Exploration ships

The Explorer's Handbook
D-Scan & Overview Exploration Ships Fitting Guide Hacking Making ISK Navigation Quotes Sabbatical Scanning Skills and Implants Sites Tips and Tricks Addendum

Choosing Your Ship

Choosing an exploration ship comes down to the same question as many other ship choices in EVE: "How much ISK am I prepared to risk?". A bigger budget will generally get you a more capable ship but if a hunter catches you, you will be just as dead as a cheap ship. Within each of the groups of ships here, the capabilities are generally similar across a class, so don't be afraid to choose a ship because you like how it looks, or perhaps because you have the appropriate skill trained already - particularly for new pilots who will start with their racial frigate skill and free T1 exploration frigate(s) from the tutorial missions.

Technically, you can explore in any ship in the game that you can fit a probe launcher on (almost everything) but if you wish to do it well you will want to fly a ship that offers advantages in the role. The T1 exploration frigates are a great place to start for beginners, as they have low skill point requirements and are very cheap. The natural progression is to the T2 equivalents, which are direct upgrades of their T1 cousins. However, the T2 frigates are Omega-only and relatively expensive compared to the T1 ships. Interceptors are another type of T2 frigate that historically have been used in certain areas of space, but due to game design changes have now fallen out of favour. The Sisters of Eve ships offer a very low entry cost in terms of skills needed to fly them (and can be flown by Alpha clones), however all three are extremely expensive. The T3 cruisers are very capable, their modular form means that they are able to switch from exploration to combat with a simple refit in space from a mobile depot - but again, this comes at an appropriately high cost.

Something to bear in mind is that although you are hard to find while on the move (especially with a Covert Ops cloak that lets you warp while cloaked), all of these ships are relatively vulnerable while performing hacks on cans. Most exploration ships will struggle against an equivalent combat-fitted opponent, due to the fitting sacrifices you have to make to be able to locate and exploit hacking sites. This is where the cost becomes relevant, since a cheap T1 frigate might be blown up nine trips out of ten and still make a profit, yet if you are flying a T3 cruiser you could survive nine times out of ten and still make a loss! This comes back to the original question: How much ISK are YOU prepared to risk?

Pros and Cons

T1 Frigates

• Magnate (Amarr)
• Heron (Caldari)
• Imicus (Gallente)
• Probe (Minmatar)

The T1 exploration frigates are the entry level for exploration. All of them have the same bonuses (7.5% Core and Combat Probe strength, 5% reduction in salvager duration) per level in the relevant racial Frigate skill, as well as a fixed +5 bonus to Relic and Data Analyzer strength. They all have three high slots, but vary in mids/lows: Magnate 3/3/4, Heron 3/5/2, Imicus and Probe both 3/4/3. This means that the Heron has the most room for fitting scanning/hacking modules, but the least options for improving agility (a key defensive strategy for these fragile ships).

Pros: Cheap, Alpha-friendly, large cargo hold, available for free on contract at SC offices.
Cons: Weak defences (other than running away!), scanning bonuses cap at 37.5%, can't fit Cov Ops cloak.

T2 Frigates

Covert Ops

• Anathema (Amarr)
• Buzzard (Caldari)
• Helios (Gallente)
• Cheetah (Minmatar)
• Pacifier (Concord)

The racial Covert Ops frigates are direct upgrades from the T1 frigates, with bonuses from the Covert Ops skill as well as the racial Frigate skill. All four gain (20% reduction in cloaking device CPU requirement, 10% bonus to Core and Combat Probe strength, 10% reduction in Survey Probe flight time) per level of Covert Ops skill and a fixed bonus of +10 to Relic and Data Analyzer virus strength, with cloak reactivation delay reduced to 5 seconds. There is a slight variation in the bonuses provided by levels of racial Frigate skill: they all get 15% reduction in warp drive capacitor need per level but while the Anathema and Buzzard gain 5% bonus per level to Core and Combat Probe deviation, the Helios and Cheetah get a 5% bonus per level to ship max velocity while using cloaking devices. The Cov Ops frigates have an extra slot compared to their T1 predecessors, thus: Anathema 3/4/4, Buzzard 3/5/3, Helios 3/5/3, Cheetah 3/4/4. Note that these ships have only two rig slots, as opposed to three in the T1 frigates.
The Pacifier is also part of the Cov Ops frigate class, and has similar bonuses for levels of Covert Ops skill, except that the reduction in CPU requirement for cloaking devices is changed to a flat 100% reduction, with its place taken by a 10% per level bonus to warp speed and acceleration. Its other bonuses are combat focused, and it carries a slot layout of 5/4/4.

Pros: Can warp while cloaked, higher maximum scan strength, can fit Interdiction Nullifier.
Cons: Omega-only, still fragile (although with a much better chance to evade hunters thanks to the Cov Ops cloak and Interdiction Nullifier), considerably more expensive than T1 frigates (especially the Pacifier).

Interceptors

• Crusader, Malediction (Amarr)
• Crow, Raptor (Caldari)
• Ares, Taranis (Gallente)
• Claw, Stiletto (Minmatar)

Interceptors used to have a viable role as "explo-ceptors" in null sec, due to their inherent immunity to warp disruption bubbles. Along with their fast align time, this meant they could explore relatively hassle-free. However, they have lost this in-built nullification and while they can fit an Interdiction Nullifier, so can the Covert Ops frigates - which are just as fast in warp as the Interceptors (while being cloaked at the same time) and possess strong scanning and hacking bonuses.

Pros: Fast, agile, can use Interdiction Nullifier.
Cons: Omega-only, no scanning bonus, very small cargo hold, no longer has any benefit over the Cov Ops frigates.

SOE Ships

• Astero (Frigate)
• Stratios (Cruiser)
• Nestor (Battleship)

The line of ships from the Sisters of Eve are all designed for exploration, and give good bonuses even to low-skilled pilots. However, this comes at a high monetary cost - the Astero for example is several times more expensive than even the T2 frigates. Because of this, it is recommended that pilots avoid the Astero or Stratios until they can use the Covert Ops cloak (the only non-T2 ships that can fit this), and this is a skill that can only be trained by Omega clones. All three ships feature the largest drone bay in their size class, and give +10 to virus strength for Data and Relic Analyzers.

Astero

The Astero is a tough little frigate, with the ability to field a full flight of light drones. It is easy to fit for a sub-2sec align time which combined with the Cov Ops cloak makes it hard to catch. Cargo capacity is not as good as the T1 frigates, but is slightly better than the T2 versions. It has a fixed bonus of 37.5% to Core and Combat Scanner Probe strength (same as a T1 frigate with maxed out racial Frigate skill). Like the T1 ships it has 10 slots, laid out as 2 high. 4 mid and 4 low. It can have a Cov Ops cloak, but it can't fit an Interdiction Nullifier.

Pros: Low base skill requirements, fast align time, tough for its size, option of Cov Ops cloak
Cons: Extremely expensive, requires Omega clone status to access the Cov Ops cloak, no Nullifier, needs both Amarr and Gallente frigate skills

Stratios

The Stratios could be considered as an enlarged version of the Astero, with cruiser-sized 550m³ cargo hold and a 5/5/5 slot layout. As with its smaller sister, the Stratios has a fixed bonus of 37.5% to Core and Combat Scanner Probe strength, and improves armour resistance and drone hit points/damage with Amarr and Gallente Cruiser skills respectively. Similarly, it can fit a Cov Ops cloak but not an Interdiction Nullifier. With the ability to both fight and explore, the Stratios is a good choice for long range wormhole exploration. However, its size means that it can't flee aggressors as easily as the Astero, and lack of nullification makes it more risky in null sec.

Pros: Low base skill requirements, flexible fitting allows multiple roles, option of Cov Ops cloak
Cons: Similar to Astero - Extremely expensive, requires Omega clone status to access the Cov Ops cloak, no Nullifier, needs both Amarr and Gallente cruiser skills to be effective as a multi-role vessel

Nestor

Exploration in a battleship! With a fixed bonus of 50% to Core and Combat Scanner Probe strength and a 7/6/6 slot setup, the Nestor is potentially very capable, and only needs one level in both Amarr Battleship and Gallente Battleship to fly (these skills improve armour resistance and drone hit points/damage in the same fashion as the other SOE ships). It is too big to be allowed a Covert Ops cloak (or an Interdiction Nullifier), but it is only one-fifth of the mass of standard battleships, giving far easier access to wormhole space. With its maintenance bay acting like a mobile depot and its bonuses to remote armour repair, the Nestor is a viable choice as a "mother ship" to a small fleet of exploration ships, or to team up with another Nestor to take on higher difficulty combat sites. As with all SOE spacecraft, the biggest problem is the price tag - which can easily be 1.5 billion ISK just for the hull alone.

Pros: Flexible fitting, very capable in a pair, efficient use of wormhole mass limits
Cons: Excessively expensive, no Cov Ops cloak or Nullifier, needs two sets of battleship skills

Society of Conscious Thought

• Sunesis (destroyer)
• Gnosis (battlecruiser)
• Praxis (battleship)

The three larger ships of the SoCT all come with a fixed bonus of 37.5% to Core and Combat Scanner Probe strength and plenty of combat capability. However, these ships are more focused on scanning down and completing combat anomalies, with none of them having any bonus to hacking the cans once found, making them weaker choices as pure exploration ships.

Pros: Low base skill requirements, freedom in fitting options, combat capable
Cons: Lack of hacking bonuses make it harder to open cans in higher difficulty areas, no Cov Ops cloak or Interdiction Nullifier

• Metamorphosis (frigate)

The latest addition to the SoCT lineup is the Metamorphosis frigate. While it has less combat capability than its older siblings (but still plenty more than a T1 exploration frigate), it does have Role Bonuses that make it more effective as an explorer. As well as a 37.5% bonus to Core Scanner Probe strength (similar to the other SoCT ships), the Metamorphosis has 37.5% reduction in Core Scanner Probe scan deviation and +10 bonus to Relic and Data Analyzer virus strength. Fitting-wise, the Metamorphosis is granted a 100% reduction to Cloaking Device, Probe Launcher, Relic Analyzer, and Data Analyzer CPU requirements. It can also change modules in space according to your needs as it has a dedicated cargo hold for mobile depots. The last tricks in the armoury are evasive: +2 bonus to ship warp core strength and the ability to fit a Covert Ops cloak.

Pros: Low base skill requirements, freedom in fitting options, good bonuses for exploration, Covert Ops cloak
Cons: Small cargo hold compared to T1 explo frigates, no Interdiction Nullifier

T3 Strategic Cruisers

• Legion (Amarr)
• Tengu (Caldari)
• Proteus (Gallente)
• Loki (Minmatar)

The four Tech 3 strategic cruisers are, by design, very flexible platforms that can be configured to almost any task, simply by swapping the subsystems. All can be set up to have a Covert Ops cloak, interdiction nullification, 50% bonus to Core and Combat Scanner Probe strength and +10 to virus strength for Data and Relic Analyzers. By carrying a mobile depot, these ships are able to transform themselves into pure combat ships while out roaming, thus granting true flexibility without the compromises other ships have to make. The cost of all this flexibility is a long and intensive skill train (including several skills that have no use outside a specific racial T3 cruiser) and a large amount of ISK. At this point, it is worth considering the risk vs. reward balance mentioned at the beginning - all those great exploration bonuses can be achieved by a T2 frigate for a fraction of the cost.

Pros: True multi-role capability in a single hull, full suite of exploration bonuses
Cons: Very high cost, long and specific skill train

See also

Exploration Ship Fitting Guide What modules to put on your new ship.
Skills and Implants Make sure you know how to fly your new ship!

Signal Cartel graciously thanks Lixiana Vor'shan for their foundational contribution to this wiki page that will assist future Signaleers as they explore the stars.