno Fury Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Inferno Fury Cruise Missile
Drone Link Augmentor II

Large Drone Control Range Augmentor II
Large Warhead Rigor Catalyst II
Large Warhead Flare Catalyst I

Gecko x1
Garde II x2
Curator II x2
Warden II x2