Actually I did get one missions ship ganked, but that was running lowsec missions and it was a cheap fit. Specifically because I knew people would be looking to gank me.
unrelated.
Itās not unrelated. Iāve been away for a while and now youāre telling me Iām going to get ganked even if I run an unprofitable ship. You have me worried.
You could already have been ganked before in an unprofitable ship.
And Iām not telling you are GOING to get ganked. You can.
Always paladin because Amarr > all
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I used all four Marauders extensively (key word āusedā) with maxed out skills. I eventually discovered that blitzing is more profitable over full clears, which makes Machariel superior in every possible way simply because it warps around at over 10AU speed and never has to wait out the annoying bastion timer on gates and stations. But you did say you want to try something different so here goes: in any space where you face off Amarr type rats most of the time, Paladin will be more fun to play than Golem. Some rats (like Angel) are better off done on Golem (or better yet Vargur, but your choice is either Paladin or Golem).
If I absolutely felt like full clear missions, and could only fly Paladin or Golem, I would take the Paladin and do missions in Amarr space. Mission grinding is mind numbing as it is, and Golem is just not fun. I will always prefer turrets over missiles when it comes to L4 missions, any day.
Also, if you are really into doing full clears on marauder, I found Vargur to be most practical āuniversalā marauder to use, so you might want to give it a try.
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Own all four. My thoughts:
Golem: My first Marauder. Nice to be able to switch damage type, but since there is travel time for missile damage, you tend to waste a fair amount of missiles on already dead targets. Can overcome the problem by concentrating like a poor dancer (click, click, slide to new target), but still tends to see waste.
Paladin: Great when it is in his environment. Tough and has great range choices. Locked into therm/EM, so I save it for drone missions.
Vargur: Great for Angel Cartel and against multiple smaller targets. Adjustable damage type. Tends to be vulnerable to cap loss.
Kronos: actually can run as two different boats. With rails, it can easily punch out over 100km effectively, but vulnerable to small, close npcs. Blaster Kronos excels at anything under 30km and as Anderson said, missions like Damsel are shredded by it. Need to run Null to hit out to 70km.
Rattlesnake: Regen RS is my choice for Triglavians and any mission where high cap drain is expected. Damage is good, but partially delayed because of missile/torps and drones. If fully clearing your missions, the small cargo bay of the RS means more stuff left on the battlefield.
Your final choice should depend on the area you are running and the main NPCs, how you run your missions (full clear, full kill, or speed), do you use faction ammo (made by yourself) or standard, and what condition you are running the missions (no concentration or drunk verses alert and focused). Finally, your home hub(s) need to be chosen carefully so that they are relatively quiet or free of mission gankers. SOE hubs are notorious for having āguestsā visit you during your missions.
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In my experience, people gank more for the potential for tears than for killmails, per se. Ganking is itās own reward.
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Thanks guys this information is really useful. I wonāt be blitzing and will just run missions casually. Beams have always been my favourite weapon type but I know how they can struggle against rats, especially angels.
For what itās worth, I used the 4 of them, plus most the T1 BS collection, and last year kept the Paladin and gave away the other 3. After reading through, I believe that most everyone who answered you was telling the truth and/or giving good advice. With reference to Paladin being limited to a narrow damage type; in Bastion mode youāre hitting 1500dps with T1 short-range crystals so itās not a real noticeable game stopping impact. Itās a very easy boat, you aggro a pocket, wait until they cross the 48km āfenceā so they are in range of your high-slot tractor, and start melting. With MTU working also, and 2 high-slot salvagers, you can salvage while you shoot. Tanking is not an issue.
Often one has to turn down missions, and when that results in a work-stoppage, I switch to a T1 Typhoon I keep in another missioning-system. ā¦Of all the T1/Navy alternatives Iāve found the Typhoon works best for the ranges and speeds I like to mission, though if it had a larger drone-bay and one more low slot I think I could live with that.
All the marauders work though, itās only when you have the luxury of comparing them that the nit-picking works its way in, any one would likely keep even a hard to please player in enough $ to continually buy ships they donāt need so they can get dusty in the hanger, and when itās all said and done, binding DSCAN to your middle mouse button is still more important than which boat.
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Thatās great. I used a T1 typhoon in the past and I loved how it handled but I was disappointed with the DPS. Out of all the missile boats for missions, the Typhoon was probably my favourite. Because itās fast.
I should also mention if I use a marauder, I will be using an MWD fit for speed. Eschewing AB and MJD.
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You should get both MWD and MJD.
The golem can drift like 10km in bastion, and not care about the loss of tracking to speed.
Itās something to consider but I feel I would benefit more from a guidance computer. The other half of me says why bother with PvE at all.
To me proper ganking is sacrificing a set of cheaper things for one thing that is much more expensive than the sum of the cheaper things. The Rattlesnace hull itself is expensive. I definitely donāt bling it much, but itās more than the sufficient number of catalysts to kill it. Iāve never done ganking or ganking math, but Iām pretty sure this is the case.
Donāt forget the MTU.
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The narrow damage type is precisely the reason why Iām here. Iāve been flying the Vargur in Minmatar space. But every now and then, I get missions with truly Caldari damage deal/resist profile. There is a workaround with Titanium Sabot ammo. But Iām thinking of moving to Ammar space. The Paladin seems to be a no brainer. But Iāve run lvl 3 to get standings for lvl 4, and a lot of missions involved shooting kinetic, which lasers have no response to. Therefore, my question is if the Paladin makes sense at all if it can be at a disadvantage even in its native environment.
The workaround is to not give a ā ā ā ā about resistance profiles. Some angel missions are faster with paladin than with vargur (blockade). Some sansha/blood missions are faster with vargur than paladin (those with a lot of small fries).
Itās nice to have selectable damage, but not mandatory.
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This. As far as High sec missions go, selectable damage isnāt really that big of a deal. Pretty sure all the marauders can put out more than enough damage to brute force their way through 99% of what high sec PVE can throw at them.
Selectable damage is much more important if you were to say, be caught in a very evenly matched HAC brawl and couldnāt break logi so swapped to the therm hole most ships have and broke through reps that way, or were running an L5 out in Null and needed to break down enough of the incoming DPS inside of 90 seconds so your tank can hold the rest of the damage again(assuming youāre not just running it in something that donāt give no funks.)
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