EVE New Citizens Q&A

Let me preface by saying that I have spent some time searching about this subject. I've gotten LOTS of conflicting information, which is why I'm asking about something that many probably feel has already been answered.

I've been running level 3 securities in my Prophecy with very little trouble at all. Angel Extravaganza and The Blockade have all been unable to break my tank, and my drones/missiles seem to be cleaning up nicely. It's to the point where it's getting so easy that I'm being lazy.

From what I've gathered after talking to various people, googling, and reading these forums, level 4 security missions are a fairly decent source of ISK, and the next logical step up from where I am now. But I've also learned that it's mainly the realm of well skilled and fit battleships and T3 cruisers. I feel like I should be able to step right into a BS from where I'm at, but everyone keeps telling me that I need more skills. More skills. More skills.

I'm not disagreeing with them. One of the reasons I've been doing as well as I have in my first month is that I've listened well to the advice given to me(most of the time). But what I'm beginning to wonder is if it really is necessary to skill up to the point where I'm sporting tech 2 modules in every slot before I try a LVL 4. Are they really that difficult? Is the jump in difficulty that much from LVL 3s?

I feel like I've got a decent grasp on the mechanics of the game, at least within the limited scope of security missions. I don't claim to be a master, but I do feel like I could 'punch above my weight class' a bit and be successful. I could stand to lose 2 or 3 battleships, if it came to that, but I really don't WANT to.

So I guess my question is: what's the earliest you'd feel comfortable recommending a person start attempting LVL 4 security missions, given an intelligent and savvy player who's done their homework? I'm assuming at first it will be slow and probably not as good ISK/h as blitzing lvl 3s in my BC. But there will no doubt be a breaking point where it starts to become more profitable, which is what I'm looking for.

Is the damage really that high?

The standard mode of running LVL 4s seems to be something along these lines:

Warp in. Burn or MJD away from everything. Snipe tacking/elite frigs first, then clean up everything remaining while keeping targets as far away as your guns can effectively hit and do damage at.

My understanding is that battleships don't necessarily rely on speed tanking, so passive/active tank needs to be very good. That doesn't mean I should ignore transverse velocity entirely, but that I'll be better served by having a very strong tank without it.

The other thing I see a LOT of people using are rails. I personally lean towards cap-free damage, such as missile or projectiles. So I'm wondering why rails are so popular. Best range, probably?

MJD's have made level 4's a breeze, if you are careful. With a non-MJD battleship, it's hard to do one without a T2 fitting. With it, the barrier of entry is a lot lower. Guristas can be a bit of an exception to that... They can hit out quite far, but if the DPS is a bit much, you can just warp out.

It also depends on the mission. There are a lot of easier level 4's (LP reward for the mission is a good indicator of difficulty) that can be run without issues with low skills.

My opinion, if you think you are ready, give one a try. Accept one with less than a 4000 LP reward and see what happens. With an MJD and long range, you shouldn't really have issues.

I did my first ones with a partially T2 tank (this was long before MJD's), they were challenging, but doable. And I hate reading mission guides... I like surprises. Lost one Raven to a mission when I didn't realize what the triggers were - spawned 12 drone BS's & 2 scrambling frigates on top of me while my drones were buzzing around 25 km out (they died in a few seconds) - but other than that, it was pretty smooth.

I think as a player, I'm ready for them. But I think my character needs just a few more skills to round things out. I'm just getting that itch to move forward, and trying to resist it as much as possible.

After doing level 4 missions in a battlecruiser (Drake) for a while, until I was confident I could handle them, I then moved into a battleship (Raven).

I lost the Raven about 24 hours later, in Worlds Collide. I didn't have insurance.

A battleship is a very different beast than a battlecruiser. Make sure you can fully T2 fit it, including drones, but excluding primary weapons (unless drones).

I recommend Platinum insurance for the first outing in any new ship you are unsure of.

A) Why wouldn't you insure your first BS? o_0

B) I asked if a MJD could be warp scrambled or disrupted in the help channel, but no one seemed to know. Thanks for the answer!

C) I'm not quite up to T2 tank modules. I've been focusing my training on drones to get T2/Sentry drones first to speed up killing rats in LVL 3 missions if all else fails.

D) I prefer turret neutral ships and/or missiles to back up my drones. As far as I can tell, I'm looking at either a raven, or more likely, a Dominix. Any suggestions on those two?

One thing of my own to add to the poster above (which is all good advise)...

Depending on your preferences, if you upgrade the Raven, I've found the Navy Scorp to be a bit easier with low skills (I replaced my single lost Raven with the NS, back in the day), than the RNI. (It's a bit tankier.) The RNI is a bit more efficient though.

I've always had a soft spot for the Maelstrom, though... It was probably my favorite T1 BS for missioning.

They are close enough to be a matter of personal preference, in my opinion.

I hate seeing some of these replies. Many people are risk averse sheep, who only play it safe and regurgitate what has been shoved down their throats their whole EVE career.

I am several months old now. I've been doing level 4 security missions for several months. I DO NOT FLY BATTLESHIPS and am STILL working on my core skills. I decline all missions that destroy empire faction and one other that has big incoming DPS and 2 stasis webifiers in the last pocket. Other than that, I do them!

I started doing Level 4's in my Thorax. That's a T1 Gallente Cruiser. I didn't do the drone boat thing, focusing on rails (hybrid guns) and a passive shield tank. Speed, engagement distance management and a cruiser with a small signature radius will allow you to do the majority of the level 4 missions.

However, managing triggers will be important! I screwed myself badly in The Blockade (I think), spawning more and more waves while the damping cruisers were still in the field. For that mission, I had to resort to a sniping Talos (bought and fit for that specific screw up). These days I fly a meta 4 armor Brutix. Nothing T2 and I do just fine.



Here is what you need to understand when reading the various replies in this thread:

1) Many mission runners farm ISK. So their priority is to maximize ISK/hour. When that is your focus, then you need a Battleship. It stands to reason that these people are trading challenge for complete safety to do so. And when there's no challenge, there's no fun. All you're doing is grinding ISK with the intent to have fun with it LATER.

2) If you're looking for FUN, you can do some level 4's with an Assault Frigate. Some you won't be able to do because you will not be able to break the rats tank... but you can survive indefinitely.


If was reading these forums when I was moving up the missioning difficulty tiers, I would have quit this game because waiting for skills and waiting for ISK to buy big expensive battleships would have been too boring for me. I have lost many Thoraxes to missions, however each one payed for itself in spades. What's a 15-20 million loss in meta 4 modules (you insure your ships, right?) when you can make 15 million in one mission?


Bottom line: *most* level 4 security missions are fun in a Cruiser. These days I do almost all of the ones I can find in Serpentis space with a Brutix (battle cruiser). Battleships are not necessary.

I agree with Kerrec that some of the posts are way too conservative.

You definitely don't need T2 weapons. Heck, I even did all T4 epic arcs and never trained T2 large weapons because I preferred to put my skill points towards smaller ships. Although for sentry drones, T2 is more important than for other weapons. (Mostly because there are no meta 4 drones, which makes the step between T1 and T2 much bigger.) A T2 tank is important, but if you know what you are doing, you can get away without even that.

You pretty much can do lvl 4 missions as soon as you can fit a MJD and some long-range meta 4 weapons.
However, with minimal skills, they will be very inefficient and you might make more ISK/h if you stay with lvl 3 missions until you have better skills.

And yes, you can do them in smaller ships. Your Prophecy is probably able to do most lvl 4 missions. Watch out for webs and neuts though. And you don't have the GTFO safety that a MJD brings.

Just to stay on point with the OP, I want to point out he/she can do Lvl 3 security missions with her "BC" very easily and is getting lazy/sloppy/bored of them. Making the jump to a BS means training new weapons, new ship class, and the "T2" tank that such a slow huge target requires.

I am not saying to NOT do level 4's with Battleships. I am saying he/she can easily jump into Level 4's with the BC they are already flying while large weapons, Battleship and T2 tank are training up. It will not be "fast", but it will remain "interesting" or "challenging".

Too many people have the mentality of "having to wait to play." It is not necessary, and some of the advice in this thread is truly a disservice to new players trying to find their place in EVE. How many people have quit because a 30 day training queue is not acceptable to progress to the next step?