Exploration skills

The level of the exploration skills a capsuleer have, can have a large effect on the succes of exploration expeditions.

These skills can be found under Scanning on the skill-tab on the character sheet.

Important exploration skills

These are the skills needed for exploration sorted by complexity. Each skill has a short description of its benefits.

• Basic exploration skills:
  • <Racial> Frigate: +7.5% bonus to Core and Combat Scanner Probe strength per level (applies when using racial exploration hulls such as  Imicus;  Probe;  Magnate;  Heron;)
  • Astrometrics: +5% scan strength, -5% max scan deviation and -5% scan probe scan time per level
  • Archaeology: +10 virus coherence per level for relic sites
  • Hacking: +10 virus coherence per level for data sites
• Intermediate exploration skills:
  • Astrometric Rangefinding +5% probe scan strength per level
  • Astrometric Pinpointing -5% maximum scan deviation per level
  • Astrometric Acquisition -5% scan time per level

Level 2 of these skills allows use scanning upgrades (Scan Pinpointing Array I, Scan Rangefinding Array I, Scan Acquisition Array I), which gives advantages equal one level of appropriate skill name.

• Advanced exploration skills:
  • Covert Ops: 10% bonus to Core and Combat Scanner Probe strength, 20% reduction in Cloaking Devices CPU requirement, 10% reduction in Survey Probe flight time per skil level (also bonuse applies when using suitable hulls, these are  Helios;  Cheetah;  Anathema;  Buzzard;)
  • Cloaking: Skill at using Cloaking devices (allows the use of cloaking devices). 10% reduction in targeting delay after uncloaking per skill level.

Skill plans description

The folowing skill plans focus only on the data and relic sites found in exploration (except sleeper sites). Ore sites, gas sites and combat sites will not be discussed.

This page contains 3 different skill plans, each focusing on how much you want to dedicate yourself to exploration. With some skills you can find an additional note that indicates why this skill is useful. If no notes are present, the skills give a an increase in modifiers mentioned above. All the training times stated in these skill plans are without the use of implants or attribute remaps. Additionally these skill plans are based off a completely new character, so it might be possible that you already trained some of the required skills.

• The starter exploration plan (2 days):

Anyone who has no experience in exploration but would like to know more is advised to train this skill plan. It has a relatively short training time and contains all the crucial skills to get started. It will allow you to fit the required equipement needed and to scan down and loot most High-Security sites effecively and to get some exploration experience.

• The intermediate exploration plan (14 days):

People who have a good understanding of exploration, and would like to dedicate a decent percentage of their time to it are advised to train this skill plan. The intermediate exploration plan requires that the starter exploration plan is already trained. Training this plan will allow you to scan down and loot most of the 'Known-space' sites and if you know what you are doing even some faction sites in 'Wormhole space'. Note that these skill plans exclude sleepers sites, because they are focused on the racial tech I and covert ops frigate

• The master exploration plan (91 days):

People who consider exploration as one of their main career paths are advised to train the most these skills. Note that this plan focuses on training into the covert ops frigate, which makes your exploration much faster and easier. When you have trained this plan, you will be able to scan and loot ALL exploration sites in known- and wormhole space effectively (with the exclusion of sleeper sites).

Skill plans

Starter exploration (2 days)

The starter exploration plan is a plan for people who do not know much about exploration, but are intrigued by the concept and want to start a basic career in exploration to see if they enjoy it. The skill plan is a very short train (2 days) but the skills learned are adequate to perform and learn the basic exploration mechanics. For the starter exploration plan all skills are mandatory if you want optimal results, but if you want to change the training order, feel free to do so.

Starter exploration training plan

Skill	Notes	Training time
1. Racial Frigate III		7 hours, 19 minutes, 2 seconds
2. Astrometrics I	requirement for 'core probe launcher I'	25 minutes
3. Astrometrics II		1 hour, 56 minutes, 26 second
4. Survey I		8 minutes, 20 seconds
5. Survey II		38 minutes, 50 seconds
6. Survey III	requirement for Archaeology	3 hours, 39 minutes, 30 seconds
7. Archaeology I	requirement for 'Relic Analyzer I'	25 minutes
8. Archaeology II		1 hour, 56 minutes, 26 seconds
9. Electronics Upgrades I		16 minutes, 40 seconds
10. Electronics Upgrades II		1 hour, 17 minutes, 38 seconds
11. Electronics Upgrades III	requirement for Hacking	7 hours, 19 minutes, 2 seconds
12. Hacking I	requirement for 'Data Analyzer I'	25 minutes
13. Hacking II		1 hour, 56 minutes, 26 seconds
14. Archaeology III		10 hours, 58 minutes, 34 seconds
15. Hacking III		10 hours, 58 minutes, 34 seconds
		________________________________
Total training time		2 days, 1 hour, 40 minutes, 28 seconds

Intermediate exploration (14 days)

This plan is meant for players who, after learning starter exploration plan, decided to continue with exploration as a possible career path. This skill plan takes quite a bit longer then the starter plan and should be considered if you plan to spend a decent amount in exploration. After this skill plan you should be able to explore almost all high and low security and the easiest null security sites. This plan focuses on training more specific exploration skills and work best with your racial exploration ship. Hacking IV and Archeology IV are not explicitly required but can make your life hacking cans a bit easier. If you plan to dedicate a part of your EVE career to exploration i suggest training these skills before you start the master exploration skill plan.

Intermediate exploration training plan

1. Racial Frigate IV		1 day, 17 hours, 23 minutes, 40 seconds
2. Astrometric Rangefinding I		1 hour, 6 minutes, 40 seconds
3. Astrometric Rangefinding II		5 hours, 10 minutes, 28 seconds
4. Astrometrics III	requirement for the 'astrometric acquisition' skill	10 hours, 58 minutes, 34 seconds
5. Astrometric Acquisition I		41 minutes, 40 seconds
6. Astrometric Acquisition II		3 hours, 14 minutes, 4 seconds
7. Astrometrics IV	requirement for the 'astrometric pinpointing' skill	2 days, 14 hours, 5 minutes, 30 seconds
8. Astrometric Pinpointing I		41 minutes, 40 seconds
9. Astrometric Pinpointing II		3 hours, 14 minutes, 4 seconds
10. Astrometric Pinpointing III		18 hours, 17 minutes, 36 seconds
11. Astrometric Acquisition III		18 hours, 17 minutes, 36 seconds
12. Astrometric Rangefinding III		1 day, 5 hours, 16 minutes, 12 seconds
13. CPU Management IV	requirement for the 'cloaking' skill	20 hours, 41 minutes, 50 seconds
14. Cloaking I	requirement for 'prototype cloaking device I'	50 minutes
15. Archaeology IV		2 days, 14 hours, 5 minutes, 30 seconds
16. Hacking IV		2 days, 14 hours, 5 minutes, 30 seconds
		___________________________________
Total training time		14 days, 4 hour, 10 minutes, 34 seconds

Master exploration (91 days)

The master exploration plan is mainly focused on training into your racial covert ops frigate. Since this program is quite lengthy the skills are organised ranging from very important to less important, allowing players to shorten the specified skill plan according to their needs. I suggest training at least to number 11, as 'cloaking IV' is required for the 'covert ops cloaking device' which will boost your survivability by a lot. Do not underestimate the importance of 'Hacking V' and 'Archaeology V' as they allow you to use the tech II analyzers, which give you +5 virus strength compared to the tech I variant. There is a lot of controversy about training Astrometrics to level V, but keep in mind that the 'core probe launcher II' is a lot cheaper as the sisters core probe launcher (around 5-10% of the price). Another reason for Astrometrics V is that it requires around 1 day less training as training the 3 support skills (Astrometric -pinpointing, -acquisition, -rangefinding) to level IV which give the same benefits. I do not recommend using a covert ops frigate without a 'covert ops cloaking device II' (which requires cloaking IV) but if you want to use them as fast as possible you could do so effectively the moment you have trained covert ops to level III.

Master exploration training plan

1. Astrometrics V	requirement for 'core probe launcher II'	14 days, 15 hours, 14 minutes, 30 seconds
2. Racial Frigate V	requirement for 'covert ops' skill	9 days, 18 hours, 9 minutes, 40 seconds
3. Electronics Upgrades IV		1 day, 17 hours, 23 minutes, 40 seconds
4. Electronics Upgrades V	requirement for 'covert ops' skill	9 days, 18 hours, 9 minutes, 40 seconds
5. Covert Ops I		33 minutes, 20 seconds
6. Covert Ops II		2 hours, 35 minutes, 14 seconds
7. Covert Ops III		14 hours, 38 minutes, 6 seconds
8. Covert Ops IV	bonuses should now exceed your racial frigate	3 days, 10 hours, 47 minutes, 20 seconds
9. Cloaking II		3 hours, 52 minutes, 52 seconds
10. Cloaking III		21 hours, 57 minutes, 8 seconds
11. Cloaking IV	requirement for 'covert ops cloaking device II'	5 days, 4 hours, 11 minutes
12. Archaeology V	requirement for 'relic analyzer II'	14 days, 15 hours, 14 minutes, 30 seconds
13. Hacking V	requirement for 'data analyzer II'	14 days, 15 hours, 14 minutes, 30 seconds
14. Astrometric Pinpointing IV	optional	4 days, 7 hours, 29 minutes, 10 seconds
15. Astrometric Acquisition IV	optional	4 days, 7 hours, 29 minutes, 10 seconds
16. Astrometric Rangefinding IV	optional	6 days, 21 hours, 34 minutes, 38 seconds
		___________________________________
Total training time		91 days, 2 hours, 34 minutes, 28 seconds

Links to EVEMon skill plans

Following links contain the skill plans for the different stages of exploration skills. The skill plans can easily be imported into EVEMon. If you want to train the intermediate or master skill plan, you will see that the previous skill plans will also be included to make up for any required skills. These skill plans are made for Minmatar characters but can easily converted to other races by swapping out the Minmatar Frigate skill for your respective Racial Frigate skill.

Right click the folowing links, and click save as. Make sure to save the file as an '.xml' format

• File:Starter exploration.xml
• File:Intermediate exploration.xml
• File:Master exploration.xml