Missions & Complexes

1) There is no real proof about how/when sites spawn. Most believe that they respawn nearly instantly in the same region, though again, no proof.

2) Mags were slightly buffed this latest patch, although between the two I cannot say which would be more profitable. I can say for certain that DED sites pay much better.

3) I don't venture into low, but from what I here most systems are empty. Pirates are out there though.

4) Zero, as I do not run them.

Thank you both for your answers.

Funnily enough I have had much more luck with radar and mags in getting isk. Got over 100 M isk from a mag site this sunday, while the highest I got out of a complex was 40M or so. (I have done far more sites, but the general trend is clear)

I am just begining my exploring career so perhaps it is different with better (combat) skills. I take forever to run the combat sites. What ships do you use for running DED:s? I currently explore with an all-purpouse arbitrator, aiming for a pilgrim. I could bring my harbinger instead of course.

I guess I see it from a "maximizing" perspective, as I flew a tengu when I was exploring. Tengu is well suited for gurista complexes (the only ones I used to do) which drop the best loot, by far. As you are in the arbitrator with goals for a pilgrim, mags/radars are obviously still worth your time.

The legion can handle any high sec sites you throw at it and T3 is really where you want to be if you plan on being a dedicated explorer so your long term goal should definitely have that (or another T3) in line. For now, if you plan to stay in high sec, I would say stick with the arbi if it can do all the sites you want to do. I don't really know much about it though, so not sure if it can handle the DED 4/10s and Vigils. If it can't, move on up to the harbi.

As for my position on radars/mags: yes they are worth doing if you cannot do the complexes fast and efficiently. But if and when you can do those sites, they should be your targets. You may say "well mags/radars provide more stable isk, albeit lower" or "well I pulled 30 mil from a mag, it was pretty good." Those points are irrelevant (particularly the stable notion, this irritates me when people say anything about exploration is stable).

The fact is complexes have the higher POTENTIAL isk return and as competition is high, spending time doing radars/mags is time you could otherwise spend finding the sites with better POTENTIAL. Just something to think about when you get a bit further in your exploration career.

Well Gallente 4/10 can be kited in a Vexor with MWD, never tried if it can be properly speedtanked with AB (it was lowsec mag/radar fit so MWD + cloak fit). It can be tanked easily in a AB speed tanked Ishkur if you have good enough gun and drone skills to kill overseer in it. On paper it has enough tank to tank Guristas but unlike lol Serpentis Guris have missiles which don't care that much about your speed tank (they will still hit you for some damage, unlike guns which completely miss and do 0).

Maybe one of Minnie AFs could do Ammar plexes; but imho Angels and Guristas have too much missiles.

Yes of course you can use a Tengu and roll over all highsec sites without any worry about NPCs.


Now some mine questions.

How often are fully empty sites? Last year I mad a bit over a bill in 20 days (average 4 systems scanned per day but statistics lie) and considered a "lol single resist passive hardener" a fail drop and never had "wtf, just overseer stuff, noooo" moments. Now I resubed I found 4 sites, only one dropped anything other than overseer stuff.
I know those are absolutely tiny number samples but 3 out of 4 is very demotivating. I'd rather warp in to see random Tengu killing the overseer than going for a full clear and getting nothing.

Can anyone who has statistics spanning many dozens or even hundreds of sites done please tell how often are full 0 drops?

Second. Proteus still cant into PVE right? I'm close-ish to Loki and very very far from Tengu. Worth bothering with Loki or should I bite the bullet and go for Tengu?

Tengu seems to be the queen, yes. You can still fly other ships tho. Pilgrim, Ishtar, Gila for instance. The other t3s (while not being as 'efficient' as a tengu can still hold their ground i guess. Also depending on what faction you want to fight some ships might be better suited for the task than others - look for natural resists.

Speed.

Running highsec complexes is ALL about speed. From the moment you jump into a system, consider it a race. Even if there's no-one in local, assume that there will be very shortly.

Everything from scanning skills; the number of probes you drop and the keyboard shortcuts for moving & resizing them; being aligned to next system if nothing likely pops up; burn time between gates; knowing what will TD or web or damp you; knwoing how to spawn triggers and where they appear.. all these speed-related factors contribute to successful exploration.

Being able to use Deep Space Probes gives any explorer a very big advantage in finding complexes - not least because at the moment, 3/10's and 4/10's are all at the same sig strength, and Vigils are exactly half of that.

You should be looking to do the absolute bare minimum to get you into the final pocket to kill the Overseer/kill & loot the faction spawn. Everything else, you need to tank while you beetle after the final objective.

A Vigil should not take more than 3-4 minutes once you arrive at the first gate.

In short - build you ship to tank and burn. You simply do not need a lot of dps; 200-250 is plenty.

The exception is the 3/10's, where it's a frig fest and in each pocket you have to kill everything to unlock the next gate.

Lastly - If you get into a complex and find you're contesting it.. you don't have to be a gentleman. After all, you've just spent time & effort to find the same site, so go ahead and race your opponent(s). It's actually very satisfying when you win :D

And yes I fully understand that some people like to take their time & kill everything for bounties; but frankly, that's not exploring. That's just ratting.

I think I will try and steal my own thread back for a short while... ;).

I know how to do the 4/10 complexes found in my area in a quick manner in highsec. In lowsec I have found a few higher rated complexes but never dared doing them. (only once did I actually find a 5/10 which I might have tried, but RL intervened).

My question. Can i do a 5/10 (and perhaps even a 6/10) in a harbinger? Is speed even an option there or will I be shot to pieces, i.e. I need to shot off every single NPC kiting their damage before going for the final kill?

My arbitrator can probably handle 4/10, albeit very slowly so I am now planning to fly out my harbinger to low sec to increae my firepower. Will I lose it in a ball of fire if I try the higher DED:s?

Yeah in the meantime I have come to the same conclusion. I did scan down all sites to have a look at what they might be and everyone I looked up on the evelopedia was way out of my league, now I have gone back to just ignoring any site that is not radar/mag. In highsec I will continue to scan down all of them, even though I do prefer lowsec.

Somehow I am a slightly bit disapointed with the exploring combat sites. I do agreewith what was mentioned before that we are like Han Solo. Exploring the universe finding cool stuff and getting into troubles. Thing is Han Solo did not suddenly change ship and came back in an Imperial Star Destroyer (the big big "triangular" ships). But that is how exploring is in low/null sec it seems.

For now I will slowly skill for the pilgrim then perhaps a T3 cruiser. I guess what I need to aim for to get my fun out of EvE is nullsec or wormhole radar and mag sites. Big stuff spawn there too, but far less and hopefully doable on your own.