I’ve been riding an Imicus, then upgraded to an Astero
But regardless, It seems I have no chance on guarded relic/data sights on wormholes
The Helios doesn’t seem to make the cut with the relic/data guardians either
What would be an exploration ship that could be tanky enough to survive multiple pve opponents and that can hold several turrets?
Don’t do those. Loot from hackable cans is trash. Only money in those sites is loot from NPC’s itself. No one is running them for actual hacking.
If want to do hacking in wormholes. Do sites with pirate faction in name of site. They don’t have enemies inside. You can find them in C1-C3 wormholes.
Imicus will do the job in those unguarded sites and is cheap enough that losing it to other players wont be a pain.
Again I woudl advise you strongly to ignore the guarded data sites. They have always been trahs tier for me so i dont even bother.
BUT… If you are dead set on doing it and dont want to go whole hog on a T3C you could in theory use a Startios em up.
This video is from Dec 2019 so its fairly recent. The patch has changed some of the tank but the concept is the same. If you are really set on doing some combat stuff in Wh this might be a good refernce point.
Its a loooooong video and if you watch the first 30 min you will sort of get the concept. Also, he got lucky nobody blapped him.
View the sleeper data/relics as especially tough combat sites (in high class WH they are in fact some of the toughest sites in game) you don’t bring a hacking ship, you bring an extremely specialised combat ship.
Difficulty of the rats depends on the difficulty class of the wormhole, my rule of thumb for anomalies is:
C1 : cruiser
C2 : battlecruiser
C3 : battleship
C4 : pair of BS, a fairly blinged up pirate BS (rattlesnake) or a marauder
C5 : two or three pirate BS, or a dreadnaught
C6 : dreadnaught + support fleet
The data and relic sites are tougher than the anomalies. Bring a ship suitable for one class higher, so a BC for a C1, etc…
You run the site for the loot from the sleepers, the hacking is a very small extra (a few % of the total value of the site.)
Then you are visible for half an hour and the odds for being destroyed by wormhole PvP Players is quite high. They love these all-in-one-ships for breakfast.
Cheap’n’Quick, always keep your eyes open - losses will occure from time to time. You prefer to lose an Astero to a Stratios, and the Astero is much faster aligned.
So if you definitely want to do these sites, clear them in a proper PvE ship, then reship into a quick, specialized scanning frig and finish the boxes.
[Vexor Navy Issue, ****Netflix and kill ]
Drone Damage Amplifier I
Damage Control II
Capacitor Power Relay I
Drone Damage Amplifier I
Drone Damage Amplifier I
Drone Damage Amplifier I
Large F-S9 Regolith Compact Shield Extender
Large F-S9 Regolith Compact Shield Extender
5MN Microwarpdrive I
Drone Navigation Computer I
Drone Link Augmentor I
Auto Targeting System I
Core Probe Launcher I
Improved Cloaking Device II
Medium Anti-Kinetic Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I
I love low budget, too, but if you invest in a VNI, you should also buy some decent stuff to make it work, the ratio cost for ship/cost for modules shouldn’t be above 10, LOL.
Most of the modules can be set to meta, if you can’t use Tech II:
AE-K Compact Drone Damage Amplifier (more DPS)
Type-D Restrained Capacitor Power Relay
5MN Cold-Gas Enduring Microwarpdrive (better for Cap)
If you are in a WH, I highly recommend Sisters probes:
Sisters Core Scanner Probe
Drone Damage Amplifier II is not very hard to skill, you should do that early if you want to use droneboats. Drones V is mandatory and done in 4 days. Also put some medium drones into the VNI, there’s enough space.
My mantra is: Don’t spend more isk on a module than the hull you are putting said module on is worth.
Sisters probes - Good love em. The bonus to isk ratio is well worth it. They cheap so can go in T1 or cov ops.
But I would never stick a sisters launcher on a frigate or a cov ops…
(unless you are putting it on a blingy T3C in which case its peanuts compared with the rest of the fit)