EVE General Discussion

I've recently moved my exploration from hi to low. I decided to try a FW area thinking that players there would have each other to mess with and won't bother or have time to come looking for my ship in signatures. This has turned out to be less successful than I had hoped - while I've had some decent success, I've now been caught three times, losing 2 Dominix and a Vexor.

I'd like to continue to do exploration, but I'm finding the losses here annoying. What can I do differently to enjoy exploration with less risk of loss?

Some questions / ideas;

1) I could do low level sleeper sites solo in a Dominix - retreat to hi to look for wormholes that would allow this? Never seen another player in a wormhole site before and have done half a dozen… would there be less chance of running into other players there?

2) I know it's unrealistic to think that I can avoid people in low completely. So, I'd be happy to get advice on how to escape an encounter or fight back. Fight back seems like not an option - they find me when I'm no shields, half armor, fighting 10 NPCs, and half cap. Is run my only option? Can I do anything other than fit 2 warp cores and hope there's just one aggressor?

3) How do other people manage low exploration? Do you just do little sites (esp. no combat) so that you aren't in one place very long?

You can't cloak if you're locked.

For hi sec exploration of wormholes, you want a battlecruiser. BSes cannot fit into a c1 wormhole.

Drakes use to be the best at hi sec wormholes, but that may have changed after the bc tiericide.

Yeah, I don't think a cloak is going to work for anything but keeping you safe while scanning. I already use a covops for that.

It doesn't take much, just set the range to max and mash the button every so often when someone's in local. When you arrive, hit the button once and familiarize yourself with what's there so you don't freak out over someone's Reaper at a POS. Do a Google search, there are plenty of guides out there to get more utility from it; it's a very simple control.

E: Also, the camera tracking functionality that was recently released is gold for d-scan usage.

This is your best advice, right here. I live in low, and explore in low. Always watch d-scan. Always. Spam it like you were in a WH when Old Man Local tells you someone else is in system. Keep it set to a sane distance of 1-2million kms. Anything shows, you start aligning out to a safe/station, and be ready to spam warp if someone pops up on grid.

I'd also make the recommendation that you move to low if you want to explore here. Being a stranger and making daytrips is what gets you caught, more often than not. If you live in a system and explore the neighboring ones, you will quickly build a network of safes and tacticals that will help you immensely; you'll be able to do some scouting and exploring in disposable frigates, and save your mission runner for when it's time to hit the sites. You'll never be totally safe from people who want to gank/pirate you (especially not in FW space, we get bored like anyone else) but some of us are less interested in spending the effort hunting you down on a lark if we recognize you and see you as mostly harmless. You'll also learn to recognize who everyone else is. Which ones you can depend on to try and gank you, who your fellow explorers are, who the ninja miners are, etc.

Use a Zephyr to explore. Sweet little ship -- people will waste tonnes of time chasing you if you fly it properly.

Use a Myrmidon. It'll fit into class 1 w-systems and is more agile. You probably shouldn't run sleeper sites alone, but if you do you at least want to be quick on your feet.

Regarding this, most of the advice already given here is to keep you from getting caught in the first place; that's what the MWD and cloak are for.

In an exploration ship, if you get caught you're usually dead. If you're flying a drone ship carry a flight of ECM drones. When/if you get caught, pop the drones, set them on your assailant, align, and watch the status icons for a chance to warp out. At the very least, you'll be primed to warp your pod.

Yeah, I'm spending too much time in sites in a big, easy to find, slow ship. I tried a Vexor instead but got caught again anyway - probably could have got away there though with directional.

Problem is, I can't do lowsec combat sites solo in a little cruiser. It was modestly challenging with a Dominix... and I'm unhappy giving up on those sites. They have fun times and nice loots. But it takes a long time to solo those lowsec combat sites with 4 rooms. That's lots of time to get found and caught.