Cosmic Anomalies

Not to be confused with DED Complexes.

A Cosmic Anomaly is a hidden site in space, guarded by a faction of pirates, a group of Rogue Drones, or even ancient Sleeper Drones (in wormhole space). Capsuleers can find and eliminate the hostiles inside, often in exchange for a CONCORD bounty or in order to collect valuable salvage from the wreckage. Cosmic Anomalies can be found using a ship's on-board scanner or by use of scan probes. While, they are not as difficult as their Cosmic Signature counterparts, Cosmic Anomaly encounters are significantly easier to find, and can still give substantial rewards. There is a low possibility of a Pirate Faction Commander appearing within an Anomaly, carrying special faction modules. Furthermore, when destroyed, hostile ships within the Anomalies will occasionally leave behind clues which will “escalate” the Anomaly: leading to a new location with greater potential rewards. When an Escalation occurs, information about the new site will appear in the expeditions tab of the Mission Journal. In Null-security systems, certain infrastructure upgrades may increase the rate at which Anomalies can appear. Unlike Cosmic Signatures, Anomalies do not appear in a deadspace zone.

An anomaly allows you to rat with expectable waves of enemies and without a sudden increase in difficulty and you have a set amount of ISK in bounties you get from one type of anomaly. An anomaly can be run by multiple characters at once, and the bounties will get split between – assuming all characters are in the same fleet.

Profitability is mainly based on the isk/ehp ratio of the rats in the anomaly. Non-frigate ratting ships usually take this into account and avoid running anomalies with many frigate rats within them (eg. Forsaken Hubs have none), as frigates tend to be harder to hit from a cruiser-sized ratting ship or larger.

Doing certain anomalies can, in some cases, lead to an escalation. An escalation is a complex that you are given a bookmark to upon finishing an anomaly. When you receive an escalation bookmark, your journal (on the left sidebar) will flash and you will have a new entry in the expeditions tab regarding your escalation. Certain escalations can be very profitable, as high-level complexes often have faction or deadspace modules as loot. Some escalations can be very difficult. If you don't want to run the escalation yourself, there are services on the forums that will run them for you, for a 50/50 split on the loot.

You are not safe in anomalies. Ever. It takes only slightly more work to find a person running an anomaly than it does to find someone ratting in belts. If there are any hostiles in system, dock up. If the hostile(s) are interested in getting kills, they will check the anomalies, and they will find you. Keep your eye on local as always, and never assume you are safe.

Cosmic Anomalies can be found without any extra modules and skills by using the on-board scanner equipped in every ship other than capsules. The on-board scanner scans nearby space within 64 AU for Cosmic Anomalies and returns the results after 10 seconds of scanning. One can also utilize scan probes to find Anomalies, only one probe is required for Anomalies and it will provide a warp-in point for any Anomalies within its scan range, making it easier to find all Anomalies within a system.

Every ship can use the on board scanner except your capsule. There is no need to fit a probe launcher or carry probes to use the On-Board scanner (not to be confused with the Directional Scanner). As of Incursion 1.5 the on-board scanner now has a range of 64 AU (upgraded from 5 AU) which should easily cover almost every solar system if you are located anywhere near the middle, and for most systems, anywhere in the system will be fine. If you are uncertain about your position and whether the on-board scanner will give full system coverage, then open the map and check the distance to the furthest celestial from your location.

As a result of the changes to the on-board scanner, it is no longer required (or recommended) to use a probe launcher to find anomalies. The on-board scanner should be used as the primary method of finding cosmic anomalies. For more information on probing, see the Scanning guide or complexes.

Cosmic Anomalies typically appear within a 4 AU range around planets.

There are 10 different classifications of Cosmic Anomalies, ranging in difficulty from easy (class 1) to hard (class 10). Among these, Anomalies of certain classes appear in 4 different levels, which seem to indicate increasing difficulty from Level 1 (easiest) to Level 4 (hardest) For example, an Angel Hideaway would be easier than an Angel Forsaken Hideaway, both of which are easier than an Angel Hidden Hub.

The table below shows the different cosmic anomaly difficulty levels, as well as where they are found.

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Cosmic Anomalies can also be found in wormhole space. These Anomalies are guarded by sleeper drones, which are significantly more deadly than most pirate faction ships. These sites do not escalate normally, these sites escalate by bringing additional ships onto the battlefield.

Anomalies can escalate, giving pilots the exact location of a DED-rated complex without having to scan for it. Although escalations often lead to sites in lower security systems, the pirates in these sites often have a greater chance of leaving behind valuable faction modules. Anomalies in wormhole space will never escalate.