Data Sites with Defenses?

Exploration Gameplay Center Known Space
1

Hey all, returning player getting back into exploration/hacking. I am largely in low-sec FW space which is creating problems of its own.

FW space = faction sites that can only be hacked if you are participating in FW?

The last time I played, there were ample hacking sites available, but I don’t remember many of them having so many defenses. I have no issues finding these sites… but I am in a system with at least 3 sites that are either AEGIS sites or SCC sites. And these have guns, webbers, and mines?

I am guessing these are worth doing, but you would need at least a Stratios with drones to do these?

2

If you’re not finding the data/relic site by probing down the Cosmic Signature, it’s not a “hacking” site. FW anomalies are only available if you enlist in FW.

That said, the Covert data sites will explode and spawn rats on you after a time, you usually have enough to hit one can, two if you’re fast, three if you’re willing to gamble. When you find these, equip a cargo scanner before you go in and check each can for what’s inside before choosing which one to hack. Make sure you decloak while in warp so you don’t have to wait for that timer. Good isk to be had in these sites, so don’t let them scare you. Find the most valuable can, hit it, and gtfo is the safe way to profit off these sites.

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Hey there, I appreciate the feedback. To clarify, I am finding these sites by probing them down. But it seems that 80% of the data sites are Caldari FW sites and I do not have an interest, at this time, joining FW just to open these cans.

It sounds like the sites with the mines, webbers, and defenses are the covert sites - I have done one or two of those but it may be advisable to use a stronger ship just as the Stratios?

4

FW lowsec is a small part of it, so if you move a few systems you can probably get away from it. Instead of ignoring the wormholes, go check them and see where they go. If they lead to LS or NS, hop through and continue looking for sites on the other side.

I take a suitcase fleet of alts into wormholes and sometimes don’t see k-space until the DST is overfull. You could look into that lifestyle if you really like exploring.

Covert sites are easy, you don’t have to shoot the rats. You just open the most valuable can and warp away, usually before the rest of the cans explode and the rats spawn.

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Again, I appreciate the feedback.

Question about the wormholes… are “stable” are they? Meaning, if I jump through, will it remain open on the other side to allow me to get back? Or would I be stranded?

I have seen “wormholes” and “unstable wormholes,” so I imagine that the unstable wormholes would eventually collapse after X number of ships pass through? Are the other wormholes more permanent?

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When you arrive on grid with the wormhole, you’ll right click it on the overview and show info. That will tell you what type of space it goes to, how long it’ll remain open, how much mass can go through it, and how big the ships that can pass through.

https://anoik.is/ is a great place for wormhole and j-space system info.

The ones that show up on the overview as beacons without you being on grid are Drifter wormholes, and are a totally different thing than Anoikis. I don’t recommend messing with them unless you know what you’re doing, or else you’ll get one-shot by the drifters.

Also, if the wormhole says Thera, you may want to avoid that and move to a different system before something nasty pokes its head out and tries to eat you. Fun place, Thera, but not for the faint of heart.

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Would you mind elaborate on that, fairly new player but what is the composition of your fleet ? And if possible why ?

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Absolutely. I’ll state right up front that this is not something a new player will really be capable of. Outside the Ventures used for gas huffing, this fleet consists entirely of ships that need quite a bit of SP to use. This is also meant to focus on C3 wormholes, but can ninja mine higher end gas sites if I find them.

I’ve renamed this my Locust Fleet, because it leaves nothing of value behind. All sites within the wormhole are ran before I move onto the next.

The core is 2 Deep Space Transports, parked at their own safe spot and kept logged out unless I need to open one. I’ve got Transports 5 on these, so that’s 125k m3 of shared storage combined. Transports 4 would give you 120k m3, so 5 really isn’t necessary. These bring out everything I’ll need, like ammo and nanite paste. When I fill them up with loot they go empty at the nearest highsec station, drop a courier contract to Jita, and return. My Jita trade alt deals with it then. Depending on how many gas sites I get, they’re usually good for around three days before I need to empty them.

I have three dedicated gas Ventures, an Outrider boosting/huffing, and a Porpoise kept off grid now to compress the gas. I used to have the Porpoise on grid boosting 4 miners, but the welcome addition of the Outrider changed that. Other than the T3C, the Porpoise is the most expensive ship in this fleet, and the most critical for long term deployments.

I have a Strategic Cruiser that does the combat sites, clears sleepers from hacking and gas sites, and salvages. Yay modular ships. I’d need to bring a dedicated salvager without them.

Lastly, I have a hacker that does the majority of the probing. All of these alts carry a probe launcher and probes to get out if the worst happens, but one has maxed out scanning skills for a reason.

That’s 9 alts spread over 6 accounts. I could bring in more, but I don’t like multiboxing combat, and really don’t need more miners. Now that I can keep the expensive gas compressor cloaked at a safe spot, my risk is fairly balanced. The average gas site will pay for the entire fleet at risk harvesting it.

Now, that’s what I use and why, here’s a couple things you could also use, but I don’t, and why I don’t.

I did look into an Odysseus, and beside the fact that they’re more expensive than the entirety of this fleet, they’re not that useful to me. I have more than enough alts that I don’t need any of them to reship, and the only one that needs to refit is the T3C, which already uses a mobile depot to do that.

I also don’t use any structures, like POSes or stations. Many of the same reasons I don’t use them are the same as why I don’t want an Odysseus, added to the fact that they broadcast my presence to anyone with the knowledge to find them. Everything I use is kept logged out or cloaked when not actively in use, a structure would shatter the stealth I use as my primary defense.

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9

Thank you so much for your answer

wow thats extremely efficient, in you experience if you had only 4 accounts how would you build around?

I only have four accounts some not trained as much as I would like :
would the following seem viable to you (I understand it is not as optimal but have to start somewhere)

1 porpoise (offgrid)/ 1 gas miner (ongrid)

1skilled explorer that could mine

1 dst (offline, with a heron or astero) / 1 ishtar (that could train into t3c) /1 huffing

1 t3c or marauder (offgrid but maybe can help in case?)/1 outrider (with only 2 more miner is it worth the risk vs simple huffer?)

I am sacrificing the salvage (don t see how i can fit a noctis somewhere) , I am a bit constrained by where my charachter sit but I can evolve them.

I have not tried it but would be happy to get your view ?

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Simple, drop a Venture. Two of the accounts I use only have a venture pilot on them. More gas huffers just means the gas sites finish faster, but you can use 2 Ventures and an Outrider, or even just 3 unboosted Ventures. Faster gas huffing is nice, not critical.

4 Accounts is 12 Alts, so plenty of room for everyone, you’re just limited to 4 online at any time, so sometimes stuff requires juggling around. For example, one of my DSTs is on the same account as my T3C alt, so if I have to put loot into that one DST, I need to give it to another alt first.

The Odysseus opens up a lot of options, if you can afford it. You can use it instead of a DST and keep it parked at a safe, using its as a quasi-station. The Expedition Hold will carry all your wormhole loot, while the Ship Maintenance Bay will let a couple alts reship, like switching your prober to a Venture.

Salvaging is done with the T3C, and is why I use it over anything else. Once you get Salvaging 5, your salvage chance percentage is capped, and the only hull bonuses to Salvagers are range and cycle time. Rigs are the only thing that increases your salvage chance, and T3Cs are the only ship you can unfit rigs from without destroying them. I’ve got a full set of salvage tackle rigs sitting in the DST with the Salvager 2s, ready to salvage the sites I run.

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is salvaging a big part of your income ?
I used to like salvaging just because its kind of fun but now I tend to move to next mission without salvaging.