Ships & Modules

Greetings pilots!

I am looking into upgrading my explorsin activitiesand while I train up the needed skills to 5, I was wondering what my next ship should be? My ultimate goal is to eventually get into a T3 cruiser.

Currently I am flying a probe, and I think my next choice should be the cheetah. Is this correct? Or should I be looking at the sisters of eve ships?

Any advice would be appreciated.

astero is the golden standard for exploration. You don't really want to do it in a T2 covops as your offensive and defensive capabilities are basically none and will get killed even by a properly fit T1 scanning ship or an astero (much more likely)

There's not much you can't do in an astero. I've hacked superior sleeper caches and superior covert research facilities to almost completion in one.

T3 only benefits you if you're not comfortable escaping bubble traps by cloaking and using mwd since you have the interdiction nullifier sub.

It can't fit a combat prober either without severely gimping the fit. But yeah for what the conversation is about, the only reason not to use it is if you can't afford it.

For general exploration and suchlike, the Astero is a lovely little boat. Its only downside is how badly you need to gimp it to fit Combat Probes.

The T2 CovOps Frigates can reach higher scan probe strengths, can more easily fit combat probes and can blaze a covert cyno. This last one is very situational but not to be underestimated.

So, if you're combat probing for a fleet, you'll eventually be wanting a Buzzard or similar. For an all purpose, general exploration vessel, the Astero will get the job done with a level of style that few other ships can match (I admit it, I love the look of the Astero).

Probing/exploration T3 cruisers are something I confess I haven't looked much into. They are a significant investment in both skillpoints and ISK to fly well.

I did my first wh explorations in a probe (without cloak :P). This ship made me 270m within 48h. then i realised i can also fit "normal" cloaks. My scanning skills were bad - as well as my relic / data skills (most were at 2, some at 3).

So scanner strenghts is probably not the issue (scan-speed: if you´re out (in?) there to make money you have to be patient anyway). Different for high-competition highsec exploration.

I upgrded from probe to asterio with a semi-combat fit (armor-rep rigs instead of virus strengths and so on). You can even bring a small depot with you so you can refit for combat (i engaged an imicus at a planet. My warp scrambler II wasn't enough to hold it in place - 3 stabs :(.

But back to topic:
In most cases you´ll sneak up on other explorers. You can wait till they sit in a site. You don´t need to probe his ship with combat probes, just get the site as warp in (idealy you allready got every sig scanned down and bookmarked beforehand).

I agree with the general tenor, the Astero is a great jack-of-all-trades exploration ship. I used one in low sec and did relic/data sites as well as 1/10 and 2/10 DED sites with ease. Pack a mobile depot and modules for alternate fittings (e.g. stabs for exploration, armor hardeners + armor repper and warp disruptors for PvP) and you're set.

The rather large cargo hold helps with staying in the field rather longer without the need to dock and dump loot.