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Skill Discussions

 
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Looking for help with Exploration skills
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Aurelius Severasse
Doomheim
#1 - 2012-06-20 00:58:16 UTC
I've been playing for about three months now and I want to focus mainly on exploration. So far I've been training for the core competency certificates (I finished basic and i'm almost finished with standard) and some other random skills that were given in the tutorials, but I'm not really sure if what I've trained so far is needed.

So if anyone could give me some basic advice to get me started and possibly point me toward some resources where I can research and put together a long term skill training plan I would really appreciate it. I plan on flying Gallente ships and possibly Minmatar depending on the amount of extra training time. Thanks for any help you can give.
Zhilia Mann
Tide Way Out Productions
#2 - 2012-06-20 01:15:14 UTC
Well, you need to get your scanning skills up to start with. Astrometrics 4 (you should really go to 5 for deep space probes), Astrometric Acquisition to... actually, this one isn't that important, Astrometric Pinpointing to 4, and Astrometric Rangefinding to 4.

You'll also need a ship to scan in. Ideally, this will be a covops frigate to start with (Helios if you stay Gallente). Take the covops skill itself to 4 immediately and don't wait too long on 5. Also make sure you have cloaking 4.

Then you have to do something with what you find. At a minimum, make sure you have Hacking, Archaeology, and Salvaging to 3; 4 is better. This will mean you can run Radar and Magnetometric sites. Combat sites require (obviously) some combat skills; a Vexor is decent to start in and an Ishtar is actually quite nice. If you're sticking to high sec, an Ishkur will also do nicely. Make sure you get ancillary skills up for the ships you choose (drones if Gallente, more gunnery if you cross-train).

That should get you started. Any specific questions about anything?
Aurelius Severasse
Doomheim
#3 - 2012-06-20 01:45:41 UTC
Thanks Zhilia, this definitely clears things up. I don't have any specific questions right now, but thank you for the help.
Allyria Kylari
Blue asteroids
#4 - 2012-06-20 03:41:03 UTC
Zhilia is right on the money. One more thing though, if you are scanning for PvP purposes, then astrometric Acquisition becomes very important. Scanning down enemy gangs on the run in wormholes or elsewhere can easily come down to seconds. If you're just starting out with high-sec PvE exploration, then don't worry about this skill for a while.

If you want some tips on probe scan strength, I'm sure you can find them somewhere. Someone on the old forums did a quick write-up of probe scan strength in high sec.
Mike Whiite
Deep Core Mining Inc.
Caldari State
#5 - 2012-06-20 11:29:17 UTC
One of the biggest problems with exploration is to be good enough to make a living out of it, you need to know a lot of stuff.

Finding them is one thing, then you need to run it, usualy needs reshipping or flying a expensive T3 Cruiser

Getting lots of ISK from exploration requires you to travel al and to travel through dangerous area's which requires you to have some experience with low, 0 and preferably Wormholes.

In my opinion it's one of the most fun things EVE has to offer, but it's not a very straight forward path, it requires you to have some knowlage of almost all other branches of EVE, which might be why it's so much fun :)

I'd say go for it but do some missions running as well for ISK and maybe a few months of FW, that helped me very much in running D-scan, keeping an eye on local, when to run or when to fight of a Pirate.
Ryelek d'Entari
Horizon Glare
#6 - 2012-06-20 17:16:53 UTC
Depends on what you want to do exactly.

All exploration: get Astrometrics to IV ASAP, and the 3 astrometrics support skills (rangefinding, acquisition, pinpointing) to III or better. That should be your very first priority. Astrometrics V is definitely optional, but opens up a couple useful things: 8-probe scan geometries, and deep space scanner probes.

After that, you have to decide what you want to do, which will point you in the direction of what ships you want to fly, which will in turn point you in the direction of what skills you need.

Do you want to:


  • roam hisec, looking specifically for radar/mag sites?
  • roam hisec, ready for combat plexes?
  • stay in a defined area, switching ships as necessary?
  • dive into wormholes for day trips to sleepersville?
  • dodge pirates in lowsec, snatching loot from under their noses?


Each of these activities has a different group of ships that are appropriate. If you want an all-rounder, an ishkur can do most of these activities pretty effectively. Skills for that would include tech II small hybrid weapons, tech II drones, good navigation skills, good armor tanking skills, and good fitting skills (read: electronics V, advanced weapon upgrades IV).
Aurelius Severasse
Doomheim
#7 - 2012-06-21 06:58:16 UTC
Thanks for all of the help everyone, I feel like I can actually formulate a game plan now.

However, I have a few final questions. So far I've been running missions for ISK and only earning about 50,000 to 100,000 per mission and it's going to take a while to make what I need for the skill books and equipment that I need. Is this a normal problem for someone starting out in EVE? Also, Mike Whiite, you mentioned "a few months of FW." At the risk of sounding like a complete noob, what is FW?
Mike Whiite
Deep Core Mining Inc.
Caldari State
#8 - 2012-06-21 09:35:22 UTC
Better be a complete NOOB and ask it than stay ignorant.

FW = Faction War

It's a game mechanic, that allows player to join millitia's of the 4 empires.

Millitia's fight eachother in low sec: Galente vs Caldari, Minmatar vs Anmar making Gallente and Minmatar allies as well as Caldari and Anmar.


It a part of the game where Militias take systems from eachother through running Plexes.

It hasn't have much to do with Exploration directly, but it learns you to travle through low sec, avoid pirates, or know how to engage them, to properly judge a threat and play with your D-scan.

And those are invualuble to a explorer that moves out of High Sec, and if you want to live from Exploration you need to.


On the missions those will get better once you get to lvl 3 - 4 (as an Explorer it;s always handy to keep a mission boat ready for when loss needs to be covered, it will be a while before you build up enough funds to live of exploration allone (if you do it Solo) In Corporations you can help eachother though Exploration/WH Corporations mostly don't recrute pitots under 20 mil SP.
Ryelek d'Entari
Horizon Glare
#9 - 2012-06-22 17:44:35 UTC
Aurelius Severasse wrote:
So far I've been running missions for ISK and only earning about 50,000 to 100,000 per mission and it's going to take a while to make what I need for the skill books and equipment that I need. Is this a normal problem for someone starting out in EVE?


Yes and no. Level 1 missions pay about that much, so at some point everyone starts there. However, you should be able to step directly into L2 security missions, which can be done in a destroyer and typically pay 200-500k each. You may have to train the "Connections" skill to III meet the required standings of 1.0. Also see the "Negotiations" skill which increases the ISK rewards of missions.

However, you should also be making ISK from bounties, selling loot, and (if you want) salvaging and selling the salvaged materials. For selling loot, do your research and don't just right click -> "sell this item". You'll often be selling it for pennies on the dollar to underpriced buy orders. It takes a bit of time and research, but you need to learn which loot to sell to reasonable buy orders, which loot to put up as sell orders, and which loot to just refine into minerals (which you then sell). And also where to sell these items. Then you have to weigh how much time/effort is needed to maximize sales, vs. selling at a lower net price but getting it done (and back to generating loot) faster.

Make sure to complete all 5 introductory mission chains (50 missions total) in the tutorial system. They reward a lot of valuable skillbooks, ships, and ISK. You can go to one of the other starter systems and repeat the missions for additional gain in both standings and ISK.