Ships & Modules

Post your fit?

As a general rule, shield rechargers are crap. You'd get much more (20% or so) tank with an invuln there.

Your real problem is probably just not killing things fast enough. Heavy missiles without a damage bonus -- even with 8 launchers -- don't push that much damage. It looks like that fit caps at 241 with max skills, which is under half what I'd look for in a basic L4 boat. There used to be a rule of thumb that said L4s needed tank + damage to be about 1000; while the NDrake can probably do L4s slowly it will never really do well. You could try HAMs I suppose but at the end of the day it's just not an impressive boat.

I had the same issue flying a Drake. Find a partner to run missions with, or cash in on the 90-day multiple training deal from CCP and make your own I think today is the last day, it is on your launcher.

Train for a Raven, or better yet train for the Tengu as it will allow you much more PvE content than just missions.


Here was my passive fit. Swap resists and drones as needed. Sometimes I would use a web instead of the meta shield extender too. Keep moving to reduce incoming damage.

[Drake, LML Passive]

Shield Power Relay II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II

10MN Y-S8 Compact Afterburner
Large F-S9 Regolith Compact Shield Extender
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II

Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Heavy Missile

Medium Core Defense Field Purger I
Medium Core Defense Field Purger I
Medium Core Defense Field Purger I

Hornet II x5

One piece of advice for when you fly your first battleship, do not overestimate it. I lost my first battleship in a "Duo of Death" mission which is one of the easiest ones.

The Drake used to work with the regen fit but they nerfed the Drake 2 weeks after the first release and a couple of times more after.
My advice, buffer tank and keep your distance. Your target calling should be small to large, always and forever.

That target calling is one of the first things you have to keep in mind, there no exceptions, even in pvp.


You will have some trouble in the "Vengeance" mission(s) with that named NPC with the high bounty tag on him. You can do it ina Drake but you need to shoot the small stuff and the other battleship first, then you need to get really close to the named one before you start shooting, it helps a lot.

Guristas / Angel Extravaganza. You will need to loot every mission to collect a Guristas and Angel Diamond tag. They do not drop in the missions but in storyline ones.

If you get offered a "Enemies Abound 1/5" do yourself a favor, decline them. They will tank your Gallente standing. I still cannot enter Gallente highsec without getting hunted by the Federation Navy.

So much so wrong here I do not even know for sure where to start so I will simply go in order you posted them.

Buffer tank
For a high SP player who has serious mission experience and who is blitzing them I can see this.
As a general rule and for low SP players active tanks for missions will always be a better option.

Target calling or target preference as some call it.
Again this depends on so many things there is no one way to do it.
When running level 4's in a dessie or an assault frigate the small stuff has to die first with priority to anything that has ewar of any kind. On the other hand with a BS or a Marauder in the same mission you have to turn that target priority upside down since you will likely be able to tank an eniter pocket full of the small stuff it is the bigger ships that can hurt you so they have to die first.

The angels and guristas extravaganza missions.
The tags needed for the bonus room can and often do drop from NP killed in the mission.
Not that running a story line to get them is a bad idea, however because the loot fairy has never been kind to you does not mean that it does not happen.

Going back to the OP.
SP has a huge affect on your ability to run missions. I can and often do run level 4's in an assault frigate for the challenge but then the character I do that with has more than 100 million skill points and is all applicable skills to level 5 for the ships and fits I use. If you were to try it you would likely die very quickly..

Level 4's in a BC will always be a challenge and to be honest with you it would be better to stick with level 3's for now. The ISK and LP earned per gaming session will be higher and you will not have the risks of ship associated with running 4's in a Drake.

For the future I suggest that you set your sights on a Cal Navy Raven for your first level 4 ship, find a fit that you think you want to try and then continue to run level 3's until you can afford it.

What?

Your best advice is to buy a 4 gazillion isk boat to sit still and press FONE all day? Sorry that you have so few skillpoints, I only has 200 million (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) of those.

There no flaw in my assessment and the next bigger boat would be the Raven, not the Navy Raven.


I get that some of you like sitting still somewhere and pressing FONE all day is a fun thing to do but flying a boat is a tad more rewarding and teaches you stuff in a fun way.

You are trying to teach someone with very little experience that it is very good to avoid all kinds of ewar and expecting all combat situations to be same "save" way.

With that experience he will end up in null somewhere and be very surprised to see his 4 gazillion boat explode when he sits in a Sanctum, surrounded by 12 black ops and 33 proteus.

For this specific ship and purpose, I would active tank it.

Different ships do different things, one of the few PvE ships I passive tank is my Gila.

When or where did I say they had to buy a 4 gazillion ISK ship? That is your assumption because it fits your purpose what ever that purpose is. All I stated was that target priority will change depending on the situation and I used myself and running level 4's in an assault frigate or dessie versus running them in a BS or marauder as an example.

And yes there is a major flaw in your assessment. You stated that small ships are first and always will be first on the target priority list and that is not true. Target priority will be affected by the mission, the ship, it's fit and the players skill point level as well as their knowledge of missions in general, the mission they are currently running inn specifics and their preferred method of running missions. Even for the same player / character combination target priority for a torp fit Golem will be different than that for a sniper fit rattlesnake or Domi. The target priority for either of them will be different than for blitzing the same mission in a Machariel. And the target priority for running the same missions in an assault frigate or a dessie will be different than any of the others.


Again this is your assumption, I never stated how to run missions.
Why don't you spend the next few days and run level 4 missions in an assault frigate or a dessie and then come back and we can discuss this press F1 and ignore it theory. If you did I am sure you would come to appreciate that there is something very satisfying about warping into a pocket, hitting bastion and F1 and watching stuff explode. Then again maybe the idea of running level 4 missions in an assault frigate is more challenge that you are willing to accept, but you should try it.

Setting that aside there are many valid reasons to use bastion that do not include sitting still and pressing F1, just a couple that come to mind are dealing with little things like tracking disruption or even for a bit of extra tank if you get caught by an gank squad. Another that you would understand and appreciate if you spent some serious time with new players as they transition to level 4's is called full pocket agro. There are several missions where fulll pocket agro can challenge a 3 slot marauder tank even with bastion running. And these are likely to be the missions that the new players have the most trouble with because they do not understand the triggers, or because the mission has timed waves that they cannot clear fast enough you know because low tank, low dps etc. And so they end up overwhelmed and facing full pocket agro in a ship / fit that simply cannot handle it. I know for many in this game the normal route is to tell the to simply hit the quit mission button but that is not my style. It is far better for them to warp in and out as needed while you work as a team to thin it out to the point where they can finish it themselves and sometimes to do this you need to be able to pop bastion and press F1.


Again I have no idea what your problem is or why you are confused.
Where did I tell them they should avoid ewar?
With many BS fits and I am talking about T1 or in the case you mention a faction BS they can safely ignore ALL ewar EXCEPT those with energy neutralizers and even then with some ships and fits and in some missions you can ignore even that because the ewar simply does not matter.

Setting all of that aside the only place I specifically mentioned ewar was in combination with running missions in an assault frigate or a dessie and there my only comment was the small stuff needs to die first. Since the vast majority of the ewar that can cause problems in level 4 missions is associated with the NPC frigates killing them first is not ignoring ewar it is in fact dealing with it in a violent fashion and watching it explode into irrelevance.


No he will not because the OP likely has a brain cell or two active and will realize that the advice they are being given now is specific to the situation they face now, that being that they are stepping up into level 4 missions for the first time.
However if we want to take this to your level and carry it into nul sec sites and the OP follows your advice of SMALLEST SHIPS FIRST ALWAYS AND FOREVER they will likely explode in a cloud of space dust because they choose the wrong targets to shoot first. You see because even in nul sec it all comes down to adapting your target priority to the situation you face instead of blindly believing that smallest first is ALWAYS best.

For a person / character that has been in the game longer I would not argue the Rattle it is a favorite of mine as well.
However in this specific case when you look at the situation as a whole the Rattle is definitely not the best option.

First reason is that ALL skills trained to fly a Raven or Navy Raven are skills they will need for the Rattle anyway and short stopping into the Raven or Navy Raven gets them into a solid level 4 ship considerably faster.

Second reason is the additional training need to make a Rattle work well. With the need fto train the battleship skill for both Caldari and Gallente combined with the need for a solid sweet of drones skill, preferably the ability to use all T2 drones that Rattle is better suited as a longer term goal with the Raven / Navy Raven being a good intermediate step.

That was still marauder specific.

The reason I said, he should shoot the smaller ships first, is that when he flies a Drake or a battleship, he doesn't want to get webbed or pointed, both are bad always.

I did a "Silence the Informant" in a Harpy once, thank god I had null s with me. Anyhow I was assuming that one of his corpmates or someone he talked to will have pointed him to the eve-survival page that all unexperienced pilot should use, sometimes even experienced ones.

Triggers can be bad, especially in w-space but only a few level 4 missions have those. The first 5 rooms of the "Angel Extravaganza" for example has battleship triggers and up until room 5, triggering one wave is not too terrible.

A "Blockade" on the other hand is completely different wheelhouse. The first waves (of 5) have a battleship trigger, except for the last wave where the trigger is a destroyer.

A "The Assault (Sansha)" have time triggers but they are all spawn at range and slowboating to the gate (accelerate without a propulsion mode) will keep newer pilots alive while they shoot the closest targets.

I don't know about the SOE missions because they want me to shoot the Amarr and I cannot bring myself to do that.


Can't argue about the Rattlesnake since she and the Nightmare are my beloved level 4 ships.