I’m trying to decide which battleship to get first and don’t see myself upgrading from alpha any time soon so I’m sticking with T1 ships. I think I’ve narrowed my top choices to the Nightmare, Rattlesnake, and Vindicator. I mostly do Solo PVE and Security missions. I’m still pretty new to EVE so if this is a stupid question sorry in advance
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I like all of them.
Let me know which you pick.
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If you’re only doing PvE, then anything that lets you select your damage type is the way to go. That’s why missile and drone boats are so popular. You also probably want to use something that doesn’t use capacitor for weapons, and has a tanking bonus. Armed with this information, browse the ship tree in game to see which options fit best.
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LVL 4 missions are restricted to Omega players only and it’s really only those missions you’d need or want a BS for. LVL 3 generally you can do just fine in a BC and in many cases it will be better and faster.
Beyond that bigger ships aren’t automatically better, there are a lot of game mechanics at work to prevent that sort of power creep. They’re slower, slower to target and generally have issues killing smaller targets meaning that if you do something that has a ton of small targets like frigates, destroyers or even cruisers, then most BS will kinda struggle applying their damage and you’d be far better off with a (much) smaller ship.
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The best overall Solo BS is the Praxis: Cruise Missile+Heavy Drones(Alpha)/Sentries(Omega)
Expected Damage for an Alpha : ~ 1200 DPS LR (max skill+f.mods)
Expected Damage for an Omega : ~ 1450+ DPS LR / 1800+ DPS SR (max skill+f.mods)
Tanks superb , perma running cap stable tank + 2 utility meds slots and 60+ km drone range
and the best part is, it’s cheap.
worst part: it’s slow: 93 m/s
Setupcosts:
for alpha needs: < 500 M , you want a good large X-Type shield booster 
for maximum performance: ~1.5B all faction
The combo of drone and cm damage, allows for situation depending split damage coverage, as the dronebay of the Praxis is huge. You can fit 2 groups of heavies and 1 light drones squad easily. With 1200m³ cargo space, you can have a lot of utility mods + mobile depot with you and have a smooth experience.
Listen to this man. BS mostly suck for L3 missions. Especially when considering their pricetag vs the possible profits. Navy BCs or pimped Faction Cruisers will offer better performance, more fun and lower cost.
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Most of that won’t actually applies to targets.
Drake. Thats your best friend for L3s lol
Valid comments above.
Especially since you’ll be restricted to Level 3 missions you don’t need anything bigger than a battlecruiser.
Two considerations to add:
Where are you mission running and which NPCs are you facing? While damage selection is nice, if you know you will be largely facing Blood Raiders (weak to EM/Thermal) then Energy turrets are good.
What are you already flying and trained for? If it’s Gallente ships and hybrid turrets, then stick with it - you’ve a limited SP cap, and specialisation may be better than a wider spread.
Personally, and because of where I normally am, I like the Navy Harbringer. There’s no reason why the Faction ships of the other Empires can’t be used as highly capable level 3 mission ships.
And a Drake fitted for maximum passive shield recharge is still a surprisingly good Level 3 ship. It’s just got the whole “can I bring my Drake?” thing about it.
And, yeah, a Battleship will struggle in Level 3 missions as it’ll be swamped by small stuff you can’t easily clear - and there lies frustration and delusion.
Bigger is bigger, not better.
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Rattlesnake
I don’t feel I need to buy battleships for PvE, Battlecruisers are largely enough and if not then there’s something wrong with the game balance.
Thanks everyone! This helps a lot.
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Let’s just add the one-and-only Allrounder: Gila
You have somewhat okayish mobility, free choice of damage to adapt to the enemies weaknesses by chosing the right drones and thermal/kinetic missiles will hit all NPC factions at least decently (second best resistance hole at worst). And it is able to fit enough tank for any L3, so you won’t have to worry about losing your ship.
Downside: Gankers might mistake you for an Abyssalrunner and blow you up just to see your fit 
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If you ever want something just as a meatshield, this is a fit I’ve theory crafted but have never actually used.
Those are alpha numbers.
The dps is a bit lower when you’re not overheating, but still respectable considering it’s all defensive mods. I’d certainly recommend using a travel fit for that build and a mobile depot to switch everything out. While it is “stable,” warping around passive shield tank ships can be annoying (I learned that lesson the hard way messing with a passive drake.)
And the cheaper version… 410 million instead of 1.2 billion.
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No damage mods, no speed, it’s just tank like about 4 times as much as you’d need for lvl 4 missions (and that’s just the T2 version), there is no use for neuts. This is terrible.
Also the normal typhoon has a rate of fire bonus which is terrible for rapid heavies, the fleet phoon has a damage bonus which is much better.
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dur hur. You don’t need anything that tanky for missions.
The neut is there for the annoying people who like to ninja loot. 
It’s more of a bait ship to be fair.
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Khizariel is actually the new theoretical best L3 blitzer for an alpha. This fit is a mildly over-tanked but strong enough between DPS tank and so on to take on any mission you’re not running into heavy neut pressure on without carring about damage type.
[Khizriel, Khizriel fit]
Damage Control II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Tracking Enhancer IITracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script
Multispectrum Shield Hardener II
Multispectrum Shield Hardener II
10MN Afterburner II
Large Shield Booster II425mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M
425mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M
425mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M
425mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M
425mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M
425mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M
Small Tractor Beam IMedium Projectile Ambit Extension II
Medium Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II
Medium Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II
Then why are you posting it in a newbie thread asking about T1 battleships.
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Ok, I’m going to quote this for a second time…
Perhaps it will sink in this time.
A bait ship without tackle?
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