Va2dos - Truck et astuces: 2008

If there are no NPC blueprint sellers in your region and you want to find out for certain where you can buy a given blueprint, go to the Item Database and find the blueprint you want (either by navigating to it starting with the Manufacture and Research category, or going to the item you want to build then clicking on the link to the blueprint). Once at the blueprint's entry, click on the NPC Market tab to be shown what NPC corporations are buying and selling the blueprint. Once you know who is selling it, you can search for the corporation in-game using the Corporation search feature available on the People and Places button. Check the corporation's Settled Systems tab to find the station nearest you, then fly there to claim your blueprint.

You can get BPCs for special ships (such as the Worm or the Caldari Navy Raven to name two) from agent offers (for the faction navy ships), or from doing certain complexes or killing special random NPC pirate spawns (for the pirate faction ships like the Worm).

There is also the possibility of buying off of escrow. Usually you'll just find short-run BPCs for ships (and sometimes ammo), but it's worth a shot if you want to make yourself or a friend a ship, but don't want to buy the BPO for it. To tell if a blueprint on escrow is a copy or an original, first right-click the entry and Inspect Merchandise. Don't bother using Show Info on the blueprint, as it won't give you information about that specific blueprint. Instead, look at the values in the columns on the table that popped up. A copy will have "No" in the "Original" column and a numerical value in the "BPRuns" column. Likewise, an original will say "Yes" in the "Original" column and have "Unlimited" written in the "BPRuns" column. Also make sure you check the Material Level and Productivity Level columns to see if the seller is telling the truth about the research he's done. Be very wary of scams; people will often try to pass copies as originals, or tech 1 blueprints as tech 2 blueprints that have been "accidentally" priced cheaper than they normally go for. If you don't take the time to check the information, you may fall for an easily-avoidable scam.

Finally, there is a trading channel for blueprints.

In order to obtain a tech level 2 BPO, you need to participate in the BPO lottery. I won't go into any sort of detail here, as there is an excellent guide to this (and the R&D agents which facilitate it) on the Eve forums here . Still, let it suffice to say that a very limited quantity of tech level 2 BPOs are distributed via this lottery, meaning they are very expensive to purchase (the only way to get them is in the lottery, or to buy them from people who won the lottery).

6. Using your blueprints

As with most things in Eve, right-clicking on your blueprints opens many doors. Right-clicking on any blueprint gives you the option to initiate any job with the blueprint. Once you choose the kind of job you want to start, it will then ask you to choose which assembly line you want to use. If the installation you want to use is at a station, you need to choose an installation at the same station the blueprint is in. If the installation is at a starbase, you can choose any starbase in the same solar system as the blueprint, so long as you are allowed to use that starbase and your blueprint is located in your corporation's hangar at a station.

It doesn't matter if you are using the blueprint while it's in your Items window at a space station, in your Assets window, or in the Science and Industry window: you need to right-click the blueprint to do anything with it.

It is also worth noting that after you submit a job, the server has marked down when the job will finish, and improving your skills (such as Industry for a manufacturing job) will not affect the time to finish that job.

The factories round down any decimal value in "Mineral Cost" that is less than 0.5 to zero. This is done for each run individually, so ten runs with a Zydrine waste of 0.1 per run will waste zero Zydrine, not one unit. Likewise, any decimal value 0.5 and above is rounded up to one. This means 6.5 wasted units of Mexallon become 7, and 9.374 wasted units of Isogen are turned into just 9.

2. Vital Skills

Like Research, only a single skill is needed to use a factory slot (the Industry skill). Still, there are other skills that make an manufacturer's life easier, most important among them being Production Efficiency.

Production Efficiency (Rank 3)

4% reduction per level for material costs for manufacturing.

*Requires Industry to be at level 3.

No matter how hard you look, you cannot find a more important skill for manufacturing to get to level 5 than Production Efficiency. Taking this from level 0 to level 5 means you can make 125% the product with the same amount of materials as you made before, and makes manufacturing much more profitable. Try to have this at level 4 at the very least before you do any major manufacturing.

Industry (Rank 1)

4% reduction in manufacturing time per level.

*No skill requirements

You need Industry at level one to be able to use a factory slot, though advancing it beyond one does not give any further bonus to the amount of factory slots you can operate at once. Aside from using it as a prerequisite for more important skills, there are no pressing reasons to raise Industry. Still, the time saved by increasing Industry can be helpful, and it's only a rank 1 skill.

Mass Production (Rank 2) and Advanced Mass Production (Rank 8)

Both allow the operation of one extra factory slot per level.

*Mass Production requires Industry to be at level 3.
*Advanced Mass Production requires Industry to be at level 3 and Mass Production to be at level 5.

Like Laboratory Operation is for a researcher, Mass Production is important for the manufacturer. It is up to the individual manufacturer to decide how many factory slots they need to be able to use at once.

Supply Chain Management (Rank 3)

Allows the operation of factory slots from ranges greater than just the station you are currently in. At level 1, the range is any factory in the same solar system as you. At level 2, the range changes to any factory within five jumps of your present location. After that, the range continues to double until at level 5 you can operate any factory in the region.

*Industry needs to be at level 3 and Mass Production needs to be at level 4.

Just like Scientific Networking, this skill is an expensive convenience. While it is not a requirement, it can save a manufacturer from having to do a lot of flying if their main manufacturing area is not close to their main area of operations.

3. Getting started in manufacturing

Though the rest of this guide covers the information about the actual workings of Science and Industry in Eve, many budding industrialists are still at a loss for how they should actually step into the wide world of manufacturing. This question is usually asking "what should I start by building?"

The first thing to cross most people's minds when wondering what to build is most likely going to be ships. Any of the main combat frigates are certainly popular ships, and can sell well if put up for sale in a well-populated area. Still, ships tend to have lower margins of profit than many modules have (with Production Efficiency at 5, and with a well-researched BPO with a ML of 20 you can expect a 20% margin of profit on a frigate, while many modules can pull in a 100% margin).

A good idea is to search the market, making extensive use of the "Market History" tab for a given item, and finding items with a good volume number (which tells you how much they are traded) and with prices you can effectively compete with. It can be a lot easier to view the Market History as a table, but the default is as a graph (there is a button in the window to change it).

During your searching, you will likely find that many items are being frequently sold at a value near or even below the value of the minerals that make up the item. This is because people receive these items as loot from killing NPCs, and you will not make a profit from manufacturing them. Other items, however, will have a high volume and will have very good prices. These are the items you want to build.

Also, a problem that a lot of people new to manufacturing seem to have is a very bad one for their finances: they are under the illusion that any minerals they mine themselves rather than buy off of the market are free. This is not the case, however; those minerals "cost" you what you could have sold them on the market for. Whether you're making the items for your own use, for a friend or a corporation member, or to sell, this doesn't change at all. When manufacturing, always check the prices in the region to see if it is cheaper for you to buy from someone else (and if they are close enough to you to be convenient, given the price gap).

Finally, remember that you don't need to service a main hub (Jita, Rens, or Oursulaert). People are willing to pay a premium in order to have their stuff (especially ammunition) sold to them where they will use it rather than five jumps away. Find a system with a lot of good agents and try selling there. Don't forget the Market History though.

samedi 21 juin 2008

EVE Manufacturing guide

Tier One Manufacturing, Building T1 and other commonly used items

Industry Skill
This skill is the number one must have skill for all forms of manufacturing. This skill not only gives you the ability to build but for each level, it also reduces the amount of time it takes for items to go from minerals to finished product. While you can begin building at level 1, it is highly recommended that budding industrialists wait until level 4 before starting. Level 5 is optimum and should be a top priority in the skill training schedule.

Mass Production Skill
For each level this skill is trained, you are allowed +1 factory. At Level 5, you can operate 6 factories simultaneously, and thus should be one of your top skill training priorities, especially when you consider that most T1 ships take 3+ hours to build.

Advanced Mass Production Skill
Introduced with the release of RMR, this skill picks up where Mass Production leaves off giving you +1 factory per level. At level 5, this skill combined with Mass Production 5 will allow you to operate 11 factories simultaneously.

Production Efficiency Skill
Also known as PE, this skill reduces the amount of minerals it takes to build items. If you look on a blueprint original or copy, you will see under Bill of Materials a list of minerals needed to build each single run of the item. If you have any PE skill level under 5, you will also see how many minerals it will take for you to build according to your PE level. BPO vs BPC

Blueprint Originals (aka BPO) are those that have no limit to the number of production runs and can also be researched for Mineral Efficiency (ME) and Production Efficiency (PE). Right of the market BPO have 0 research done on them. To increase ME and PE, one would have to invest time in training Lab Operations Skill and Science Skill or hire someone with those skills to do the research for you. The general rule of thumb is the higher the ME the less minerals required and the higher the PE the less time it takes to build. BPC (aka blueprint copies) are limited in the number of production runs can be made before the bpc is destroyed. BPC are copies made from a BPO and thus cannot be researched. The advantages of having a BPO are you never have to worry about running out of production build blueprints and you can ME and PE research them to your preference. The disadvantage is that they vary in price range from a few thousand isk to some such as battleships costing a few billion. The disadvantage of BPC are that they are limited in how many you can build before you need to purchase a new one. How you approach purchasing BPO and BPC is up to you and your wallet.

RMR Factories in a Nutshell
RMR brought a huge change to how factories are operated. When you bring up the factory screen, choose MANUFACTURING from the drop down menu. Then in the location box, choose the station you wish to build at. On the bottom half of the screen you will then see a list of factories in that station along with those that are ready (NOW) for build orders. After selecting a factory, at the bottom right hand corner of the screen you will find the install button, choose that and a small ingame popup screen will appear, where you then choose the blueprint to install, the hanger where your materials are located (input) and the hanger where you want them to be delivered (output). Special Note * when you go to choose your blueprint to install, it will show you every single blueprint that is loose in your hanger or corps hanger if you have corp hanger access. So it is best if you keep all that you are not building with at the moment stored in cargo or station cans kept in your hanger. This will save you a ton of headaches. After you have chosen your input/output, you will then choose how many runs you wish to build followed by pressing the OK button. You will then be greeted with the material and build costs quote screen where you can review how much material is needed for the build as well as how much the factory job fees with be. Fees are based on the factory job rental plus time needed and vary from job to job. After reviewing the quote screen, choose INSTALL and your build begins. Unfortunately, the factory installation screens are slow right now and sometimes appear to hang. CCP is aware of this issue and are looking into it so for now if this happens just press the button a second time and wait 30 seconds as that usually clears up the installation lag. Build status is located in the JOBS tab on the factory screen. Just choose your search and hit go and it will bring up your chosen search string. The green READY status means it is ready for pickup. Simply highlight the ready build by clicking on it in the JOBS window and in the lower right corner the DELLIEVER button will appear, choose that and your build pops out in the output hanger you specified when starting the job.

With the right skills and knowledge of basic factory operation, you will be well on your way to becoming a T1 building master. And don't forget to train those skills to level 5, because you cannot begin T2 builds without them.

See you in the factories!

jeudi 19 juin 2008

EVE Scouting Basic

Scan probing in Revelations

This guide will focus on ship probing, look here for a guide to exploration by Joerd Toastius. This guide assumes you posses at least basic control over how the Directional Scanner work.

If you have any further questions about ship probing feel free to contact me ingame BUT please do not ask me about exploration, I don't do exploration and won't be able to answer your questions.

To do scan probing we need a few things, namely a probe launcher, probes, a ship to mount it on and the skills to use them all.

Skills

Astrometrics - Adds one scan group per level. Is the primary skill that determines what probes you can use.
For combat ship probing level 3 will do fine unless the target is in a deep safe for which level 5 is needed.

Astrometric Pinpointing – Reduces maximum scan deviation by 10% per level.
Means that you can use a weaker probe and still get a result that lands you in the same grid as the target.

Astrometric Triangulation – 5% scan strength bonus per level of skill.
Higher scan strength means easier to find the target and more accurate results.

Signal Acquisition - 10% faster scanning with scan probes per level.
Must have skill, will cut scan time in half at level 5. Sadly it’s rank 8.

Other skills like Survey do NOT effect probing.

Probe Launchers

There are 4 different probe launchers. 2 classes with 2 variations in each.
The Scan Probe Launcher I and faction version Sisters Scan Probe Launcher.
The Recon Probe Launcher I and faction version Sisters Recon Probe Launcher.
The Scan and Recon Probe Launcher I has similar fittings (220cpu, 1pg / 220cpu, 2pg). For the faction versions the Sisters Scan Probe Launcher has 25% shorter activation time while the Sisters Recon Probe Launcher only sports 10 cpu less fitting requirement.

Despite its name the Recon Probe Launcher can be used on any ship, it's not exclusive to recon ships.

For Exploration and Moon Survey

Scan Probe Launcher I – 600 sec base cycle time (can be cut down to 109.35 sec). 10m3 capacity. 15 sec rate of fire.

Sisters Probe Launcher I - 450 sec base cycle time (can be cut down to 82.01 sec). 10m3 capacity. 15 sec rate of fire.

For Ship Probing

Recon Probe Launcher I – 120 sec base cycle time (can be cut down to 21.87 sec). 1m3 capacity. 2.5 sec rate of fire.

Sisters Recon Probe Launcher - Same stats as Recon Probe Launcher I except fitting.

It’s not possible to fit multiple probe launchers on a ship, not even offline.

Probes

There are 3 different groups of probes. Ship probes, exploration probes and survey probes.
Ship probes are the probes that fit into the Recon Probe Launcher. They include:

Observator Deep Space Probe I - 1000 au range, 1.25 point sensor strength, 20.000 km max scan deviation, 4800 sec flight time.

Sisters Observator Deep Space Probe I - 1000 au range, 1.4 points sensor strength, 20.000km max scan deviation, 4800 sec flight time.

Ferret Scanner Probe I - 40 au range, 2.5 points sensor strength, 10.000 km max scan deviation. 2400 sec flight time.

Spook Scanner Probe I - 20 au range, 5 points sensor strength, 5.000 km max scan deviation, 1200 sec flight time.

Fathom Scanner Probe I - 10 au range, 10 points sensor strength, 2.500 km max scan deviation, 600 sec flight time.

Snoop Scanner Probe I - 5 au range, 20 points sensor strength, 200 km max scan deviation, 300 sec flight time.

Range - The max range of the probe, this is a 3d sphere and the probe will not be able to find anything outside this range. Reports say that Observator probe have unlimited range and not the 1000au listed.
Sensor Strength - Higher sensor strength means larger chance to find the target and more accurate results.
Max Scan Deviation - The maximum distance from the target any scans with this probe will give.
Flight Time – The amount of time the probe stays in space. You need to finish any scan before the flight time runs out or it will fail.

All the other probes are uninteresting for ship scanning. While the exploration probes have very high sensor strength they also have very low range making them unsuited for normal ship probing.

Ships

The ship of choice for probing is the Covert Ops frigates. There are 2 reasons for this, one is the built in bonus of 10% reduction to scan time per level (level 5 cuts the scan time in half) and the other is the ability to warp cloaked. If you can’t get a 0 m accuracy result you will need to warp in cloaked and approach manually.

Other ships that are useful for probing is the cloaking force recon ships for the warp cloaked ability and possibly the t1 astrometrics frigates as they have a 5% reduction to scan time per level. But in worst case any ship can be used.

Basic probing

So your target is sitting in afk in a safe spot and you want to find him? This is how it’s done.

First warp around a bit and see if you can find him on the directional scanner. If you can see him; get to the closest object and drop the needed probe. Use the range option on your scanner to determine which probe is needed. 5 au = 750.000.000 km, 10 au = 1500.000.000 km. So if you can get within 750.000.000 km use the 5au probe etc. Max range of the directional scanner is 14.35 au.

If you can’t find him on the scanner you need to use longer range probes, probably Observator Deep Space Probes or possibly 40 au Ferret probes.

After you launch the probe open your scanner, select the System Scanner tab, select the probe and select the "Ships" group (you might as well include as many groups as your astrometrics skill allow, there is no penalty in using several groups).

Click "Analyze" at the bottom of the window. A timer will appear counting down. If you want you can cloak now. You can switch to the Directional Scan tab and use that without breaking the probe and you can even close the scan window and it will still work. You can also warp around but doing so can bug the interface a bit. Just wait for the timer to finish and you will get the correct result.

When the timer reaches 0 you will get a list with results. If your target is not in this list don’t fret it. The probing system is now chance base and you might need to scan several times (20+ if you are looking for a very small ship with an observator probe). But first recheck your scanner to see that he is in range of the probe you choose. If he is in range just click "New Scan" and hit analyze again. Repeat until the target is found.

You can also see the results on the system map as colored dots. The color indicate the Signal strength.
0-0.4 = red
0.4-0.8 = yellow
0.8+ = green
You can warp to the results by right click on them and choose warp to.

In the result list there are 4 columns. The first is ship type, second is signal strength (more about that in the advanced guide), third is the range from your current position and forth is Accuracy. Accuracy is the range from the spot the probe provides to the target. Accuracy is determined by several factors where the most important is the probe type and signal strength (see advanced section for formulas). Longer range probes give larger max deviation from the target. There is also some randomness involved here so a new scan might give a more accurate result (or worse). If you can get the Signal Strength above 1.0 with 1 probe you will always get 0 m accuracy and can warp in right on top of the target.
As long as you are using ship probes you should never get an accuracy result above 20.000 km.

If the accuracy is not good enough to get inside the same grid as the target you might need to launch and scan with a shorter range probe. Warp to the result by right clicking on it and choose warp to. Click new scan and right click on the probe you used and choose "destroy probe". The reason for this is the fact that you can not launch a probe within the scan radius of another probe. Now launch a 5au (snoop) probe and scan with that. Worst case scenario with that probe will land you just 200km away, most likely a lot closer.

Advanced Probing

Signal Strength

Signal Strength decides how large the chance is that the target will show up on a given scan and also effect accuracy. A Signal strength of 0.5 means 50% chance, 1.0 or more give 100% chance etc.

Signal strength is a factor of the sensor strength of the probe, the signal size of the target, the range from the probe to the target and any skills you might have.
Sensor strength is listed in the probe attributes.
Target Signal Size = Target Signature Radius / Target Sensor Strength

Large target = easier to find, target with high sensor strength = harder to find. These values can be modified, a target with several shield extenders will have larger signature radius and be easier to find while a target with ECCM will have higher sensor strength and will be harder find.

The following formula (discovered by Daron) give the range multiplier.

Range Multiplier = e^-((Target Range / Max Range)^2)
Target Range is the range from the probe to the target, Max Range is the Scan Range listed for that probe type.

This formula will return a result between 1 (at 0km) and 0.3679 (at very close to max range).

The full formula to calculate Signal Strength is:
Signal Strength = (Probe Sensor Strength * (1 + Level of Astrometric Triangulation * 0.05) / 100) * (e^-((Target Range / Max Range)^2)) * (Target Signature Radius / Target Sensor Strength)

A math example: We are using a Ferret 40 au probe to try to locate a Scorpion 35 au away. We have Astrometric Triangulation level 3.
Signal Strength = (2.5 * (1 + 3*0.05) / 100) * (e^-((35/40)^2)) * (480 / 24) = 0.267 or 26.7% chance it will show up on our scan.

Accuracy

Accuracy is a factor of the max scan deviation, the signal strength of the scan, any skills you might have and a random number.

If the signal strength of the probe is 1.0 or more the accuracy will always be 0m (unless you are using multiple probes).

The formula to calculate Maximum effective Scan Deviation is not know at this time, the following formula will provide an estimate that works for most cases:
Maximum effective Scan Deviation = Maximum Scan Deviation * ((0.6 * (Signal Strength ^ 2)) – (1.6 * Signal Strength) + 1) * (1 - Level of Astrometric Pinpointing * 0.1)

The accuracy of the scan is then a linear random range between 0km and the Max effective Scan deviation. Linear meaning it’s just as likely to return 0 as it is to return max eff scan dev or anything between.

Math example: We will use the scorp from the last example, we also have astrometric pinpointing level 3.
Max effective Scan Deviation = 10000 * ((0.6 * (0.267 ^ 2)) - (1.6 * 0.267) + 1) * (1 - 3 * 0.1) = 4305km. So each successful scan will give a random accuracy between 0km and 4305km. This means there is a 11.6% chance you will get a result in the same grid as the target.

Rigs

There is one rig that effect scan probing.
Gravity Capacitor Upgrade. The T1 version give 10% less scan time and the T2 15%. The reduction is not stacking penalized.

Implants

Implants that effect probing are:

Poteque Pharmaceuticals 'Prospector' PPF-0/1/2 - 2%/6%/10% reduced Maximum Scan Deviation

Poteque Pharmaceuticals 'Prospector' PPG-0/1/2 - 1%/3%/5% increased Scan Strength

Poteque Pharmaceuticals 'Prospector' PPH-0/1/2 - 2%/6%/10% reduced Scan Time

There is also a Sisters of Eve implant set named "Virtue". It only exist in a low-grade version.

Low-grade Virtue Alpha/Beta/Delta/Epsilon/Gamma - 1%/2%/4%/5%/3% increased Scan Strength + 10% set bonus.

Low-grade Virtue Omega - 25% set bonus.

These work like pirate implant sets and a full set give a total of 33.83% Scan Strength bonus.

Directional Scanner

It’s possible to see probes on the directional scanner by setting it to not use overview settings.

To counter act this we have the ability to destroy the probes at will by right clicking on it in the system scanner tab and choose destroy probe, you can even do this while cloaked or in warp. Destroying a probe will not destroy the results so you can go back and look at them by clicking view results.

You should destroy your probes as soon as you got the results you want from them, especially short range probes. Done right it should only show up on the scanner of the target for around 30-40 sec, short enough time for him to miss it.

Deadspace Areas

Deadspace areas like most mission and most exploration sites acts as a dampener on a ships Signal Size making it much harder to find targets in such sites. The exact amount of dampening is unknown but in the area of 100 times.

Cloaked ships

At the time of writing it is NOT possible to probe for cloaked ships. Latest information on the subject says it won't be possible until the planned full rework of the scan system is put in place.

Scan Groups

The following Scan Groups can be chosen when you start a scan, for each level of astrometrics you can scan for more group at the same time.

Drone and Probe- As the name suggests, drones and probes (not interdictor probes, just scan probes).

Cosmic Anomaly - NPC Combat sites

Ship - All player ships, no npcs.

Cosmic Signature - Exploration content.

Structure - POS Structures.

There is no penalty for scanning for multiple groups, if you have astrometrics level 5 go ahead and select them all.

Known Bugs

Attributes window show sensor strength truncated. This is most apparent on Observator and Ferret probes as it is shown to have 1 and 2 points strength but in reality they have 1.25 and 2.5 points.

Warping while running a scan can sometimes bug the interface so it looks like the scan failed. Just wait for the scan to finish and you will still get the correct result.

FAQ

Q: Why do my scans seem to fail all the time, it stops before it is finished?

A: Make sure that the probe does not time out before the scan finishes, if it does the scan will always fail. If the probe has less flight time than your scan takes you need to either train your skills a bit more (covert ops level 4 + Signal acquisition level 3 is enough to use snoop probes in a Scan Probe launcher) or just get the Recon probe launcher.

Multiple Probes

Will be a long guide about multiple probes here Soon(tm)

EVE Scouting Guide

I've moved this guide to its own thread to try and separate discussion of exploration from discussion of probing. Also please note that this guide is still INCOMPLETE and will be revised as more data comes in

Exploration and probing

Kali also introduces proper exploration, in the form of various hidden encounters. These can be any number of things - there are over 250 being introduced in Kali 1, which get more interesting and much harder as you move from Empire to Lowsec to 0.0. I've been playing around in a COSMOS constellation in 0.0 and I've found gas clouds (for booster manufacturing), straight-up complexes, archaeological sites full of rig parts and T2 rig BPCs, hidden databanks loaded with invention material, rogue drone outposts, hidden roid fields full of ark and bistot... There's plenty of riches to be found, but you need to use scan probes to do it

Basic mechanics

Exploration probes use exactly the same mechanics as ship scanning probes - same skills, same equations etc. You need to use a Scan Probe Launcher rather than a Recon Probe Launcher, simply because (as Hoshi says) you can't fit an exploration probe in a Recon Launcher because the probes are too big. Other than that, the basics all work the same way.

Exploration sites themselves seem to spawn within 1 and 4 AU of planets in system. There may be multiple sites in one system, or there may be none at all.

Finding an exploration site

Tools

Exploration sites cannot be found using the system scanner - you have to probe them down using the exploration probes. These come in four flavours and four ranges:

[Type] Quest Probe - 4 au range, 250 points primary sensor strength, 50 points other sensor strength, 2.088 au max scan deviation, 4000 sec flight time.
[Type] Pursuit Probe - 2 au range, 500 points primary sensor strength, 100 points other sensor strength, 6,250,000 km max scan deviation, 2000 sec flight time.
[Type] Comb Probe - 1 au range, 1000 points primary sensor strength, 200 points other sensor strength, 125,000 km max scan deviation, 1000 sec flight time.
[Type] Sift Probe - 0.5au range, 2000 points primary sensor strength, 400 points other sensor strength, 2,500km max scan deviation, 500 sec flight time.

The four types available are Gravimetric, Magnetometric, RADAR and LADAR. A Gravimetric Quest Probe will have 250 points of gravimetric sensor strength and 50 points each of Magnetometric, RADAR and LADAR.

There is also one final, very important probe:

Multispectral Frequency Probe - 999 au range, 1,000,000 points sensor strength (all types), 600 sec flight time

This probe has no deviation, as it doesn't return location-based results. Instead, it will simply tell you if there are any cosmic signatures within its range, and if so what sensor type they are.

Technique

Firstly, you need to confirm there's anything worth looking for. Drop a Multispec probe anywhere in the system and do a scan. If it returns no results, the system's empty, so move on. If it returns one or more results, decide which sensor type you're going to look for, destroy the Multispec probe (right-click in the scanner interface and "destroy", otherwise you can't deploy more probes) and start probing. "Unknown" results work equally well with all probe types.

It is believed that the different sensor types correspond to different types of site, but there isn't enough data to confirm which are which yet.

In order to run down the site, you need to get it in range of a probe. The easiest way to do this is to drop Quest probes of the correct sensor type so they cover every planet in the system. This is easy with outer planets, but with the inner ones you need to think about exactly where you're going to drop for maximum coverage. This may require some bookmarks, and sometimes you just have to compromise and hope you don't get unlucky and have the site in a blindspot. The system map is highly recommended at this stage.

Once your probes are down, select them all (ctrl-click) and start analyzing. Each site seems to have a set value for the "sig radius/sensor strength" ratio, generally between 0.1 and 0.2. If you do some calculations for ships you'll see that this is a pretty low number, equivalent to an interceptor with 200 or so sensor strength. With quests you'll be looking for a signal strength between 0.1 and 0.4 on the right probe type. This means it can take ten or fifteen tries to get a result, but the probes last for an hour and a bit so you can afford to sit around and keep trying until you get something.

Once you get your initial contact life gets a lot easier. It'll show up on the system map, so figure out where it is and try to see how close you can get. The rest is fairly obvious - drop the shortest-range probe you can that'll still scan it, and keep analysing until you get a good result, warp to that, analyse again if necessary... you get the picture. You'll often be able to go from a Quest straight to a Sift, and when you can't a comb will usually work - pursuit probes are generally not that useful.

You really need a result with under 100km or so deviation before you can be confident you've found anything. Many sites won't spawn unless you warp into the grid they're in, and as you can't use the directional scanner to find them, if you land in a different grid 400km away you need to reprobe.

Once you have your 0m result, be very careful with it. Some sites drop you at an empty deadspace gate, some drop you at a gate with passive hostiles near it, and some drop you straight into the line of fire. If you go in with a covops, go cloaked, bookmark quickly and run away again - I've lost I think two covops on SiSi to enemy fire in this way. Also, if you do decide to park your ship and go in with a pod, make sure not to leave your ship too close - once the deadspace pocket spawns, the usual deadspace rules apply and if your ship is too close you won't be able to warp to it until the site expires

Once you've got the bookmark you're basically done with the exploration aspect. Gas clouds aside, the stuff I've found in 0.0 is not suitable for covops ships. Some of the plexes are supposed to be 10/10 equivalent difficulty.

FAQ

Can you analyze when cloaked?
You can't start the analysis cloaked, but you can uncloak, click "analyze" and then recloak without any problems

Can you analyze while warping?
No, and if you warp while analyzing it will finish prematurely with no results

What does this "module is in use?" thing mean? Why can't I analyze?
The probe launcher must finish its launch cycle before you start analyzing. Wait for it to stop flashing green and try again

Can I analyze with multiple probes at once?
Yes, just control-click them all. Doing this in system map will also show you what your coverage is like.

Couldn't you probespam with snoops instead?
Hoshi has done the numbers and says it's no longer worth the effort. So, yes in theory, but not recommended at all.

You need a lot of probes for exploration and they're really expensive!
Well... yes, I guess. The cheapest solution is to buy the BPOs and mine your own stront, at which point they become pretty cheap. But... then you have to go ice mining. Your decision.

Can I convo/message you ingame?
You're going to anyway I think, but yes, ok. I may however be busy, and I don't have all the answers

I know where you can find Gas Cloud Harvester Is but I'm not telling you where
I hate you.

Oh my god exploration is too boring/hard/time-consuming/unrewarding!
News to me. What do you want, a cookie?

I quit!
Can I have your stuff?

The Booster Guide v0.5, while there's space here

This is going into the next version of the exploration guide, but here's the deal as I understand it. Disclaimer: this is going on what I know, I don't have booster production running yet, but the people who do aren't talking. Some of it is guesswork/reasoning, some is known info. It should be clear which is which

The process:

- Find gas cloud. Best info is that these are LADAR sites and spawn certainly in 0.0 COSMOS constellations and apparently in non-COSMOS areas in the same region

- Harvest the gas cloud. This requires a Gas Harvester module and the Gas Cloud Harvesting skill. This gives you with a Cytoserin compound

-- The base module is known to be offered as a reward from some 0.0 COSMOS missions at least some of the time.

-- The meta versions are bugged - their skill requirement is set to "Gas Harvesting", which doesn't exist.

-- The skill is known to be offered as a reward from some 0.0 COSMOS missions at least some of the time

- React the compound. This requires a Medium Biochemical Reactor Array (POS array). These are empire-seeded. It also requires the requisite reaction. This gives you a pure booster

-- Reactions can be found in certain 0.0 exploration sites which are believed to be COSMOS constellation-only

- Manufacture the booster. This requires the right blueprint and pure booster compound, as well as usually some additional commodity. It presumably requires the Drug Manufacturing skill. Presumably it can be done in the seeded Drug Lab POS module; it's also been suggested that it can be done in player outposts.

-- Blueprint copies can be found in certain 0.0 exploration sites which are believed to be COSMOS constellation-only

There are two further classes of booster. The Improved versions require an Improved reaction and both the pure standard booster in question and a pure booster compound which is believed to be from an adjacent COSMOS constellation, plus a commodity. The Strong versions require a Strong reaction, the pure improved booster in question and a pure standard compound which is believed to be from the COSMOS constellation opposite it on the map, plus a commodity. It is assumed that both reactions require a Biochemical Reactor. Both obviously also require the relevant BPC.

In summary, to make a standard booster, you need:
-Gas cloud
-Harvester module
-Harvester skill
-Medium Biochem reactor
-Standard booster reaction
-Drug Manufacturing skill
-Booster blueprint

Again, this is not guaranteed to be accurate. Feel free to correct any errors, or alternatively act like a [expletive] and flout your "superior knowledge" without actually telling anybody anything, even though you very probably relied on other people being open and honest with their info to get as far as you have.

dimanche 6 juillet 2008

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samedi 21 juin 2008

jeudi 19 juin 2008