Cosmic Anomalies
Cosmic Anomalies (not to be confused with Cosmic Signatures) are exploration PvE sites that can be found throughout known space in EVE. They are found using the system scanner, and require no skills to locate (unlike Cosmic Signatures, which require probes and probing skills). There are several types of Cosmic Anomalies:
- Combat Sites contain multiple NPC rats to be killed with a combat ship. They come in a variety of difficulties depending on the security level of the space where they are found.
- Ore sites contain asteroids to be mined for minerals or ice products.
- Ghost Sites (also known as "Covert Research Facilities") contain several data/relic cans to hack, that explode if the explorer fails the hack. Also, an invisible timer starts on warp-in, and once it is up, indestructible NPC rats will warp in, cause all cans to explode and shoot at the explorer for a while. Tanked ships or "egg-thief" (hacking only one can quickly, then leaving) tactics are recommended. Either analyzer (and its relevant skill) may be used for the hack.
- Contested Guristas Covert Research Facilities, found in high- and low-sec only[1], are very similar to the regular Covert Research Facilities (Ghost Sites). They contain 1 data/relic can, called a Guristas Transponder tower, that explodes if the hacking/archaeology attempt fails. Just like Ghost Sites, there is also a hidden timer (45-60s) after which the tower explodes.
- Besieged GuristasCovert Research Sites are found only in low-sec<ref name="Contested and Besieged Covert Research Facility – Mordus Legion Contraband sites">, but are closer to combat sites, containing multiple NPC cruiser and battleship rats to be killed with a combat ship. In addition, they also have a couple of destructible structures with loot: (Faction) Research and trade Hubs and/or Thukker Labs.
How to Find Cosmic Anomalies
Cosmic Anomalies can be found by using your onboard scanner.
To find these sites, you simply jump into a system, check the onboard scanner and warp to any results. Cosmic Anomalies appear within a 4 AU range around planets. Open your onboard Probe Scanner by pressing ALT+P, and results will update automatically. When you have found an anomaly, warp there or create a bookmark of its position. Once an Anomaly has been completed, it will disappear after some time.
On occasion you may need to 'jiggle the wires' of your onboard scanner by de-selecting and re-selecting the show all check box to encourage them to appear.
Difficulty and Classification
Combat sites
Combat site anomalies are ranked in difficulty by 10 levels, these are:
- (Faction) Burrow / Drone Collection (easiest)
- (Faction) Hideaway / Drone Cluster
- (Faction) Refuge / Drone Assembly
- (Faction) Den / Drone Gathering
- (Faction) Yard / Drone Surveillance
- (Faction) Rally Point / Drone Menagerie
- (Faction) Port / Drone Herd
- (Faction) Hub / Drone Squad
- (Faction) Haven / Drone Patrol
- (Faction) Sanctum / Drone Horde (hardest)
The rank of the anomaly you could find depends on the security status of the system you are searching in. Within high-sec (security status 1.0 to 0.5) the lowest third will be found. Low-sec (security status of 0.4 to 0.1) contains the mid third of them and the highest third will be found within nullsec.
An anomaly may be further sub-divided into 3 more categories:
- (Faction) Hidden (anomaly) [easiest]
- (Faction) Forsaken (anomaly) [middle]
- (Faction) Forlorn (anomaly) [hardest]
