Mission Hurricane

So on July 17th my last remaining account expired. I stopped playing EVE for a couple of weeks. Early August however I logged back in. CCP has a feature that allows you to get 4 hours of free game time on an expired account. Just enough to buy a plex in Jita. Toterra was back in game.

Why am I back?

Not sure... Mostly just missing my EVE fix. I am still infuriated at 'The Door' and reluctant to spend any real money on this game. But I have enough ISK to last a few months just buying plex so why not.

Now I had a big question... what to do. Finding myself in a NPC corp I thought that I might as well do something that I have never done in EVE, something that it seems everyone else has done, do Level 4 missions. I had sufficiently high standing with the Minmattar Republic Security Services corp to do Level 4 missions so I quickly found a couple of neighboring systems with level 4 mission agents and started plugging away.

Of course I am no expert at PVE ship fittings. The most common recomendation that would fit with my skillset was to go with a drake or a Mealstrom. Instead I decided to go against the grain and went with a mission hurricane.

[Hurricane, Tank Like a Drake]
Shield Power Relay II
Shield Power Relay II
Shield Power Relay II
Shield Power Relay II
Shield Power Relay II
Power Diagnostic System II

10MN Afterburner II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Invulnerability Field II

425mm AutoCannon II, EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, EMP M
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Torrent Assault Missile
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Torrent Assault Missile

Medium Core Defence Field Purger I
Medium Core Defence Field Purger I
Medium Core Defence Field Purger I


Hobgoblin II x5
Hobgoblin II x1


Note: The invulnerability field should be swapped out for a mission specific hardener where applicable. Choose ammo types accordingly as well.

This ship is a pretty potent force. With a peak passive recharge rate of 495 DPS and a total firepower of 475 DPS it can both tank all but the toughest rooms and rip through any BS rat in seconds. Compared to a similar Drake the tank is somewhat weaker, but the damage is higher which makes for chewing through structures and large BS rats quicker. The main difference between this and a Drake is that a Drake will typically engage at long range. While this is purely a close range brawler. Basically approach target after target blasting away while letting the light drones kill pesky frigates, starting with those fitting warp scrambling e-war first.

How does it do for a new character?

One thing I always do when looking at fitting is figure out a low-cost/low-skill version. In my EFT I have a file setup with level 3 skills across the board. The idea is not to show the most a fit can do, rather to get an idea of how this would work on newer character. Here is a fit for a character with level 3 skills:
[Hurricane, low skill passive cane]
Shield Power Relay I
Shield Power Relay I
Shield Power Relay I
Shield Power Relay I
Shield Power Relay I
Power Diagnostic System I

Large Shield Extender I
Large Shield Extender I
10MN Afterburner I
Invulnerability Field I

425mm AutoCannon I, EMP M
425mm AutoCannon I, EMP M
425mm AutoCannon I, EMP M
425mm AutoCannon I, EMP M
425mm AutoCannon I, EMP M
425mm AutoCannon I, EMP M
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher I, Torrent Assault Missile
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher I, Torrent Assault Missile

Medium Core Defence Field Purger I
Medium Core Defence Field Purger I
Medium Core Defence Field Purger I


Hobgoblin I x3
Hobgoblin I x1
Hobgoblin I x1

The DPS and the tank are about half that of the tech II / level 5 skill fit. But it still has a 240 dps tanks and a damage output of 216 DPS. More than enough to handle most level 3 missions.

All in all the mission Hurricane may not be as common as some of the other options... but it does work awfully well. It sure is more fun then lobbing missiles at a distance, waiting for the damage to build up from a Drake.