I’ve been trying to decide how to branch out from my Exploration career. I’m still really enjoying Exploration, to the point that if I can, I’d like to eventually be kind of known for it (I have no plans as of yet how I’m going to do this, but you know, vague long-term goals and all). That being said, I’d like to do something more than looting sites and selling the loot.
To that end, I’ve been thinking about branching out into industry. I’m one of those terrible people who actually loots essentially every Data Site I run across, despite having lower returns than Relic Sites. I’ve come into possession of quite a bit of BPCs, but the only valuable jobs I can run are the mobile depots. Most of the T2 stuff requires significantly more skilling, and I’m not sure whether it’s worth it or not.
I’ve asked around, and it seems like the consensus is if you’re not going whole ham into industry (including mining, PI, research, etc.) it’s not really worth doing. If that’s the case, are there any other careers that are complimentary to Exploration? I’ve considered gas mining as well, but that seems like a whole different can of worms. Any advice?
Gas harvesting is a valid option if you have a Venture nearby, so I’m not sure your hesitation. The most challenging part of gas harvesting is actually finding a site, so you are half way there if you find one during your travels.
If you want to to do exploration + something else in a single ship, look into the stratios or t3 cruiser. They can do combat sites, ratting, and some missioning. Don’t rush into either of those though, if your skills aren’t up to par, you’ll give someone an expensive killmail.
Depends. A LOT. On how good you are at planning, preparing, simulating ; on your skills, the region you buy, the region you sell, the system you build ; On the bpos you already have, their research state; on your logistics, the time you are willing to wait.
There is not one single answer, it depends on the person.
For me it was an easy step going from explorer to hunting explorers. Had to do minor changes to my astero fit but it was totally worth it, and you can still do relic/data sites if you carry a mobile depot to change fits if the region you are is empty of explorers.
Totally agree with Duo. However if you want to keep the pve focus, you could start running some of the abyssal filaments you get from data sites. Those can be a decent introduction to proper ship fitting (for the different weather types), kiting, and target selection.
I’ve been considering doing that–had been thinking of doing some additional drone skilling for my Astero but just haven’t been able to decide.
I can already pilot a Stratios–is that going to be sufficient to run most combat sites? If T3s are better, I like Exploration enough that I can always wait to train into those. My concern with going the T3 route was losing the scanning bonuses, but I suppose it doesn’t really matter so long as I can scan down lvl IVs. So far as I know, the only lvl Vs I’ve found are Superior Sleeper Caches, and while it would be nice to run them it’s not essential.
Thanks for the tips. Definitely gives me some things to think about.
I buy rig and ammo bpos when I have the cash, figure since I get the mats to make T2 bpcs and the parts for rigs from sites, I could either sell them or make something to sell
So basically I just went through what you are talking about. I have done exploration for years. I started to do Industry on the BPCs I got. I have recently joined an industry corp (interesting concept on how we work together and share profits, you should check us out.) I have another pilot I do all the abyssal filaments I find as well. So it’s really a combination to increase my isk intake from different streams that all channel off if my exploration career.
Nice, yeah, this is pretty much exactly what I was thinking. You know, I didn’t even think of running the Abyssal Filaments, super good call.
Have you been using a single character for all of this or do you have alts for each activity? I have one alt that I was training up on Industry and was thinking of using my third character for PvE/PvP combat. I can think of reasons why it might make more sense to train one character to do all three, and I can think of good reasons to have each facet handled by separate characters. Any thoughts?
Most hunters use a dual repair armor fit, with one drone damage amp. I use a buffer shield with 2 drone damage amps and speed (to have a higher chance to disengage when needed).
Something like this
I had more than 30 killmarks on that when it died.
On topic, however, I do have an industry alt character, so it can work for as casual or as much as you want to get into it. For my alt, I joined an industry focused corp and the beauty of industry is you can setup and schedule the jobs in a manner that you only have to check on it with minimal time and effort. The beauty of being in a corp is they set the task to produce and I just do the jobs. When idle, I’m able to use my alt for little side and odd jobs here and there. Works out great and does work well with an Explorer main character.
If you haven’t trained up good combat and ship fitting skills yet, then a career that lets you use your scanning skills would be gas harvesting. It doesn’t require as many skills as ore mining or ice mining to be successful and Ventures are super cheap. If you like it you can skill into flying a Prospect which will you make you more isk and allow you to ninja gas mine in wh or tank the gas explosions in null sec. CovertOps cloak means you can get your gas to market somewhat safer as well.
That being said, if you are already doing data/relic sites in null or wh space then it might actually make you less money than hacking. If you’re just exploring in High sec then this will be a considerable step up in isk making as the market for gases is more reliable than the market for RNG hacking loot.
@Harabec_Ojutai I could do them on this pilot but I do use another pilot that had just a couple million more SP. I am learning Industry skills on my exploration pilot. It probably is not the most ideal setup because sometimes I am out in null when I could setup more industry jobs but it’s about having fun and not isk/hr for me.
Thank DR. You have 30 kills using only Drones (5) and Drone Amp ll. I have skills for this fit the downside is the cost is risky for my current ISK wallet. I would have to run many sites to afford this on a regular basis, taking into assumption I will lose many starting out.
Gas mining is incredibly boring, more so than mining ore.
I suggest you focus on doing a couple of rigs types, based on what region you explore in and what sells. Try to sell them at a slower moving trade hub - like Amarr or Dodixie at start (or help me rebuild Hek to new glory, of course). Sell the ingredients you don’t use. You only need a few skills ranging into max 100m isk to get started on the first rigs.
I am currently using EC-300 Hornet Drones, no amplification fit. I find that these drone are well useless to me, I have been attacked many times by NPC in and around Relic and data sites. I have escaped, left my deployed drones, but since I was attacked I have to assume my drones were “swept” aside easily.
When I return to Jita I want to upgrade or make some drone additions. I have read up on Drones but as in all things EVE the data and knowledge can be overwhelming.
I want to carry drones that can 1st, defeat and protect against most NPC’s. secondly drones will provide enough resistance to allow escape when attacked PVP, 3rd, not be too costly, economical.
If you’re exploring in low sec, you can scout low sec belts in 0.1 and 0.2 systems for clone soldier rats while you’re probing. They drop security tags worth 30m. Very occasionally, you’ll also find Mordu commander spawns that drop BPCs worth alot (100m-800m if I remember correctly).
