Ships & Modules

Not sure what all info I need to give out, but I am low skill pilot. I'm running L4s right now and having a difficult time.
I don't have very good drone skills, but I do have some. I'm trying to decide between the Apoc and the Abaddon. I have an abaddon right now, but I'm not doing very well in missions. Maybe my skills aren't high enough to use it yet? Or maybe the apoc is better? Any help would be appreciated. Oh, and I'm running my missions for the amarr imperial family/royal family.

I would recommend the Apocalypse, the Abaddon requires very high skills in order to function well in missions mainly due to it's weak capacitor and lack of range bonus. The Apoc on the other hand has an excellent capacitor and the range + tracking bonus helps immensely in applying your dps.

Your final goal should be T2 Mega Pulse Lasers with Scorch for missions, until you get t2 guns, you have to use beams to get the required range. Here's a low skill fit:

[Apocalypse, Low Skill]

Large Armor Repairer II
Armor EM Hardener II
Armor Thermic Hardener II
Armor Thermic Hardener II
Capacitor Power Relay II
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II

100MN Afterburner II
Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II

Mega Modulated Energy Beam I, Imperial Navy Multifrequency L
Mega Modulated Energy Beam I, Imperial Navy Multifrequency L
Mega Modulated Energy Beam I, Imperial Navy Multifrequency L
Mega Modulated Energy Beam I, Imperial Navy Multifrequency L
Mega Modulated Energy Beam I, Imperial Navy Multifrequency L
Mega Modulated Energy Beam I, Imperial Navy Multifrequency L
Mega Modulated Energy Beam I, Imperial Navy Multifrequency L
Mega Modulated Energy Beam I, Imperial Navy Multifrequency L

Large Capacitor Control Circuit I
Large Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Large Auxiliary Nano Pump I


Hammerhead II x5
Hobgoblin II x5

I highly recommend being able to fit all those modules and have all the relevant support skills to IV (Amarr BS, Gunnery Support, drones and Capacitor skills especially) before flying a BS in missions, any lower and the missions will take very long and you run the risk of losing your ship. You should stick to level 3 missions in a Harbinger while you train your skills if they aren't up to scrach.

The fit itself is easy on fitting and has lots of room to spare. The tank is also more than you need and cap stable with the AB turned off (this is with perfect skills, you may not be capstable but as long as you have more than 5-10minutes worth of cap it's fine), so it leaves lots of room for error while you learn the ropes of L4 missions. The afterburner is important for mission gunboats especially with beams because the tracking isn't very good and flying away from enemies will help you alot in applying your damage. Bring a few different types of crystals (use faction ones, they last long and are a good investment) for different ranges.

Once you get skilled up to T2 large pulses you'd want to aim for something like this:

[Apocalypse, L4]

Large Armor Repairer II
Armor EM Hardener II
Armor Thermic Hardener II
Armor Thermic Hardener II
Imperial Navy Heat Sink
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II

100MN Afterburner II
Tracking Computer II
Tracking Computer II
Heavy Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 800

Mega Pulse Laser II, Scorch L
Mega Pulse Laser II, Scorch L
Mega Pulse Laser II, Scorch L
Mega Pulse Laser II, Scorch L
Mega Pulse Laser II, Scorch L
Mega Pulse Laser II, Scorch L
Mega Pulse Laser II, Scorch L
Mega Pulse Laser II, Scorch L

Large Processor Overclocking Unit I
Large Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Large Auxiliary Nano Pump I


Hobgoblin II x5
Hammerhead II x5

The main difference here is using Pulse lasers with Scorch, which gives you a maximum optimal of 80km with much better tracking than beam lasers, and you can also switch to Imperial Navy Multifrequency for 800dps @ 30km with even better tracking. The second big change is going from cap stable to using a capacitor booster, it takes a little getting used to but it allows you to use 3 heat sinks and 2 tracking computers which greatly improve your mission efficiency. The faction heat sink is there for CPU reasons and costs 60mil but also gives a nice boost to damage and is definitely worth it, alternatively you can use a 2% cpu implant to save some money.

IMO thats pretty much as good as it gets with Amarr tech 1 BS, from there if you want to upgrade further you'd have to look into the Nightmare or Paladin.

I'll make the obligatory comment for sentry drones for anoms though, admitted domi does it much better than a gedon. I never had much love for lasers in missions. Seemed that selectable ammo was always of greater benefit than the longest optimal.

Navy Geddon.

Lasers and Sentries, what more could you want.

Navy Geddon is best by far. Apoc dps is much lower and dps is everything (Isk/h remember? lolol). Abaddon has cap issues, even when loaded with boosters.

Navy Gueddon is the most skill intensive Amarr BS though.
Need top skills in gunnery, cap and Drone.

A Deathstar!

Paladin

For lower SP levels the Apoc would be the best choice, by providing a ok balance of tank, range and dps.

Navy Geddon is good if you have lots of sp in drones and are fluid with sentry / puls game play. However it works better with sentry+tachs, since it lacks the range and mobility of the navy apoc, but then it does need a lot of SP to work with this fittings.

Navy Apoc is good if you want a upgrade for the Apoc. It is extreme efficient in a mwd fitting with sentrys, 30km conflag optimal and sentry dps support(giving you 1200 dps in a 1100m/s mobile hull). Actually my favourite hull since the changes in the summer.

Abaddon is rather slow with lower range but it shines if you look for max dps. However even with all 5 the capacitor is the main limiter and it requires very good cap management in a gank fitting. On the flip side, it is probably the best T1 BS if you look for max dps on the target. If you throw some ISK for T2 rigs, a medium dead space rep and faction heatsinks/membranes on it, it can match the performance of the paladin/nightmare for isk/h for puls fittings.

With the changes the Paladin is somewhat a semi afk tank for L4, with high range. However it lost her appealing as mwd ship that covers point blank with the web(what did allow 1560 dps fittings) and her niches for Incs or WH remote rep pve, where it was very good with the 90% web.

Well I think they have the best looking fleet in the game.