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{{Exploration links}}
 
{{Exploration links}}
  
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**[[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
 
**[[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
 
** [[Cloaking]]: Skill at using Cloaking devices (allows the use of cloaking devices). 10% reduction in targeting delay after uncloaking per skill level.
 
** [[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 ==
 
  
<b>''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.''</b>
 
  
This page contains 3 different skill plans, each focussing 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 skillplans are '''''without the use of implants or attribute remaps'''''. Adittionally these skill plans are based off a completely new character,  so it might be possible that you already trained some of the required skills.
+
{{expansion past | Before the Ascension update of 2016/11/15, new pilots required at least a day of training to fit and use probe launchers and analyzer modules. }}
*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 focusses 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)==
 
<!-- #remove ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -->
 
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.
 
  
<!-- start table -->
 
{| style="text-align:left; width:650px;"
 
|+ '''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
 
|}
 
<!-- end table -->
 
  
 +
The basic skills for exploration are now (as of [[Expansions#Ascension|Ascension]]) part of the starting skill set, and indeed cannot be trained further (except for Racial Frigate IV) without upgrading clone state to Omega. New pilots can now fit and undock in a basic exploration frigate, and begin probing and data-mining, on day one of their careers.
 +
 +
Nonetheless, for pilots who ''do'' have Omega status, the rewards of additional training are considerable: additional training in the probing skills will greatly reduce the time required to scan down a signature, and the increases in virus strength and coherence gained by training the data-mining skills can make it much less likely that the pilot will fail a hack once the site has been reached. Training [[Cloaking]] allows the pilot to probe signatures in dangerous space with relative safety and (at level III) to fit the Improved Cloaking Device II and thus use the [[Cloak trick]] to increase the chances of successfully making it to market with the loot.
  
== Intermediate exploration (14 days) ==
+
The suggested Improved and Intermediate training plans concentrate on improving the pilot's Scan Probe strength and Virus Coherence initially, and on enabling the use of advance piloting techniques to improve survivability in hostile space. Without a fairly high Scan Probe strength, the improvements in scan time and deviation gained by training Astrometric Pinpointing and Astrometric Acquisition make little or no noticeable difference.
<!-- #remove ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -->
 
This plan is ment 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 focusses 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.
 
  
<!-- start table -->
+
== Improved Exploration skills ==
{| style="text-align:left; width:750px;"
+
''Total time: 1 day, 2 hours, 40 minutes''
|+ '''Intermediate exploration training plan'''
+
{| class="wikitable"
 
|-
 
|-
|1. Racial Frigate IV
+
! Skill !! Notes !! Training time/Cost
|
 
|1 day, 17 hours, 23 minutes, 40 seconds
 
 
|-
 
|-
|2. Astrometric Rangefinding I
+
| Cloaking I || Enaables Prototype Cloaking Device I || 50 minutes/3,500,000 ISK
|  
 
|1 hour, 6 minutes, 40 seconds
 
 
|-
 
|-
|3. Astrometric Rangefinding II  
+
| Hacking II || +10 Virus Coherence for Data Analyzers || 1 hour, 56 minutes, 26 seconds
|
 
|5 hours, 10 minutes, 28 seconds
 
 
|-
 
|-
|4. Astrometrics III  
+
| Hacking III || +10 Virus Coherence for Data Analyzers || 10 hours, 58 minutes, 34 seconds
|requirement for the 'astrometric acquisition' skill
 
|10 hours, 58 minutes, 34 seconds
 
 
|-
 
|-
|5. Astrometric Acquisition I
+
| Archaeology II || +10 Virus Coherence for Relic Analyzers || 1 hour, 56 minutes, 26 seconds
|
 
|41 minutes, 40 seconds
 
 
|-
 
|-
|6. Astrometric Acquisition II
+
| Archaeology III || +10 Virus Coherence for Relic Analyzers || 10 hours, 58 minutes, 34 seconds
|
+
|}
|3 hours, 14 minutes, 4 seconds
+
This basic plan concentrates on improving the success of hacking attempts and enabling the pilot to scan while cloaked.
|-
+
== Intermediate Exploration skills ==
|7. Astrometrics IV
+
''Total time: 11 days, 23 hours, 56 minutes, 50 seconds''
|requirement for the 'astrometric pinpointing' skill
+
{| class="wikitable"
|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
+
! Skill !! Notes !! Training time/Cost
|
 
|18 hours, 17 minutes, 36 seconds
 
 
|-
 
|-
|11. Astrometric Acquisition III
+
| Cloaking II || || 3 hours, 52 minutes, 52 seconds
|
 
|18 hours, 17 minutes, 36 seconds
 
 
|-
 
|-
|12. Astrometric Rangefinding III  
+
| Cloaking III || Enables Improved Cloaking Device II || 21 hours, 57 minutes, 8 seconds
|
 
|1 day, 5 hours, 16 minutes, 12 seconds
 
 
|-
 
|-
|13. CPU Management IV
+
| Astrometric Rangefinding II || +5% Scan Probe strength.<br/>Enables Scan Rangefinding Array I || 5 hours, 10 minutes, 28 seconds
|requirement for the 'cloaking' skill
 
|20 hours, 41 minutes, 50 seconds
 
 
|-
 
|-
|14. Cloaking I
+
| Racial Frigate IV || +7.5% Scan Probe strength || 1 day, 17 hours, 23 minutes, 39 seconds
|requirement for 'prototype cloaking device I'
 
|50 minutes
 
 
|-
 
|-
|15. Archaeology IV
+
| Astrometric Rangefinding III || +5% Scan Probe strength || 1 day, 5 hours, 16 minutes, 12 seconds
|
 
|2 days, 14 hours, 5 minutes, 30seconds
 
 
|-
 
|-
|16. Hacking IV  
+
| Astrometrics IV || +5% Scan Probe strength || 2 days, 14 hours, 5 minutes, 30 seconds
|
 
|2 days, 14 hours, 5 minutes, 30 seconds
 
 
|-
 
|-
|
+
| Archaeology IV || +10 Virus Coherence for Relic Analyzers || 2 days, 14 hours, 5 minutes, 30 seconds
|
 
|___________________________________
 
 
|-
 
|-
|Total training time
+
| Hacking IV || +10 Virus Coherence for Data Analyzers || 2 days, 14 hours, 5 minutes, 30 seconds
|
 
|14 days, 4 hour, 10 minutes, 34 seconds
 
 
|}
 
|}
<!-- end table -->
+
This less-basic plan concentrates on improving the pilot's Scan Probe strength and Virus Coherence, and unlocks the T2 cloak, enabling the Cloak trick. Astometrics IV also reduces the scan probe deviation and makes scanning faster, but at this point in the pilot's training, higher Scan Probe strength is key. At this level of skill, the pilot has a good chance of locating and successfully looting Data and Relic sites in nullsec space, and making it home with the loot unmolested.
 
 
== Master exploration (91 days)==
 
<!-- #remove ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -->
 
 
 
The master exploration plan is mainly focussed 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 alot of controversy about training Astrometrics to level V, but keep in mind that the 'core probe launcher II' is alot 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 cloacking 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.
 
  
 
+
== More Advanced Exploration skills ==
<!-- start table -->
+
''Total time: 32 days, 10 hours, 54 minutes, 40 seconds; Cost: 4,900,000 ISK''
{| style="text-align:left; width:750px;"
+
{| class="wikitable"
|+ '''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
+
! Skill !! Notes !! Training time/Cost
|requirement  for 'covert ops' skill
 
|9 days, 18 hours, 9 minutes, 40 seconds
 
 
|-
 
|-
|5. Covert Ops I
+
| Astrometric Pinpointing I || Reduces maximum scan deviation by 5% || 41 minutes, 40 seconds/450,000 ISK
|
 
|33 minutes, 20 seconds
 
 
|-
 
|-
|6. Covert Ops II
+
| Astrometric Acquisition I || Reduces scan probe time by 5% || 41 minutes, 40 seconds/450,000 ISK
|
 
|2 hours, 35 minutes, 14 seconds
 
 
|-
 
|-
|7. Covert Ops III
+
| Astrometric Pinpointing II || Reduces maximum scan deviation by 5%.<br/>Enables Scan Pinpointing Array I || 3 hours, 14 minutes, 4 seconds
|
 
|14 hours, 38 minutes, 6 seconds
 
 
|-
 
|-
|8. Covert Ops IV
+
| Astrometric Acquisition II || Reduces scan probe time by 5%%.<br/>Enables Scan Acquisition Array I || 3 hours, 14 minutes, 4 seconds
|bonuses should now exceed your racial frigate
 
|3 days, 10 hours, 47 minutes, 20 seconds
 
 
|-
 
|-
|9. Cloaking II
+
| Astrometric Pinpointing III || Reduces maximum scan deviation by 5% || 18 hours, 17 minutes, 35 seconds
|
 
|3 hours, 52 minutes, 52 seconds
 
 
|-
 
|-
|10. Cloaking III  
+
| Astrometric Acquisition III || Reduces scan probe time by 5% || 18 hours, 17 minutes, 35 seconds
|
 
|21 hours, 57 minutes, 8 seconds
 
 
|-
 
|-
|11. Cloaking IV
+
| Racial Frigate V || +7.5% Scan Probe strength.<br/>Required for Racial CovOps frigate || 9 days, 18 hours, 9 minutes, 40 seconds
|requirement for 'covert ops cloaking device II'
 
|5 days, 4 hours, 11 minutes
 
 
|-
 
|-
|12. Archaeology V
+
| Cloaking IV || Enables Covert Ops Cloaking Device II || 5 days, 4 hours, 11 minutes
|requirement for 'relic analyzer II'
 
|14 days, 15 hours, 14 minutes, 30 seconds
 
 
|-
 
|-
|13. Hacking V
+
| Electronics Upgrades IV || || 1 day, 17 hours, 23 minutes, 39 seconds
|requirement for 'data analyzer II'
 
|14 days, 15 hours, 14 minutes, 30 seconds
 
 
|-
 
|-
|14. Astrometric Pinpointing IV
+
| Electronics Upgrades V || Prerequsite for Covert Ops skill || 9 days, 18 hours, 9 minutes, 40 seconds
|optional
 
|4 days, 7 hours, 29 minutes, 10 seconds
 
 
|-
 
|-
|15. Astrometric Acquisition IV
+
| Covert Ops I || Enables Covert Ops, with Racial Frigate V.<br/>10% bonus to Scan Probe strength.<br/>+10 Virus Strength in CovOps ship ||33 minutes, 20 seconds/4,000,000 ISK
|optional
 
|4 days, 7 hours, 29 minutes, 10 seconds
 
 
|-
 
|-
|16. Astrometric Rangefinding IV
+
| Covert Ops II || 10% bonus to Scan Probe strength || 2 hours, 35 minutes, 14 seconds
|optional
 
|6 days, 21 hours, 34 minutes, 38 seconds
 
 
|-
 
|-
|
+
| Covert Ops III || 10% bonus to Scan Probe strength || 14 hours, 38 minutes, 6 seconds
|
 
|___________________________________
 
 
|-
 
|-
|Total training time
+
| Covert Ops IV || 10% bonus to Scan Probe strength || 3 days, 10 hours, 47 minutes, 19 seconds
|
 
|91 days, 2 hours, 34 minutes, 28 seconds
 
 
|}
 
|}
<!-- end table -->
 
  
= Links to EVEMon skill plans =
+
This advanced plan represents a reasonable stopping point for pilots who do not wish to be highly specialized probing & hacking experts. With the Scan Probe strength reached by the end of the intermediate plan above, it becomes reasonable to begin training the scanning support skills to moderate levels. While the scanning upgrade modules enabled by these skills are not widely used, there might be situations where the Pinpointing Array is worth fitting.
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''.
 
  
<b>''Right click the folowing links, and click save as. Make sure to save the file as an '.xml' format''</b>
+
The intermediate plan uses all of the available possibilities to cheaply (''i.e.'' < 5 days training time) increase Scan Probe Strength. The next two skills to do this are Racial Frigate V at 9+ days for a 7.5% increase, and Astrometric Rangefinding IV at not quite 7 days for a 5% increase. The latter is neglected here in favor of finishing the prerequisites for Covert Ops, which unlocks a frigate with a 10%/level bonus to Scan Probe strength and, perhaps more importantly, an additional +5 to Virus Strength for analyzer modules: the pilot will be able to reliably find Data and Relic sites in nullsec and C3 wormhole space with the probing skills of the intermediate plan, and will be limited by the number of failed hacks on the more difficult cans found there. Increasing Virus Strength thus removes a pain point. The Covert Ops frigate is also a more survivable platform for exploring in nullsec and wormhole space.
  
*[[File:Starter_exploration.xml]]
+
== Elite Exploration skills ==
*[[File:Intermediate exploration.xml]]
+
''Perfect Scanner skills, Perfect Hacking skills, discussion of T2 modules''
*[[File:Master_exploration.xml]]
 
  
[[Category:Skills]]
+
<!--[[Category:Skills]]
[[Category:Exploration]]
+
[[Category:Exploration]]-->

Latest revision as of 11:19, 8 April 2023


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 (for the Magnate, Heron, Imicus, and Probe, as appropriate) per level
    • 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:
  • 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
    • Cloaking: Skill at using Cloaking devices (allows the use of cloaking devices). 10% reduction in targeting delay after uncloaking per skill level.



The basic skills for exploration are now (as of Ascension) part of the starting skill set, and indeed cannot be trained further (except for Racial Frigate IV) without upgrading clone state to Omega. New pilots can now fit and undock in a basic exploration frigate, and begin probing and data-mining, on day one of their careers.

Nonetheless, for pilots who do have Omega status, the rewards of additional training are considerable: additional training in the probing skills will greatly reduce the time required to scan down a signature, and the increases in virus strength and coherence gained by training the data-mining skills can make it much less likely that the pilot will fail a hack once the site has been reached. Training Cloaking allows the pilot to probe signatures in dangerous space with relative safety and (at level III) to fit the Improved Cloaking Device II and thus use the Cloak trick to increase the chances of successfully making it to market with the loot.

The suggested Improved and Intermediate training plans concentrate on improving the pilot's Scan Probe strength and Virus Coherence initially, and on enabling the use of advance piloting techniques to improve survivability in hostile space. Without a fairly high Scan Probe strength, the improvements in scan time and deviation gained by training Astrometric Pinpointing and Astrometric Acquisition make little or no noticeable difference.

Improved Exploration skills

Total time: 1 day, 2 hours, 40 minutes

Skill Notes Training time/Cost
Cloaking I Enaables Prototype Cloaking Device I 50 minutes/3,500,000 ISK
Hacking II +10 Virus Coherence for Data Analyzers 1 hour, 56 minutes, 26 seconds
Hacking III +10 Virus Coherence for Data Analyzers 10 hours, 58 minutes, 34 seconds
Archaeology II +10 Virus Coherence for Relic Analyzers 1 hour, 56 minutes, 26 seconds
Archaeology III +10 Virus Coherence for Relic Analyzers 10 hours, 58 minutes, 34 seconds

This basic plan concentrates on improving the success of hacking attempts and enabling the pilot to scan while cloaked.

Intermediate Exploration skills

Total time: 11 days, 23 hours, 56 minutes, 50 seconds

Skill Notes Training time/Cost
Cloaking II 3 hours, 52 minutes, 52 seconds
Cloaking III Enables Improved Cloaking Device II 21 hours, 57 minutes, 8 seconds
Astrometric Rangefinding II +5% Scan Probe strength.
Enables Scan Rangefinding Array I
5 hours, 10 minutes, 28 seconds
Racial Frigate IV +7.5% Scan Probe strength 1 day, 17 hours, 23 minutes, 39 seconds
Astrometric Rangefinding III +5% Scan Probe strength 1 day, 5 hours, 16 minutes, 12 seconds
Astrometrics IV +5% Scan Probe strength 2 days, 14 hours, 5 minutes, 30 seconds
Archaeology IV +10 Virus Coherence for Relic Analyzers 2 days, 14 hours, 5 minutes, 30 seconds
Hacking IV +10 Virus Coherence for Data Analyzers 2 days, 14 hours, 5 minutes, 30 seconds

This less-basic plan concentrates on improving the pilot's Scan Probe strength and Virus Coherence, and unlocks the T2 cloak, enabling the Cloak trick. Astometrics IV also reduces the scan probe deviation and makes scanning faster, but at this point in the pilot's training, higher Scan Probe strength is key. At this level of skill, the pilot has a good chance of locating and successfully looting Data and Relic sites in nullsec space, and making it home with the loot unmolested.

More Advanced Exploration skills

Total time: 32 days, 10 hours, 54 minutes, 40 seconds; Cost: 4,900,000 ISK

Skill Notes Training time/Cost
Astrometric Pinpointing I Reduces maximum scan deviation by 5% 41 minutes, 40 seconds/450,000 ISK
Astrometric Acquisition I Reduces scan probe time by 5% 41 minutes, 40 seconds/450,000 ISK
Astrometric Pinpointing II Reduces maximum scan deviation by 5%.
Enables Scan Pinpointing Array I
3 hours, 14 minutes, 4 seconds
Astrometric Acquisition II Reduces scan probe time by 5%%.
Enables Scan Acquisition Array I
3 hours, 14 minutes, 4 seconds
Astrometric Pinpointing III Reduces maximum scan deviation by 5% 18 hours, 17 minutes, 35 seconds
Astrometric Acquisition III Reduces scan probe time by 5% 18 hours, 17 minutes, 35 seconds
Racial Frigate V +7.5% Scan Probe strength.
Required for Racial CovOps frigate
9 days, 18 hours, 9 minutes, 40 seconds
Cloaking IV Enables Covert Ops Cloaking Device II 5 days, 4 hours, 11 minutes
Electronics Upgrades IV 1 day, 17 hours, 23 minutes, 39 seconds
Electronics Upgrades V Prerequsite for Covert Ops skill 9 days, 18 hours, 9 minutes, 40 seconds
Covert Ops I Enables Covert Ops, with Racial Frigate V.
10% bonus to Scan Probe strength.
+10 Virus Strength in CovOps ship
33 minutes, 20 seconds/4,000,000 ISK
Covert Ops II 10% bonus to Scan Probe strength 2 hours, 35 minutes, 14 seconds
Covert Ops III 10% bonus to Scan Probe strength 14 hours, 38 minutes, 6 seconds
Covert Ops IV 10% bonus to Scan Probe strength 3 days, 10 hours, 47 minutes, 19 seconds

This advanced plan represents a reasonable stopping point for pilots who do not wish to be highly specialized probing & hacking experts. With the Scan Probe strength reached by the end of the intermediate plan above, it becomes reasonable to begin training the scanning support skills to moderate levels. While the scanning upgrade modules enabled by these skills are not widely used, there might be situations where the Pinpointing Array is worth fitting.

The intermediate plan uses all of the available possibilities to cheaply (i.e. < 5 days training time) increase Scan Probe Strength. The next two skills to do this are Racial Frigate V at 9+ days for a 7.5% increase, and Astrometric Rangefinding IV at not quite 7 days for a 5% increase. The latter is neglected here in favor of finishing the prerequisites for Covert Ops, which unlocks a frigate with a 10%/level bonus to Scan Probe strength and, perhaps more importantly, an additional +5 to Virus Strength for analyzer modules: the pilot will be able to reliably find Data and Relic sites in nullsec and C3 wormhole space with the probing skills of the intermediate plan, and will be limited by the number of failed hacks on the more difficult cans found there. Increasing Virus Strength thus removes a pain point. The Covert Ops frigate is also a more survivable platform for exploring in nullsec and wormhole space.

Elite Exploration skills

Perfect Scanner skills, Perfect Hacking skills, discussion of T2 modules