Missions & Complexes

I love the whole idea of exploration... to find sites in systems and never having the same sites appear in the same places. It makes it fun to chase them down, and a sense of satisfaction to finally get a warpable lock on a difficult site.

However, once you get to the sites it feels like the loot is extremely low value. The hack sites give items worth less than 5k per unit and only around 10-40 units. The salvage sites give low-end salvage materials which sell for very little isk. The combat sites have rats worth only a few K isk more than regular belt rats.

In fact, the only decent sites I find in highsec are gravimetric sites which are filled with golden omber and fiery kernite, plus you get to sit there and mine without interference from other miners, would be gankers and so on.

Overall though, as much as I love the concept of exploration, to me (thus far) it seems like it's the least profitable non-combat "career" you can pursue in the game. Doing courier missions give you more and faster isk. Doing mining with a frig or a cruiser is better isk in the long run. Doing combat missions is definately more isk.

Hell, even killing belt rats in a 0.7 system provides better isk than exploration (except, again, for the gravimetric sites).

So what incentive is there to bother training up exploration?

Has anyone ever found anything worthwhile in a hack/salv site in highsec? And by worthwhile I mean something worth more than 100k on the market.

Seems like only viable option for exploration is to take ships to low or null with the added risk of losing the ship. Especially when you have to swap between a probeship and a combat ship to clear the sites as you find them.

I thought this game had other avenues and careers for players to enjoy besides 1) Mission run or do ratting, 2) Mine and 3) PvP.

Why is the salvaging, exploration and other supposed "careers" so incredibly far behind the mainstream stuff in terms of earning isk? Well... at least it feels like they are far behind.. especially compared to just doing mission runs. Exploration takes time to train up for the skill, and even more time finding a system with sites and then chasing down the sites using proper probe adjusting... which is time when miners and/or mission runners are just hoarding in bounties, mission rewards and ore/minerals to sell for easy ISK.

Maybe I am wrong and there is actually something worth all the time spent probing. Finding the huge prize or something. So far though I have found nada, zilch, zippo... only low end, low value items that barely give you any increase in your wallet.

All decryptors (from Radars) are worth more than your target value. A-type frigate modules can go up to, what, 200mil? C-type invulns are even higher. C-type shield boosters, last I checked, get up to 350mil.

There are gems in high sec. Find one and you'll probably be addicted to exploration. Keep missing them? You'll be better off doing something else, sure.

Skill up well, and get out of hisec OP.

(Just trust me, you'll be glad you did.)

You didn't say where you do your explo, but this goes double for Caldari hisec. It's much too crowded, even at like 4.00am (my time)!

Yes, there are gems to be found in hisec, but if you want to make anything like "real" money--on anything like a consistent basis, inasmuch as that descriptor can apply to exploration at all--then learn about how to live/get around in losec, and always do all the profession sites in low whenever you find them, unless the system is crowded with ebbil scawwy piwates, because those will come looking for you.

These are like your "regular wage" that makes you money whilst you skill up for a ship that can run the 'Plexes comfortably (DED 4-6/10, plus their unrated equivalents and expeditions), which are like your "Xmas-bonus."

From my own experience:

Radar/Mag sites -- some of these have a pretty big spawn of rats, and may re-spawn rats once you start hacking/salvaging/analysing. An "all-in-one" exploration cruiser (Vexor in my case. Arbitrator is popular for this.) can handle these, but you must keep range and wear them down from range--getting in close will hurt. A lot. In general, "Salvager-only" mag-sites have the easiest rats, the higher-end Radar sites have the toughest. Rewards scale accordingly, but remember that all exploration is based on random chance. You'll sometimes find bugger-all.

LADAR -- Some losec gasses are actually worth mining, but remember the risks of staying on one place for too long in losec, and watch that d-scan and local constantly. The "(Pirate) Chemical Lab" and "(Pirate) Gas-Processing Sites" do not have gas-clouds to mine, but have cans to hack (IE, use a Codebreaker), and these can drop that one booster skillbook that goes for like 325mn. These are heavily-defended, and need a heavy-tank Battlecruiser (lots of elite rats, including tackler frigates), HAC, or T3.

Complexes -- I have seen the odd DED 3/10 spawn in losec, although officially, they're not supposed to. The 4/10s are just right for a Battlecruiser, but be careful in the Blood Raiders one: Lots of neuting. The 5/10s can be done in a heavy-tank BC, but this is far from optimal. Be careful of webbing/neuting towers in the last room, they are typically ca. 50km off the warp in point, so you need hard-tank and range. A Drake will do these, but again, far from optimal--multiple warp-outs required until you can use your MWD to pull range and scrape some of the DPS off you (After killing the stasis tower and any frigates, then kill the BC-size rats first, they die quick to a couple HM volleys. Then settle in for the slog against the BSs.), and you have to "lead the mobs" quite a ways away whilst sniping them.

A BC typically can't handle any of the unrated 'plexes higher than "(Pirate) Minor Annex," and even that will take a gooooood long time. They definitely won't handle the boss in the escalation, which is usually in nullsec. (The one in "Angel Mineral Outpost" pretty much alpha'ed my Drake's ass.) Also tackle-frigates, which the 5/10s don't have. Never seen, let alone done a 6/10, but I would imagine you need a T3 for those.

HiSec explo is really about getting you started, and it does this well, but it's not anything like a "career," IMHO. For that, you must leave the nest.

If you know what you are doing, you can make good isk in any sec exploring. Trouble is no one wants to train or buy the equipment. Then they say exploration is broken.

exploration in high sec can get some nice results mainly in the 4/10's as they are the best in high sec

but you have to be lucky with the loot drops and try to stay out of caldari space way too crowded

So exploration is only good for doing complexes? ~_~

Also, you don't need a dedicated probing ship. Fit a probe launcher to whatever ship you plan on doing sites in.

But really, let me emphasize this: its working as intended for high sec sites to not be as profitable as low sec/null sec. Greater risk = greater reward.

Let me also emphasize this: if you are looking for steady income, exploration is not for you. At least not in the beginning.

Yes sorry OP you don't seem to get it. And it sounds as if exploration isn't for you.

When I was a noob I would explore in an imicus (hmm frigate with bonus to scanning, sounds like a ship design for exploration)

I went for only high sec radars. High sec radars usually have no defenders. And occasionally if they did my 3 hobs could dispatch them. I had nights where I could pull in a couple hundred mil in an exploration session. Far more than I could running level 1 or 2 missions. But it was hit or miss.

Given how competitive high sec exploration has become I would say it is working well and profitable enough to keep people doing it.

But it isn't for everyone. If you find scanning annoying and tedious it isn't for you. If you like a guaranteed isk/hr it isn't for you.

Train your skills and you can scan without needing a scanning bonus just fine. I only JUST started exploring and I am already out pacing level 4's in a domi by a pretty decent amount and I haven't even ventured into low sec yet which I imagine will be much more lucrative.

I am actually curious if exploration high and low is actually better isk overall than level 4s though as it only seems like it so far but I could be very wrong.

Some radars in high sec can occasionally turn decent isk. Some DED sites can occasionally turn decent isk (faction rat dropping a LG crystal Omega? Oh my!)



Irrelevant. If you want steady isk/hr, exploration isn't for you.



I guess I bought that emergent locus analyzer subsystem for nothing. Damn I'm dumb.



Ships with scanning bonuses just make scanning easier with bad skills. Get decent enough skills (lvl 4 rangefinding is a must), 6% hardwiring, a sisters launcher and some gravity capacitor rigs and you can scan almost anything in your combat ship.

This thread basically boils down to a lot of misconceptions about exploration. Plenty of people are doing it (one might even say too many). If you can't figure it out, then yes, maybe its time to return to missions/mining.