Not really an in-depth tutorial, but you can get general picture:
https://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Exploration_guide
Would you like Exploration to be buffed?
- Thread starter BjpMunro
- Start date
Not really an in-depth tutorial, but you can get general picture:
https://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Exploration_guide
I've only dabbled a bit with exploring, carrying a basic discovery scanner on some long trips (trading rares) and scanning each system I jumped through. If there were a lot of bodies discovered on the first scan I'd think about exploring them. It added a bit of a bonus to the trade runs and broke up the monotony of "jump, realign to next system, jump again".
I intend to come back to exploring when I've kitted out a combat ship and can afford a well equipped exploration vessel with more advanced scanners. By then FD might have added some more content for explorers. I think exploration missions are a no brainer and could be easily added - go to x, explore and discover y undiscovered features, come back and sell data to us.
I intend to come back to exploring when I've kitted out a combat ship and can afford a well equipped exploration vessel with more advanced scanners. By then FD might have added some more content for explorers. I think exploration missions are a no brainer and could be easily added - go to x, explore and discover y undiscovered features, come back and sell data to us.
while not an expert I started exploring after the Beta was over. different planet types do fetch different prices and can be quite decent, particularly earth like planets. i'm making better credits than I did trading and haven't needed to upgrade from a sidewinder at all. as for repetition it is exploring. sometimes it's disappointing and now and then I hit a gold mine of data.
that's what some 'unidentified signal's are. loot protected by pirates. I've collected weird stuff like rare artworks and i'm sure there is more I haven't seen yet. on a couple of occasions I've also jumped into a system and noticed a small hoard of contacts coming my way from the only planet in the system. scanning them they turn out to be pirates so i'm out. there is probably something decent in that system.
and I don't cruise around using left click to discover bodies. I use a process of flying and eyesight and using star orbit circles to find outer planets and twin systems, it's a grind i'm ok with and often it more than doubles the payout for the system. I actually feel like I am exploring. I still have only the basic scanner at the moment.
the deeper further scans should take longer to process taking account of distance and information processing. and that many options for scanners is too much. I find figuring out your own processes for scanner shortcomings is part of the exploration.
this is an MMO about the human race's expansion in the galaxy. the fact an intelligent life even exists here is an infinitesimally small chance so littering it with aliens and the like will completely degrade the experience. at some point it will happen and i'm sure Frontier will make it seem plausible to the effect of a 'real' galaxy. it's what exploring is about. the pioneers of old would cross one hill and what's that?..oh another hill, so on and so on. at the moment exploring is what I expect it would be like in the real world if we had the ability to travel to the stars.
i'm still having fun finding strange but believable system layouts. and even the odd very rare looking planet surface.
just like an MMO, not all aspects of the game are going to be attractive to everyone. I think so far Frontier have done a solid job in such a gargantuan play area and are toeing a fine line between fantasy and human's going forth into deep space.
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8000Ly discovery trip earned me 5M credits after deducting repair costs. Yes trading would have earned me a lot more considering the time i spend on the trip. Did i have fun? yes i saw a lot of cool stuff and i took time to go fly around in planetary rings just for the fun and view of it
Was it worth it? yes, would do again..
The only issue with all of this is: You cannot sell all your data all at once meaning you'll sit there for an hour selling your data which is not fun.. (windowed mode helps though)
Was it worth it? yes, would do again..
The only issue with all of this is: You cannot sell all your data all at once meaning you'll sit there for an hour selling your data which is not fun.. (windowed mode helps though)
A few thoughts about exploration, from the point of view of someone that has just done a 4,000 LY trip.
Firstly, I agree that exploration as it stands has a very low income per hour in terms of credit. I estimate that I earned in the region of 100,000 credits per hour exploring, compared to earning closer to 500k per hour hounty hunting and over a million per hour trading.
That said, income is not a major problem with exploring. Out of the sample set of pilots I know that do explore, the majority have the experience as the primary motivating factor.
I have heard several times on the forums, but never from dedicated explorers that the advanced discovery scanner is overpowered. I disagree. When you are out exploring, the main payout is getting to see new sights, identifying new constellations - like this one I call "satellite dish", but others have called "bow"
View attachment 6257
It takes serious time already to fly to every interesting planet in a system and scan it, but that chance of discovering an earth-like or terraforming candidate is a good part of the fun of exploring. Taking away the advanced discovery scanner would just add a good chance of missing those planets that are 4 or 500k ls away. I agree with having the other scanners that have ranges to provide options, and if someone wants a bigger challenge, I encourage them to use an intermediate scanner instead. But serious explorers generally don't find squinting at the screen, flying around trying to spot dots that are moving against the starmap to be a good use of our time. We don't like never knowing if we missed items in the system.
We already have serious limitations on exploration. The inability to repair hull damage being the primary one. I would love to be able to set off in a group, with players flying specialised ships, eg. a tanker that can conduct basic repairs of other ships, probably requiring other pilots to find mineral resources, mine them, bring them back to be refined and spare parts constructed. Perhaps a fuel ship that can act as a tanker for those areas where scoopable stars are rare. There are lots of possibilities.
We dont' want exploring to be easier, we want to be able to work as a group to achieve more than any of us could do individually. We don't need higher incomes from it, the reward is principally in the experience of seeing new worlds, going boldly where noone has gone before
Firstly, I agree that exploration as it stands has a very low income per hour in terms of credit. I estimate that I earned in the region of 100,000 credits per hour exploring, compared to earning closer to 500k per hour hounty hunting and over a million per hour trading.
That said, income is not a major problem with exploring. Out of the sample set of pilots I know that do explore, the majority have the experience as the primary motivating factor.
I have heard several times on the forums, but never from dedicated explorers that the advanced discovery scanner is overpowered. I disagree. When you are out exploring, the main payout is getting to see new sights, identifying new constellations - like this one I call "satellite dish", but others have called "bow"
View attachment 6257
It takes serious time already to fly to every interesting planet in a system and scan it, but that chance of discovering an earth-like or terraforming candidate is a good part of the fun of exploring. Taking away the advanced discovery scanner would just add a good chance of missing those planets that are 4 or 500k ls away. I agree with having the other scanners that have ranges to provide options, and if someone wants a bigger challenge, I encourage them to use an intermediate scanner instead. But serious explorers generally don't find squinting at the screen, flying around trying to spot dots that are moving against the starmap to be a good use of our time. We don't like never knowing if we missed items in the system.
We already have serious limitations on exploration. The inability to repair hull damage being the primary one. I would love to be able to set off in a group, with players flying specialised ships, eg. a tanker that can conduct basic repairs of other ships, probably requiring other pilots to find mineral resources, mine them, bring them back to be refined and spare parts constructed. Perhaps a fuel ship that can act as a tanker for those areas where scoopable stars are rare. There are lots of possibilities.
We dont' want exploring to be easier, we want to be able to work as a group to achieve more than any of us could do individually. We don't need higher incomes from it, the reward is principally in the experience of seeing new worlds, going boldly where noone has gone before
We already have serious limitations on exploration. The inability to repair hull damage being the primary one. I would love to be able to set off in a group, with players flying specialised ships, eg. a tanker that can conduct basic repairs of other ships, probably requiring other pilots to find mineral resources, mine them, bring them back to be refined and spare parts constructed. Perhaps a fuel ship that can act as a tanker for those areas where scoopable stars are rare. There are lots of possibilities.
We dont' want exploring to be easier, we want to be able to work as a group to achieve more than any of us could do individually. We don't need higher incomes from it, the reward is principally in the experience of seeing new worlds, going boldly where noone has gone before
perfectly said. hopefully with work on the group systems we'll see this kind of thing happening.
Exploration is great fun as it is... If you like just exploring for explorations sake, which fortunately i do.
If we eventually get even half of what is in the DDA ill be more than happy.
If we eventually get even half of what is in the DDA ill be more than happy.
As an explorer, I can honestly say that exploration absolutely needs additional content and gameplay mechanics to make it more interesting and enjoyable in the long run.
As it is now, you have to spend most of your time scanning utterly boring and uninteresting systems for little challenge and reward. Occasionally you do find something great, like an Earth-like planet in a cool region, but those events are few and far between.
As it is now, you have to spend most of your time scanning utterly boring and uninteresting systems for little challenge and reward. Occasionally you do find something great, like an Earth-like planet in a cool region, but those events are few and far between.
Of course you haven't heard any complaints about the top end scanner. You also will not hear any complaints by traders making 4 mill credit an hour hauling goods back and forth between a couple stations. It's not the kind of thing they would complain about.
Agreed, the adv scanner makes it a clickfest imo, i'm fine with the principle of being able to scan a large swathe of space in one go, but i think it should be more involved and take a bit more skill than sitting next to the jump in point and holding a button for 10 seconds.
We already have serious limitations on exploration. The inability to repair hull damage being the primary one. I would love to be able to set off in a group, with players flying specialised ships, eg. a tanker that can conduct basic repairs of other ships, probably requiring other pilots to find mineral resources, mine them, bring them back to be refined and spare parts constructed. Perhaps a fuel ship that can act as a tanker for those areas where scoopable stars are rare. There are lots of possibilities.
We dont' want exploring to be easier, we want to be able to work as a group to achieve more than any of us could do individually. We don't need higher incomes from it, the reward is principally in the experience of seeing new worlds, going boldly where noone has gone before
I would be happy if the Auto repair module would repair important things like thrusters and power plants, but the ability to mine and refine materials to repair your ship would add a new dimension to exploration, which would be most welcome.
As a fluff piece, FDev could put a Galnet alert out that the firmware in all scanners had a minor (but significant) flaw that miscalculated planetary/solar data by a small margin, thus necessitating an upgrade (new game mechanics) and the need to rescan with the new and improved techniques.
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I look at the system map as soon as i have the 1st level scan data, and if there are no metallic looking planets or gas giants i move on to the next system without bothering to DSS the icy looking ones.
Do you scan every point in each system, or focus for the more profitable ones? I've been focusing on clearing out entire systems, but some people prefer to hunt for 'goldilocks' planets so ignore the contacts further out, since Ice bodies aren't worth much. The most I've ever received is a high 48K for a huge system with multiple stars and more than a dozen planets.
There are many things that would improve exploration and I'm sure we will see some of them being implemented in the months/years to come. Exploration is already lots of fun and like most explorers, whenever I return back home to sell my data I feel a growing urge to move out again. With additional contents and especially some more advanced exploration mechanics I don't see this becoming boring any time soon.
There is however one thing that is definitely NOT wrong with exploration, and that's money. Firstly, you don't need such an expensive ship for successful exploration. A perfectly optimized Hauler runs in at under 3 millions, so you'll get a 100% return of investment after maybe a week. Hardly any explorer aims higher than an Asp, and while that's more costly, it's definitely within reach of any player in the long run.
But secondly, I don't even understand where all the cries for balancing credit income come from. Yes I know, it's psychology 101, but what does it bother me if someone else earns more money than I do as long as I earn enough and have fun doing it? I see no gameplay related reason why different professions should be balanced in payment. That's not the case in real life, and there's no necessity in game either. As long as each chosen career pays for itself why would one need any more money for it? Now as for PvP elements of the game, they should be balanced for the sake of fairness. But credits aren't a PvP element.
There is however one thing that is definitely NOT wrong with exploration, and that's money. Firstly, you don't need such an expensive ship for successful exploration. A perfectly optimized Hauler runs in at under 3 millions, so you'll get a 100% return of investment after maybe a week. Hardly any explorer aims higher than an Asp, and while that's more costly, it's definitely within reach of any player in the long run.
But secondly, I don't even understand where all the cries for balancing credit income come from. Yes I know, it's psychology 101, but what does it bother me if someone else earns more money than I do as long as I earn enough and have fun doing it? I see no gameplay related reason why different professions should be balanced in payment. That's not the case in real life, and there's no necessity in game either. As long as each chosen career pays for itself why would one need any more money for it? Now as for PvP elements of the game, they should be balanced for the sake of fairness. But credits aren't a PvP element.
I guess that in theory, this could be expanded upon when planetary landings are included. I'd like to see something akin to the exploration in Mass Effect 1.
Level 1: Visit a system and map the stellar bodies.
Level 2: Get close to each planet and perform a surface composition scan
Level 3: Orbit the planet and perform a detailed scan for anomalies.
Level 4: Explore any anomalies by either flying close to the surface (planetary landings)
Level 5: In some cases, you need to get or "up close and personal" (on foot exploration).
Currently 1 and 2 are in place, and the expansions could allow 3, 4, and 5 to be added later. There would need to be a significant reward for the time taken though.
Perhaps some randomly generated ships systems which could be fantastic or useless. Think like Borderlands; think beam lasers that fire rainbows