Exploration 101
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Contents |
Class Information
This chapter contains the standard information of this class pertaining to scheduling and class contents. The general information should be sufficient to create a proper class topic for scheduling on the Eve University forums. Additional information relevant to the teacher is listed under Notes for the teacher.
General information
Duration: 01:30 – 02:00
Location: Aldrat is recommended; surrounding systems are suitable for scanning practical
Class contents:
- Skills needed and recommended
- Ships
- Equipment
- Types of exploration sites and what to expect
- Hi-sec vs. lo-sec exploration
- Practical
- Final comments
Student requirements:
- Mumble
- Astrometrics II or higher
- Exploration frigate fitted with a probe launcher and probes
Additional information: Students are encouraged to be at the location, as the practical is highly useful to get you trained in the art of probing.
Notes for the teacher
Required materials:
- Teaching channel
- Nearby system with 1 or more signatures for the students to scan down
Teachers should not just recite this document. Make sure to read it thoroughly, use its structure as a guide for the structure of your class, but also make sure to be aware of the finer details of exploration. If you plan on teaching this class repeatedly, please make a note of the frequently asked questions and add them, including the answer, to the end of this document.
Class contents
The bread and butter of any profession: skills!
Exploration itself is a fairly skill-light profession Only Astrometrics absolutely necessary, but will only allow the scanning of most basic sites Astrometrics +1 probe in space / level Astrometric Rangefinding +10% probe scan strength Astrometric Pinpointing -10% maximum scan deviation Astrometric Acquisition -10% scan time; not useful for exploration, but for combat
Exploration ships
Any ship with a high slot can fit a probe launcher and start to explore However, best to use an exploration frigate to get bonuses to scanning:
Gallente - Imicus Minmatar - Probe Amarr - Magnate Caldari - Heron
All give 5% increase to scan strength of probes per skill level
For lo-sec or if carrying the most expensive equipment (= target for suicide gankers), recommend either fitting a prototype cloak or use a covops ship:
Gallente - Helios Minmatar - Cheetah Amarr - Anathema Caldari - Buzzard
All have the following Covert Ops Skill Bonuses:
- -97.5% to -100% reduced CPU need for cloak
- 10% increase to scan strength of probes per level
- -10% bonus to survey probe flight time per level
Equipment
Probes and probe launchers are available in different qualities/bonuses:
Launchers:
Core launcher - Easy to fit, but can only use core scan probes Expanded probe launcher - High CPU reqs. Only launcher that can fire combat scanner, deep core, and explorer (moon) probes Available as faction items from Sisters of Eve with 5% bonus to probe scan strength
Probes:
Core scanner probe - Basic exploration probe to find sites Combat scanner probe - Finds drones, ships, structures in addition to sites Deep space scanner probe - Increased scan volume at cost of sensitivity, requires Astrometrics V Moon mining probes - not covered, needs expanded probe launcher Available as faction items with improved stats from Sisters of Eve
Rigs:
Gravity Capacitor Upgrade - Probe scan strength increased by 10%, stack penalty
TEACHERS NOTE: Consider linking some finished builds for each basic frigate at the end of this section.
What to expect – exploration site types
Once out there and first scan performed, at first all you will see is undefined site hits At 25% you will detect the type, at 75% the name of the site. 100% is needed for a warp-in. Cosmic anomalies vs. cosmic signatures; skip anomalies, can be found without probes, NPC combat site, usually pirates or drones. In general mediocre loot, best avoided.
We are looking for cosmic signatures, of which there are 5 types:
Gravimetric - Hidden large asteroids with usually rarer ore. May contain rats. Ladar - Gas cloud sites, require gas mining skills. May contain rats. Radar - Loot sites, require hacking skill. May contain rats. Magnetometric - Loot sites, require salvaging and/or archaeology. May contain rats. Unknown - Two types, either combat or WH. Note that rats may be triggered via approach or interaction with site objects.
Unknown combat sites usually filled with rats, difficulty depending on system security status. May contain major loot or faction items. Salvaging skill highly recommended! On rare occasions, may get an escalation, which will appear in the expedition window of your journal. Escalations usually direct you to a new site, and may result in faction items. Beware however, can be very challenging, even in high sec! Be prepared to lose a ship as one or more rats may point and scram and you’ll be overwhelmed very quickly. Best to google escalation name for additional info.
WH will not be explained further, reminder about BM’ing if entering one though.
Hi-sec vs Lo-sec exploration
Hi-sec is relatively safe, few troubles other than NPCs. Beware gankers however if flying around uncloaked with expensive fittings. Loot in the 10k to 20mil range. Many explorers active in main traffic systems, can be hard to find an ideal stretch of systems containing sites.
Lo-sec should only be explored while cloaked; even in a safe spot you are a sitting duck waiting to be scanned down. Either fit a prototype cloak or use a covops. Increased danger from pirates. More sites as comparatively fewer explorers than in hi-sec. Sites/rats more dangerous, need a well-tanked higher class ship. Loot items worth 10k to 100mil and above, sky’s the limit.
Practical
1 - Call to assemble in Aldrat-adjacent system checked to have a few sites
2 - While people gather, explain the scanning interface and button functions, explain the creation of a filter to exclude cosmic anomalies
3 - Instructions for class that no one can claim loot in this system during this session, for fairness reasons and preventing sites to despawn
4 - Have each person launch 5 probes and explain the beginner’s X-setup for scanning Explain arrow-move, cube move, hold shift to move all probes at once.
5 - Explanations of results; show via screencaps
Sphere - single probe hit; focus probe array on that area Circle - two probe hit; focus array on circle area Two dots - three probe hit; likely hit, but beware deviation Single dot - four probe hit; narrow down range to get 100% and warp-in
6 - There is no 6
7 - Give the class 5-10 minutes to try and find sites, tell them to keep results to themselves and check at the end.
Final remarks
The ups and downs of exploration; loot is random, sites can be hard to find if you’re in a too populated region. You can have dry dates where you only find 1 or 2 sites, others where you get 6 while scanning one single system. 10 sites can give you 50k, one site can give you 40mil. You will learn to hate WHs, they’re useless to us. However the unknown of what you may find and get is part of the excitement that is exploration.
Open Q&A session on all subjects
FAQs in class: none added yet.
