(copied directly from James Lyrus' forum post)

OK, so probing's changed in a big way. I though it worth trying to collate our experiences and techniques.

First off, the devblog: http://www.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=642

So please consider this a work in progress - my experience is spending last night hunting wormsign, so it's limited:

Tools of the Trade:

Probe Launchers - you have a choice of either the Core Probe Launcher, or an Expanded Probe Launcher. The Core probe launcher can only do core probes (exploration probes). The Expanded Launcher superceeds previous Recon and Scan probe launchers, and can do both Combat probes and Core probes.

You'll also need some Core Scanner Probes - 8 is a good number, as that's a full launcher and the number to put in space off an expanded launcher. Combat Probes and Deep Space probes load in 10s, so about 20 of those will be fine. You can recall your probes when you're done now, so you don't need massive stacks of them.

You also might find useful a covert ops - which gets a scan strength bonus. Gravity Capacitor Upgrade rigs - more scan strength Virtue implant set - yet more scan strength. 'Prospector' implants - PPH, PPG PPF improve probing

Skills: * The Signal Acquisition skill is now called Astrometric Triangulation and gives a strength bonus. * The Astrometric Triangulation skill is now called Astrometric Acquisition and gives a scan time bonus. * The Astrometric Pinpointing skill does what it always did, reducing deviation. * The Astrometrics skill gives you +1 probes active per level, starting with 4 at level 1.

Astrometrics has become extremely useful, because you need 4 probes to triangulate - thus with astrometrics 5, you can have two complete sets.

So, how does it work?

Well, probes can detect the range to a target, and will always do so if it's in range. However, they're also not very accurate - when the signal strength is low, they can be quite a long way out. You're essentially trying to converge your probes around your target, gradually improving the accuracy of your 'hit' - once 4 probes have a 'good' signal strength, the combined range from each of them uniquely defines the point in space, and you can warp to it.

But remember, always, that your probes aren't accurate - a single object will be detected by every probe in range - but with enough deviation, or overlap, the same thing might show up as several separate hits. You can see that phenomenon at work if you drop 8 probes on the same spot - everything will show up 8 times, as they all get a different reading of the distance, and none of the distances intersect.

Finding what's to find.

OK, so first off, lob a probe or two into space. Open your 'scanner' window, set them to 32AU. Then open your system map (open map, and then there's a button to toggle it to system now). Also, turn on your tactical overlay - it's kinda nice to have the system ranges in AUs.

You'll see your probes have 'draggy bits' to move them around - that's right, probes now warp around. Drag them into position. You can also right click on them to adjust their range, or just 'drag' the sphere around them. However be aware that the UI isn't that great, so be careful - especially if you click on the probe (and not the arrow) to drag it around - it almost certainly won't move the probe to where you thought, unless you're specifically looking at it from directly above. Use those arrows to move it, until you're comfortable with it.

But position these initial probes just so you cover the system - 32AU is often enough, but sometimes there's a cluster a bit further out.

Hit 'analyse' and see what you get. Cosmic Anomalies are encounter sites, and most likely factional warfare complexes. Cosmic Signatures are what we're interested in here. (Although, ship probing now works in pretty much the same way, if you want to do this with 'combat' probes)

If you've got none, move on to another system. If you have multiple, then hover over them, and it'll give you a red sphere with the probe that detected them and the approximate range. If your probes overlap a bit, you might have a little red ring instead - that means both probes detected the same site, and it's somewhere within that ring… barring deviation.

OK, so lets assume we've found something for now - the next step is to actually find it. You'll need a least 4 probes in space, so at this point I'd say just launch as many as you can. Position them 'around' the probe that got the hit, and run your scan again. You ideally want to spread them out so you have 4 covering anywhere that original hit might be - set 'em all to 32AU, and eyeball putting them into a tetrahedron formation 16AU across is a good start.

Run your scan again, and you should now get some red dots appear in space - each dot is where 3 probes got a reading, so there might be a site somewhere there. (Yes, 3 - and we need 4 to uniquely define, so remember that - some of those might be ghosts).

Now, here's where astrometrics 5 comes in handy - you can maintain that 'fix' with 4 probes, and then drop down the remaining 4 to half that range (and more strength). So… do that. Set 4 of your probes to 8AU, and move them such that they cover the dot you're after. (If you don't have astrometrics 5, then I'd still go with doing this with half of your probes). Spread them out a bit though, as you're going to have a lot of scan deviation, and if the 'hit' is out of range because of it, they won't help. Again, try and form a tetrahedron around your target, with your probes all overlapping enough that they all cover it.

Scan again, and you should see your 'hit strength' increase, and another dot appear.

And now you need to repeat this, zooming in and reducing ranges each iteration. If you 'lose' it', then put the ranges back up a notch, and scan again - but bear in mind they can vanish simply because someone has just completed them.

Repeat this, moving closer and closer, until you get 100%. You won't always do this though - sometimes you just don't have the scan strength because of lacking skills, a covops, and a gravity capacitor upgrade - if you've got 4 0.25AU probes covering a site, but still can't get to 100%… it's time to come back later, because you won't get it.

At 25% strength you'll see site type - Radar/Ladar/Gravimetric/Unknown/Magnetometric. Wormholes are in the 'unknown' category IIRC. This is meaningless for probing reasons, but do give a hint as to what sort of thing the site is. (Grav = Roid-Mining, Radar = Hacking, Ladar = Gas-Mining, Mag = Archeology/Salvage, Unknown = WH or Combat-Plex) At 75% strength, you'll be able to tell what the site name is - Sanshas Bondage Palace, or Unstable Wormhole. (That's the same with ships by the way - you get 'battleship/frigate' at 50% strength, and 'Raven/Imicus' at 75%)

Once you've got 100% fix, you can warp to your site. Bear in mind though, that scan deviation might have one last trick to play, and you'll end up a way off your target - so leave your probes out, and scan again if there doesn't seem to be anything there. (Maybe close up your 'outer' probes a bit too). You'll know when you've found whatever.

Once you've warped there, BOOK MARK IT, and then if you're feeling like you have found enough, recall all your probes.

And you're done.

Now, if that's a wormhole, you can 'show info' on it, and you'll see: This Wormhole probably goes to Highsec, Lowsec, 0.0 and Unknown Space It'll also have an indicator of lifespan - mass until it collapses, and time until it collapses. We don't have firm estimates on mass limits yet, but initial indications are that carriers will cause it to collapse quickly. Time is somewhere between 16 and 48 hours, from initial opening.

Once you enter the wormhole, the first thing you MUST do is bookmark that side as well. Because you'll feel very stupid if you warp off to look around, and can't find your way back.