EVE New Citizens Q&A

If you are really serious to have exploration as career then I say no. But it is just my point of view. You see, manufacturing is quite skill point and ISK heavy and you need to put in a lot of time into it. My advice. Focus on one thing at the time, what interests you most. Then you can just branch out for new stuff.

Did they now? hah probably would have been months befor I'd notice, j-space is aboute all I've probed since before these changes. Well that's kind of kitten to remove them, easy enough as they were.

Well, the null gate camps are definitely unbearable in a T1 frig. It looks like the only way to effectively null sec explore is with a cov ops and a regular route in as quiet of space as possible as one can find, with bookmarks 200km up or down from both every gate you jump into (to burn away from gate camps) and toward your next location (to look for them). That or the wormhole instead of gates route others suggested.

I've had enough of jumping into gates and 3 people are sitting there, and as soon as I go to warp *up comes bubble*

It was all in NPC null, if that had any effect on the frequency of gate camps, I don't know. And yeah, even with paying attention to statistics on the map (pilots in system, ships destroyed recently, pods killed recently), it helps, but it's still playing roulette if you don't have a cov ops mwd/cloak to burn away or back toward the gate when you realize you just jumped into 3+ guys sitting there waiting for the most exciting form of PvP to ever exist in an MMO. I particularly checked the star map before the last jump and it said no players in system and no pods or ships killed recently neither there or the system after it, and yet there they were, 3 players sitting on the gate waiting for dinner.

I'm not bitter though, I make the "most exciting form of PvP ever" comment just thinking how boring it must be doing gate camps, rather than something like actively roaming. It's part of the game and it's the reason null loot prices maintain their value obviously. I'm just going to wait until I'm in a cov ops with the cloak and a nice set of bookmarks from every gate made in the middle of the night before I go further.

T3 ship, best exploration ship. Fit an interdiction nullifier and laugh at warp bubbles, which is something T1/T2 exploration ships just can't do, don't bother futzing with WH routes in/out -- just slip right through the hisec->null entrance nearest you. :)

Also, with the right subsystems a T3 also gets the same virus strength & probing bonuses as an explo T2. (Which is where CCP failed miserably with the Stratios IMHO..why bother? But I digress...)

What I haven't figured out though is which region of null has the best / most un-run relic sites...stain and paragon soul seem 'ok', but I want moar juicy blueprint drops etc...

I think the T3's give you a lot more storage space (which is going to become your limitation exploring with the T2 frigate) and the ability to fight.


Also, what do you see as being your longer term plan? An explorer could lead to a career as a scout for a null sec group, or a wormhole resident once you add other skill sets. But it is frequently used as a scout with a dual account setup if you want to stay solo.

Haven't read all the comments, so if I repeat other advice, oh well...

First off, you don't need a cov-ops to do exploration in low-sec or null-sec. It's just highly helpful. Exploration frigates are cheap. Just insure them, and keep your clone updated and you should be fine if your wallet is any decent size at all. T1 frigates are fine and you can find some good exploration fits on Eve University's wiki. You really should train up enough to use a cheap prototype cloak on your T1 frigate - they are soooo useful for this kind of thing.

Second, don't bother making your exploration frigate combat-worthy. You can look up YouTube videos of some PvPer with a lot of time on his hands taking out a "battle-Heron" for lols, but you really have to specialty fit a Heron to make it do that kind of thing. If you do that, it's going to suck at scanning and hacking and stuff.

Eve is a game where picking a specialty and sticking to it is usually the best move in ship fitting. Trying to do more than one thing at the same time just means you end up sucking at both tasks.

An exploration frigate's best defense is not-getting-caught. Learn to refresh D-scan constantly, make safe spots in all your usual exploration systems, and probe quickly before trouble can show up. If another ship shows up, run for it. You aren't going to be a good explorer and have a combat fit at the same time.

Low sec loot will probably be so much better than what you are used to in high sec, that you will probably be delighted with it for some time. You can store your loot at a nearby space station - same as high sec.

Part of the secret to doing this successfully is picking the right part of low sec to start in. You might be thinking "I don't want to go too far into low sec, I'll just pick one of these border systems that's still close to high sec in case I want to get back in."

Bad idea.

Most pirates are counting on high sec-ers to think this way. That's why they all tend to camp the border systems heavily. If you try to set up operations in border systems, you increase the risk of getting blown up tenfold. Instead, you should try and find somewhere deep in low security space - far away from the high sec choke points. Somewhere 20 jumps or so into low sec.

The biggest challenge will be running your exploration ship past the gatecamps and such on the way in. But once you're that deep in low sec, you'll find the place pretty-much full of signatures and deserted of players, except for a few regular locals who you'll start to recognize by name. Bookmark a good space station out there, and then worry about how you're going to get stuff out again.

Exploration loot is really low-volume. So you can transport most of it out in your little exploration frigate. No hauler needed. And the best way out of low sec is...

Wormholes.

Sure, wormholes are sometimes filled with psychopathic packs of murderers. But other times they are filled with paranoid miners who will run and hide the moment you enter, assuming you are the scout for a pack of psychopathic murderers. Of you'll just find them deserted.

You run your chances. But, in my opinion, your chances are a lot better than trying to fly stuff out through low sec - where you are almost guaranteed gate camps. Scan a wormhole in your low sec neighborhood. Bookmark the entrance, go in, bookmark the exit, warp to a random planet at 70 km, launch your probes, cloak up, and scan out the other wormhole exits. Then bookmark them, go through, and repeat the process until you find an exit into high security space.

Go on YouTube and search for "adhocracy" and "wormhole fundamentals" for a nice beginner's series on how wormholes work. Once you get good at navigating wormholes, you'll have an almost instant exit out of any part of low security or null security space back into high-sec, without having to deal with the increased danger of exiting those kinds of space.

Once you establish temporary wormhole routes, you can start bringing other ships back through into your low sec base of operations. Extra exploration ships, a cruiser for combat sites, maybe a PvP frigate or two. A mining ship... whatever you like. Just be sure not to keep all your assets in low sec. Make it so that not having access to low sec would not hurt you too bad.

Do this, and you should find low sec to be a fun exploration experience. And once you get bored, you'll have many of the skills you'll need to thrive in null sec as well.

One extra thing to be worried about in Null Sec is that the corporations that control the space out there usually have intel-chat channels and voice com alert systems in place. You can run into it in low sec as well, but not as much, since people out there don't control turf the same way. So the corps out there will often be following your progress from system to system - and they may plan something for you if they feel inclined.

Another thing about low sec - Faction Warfare systems tend to have more PvP activity than non-Faction Warfare.

Exploration is a pretty direct lead-in to scouting/intel which is a major part of any organized PvP. The ability to fly cloaky ships is invaluable in low sec and null sec and especially in wormhole space. Every fight in wormhole space comes as a direct result of scanning/scouting and is almost always done in cloaky ships because there is no local to give you away. Wormhole corps spend many hours every day mapping out the chain of wormholes they are connected to and lurking in cloaky ships to instigate fights. If you enjoy that style of play, I would highly recommend you to join a wormhole corp in the future.

Stealth bombers are quite fun, if a little niche. They are generally used against industrials, noctis, and mining ships. Things that can't fight back, because they have quite a small tank. They have some use against battleships and other large targets which have trouble tracking them to output damage. Also, they use torpedos, not rockets, which are "large" class missiles. This leads to a unique case where a very small ship is using a large weapon system, so you have the benefit of being difficult to hit, but you also will have trouble applying damage to small targets.

As a long term goal, tech 3 strategic cruisers are generally considered the most effective stealthy PvP ships. They are heavily used in wormhole space, because of the necessity for stealth.

Lots of good advice here already, just thought I would throw some extra pieces in.

Open your map and look for out of the way stretches of deep lowsec. Also sections of highsec that are separated from mainland empire by a couple lowsec jumps. There will still be competition for sites but if the tz work out you mind find a nice niche for your self. Get used to flying in a specific area and learn who the locals are. You will soon know who is often docked up, who is your competition and who are local pirates that might pose a danger.

Scan down everything and bookmark it with its alphanumeric code. This way you can return to the system and immediately check off old sites and see what has spawned.

Always check what a wh is. Warp to it at 100 and show info on it. Put the info in your bookmark. Not only can you later use it to scan a chain out you will often find direct connections to other regions of space.

My advice for training is progress from your t1 frig to a coops to a t3. When you have the skills for the covops take a few days and train for a gas mining venture. Start checking out the whs you scan down. You can easily ninja mine a good amount of high value gas from a nice empty system with a cheap ship. When you advance to the t3 you can start training combat skills and look at completing the combat sites you have been passing by and eventually even day tripping in whs.

Feel free to mail me with specific questions, I spent a long time doing explo in deep low and whs and found it to be both fun and insanely profitable :D.

Sorry I should of been more clear.

Gas sites in null/low are different than in whs. Still can be profitable but especially the ones in null would be annoying to ship out. They are used in the production of booster drugs which is a confusing and long process so the gas is hard to sell even in trade hubs.

The quick money gas is located in scannable sites within wh systems. It is used for various parts of t3 mmanufacturing. The different classes of wh space have different sites in them and various amounts of sleeper rats to guard them. However the way the rats work is they spawn awhile after first warping to the site. As such you can identify the highest value gas and mine it before they get there.

Some of the booster gas is of similar profitability but I would be inclined to grab it only in low so you could store it in a station for later retrieval. Be careful though some sites listed as gas sites are actually combat gas sites with great loot but dangerous rats already on scene guarding them.