EVE New Citizens Q&A

Exploration is not consistent payout, like mission running and mining. It is boom or bust. There are really big days, and a bunch of crap in between. Because of this, the good explorers are very fast at selecting their sites, beating the mini-game, and clearing them. Some of us consider the paranoia some of the fun too.

If you already have a developed mission runner, then there is no way you'll beat that income with a new explorer. Most of the isk in exploration is in the combat sites. You can make a few billion in a day, then crap for weeks. But then you make a billion in a day, and that never happens in missions.

Some things you can do. Use a cargo scanner to scan the containers and determine if the loot is worth the effort. Cloak up when someone enters local.

personally just fly a cloaky and go to null with a minimum of lvl 4 skills for hack/data. Find an empty system with alot of signatures and start scanning. I can make 25-60m per site pretty consistantly. Look for data & relic sites with a pirate name

Wormholes are another place to look. Class 1-3 wormholes now have pirate faction data/relic sites on par with null sec (which means no rats). Just watch out for the sleeper data/relic sites because they DO have rats and they will own your hacking frigate.

That said, while some people love it I usually find exploration gets boring pretty quickly. The mini-game is tedious and I can get the same "rush" of being hunted from "standard" pvp, with an actual chance to come out on top instead of running. The great thing about EVE is you don't have to like every aspect of the game. You just need to find a niche (or several) that you enjoy!

may I join the discussion and ask something?
What is a good list of equipment to start exploring safely? Or relatively safely, at least... including the cloaking device that has been mentioned, possibly :)
I hope I'm not annoying with this question.

The covert ops cloaking device can only be installed on certain Tech 2 ships, but is preferred because it allows you to warp around cloaked, so you basically only uncloak when you want to interact with something (gates, wormholes, or the exploration site).

Some of the cov-ops ships have bonuses to probing things down, which is also nice as you spend less time searching. In fact it's so nice that people almost always use the Sisters of EVE versions of the probes and launchers, for extra probing bonus; the higher cost is justified because you don't lose the probes, you just recall them.

The cov-ops frigates will probably not have the defenses or firepower to deal with the enemies in a lot of the sites, so typical use is: people use the frigates to scan down the site, then bookmark the location from the scan window, and switch to a stronger combat ship.

Or you can train for the bigger exploration ships (the SoE cruiser, or a Tech 3 cruiser assembled from the appropriate lego subsystems), for the convenience of being able to probe things down AND kill the enemies you find there.

Of course, PVP is always going to happen; your special exploration ship is worth good points on a killboard, so in lowsec, null, and wormhole space, people will probe locations down, then switch to a PVP ship and lie in wait, or they'll probe your ship down and attack you. The PVP goes with the area that you're in, and it's not tied to exploration only... miners, haulers, everybody is attacked.

Couple small tips:

-Keep cans at range of 2500m when hacking so you can hit your cloak instantly if something seems fishy.
-Mash the d-scan. Especially in wormhole space where you have no local chat to show you who's around.
-IMO wormholes are your friends, my biggest payout are usually from empty c3 wormholes (usually with a lowsec or nullsec static), shattered wormholes or else empty nullsec pockets found through wormholes.
-Get used to losing ships, it happens. Try not to fly anything too expensive and you should be able to recoup any losses pretty easily.

I make most of my isk from exploration and it's enough to replace any PVP ships I lose so I don't think it's a waste.

Wow lots of great information here!! Thank you all! Going to regroup and mission for a bit and plan out a better strategy for this next time around using all of these replies

Been gone so long I have to re-learn some of the basics again. Its amazing how deep this game still is.

of course its profitable..
Espcialy in high when you can get 10 m each round or even 200m if you find a good combat site

Don't forget the Stratios and Luxury Yacht (cruisers) and there is an alliance tournament ship or two floating about as well that can covops too.

[Astero, [S] Explo]

Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
Sisters Core Probe Launcher (Sisters Core Scanner Probe)

Coreli C-Type 5MN Microwarpdrive (you can use any other MWD)
Data Analyzer II
Relic Analyzer II
Cap Recharger II

Damage Control II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Coreli A-Type Small Armor Repairer
Warp Core Stabilizer II

Small Anti-Explosive Pump I
Small Auxiliary Nano Pump II
Small Capacitor Control Circuit II

10x Hornet EC-300
5x Warrior II



This I use for all sites including standard sleeper cache (for superior you need a Stratios/T3). I do not cargo scan cans, but it is also an option.

If you are not doing ghost / sleeper cache sites, you can do a Nano instead of the Repper and a Cargo Scanner instead of the Cap Recharger and maybe a second WCS/Nano instead of EANM (I do not like the short targeting range though). Put a mobile depot and spare WCS in your cargohold - I also take some cargohold expanders with me in case I find the very rare silent battleground in a WH (sleeper relics are big unfortunately).

Get your Archeology/Hacking skills to V - it is definitely worth doing if you plan to do exploration on a regular basis.