Faction and navy cruisers will get you a little farther, but even then, there are some L3 missions that may be challenging. I definitely wouldn’t attempt L4 missions with a cruiser. That said, there are some L4 missions I wouldn’t try to do with a battlecruiser, either. (I recall my first major loss many years ago was a Drake in a particular L4 mission).
The thing to remember is that there’s more to the training angle than just the hull. Training the minimums, you can quickly get into the larger hulls. But without the support and weapons skills also trained up, you’ll find yourself losing ISK by going too big too quickly.
Keep in mind as well that L4 missions are a different breed than L3 and below. L1-L3 are mainly scaling numbers. L4s tend to add little tricks or quirks, like specific enemies that when shot pull the entire pocket. There is a website with mission reports that are often helpful for L4s (they have reports for lower level missions, too).
There is not a single level 4 mission, burners aside, that can’t be completed with a cruiser-sized hull. You (well, not you) can probably complete them all in a T1 cruiser if you really wanted to.
Beyond efficiency, it would leave zero room for error. I’m skeptical, though, of cruiser survivability in L4s. It would require a lot of warp-in/warp-out tactics, and I seem to recall a few of those missions had tacklers that could scram.
Admittedly, I tend to over-ship for a mission, so I’ve never tried running L4s in a cruiser. If it’s doable, that’s impressive.
I have zero experience with missions as I don’t do missions, but I have tried some fun stuff in null sec combat sites. For example the most popular ratting site the ‘haven’ that people usually bring Ishtar cruisers or multiboxed smartbomb fleets or EDENCOM fleets to to farm them for bounties can also be completed in a 1000 dps frigate.
Flying a polarized bomber does require a fair bit more effort, attention and knowledge though than an Ishtar, and high skills too, but it’s fun to do such content in a tiny frigate.
They are unequivocally runnable in advanced cruisers. Tengu can do anything, and T2 cruiser resist profiles are very strong as well if you can pick the ship for the mission. I have to think a gila could be made to work too. Obviously all very slow clears compared to a marauder, but probably not even stressful.
T1 would admittedly be challenging, but I think at least most of the blitzables would be doable.
Okay, fair point on the T3Cs. I don’t recall if I’ve ever run an L4 in a Tengu, but definitely L3s and no problem whatsoever. I ran an L3 mission chain in a Gila the other night, and nothing even scratched the tank, so yeah. That’s probably doable.
TBH, when you said “cruiser” I didn’t even think of T3. For the OP, I was definitely thinking T1, navy, or faction, given their limited skills.
@Hiei_Uchiha I am not trying to make you another free player like me, but I do play for free. I currently run 4 billion ISK or more in my bank on average. I primarily harvest gas in low security space. I have a total of 6 characters across 2 accounts. The three girls are my miners and do some PvE abyssal on the side. The 3 gentlemen are my pirates, they are still a work in progress. It is not easy to be an alpha pirate, but they are still heading that direction.
I could buy PLEX with the isk and make the account omega, but to me omega is like “easy mode” for this and other games. Omega fast tracks you to glory and where is the fun in that sort of thing? The PLEX and the omega are of no interest to me. That is just how I play the game.
There are a group of omega players called “Plexers” who use their vast wealth of ISK to buy PLEX on the market, then buy omega ( up to a year or more sometimes ) to play the game for free. Fenris sells PLEX and PLEX bundles to people who want to convert it to ISK and get their ISK without the grind.
I don’t mind the grind, as I am an old woman with both feet in my grave, waiting for that push. In fact, I fell last weekend at an outdoor event and just got back out of the hospital again. Nothing broken, but the hospital and doctors love my insurance. Also my husband always takes time to clean house while I am out.
I tend to think it is mostly the impatient youth who want everything now. This attitude is what Eve Online and other games prey upon. I am not telling you how to spend your wages, just spend them wisely. Take time to consider all your options.
Obviously, that’s your opinion and you’re welcome to it. My opinion differs, in that I don’t think it’s a matter of “easy mode” versus “hard mode.” EVE can be as easy or as hard as you want to make it, regardless of Alpha or Omega status, and to each his or her own on how they want to play.
What is certainly true is that Omega is the unlimited EVE experience, while Alpha is a limited-access, unlimited-time trial. Alpha players are intentionally hobbled, with only access to about a third of the ship tree. Omega status removes the shackles.
If someone is satisfied with what they get out of EVE as an Alpha player, if they can do everything they want to do, then that’s completely fine. Enjoy playing EVE as you like, for free. If at some point you want to do something you can’t do as an Alpha, then sub Omega. It really is that simple.
Early on in abyssal, I took in the “best” ship lost it, bought another lost it too. I filed a ticket and told them I thought the game was broken or something. It was pointed out to me by support, I was using long range missiles against close range drones. They were nice enough to even replace one of the ships I lost, but the ship really wasn’t what I needed. I found out that I was just running an unbalanced fit and started using Ace Face fits from his youtube channel. Then I went back and beat the abyssal in a cheap frigate ( Punisher ).
how? I have literally 4 YEARS of training in my queue right now (and Im not even using all 150 slots) 4 years is the slowest “fast track” Ive ever seen.
So? What’s the problem? Do you think racial titan level V should be attainable in 1 day? Maxing something out to level V should take long. If you are that impatient then keep your stuff at level IV. ‘‘Problem’’ solved. EVE skill training is balanced.
Did you not read the post I quoted in my reply? Lemme help you out since you clearly missed the point. I have no problem waiting 4 years my point is the person I quoted claims “omega is just a fast track” my point was.. waiting the amount of time it takes to graduate high school or college is NOT a fast track
I’ve got almost 17 years of continuous skill training behind me, over 417M SP, and I STILL have two years of skills in my queue.