Ghost Sites
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| Exploration |
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| Site types |
| Guides |
- This site is about the hacking site. See Besieged Covert Research Facility for info on the combat site
Ghost Sites are pirate facilities which can be hacked (like data sites), but which have unique mechanics which set them apart.
Finding a Ghost Site
Ghost Sites can be found using the probe scanner, using probes. They show up as cosmic signatures (type: Data sites), and occur in all categories of space (hi-sec, low-sec, null-sec and wormhole). They show up in the anomaly list as "<size> <faction> Covert Research Facility". The <size> is solely dependent on the security rating of the system:
- "Lesser" in high-sec
- "Standard" in low-sec
- "Improved" in null-sec
- "Superior" in wormholes
Note: The "Besieged Covert Research Facility" and "Contested Covert Research Facility" are not Ghost Sites. They are Combat sites with NPC battleships. Do not warp your hacking ship into a "Besieged" or "Contested" site.
As expected, more difficult Ghost Sites are more difficult to hack, have more rats appear - but have better loot. All have the same number of hackable containers (often called "cans") though.
When you enter warp to a Ghost Site, a pop-up message appears that warns the capsuleer that the site is dangerous.
Getting loot
When you enter the site a two to three minute timer is started (unless you warp in cloaked). The time is random and not shown, but it seems that the more ships are in the site at once, the longer the timer (in practice, if running a site solo, you will generally have enough time to hack and loot 2 cans before the timer expires).
Since time is of the essence, it is not generally recommended to scan the containers with a cargo scanner due to the limited time that is available before the rats warp in and make the cans (i.e. containers) explode, however if you're fast and have not fitted warp core stabilizers to your ship, you can.
The stashes are opened by the hacking mini game known from data sites; once the hack is complete, you can loot the cans directly. The cans are normally in a square, equal distance from each other, with one having better loot than the rest. It has not been determined if the uniquely named can has the best loot.
The hacking difficulty is comparable to the difficulty of hacking a data or relic site in a system with the same security status. If you fail your hacking attempt, either all the containers in the site will explode immediately or just the container you were working on will explode (see also below), unlike with normal data sites. If just the single can explodes rather than all of them, you can continue hacking but the hidden timer is still running. Unlike regular data sites, when these cans explode, they do damage to your ship.
The site timer varies considerably; from around 30 seconds to a few minutes. It is random.
All sites may contain Covert Research Tools. Hi-Sec and Low-Sec usually contain Shattered Villard Wheels, which are a required component to build the ‘Ascendancy’ implant set. Null-sec and Wormholes may contain materials needed to build Capital sized modules.
Other possible Hi-Sec Loot:
- Mid-grade Ascendancy Alpha Blueprint Copy
- Mid-grade Ascendancy Beta Blueprint Copy
- Mid-grade Ascendancy Delta Blueprint Copy
- Mid-grade Ascendancy Epsilon Blueprint Copy
- Mid-grade Ascendancy Gamma Blueprint Copy
Other possible Low-Sec Loot:
- ‘Wetu’ Mobile Depot Blueprint Copy
- 'Packrat' Mobile Tractor Unit Blueprint Copy
- High-grade Ascendancy Alpha Blueprint Copy
- High-grade Ascendancy Beta Blueprint Copy
- Mid-grade Ascendancy Delta Blueprint Copy
- Mid-grade Ascendancy Epsilon Blueprint Copy
- Mid-grade Ascendancy Gamma Blueprint Copy
- Mid-grade Ascendancy Omega Blueprint Copy
Other possible Null-Sec Loot:
- ‘Wetu’ Mobile Depot Blueprint Copy
- ‘Yurt’ Mobile Depot Blueprint Copy
- 'Magpie' Mobile Tractor Unit Blueprint
- High-grade Ascendancy Alpha Blueprint Copy
- High-grade Ascendancy Beta Blueprint Copy
- Mid-grade Ascendancy Omega Blueprint Copy
- High-grade Ascendancy Delta Blueprint Copy
- High-grade Ascendancy Epsilon Blueprint Copy
- High-grade Ascendancy Gamma Blueprint Copy
Other possible Wormhole Loot:
- 'Magpie' Mobile Tractor Unit
- ‘Wetu’ Mobile Depot Blueprint Copy
- ‘Yurt’ Mobile Depot Blueprint Copy
- High-grade Ascendancy Delta Blueprint Copy
- High-grade Ascendancy Epsilon Blueprint Copy
- High-grade Ascendancy Gamma Blueprint Copy
- High-grade Ascendancy Omega Blueprint Copy
Source: CCP Affinity
Rats
After the timer expires (irrespective of how many containers you have hacked), rats (based on the local pirate population) will show up to destroy the cans and defend the site. Thirty seconds after the they warp in, the rats will instantly detonate every canister in the site, even those which have already been successfully hacked.
These rats have no bounties, nor any known drops, but they do a considerable amount of damage (based on the system's security status) that can reach 2000+ raw damage. Most of them do not use warp disruptors, although there is one type of each rat that will warp-disrupt you (confirmed in high sec, null sec & wormhole). As there is usually one of those warp-disrupting rats in any site, you're generally stuck there for the duration.
The rats' warp disruption range is 24 km. They do not aggress players if the player ship is more than 30 km away.
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WARNING: DO NOT underestimate the damage from the NPCs. In high-tier sites they can shred even a well-tanked ship. |
These rats do warp out after some time, so they're generally not worth killing. If you don't warp off before you're warp-disrupted, your best hope is to be able to tank their damage (and the explosive damage from the cans).
The rats equipped with warp disruptors vary from faction to faction.
- Serpentis, Sansha's Nation, Guristas and Blood Raiders - Sentry warp disrupts
- Angel Cartel - Watcher warp disrupts
Explosions
All the containers in the Ghost Site will explode if:
- The hidden timer (see above) runs out, or
- You fail in a hacking attempt. (It has been known for only one of the containers to explode if failed. In cases like this you may continue hacking, but the hidden timer is still running.)
If you fail in a hacking attempt, and all of the containers explode, no rats will show up, but you will take damage from the explosion.
If the timer runs out, the rats will appear and shoot the containers, which causes them to explode. In this case the explosion may be delayed for some reason, up to 30 seconds, which can allow you to warp out before it blows, assuming you are not warp scrambled.
If you can tank the explosive damage, you can use those extra seconds to continue hacking/looting a can. After the explosion the rats might hang around for another 30 seconds and shoot at you before warping out. But they will warp out when it's their time to do so, even if you're still at the site, and alive.
This explosion damage varies: raw explosive damage appears to be based on your ship's current distance to the containers.
- Superior Ghost site (wormholes): 12,000 damage
- Improved Ghost site (nullsec): 10,000 damage
- Standard Ghost site (lowsec): 8,000 damage
- Lesser Ghost site (highsec): 6,000 damage
It also appears that the explosion radius is about 10 km.
Ship fitting
A ship for running Ghost Sites should perform several roles:
- Hacking the containers (so at least a hacking module, and preferably a bonus to the hacking minigame)
- Quickly flying from one container to another (to be able to hack as many containers as possible before the timer runs out)
- Tank the explosion and the rats
There are 2 methods in running Ghost Site. Blitzing and Face tanking. Blitzing goal is to hack and run before the rats appears, while having enough tank to survive a can explosion. Face tanking allows you to hack and tank the rats while surviving an explosion. It is recommended to prepare for the blitzing method as the face tank option suffers from horrible hacking performance and renders it useless in higher difficulty hacks. Face tanking in theory will have a lower player skill threshold while allowing one to learn about the site first hand.
Blitzing
A regular cloaky frigate equipped with Mobile Depot!
- Heron Navy Issue as a low budget option
- Covert op Frigate (Primarily Buzzard and Helios, while Cheetah and Anathema require rigs to work)
- Astero require Explosive Shield Reinforcer or Core Defense Field Extender rigs to meet the requirement, and suffers from high price (Circa April 2025)
Blitzing entire idea is to hack as fast as you can and run when rats shows up, while completely disregarding explosion threat. This is made possible using Explosive Shield Hardener and Medium Shield Extender combined. The cost of Pith-X Explosive Shield Hardener are very cheap due to shield high innate explosive resist, while Medium Shield Extender give the buffer needed to reach the required shield EHP to tank the highest explosion damage without burdening the ship slots and fitting resources.
When rats show up, you want to drop your hacking progress and either leave the site or burn 40 km away from them. Make sure your hardener is online/overheated before you tank the explosion that's about to come.
High slots
- Cloak (T1 for Heron, Covert Op Cloak for Cov Op ships) allows you to wait until the rats leave if you wish to. This is often done in Low Sec Ghost Sites as players often leave the middle can which will not explode for last.
Mid slots
- Microwarpdrive (to fly as quickly as possible between containers).
- Data Analyzer (to hack the site). Sites are data only, without relics. It's always better to use the T2 version, if you can fit one.
- Explosive Shield Hardener (preferably Pith-X or Pith-A) Can fit 2 of these in Heron Navy Issue, Buzzard or Helios
- Medium Shield Extender
- Multispectrum Shield Hardener (for a 5 mid slot ships) Optional substitute for a second explosive hardener
Low slots
- Damage Control (gives a blanket of resist buff) helps tanking explosion and rats.
- Micro Auxiliary Power Core (gives PowerGrid) to fit Medium Shield Extender.
Rigs
Cheetah, Anathema, and Astero do not have enough slots or stats which makes them reliant to rigs to meet the standard (13000 explosive shield EHP). If your demand is lower you may skip adding rigs. The other ships do not suffer this issue.
- Small Explosive Shield Reinforcer (more explosive resist)
- Small Core Defense Field Extender (more shield amount)
Tank
You want to have at least 13000 Explosive Shield EHP cold so you will have a little bit of buffer to escape the rats after tanking an explosion. This can be achieved by having at least two hardeners and one extender module, which will set your mid slots format as follow:
- Microwarpdrive
- Data Analyzer
- Explosive Shield Hardener
- Medium Shield Extender
- Shield Hardener (Multispectrum/Explosive/Empty Slot)
and low slots as follow:
- Damage Control
- Micro Auxiliary Power Core
Face Tanking
Not a regular cloaky frigate!
- Armor-tanked T1 cruisers (e.g. a Vexor or a Maller)
- Gnosis battlecruiser
- Stratios
- Strategic (T3) Cruiser
Mid slots
In order to hack the containers as quickly as possible, the following mid-slot modules are needed:
- Microwarpdrive (to fly as quickly as possible between containers).
- Data Analyzer (to hack the site). Sites are data only, without relics. It's always better to use the T2 version, if you can fit one, especially for ships without a bonus to the hacking minigame (T1 cruisers or certain T3 configurations).
- Cargo Scanner (to determine which can/cans are worth hacking).
- Some pilots always cargo scan and cherry-pick.
- Others feel that because of the limited time before rats arrive, that it's not worth cargo scanning if you are using warp core stabilizers or anything that causes your targeting to take longer, as you do not want to waste precious time cherry-picking.
- One option is to cargo scan other cans while hacking the first one, to choose the best can do to next.
Tank
Armor-tanked ships are recommended over shield-tanked ships, as when the three mid-slot items listed above are installed, there is generally little room left to fit a good shield tank in the midslots. Only ships with many mid slots can mount the necessary shield tank. The Stratios or a Strategic Cruiser can be excellent for running Ghost Sites, but these ships are very expensive and make for juicy targets. The Gnosis is a good choice, as it is not that expensive, and has lots of slots for required modules and tank.
T1 exploration frigates or covert ops frigates are not recommended for running Ghost Sites, as while these ships are fast and make for excellent hackers, they tend to be too fragile to survive the explosion and/or the rats in Ghost Sites.
This will work for all areas of hi sec space regardless of pirate faction!
The recommended fitting is as follows:
- 1x 1600mm Armor Plate
- 1x Medium Armor Repairer
- 2x Multispectrum Energized Membranes
- 1x Explosive Armor Reinforcer I
Less might do, but with this you will survive! While not critical, a Damage Control is always a good idea.
It might seem counter-intuitive to fit both a plate and a repairer, but remember that without decent buffer, the explosion might hurt you, while the repairer will keep you alive when the rats start shooting you. You might be fine with just the plate or the repairer in highsec, but when you move on to other parts of space, both will be needed (unless you have logistics). Having the repairer is also a cheap way to fix armor damage.
It is worth remembering that the explosion of the cans is ALWAYS explosive damage, but the rats will deal damage according to their faction, so tank accordingly.
- Guristas - Kinetic / Thermal
- Serpentis - Kinetic / Thermal
- Blood Raider - EM / Thermal
- Sansha's Nation - EM / Thermal
- Angel Cartel - Explosive / Kinetic
Note; You can comfortably tank the rats in a hi-sec Angel Cartel Ghost site with just a damage control and two explosive shield hardeners on a Gnosis. This leaves room for overdrive injectors/I-stabs in the lows and a cargo scanner, data analyzer, sensor booster, and MWD in the mids.
The Egg Thief Tactic
An alternative tactic in Blitzing the ghost site. Blitzing without the explosion tank.
Egg Thief fitting
Any corvette. Fit it with
- a data analyzer
- a Micro Warp Drive (MWD)
An improved version uses a T1 exploration frigate (the hull bonus to hacking makes it easier to successfully hack a can, particularly in the low- or null-sec variants) fitted with a data analyzer, a MWD and a cargo scanner.
How to do it
Keep one thing in mind. Like an angry crocodile, the NPCs will tear you apart on sight. Be fast.
When warping into the site, spot the oddly named can and approach it as fast as possible. Target all four containers, and use the cargo scanner on them all as you approach. Usually one of the cans will have significantly more loot; approach that one to hack range.
Hack the can, quickly but not recklessly (you don't want to fail the hack).
Once you have hacked it, loot and get out as fast as possible. If you fail the first hack, consider abandoning the site as time is ticking and the NPCs are angry.
You will not succeed every time, but your loss will be quite small while the gain is high.
Other ships too
This tactic is viable with any of the other ships/fits described on this page too. Especially if you're worried about your tank; or worried about someone else warping in on you.
Basically: warp in, hack one container (either the oddly-named one; or the best one from a cargo scan), loot it, and then warp out.
Depending on your skills as well as confidence, you may have time to hack more than one container before the rats spawn. As a general rule, you will not be able to hack all of the containers, but if you're very lucky with the hacks you might be able to pull two or three hacks off.
One final thing to remember is that a single hacking failure costs you your corvette/ untanked T1 explorer. If you are about to fail a hack, eject all of your cargo into space and bookmark it. That way, your cargo will not be affected by the destruction of your ship. Return later to pick up the loot after the site despawns.
Ghost Raider Gang
You need 4 x Stratioses fitted with proper tank as described above, and covert ops cloaks.
With one of the gang in squad command, gang aligns to Ghost site making sure they're further than 2 km apart from each other and cloak up. Squad warp the gang into the ghost site. Assess and assign each gang member to a can; they slowboat to their respective cans. When each member is within 5 km (Data analyzer range), pause, decloak together and begin hacking. Leave before the rats appear.
See also
Ghost sites were introduced in the Rubicon expansion in late 2013. They were tweaked in December 2015.
- Dev blog introducing ghost sites: https://www.eveonline.com/news/view/ghastly-hotbed-of-spaceship-trauma
- Dev blog introducing the Contested and Besieged Covert Research Facilities: https://www.eveonline.com/news/view/sweeping-death-and-chaos
- 2015 "Data Site Improvements" forum thread: https://forums-archive.eveonline.com/topic/449199
- Great write-up about Ghost Sites (and Sleeper Caches)
