Ships & Modules

I want to go into exploration but I was curious which is better: a covert ops frigate because it is small and agile, or the T3 ship because it is tougher and can escape warp bubbles.

But I can not figure out which I should choose. So here I am to get advise from you forumites.

Cov ops would be nice as stated above. You can mostly stay out of trouble by never being seen with them.

Recons are also a viable choice. T2 resists, lots of high and mid slots for guns, cloak, probe launcher and exploration modules.

Thank you for the advice. I can fly both and I am just curious about exploring space. So a covert ops it is I guess.

Thank you all again.

I prefer a T3 cruiser with a nullifier sub and a ecm burst module. Big tank, ignore bubbles, can still hit hard, cloak, prober and has an option to maybe break a lock from close range.

Though the OP already seems to have decided, I'd just like to throw in my two cents in that AF's and certain pirate frigates are very viable exploration ships. Covert Ops is actually probably worst, you really don't need an expanded launcher or scan bonuses, but you do need tank and DPS. AF if you're low-highsec, cloaky recon/T3 if you're in null.

Good luck.

Legion uses ammo, as you'd be a fool to not use T2/faction crystals which will shatter. But you'll still have a much easier time hauling ammo. I carry a single reload.

I think the Legion can probably muster more DPS (haven't EFTed this, just based on conversations with Proteus pilots) but the Proteus has a godlike tank.

AF can do 4/10, i run mul-zatah in Retribution, and it is one of hardest 4/10. Im sad to say but use tengu for exploration, legion is viable too for sansha/blood/serpentis but still below tengu.

All-in one hisec explorer is something I want too, and drone boats really have their advantages in this role. I've been farming Blood combat sites (Watch and the Mul-Zatah Monastery) in a sentry Vexor lately, with great success especially in the Monastery. I wanted to see how a Proteus would do in a similar fit, but with a scanner and a codebreaker:



[Proteus, Proteus fit]

Proteus Defensive - Nanobot Injector
Proteus Electronics - Emergent Locus Analyzer
Proteus Engineering - Augmented Capacitor Reservoir
Proteus Offensive - Drone Synthesis Projector
Proteus Propulsion - Localized Injectors

Heavy Neutron Blaster II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Neutron Blaster II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Neutron Blaster II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge M
Salvager II
Sisters Expanded Probe Launcher, Sisters Core Scanner Probe
Small Tractor Beam I

Codebreaker II
Federation Navy Omnidirectional Tracking Link
10MN Afterburner II

Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Damage Control II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Armor EM Hardener II
Armor Thermic Hardener II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Capacitor Power Relay II

Medium Sentry Damage Augmentor II
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
[Empty Rig slot]


Hobgoblin II x5
Curator II x4
Ogre II x4


There is plenty of CPU and grid left, and you could obviously give it some faction/deadspace love, but even this T2 fit has solid stats for hisec plexes. (Drones 336dps @ 65km optimal (tho 60km drone control range), blasters 223dps at close range, cap stable with tank+AB on, 605m/s).

Unless I'm missing something (I can't fly one yet and hence not really experienced in fitting them), Proteus could actually work in this kind of PvE. I'd rather take an Ishtar or Myrm in lowsec, and haven't really considered Proteus for anything other than PvP, but this looks nice ;)

I just returned to eve about a month ago and have found how incredibly empty certain parts of 0.0 are so i wanted to exploit this. I wanted to make a dual exploration combo. One flying a proteus, the other in a tengu.

The proteus pilot has high scanning/codebreaking/analyzing/salvaging/leader ship skills. I wanted to use the proteus pilot to scan out sites for the tengu pilot. Afterwards, sit at a safe spot and buff the tengu pilot with leadership skills/command modules if possible. Then come back and hack/slavage as needed after the tengu pilot is done. Is there way to fit all of this into a proteus?

The tengu pilot has very a good shield/missile skills. Whats a good fit for 0.0 exploration for it?

i want both, if possible, to use cov ops cloaking devices to cloak up in case hostiles enter the system and to travel around. Im not to concerned about gate camps/bubbles because i usually use worm holes to travel in and out of 0.0 space.