Mission-running guides

[thinus]

That's the route I'd like to go for missions.

I guess I'm gonna have to go find out what exactly "passive tank" means in terms of modules/skills. I suspect it is large amounts of shield/cap regen/boost, but I'm sure there is more than one way to skin that cat. Learning the terminology is half the battle in finding the data online. :P

Cheers,
Ugh

Passive means you don't use capacitor. The trick is to get your shield HUGE by using Shield Extender modules and then to increase your passive shield regen rate. The regen rate is already a percentage formula based on the total size of your shield. And I think there are some rigs that boosts the regen rate and also some modules. You need to find a balance that works with minimum skills and then as your skills grow you can modify the loadout. Your Caracal fitting looks like a passive tank and you will be aiming for something similar in the Drake.

Active tanks are where you either use a shield booster that drains cap and boosts shield or you use an armor repairer that drains cap and repairs armor. Caldari ships suit shield boosting. Active tanking makes you vulnerable to cap drains but you can also use modules that will boost your shield very quickly but drain your cap quickly as well. Active tanking means micro managing your shield and cap constantly by activating and deactivating modules as required. Capacitor is king and you will need decent cap skills for shield boosting. If you can run your shield booster indefinitely then you have a perma tank but it will take a few named modules and good skills to reach this point.

It is a bit of a learning curve, find a discussion where they already did the math and get a basic loadout and then adapt it to minimize your skill training time. A lot of time in EvE is planning unfortunately.

I recommend EVEMON as an excellent app and also take a look at EFT (EVE Fitting Tool) for ship fitting. I think either EVEMON or EFT came with the ability to get rated ship fittings which make decent starting points.

EDIT: I don't know what the prices are like now but back when I was playing a Drake was 30-40mil with basic modules and double that with decent launchers and modules.