I'm thinking about trying to do some low-sec exploration. I'll have to use an unbonused ship, as I won't get the necessary combat capabilities otherwise, and my scanning skills are rather mediocre.
Under these circumstances I suspect that the probe sensor strength might be problematic. So I'm wondering on how high the sensor strength has to be to be able to scan down all signatures that can appear in low-sec space?
Best Answer
In the current scanning system all anomalies are divided into bands with each band having its own base signal strength. A list of bands and signal strengths is available on this EVE wiki page.
The lowest base signal strength, and consequentially most difficult to scan down, anomalies have a base signal strength of 1.25%. Thus according to this guide (and allowing for the skill changes in Odyssey) and assuming an 8-probe formation you need a probe sensor strength of at least 68.59 in order to be able to scan them down at all.
The easiest way to get to this level of scan strength on an unbonused ship is to have a combined total of at least 6 levels in Astrometrics and Astrometric Rangefinding, fit 2 gravity capacitor rigs to your ship and use sisters core scanner probes in a T1 core probe launcher.
Of course this is just the minimum level required to have any chance of completely scanning down any anomaly, better skills and equipment will give you more leeway with probe positioning and range, allowing you to scan faster.