EVE General Discussion

If you don't have a lot of cash floating around, try using a cruiser fitted with all the modules you need. I live in low sec and I've used a rupture to go solo exploring for a while now and it works like a charm. Fit a regular cloak, mwd, codebreaker, analyzer salvager, probe launcher, and active armor tank in the lows and you'll be fine to do all radar/mag sites with ease. If a site says unknown, ignore it and move on to the next one, keep changing systems until you find something good, and DO learn the cloak/mwd trick if you're going to low sec. To this day I haven't been caught in my rupture on a gate camp even though I go all over the place in low sec to explore.

If you're sticking to high sec a recon might not be a good option for you. They are not a whole lot more durable than a rupture in my experience, but they are much easier to get past a camp. If you stick solely to high sec grab an arty battlecruiser or a HAC fitted with a probe launcher if you're wanting to do combat sites, and a cruiser if you want only mag/radar sites. In my experience low sec has a lot more radar/mag sites and is actually not that dangerous if you pay attention.

Get in the mindset of being nomadic, it pays to have an all in one vessel that can run the sites you want to run, but keep in mind it is difficult to get a battlecruiser past a gate camp. A battlecruiser can do the cloak/mwd trick to get by a gate camp just like a cruiser, but in case you mess up or a can uncloaks you a cruiser can align much faster, and it doesn't cost nearly as much to lose.

hope some of that rambling helps out. good luck

no, they can be combat sites also, just generally not as profitable and sometimes not doable in a solo exploration cruiser, can be done in a battlecruiser though. Most of the time (at least for me) when i'm going for the most money/hour I just skip all the unknowns and go for radar/mag sites since they're easy and can pay out 30+ mil isk each.

edit: that's not to say the combat sites aren't worth doing, it just depends what setup you have. I prefer the rupture because it can cover alot of ground and easily do the high payout sites, but cannot do the DEDs or combat sites. a HAC would be ideal if you wanted to do the combat sites as well, but you're putting alot more out there to get ganked than i prefer.
The combats and DED sites take time to do. Many times i will do radars/mags under the nose of tons of pirates/reds in the system. That is simply because A: i'm not afraid to lose the rupture, one radar site will pay for the rupture. B: you can run a radar or mag site before someone even realizes what you're doing, much less picks you up on dscan and decides to scan you down. C: armor tanked cruisers are MUCH harder to scan down than shield tanked hacs or battlecruisers, so you have more warning and can gtfo before they arrive.

I'm NOT saying don't do unknown combat sites, but I am saying if you want to go around to a ton of different systems with the purpose of making money, a throwaway cruiser that can do the sites that make the most money with the least amount of effort is a solid choice. If you're in a safe area with little to worry about by all means do the combat sites (I do them in the space my alliance controls) but trust me it's hard to beat a ship that can range out FAR away from its comfort zone to get at the sites everyone else is too scared to go for.

The one thing about exploration I would like to see changed would be that womholes would come up as their own catagory and not unknown. Nothing worse than spending 5 or 10 minutes scanning an unknown to only find out it is a wormhole.

"A Demonstration" is a site for the 1st mission of the Minmatar Level 4 Epic Arc.

As someone else said, be nomadic. I've found sites in 1.0 and lower. Doesn't matter if the system has a station or not. Just check the Star map stats for traffic, population, npc kills, etc.. As a high security explorer, you want to be able to find and complete the sites asap due to competition.

Radar, Ladar, Magnetometric and Gravimetric sites all show type at 25% signal strength. 'Unknown' sites will show type (W-hole or Combat) at 75% signal strength. This can be used to quickly find specific types of sites, like Radar. After gaining 25% signal strength, just ignore the signature if it isn't the type or class you're looking for.

When I was in the Force Recon Cruiser, I would carry 3 small secure containers filled with munitions and the extra various mods needed for refit. This way the ship was very mobile. I mainly went for everything I could do. I would ignore the w-holes and bookmark everything else. The Grav and Ladar bookmarks I'd contract to another player with Orca and Hulk team. The only bookmark I wouldn't use most of the time was the 'Vigil' site. It's a little too tough for the Force Recon Cruiser but a Command ship, T3 Cruiser or a couple of great fitted Battlecruiser's can complete the 'Vigil' site easily enough.

In each area or route I had 1 system set up as 'Base of Operations' (centrally located) where everything is stored. This includes a fitted Frigate for running the 'Hideout' combat sites. To maximize time and isk, this was the 'Order of Operation' for each system.. After scanning down the system, I'd jump on the Radar sites first, then the Mag sites. Next it was DED 3/10 and 4/10 sites followed by the 'Lookout' and 'Watch' combat sites. I'd then switch into a Frigate and complete the 'Hideout' combat site and run some anomalies if available, mainly just the 'Burrow' and 'Hideaway' anomalies. If any expeditions were gained, I'd refit the Force Recon Cruiser and complete the expedition. After that I would go back and continue scanning the rest of the route. After completing the route, I'd pack up the 3 small secure containers and go to another route.

Hope this is helpful, good luck to you and welcome to exploration.