Mission ships: Difference between revisions

== General Ship Preferences ==

Encounter missions are about killing enemies, and you can use any kind of ship that has enough offense to get that done. (''For example, I once started a character by training Covert Ops to a high level, for reasons having nothing to do with missions. Later, when I decided to start running security division missions with that character, I used a Minmatar [[Hound]] stealth bomber. This is not a particularly good mission ship, but I had no problem completing level I and II missions.'') The point is: it's all about killing enemy ships – don't let somebody else's opinion of what's "best" get in the way of your own preferences, experience and skills.

[[File:Breacher.jpg|right|150px|alt=Immage of a Minmatar Breacher frigate|Minmatar Breacher frigate]]

* Mission NPCs will target and chase you until you warp out or they die. And there will be multiple enemies, all focused only on you. So you may want to use a fast ship with longer range weapons and try to kite your enemies. There's nothing wrong with brawling; but kiting is safer.

== General Fitting Preferences ==

Dead mission NPCs can be looted. Assuming you want the loot, and that you do not have a friend who will do the looting for you, you will need to fit a salvager or carry a salvage drone or two. (You can also bring two ships, one to complete the mission and one to clean up afterwards - but this is usually not worth the effort until you get to Level IV missions.)

[[File:Vexor.jpg|left|150px|alt=Immage of a Gallente Vexor cruiser|Gallente Vexor cruiser]]Each type of enemy does a particular kind of damage. And each enemy is susceptible to a particular kind of damage. You want to choose your ammunition, and sometimes change your fittings to match the enemy's damage type. [[npc damage|This page]] provides the NPC information, and includes a chart formatted to be copied to your in-game notepad for quick reference.  

Some enemies also use one or more forms of electronic warfare. But with the possible exception of some Level IV missions, these normally will not require any special refitting.

 

Also keep in mind that Loyalty Point rewards accrue to specific corporations. If you are running missions for an agent of CreoDron, for example, the points you gain will only work in the CreoDron storefront. Because of this, you probably want to choose your agents from one or two corporations. Loyalty points let you purchase faction ammunition and a variety of enhancement plug-ins, so check out the store before you decide.

== Standard Ships by Mission Level ==

These are '''not''' requirements, but rather general guidelines. You can do Level III missions in a destroyer if you want to, and if your skills and abilities will let you pull it off. And although it seems like massive overkill, if you are coming to missioning later in the game and have well developed skills, and want to go fast, you could use a cruiser for both Levels I and II - or a battlecruiser for the first three levels. (''Note that a few  missions have special "Ship Restrictions" that limit the type of ship that you may use''.)

The ships listed here are not a complete set of all "good" mission ships. But these are ones that players often use. Keep in mind that your skills are a ''BIG'' factor in missioning. The Minmatar Hurricane, for example, gets a five percent bonus to turret damage ''and'' rate of fire per {{Sk|Spaceship Command}} skill level. This means that the damage this ship does at skill Level V is huge compared to what it does at Level I. The need to selectively train the skills that help you the most cannot be overstated.

=== Level I ===

While certainly some T1 destroyers are more suited than others, it doesn't matter too much and the question which you can already fly is more important for a new player. You can find fittings by CCP ingame under community fittings. Those are rather designed for the [[The Blood-Stained Stars|SoE epic arc]] but that epic arc also counts as a level 1 missions. Also rather don't spend a lot of training time on skills which are exclusive to that ship but rather train general [[support skills]] as well as missile or turret support skills depending on which weapon system you rather use.

=== Level II ===

In level 2 missions, you still mostly fight small ships (frigates and destroyers) but there are also some cruisers and battlecruisers mixed in. A T1 destroyer can still do those missions if carefully piloted even with low skills. Assault Frigates and Tactical Destroyers won't have any issues. If you are a new player and don't feel comfortable to use a T1 destroyer, you can upgrade to a medium sized hull. Any DPS bonused [[Cruisers#T1 Cruisers|T1 cruiser]] would work as well as [[Battlecruisers#Combat Battlecruisers|combat battlecruisers]]. You should have a look at the suggested ships for level 3 missions and consider to make the jump to lower skilled option there right away if you can afford it. It doesn't take much longer to train a battlecruiser to three than it does cruiser.

=== Level III ===

=== Level IV ===

[[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.

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.

[[Strategic Cruisers]] often come up probably because before their rework a long time ago they used to be very strong. People are often impressed by the Tengu's 1k DPS with scourge rage heavy assault missiles. Their range is comparably short and, if you don't deal kinetic, your DPS goes down to 800. A T1 battleship generally outperforms a Tengu, at the same time being cheaper and easier to skill into. That said there is a niche for them when you are [[Blitzing|blitzing]] in nullsec as they can be fitted cloaky and nulli.

=== Level V ===