I’ve been mining in high-sec for a while now and I’m starting to make some ISK. I’m interested in exploring low-sec, but I’m a bit nervous about the risks involved. What are some safe ways to start exploring low-sec?
Specifically, I’m wondering:
What are the biggest risks besides player aggression that I should be aware of in low-sec? (e.g., NPC aggression, anomalies, environmental hazards)
What are some good starter ships for low-sec exploration and mining? (e.g., fast frigates, cloaky ships)
How can I minimize my risk when traveling to and from low-sec? (e.g., using safe routes, checking local chat, traveling in a fleet if possible)
What are some good resources for learning more about low-sec exploration and mining?
Head out to a 0.4 LS spot off the beating path. Look for a dead end system. You will get the least amount of traffic this way. Fit your venture to mine for kernite and gas. Have a station nearby or within the system for materials and supplies. Raw kernite will get you the most per load 4,166 at 900 or 1000 ISK in Jita. Other more valuable ores end up limited by how much you can carry and they don’t make you as much by volume. Fit and run cheap haulers as they often get destroyed.
Most common gases go for 30,000 and up but your venture can only hold 500 gas and assuming you are using the Gas Cloud Scoop I, it takes you 50 minutes to harvest a load. The more expensive and risky scoop is the Syndicate Gas Cloud Scoop costing 200 million and that takes a while to get your return profits. Some people like the simple EPS mining lasers for the range and others like the Mining T2 lasers for speed. Again ORE lasers cost too much to be losing them, but if you want speed and range they do the job.
Venture - 2 Gas Cloud Scoop I, 1 microwarp drive, 1 ML-3 scoped survey scanner, upgrades are optional as you are adding more ISK into a craft you will eventually lose to a ganker.
Tayra - 4 cargo expansions in the low slots. Optional rigs for more cargo expansion, they cost a bit of ISK and cannot be removed.
Miasmos - good for gas and ore large mining cargo bay. No upgrade needed.
Heron - with 16 standard probes for exploration assuming you might want to scan down wormholes.
Know your nebula. Here on the wiki you can see which nebula to look for when scanning down gas. I hang my hat in Caldari space so I look for the Golden Mykoserocin, It is found in the Ring Nebula and Smoking Nebula in Lonetrek according to the chart. A Ring Nebula can keep me busy all day long with as many as 12 loads of gas.
When you are hauling back to dock, keep your campsite within a decent distance from where you plan to sell. I try not to go much over 6 to 8 jumps away. If you are long hauling, you will be more exposed. Running small cheap haulers will keep you low on the high sec ganker’s radar. There are a few dopey ones who are willing to risk losing a 30 million cruiser for your 10 million venture or the load you are hauling back to the trade hub.
The worst that can happen is getting ganked before you start to mine at all. If that happens, just take a breath, and return to the simple routine of planning. Before you know it, mining becomes too routine and you get ISK rich. Then I use the ISK to fund my other characters for PvE and PvP.
The other good earner is exploration - hacking data and relic sites. The loot in more dangerous areas tends to be more valuable. It is hit and miss though, and requires some practice (you get a “feel” for how the hacking game works out after a while - there are patterns to how things get placed that you get used to).
Rather than low security space though, have a crack at wormhole systems: find a nice quiet bit of high-sec away from the market hubs (to avoid other day trippers who may hunt you) then scan down a wormhole and go for it.
Bookmark the holes you come out of so you keep a breadcrumb trail back to where you started.
Don’t scan for sites as soon as you arrive, warp off to a safe space and do it from there. I assume you don’t have a cloak, so people will see you on the directional scanner (d-scan).
Keep using d-scan, if you see someone else in the system: go somewhere else. Now.
For a suitable ship: any of the T1 exploration frigates - a Magnate, Probe, Heron or Imicus. Fit them the usual way you would for hacking - a scanner is useful as it means you can look inside the target before trying to hack it - this saves time.
If in doubt, run.
This is why you bookmark the way out - you don’t want to have to scan down an exit if you need to outrun a possible threat.