Exploration Almanac

Day 11 - next goal achived + some ISK made

2010-07-06T17:01:00.000-07:00

I decided to stop search only for radars from now and experimenting a bit with possible fit for all-in one hi sec exploration ship.

Here is my Vexor:

As you may see it has probes launcher, codebraker, mwd, med armor repairer and set of med/light drones.

After finding and clearing 2 radaras; I eventually found GSO in dead end system with nobody in local. Normally, such a fit is not something I am happy to run GSO fit, but I decided to proced, since I certain I can complete it even it takes ages. I kept my fingers crossed that nobody comes in Tengu and overrun me.

It took 1,5 hours and caused me 2 rewarps, since I wasn't able to run MWD and rep for long enough to run away to save distance.

Managing aggro is a pain with such setup, even I have 1 rail guns strictly to shoot targets and invoke aggro. It is easy to get aggro by getting close to rats, but is difficult to get out of theirs range afterwards intact.

In any event I completed this Guristas Scout Outpost and got my hands on loot: Pithum C-Type Magnetic Scattering Amplifier. It canbe sold for about 40 million ISK, but what is more important, I got it dome with cheap ship with T1 fit and very low support skills.

As you may see, it is very much doable. With a bit of further training and swapping modules at station ,Vexor can be one of possible (not the best one tho) candidate for exploration vessel, especially on trial account.

There are 3 screenshots bellow show my Vexor working on 1st and second pockets of GSO and picking up loot.

Once again, I was lucky nobody was in system to compete. Very unusual, so I need to increase my DPS or get another, more effective ship.

And here comes loot for the day:

It is about 52 Million ISK.

Tip of the day: multi chars on one account

2010-07-06T01:17:00.000-07:00

Every EvE account has 3 slots to accommodate 3 chars or alts as it commonly called.

Once you train your first char to the point when you can scan signatures fast and hack radars without any problems killing rats with drones, it may be good idea to train second char with the same skills and get the same ship.

If you get used to this technique already, you may log off after scanning the route couple of time and instead watching movie, log in with another char and scan another back water area.

Switching between profiles while signatures respawn here and there can make your revenue accros a board significantly improved.

Creating multi chars single account has it's cons too. You can't train 2 chars in the same time. So you have to give up on development of main char for a few days.

But if you do so, it can pay off very nicely.

Day 10. Testing double boxing with Jack Pot at the end.

2010-07-05T21:54:00.000-07:00

Today was interesting day. I had some stuff from radars as usual (not sold it yet):

Gallente Cruiser trainingup to lvl 2 completed , so I was about just assemble and fit Vexor to show you all-in-one hi sec exploration ship which uses drones as primary weapon and tanking with distance.

But it is not what my activity today ended up with.

Crossing bottle neck low sec system I decided to drop probes and scan in case I find something interesting. And I did: Guristas Scout Outpost. System had +11 in local, 2 or 3 were camping gate.

I made bookmark and went to pick up assembled and fully fitted as speed tank Federation Navy Comet.

I have trained another pilot on separate account to be used as damage dealer for demonstration purposes of double boxing approach for running DED plexes in hi sec and in low sec as well. The char was docked nearby in station and has fitted Daredevil. It was waiting just convenient moment to get out to space and use it.

Actually, I already tested both chars once on GSO already, got some nice loot (not counted toward CN Crusaider wallet tho), but it was just test and I didn't want to bring it before I reach the first goal of making 300 Mils to be able to buy PLEX.

So, I brought both chars to system, cloaked Daredevil near one of the planet and Entered first pocket with Comet.
Whole thing took about 20 minutes. I was straggling with fraps for a bit in the middle of clearing first pocket: EvE client just frozen. I aborted fraps, made some screen shots in the first pocket, restarted fraps again, and recorded few more clips clips and cleared first pocket.

The second pocket wasn't a big deal as well to get full aggro with comet, start orbiting around can and brought Daredevil. Destroying structure which drops a loot - so-called Telescope took probably around 3 minutes ( I will make more accurate report form another GSO).

Telescope popped up and I opened container. And this moment is most exiting part of exploration. What is inside? Hit or miss? Jack pot ot junk?

I had Jack pot this time:

Market value:

Pithum C-Type Medium Shield Booster - 370 Million ISK.

Pithum C-Type Magnetic Scattering Amplifier - 40 Millions ISK.

A bit of luck, proper skills, bookmark and it is yours.
Chances that it will be yours in low sec 10 times, if not 100, higher compare to hi sec, over populated with Tengu pilots, who don't even cant use t2 missile launchers yet.

I made kind of video with clips I managed to "frap". It took for me like 4 hours to put everything together and to upload to YouTube. Quality is not any good, I still sucks with video making, but I am getting better.

I hope you still can figure out what is going on.

Video

At this point, making and uploading videos, cutting screen shots, writing texts for this very blog, dragged me from playing EvE actually. Hmmm....

Fast ships as part of psychological warfare.

2010-07-05T16:27:00.000-07:00

Once you are in plex behind the gate in low sec just a bit of caution and experience how to use directional scanner, you are almost invulnerable. Of course, low sec is full of trigger happy guys, and you may be scanned down and ganged. Sometimes it is pathetic. I had few situations when I run 4/10 with Ishtar and 3 minutes since I started battle ship and Falcon/Rapier popped up if front of the plex gate. BS even can't enter the gate tho.

But lets see at the situation when you run plex with Comet as tank and Daredevil as DD (damage dealer). from possible pirates in local. If they experienced enough, they can take chances, but also they understand 2 facts: 2 fast ships very difficult to catch up and both pilots are in NPC corp with just a couple of weeks trainings. They fly expensive ships, and may be (probably) alts of very experienced pvp/caribears running mission/plex. It can be set up and they can be fitted as heavy tacklers, fitted with tracking disruptors/sensor dampeners, who knows.

Obviously, they know what they are doing. It would be waist of time to go after them, probably.

Of course, some people may try, if they are bored of gate camping. But chances are slim.

But just imagine if you run the same plex in drake/caracal or even in Pilgrim?
They will be up to it 100%, to kill this "damn noob.

Been there on both sides, have t-shirt.

Doble Boxing: Part II - Damage Dealer.

2010-07-05T14:18:00.000-07:00

It is right time to talk again about double boxing for exploration.

The Damage Dealer ship should be entirely focused on damage, since full aggro be aggregate by speed tanker discussed here already.

EvE has many ships with different purposes, including focus on damage.

But if we are talking about maximum damage for minimum skill points there is no choice but Daredevil. Even with mediocre skills it can deliver insane 200 DPS . Honestly, I do not know any other ship in EvE you can get such DPS with only less than 24 hours of training skills.

Daredevil has nice bonuses:

Special Ability: 200% bonus to Small Hybrid Turret damage Gallente Frigate Skill Bonus: 10% bonus to Small Hybrid Turret falloff per level Minmatar Frigate Skill Bonus: 10% bonus to the velocity factor of stasis webifiers per level

Fitting with blasters and webifier it can deliver incredible damage but only at very short range.
Moving from target to target to be in optimal range requires some micromanagement but it is easy to get used to it. It is not Dominix sitting afk with drones launched. And you can't fly Dominix within 24 hours anyway.

It is fast and lethal close range combat ship. The only problem with it: it is very, very expensive. It's price tag is about 95 mils ISK in Jita. Therefore, with steady revenue from radars you can afford it and it opens whole new area for exploration DED complex: Guristas Scout Outpost.

Here are fitting from EFT and skills training queue from EVE monitor:

You can go with this fit in hi sec straight away and clean for example Local Guristas Shattered Life-Support Unit Radar, while tanking it with Comet or Rifter. It will take a bit of practice to get used to piloting such fast ship, but I am sure you will get used to it very quickly.

I was training damage dealer on another profile. Well, it is not the way most people just started the game fill follow, but since my aim is to show how things can be done, I created and have trained char focused entirely on damage and low sec operation perspective.

Hi sec operations fit:

This fit is not cap stable when both MWN and webifier on.
But you don't need MWD all the time, so you should be just fine with cap.

Low sec for beginners with a bit of redundancy vs gate campers and ceptors :

once u get to the destination system, go to spot or planet, turn off warp core stabilisers, cloak and wait while your cap regenerated, uncloak, put Vortex Stabiliren on, cloak, regenerate cap, uncloak, put on second Vortex. Put Core stabilizers the same way back once the site is done.

If you have fat wallet ( I have), don't afraid to loose expensive ship or know how to scout in low sec this fit above is for you, It is tight, but do not require any modules switch on/off, cap stable fast and agile.

It is a BLAST! (especially for 6 days old char)

It is weak, due the fact we depend on second ship for tanking, so I do not recommend you engage any pvp combat with it. Run away or cloak at the first sign of danger.

Tip of the day: Pencil is your main tool

2010-07-04T21:34:00.000-07:00

And if it has notepad nearby it isthe best tool .

Make a route (preferably circle) of 10-15 systems. And scan all signatures in each system at least up to 25% to see what this signature is.

Each signature has own unique ID. Write it down along with "Group" of signature. If it is not radar, skip it, unless you want to scan "Unknown" further to 75% and find out is it combat plex or WH.

It will takes may be an hour, or two or may be three, but when you get to the starting post, you will have complete list of all signatures in systems along your route.

To figure out if there is new sig ( spawned in system ) drop 1 or 2 probes with 32 AU covering whole system and scan. If there is new signatures in system, "ignore all other" and scan only new ones.

The second round of scanning your rout will be ten times faster and effective.

Once you get use to this, you can increase number of systems in your route. If there no, or only few new sigs respawned, take a break, grab some coffee, watch TV for a while or serf Internet, reread this blog or fly to Jita and give away your hard made ISKs to scammers :-)

And scan all over again.

If this method doesn't work, it is a time to think about another area of your ops.

Signatures respawning mechanics.

2010-07-04T20:38:00.000-07:00

You may notice that sometimes you find more radars in the same area when a lot of people online, on weekends for example. It may look strange at first glance, since more explorers flying around.

Explanation to this is quiet simple.

If radar (or any other cosmic signature) was cleared in system A it respawns in System B (or even again in A). So, more radars cleaned around, more spawns in new systems, and possibly in area, where are you flying.

The main question people still debating where and when is the system B.
I have read and heard many speculations, rumors, theories , explanations and wild guesses how it works.

Just few examples of what you can find on forums:

Signature cleared in system A will respawn:

- in the same Constellation;
- in the range of X jumps from current system;
- the nearest system with the same Security Level;
- randomly in region;

and dozen other scenarios

I never saw a single comment on subject from CCP. And this is understandable. Want to farm plexes and radars? Find it yourself, if you are clever enough.

We run some tests in regions with limited number of systems in hi sec, as well as in low sec.
Well, respawning mechanics is not simple.
I have my own view on sites respawnings, but it is more guess rather than proved facts.

In any event, space is not static, and new cosmic signature can pop up in the system you just scanned 5 minutes ago.

On the last note: Down Time clears some signatures (72 hours old or so) and brings new ones.
In other words, plex in back water system will not be there forever.

Lets put aside complexity and presume common theory that radar (plex) cleared in system "A" respawns in system "B" imminently is good enough to be used as guidenence for our exploration venture.

I

Days 8 & 9 - ready to purchase PLEX

2010-07-04T20:13:00.001-07:00

It was weekend, Germany won 4:0 vs Argentina, we had good doze of beer, so I was logging on and off. My buds were online, so we flew around together, went to low sec, run couple of 6/10, etc... You know how it is going.

So, I combine loot for 2 days. It is quiet a number of "blue tablets".

It worth around 110,6 mils ISK in Jita.

Wallet balance: 339,3 mil.

The current PLEX price in Jita is 302 Mil.

Day 7. Business as usuall

2010-07-03T17:22:00.000-07:00

Here is the lot for the day.

Estimated price in Jita is about 40 mil ISKs.

I have put this stuff on sell orders,. Sell/Price difference is not in my favor right now.

I was flying left and right, testing some fits and thinking about further development of this char.

Actual time on searching radars was about 2.5 hours.

Current state of wallet is around 230 mil ISK (including sell orders).

Not much to report otherwise.

Stay tuned ...

Tip Of The day: Hiding Interface

2010-07-02T14:49:00.000-07:00

I use only 4 windows opened on my screen (1600x900, window mode) : local, scanner, selected object and overview. Center of the screen has enough space to move probes around and see scan results. Therefore, in big systems, it may be more convenient to hide everything and make only system map visible. To drop probes with shortcut also helps even with scanner window opened.
In most cases I don't use this full screen map, but sometimes, it is incredibly useful.

First of all, I recommend to reassign shortcut for slot with probe launcher to ALT-E (or ALT-W) instead of ALT-F1.

Assignment of "Toggle Interface Visibility" to ALT-Q is something way too better than default Ctrl-F9.

Once probes placed, I switch to standard mode, and click butong "Analyze" on scanner.

Unfortunately, here is no shortcut for Scanner "Analyze" button, so switching to standard mode necessary to invoke scan process:

Pressing Alt-Q brigs Interface elements back:

I am not any good with video capturing and posting it on you tube, but I made epic attempt anyway:

How it works

Day 6: Not many radars crossed, but +40 mil to books still

2010-07-02T13:58:00.000-07:00

Flying back and forth for couple hours, only 4 radars popped up on scanner.
But after selling lot in Jita I got nice 40 mils added to wallet with current state 190 mils.

Since prime objective is to make 300 mils for PLEX on trial 14 days time, I am on good track to achieve this task. A bit more push on weekend and I hope it will be done.

Fifter Forever!

2010-07-02T07:18:00.001-07:00

I share opinion if you didn't fly Rifter you didn't play Eve yet.

In our case, go to low sec in expensive Comet ship can still be risky.
But I show you how Rifter is good even for primitive speed tanking and fit about 1 mil ISks.

If you want to go to low sec, but still not want to be broken and keep all hard way earned ISK for PLEX (especially you have found only wormholes mostly not radars) Rifter is great ship ship to experiment with.

It is not cap stable, due to 2 warp stabilizers in low slots, but it is ok if you manage to be carrefull a bit and restart MWD once cap regenerated.

here is Rifter tanking 1st pocket of GSO:

Getting full agro:

Orbiting under full agro at 130 km around can.

Tanking 2nd pocked:

Rifter also can tank Life-Support radar with few battleships on greed:

Federaion Navy Comet as speed tanker

2010-07-01T05:30:00.000-07:00

Dramiel is the king of speed tankers, but since I want to have some ISK on my wallet still, I will go for Comet and it should make job of tanking done anyway.

I think the fit self explaining. everything for speed, kinetic amplifier since we deal with guristas, and they deal mostly kinetic damage.

Shield extender increase signature radius, but the number of hit points it brings made me consider to use it anyway.

I use T1 MWD, instead of affordable Gistii. If I handle in this fit Gistii MWD would be bonus in the future, especially for low sec, when speed will be scarified in favor for warp redundancy.

Cloak is pure low sec attribute, but it shows we can fit it no problem.
It is cap stable. This is particulary important, once you get to orbit you can pay a little attention for managing this ship flying semi-afk.

Traveling in low sec, and this is one of our objective, mostly have to deal with gate camps.
For such fast frigate is risk free almost. The major threads are battle cruisers like Huricane with 1000 or above scan resolution and huge alfa strike. They even do not have to scramble you. Another thing you can bump eventually is smart bombing camps.

I lost 1 Dramiel ones to gang of 6 ships camping entrance from hi-sec on my way to tank 6/10 plex. And mostly because my attention was dragged from monitor by real life disturbance. It happens, and the best way to deal with this just move on.

Here is a bit modified fit for low-sec voyage. I do not use stabilizers at all on my well trained chars with good speed and agility. But for new char, and especially for new player going to low sec it can be very valuable redundancy asset to break through gate camps in low sec entrances and tunnel/bottle neck systems. It will not save you vs expeienced gang or heavy interdictor, but add big deal of redundancy vs "gate camp pirates". When I started my low sec exploration, "wtf" in drake with 4 stabs it was quiet often to read "wtf, stabs noob" in local chat.

To test it I went to low sec, have found GSO, and tested this setup in peace. I do not consider it as first low sec operation, since I used 5nipe's account to clean site again.

I had NO PROBLEM WHATSOEVER to tank 4/10 GSO with this fit so far:

Here is overview of GSO first pocket ( I have found it in border low sec system).

I forgot to make screenshot from the second pocket, by bad, sorry.

Double box concept for exploration

2010-07-01T04:46:00.000-07:00

Double boxing is common variation of multi boxing concept, widely used in MMO like WoW.
Principle is straight. You use more than one account to achieve some goals. It can be mining, manufacturing, PvP or whatever in EvE. Many people use double boxing for running missions, scouting, solo PvP, u name it. Practically it is running 2 or more EvE clients simultaneously on the same computer in different windows, sometimes on 2 or even more monitors if your PC hardware and performance allow this.

Does it violate EvE EULA. Sims like no, unless you don't use macros or bots. As far as your character requires your intervention in control it is Ok. I am not 100% sure what is CCP policy on semi afk tankers, but it looks like ok. If you get banned for afk tanking, please do not blame me for such advice on tactic.

Therefore CCP has some limitation on multiboxing. You can't run 2 instances of EvE on one computer unless both have subscription. In another world you use trial account it is only one you can run on your PC. Of course you can run second trial account on notebook or second PC. Does it violate EULA? Honestly, I hope no.

By using 2 ships on different account in 2 different windows of 2 computers allow you to split agregating damage ( tanking) and elliminating rats as 2 different task. This way one ship can be fitted for tank entirely, and the second one for damage dealing.

Personally, I prefer and use 2 paid accounts on one PC in 2 windows. I used to use 2 computers when I just started play EvE tho. Playing on one PC with one keyboard and mouse is just way too convenient compare to 2 PCs. Even with one monitor.

Many hard core players may say it is lame in noobish and it is partially true. But this tacktic is undeniably effective and do not require month of training and tons of skill points invested. Most of the people who say double boxing is dumb, use second accounts for scouting themselves, so it is very biased opinion in most cases. Well, I can run 6/10 in my Pilgrim. Is it effective compare double boxing. Of course not. And it required like 6 month of training to be able to fit and fly recon ship at assessable level.

From another hand, all those Tengu pilots, including myself some times, use overpowered ships for hi sec plexing. It is even more lame than use creative approaches with only 1 week old chars.

If we are talking about radars in hi sec, you can use just one char and you wil be fine. But if you are going to run combat plexes like GSO, or go to low sec there no much options for beginner pilot.

While I still have commitment to make 300 mils in radars in 14 trial days, and I will do so, I would like to run some plexes as well, as far as I find them on the go and go to low sec ( what CCP wants :-) ) to find and run 4/10 GSO. I know, it is gambling, but I like it, especially not much I can write about radars atm.

I have 150 mils in my wallet, so it gives me a bit of room for maneuvering in terms of ship and fitting.

So, lets look at speed tank for Guristas Scout Outpost DED rated 4/10 plex, especially I have found few so far already.

Tip Of The DAY: Stay focused.

2010-06-30T18:52:00.000-07:00

Many people complain that they can't find anything but worm holes. Why to scan something what you can't run (combat plex for example) or not worth the time?

If you are on radars roaming, only radars should be your top priority.

Scanning process of every signature has 3 key points.

25% - tells you Group of the signature. Radar, Ladar, Gravimetric or Unknown. Unknown can be WH or combat plex, including DED rated plex.

75% - tells the Type of signature. It actually name of site. For example it can show up as Group: "Radar", Type: "Local Guristas Shattered Life-Support Unit". It is up to you if you want to scan it to 100%. Personally, I do not do it if I don't have ship or friend or nobody in local I may ask for help . It is nice to scan Unknown to 75% to see it is Guristas Scout Outpost. But what next? It rather disappointing fact than good result if you cant run it.

100% - you can bookmark this signature and warp to the location. You can get it only with 4 probes. Even you put probe perfectly on top of signature, u will get only 99,99%.

Note: Anomalies, in difference, can be scanned with 1 probe and givers 100% on the first scan.

So, exclude signatures not interested to you from the scanner list as soon as you can determinate the Group.

Once you "Ignore Result", but want to get back to this signature again, u need to doc, or reenter system via gate, or log off/log in to clear ignore list.

Sometimes you never notice or find things floating at surface, but eventually someone shows you how obvious it is:

Nathan said... " Once you "Ignore Result", but want to get back to this signature again, u need to doc, or reenter system via gate, or log off/log in to clear ignore list. "

Not completely true, you are able to click the arrow next to where your filter says "Signatures" then either clear all ignored, or select one from the drop down list

Astrometrics @ lvl 4 finally

2010-06-30T18:33:00.000-07:00

The next skills would be as follow:

Astrometric Pinpointing to lvl 2.
Astometric Rangefinding lvl3
Astrometric Acquisition lvl 2
Astrometric Pinpointing to lvl 3.

Once it done, drones skills will be next priority.

I prefer train this skills even I am comfortable now simply because less scanning process takes, more ISK can be earned. It is quiet obvious of course.

It took more than an hour to figure out which signatures worth our time, scan them to 100% and bookmark.

Day 5: Is it teleportation to Wormhole?

2010-06-30T17:42:00.000-07:00

I haven't managed to fly to Jita and sell stuff I got yesterday yet. I decided to go to one of ded end systems before DT instead. 4 probes around planets scanned too many signatures, so I was a bit confused. Looks like wh to me :-)

So, I used 1 probe with 32 AU range to cover whole system and check what is inside of this system:

31 signature in total. Interesting what I can get from such a number...

I made bookmarks to all radars. There are 2 Guristas Watch plexes but I am not going to run them, neither Life-Support radar.

After approx an hour after DT I logged in. All bookmarked radars still there.
Had some nice drops.

here is yesterday and today's loot:

Selling it in Jita for about 60 mils made my wallet 150 mils or 1/2 of funds I need to purchase PLEX.

Tip of the day

2010-06-29T12:02:00.000-07:00

Here is the link to CCP guide on youtube. It is great introduction to scanning mechanics.

If you want drastically decrease time of scanning Cosmic Signatures here is the the tip:

All cosmic signatures located near moons and can be detected with 8AU probe.
Most of them within 4AU range. I have read some were that all of them within 5 AU and it related to old probes before new Apocrypha scanning mechanics.

Drop 1 probe for each moon and place it on top of the planet. Make probe range 8 AU and scan. You will get list of all signatures.

Screen shots bellow illustrated this in large system (about 60 AU).
All bookmarks are real plexes (mostly GSO) or radars.

I was EFT warior for the most part of the day

2010-06-29T09:23:00.001-07:00

I had 2 quick sessions online, scan here and there for a bit. I spent most available time with EFT tho. I will write about it a bit later.

here are my sigs and lot:

I didn't sell it yet. Will be posted as it goes.

How do I check my probes sensor strength?

2010-06-29T08:12:00.001-07:00

Open your fitting windows. Load Prob launcher with probes. Check info on ammo of launcher.

Important! If you check info on probes in cargo, all bonuses will not be applied and you will get only basic figures.

Click on (I) icon of charges and you get probes attributes window:

So, my probes Strength is 73 points. Higher this figure, weaker signals you can scan.

Base Maximum Deviation is 0,125. Less is better. Signatures "jumps" not so often with next cycle with reducing range of probes.

We also can check out the same information with EFT:

Basically saying, probes strength around 70 is good enough for scanning.

EFT is great tool for estimating thing. You can change your skills level on the fly and see what you get. In our case we can check out Vexor for example, and see what skills and gear we need to get probes strength around 70.

Here is an example with Vexor fitting:

We lost 15% of bonus from frigate.

But we compensated it with using Sisters Core Probe Launcher (can be purchased with contract for about 35-40 mils ISK.) and training Rangefinding 1 lvl up to 3.

In long run, Covert OPS frigate is the ship of any serious explorer. But it can't be trained on trial account, so more carebear business ahead to get PLEX asap :-)

Day 4: Time to look into probing skills again

2010-06-29T07:18:00.000-07:00

Here is the link to NP Crusader skills.

As you may see, many skills not relevant directly to scanning were trained to lvl 3 or even 4.
For example Electronics at lvl 4 already and Cloaking at lvl 1 in preparation to the first flight to low sec.

Astrometrics is currently in training queue to lvl 4.

I am pretty comfortable with current Astro skills, but it is good idea to revise them and see if any further training would be worth time and skill points.

Skills relevant to scanning listed below.

So far so good. The frigate skill lvl 3 gives 15% bonus ( 5% per level) to probes sensor strength and Astrometric Rangefinding 20% (10% per level). 2 rigs gives extra 20%.

Sisters Core Scanner Probes have base strength 44 points and with all bonuses together it comes to 74 points.

It enough for almost any signature to be nailed down to 100% in hi sec, excluding few really weak.

Therefore, better sensor strength, faster we scan. and It would be essential for using in future for all-in-one exploration ships like Vexor, Arbitrator, Caracal, Drake, etc.. without bonuses on scanning.

So, Rangefinding to lvl 3 or even 4 considered as a must in mid terms plan.

Why Astrometrics is training to lvl 4. For 2 reasons. First of all it gives 1 extra probe to launch, so it will be 7 in total, and what more important it allow to train Astrometric Pinpointing.

This skill reduces maximum deviation of scanning result, and signature's coordinate will be determined more accurate. it is not obliged skill, because u can get similar result with using 5th probe places right on top of signature before next scan cycle.

Personally, I prefer scan only with 4 probes. It is simply faster.

I consider to train this skill up to level lvl 2 straight away and to lvl 3 or even 4 eventually.

Day 3: Still making some ISKs

2010-06-28T04:15:00.000-07:00

My 3rd day happened to be quiet exiting. First of all, Germans won vs England in WC football and it knocked me out of EvE for a while sine we had a lot of beer with my buddies (I live in Germany).
I have spent about an hour flying around, picked couple radars, and went to watch the game.

After a while I decided it would be good idea to get some skills books and went to Onnamon Solar System in Black Rise Region.

I always scan on the go, so did I this time too. I got one radar, and Guristas Scout Outpost in next system.

Ok, here is the list of signatures I have found and drops from radars:

I got 20,3 mil ISks for it and wallet balance is 107 mil so far.

My second account is still not ready for action, so I used Tengu again, and got Pithum C-Type Medium Shield Booster.

Guristas shattered life-support

2010-06-27T04:10:00.000-07:00

Along with getting a bit of ISKs from dozen radars this one was kinda fun.
I know what this radar is about, and I had Tengu nearby but I decided not to use it.
Instead I have asked in local if anybody can help me. The only one person was in local and he eventually replied and agreed to help me.

Why did I nee the help. Simply because this radar not possible to run in Imicus, since there are 2 BS minimum. 3 or even 4 pretty common. I don't even count few frigate class npcs.

It is possible to tank with Imicus, and I did it, but to blow them with 3 noobs drones? No way.

So, the guy who was so kind to help have brought Cormorant. Not much dps, but better than 3 drones anyway.

here is how the site looks like:

Frigs were easy targets, but Cormorant dealt too long even with 1 st BS. I had orbit like 140 km and was pretty safe till Cormorant dragged away 1 BS, he rewarped back to can and I had to get full agro again. it wasn't as easy as first time. So after struggling for about 30 mins, I just flew in with Daredevil, tanked this 3 bs, and we finished it up within couple of minutes. Just wanted to test Daredevil on this difficult radar site instead to use Tengu.

Why Daredevil? Because it would be our damage dealer ship used by the second char.
It delivers insane amount dps/required skill points.

The whole thing took something about 1,5 hours, with dozen rewarps. But I had fun and this is what counts. :-)

how about reward? Normally this site drops decent loot. I got 45 mils once.

But today:

2 User Manuals. I gave 1 to guy who was helping me. So, do not afraid to ask people for help.
Sometimes you get get help, sometimes just grief. It is EvE :-)

Note: As you may see, this site has 4 cans, and they are spreaded. It can be annoying to keep track which one you already opened. It would be good idea to train targeting for 1 more level, so we get 4 targets for Imicus. Target all 4 cans and travel from left to right, or from right to left.

Day 2: less ISKs but more fun

2010-06-27T02:59:00.000-07:00

According to the plan, I was going to spend 3 hours for roaming around and my wallet looks more exiting. But I have spend on radars business may be maximum for an hour and a half. Due to the fact I have found 2 Guristas Scout Oputposts again (in one system at the same time), 1 Guristas Vigil and 2 Guristas Watch. Still had 9 Radars done. and got some loot once been sold netted for around 38 mils ISKs. It doesn't include stuff I got from plexes, but I will report them also.

I also crossed finally and it was a big deal of fun to completed it, even it ate most of my roaming time.

So here is the list of sites scanned down tonight:

and here is the loot from radars:

Here is also loot from Vigil, 2 Watches and 2 GSOs bellow just FYI.

1st Watch was waist of time, no escalation and drop was only tag. The vigil as well.

The 2nd Watch was more profitable escalation and implantant:

2 GSOs dropped only Amplifiers, but is is still good loot:

I have 91 mil ISk on my books at the end of the second day.

What we get for the first day?

2010-06-26T02:59:00.000-07:00

At this point after about 3 hours flying around and been “interrupted” (lol) by 3 GSOs I decided stop for tonight, go to Jita, sell all this radars stuff, see what is net profit and write this small report for the day.

Buy the way, I bought “trade” skill book and trained it to lvl 1 just to be able sell stuff with orders in case the buy/sell difference too significant to be ignored.

This is the result of my first radars hunting roam (except probes ofc). I cashed out 52,75 mil in selling all in Jita.
After purchasing 5 sisters core scanner probes it is just about 50 mils or 25 mils per hour, give or take. It is not bad for less then 1 day old char, isn’t it?

It’s getting even more exiting.

2010-06-26T02:28:00.000-07:00

One more jump. And what is it?

Another GSO. Tengu still in 2 jumps away. I cant resist again, sorry..

10 minutes later:

No Complex loot this time. A bit disappointing, but is ok. It is fun to burn in curiosity what you’ll get, even if it is almost nothing.

I have spent another half an hour jumping from system to system, founded another Vigil, I desided to skip, 3 more radars with rats on one of them. I don’t think I have to post screenshots again since you already have good idea what they may drop and how this sites looks like.

But what happened next made me bringing Tengu again:

A bit later:

It is not tremendous drop only with around 10 mils in value, but what is interesting this Dread Guristas 200mm gun very unusual and rare loot for GSO. So, is it unusual luck that I have found 3 GSOs within less than an hour? Sort of. I just bumped into respawning chain and there were not many people looking for plexes around.

From another hand I didn’t have any luck with super loot. Enough about SGO at the moment, it was fun and entertaining, but more like side effect for our current radars business. Funny enough, but for most explorers it is versa vise. They are looking for plexes and run radars as side business. Therefore this 3 plexes and couple of Vigils made me considering create second account and start plexes part of this guide early then I have planned originally

The first surprise

2010-06-26T02:22:00.000-07:00

Guristas Scout Outpost – is 4/10 DED rated combat site. It doesn’t escalate but drops ded space loot straight away on completion. This site is most desirable for any hi sec explorer, because it can drop such nice loot as “Pithum C-Type Medium Shield Booster” with current market price tag around 350 millions ISK. This site is a cream of all exploration sites in hi sec. It also can be founded in low sec in regions with Guristas rats. Guristas Scout Outpost (GSO) is not very difficult to run, but may be time consuming without decent DPS and good tank.

And it is very lucrative because it is a dream of all explorers. You will see a lot of explorers in Tengu, including me as well, who can complete it in 5-6 minutes. But with double boxing approach we will not wait till the moment when Tengu, Drake, Gila, Cerberus, Navy Caracal or any other ship you can fly. I will explain and show how to run it only with 2 chars and one week of training. But not right now.

Right now I bring my 5nipe’s Tengu and run it. I simply can’t resist, sorry.

15 minutes later:

Well, it is hit and miss. No booster. But still something. May be next time…

Keep going.

2010-06-26T01:36:00.000-07:00

Warp to next system. No radars in next two system but one more in the third one.

This radar has 3 cans and 5 frigate class rats we need to deal with before get to cans. It is possible that new wave will arrive, and perma cap AB should bring us far enough not to be destroyed but close enough to be able operate our only 2 Hobgoblins with drones skills only at minimum level.

Here is my little plan. Turn on AB, fly around for a bit, get full agro from all 5 rats. Launch 2 drones, set orbit 25 km and orbit around one of cans. Target rats and assign drones. They will do the job. Not super fast, but job would be done. Why we need full agro in first place? Simply to “protect” our drones. Those rats are not slippers, they will not retarget to another threat once they got lock on our spinning around Imicus. And our fragile drones are safe while shooting theirs targets. It may sound obvious for most of you, but these basics may not be well known for beginners. Managing agro along with speed/signature/distance tank are the first skills any explorer must be comfortable with, especially with just couple hundred thousands skill points. And these skills are vital when we go to low sec, or may be even to 0.0 to find and run plexes in “ninja” style. And it going to happen very, very soon. There are 2 cans on this particular radar site. First can guarded with 2 frigs, second with 3. With our minimalist setup and skills would be good idea to agro 2 frigs first, kill them and then agro second group. This rats agro upon proximity. So, approach first group from the opposite direction to second group. Once we get agro align to gate or station opposite way, set “keep at range” for about 25 km and don’t turn off AB. The same with the second group. Or just try orbit can as I mention before. Find out what works better for you. If you get shield under 40-50% shield, recover drones and warp out. Warp in again. Try one more time. And one more time if necessary.

This is how it works. I am not good with fraps and making videos for youtube, but I will try to make something shortly. Once site is cleared and no new waves, I opened all 3 cans and got some nice loot.

Next system had radar with only one can and no rats and dropped nice loot again:

Next system had 2 radars again and also combats site or “plex” as it usually referred.
It is “Guristas Vigil”. It is pretty hard for beginners but doable with right approach. It is kind of plexes which can “escalate” or/and drop decent loot, including pirates implantants. I am not going to run it, since I want to spend time to be able estimate our efficiency.

Therefore, it is very important sign. It means I am able to scan down not only plex with lowest signature in hi sec. And it also means our probes sensor strength high enough to scan almost everything we are after. It takes a bit longer than with maximized scanning skills, but most signatures can be scanned.

Another interesting thing with “Vigil” – it’s signature has the same signal strength as combat DED rated 6/10 plex in low sec: Guristas Troop Reinvigoration Camp. So what? Nothing actually, except the fact, that we can go to low sec and find plex which can drop loot with market value more than billion ISK. How to run this plex is a different story. But one of the final goals of this guide is to go to low sec once upon a time and run this 6/10 plex, even if we don’t became billionaires from the first try.

In any event, I scanned down two more systems before I bumped in something attractive enough to break my “radars venture” for half an hour.

First Loot in cargo!

2010-06-26T00:49:00.000-07:00

It took about 10 minutes to fly on autopilot from Jita to my area of interest. 4 core probes dropped and ANALYZE button on system scanner clicked. It took about 15 minutes to scan all signatures and exclude one worm hole and two magnetometrics from signatures list. Here we go: 3 identical radar sites in the first system!

After all 3 bookmarked, just in case I got disconnect, I warp to the first one. +30km is good idea to look around and see if any rats around.

Here we go. One can, no rats. Let’s crack it.

Hmm… it is empty. Lets try second radar site from signatures list.

This site has 2 can. And it is the same type as the first one. It looks a bit more promising. No rants again. Codebraker again…

Oh yes! It took about 13 hours from the creating char to actually get first loot. It costs about 2,5 mil in Jita and I am super happy that everything works as been planned so far. Second can is empty. Warp to third radar.

2 cans, no rats.

The first can has loot, and second doesn’t.

Undoc

2010-06-26T00:40:00.000-07:00

I am ready to go. All required skills trained and everything fitted.

You may notice that targeting range is 36750m instead of 35000. Also maximum targets is 3 instead of 2. Targeting and Long Range Targeting skills been trained to lvl 1. This fit is not cap stable, but AB and afterburner will not be used together.

Speed with AB on is 825 m/c and hopefully be enough to run away from rats and tank with orbit about 30km. Drone bay loaded with 3 drones but only 2 can be operated atm due Drones skill at lvl 2 yet.

[Imicus, Pink Floyd - "Money"]

Nanofiber Internal Structure I

Nanofiber Internal Structure I

Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters

Codebreaker I

Core Probe Launcher I, Core Scanner Probe I

[empty rig slot]

Small Gravity Capacitor Upgrade I

Small Gravity Capacitor Upgrade I

Hobgoblin I x3

I will go to one of the hi-sec regions of Cardari space which is not crawled too much.
It is Friday evening, I have got couple of beers, no WC football matches tonight, so I am going to spend 2-3 hours flying back and forth, see what sensor strength of probes allow to scan and hopefully make some ISK.

Run Forest, run....

2010-06-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

Speed is the king. As simple as it is.

Even with using distance tank approach we need to run away from rats in first place before they destroy our ship. Rradars sites let you warp to any distance up to 100 km and manage initial safe orbit distance. Therefore to approach cans or run away from rats eventually popped up nearby while tampering or opening cans basic speed of frigate may simply not be enough.

Possible tactic is warp out and get back to safe distance again. But you need back to site within 2 minutes. Once cans been tampered with codebreaker, the site get marked as “completed” and disappear within 2 minutes unless no ships left on grid. Please notice, drones are not counted as ships for this matter. The same rule applied to combat plexes as well once certain trigger been destroyed.

There are few ways to improve ship speed. Afterburner (AB) is the first propulsion upgrade we should fit on our Imicus. The next one would be Overdrive Injector or Nanofiber Internal Structure (Nano). Overdrive delivers better boost to basic ship speed than Nano, but Nano also improves agility of the ship, so aligning will be faster. It may be very useful for emergency warps out and jumps between gates, especially in low sec. With improved agility, it is also much easy maintain small orbits and keep speed high. Since both Overdrive and Nano require the same skills we put them both on our propulsions upgrades plan list anyway.

Finally - Micro Warp Drive (MWD). MWD has its own cons and pros. MWD boosts ship speed by 500%. Cons? MWD drain a lot of cap while active so to make your ship cap stable or be able run full throttle for even couple minutes may be difficult. Another big issue with MWD is that it blow up ship signature radius drastically and makes it easy to hit. Despite those drawbacks MWD is the absolute must to be able exercise speed/distance tanking tactics.

Once again, we work on very basic setup right now and once we have done with other skills on our list like Astrometrics and Drones we get back to skills related to speed.

While we train drones and navigation skills it is good time to roam around and and search for some radars. Even have 2 drones in our dron’s bay may be enough to kill small rats and get some loot.

And it is also good moment to talk about how to find radars faster.

stay tuned for next chapters

Drones as weapon of choice

2010-06-24T16:45:00.000-07:00

Drones are the utility weapon of EVE. Almost every ship in EVE has drone bay and can use drones. Some of ships, especially the ones with bonuses on drones operation, use drones as primary weapon system and may deliver significant damage, comparable to guns or missiles.

Our lovely Imicus has 15m3 drone bay and it can accommodate 3 small drones like hobgoblin. Even with minimum drone skills they can deliver enough dps for most our needs. Imicus also has 5% bonus on drones operation range per level of Gallente frigate skill. It doesn’t looks like huge bonus but if we have frigate at level III it gives extra 3 km range, bringing it to 23 km. EVE is the game where every little thing counts, so this 3 km may be just all you need sometimes.

To improve drones range drastically we need to train Scout Drones Operation skill. It gives extra 5km range per level and at lvl IV we can use drone from about 45 km. It would be more than enough in most cases for distance tank. Lvl IV also opens for use Drone Link Augmentor with extra 20 km drones range. With such range even some entry level Imicus will be capable to run some entry level combat plexes successfully.

Therefore, we start with absolute minimum for drones skills to deal with our main objective atm: radars.

Scanning skills improvement

2010-06-24T16:03:00.000-07:00

Before we start dealing with rats it’s a time to answer couple of most common questions.

How to improve your scanning skills? You may find yourself in situation when you simply just can’t get signature to 100% despite whatever you do. It means you don’t have enough scanner probe signal strength to nail it down. To improve your ability to scan weak signals you have to train skill Astrometrics Rangefinding. Training speed for this skill is x8, but honestly you have no choice. Train it at least lvl II and it gives extra 10% per level to probes strength. You need to train it to lvl III or even better to lvl IV as you are comfortable with the rest of skills and stuffed with ISKs. Another thing of your top priority list once you have enough ISK is Sisters Core Scanning Probes. They are quiet expensive but they give you extra 10% to scan probes strength. And it helps a lot. And weaker signatures have tendency have less rats on site, if any, along with more cans and more loot drops.

Another skill, related to scanning process is very important but for some reasons underestimated by many beginners. It called Astrometrics Pinpointing. It requires Astrometric at lvl IV, so it may not be your top priority right now. Therefore if you have trouble with “jumping” signatures, it is the skill you definitely need to train. This skill reduces deviation of scanning results, or in another words, gives the better coordinates of signatures in space. You may be noticed that after you reduce scanning radius of probes and relocated them close to the dot on the screen you will get sphere again, instead of dot. It happens because what you see on the screen is not exact position of signature in space. It is approximate due deviation factor. Less the deviation of scanning probes and higher theirs strength, more accurate coordinates you will get and more precise position of the signature on the screen you will have. And get signatures to 100% faster is the key to make more ISK per hour. I guess you follow me.

Yet another skill may improve you scanning time a bit: Astrometrics Acquisition. It reduces scanning time approximately for 1 sec per level. It is more vital for combat situation while scanning for hostile ships. But training it eventually up to level II or even IV is not the bad idea at all.

There is table bellow with summary for scanning skills you may start train now or later after drones skills if you comfortable with scanning process right now.

Small money printing mashine

2010-06-24T15:48:00.000-07:00

To be able open cans on radar sites with some valuable loot we need Codebreaker. Without it whole thing doesn’t make any sense. And we need required Hacking skill only on lvl I right now. Efficiency of hacking is not important thing at the moment. We just need some cash flow first.

Hopefully, you have frigate at lvl III already trained while you have flew around getting skills books, stole some stuff from wrecks at belts, beg strangers for some ISKs, or while you practiced scanning a bit here and there. If Frigate still at lvl II train it to III, because each level brings extra 5% for scanning probes sensor strength and it essential for getting signature to 100%.

Once you get Hacking to lvl I you are good to go. Search for signatures type RADAR, warp there at distance +30 km and keep your fingers crossed there are no rats you have to fight to but has no weapons yet.

If there are no rats on site, approach floating can, target it and use codebreaker. It may take couple of minutes before you crack can and can open it and acquire content. Be aware that since you tamper can some rats may appear and argo you right away even if there were no rats at the moment you warped in. It also possible rats fly in right after you open cracked can. Be ready warp out!

Where to go now to find those radars sites? Personally I recommend Caldary space, and obviously hi sec systems. This regions highly populated not only with missions runners but with explorers too. But you will be able find radars for sure and run them. There are some back water pockets you will have better chances to be in less competitive environment. You will figure it out very quickly flying back and forth. Another good reason of Caldari space to operate in is rats – Guristas pirates. They are easy to deal with, especially with drones and speed/distance tanking.

At this point we can calculate how much ISKs we need (approximately) for this setup totally.
It is about 1,5 millions ISK. And Jita is not the cheapest place to buy skills for example.

First Exploration Ship

2010-06-24T14:23:00.000-07:00

I love Gallente Imicus frigate. It is great all round entry level ship for starting carrier as explorer.

Here is absolute minimum setup of Gallete Imicus Frigate fitted for scanning with probes.
You can’t do much with it yet, but you can get out to the space, drop probes and picking around and get used to scanning process with probes. Even if you are not able to scan signatures to 100% signal strength and be able to warp to the site, this set of skills and fitting is absolute minimum you can’t go any further in your exploration venture.

Why Gallente Imicus? First of all it is T1 frigate with bonuses on scan strength and higher strength is the better chances you can scan signature to 100% and faster process of scanning goes. Since each race has similar frigate it may looks like there no difference witch one to get. But since we are going to focus on exploration and on Radars as our main objective Imicus has couple of advantages we can use.

Once Radar site is pinned to 100% you can warp there and tamper cans with codebraker. Therefore some Radars have rats don’t have rats, usually frigs, on site and some do. And to be able to open cans in most cases requires eliminate rats, since they “guard” cans. And of course, they will fire upon you and in such fragile ship with minimal support skills is quiet difficult to stay alive and fight back. The good thing about Imicus it can operate 3 small drones. And it is enough to rid off annoying npcs from the distance they simply can’t hit you. So along the exploration business itself you will get familiar with such things as speed and distance tanking, managing agro and drones operations.

Yet another reason why Gallente frig is good choice for the beginning is Gallente Frigate skill we will train at least to Level III. And it is one of frigates skills required for such tremendous ships as pirates faction’s Dramiel or Daredevil. In long run following Gallente ships line let you fly great Ishkur and legendary Ishtar. And those ships rely on drones as damage dealers so all our skill points invested in drones trainings will be very valuable asset.

Yet another ship definitely needs our note is Gila. It is great and easy to get to exploration ship for hi sec and it also required Gallente Frigate lvl IV and drones as primary weapons.

But right now those ships not much our concerns since we are going to focus on radars sites and they not require tight tank or a lot of firepower. But they still can bring you a lot ISKs.

Once the initial setup is fitted and tested it is a time to go one step further. At this point we need to improve our scanning skills and actually get into to business once we find what we want – radar site in particular for very present moment.

Getting Started

2010-06-24T14:15:00.000-07:00

Got exited? Let’s rock then.

I do not know what is the best way for you to start in terms of account/character arrangements. You may use your current account to train some skills you miss, since you may have some skills trained already and still have x2 bonus on training sills. Or may be your prefer to stop training for your main for a week to give a try and create new char on empty slot. It is up to you.

I prefer to start from scratch new account, I will create it with buddy program. It will give me 21 days of playing time and if I get enough ISK within 2 weeks I buy PLEX and convert it in full subscription. If you still on trial or want to make me happy, I may send you invitation from my account and eventually get 30 days free time once you convert it into subscription (here is the catch :-) )

I will pump some ISK to buy ship, gear, skill books, cheap learning imps. I skip the part how to make some money within just few hours while your train basic set of skills. I have no doubts you
know it already.

I am going to spend around 2 hours a day with this char once I get all gear required. I will make little report what has happened after this time to bring you up to date with my valet balance.

If you are completely broken or desperate I may donate you some ISK just to get started. Join channel “Exploration Almanac”.

Now, once a slot for char on new or existing account available it is a time to create in.
It doesn’t really matter what race or blood line you go with. It can be male or female, with pretty face or ugly looking goblin. Who cares if it makes job done. The difference would be only in initial skills set, for example frigate, attributes distribution and place in Empire where you pop up initially. Since my own venture will be based on Gallente frigate, I do not want train it to lvl 2 if I go with Caldari for example. But again, if you likes look and feel of Minmatar or Ammar pilots, go for it. Just get Gallente Frigate skill book and train it up to lvl 2.

As mentioned above blood line is not something you need to be dramatically precise. But if you are not planning remap attributes straight away it makes sense to crate toon with blood line and ancestry with maximized attributes to Intelligence and Memory. Most of the skills we need for the beginning have this attributes as primary and secondary. But again, it is not mandatory.

My personal preference as follow:

Gallente / Intaki / Reborn with following attributes: Charisma:7, Intelligence: 8, Memory 8, Perception 8, Willpower:8.

Electronics: III

Engineering: III

Gallente Frigate: II

Gunnery: II

Mechanics: II

Mining: II

Navigation: II

Science: III

Shield Operation: II

Small Hybrid Turret: III

Spaceship Command: III

The first thing once toon created and you logged it with it, start training Gallente frigate to lvl III immediately. Even if you do not complete it before you get “must have” skill books, for instance Astrometrics, do not waist your time idling with training.

Introduction

2010-06-24T12:48:00.000-07:00

As been mentioned already this guide is all what is exploration mini profession in EVE about. And as any careebear profession it will be all about making ISK as effective as possible right from the beginning with minimal initial capital and without extreme long training skills.

Easiest and most profitable way to start exploration carrier is to go after co-caller Radars – sites in space with some floating cans you can open with specialized equipment (codebreakers) fitted on your exploration ship. There is no way you can get to Radar site (as well as any other presented in space) without finding cosmic signatures of them by scanning probes.

There are also Gravimetric sites with hidden belts you can mine, magnetometric sites with cans you can open with salvager of analyzer equipment, ladars – you may harvest.

But nothing can be compared at present time to outcome from radars in terms of ISK/time/skills ratio not even in hi sec but in low sec as well.

There are also combat sites witch can bring a lot of fun and ISKs, but they require some combat skills and a bit of experience, especially with double boxing concept. It is a myth that you can run them only in Tengu. But this type of exploration activity will be covered in separate section once you get enough experience, skill points and ISKs to run them safe and effectively. We will get there sooner or later (probably within of 10 days from now) if you enjoy exploration in first place and stick with it for a while.

Obvious question: what can be expected from radars?

Once you get used to it, polish your skills and get proper gear, find good region to scan your may expect around making approximately 20 mil ISK per hour across a board. So, if you get yourself focused and play casual 2-3 hours a day expect around 30-50 millions per day. It would be enough to pay your subscription and leftover let you develop your skills and gear for using in most efficient way. Do not expect became super reach over the night. Sometimes you can make 100 millions in few hours, sometimes 10. Just do not give up.

Before you get some combat gear you will have no choice but leave some sites with rats untouched, unless someone from local help you to kill rats. Do not afraid to ask in local, offer 50% of loot, it better than get nothing anyway. You even may find new friends for your venture. Or just get your room mate of colleague sign up for trial and get exited together since he can focus on combat skills (well, you be his mentor for a while and finance his EVE journey for the very beginning).

If you have deep pockets get 2nd paid account straight away and train it for combat the way will be described later in special section on double boxing concept. You can only run one instance of EVE on your computer with trial account. There are some workarounds, but easiest one is to use second computer with trial. I find it not very convenient but it is ok for a while before you get some significant ISKs and be able to pay for 2 accounts.

So what we expect from those radars?

In Caldari space, for example, radars drop stuff as follow:

It is entirely possible that radar doesn’t drop any loot whatsoever, but it is not common.

Normally you will get something, at least 1 User Manual. It is quiet often situation when you can get like 25 millions from 4 cans on radar not killing even single rat. For example "Local Guristas Data Processing Center" radar has 1 can and no rats at all.

Preface

2010-06-24T12:02:00.000-07:00

First of all, it is not scanning guide!

It has some tips on scanning but will not explain and teach you how to scan. I live it to you dig a little bit, especially there are some great guides on the topic exist already.

This guide is about how to make your gaming experience with EVE more entertaining right form the beginning, having good plan what to do, what direction to go with your skills and occupation.
It mostly written for new players who may spent some time playing EVE already. So, there is no attention to basics like training skills, fittings, etc. It also may be interesting for experienced people who may try exploration profession for a change and switch from mining or mission running for a while. I personally know few people who find it as good source of funds for PvP activity with alt, not required month of trainings and simply can be done on empty slot of main combat char or alt.

EVE is very complex game, with a lot of different ways to burn your time. Some people like mining or even new planetary interaction in very relaxing way. Some people enjoy adrenaline of PvP or boredom of mission. Since EVE has own economy with ISKs as currency, virtual wealth can be most attracting and exiting part of the game for some people as well. It all depends. But at the end of the day it is all about having fun one way or another, otherwise there is tons of other entertaining out of there.

Exploration as mini profession is quiet interesting and exiting. It gives you a feeling of treasures hunting. It is hit or miss, especially with high profitable DED rated combat sites where you can get loot with worth of hundreds of millions with just couple of weeks skill trainings.

You can call it pure caribear business, and in fact it is, unless you go to low sec or even in 0.0 with properly fitted combat ships. But what makes exploration attractive for many people, is a lot of ISKs made, fun to get to the can or wreck, open it and have a DED space gear with market price for about billion. It is not only quiet exiting itself, it also pays for PLEXes and makes it affordable to have couple alts as well without spending real cash.

And what is even more important, with having good pile of ISKs you can experimenting a lot, you can afford fancy expensive fittings, do not afraid of loosing your last ship or be prodded with few decent implantants.

Once again, it is all about fun. Especially for new people who stuck in frustration what is this game about and why it attracts and keeps addicted so many people.

You may ask fare question why I am putting all this stuff together and open doors for competitors. Honestly, I can’t care less about competition, it is already tuff. I watch a lot of videos on youtube with people showing all sort of stuff, showing cool things. I have read a lot of interesting and controversial posts on forum about explorations. Therefore, I haven’t found any good inspiration guide on how to start exploration mini profession. It is all exiting about millions and billions, but how practically to get there? So, after some thought this guide been written to help people get on the wagon as lone wolf or accompanied with friend or even small group of buddies .

I am not associated with CCP, so you may take it as manifestation of my little ego, even if comes along with CCP intentions to keep and expand number of subscribers (hard core part of exploration guide will be based on dual boxing – 2 paid accounts) and pushing people into low sec.

In any event, one of the goals of this guides to show how to develop exploration carrier and be able to run 4/10 plexes within 2 weeks in low sec as well as 6/10 within about 6-8 weeks with new born toons.