catmao1536

a new player can be a more-than-competent prober within a week

catmao1536 | 27 juillet, 2010 07:16

EVE Evolved: Exploration -- Top tips
Over the past one weeks, I have been giving an in-depth look at EVE Online's exploration profession. Exploration is one of the lots of PvE elements that players can get involved in right from their first week in EVE. By concentrating on astrometrics skills, a new player can be a more-than-competent prober within a week. Although some sites may require the help of an older player for the first few months, it is still one of the most fun PvE elements a new player can get in to. In the first part of this three-part guide, I went over the basic equipment and techniques you'll require to scan down hidden complexes. In last week's second part, I went on to look at the different types of hidden site you can discover, what loot you can expect to find in each of them and what kind of challenge you'll face.
Since the exploration system was launched lots of years ago, I have picked up a few tricks and tips that can help any explorer. In this final part of the EVE Evolved guide to exploration, I run down my two top tips for budding explorers.
Tip #1: Scan in underused systems
This tip derives from the spawning mechanics used for exploration sites and complexes. Soon after a site is done, it respawns elsewhere in the EVE universe. As they can appear in any system of the appropriate security level and type, sites are as likely to appear in one of New Eden's lots of underused star systems as they are to show up in a high-traffic area. With lots of players scanning high-traffic areas over the work of a day, sites naturally collect in unscanned areas. As such, by scanning in a more remote location, you are much more likely to find valuable military complexes and profession sites.
The simplest way to find low-traffic systems to scan in is to open the map and pick "Jumps in the last hour" under the "Statistics" panel of the stars tab. Look for regions and constellations with as few jumps per hour as feasible. Alternatively, "pirate and police ships destroyed in the last 24 hours" will show areas where less PvE is going on. Another useful way to find low-traffic areas is to study the dotlan EVE map tool, which can give more useful information like typical peak usage hours for a given system.
Tip #2: Use a dedicated scanning ship
There's one main schools of thought on scanning for exploration. The first involves kitting out a combat ship with a core probe launcher and scanning for sites using it. This works for ships like the Drake with its spare high slot, which is a well-liked choice for mission-runners and explorers similar. The probe launcher makes it astoundingly simple to find all the cosmic anomalies in a system directly, but with no bonus to scan probes it can have difficulty getting an correct lock on cosmic signatures. A more popular alternative is to keep your combat and exploration ships entirely separate. Although this means making one journeys when relocating to a new region to check the waters, it is definitely worth the additional work.
The method most often practiced is to scan out a complete system or constellation together with your specialised scanning ship, bookmarking sites as you find them. Then you can switch to your combat ship and tackle the sites you have found. Both the tech 1 astrometrics frigates and their tech 2 covert ops counterparts make excellent specialised scanning ships. Both receive a bonus to the strength of scan probes, but the massive difference is in the rigs you can use. Frigates use very cheap tiny rigs, making it dirt cheap to kit them out with one "Gravity Capacitor Upgrade" scan-probe-strength rigs. In case you were to do this on your combat ship, you'd even be wasting valuable rig slots that could be used to upgrade your tank or destroy.
Tip #3: Bring a beginner
In both high- and low-security space, most cosmic signatures can be scanned with comparatively low skills and cheap equipment. While you could get by with scanning out sites yourself, it is much more efficient to bring a beginner along for the ride. As you run sites, the beginner can be scanning other systems to find the next juicy target for your exploration escapade. For added profit, the beginner could help loot and salvage sites while scanning in the same system you are walking sites in.
This system can be a way more effective use of your time and has the added benefit that you can let a beginner tag along as a highly useful part of your exploration crew. I have personally done this with new players whom I have introduced to EVE and it was always great fun for both of us. On encountering a site that your beginner cannot scan down, you can always jump in to their ship and give it a try in case you have the skills.
Tip #4: Delve in to those wormholes!
When scanning for profitable "unknown" type military complexes, you'll occasionally find an undesirable wormhole. The best advice I can give when this happens is to take the time to go inside and see what you can find. Some wormholes lead to high- or low-security space, giving you the chance to scan for exploration sites further afield. Similarly, wormholes linking to nullsec will give you temporary access to the immense resources to be found there. In addition to nullsec-only exploration sites, you'll have access to all the NPCs and ore in the local asteroid belts. keep in mind to bookmark the wormhole on the other side so you can escape if pilots enter the system and make you feel threatened.
Perhaps most valuable are wormholes leading to one of the lots of "Unknown" Sleeper systems. Wormhole systems can be a terrifying place in case you don't know what to anticipate. As a result, lots of players have an very irrational fear of Sleeper space. In addition to often containing giant asteroid belts filled with ore, cosmic anomalies in Class 1, 2 and 3 systems can be profitable when run solo or with a tiny handful of pilots. To check what class of solar system you have entered, look up the locus signature on dotlan map tools.
While in Sleeper space, other players won't show up in the local channel unless they talk, giving them ample opportunity to sneak up on unsuspecting victims. Since Sleeper systems are treated as nullsec for the purposes of combat rules, it can be a dicy place to visit. Much of that risk is mitigated by the awesome profit to be had and the fact that there's comparatively few players in wormhole space, making the risk of an encounter potentially lower than in a standard nullsec system. Routinely scanning for probes and ships using the directional scanner can offer you a warning to lots of incoming threats. Making a habit of hammering the directional scanner may save your life out there.