Hi everyone, I recently started playing Eve and after completing the tutorial and SoE epic arc and realizing that the PvE missions in Eve are… kinda… boring… want to try out exploration. I fitted a Heron with basic probe/hacking/analyzing equipment and a cloaking device and started practicing in hi-sec. Found a few data/relic sites and made a bit of isk. Found a wormhole or two but they look kinda scary. Need to read up on them. Read on the forums that hacking/analyzing in hi-sec is barely worth it due to low rewards. So, I thought about doing it in low-sec. Can’t be that bad, right? 
Any tips for a newbie explorer? I take it I should be relatively safe when probing cloaked while sitting on a safe bookmark, right? And do it in a quiet, backwater system. Check the gates before warping to them. The most dangerous part seems to be getting surprised while actually hacking. So, run d-scan every few seconds, keep an eye on local chat and pray there isn’t already a cloaked bad guy waiting for me at the site?
To make it clear: I fully expect to lose my ship sooner or later when I head into low-sec, I just don’t want to lose it because of a stupid mistake I could’ve easily avoided by asking for some directions.
With keeping an eye on local chat and dscan, checking gates with dscan before you warp to them and using safe bookmarks to sit at (cloaked) while scanning you are already aware of all the basic precautions.
Here are ways I could get to you in the site:
- find your location with dscan, so I can get a warp-in on the site with a single cycle of combat or regular probes. You have 5 seconds to spot the probes on dscan
- prescanned and bookmarked site before you entered system. Did you see someone in local previously and they’re in your next system too where there are sites? Be wary.
Once in the site I could:
- decloak a Loki at range and once my 5 second decloak targeting delay is gone I one-shot your frigate
- 5 seconds is a lot of time to react, against faster explorers I could use a bomber that can instantly scram your ship after decloaking and kill you with rockets and blasters
- a fun one that unlike the previous ones I haven’t tried yet: I warp a cloaked Proteus on you and one-shot you with smartbombs instantly
My advice: take a little time to check players who are unaccounted for on zkillboard.
If you see one person in local and one Ishtar ratting or one Procurer mining on dscan they’re likely no threat, but if you see a name in local and cannot find what they are doing, do a quick check on zkillboard to see what kind of character you’re dealing with.
It might be a mining alt, someone losing hauling ships, Vexors or cyno ventures. Could also be a well-rounded character with solo kills, or even one that hunts explorers.
If you don’t trust the situation, feel free to skip system and go to the next!
Or decloak and hack anyway. The risk can be fun. 
I once did that in a system where I knew the one threat in local was in an Astero hunting non-combat explorers like my Helios. If it had been a bomber pilot I wouldn’t, but most cloaky ships have a targeting delay after decloaking.
Got one can, then he decloaked on my second. I was expecting him and warped off before his 5 second decloak targeting delay was gone. Was a nice thrill.
You could even drop your previous loot in a can on a safe bookmark before you take such risks. In case you do explode you only lose your ship and can come back later to get your loot.
Oh, and use inertial stabilizers, good agility may save your ship!
Have fun!
Wow, that’s A LOT of valuable information! Thanks for taking the time to answer in such detail. Really appreciate it.
o7
Hello,
My friends and I are alpha miners, we are very comfortable scanning for gas in low sec. It is a learning method. For about 6 months I lived inside a class 2 wormhole, they are all 0.0 security in J space. I found wormholes too easy once I got to know the rats and how to take them out.
My Method
For this example, I will use one of the most notorious systems called Ahbazon, Since you are exploring and not mining this should be less dangerous than what I do;
- Park your ship in one of the 3 entry points to Ahbazon. Hykkota, Shera, or Lor are considered to be high sec.
- Make the station your home base using your character sheet.
- Exit the station in your capsule and warp to gate.
- Examine the gate for other capsules or ships marked as suspect. They are likely the eyes of the gate campers on the other side.
- Enter the gate and should your capsule explode, you will return to the station and your ship. Also anyone blowing up your capsule in low sec will earn you a kill right. These can be sold to other players. I would also wait a hour or more before testing the gate again.
- Once it is clear on the other side, you need to set up safe points to scan from.
- Fetch your ship and run through.
- Fly to your first safe point.
- Now you can start your scanning.
- Don’t sit still warp to your other safe points every so often.
Dscan (Directional Scanning)
Many users claim this is the best thing since they invented the wheel. Too much Dscan got me killed early on in the game, now I seldom use it. It is handy for working in wormholes, but only once in a while. Dscan can only see ships within a 14.3 AU bubble or narrowed to a line of sight. You can tell what objects are in the area but only guess at their distance. If your enemy is over the 14.3 AU away, you are blind to them and they can’t see you on Dscan, If your safe spot is 15 AU from any object, it is a reasonable bet no one will detect you.
Combat Probes
These need a special launcher, any player can use these to locate ships the same way you scan down a wormhole. If the ship is moving or warps away during the scan, it makes it harder to track down. This is why I suggest 2 to 3 safe points in a system to avoid their scans.
After I scan down a gas site. I can mine it without being hassled by NPCs ( rats ) in low sec. All I need to focus on is the local chat, to see who is out there, and might pose a threat. In strategic view ( ALT+1 ) zoomed out. I have my station selected to dock. If I see any ship come on my grid, I punch dock and warp away.
The last time I lost a ship was December. The good news is, that ship mined 1,000 times its market value.
Fly safe o7
Again: thanks for all the information, you guys are really helpful! 
o7
You can take this a step further.
You can “right click” on the star gate itself, in your overview. A menu will pop up, approximately 1/3 down is a command “Show Info”, click on this.
This interface will appear:
Click on the tab Gate Icons. (as shown in inset). It’s replicating the info listed on the gate itself.
Outside of having “eyes” on the other side of the gate, it is as good a real time info source as you can get, in game.
The old ingame map also displays useful info as far as jumps per hour, ships lost, etc. But, is I believe about 20 minutes delayed, could be a shorter delay, tbh. I always check this map, too, for jumps per hour and violence. Jumps per hour will tell you if it is a busy system, a lot of pvp kills, there might be a gate camp, or have been a battle, lots of npc kills…might be pilots “live” there. This info will be in the statistics section. I believe this info is also covered in the “new map” but personally I find it’s interface obfuscates information delivery, while the “old map” is more “in your face” about delivering useful intel.
@Sere_O_Asis : thank you! Didn’t know about the information provided by the gates.