I use a Gila.... its only a cruiser but i seem to run them just as fast as my rattlesnake...

Hmmm....first time hearing about a ship called Gila, from the forums I found quite a number of people using it but it's a bit outside my skillset for now. My drone skills are still so-so - still training the lvl 5 sentry, etc and the BC seems pretty fragile for its price of 250 million ISK. I really don't want to risk losing it due to a mistake in L4 or getting ganked. But I am keeping it and Ishtar in my list of "To Fly Ships".

Hmmm...but can it really do enough "Applied" dps with mediums against BS's?

Gila is a cruiser?? I stand corrected. Can't believe that a cruiser can wipe out hordes of Battleships...going to youtube to see videos :) This should be fun - like that old cartoon "Atom Ant".

Yes HAC's are really expensive but fragile and skill intensive - not for newbies or cashstrapped palyers. I believe instead of that we can train T3 cruisers which boast better tank/dps at cheaper prices.

Now I'm using Vargur and I feel like home again. I don't blitz, I clear up everything so it's ideal for me. Reasonable omni tank which with bastion let's me tank every hisec L4 + circa 1000+ dps + damage flexibility = take mission, fly there, drop MTU, kill everything, scoop loot, complete mission. Can't get easier than that in my books.

@Jeanne-Luise Argenau Thank you for the fits!

Yeah Raven was good but I had no interest in Navy Raven/Golem - they're too expensive for me. Just the hull alone cost 550 mil and 1.05 bil respectively. On the other - the Rattlesnake is super awesome - total costs less than 600 mil but has more dps/tank than CNR/Golem - so that even if I make a mistake I won't lose my ship mostly. Going to try your Rattlesnake fit in EFT and see what kind of dps/tank i can pull. :)

I am thinking of levelling up my L4 mission Raven to a something better like the Rattlesnake, Scorpion Navy Issue, Machariel or even a Nightmare. The hard point is that I was away from EVE for over a year and now too many changes have taken place. The common sense fittings I know may not apply anymore.

So can anyone recommend a ship for fast grinding L4 security missions and if possible cosmic anomalies. It would be great if you can provide a cheap fit L4 mission ship and one's under 1billion isk. Thank you in advance for all your help!

I tried rattler for few days and my god that was excruciating experience. Don't get me wrong, that ship is probably excellent as L4s grinder but I just couldn't stand missiles travel times. It's not my skills, I have pretty much maxed out all weapon systems and supports for them so no fault here. It was just that fire... wait... wait... snoooooze... boom!

Nightmare is nice but of course it's lazorz so not efficient against all rats. It can tank nicely both with shields and by speed so if you like to move it works fine.

Now I'm using Vargur and I feel like home again. I don't blitz, I clear up everything so it's ideal for me. Reasonable omni tank which with bastion let's me tank every hisec L4 + circa 1000+ dps + damage flexibility = take mission, fly there, drop MTU, kill everything, scoop loot, complete mission. Can't get easier than that in my books.

I was using machariel for almost a year 2 years ago and it was great as long as you don't stop moving. Stationary mach is dead mach. Mach has that nice warp speed advantage so it might be good if you are like me dying a little inside every time you need to warp anything larger than cruiser. And it's now king of blitzing L3s which apparently can get you income comparable to L4s if done right.

And last but not least: ishtar. That's like vargur but with drones and cruiser signature. Again, I have reasonable omni tank with booster so I can just sit next to my sentries and tank almost everything. If incoming dps gets too high I just start to orbit one of my drones with pulsing AB if needed. Sentries push ridiculous dps at all required ranges + they are not affected by rats' e-war so that's nice.

One more thing: all my ships are not cheapest fits that can do the job. They are not all green/blue/purple but they are not cheap. I know you set bar at < 1bil and that's fine for starters but some reasonable bling is needed here and there. And what is reasonable depends on you, my varg had price tag at almost 3bil but amount of fun/hr I get from it made it totally worth investment. My ishtar was 1.3 or 1.5bil and didn't regret buying it even for a moment. Rattler was the only disappointment but it's not the ship or fit, I just have that weird stuff with missiles.

rattler: exact same thoughts. them missiles are so damn slow, add in instant hitting sentry drones and *headache*

Nightmare: does so much damage that type doesn't matter terribly much. yea I'd probably avoid it in minny space where you see a lot of angels. haven't spent enough time in Gal space to know. but in caldari/amarr space it works rather well for most missions. although nice to pair with something else for the stubborn missions. Although with the marauder balance pass I find myself in my paladin, and can't remember the last time I flew a nightmare...

vargur seems decent, but I always end up going back to a mach. thing was over tanked, and deep into stacking penalties on damage/application mods before bastion came out. And its speed/agility just doesn't touch the mach.

Mach, eh I kinda like sitting still, makes it easier on the 1400s. Although brawler AC fits are decent too. I'd say it more like a low dps mach is a dead mach. an xl booster 2x invluns and a cap booster is a lot of tank can deal with nearly anything a mission throws at you, as the rats die to your 1200+ dps in rather short order. oh and WARP SPEED!