EVE General Discussion

Hmm... I don't know that I'm willing to train another factions ships unless I have to. The Gallente equivalent would be the Arazu... and it's got total junk bonuses for solo exploration. And seems like a damn expensive ship to be putting at risk. I dunno. Both recons for Gallente seem pretty awful as ships.

Frankly, I would have thought that drones would have been a good way to go for solo exploration, but I'm starting to think that's not a good idea. I'll be losing them every time I have to run. I have a lot of skill points in drones... shame to waste that.

I guess my go to all-in-one would be a Myrmidon, but no cloak then. No cloak? No scan bonuses? Why not just use the Helios to find and another ship to fight. I'm already putting on a lot of hats it seems with "beat combat site" and "survive PVP engagements"....

Shame I couldn't fight back. Everyone wins if I do that. But I don't know the first thing about real PVP and it seems like a guaranteed recipe to lose a lot of expensive ships.

Lots of good advice here.

The directional scanner is your best friend in the world outside of hisec. Definitely get used to having it open and using it.

Set it to maximum range, 360 degrees and see what's on scan when you enter a system. Get a feel for what gates and stations are on scan and which ones aren't. Set up an overview tab that does not have wrecks and cans and POS garbage on it, and use that tab when using the d-scanner (with the checkbox marked for "use overview settings"). The less clutter on the d-scanner, the better. Ideally you'd only want ships, stargates, the sun and docks on this overview. EDIT!! : and probes of course!

When someone comes into local, spam that d-scan button until you see what they came into system with (He's the signature that wasn't there when you scanned earlier - you did remember to scan earlier right?). If all the gates to your system are on d-scan, you'll see what he jumped in with before he cloaks. If you don't see him after a minute of this spamming, he either jumped in from a gate off scan, logged in from dock, entered from a wormhole off scan, or logged in in space outside of your scan range.

Once you know what the enemy is flying, you can adjust your survival tactics. If he's in something cloaky, and/or you see probes come out, GTFO. Safe up, dock, whatever. He's hunting you.

If you see him in something you know can't warp while cloaked, you can keep running the site carefully, and reduce your d-scan range to something shorter to see if and when he gets close to you. But always keep checking d-scan when there are neutrals in system with you. Always assume they are hunting you and ignoring everyone else in system.

You don't need to learn to use the directionality features of the d-scanner to survive - just modifying the range can be enough.

Also keep in mind that unless you're in a site that has to be probed down, a good hunter will find you with his d-scanner alone, and depending on the size and layout of the system, do it in a minute or less.

Watch dscan!

I have been scanned down mutiple times, never lost a ship. Most probers are bad and you see the probes for some minutes on dscan. A lot of time to get away from the warpin beacon on the plex.

Watch dscan!

For lowsec exploration you don't need such a big ship as a Domi. I did fine in a PvP fittet tornado in angel space.

Watch dscan!

Even if you don't see probes on dscan, get away from the warpin beacon as soon as possible.
If you are in a fat ship like a domi, it never hurts to be alligned to a station, savespot or a cluster of multiple celestials

WATCH DSCAN! Or place an cloaky alt on the warpin gate.

Fighting back can work. As i allready said, most people are bad, i allready know that they are comming and in what ship. So if they are comming in i burn away fromt he rats, at 100 - 150km the Angel rats don't do any damage. And to get to me the enemy need to burn though the rats :D In the last two month i killed 2x Cynas, tornado, talos and a 2,3 Bil Tengu that tried to kill me in my plex.

What do you mean "PVP fit" here? Just scramble, web, MWD, and dps? Or are you talking about this as an all-in-one explore ship?

I was planning to try scram, web, MWD fit, but then I thought I'd get schooled by people who know the ropes in PVP anyway - those are offensive fit things, not defensive fit things. What consitutes a PVP fit that doesn't care if the enemy runs away? Sort of an "anti-PVP" fit - just destroy people who find you?

I get that I've not made the best choice with a Dominix - 2 wrecks make that apparent, especially when I couldn't even manage to take apart a frigate in one engagement.

A cruiser is more than sufficient to run all lowsec profession sites, and many combat sites. Heck, some can even be run in the T1 exploration frigates. I suggest you look up the YouTube user "Jonnypew." He is an eve player that has a YouTube channel dedicated to exploration, with some pvp and Dust 514 thrown in. While many things are outdated (ship fits etc.) it will give you a solid foundation upon which you can build.

I use a pilgrim. I also use it in null. I haven't checked highsec WH until I lost an Anathema when I took 2 ships with me and got a nifty litle mail thanking me for the covops. (LOL)

Pilgrims kind of give the best of all worlds. Has cloak, can warp around a site without any bother, has drones if that's your thing, and still sturdy enough to do some damage to anyone who might jump you (neuts go a damned long ways since you don't need to really fit highs for dps).

Plus they have enough mids (analyzer, code breaker, etc).

I would really second the people that laud the Pilgrim as an exploration vessel. It really is the perfect ship for finding sites and doing the simpler ones like radars and magnetometric ones. You won't be able to do combat sites, but then again we're talking about a cruiser.

While the other recons are very niche and specialised, the Pilgrim is actually quite the generalist. It is still the Amarr ewar ship, and does tracking disruption well. It also has the neuting bonus, which is – apart from the range and the number of high slots – as good as on the curse. People actually run from the curse when it enters local. And like the other force recons it can, of course, warp cloaked.

Which means that if you are trapped on a gate by someone, you can actually fight your way out if you have to. So, like in many areas of eve, there's one ship that dominates a particular activity. The Tengu is the obvious PVE ship, and in my opinion that Pilgrim is the obvious exploration ship. If you're serious about exploring, it is well worth it to cross train for it, and for the things it has bonuses for.

If you plan on taking the exploration route seriously, I would recommend heading over to Sisi before hand. The changes that are planned for explo may help or stray you away.

Like others have said Pilgrim makes a great all-in-one High/Low Explo site, just watch your drones and D-scan.

You'd be suprised at how well a force recon ship changes that opinion. The pilgrim is also tons of fun to fly for combat.

I have quite a few of them used for various purposes-

1 for solo pvp. 1 for fleet/gang pvp (when not flying a curse). 1 for exploration, and finally, 1 for Blockade Running (yes yes I know I know, but still 1030m3 is still decent for hostile territory and one of the only times I can consider a shield fit and protect my assets when I'm feelin saucy).

Once I even flew my blockade running pilgrim instead of my solo pvp one.

Was an interesting result. ( I didn't die-hint).

Definition of the problem: people are killing me.

Solution to the problem: kill them first!

That's an oversimplification of course, but if you want to explore lowsec you are well off learning all the dirty tricks used to catch and kill you. Why not FW for a while or hang out with other lowsec pvp-ers? It's good to know the other side of the cat and mouse game. While lowsec has less competition, it's still there and locals have the homefield advantage of assets in stations and posses, and off course friends. Having access to these yourself is great as an explorer. Why not team up with a pvp corp and use exploration in their space as an ISK maker for pew pew ships? The more intel and blues you have in your system the more early warnings you will get.

Basicly anything beyond hisec involves pvp. If you get the basics of pvp it's easier to specialize in preventing it. Good luck!