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Beginner exploration ship and fitting
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Souls Rei
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#1 - 2012-01-05 22:29:37 UTC
Hello,


I have been playing for about a week now. I have already trained up all my Astronomic skills. But that's not enough, i am still in need of a good Gallente exploration ship and fittings that will not take too long training the skills.

Can someone recommend me a good beginner exploration ship with the necessary fittings so i don't have to worry about the rats in the Radar/Mag sites too much, i don't think the Imicus is strong enough to ward off the rats i will encounter.

I will mostly be exploring ~0.5 security sites since i was told that the lower sec you to, the higher the profit. Can anyone give an estimate average profit difference between high, low and null sec please?


Thank you
Emperor Salazar
Remote Soviet Industries
Insidious Empire
#2 - 2012-01-05 22:42:53 UTC
Vexor with 2 codebreakers and afterburner in mids. Tank in lows, probe launcher and salvager in highs. Gravity capacitor rigs and sisters launcher would be a nice addition as well.
Kilrayn
Caldari Provisions
#3 - 2012-01-05 22:43:13 UTC
As far as high sec radar/mags, most shouldn't give you problems once you get some better skills. An imicus with it's almight 3 drones (iirc) can handle most anomolies/radars/mags and fit mods to get the cans. You will need some good drone skills though, and most regular frigs can't handle the higher level combat sites that require scanning down (DED). You can however get a good feel for exploring with just an imicus.

Many explorers, particularly those of us using only 1 account, fly T3 cruisers because they have amazing flexibility with their fits and can still put out enough damage to complete anything in high sec. A good gallente ship before that to use is the myrmidon. You won't be able to enter the lower ded sites due to ship size, but those don't hold anything very valuable anyway.

Also, profits will be random randomly at random intervals. The rng (random number generator) will govern what you find when. You will hit dry spells, that's working as intended. Keep at it though, exploration can pay out very well if you keep learning.

"Music is a mysterious thing. Sometimes it makes people remember things they do not expect. Many thoughts, feelings, memories... things almost forgotten... Regardless of whether the listener desires to remember or not." - Citan Uzuki, Xenogears
Emperor Salazar
Remote Soviet Industries
Insidious Empire
#4 - 2012-01-05 22:56:13 UTC
Kilrayn wrote:


Also, profits will be random randomly at random intervals. The rng (random number generator) will govern what you find when. You will hit dry spells, that's working as intended. Keep at it though, exploration can pay out very well if you keep learning.




To add to this, dry spells after a patch are 99% of the time a coincidence. Don't come raging to the forums because we will just laugh at you. Instead, come to the forums and laugh at the idiots who think 4 is a relevant sample size.
Substantia Nigra
Polaris Rising
Goonswarm Federation
#5 - 2012-01-05 23:13:22 UTC
When I started exploration, and before I knew what alts were, I ran a one-toon two-ship convoy. I'd hop into the next system with my scanner-ship (probe for me, but every race has a probe-scanning-bonused t1 frigate) and scan away to my little heart's content (very slowly and not able to resolve everything I found).
If I found anything I wanted to explore I'd dock, unship, and go back to the last station-containing system I was in and pickup my DPS ship ... initially a thrasher, then a rupture, then a hurricane. I'd clear the site in that ship, open the cans as necessary, and then swap back to the scanner ship and repeat.
This approach did involve more to-and-fro jumps but it also saved me from trying to devise all sorts of gimpy all-in-one ship fits. Once my cargoholds became full I either ran the stuff back to my 'home' or dropped it in a station and did a hauler circuit afterwards.

The main problems I encountered were:
1. Some prat in a cheetah clearing the cans just b4 I get there;
2. Inadequate scanning skills to resolve all I found to a bookmarkable fix;
3. Inadequate hacking / cracking skills to open all the cans I found.

I guess I am almost a 'vet' by now. Hopefully not too bitter and managing to help more than I hinder. I build and sell many things, including large collections of bookmarks.
Derath Ellecon
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
#6 - 2012-01-05 23:13:38 UTC
If you want to do mostly radars, Imicus with 3 hob2's kick butt. I still tool around in mine sometimes. It will easly handle HS radar rats. Ive even done some combat sites with it. I know I used to do the Rogue drone asteroid infestation 3/10 site in one. Just kite everything while the drones kill.

Next step up would be a vexor, although honestly I was never happy with mine for exploration.
Mnemosyne Gloob
#7 - 2012-01-05 23:20:10 UTC
I was basically just writing what Derath said ...

If you are feeling ballsy and want to learn something that you can use later (the mechanics of lowsec ... watching out for probes and so on) take your Vexor and go do the Radars (and now even Mags) in lowsec.

I myself got the idea from here: http://explorationalmanac.blogspot.com/ Plex prices are a bit different now and i am sceptical if you can still do what he did there, but the concepts are the same.

Happy exploring.
Souls Rei
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#8 - 2012-01-05 23:25:15 UTC  |  Edited by: Souls Rei
Thank you for the answers/tips, they were helpful, i will be using a Vexor then so i don't have to switch between my exploration and combat ship.
Instead of 2 codebreakers, shouldn't i use 1 codebreaker and 1 analyzer? Also, to make sure i can open most cans i will level Hacking to 3. Hopefully that will help. Is that the only thing i have to worry about about? Or is there also such thing as inadequate Analyzing/Salvaging skills?

How does this look?

High:
-Salvager
-Tractor
-Probe Launcher
-Cloaking? Is this recommended?
-Turret or another salvager?

Med:
-Analyzer
-Codebreaker
-Afterburner

Low:
-Armor Reinforcement
-Armor Reinforcement
-Armor Repair
-More armor? Or did i miss something?

Drones:
-Heavy/Sentry drone x3 or Med I x7 (sadly Hob2 still 10d+ training)

Fyi, my area is full with 0.3 security systems, doable with a Vexor I hope. So i will try to find mag and radar sites in low sec mostly.
Emperor Salazar
Remote Soviet Industries
Insidious Empire
#9 - 2012-01-05 23:53:53 UTC
Drop the analyzer. Mags in high sec are literally terrible.
Souls Rei
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#10 - 2012-01-05 23:56:33 UTC
I'm Analyzing in low sec, not high sec.
Emperor Salazar
Remote Soviet Industries
Insidious Empire
#11 - 2012-01-05 23:57:42 UTC
I still think they're not worth doing but to each his own.
Derath Ellecon
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
#12 - 2012-01-06 00:52:12 UTC
You've been playing a week? Stay in high sec.

Seriously. If you are going primarily for Radar/Mag, just stay in HS. You will die in LS.

IMHO LS radars aren't noticably better than HS ones, and they are infinitely more annoying. Both because of the LS dangers, and because the rat spawns.
Souls Rei
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#13 - 2012-01-06 08:41:31 UTC
Vexor is not enough to handle lowsec? Shocked
In that case i guess i will stick to high sec. I wouldn't need Cloaking then i guess.
Another small question, would you use a tractor for exploration?
Souls Rei
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#14 - 2012-01-06 11:03:49 UTC
What to do with combat sites you find in high-sec? Skip or is it worth clearing them? I am currently exploring in my Imicus with 2 Warrior I.
I doubt i can clear them with 2 drones alone.
Vaerah Vahrokha
Vahrokh Consulting
#15 - 2012-01-06 13:21:22 UTC  |  Edited by: Vaerah Vahrokha
Souls Rei wrote:
Vexor is not enough to handle lowsec? Shocked
In that case i guess i will stick to high sec. I wouldn't need Cloaking then i guess.
Another small question, would you use a tractor for exploration?


If you are playing just since 2 weeks ago, you might first learn:

1) How to explore

2) How to get in and then also get out (alive) out of low sec.

The latter is enough of a task for a new character to do, don't hurry doing everything together , I suppose if you lose a fitted Vexor with your character age you might be quite set financially back.

Don't fly what you cannot afford to lose and in low sec it's very easy to lose it until you get the knack of the low sec mechanics.

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Derath Ellecon
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
#16 - 2012-01-06 13:28:05 UTC
Souls Rei wrote:
Vexor is not enough to handle lowsec? Shocked
In that case i guess i will stick to high sec. I wouldn't need Cloaking then i guess.
Another small question, would you use a tractor for exploration?


No a vexor is a fine lowsec exploration ship. What I am saying is you are not ready. If you still want to try by all means go for it. But I predict you will find yourself at best, frustrated, at worst killed and/or podded.

A couple random thoughts.

Speed is your friend in lowsec. That is speed in scanning and speed in running the sites you want to run. With your skills, as a new player your scanning skills are low (I know because to get them to a decent level takes weeks alone). Moving from an Imicus, a ship with scanning bonuses, to a vexor, a ship with no bonuses will make your scanning slower. You may even find you cannot get a lock on low sec radars right now in a vexor, even with grav rigs (I have had this issue when newer)

Speed in the site is key as well. The longer you are running a site the longer you are at risk of getting jumped. So it is critical to be able to fly a full flight of T2 drones, and have a solid tank. Radars and mags are especially dangerous, as they are un-gated. This means someone looking to kill you can warp directly to the site unhindered. Often pirates will have systems pre-scanned so they don't even need to probe down the site before warping on top of you.

Radar sites are especially notorious for despawning if you warp off. So a pirate comes in, you warp off an cloak, site goes poof. You just wasted all of that time. OR, you stay and try to clear it, pirate warps in, you go poof.

High sec radar sites are often completely unguarded, or have minimal rats. Their cans are generally pretty close together. Scan it down, quickly hack the cans, often pocket 5-20mil in loot, repeat.

Low sec radars often have cans much further apart (one site, i cannot remember the name at the moment, has 4-5 cans, mostly all 30+KM from each other). Also many have rats that spawn as you hack each can, which is annoying and add to the time on site. I have not found the loot significantly different in these low sec radars.

Even though I can now, I ignore LS radars and mags.

When I was in your situation, new to the game I just stuck with my Imicus, with 3 hob drones and just focused on radars. On a good night I could easily make 100mil+ which for a 3 week old toon was amazing. Get really good at your scanning this way and work on your ship skills in the meantime.
Roime
Mea Culpa.
Shadow Cartel
#17 - 2012-01-06 13:30:33 UTC
Hi and welcome o7

Vexor is plenty enough to handle lowsec exploration complexes up to DED 4/10 -rated sites, it is the best PvE cruiser by a fair margin, and currently tops the PvP hierarchy as well... but it is a cruiser, meaning that you will need a few months of training to fit it properly. You can fly one much sooner, but there are some skills that just need to be taken to level V, Hull Upgrades and Drones at least, and a handful of must-have level IV too. Check out the Certificates recommended for it for a rough guide on the core skills .

Imicus benefits of strong drone skills, it's the only T1 frigate that can field 3 light drones. 3x T2 Hobgoblins with appropriate damage and support skills will instapop all hisec radar sites. Two Warrior Is might take a long time. I used to clean those sites by just launching drones and burning to the cans. Hobgoblins kill everything without pilot intervention :) With good skills it's also possible to fit Imicus for combat, and do anomalies and maybe also 3/10 sites, but probably not in the beginning, and you will have to drop the Core Probe Launcher.

So for the hisec combat sites I'd switch to a Tristan. It tanks better than Incursus, so it's easier in the beginning.

Yes, I use a Small Tractor Beam on exploration fits, makes grabbing the money wrecks much faster.

I'd consider training for the basic core skills first, then T2 tank, then the long-ass drone skills (Drone Interfacing V is considered a must for drone pilots) and then focus on turrets later, if you choose to go the Gallente PvE way. It worked well for me later when I moved to PvP, too.





.
Derath Ellecon
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
#18 - 2012-01-06 13:33:37 UTC
BTW, for ship fittings.

This was my HS Imicus setup

[Imicus, Explorer]

Core Probe Launcher I
Salvager I

Codebreaker I
1MN Afterburner I

Damage Control II
Small Armor Repairer II

Small Gravity Capacitor Upgrade I
Small Gravity Capacitor Upgrade I
[Empty Rig slot]


Hobgoblin II x3


I would keep an analyzer in the hold and swap at a station if i needed it. Downgrade to named where you cannot use T2.

Low sec vexor. I mostly hunted radars with this.

[Vexor, Exploration]

Salvager I
Small Tractor Beam I
Core Probe Launcher I
Small 'Arup' Remote Bulwark Reconstruction
Prototype Cloaking Device I

Cap Recharger II
10MN Afterburner II
Codebreaker I

Medium Armor Repairer II
Emergency Damage Control I
Armor Explosive Hardener II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II

Medium Gravity Capacitor Upgrade I
Medium Gravity Capacitor Upgrade I
[Empty Rig slot]


Hammerhead II x5
Hobgoblin II x5
Hobgoblin II x5
Souls Rei
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#19 - 2012-01-06 14:17:19 UTC
Very helpful. I noticed that clearing sites in HS with 2 Warrior I is pretty much impossible, the damage is just way too low. It actually takes 10d+ training time to be able to use Hobgolin II's. Is the difference between I and II that big? I mean, if i look at the stats, the only big difference i see is 0.32x dmg modifier and 1k velocity. And why would you use Hob II's on an Imicus, if you took 10d to train up the drone skills, wouldn't you had the ~2d to train up a Vexor?

Is using turrets also an option on the Vexor, for example : Salvager I, Launcher I, 3 x turret.
I know i am hurrying, but that is because i want to be able to do something in Eve as soon as possible. As of now i'm docked in my station and have nothing else to do than waiting for my skills to get finished.


I just explored more than an hour with my fitted Imicus. I looked through 6 systems, scanned down 4 sites, it took me an average of 10minutes to scan each of them down to 100% from 16AU, which is OK for a beginner i guess. Found 1 mag sites (1 empty can and 1 can with 600 isk worth of items), 2 wormholes (too scared of not being able to go back), 1 Chemical Yard (2 Warriors I = a bit useless, so nothing). This is harder and more frustrating than i thought. Ugh
Roime
Mea Culpa.
Shadow Cartel
#20 - 2012-01-06 14:35:09 UTC
T2 Drones are faster, hurt more and can take more damage. The dps difference is almost so that T2 medium drones do as much damage as T1 Heavy drones. T2 Drones help nearly every ship later in the game. also the Vexor.

But the main point of using Imicus is it's scanning bonus, making it a much better scanner than Vexor.

Yes, I personally think Vexor should always fit guns, it has bonuses to both drones and medium hybrid turrets. These together give it a massive damage potential outclassing many battlecruisers.

You can start scanning with your probes set to 4.0 AU - all sigs in Empire spawn inside 4 AU.

.
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