Mission ships: Difference between revisions

There are a lot of options for level 4 missions. We'll start the discussion with the best options which are expensive and require a lot of skills, then move on to some less skill intense and cheaper options, to then discuss a wide range of options and in how far they're less optimal than the before but still interesting to you.

[[Marauders]] are the strongest all-around level 4 mission runners by a large margin. There are extensive discussions which Marauder is actually the best. This mostly depends on the mission you run. As each agent has his own pool of missions, people might have a very different experience on how a specific marauder performs depending on their agent's mission pool. It's usually considered better to fit short range weapons on a marauder as even with those it can reasonably project its damage to 100 km and more with long range ammunition plus appropriate fitting. At the same time you are highly mobile due to the MJD bonus. That said in a few missions long range weapons perform better; you could refit for those. There are also a few advocates for long range weapons all around but they are certainly in the minority.

'''{{co|red|Warning}}''': Marauders are frequent gank targets just for their base hull value. Do not use them at ganking hotspots such as popular mission hubs like Lanngisi and refit for tank when travelling when you relocate to another agent. Also obviously do not use them when you are wardecced.

The [[Gila]] can run level 4 missions reasonably well. The important part is that it already can do so with relatively low skills i.e. the relevant skills at three or four. This is because its drone bonuses aren't linked to any skill. As it is a cruiser, you can dissipate a lot of the incoming damage from battleships by fitting an afterburner. A shield regeneration tank works well on an Gila and is easy on fitting and capacitor skills. If you have low skills, you probably want to switch your shield hardeners according to the incoming damage though. Rapid light missile launchers allow you to quickly clear webbing or warp disrupting frigates.

That said at maximum skills the better T1 battleship options outperform an Gila in mission running. But as a low skill option to check out missions it is very well suited as it can also be used for a number of other PvE activities such as [[Abyssal Deadspace|abyssals]] or [[combat sites]]. The skills trained are also beneficial to a lot of other ships.

Cruise missiles have general attributes which make them strong in level 4 missions. They have sufficient range to cover the whole room in a mission. So you do not have to move towards targets to deal damage. They have choosable damage types so you can adapt that to increase your realized damage. There are downsides though, one of them is the travel time of missiles. When you just put damage on a far away target it might die while the next volley is still in flight and thus you lose DPS. You can mitigate that by switching to the next target in time but that requires more attention than with turrets. Cruise missiles also struggle to apply well which means you have to fit for additional application and ideally have an application bonus on your hull.

The [[Raven Navy Issue]] and [[Scorpion Navy Issue]] are straight upgrades from the Raven. The Raven NI gains an application bonus and the Scorpion NI has a mid slot more which can also be used for more application. The [[Barghest]] can also be used with cruise missiles. Nevertheless, it's probably more worthwhile to go straight from a Raven to a Golem than to go for the navy versions.

All battleships are able to run level 4 missions if fitted accordingly. Navy and pirate faction battleships are strong but they are also expensive and Marauders are significantly stronger still. Thus faction battleships are mostly an option when you can't fly a marauder but really feel the need to upgrade from a T1 hull. The [[Machariel]] and [[Barghest]] have their places when [[bitzing]]. And the [[Rattlesnake]] is the strongest option when you have committed to drones. The [[Dominix]] is a good T1 option there. Blaster based T1 battleships struggle with range and battleships are slow to move around; railguns also don't work out especially well; still they both work if you really want to. Energy turrets have the issue of being damage locked but again you can make them work. Autocannons on T1 hulls struggle again to project damage; artilleries have much less damage and don't track well; still you can make things work in like artillery + MJD setups.

[[Heavy Assault Cruisers]] should all be possible if fitted accordingly. The Ishtar would be among the better options and perform similarly to an Gila. They are more skill intense to get into than an Gila or T1 battleship. Thus HACs are mostly an option if you're character has narrowly trained into one of them.