Skill Discussions

Drake is the key word here. You want Heavies for the Drake, and if that's your immediate goal, then focus on Heavies.

If you want a bit longer to think on it, train suport skills while you wait. They are just as important as the missile itself.

Expected progression for a T1 Caldari Missile Pilot in missions would be something like that below. Note that Kestrels are not very good for L2 missions, and as there is no destroyer option, you should get into a Caracal as soon as possible. You can chose to skip the Raven and use a Drake for level 4s.

Level 1 missions: Kestrel (Light Missiles)
Level 2 missions: Kestrel -> Caracal (Light Missiles or Heavy Missiles)
Level 3 missions: Caracal -> Drake (Heavy Missiles)
Level 4 missions: Drake -> Raven (Cruise Missiles)

In the long run, Caldari Missile pilots will generally use one (or all) of the following ships for level 4 missions:
Drake (Heavy Missiles) - Slow, has drones but it works and you can use the easy-mode tank. Kinetic only damage bonus.
Tengu (Heavy Missiles) - Fast, no drones, so frigs can be an issue. Kinetic only damage bonus.
Nighthawk (Heavy Missiles) - Medium-fast, has drones. Solid ship, lower DPS than Tengu, but more tank and still relatively agile.
Raven Navy Issue (Cruise Missiles) - Fast, has drones. Solid ship, good DPS and 'enough' tank to run any level 4. About the same mission speed as a Tengu on kinetic missions, better in all others.
Golem (Torpedoes) - Fast, has drones. Very high micromanagement. Target Painters are a requirement on this ship, and they require a lot of effort to manage.
Scorpion Navy Issue (Cruise Missiles) - Medium, has drones. Low damage, and over-tanked. This is effectively an over-priced Raven. It has the same damage, and a standard Raven has enough tank for all the level 4s anyway. Good for semi-AFK missioning... if you're planning on being at the computer though, don't bother.

I own all of the ships above except the Golem, which I don't have the skills for, and the Scorpion NI... which I had and then sold because it was frankly rubbish for my play style. Your mileage may vary.

Almost....

Level 2: Caracal with Assault Missile Launchers (light)

Level 1 + 2 missions are mostly frigates. Heavies are poor vs. frigates, compared to AML which tear them apart.

As for drones, aim for Hobgoblin II to start.

This ^

Support skills apply to ALL missiles. You'll do far more DPS with T1 launchers and good support skills than T2 launchers and poor support skills.

The only time a SNI does missions faster than a CNR is when your CNR is fail-fit.

3 rigors, 1 (or 2) target painters, same number of drones, and an extra launcher. Enough tank for every l4 mission, and more DPS than a SNI, which in turn means you need less tank.

You can disagree if you like, but you are objectively wrong. You simply cannot make the SNI do more applied damage than a CNR that is properly fitted. It is mathematically impossible.

Now I'm not saying that people who want to take things slowly and have a larger safety net wont like the SNI more. That's fine. But for straight up blitzing, the CNR will beat the SNi every time barring a crap fit.

Not sure if trolling or just stupid. /thread

Thanks all. I am still about 60m Short of affording a Drake, but you guys got me ideas for when I get to that point. :P

Yeah not sure why anyone would put torps on a Raven for PVE. With torps you would be better served with a Golem.

Although it sounded better when I was setting this up, I´m going through with the how and why.

Ofcourse a CNR isn´t a torp ship, thing is from a whole bunch of text, you only react to that line.

a common feat among EVE players, not unlie the following.

Of an entire ship the only thing people tent to look at is DPS, while looking at kill lists already shows that a relative low DPS dealer is the ship that does the most kills. Few ships are feared more than the Falcon, not because of it´s damage.

Raw DPS is fine, but don´t underestimate secondary damage dealing, ships speed, and indirect damage enhancing.

You where disgarding the SNI because you can fit a CNR that does more damage, while in fact that fit buys you 2 SNI´s that do only slightly less damage if propper fit.

Also forgetting that although most of the modules can or will be the same on both ships the way to use them is rather different.

I think you should meticulously train all of the tech 1 skills you'll ever use on that drake before you work on any tech 2, and go for the faster-training tech 2 skills first as well. You don't yet know whether you'll prefer heavy missiles or heavy assault missiles, and training one to tech 2 only to find you like the other better is a large waste of SP. Just remember, there's nothing wrong with flying tech 1. It's completely viable. What is not viable is an improperly fit ship or a ship with holes in the fit, no matter how many tech 2, faction, or officer modules you have on it.

Most important things for a drake are (in approximate order of importance):

Heavy Missile

Heavy Assault Missile

Shield Hardener

Shield Extender

Damage Control

Afterburner

Shield Power Relay and/or Shield Flux Coil

Ballistic Control System

Target Painter

Stasis Webifier

MicroWarpdrive

Power Diagnostic Unit

Shield Booster

Shield Rig

Scout Drone

Capacitor Booster

Reactor Control

Missile Launcher Rig

All of these things are likely to become useful to a drake pilot at some point, especially if you play around with your fitting options and try to use your drake for multiple roles.

[edit]
P.S.: That target painter will prove immensely useful for running missions in a drake. Your medium-sized missiles will do greatly reduced damage to frigates, much less than small missiles would. Target painters and stasis webifiers will increase the damage dealt to the small targets. You can also use drones to hit frigates, but using a combination of both is often necessary to kill level 3 mission interceptors, especially when you still have poor offense skills. Even just 1 painter or 1 web makes a huge difference, and 1 of each is just incredible.

[edit 2]
Missed one thing: Level 2 missions have a few cruisers but mostly frigates and destroyers. If you use a drake in level 2 missions, I suggest you fit it with rapid light missile launchers. They'll easily be able to take out the weak level 2 mission cruisers and will be excellent for the hordes of frigs.
You could do level 2 missions alright in a caracal--a drake will suffice for level 3s but you need to have a complete tech 1 fit to tank them well enough. Level 3 missions have mostly cruisers and battlecruisers, with a handful of weak battleships. There will be a few frigates which sometimes have hefty tank, so while cruiser weapons are recommended you want a target painter or webifier as well.