Fit of the Week

One of the first type of fits that new bros joining our corporation frequently seek and use are for T1 Exploration frigates.  These are the Heron, Magnate, Imicus and Probe.

These hulls are immediately available for any pilot based on their racial choice when rolling their character.  However, there are benefits to certain hulls which we will discuss here in this post.

Heron - My personal choice for a new pilot looking to get into exploration and avoid refitting with a Mobile Depot.  5 mid slots allow you to go with MWD and the remaining slots for hacking modules and scanning upgrades.

Imicus - Tied with the Probe for 2nd best exploration frigate.  However, due to the Astero requiring Gallente Frigate III and the T2 variant Helios having a drone bay, I give a slight nod to the Imicus over the Probe.

Probe - Gets 3rd place in the listing of exploration frigates, but that is only due to the Astero requirements for the Gallente hull and the T2 variant of the Imicus.  A probe is a very solid choice if you are not going the Caldari or Gallente route.

Magnate - Ewww.  4th place.  I wish I could place this in 10th place.  Only 3 mid slots, so you will constantly find a need to refit with a Mobile Depot, especially if you are low skilled which many new bros are.  The scanning upgrades will almost be a necessity to scan down certain sites in an efficient manner.  The only benefit of the Amarr route is getting Amarr Frigate III which also is necessary for the Astero.

All of the fits have a Sisters Core Probe Launcher.  It is the only bling on the ship and may be a bit on the expensive side.  But, the benefit to scanning with use of the launcher and the core probes will help you to scan faster, get to sites faster, and get back to cloaking faster.

Each of the 4 fits here can be completely fit in 11 days (excluding the drones).  By the time you get to day 11 you should be able to dive into wormholes and null sec systems and explore very well.

Sometimes Newbies Can Be Challenging

Just a short post this morning on an interaction in our hole this morning:

[ 2015.01.06 13:30:46 ] Midori Musashi > \o
[ 2015.01.06 13:30:56 ] Jormungand Andven > hi
[ 2015.01.06 13:31:09 ] Midori Musashi > you are probing in  Jxxxxxx atm?
[ 2015.01.06 13:32:16 ] Jormungand Andven > yes
[ 2015.01.06 13:32:28 ] Midori Musashi > just wanted to pass along some advice.
[ 2015.01.06 13:32:57 ] Midori Musashi > first, always rename your ship when you sit in it.  be default, the game names each of your ships your name, which told me you were in our system
[ 2015.01.06 13:33:13 ] Midori Musashi > second, always fit a cloak and turn cloak on when probing
[ 2015.01.06 13:33:50 ] Jormungand Andven > I myself a novice in these matters
[ 2015.01.06 13:34:18 ] Midori Musashi > oh, i understand
[ 2015.01.06 13:34:43 ] Midori Musashi > we recruit pilots exactly like you to our corp.  we are an exploration corp and specifically look to help new pilots in game
[ 2015.01.06 13:35:57 ] Jormungand Andven > I am a member of the corporation
[ 2015.01.06 13:36:07 ] Midori Musashi > i know
[ 2015.01.06 13:36:42 ] Midori Musashi > just trying to pass along advice to a new member.  if you would like assistance, tips and help in the future, we welcome providing advice to members, even if they are in a different corp
[ 2015.01.06 13:37:12 ] Jormungand Andven > I have no desire to change

I realize that with new bros joining the game, there is a conflict if they wish to become an explorer.  They was high skill levels in scanning, so that they can scan down those juicy fat loot sites in null sec or wormhole space.  Yet, they also need to balance that with skills which would help them dfend their ship, keep it safe, and possibly extract themselves from a hostile situation.  Choices are hard.

This pilot literally stayed in system for 20+ minutes scanning down every system uncloaked the ENTIRE 20 minutes.  My failure today was not having a point available.  I burned an alt down from low sec only to see him disappear finally as my alt was 1 jump out of our static.  :sigh:

The other perplexing moment during this interaction was that I wanted to extend advice to him in the future in helping him try to stay alive.  Yet, he thought that I was trying only to poach him from his current corporation.  I guess the part where I said even if they are in a different corp, totally sailed over his head.  Reading is hard sometimes.

Tripwire

Last night we had our first venture as a corporation into wormhole space.  It certainly helped to get teamspeak up and running, as there is only so much information you can convey and you can only type so fast in chat channels.

Initially, this started as a single corporation member derping around and probing.  He mentioned that he had jumped into a wormhole, but he did not understand that it was EOL (end of life).  The whole literally closed right behind him.  Derp.

With TS up and running, I asked him to link his system in chat.  He started to type the name of the system so that he could highlight and right-click to choose system name.  I told him to stop.  Go to the upper left corner of your monitor with mouse, click and drag the system name to the chat channel.  OMG!!!  He felt a little foolish.  I then told him that it took me nearly 3 years to learn that nifty trick.

I finished jumping into the low sec system he was in, and we warped to the hole he had probed down.  Prior to jumping in, I opened up tripwire on my in-game browser.  I then asked him to create an account there as well.  I briefly explained what the system was, and how we would use it.

Tripwire is a mapping program which is used primarily for wormholes, chains and sites.  There are other programs out there, but I have found that this program works best for me.  There are features in the program to follow me and automatically update the current system with the application.  It also will setup the opposite side of holes when you jump through.  Finally, for corporations, it automatically shares data as long as you have setup an admin account with a CEO or Director API.  The corporation member thought that this was a very helpful tool.  I agreed.  Tripwire can be located here.

While I probed the remaining 4 sites (all wormholes) in the first hole, he proceeded to jump into the first hole and continue probing.  After I finished probing, there was an exit to low sec, so I took that.  Found 1 relic and 1 high sec exit.  In the high sec system there was 1 relic which took me longer than usual to probe down.

We had a 3rd corp member join us, so I asked him to burn down to us and we would run the relic sites.  Both sites blew and had maybe 3-4 million worth of loot.

I called it a night, and the others continued exploring.

All-in-all a very positive night, teaching tricks in the game and learning to use new tools which will make an explorers life easier and more efficient.