Heya. I’ve been looking around on how best to use the free midslot on my exploration ship, as I’ve always been using the scan speed module. My thought process is that less time spent for the probes to get a result, the faster I’ll be able to move forward.
Apparently, the consensus is that it’s the worst of the three choices. Which thus leave the Rangefinding (scan strength) or the Pinpointing (deviation).
The use case is scanning down to 100% large amounts of sigs in wormhole chains. I already get 155 scanning strength thanks to my fit and pod, I don’t know if pushing that value higher would help better.
I’m also using a Buzzard with max Covert Ops and scanning skills, so the deviation is also reduced.
The question being : what array would you choose ? Thanks.
On paper 1 second less per scan cycle looks good, but from my experience a lot of time wasted on more precise probe moving. If I were you and would scan whs w/o virtue set I would definitely consider trying rangefinding+pinpointing combo first. With virtue set that would be pinpointing+acquisition.
Thanks for the input. I generally fly with a SEBO fitted so that I can cargo scan from further away when doing relic/data sites. Do you think it’s worth it to unfit it and fit the two arrays ?
That entirely depends on your fit, if you have nullifier fitted keep sebo and stay with just one upgrade. Without nullifier you have 62.5km targeting range, not bad at all so you can have something like this
[Buzzard, 62.5km]
Inertial Stabilizers II
Inertial Stabilizers II
Inertial Stabilizers II
5MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive
Scan Pinpointing Array II
Scan Rangefinding Array II
Cargo Scanner II
Relic Analyzer II
Sisters Core Probe Launcher, Sisters Core Scanner Probe
Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
[Empty High slot]
Small Ancillary Current Router I
Small Gravity Capacitor Upgrade II
or if you want 70km range, you can sacrifice align time
[Buzzard, 4sec align]
Signal Amplifier II
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
5MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Scan Rangefinding Array II
Scan Pinpointing Array II
Cargo Scanner II
Relic Analyzer II
Sisters Core Probe Launcher, Sisters Core Scanner Probe
Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
[Empty High slot]
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Small Gravity Capacitor Upgrade II
Without enough strength you won’t be able to scan some signatures at all, so that one’s priority.
Once you have enough strength from skills, rigs, modules and implants it’s also a good idea to look at the other options. After all, stacking multiple strength modules isn’t that useful due to diminishing returns.
All three Array modules do a similar thing: it saves you scanning time.
Scan Rangefinding (Strength) means you get to 100% sooner, which saves scanning time.
Scan Pinpointing (Deviation) means you get more accurate locations and can skip scans, which saves scanning time.
Scan Acquisition (time) means you scan faster, which saves scanning time.
I like the Scan Acquisition module as second choice. You can use only one but it’s nice to have faster scans.
Scan Pinpointing for reduced deviation is another option that also saves you time, this time because the results you get will be closer to their true location so you can more easily skip tiers and go from 8 AU to 2 or even 1 AU without also scanning the steps in between.
All three options will save you scanning time, but scan strength would be my recommendation if you had to choose, and reduced scanning time as second option.
In case you’re combat probing then scan strength would again be priority (at least until you can one-cycle the targets) with scan time as second choice, or first choice in case you have enough strength already. Scan deviation is the only one useless for on-grid combat probing but can like the others help you probe people faster who are elsewhere in the system.
My standard buzzard rocks 2x Pinpointing and one each Rangefinding and Acquisition arrays along with a t2 gravity rig and sisters launcher.
This way, I’m on third mod stacking penalties with both Rangefinding and Pinpointing.
While i haven’t done any hacking sites for quite some time, i used to drop the Acquisition array for the analyzer.