EVE Online: A Ghost Site Guide (Covert Research Facility)

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[@leatherwiz]

I should have watched this before I used a alpha clone to scan in a 0.5 system and found a ghost site which I did not know about at the time. Hacking the first container got me 10 Mio. The second container failed the hack and all over sudden I blew up. Did not understand what hit me at the time. Lost a scanning Heron with sister probes, rigs and loot worth about 20 or 30 Mio Isk a lot of cash for a new alpha. Then googled this and found out about the ghost sites. Well it was just pixels and I learnt something about these sites. I also learnt to bookmark my wreck before warping out. Fly safe. So thanks for the video.

[@zacronaut5765]

This just happened to me too. I lost about the same amount you did. T_T I was really confused until I did a bit of research. *sigh* I lost a fully fitted Imicus, with rigs and sister probes. But, as you said, they're just pixels. That helps me feel a little better lol. o7

[@sprintonwater]

Ha ha yeah I know how it goes... Luckily the first time I found one of these I knew how they worked. Still died tho... :( Glad the vid helped you out :)

[@danieltoal2120]

Just lost a 150 mil Astero, I had JUST gotten and kitted out...for some reason I didn't think these were in high sec, so when the warning pop up came I didn't read it, closed it. When I landed UNCLOAKED I took the time to scan down another site. So as soon as I finished burning to the first can and started the hack, the wardens warped in. I realized I had fucked up and desperately tried to warp out but my ship just kept bouncing off the fucking can because in my panic I just quickly warped to something in my overview...which happened to be directly behind the can I was hacking. That was my first Astero man...I didn't buy it, I made a point of earning it through the drone chip and building it myself. RIP Astero I had for less than an hour and didn't even name yet ='(

[@immersivegamer7640]

@@danieltoal2120 Dude EXACTLY the same thing happened to me! Got mine Astero GRINDING SOE missions for LPs... bought the Blueprint, hauled the minerals produced it and was soooo proud of my shiny new Astero ;)) Found a ghost site as my third or fourth signature LOL.. (not aware what it was) Warped in, being busy hacking - didnt even bother to check the overview for npcs (was in 0.6 highsec) Suddenly bam capsule ejected I was like WTF ??? Fit and ship worth a good 100mil+ , loot all lost to sth I didnt even understand... Oh well grinded next 30k soe lps got a new astero and next time I got one of those warped in with my alt in a hurricane... He was 1system away so what did I do? I WAIT ON GRID IN get it IN THE GHOST SITE UNCLOAKED - the alt warps in I start the hack and blam - rats warp in can explodes wasting the astero for like 6 or 8k explosive damage - I am like "DAFUQ? AGAIN? OMGLOL" - luckily warped out the hurricane with shields at 25% (in a mission fit with no stabilizers... ) and this time I proper read up on what happened. Was quite surprised tbh. You gotta learn I guess. Still love this game - steep learning curve is rare these days in gaming. Now I dont feel like flying around in the Astero (tho I got LPs for it - will be running sth cheap for explo - magnate or a heron. Dunno if anyone will read a wall-o-text post but still felt like a eulogy for my Asteros :) Fly safe all o7

[@swampfeet75]

Lost two asteros before I realized what these were - and the need to hustle (slow learner). Hit 2 since and bagged 37+m each in high sec. Well worth a few mins and some adrenaline. Good vid.

[@bootycrusader2309]

just did one, got greedy on the last can and lost my astero.. lesson learned, moving on lol

[@kopazwashere]

do It on a buffer fit tengu with MWD and you won't have to risk losing your ship ever again.

[@michaelpyouknowme]

@@kopazwashere what does this mean? What's a buffer and a tengu?

[@viiris3759]

@@michaelpyouknowme tengu is strategic cruiser and buffer means tank with high resistances and lot of hitpoints on shield of the ship

[@Plrmn12]

Thanks to your guide I was able to grab the HGA Omega BPC worth 3.8b from my first site, going for Omega now :)

[@sprintonwater]

Awesome as man! In my thousands of ghost sites, I never got the Omega. Congrats!

[@TheBraddigan]

Thanks for the good guide! I suggest using the radial menu to open containers. It's a harder to misclick.

[@sprintonwater]

+TheBraddigan Thanks! Yes I've started using the selected items window to open containers. Seems to be much quicker and is working well for me :)

[@ashokrayvenn]

Thanks for the info...probably could have used that last night when I found my first ghost site and thought I was perfectly safe.

[@nathanav1634]

A few tips; bind orbit to a button, set default orbit to 1500, to start a hack you use your analyzer at 10km ish range (with MWD on) it will start targeting for you. Bind everything, you're clicking which slows you down. Work through nodes quicker, your hacks were painfully slow. For a quicker first hack, get to 100km+ range (warp in at a distance) then warp to the first can at 0 and decloak, saves slowboating to the first can cloaked.

[@michaelpyouknowme]

How do you know when it's a "ghost site"... I always find data sites but how do I know that data site is a ghost site and not just a regular data site.. Also how do you cloak while warping?

[@maxchess1408]

​@@michaelpyouknowme I'm a BIT late ig but you needa covert ops ship

[@MeanStreakGaming]

Thanks for the guide, I do have issues with your fit tho. The warp core stabs will make your locking time incredibly long. Cargo scanner + loot best can + gtfo is the best strategy.

[@solitude9875]

Can a T1 analyzer work as well? I am an Alpha who wants to run these

[@MeanStreakGaming]

@@solitude9875 Yeah, I see no reason for it not to work.

[@aroomydayong3522]

great clip which helped me a lot to understand what the he** happened to me this morning :D

[@birrekhidir425]

update on probe part, if you forget to retrive probes before u move on to next system they will automaticly be in ur inv when ariving on next system.

[@Jackpkmn]

i recommend using a regular covops frig like the helios instead. it's way cheaper than the astero, has stronger scan strength bonus at covops 4 and gets reduced locking delay after decloaking.

[@solitude9875]

Thx so much man for that vid

[@Frankiesssss]

Thanks for the guide. Good info. Got 3 of the 4 cans done before the rats showed up. But just my luck, attempted to warp away and got stuck on the can! The game hates me!!!

[@calbaking]

Nice and easy video - thanks

[@fr3k4z0id]

If I remember well you always have 3 mins in a ghost site till rats arrive, so just start a timer when you decloak

[@sprintonwater]

It's a random timer. You'll often get 2-3 mins, but it's totally possible that they show up straight away even. Had that happen more than once.

[@fr3k4z0id]

Really? Was it always like this? Since I really remember that they arrived exactly at the 3rd minute mark. I did even start a timer on my phone :)

[@Aceyface]

are ghost sites as easy to find independant of the type of system you scan in? I have only ever found 2 and they were both in high sec.

[@sprintonwater]

Yeah they should have the same spawn rate everywhere. But they're just a really rare site, so you won't find many. CCP changed them a while back from anoms to sigs, so back in the day you could actually do a lot better with them, cos you could just race gate to gate for 100's of jumpes to find them. Sadly you can't do that anymore :(

[@jessegriffin7259]

how long does it take you to find one of these if actively looking?

[@Heavydood]

Another very good video :-)

[@sprintonwater]

Thanks heaps my dude 👊 !

[@alphaga8384]

Thanks for the video. Please, what skill you need to do with the better help what we see in the video ? (exploration, hacking ?). Are some implants exist to do what we see ? Thanks for answer :)

[@fortunexcraft35]

Ok well i have a question i went to one and the rats immediately can as soon as i start hacking maybe someone else trigger the site?

[@nateeverts3915]

you should put the fittings in the description. i have a hard time with the accent. I apologize i'd love to get this working so i can fund a shipping or mining orca

[@gothmog2441]

Be careful not to overshoot the can … if you start to hack, run more than 5-6k away, then you fail the hack by default and can and ship go boom

[@AthelsWOW]

Hisec ghost sites can also be very good. But a lot rarer as there's a lot more activity in hisec. I had two spawn yesterday in the same system within two minutes . Quite new so didn't understand the significance until I looted 30 mil on the first can. As soon as reds showed up on the overview I warped away. Second site I managed two cans. And got another 40 mil. I didn't try for a 3rd as I had 80 mil loot on my 4mil imicus so I just warped to a station and unloaded. 80 mil for 5 mins work, my corp couldn't believe my luck.

[@sprintonwater]

Ha ha great work! Yup I really like these sites, they're great fun :)

[@zobayer1]

Watching this old video.... after losing a couple of Herons....Guess I'll just have to leave them be for a while.

[@Rockhardchicchic]

ty

[@Skillfuldedwwa]

does cloaking can dodge the warp scramble or something when rats show up? and how much time do we have when we first start to hack?

[@sprintonwater]

Yes you could avoid the rats in this way. But you'd need to be more than 2000m from the can you're hacking, and you'd need to cloak before the rats can lock you. I can't remember off the top of my head if they insta lock when they hit grid, or if you've got some time there...

[@joesaicarr8765]

They instalock. Twice been blown away the second they show on grid, they don't like me xD For the newbs, if you get targeted when you are uncloaked, you cannot cloak unless you break the target lock. eg, once they see you, they got you]

[@jcldano]

Found my first ghost site today. Successfully hacked one can and warped out to dock and save the loot, figuring I could warp back to it and continue. Nope. It disappeared. Lesson learned!

[@michaelpyouknowme]

How do you know when they are ghost sites

[@jcldano]

@@michaelpyouknowme By their name. Look up “Eve ghost sites”.

[@michaelpyouknowme]

@@jcldano 1 more question... was it in the list of Anomalies or was it a cosmetic signature that you had to scan down? Thanks bud

[@jcldano]

@@michaelpyouknowme They are cosmic signatures you'll have to scan down.

[@sanicishere7295]

@@michaelpyouknowme they have "covert research facility" in their name (NOT Beseiged/contested, those ones are combat sites)

[@DanielRodriguez-cy4po]

it`s too risky run all site, I use cargo scanner and go for the best cane, bp ascendacy implant it's priority, you will lose some sec scanning but you can get the bp high-grade ascendancy omega (5B isk) if you go for the right cane

[@WardenRadio]

did you get one ? Cause I read that the HG ascendancy omega where from ghost sites in WH space only. So if you got one from NS i"ll run it more often :)

[@Jento]

Bit confused. You say explosion radius is 10k, but my understanding has been that it's a 5km radius. I've not had issue to test, but would like clarification on it. Also... can you not kill the rats there with an active tanked astero?

[@sprintonwater]

From my testing 2 years ago it was a 10km radius, and I'm assuming that's not changed. There's no point in killing the rats, just loot the cans as quick as you can cos that's where the only stuff of value is in this site :)

[@sarwarn2107]

I once lost 300m isk Astero+loots in one of the ghost site in nullsec. You should never do more than one container, as the timer is varies. Sometime it could be very short. For me I was unlucky that time, as the rats arrived before I even done the second container. Just to let you know that I was much more faster in unlocking the container than you did.

[@sprintonwater]

+Sarwar Nezar yeah it's always a risk vs reward scenario. These days I like to take a mobile depot, and dump my loot in there before I ran the site. That way if I die I just lose a ship and can come back for my stuff. I've learnt the hard way tho and like you lost many shiny stero's :) zkillboard.com/kill/47679850/

[@Furaxxxxx]

4 times ive tried this, 4 times the first can ive rushed over to has exploded within 10 seconds of starting the hack, no idea how your supposed to do theese sites. Rats never showed, ive just been blown up by the can everytime, never failed, never even had time to fail them.

[@sprintonwater]

Sounds like you need to add "pirate NPC" to your overview. Also be careful using some of the popular overview packs... I know for a fact some of them are bugged when it comes to ghost sites.

[@Jento]

Could also be that he's starting the hack while over-shooting it. Get too far off, fail the hack, go splat, etc.

[@Furaxxxxx]

Nah i keep at range 1000 and dont start before im basically standing still, the killmail have just shown the can as the thing dealing damage to me, so no npcs ever showed, just blew up(without failing the hack in anyway), within 10 seconds. Just decided il stay away from thoose things, if i find some and theyr still there after a long enough time I might give it a go with a massively tanked cruiser or something

[@Jento]

Strange. I've never made one explode, to be honest, or had one explode while I was in it. Unlike Ace here, I haven't tried to run the full site, since quitting a hack early means boom, and npc's mean boom... so I hack the two best cans and I'm gone. Lol. Always hack them in frigs... usually a heron or buzzard, though it's an astero these days, and haven't ever failed a hack at one. Hacking isn't just a "luck" thing. There's a process that goes into hacking, to have better results. I always cringe when I see people showing "how to" hack for exploration, when they're terrible at it. :P I'm not sure why you're popping if you aren't failing the hack, and if it's only been 10 seconds, and you're standing still in range. Unless someone came out to shoot at the can... which would make it go boom and pop you. Unless it's terrible timing. If someone comes in... and warps out when the npc's do.... then the npc's come, and they'll warp out again. I'm not sure if it's just before the cans explode, or just after not finding a target to engage... but either way, it'd set the timer to go boom. The odds are not in favor of that being the case, since it'd take ridiculously bad luck to catch two sites about to explode. I could see someone baiting the site out and popping you by shooting at one of the cans though... it's a free kill that wouldn't flag in high-sec, so they could just go in and scoop your loot afterwords.

[@ZantharEos]

So will all the rats in the sight scram you if given the chance, or will only one do it?

[@sprintonwater]

+fligtOFstairs there's normally only 1 or 2 that will scram. Expect 2 scrams in the improved/superior sites. I've experimented with running these with 1 stab, and it works 70% of the time, but eventually you'll always end up running a site that'll double scram. That's why I say fit 2 stabs. I think that's the ideal number actually for targeting nerf/warp core strength balance.

[@s.d.gentry1354]

+fligtOFstairs make sure you fit t2 stabs they have less penalty. Also if you are running astero or another ship with 4 mids, add a sensor booster with script to help offset the penalty, as your cap has to be 95% to online which is a pain. This setup serves me well in my Helios setup.

[@viciouspotato3244]

+S. D. Gentry Could you link me that Helios fit?

[@sprintonwater]

ViciousPotato Hmm I never used a Helios in this vid. But I can link you one for Ghost Sites, or give you the Astero, or Magnate fits I used here.

[@viciouspotato3244]

mhmm, I know. I was asking Gentry, he mentioned one. But since you responded,(and thanks for that) would a helios be usuable for the fit in the video?

[@MTGPlayer10]

Thats odd...when I try to lock targets to hack when my cloak timer is "counting down" it won't let me until the timer reaches zero...what am I doing wrong or is this something they've changed within the last 2 months? Great vid btw. I found a ghost site the other day (didn't know there was a timer..new to exploration/eve) and all I got was one item worth 700k. then like 5 enemies warped in and did a lot of dmg to me..blew everything up and warped off. I tanked it so I'm happy for that but I got shit loot and I barely had 60secs (at least it seemed like it) when I got there. I've heared that in these ghost sites there is a container with a slightly different name then the others and that that one has the "best" loot (or at least best chance of valuable loot) in it. Can you confirm/deny this? Also I will be warping to these ghost sites cloaked from now on. How can I tell if they are ghost sites by looking at them..they obviously don't just come out and say it so...

[@sprintonwater]

+MTGPlayer10 So your targeting delay after cloaking varies depending on ship/skills/equipment but yes there's usually always a targeting delay when you de-cloak. It'll last about 10secs. The container with the different name has a better chance of having good loot. But I've done plenty of sites where the good loot has been in one of the 3 like named containers. You can tell what's a ghost site by the name. They'll always be named lesser/standard/improved/superior (insert faction name) Covert Research Facility. You can see the one I do here in the probe scanner window. It's a Sansha one, although it's labeled as a combat site, whereas there now labeled as data.

[@NorBdelta]

Why not just tank the site with a t3 cruiser? The rats warp off after shooting you a few times and then the cans explode. If tanked enough which is easily done, it gives you valuable time to get some more of that valuable loot (especially the ascendancy bpcs)

[@sprintonwater]

Actually you lose valuable time in your slow ship turning and moving between each can. You will always get more hacks done with a frigate, the trade off is if you mess up you die.

[@NorBdelta]

Good point, good point, the two of the cans if not three always have very low value contents. Not worth the hassle I suppose. Will give one a go and see how it feels

[@NorBdelta]

What I do now is I just carry around 5 rigs of each scanning resolution, data type and relic type and a data module and when I come across a covert site I refit and leave the rest of my fittings in station bar micro data and cargo scanner. This way all I have to loose is the ship and 4mill in modules as I carry around a sisters probe launcher

[@butWhyDad]

What can you find that is worth 600 mil ? I am confused

[@gothmog2441]

High end implants or implants BPCs. Components for Titan production run 200mill+ each. This is in nullsec/ WH sites ofc.

[@acolytetojippity]

O.O that might explain why i never found any. they're marked as combat sites. i always ignore them when i am doing explo. now i'm sad.

[@tonymurphy30]

Since Decembers patch Ghost sites have been re-classified as Cosmic Signature Data sites that require scanning down and the use of a data analyser to hack. Only the Besieged and Contested Covert Facilities still show as anomalies as these are true combat sites.

[@sprintonwater]

+acolytetojippity Yeah they've been reclassified as data sites. All the footage here is actually from before that patch. But they run exactly the same, you just have to scan them down. Still they're quite rare so you won't find them often. I'm not sure if CCP increased their spawn rate when the changed them. But it would make sense if they did as you can't just race around and find them anymore.

[@tonymurphy30]

+sprintonwater I've started to find them a little more, probably due to the fact you simply have to scan them down now. When they were anoms, anybody could see them as they were passing through the system. An excellent guide though, still waiting on that huge drop, never seem to get anything more than Mid-grade Ascendancy Gamma / Epsilon implant BPC's at the moment.

[@sprintonwater]

+Tony Murphy (witchking42) Are you doing the Low Sec ones? They only drop the mid grade. Null and WH ghost sites is where you get the high grade.

[@tonymurphy30]

+sprintonwater Wherever I can find them, I live out of a C3 wormhole and have only ever seen 1 spawn in there! However just found a High-grade Beta BPC in my inventory, so must have grabbed that from a null sec site at some point, just need to get some decent indy skills under my belt to ensure a profit if I actually make the implant. (currently looking at only 30M profit less taxes!)

[@shirenai]

I don't get it. Why did the can explode when you successfully hacked it?

[@sprintonwater]

These sites are on a timer, so after a certain amount of time all the cans blow up, regardless of whether you failed any hacks.

[@kingofpikachus]

I believe it's actually the rats killing them, right?

[@carmike17]

Is it completely unrealistic to try to run these in a tanked cruiser and just kill the sleepers? I know the Tengu, with the proper fitting, can put out respectable amounts of damage whilst still having reasonable tank.

[@sprintonwater]

+McDerbin Games No it's totally legit to run them in a tanked Cruiser, you just won't do as many cans. In the site I ran a cruiser could manage 2 maybe 3 cans if extremely lucky. The trade off is your not at risk of being blown up, so if you're not confident about doing them in a Frigate you can be safe in a cruiser. You'd need around 20-25k EHP to be safe which is easily doable. As for killing the rats there's no point as they don't drop loot. Plus the rats will only be on grid for 20-30 secs and they just warp in blow the site and warp out.

[@babbaderbozz]

Why is this vid 19min long? I ll break it down for newbros 1. If you fail a hack, you take 10k explosive dmg, 12500 in j space. 2. Enemys spawn 75-180 seconds After you enter the site. (they will scram you and explode the crates, which makes you take 10k dmg) always assume you only have 75 seconds, unless your cargo is empty at the Start and you want to gamble. Advice, fit a heron with shield buffer and explosive hardener, you can Tank the dmg if you fail Use a cargo Scanner to find the most valuable crate. Even if you are very Quick, more than 2 crates is dangerous, usually the mainframe contains the best loot, scan it first. If you scan in lowsec (which you shouldnt, null is more value) there will be 5 crates, the one above the rest ALWAYS contains an item worth 200m You are welcome, save yourself from endlessly stretched out eve KZbin "guides"

[@roone7372]

i did one of these site i came across in high sec lost my astero and 25 million in loot that i already had was not cool not i know to get there and do it quickly as possible

[@juanramon3223]

But if you are a Alpha Clone you will not be able to fit a cloaking device

[@xalienh3630]

Okay So I go a question Have you ever tried doing the site Like Killing the rats ? Would a Legion or stratios be fine ?

[@kingofpikachus]

Rats will still shoot the can and it'll explode, even if you try to kill them, so it's pointless if you are trying to get the loot

[@gothmog2441]

They’re hard to kill and don’t stay on site long. A small fleet could do it and it would be fun payback for all the ships I’ve lost to them…

[@zaja123451]

that build is epic fail mate......and how do even build something for ghost sites? they are so rare, you planing to do only them?

[@sprintonwater]

When I originally made this video ghost sites were anomalies and not signatures, and it was totally possible to run around and just do ghost sites. Unfortunately now you can't really do that in the same way :(