Since this is the area I get the most questions on by far it seems a good idea to talk about what skills you need to be a successful inventor.
The basic minimum skills to invent are as follows. Rank just means what level you have a skill at i.e. anywhere between 0 and 5. The level of these skills does not affect the chances of success in any way.
| Name | Rank |
| Electronics | 2 |
| Engineering | 2 |
| Electronics Upgrades | 5 |
| Science | 5 |
| Hacking | 2 |
In addition to this you need a racial encryption skill. There is one for each race and they are pricey, 150-250 mil per. The names of the interfaces and skill are related to the races in the following way, meaning that is the race needed. For Amarr you need the Occult interface etc. You only need the skill and interface for the race you are inventing on, no need to go buy them all if you are just making one races items.
| Race | Interface name |
| Amarr | Occult |
| Caldari | Esoteric |
| Gallente | Inognito |
| Minmatar | Cryptic |
The names of the invention skills are fairly obvious. Because I like tables so much we will list them here and what race stuff you can invent using it. This skill level is very important and directly affects your chance at success, 4 is a good place to start before you really get going on jobs. Again you only need the skills listed by the blueprints, if it takes the Occult Data Interface then you need Amarr Encryption Methods etc.
| Race | Skill name |
| Amarr | Amarr Encryption Methods |
| Caldari | Caldari Encryption Methods |
| Gallente | Gallente Encryption Methods |
| Minmatar | Minmatar Encryption Methods |
There are lots of skills that affect your chance of a successful invention job on top of just the racial encryption skills, and lucky for you we are now going to cover them here. These skills are needed to runs jobs and affect the outcome odds. I recommend getting the ones you use to 4 quickly and 5 can't hurt. With the exception of four skills they are all in the science category, the Starship Engineering ones being in the mechanic group.All skills are now in the science category, way to go CCP breaking my guide. To figure out which skills you need check the invention page on the bpc you are inventing on. All the datacores are tied to a single skill, listed in the following table. Remember only get the ones you need but get them to 4 at least.
| Skill | Datacore |
| Amarranian Starship Engineering | Datacore - Amarrian Starship Engineering |
| Caldari Starship Engineering | Datacore - Caldari Starship Engineering |
| Electromagnetic Physics | Datacore - Electromagnetic Physics |
| Electronic Engineering | Datacore - Electronic Engineering |
| Gallentean Starship Engineering | Datacore - Gallentean Starship Engineering |
| Graviton Physics | Datacore - Graviton Physics |
| High Energy Physics | Datacore - High Energy Physics |
| Hydromagnetic Physics | Datacore - Hydromagnetic Physics |
| Laser Physics | Datacore - Laser Physics |
| Mechanical Engineering | Datacore - Mechanical Engineering |
| Minmatar Starship Engineering | Datacore - Minmatar Starship Engineering |
| Molecular Engineering | Datacore - Molecular Engineering |
| Nanite Engineering | Datacore - Nanite Engineering |
| Nuclear Physics | Datacore - Nuclear Physics |
| Plasma Physics | Datacore - Plasma Physics |
| Quantum Physics | Datacore - Quantum Physics |
| Rocket Science | Datacore - Rocket Science |
Hopefully you have figured out the naming convention by now. Coincidentally the skills which are needed to use the datacores are the exact same ones you need to use a Research & Development agent to get those datacores, funny how things just work out some times. As far as skills that affect the odds of success for invention that is the list, everything after this point is just stuff I think you should have.
Here is an example of what you would see in game and what skills you would need to invent it. We go with our old standby, the Ballistics Control System 1.
Datacore - Electronic Engineering means we need the skill 'Electronic Engineering' at least at 1. Datacore - Mechanical Engineering means we need the skill 'Mechanical Engineering' at least at 1. Esoteric Data Interface means we actually need a Esoteric Data Interface lying around, plus the skill Caldari Encryption Methods at least at 1. These skills should be much higher than 1 of course, as I have been saying over and over shoot for 4 minimum. Datacores are pricey, no need to waste them when you could be much luckier in a few days.