Missions & Complexes

hi all,

Since im on limited time, I need to reach a lvl 4 missions capable ship In around 2 months, or this account will be put to sleep for a long time. Which one do you suggest? drakes and ravens are the most popular but can I train enough SP for them? my impression when I used to play and had a drake (years ago) is that It couldnt really do the heavy lvl 4 missions, is this still true?. no idea about the raven though..

^^ What he said. Drake is fine, albeit a bit slow for the bigger missions. I don't like the Raven though, just too fat and bloated. If you are aware of your position and keep drones on webbing/scramming frigs you won't get into trouble with the Drake. Bring a friend for the larger missions unless you want to spend a while on it.

T2 tank & launchers and T2 drones should be considered required.

Once you feel like it's taking too long and aren't in any danger, move up to a Tengu.

drake will do them all if properly fitted, raven won't do them any faster and takes more time to properly skill.
drake also prepares you for tengu, which is one of the best boats for lvl4 missions.

Nope, there is no way around it. You must train for T2 HM launchers or else you wont be able to use the T2 ammo, Fury, which is extremely important for your DPS.

Yes, and no. You can fit meta 4 Arbalest launchers. Switching from HML IIs w/Scourge Fury to Arbalests w/Scourge drops my DPS from 379 (my skills w/ a common Drake PVE fit) to 272. I spend the ISK for T2 missiles for L4s because it saves time, and I make it back with bounties/LP/mission rewards. If you spend LP buying faction ammo, it ups your DPS from 272 to 312. But I don't condone using faction ammo on missions, and you're still well below your potential. Can you do L4s with a Drake that has only 272 DPS? Probably, but the near 30% DPS reduction means 30% longer mission times. You also may end up warping out because you're unable to slow down NPC DPS fast enough to weather the DPS spikes from new spawns.

Or, you could invest 400m in a full set of CN missile launchers and get 311 DPS w/T1 Scourge or 357 DPS w/faction ammo. While possible, this is just not practical for most people. Putting that much ISK into a Drake is just dumb, and you're still short of what T2 launchers would do for you.

So, that brings us back to the 14 days for T2 launchers...
tl;dr They're worth it.

Doing L4s in a Drake is already a slow process compared to using T3s or a faction BS. Slowing it down further with 30% less DPS just makes it excruciating.

Re: Raven - It's not as simple as torps/cruise = more gank = faster missions. The torps/cruises do a crappy job on anything not BS size, and there are many non-BS NPCs in L4s. You end up spending a lot of time trying to kill cruisers with two weapon systems that are less than ideal for the job....torps (too big) and drones (too small). You will also lose time trying to chug that bloated BS to the next gate. If you go with a Raven, you will end up buying a CNR, so factor the ISK needed for one into your plan.

Re: Tengu - Hype? I went from Drake to Raven to Tengu for L4s and never looked back. I sold my Raven and have regretted the time I spent on training Caldari BS. Subsystems are only 1x skills, and therefore easy to train for. Tengu hull is 150m+ less than a CNR and doesn't move like a pregnant yak. That's not hype, that's my personal experience.

Please, for your own sake, don't turn mission running into a job. The pay is abysmal and you risk ruining the whole game for yourself.

Just find some menial RL job if you need subscription money. Four hours a week of mowing lawns or stocking shelves should be more than enough to pay for somewhere between a month to a year of game time every month.

Hey there,

I have Run Missions in both a Drake and a Raven, and I can tell you I've never lost a Drake while mission running. The Raven I lost was due to poor skills (capped out while running a booster, lol), however, so it's due to pilot ineptitude and not the ship's fault. Here are a few highlights of the pros and cons of each ship:
Drakes are generally Passive Tanked, meaning that they will rely on The fact that Shields recharge over time. Ravens are Active tanked, meaning that you have to strap on a Shield booster and use cap to rep shields. This means you have to manage cap, because if the mission gets hairy and you've gotta warp out, you need to have enough cap to initiate warp. If you train your Cap and shield skills enough, it eventually becomes less of a problem. I've seen Passive Ravens...they aren't as usable as an active.
Drakes use Heavy Missiles, which are cruiser sized. They can hit most hull sizes for decent damage. With good skills and Faction or T2 missiles, you can down most ships with a few volleys. Ravens use Cruise missiles, which are battleship sized. They have trouble hitting the smaller ships, and often don't do as much damage to small ships. Bigger ships are no problem, and, if you have any problems with Frigates or such, you have drones around to help (in both cases, Raven just has a bigger drone bay for larger drones).
Drakes are smaller and therefore More agile- they align quicker and move quicker. Good for the "OH CRAP!" moments. Ravens are bigger and take a while to align, which means you'll need to stay prealigned or start warp as soon as your shields start even hinting at breaking. The difference here is negligible, as it still takes a short while for a Drake to align and warp.
For me, it has been easier to fly a Drake. While usually they do missions much slower, they are a lot easier to maintain and usually don't have as many cap problems for new players. I won't put down Raven pilots, Ravens are VERY useful for Level 4 missions.
If you like the way the Drake works, you may consider it's big brother the Nighthawk, which has similar (but better) boosts, or the Tengu, which I'll cover in a moment. If you favor the raven, look into a Golem or a CNR. (I have never flown a Golem, but I hear they are quite capable mission runners- they were almost literally built for it. I do own a CNR, however. It's a good ship)

While it is more skill intensive, you may consider a Tengu for Level fours. They are pricier and require several skills at level 5 just to be competent at flying them, but once you are, they are very easy to use- just remember two things: Always be moving, and shoot the small things first. I currently run level fours in a Tengu, and I have made a substantial amount more than my Drake days. (This is mostly because of the speed at which I can complete a mission in a Tengu vs. a Drake)

In the end, it comes down to your personal preference. Drakes are cheap and easy to train for, but don't do as much DPS and don't have as big of a tank as a Raven. Ravens are pricer and require more skills, but they have that DPS and Tank the Drake doesn't. because you stated you're crunched for time, I'd start off with a Drake and skill for a Raven. If you follow the Eve Survival guide to missions ( http://eve-survival.org/wikka.php?wakka=MissionReports ), you will generally get a feel for which is better for what. They recommend ships based on mission, have in depth guides on how to go about each mission, and forewarn you about certain obstacles other players faced.

I hope this helps, sorry it's so wordy.

I recommend the Raven. You will need some drone skills, but other than that, you can use implants and navy ammo to up damage. I preferred T2 passive hardeners back when I flew one. Once you can afford a Navy Scorpion (under 300 Mil), missions will be a breeze for a low skill pilot. The 8 midslots and bonus to resistances makes it a great tanking ship. Tanking is often the real problem for young players.

Later down the line, I recommend the CNR. I'm old school in that regard, but it is a great ship for the same skill set. Once you can tank well, the extra damage is what you want. Yes, the Tengu might be better, but the CNR is third the price and can make you the ISK for the Tengu faster than you would think.

People tend to defend the Raven and dis the Drake 'round here. Both a great ships, and some of the attitude is justified. IMHO there is one reason to pick the Drake; Everything you need to skill for it applies to the tengu except BC and drones.

After months of training a CNR can be a great mission ship, and will do missions faster than a drake. But in the interim, the drake will be better to grind missions, and you can ninja wormholes in a drake if you desire.

Raven isn't even in top 5 mission running ships, tengu is solid for missions. Of course, I am sure almost all mission runners who "raven all the way" get either a CNR or Golem at the end. Those are probably both in most ppls top 5.



Eventually CCP will either have to nerf T3's, or create something else as ridiculously overpowered. You should always choose ridiculously overpowered while you can, IMHO. Drake~~>Tengu FTW.