Ships & Modules

I've only recently come back to EVE after a three or so year hiatus and I'm trying to work my way back into all the new changes. I'm calling it quits on mining right now and want to get back into mission running.

What I'm hoping for is some insight into what is considered the best battleship hull for running Lvl 4 missions? Now I'm afraid I'm a little finicky and It just feels wrong for me to leave something alive that wants to kill me so I always clean up every zone, 100%. I always loot and salvage, have a dedicated salvaging ship so I don't need to waste any slots on salvagers or tractor beams.

I've already flown level 4 missions, I've got a fairly tough hyperion, but I'm disappointed with how slow my progress through the missions is. So I was wondering what the recommendation would be for a battleship hull that can

1: Kill everything you come across in the mission fairly efficiently (using drones for frigates is fine, I do so already).
2: Be tough enough to survive accidentally pulling aggro from more than intended (or at least set up with extra tank for harder missions if I screw up and **** everything off)
3: Be able to lock onto a target at any range it warps in at and hit it out at this range (this is killing me right now, my hyperion can shoot out to 150km easy with the right ammo but lock on is only a pathetic 70-80km)
4: Hopefully fit an afterburner (not an absolute, but running between gates a little faster as I kill would be nice).
5: Not be so expensive as to make me extra attractive gank bait. If the hull cost a fortune that's fine but let's try to avoid modules that cost more than 500M-600M isk, I don't want to buy a shiny new ship and then have a shiny new killmail in the mail later because I suck at PVP still.

That being said I have half decent drone skills right now (about 2.3M skillpoints worth) and some gunnery skills (4.2M skillpoints worth) but I'm not hard set on anything. Training time isn't that bad and I'm fairly patient,
I like gallente and caldari designs but I could be coaxed into flying an amarrian disaster (I'm sorry but they're just ugly battleships to me) if you can prove it's the best. I'm also interested in missiles, the range appeals to me and I wouldn't be overly concerned about the flight time (I count my shots with my hybrids already, doing the same for missiles wouldn't be a problem).

I've thought about the rattlesnake as a possible next venture, or maybe a maurauder but I wanted to get some opinions before I start setting up a skill plan for where I want to go next. If you have a setup that goes completely against everything I just said but feel it's the best go for it and tell me. I'm here to learn what the general consensus is. My one true preference is a battleship class hull. I like being big and tough, even if it doesn't mean much to a Tech 3 cruiser's capabilities.

It's kinda hard to **** up with a battleship, unless you're stupid. Just pick one, fit it accordingly, and go tear stuff up. Then fine tune your fit.

well, then i severely misread his post :suicide:

Yeah, it does, but it's fixable. Ended up rigging it for lock range and training Long Range Targeting to 5 before it stopped bothering me.

Probably should have fitted a SeBo in place of the web for a few of the missions, too.

I must be the only person who hates cap-booster setups. I hate micro-management like that. I mean, in missions like WC, where you're subjected to heavy dps, you have to micromanage your guns, tank, and pulse the booster so you don't run out of cap ammo. It's just too much to take care of.

Honestly, that's a whole lot closer to what I use. But I figured a security blanket might be nice to start out.

True. The hulls cost over a billion. Got mine for ONLY 600m. Cap booster until you feel confident I guess.