Hey everyone, and thanks as always for reading!
I had mentioned in my last post that I was going to do a small write-up or guide on Exploration and how you can use it to make ISK, without a ton of skill or ISK investment! A lot of the good information out there on this topic is incredibly outdated, and while some of it is still good, I’m going to try to make a quick and easy tutorial on how to begin making ISK using scanning from an early point in your career! PLEASE NOTE: This is NOT a guide on how to actually DO the scanning, this is a guide in how to make the skills work for you. You will need to understand how to scan signatures, which this tutorial will not cover. (Perhaps in the future…)
One common thing that I think befalls a lot of EvE pilots is they feel that their training has to be completed in an area before they will even attempt to use their skills. For instance, a lot of guides out there on this topic recommend a Covert Ops ship before you start your exploration ventures. While Covert Ops is a great skill, and necessary on probably all explorer pilots at some point, it definitely isn’t necessary to start using your skills!
I had initially planned to start off with another type of “ISK-stream” to start my new career, but after reading and chatter with some other friendly pilots when I came back — along with some work in EVEMon, I decided to go with exploration skills after the tutorials and some basic hauling skills.
Here are the skills you will NEED to begin making some money off of exploration:
Science IV is your main prerequisite!
Astrometrics III (The main scanning skill)
Archaeology III (#1 ISK skill)
Hacking III (#2 ISK skill)
Survey III (Pre-requisite)
Hull Upgrades II
Racial Frigate III
You could legitimately start your scanning career from there. I would recommend at least Level III in all of these skills, but this is the absolute floor to getting into exploration as an ISK-making venture. ALL of these initial skills should be raised to Level IV as soon as possible (EDIT: except Survey and Hull Upgrades, not that important), but how you have to prioritize your skills is going to be ultimately up to you.
(Special Note: You can actually start out with just Archaeology or Hacking trained up, but I would train both up as fast as possible to where you can track down and complete both Relic AND Data sites.)
Let me add the other scanning-related skills that you are going to want to get ASAP, as well:
Astrometric Acquisition
Astrometric Rangefinding
Astrometric Pinpointing (This is the hardest skill to get as far as pre-requisites!)
Non-Scanning Priorities:
Cloaking (The sooner you get a cloak on your ship, the safer you can make things.)
Afterburner III (You are going to want to fit Micro-Warp Drives!)
Jury Rigging III
Astrometric Rigging I (But go to III at least, its quick!)
The rigging skills will allow you to add Small Gravity Capacitor Upgrades rigs to improve your actual scanning of signatures, for example, or a rig such as an Emission Scope Sharpener which will help you while using your Relic Analyzer module!
The most important thing to realize is that while I’ve mentioned that most people go to Covert Ops ships (or they go for the Sisters of Eve ships) you totally CAN do this in a T1 frigate. MAKE SURE you can afford to lose whatever you are going scanning in, obviously — but that should go without saying in New Eden. You’ve heard it a thousand times, NEVER fly what you cannot afford to lose.
Now, being out there in a T1 frigate with a limited cloak or no cloak in lowsec or nullsec is DANGEROUS (or even wormholes, but I do NOT recommend this at all, because you can get trapped very easily if you do not know what you are doing) but your ship also is not very costly.
It is definitely a risk/reward scenario — but I’ve already made enough ISK to replace my Probe 50 times in very limited exploration time just from doing relic and data sites. I have lost ONE ship in the last ten days or so that I’ve really been doing this seriously, and that was in nullsec and I was deep in a hack and missed seeing the drop on d-scan. Even that pilot, because I gave him no tears and because he saw I was new, wound up giving me 10M ISK and I didn’t even converse with him.
Just GET OUT THERE AND LEARN… don’t listen to the bitter vet who might suggest that you stay docked or mine or whatever but actually getting out there in your frigate and learning to scan while making some money. The worst thing that is going to happen is you are going to lose your ship, and maybe get podded. You can also make a good deal of ISK, and if you are careful, you can do it quite safely.
Pretty much any relic site you track down and hack is going to pay to replace at least a few of your ships were you to lose them. Do not be scared to get blown up, because it is EvE, you are going to get blown up. Just insure your ship after you’ve made sure you can afford to lose it, and go out there and make some damned ISK. You might wind up hitting one of the huge exploration loots and pay for 100 of your ships in one site.
Anyway, I hope this helps you get started, and I was just drafting this post from my head while looking at the client, so I reserve the right to add to and alter it later to make it more efficient or helpful for you — or if I’ve happened to make a mistake. PLEASE, if you have ANY questions, feel free to leave a comment here, and I will ALWAYS respond, or you can contact me in New Eden at Lyric Masters — or on Twitter at @LyricEvE!
THANKS as always for reading, and fly safe! o7
(EDITOR’S NOTE: I do plan on expounding on the differences between high, low, null, and WH scanning and how this quick plan affects the viability and/or danger of the plan, but I am going to do it in another post. I just wanted you readers to know that I have thought about this after posting and I may not have given you ENOUGH information, especially if you are a true “newbro.” Don’t think I will leave you hanging, and please feel free to ask ANY questions you may have if I didn’t cover something — if I don’t have an answer, I will get an answer from a person of authority. That’s why I’m here!) 😀
Lyric's Wormhole 