Exploratory Do's and Dont's

I've finally got an asp with an Intermediate DS and a Detailed Surface Scanner. I'm going exploring; what IS worth scanning, and what isn't worth the time?
 
Do scan anything that looks like a water world or earth-like world

Do not scan rock clusters or planets that are hunks of ice or rock.

High metallic worlds are a matter of choice. They are worth scanning from a perspective of maximizing revenue per system. But if you're on a long trip, you probably don't want to bother till you reach your destination and are doing detailed surveys of the whole area.

Also - get another million credits somehow and toss that intermediate scanner off your ship and fit an advanced.
 
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hold the phone there!

1. if your interested in exploring it is my opinion you should have started before you could even afford the ASP. I get a hunch you will not like the role if where not driven to it earlier.
2. from what I understand the advanced scanner is basically a game killer. what that means is you see everything so no need to actually 'find' thing on your own. its autoplay
 
You might want to consider going with an Eagle and using the extra funds for an advanced scanner. It has a 20ly range and is super cheap to replace if you need to.
 
You can tell fairly accurately from star type and proximity of planets to their star. If you've got a cold star like a dwarf and planets hundreds of LS away they are likely to be worthless frozen rocks.
 
You can tell fairly accurately from star type and proximity of planets to their star. If you've got a cold star like a dwarf and planets hundreds of LS away they are likely to be worthless frozen rocks.

right and if you have a named system with a station that has a really long line then you got a lot of stuff.

My problem with my understanding of the advanced scanner is that its 100% autoplay. get that and then wonder why one is bored...well...autoplay
 

Harbinger

Volunteer Moderator
2. from what I understand the advanced scanner is basically a game killer. what that means is you see everything so no need to actually 'find' thing on your own. its autoplay

It really depends on whether or not you like searching for objects via the parallax method. Sure it's fun and rewarding for a while to find objects by sight alone as they move across the backdrop but it also gets old fast.

However, if you want to use exploration as a means of making credits then there really is no substitute for using the Advanced Discovery Scanner & Detailed Surface Scanner combo to streamline your efforts.

You still need to do close up scans to maximise your credits so a full system scan can take a long time even with the Advanced Scanner giving you a head start, it just speeds up the process somewhat.
 
hold the phone there!

1. if your interested in exploring it is my opinion you should have started before you could even afford the ASP. I get a hunch you will not like the role if where not driven to it earlier.
2. from what I understand the advanced scanner is basically a game killer. what that means is you see everything so no need to actually 'find' thing on your own. its autoplay

I'll agree with your point 1

With regard to your point 2, parallax searching for system objects is interesting... but it pales into inconvenience when you're scanning hundreds of systems (I know explorers that are over 4,000 systems scanned now).

Also, there's some things - orphan black holes for example, that are simply impossible to localise without an advanced scanner.
 
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right and if you have a named system with a station that has a really long line then you got a lot of stuff.

My problem with my understanding of the advanced scanner is that its 100% autoplay. get that and then wonder why one is bored...well...autoplay


I dunno, I guess it just depends on what you find fun. I just like going out and seeing the different systems and planets and hoping to find something unique. You already have to spend a considerable amount of time just in travel. With so many systems to visit I appreciate the time the advanced scanner saves me.
 
2. from what I understand the advanced scanner is basically a game killer. what that means is you see everything so no need to actually 'find' thing on your own. its autoplay

The first two scanners have ranges of 500 Ls and 1000 Ls. The advanced has an infinite range because some systems have objects incredibly far away, and there would be no other way of determining whether something is out there. It also doesn't scan anything for you, it only detects whether something is there; you're not going to make a ton of money just going from system to system pinging the ADS once each time and leaving. It's certainly not "autoplay," and you would definitely need something a lot more than that to be considered a "game killer."

Might want to tone down the hyperbole and premature judgments a bit, there should be sliders for those in your forum settings.
 
The first two scanners have ranges of 500 Ls and 1000 Ls. The advanced has an infinite range because some systems have objects incredibly far away, and there would be no other way of determining whether something is out there. It also doesn't scan anything for you, it only detects whether something is there; you're not going to make a ton of money just going from system to system pinging the ADS once each time and leaving. It's certainly not "autoplay," and you would definitely need something a lot more than that to be considered a "game killer."

Might want to tone down the hyperbole and premature judgments a bit, there should be sliders for those in your forum settings.
when it find it, it gives you [undiscovered] correct? because then all you have to do it target location and super cruise.

making lots of money is great if there is something to spend it on :)
 
when it find it, it gives you [undiscovered] correct? because then all you have to do it target location and super cruise.

making lots of money is great if there is something to spend it on :)

It takes an appreciable quantity of time to fly out to each body, approach within scanning range - as short as 5ls for some bodies, then spend up to 30 seconds scanning it.

Exploration is not a get rich quick profession however you do it. As Harbinger said, if you want to parallax search, then more power to you, and the option is there. But for serious exploration, taking the advanced scanner will help immensely in being sure you've seen everything a system contains.

And the point still stands that you can't find dark bodies in a system by parallax, no matter how good you are at it.
 
Ignore asteroid belts and anything that looks like a featureless white marble. DO travel to and scan interesting looking marbles.
 
It takes an appreciable quantity of time to fly out to each body, approach within scanning range - as short as 5ls for some bodies, then spend up to 30 seconds scanning it.

Exploration is not a get rich quick profession however you do it. As Harbinger said, if you want to parallax search, then more power to you, and the option is there. But for serious exploration, taking the advanced scanner will help immensely in being sure you've seen everything a system contains.

And the point still stands that you can't find dark bodies in a system by parallax, no matter how good you are at it.

still sounds like autoplay to me.

Correct you cant find the far ones but there is how many billions of systems? don't really need the far ones.

anyway, as an explorer that is one of last planned upgrades
 
You misunderstand me.

Without an advanced scanner, your chances of finding a black hole even a modest 5,000 ls from the primary are very very low.
 
hold the phone there!

1. if your interested in exploring it is my opinion you should have started before you could even afford the ASP. I get a hunch you will not like the role if where not driven to it earlier.
2. from what I understand the advanced scanner is basically a game killer. what that means is you see everything so no need to actually 'find' thing on your own. its autoplay

I've wanted to explore for ages; I've done some before I got the Asp (In my Cobra), but I really wanted the extra range and fuel capacity. Also, I totally agree with you about the advanced scanner, which is why I have an Intermediate.
 
You misunderstand me.

Without an advanced scanner, your chances of finding a black hole even a modest 5,000 ls from the primary are very very low.

black hole is my end game. no hurry :)

I most likely will get an advanced at some point but right now I don't need or want it is what I am saying
 
The advanced has an infinite range.

Early experience the other day after finally getting my own ADS suggests that this isn't exactly true; I jumped into a binary system and pinged only the first star, which had an orbit line. I tracked around it and found the second star, and flew towards it away, pinging my ADS every now and then...when the second star registered it was just under 50,000 Ls away, so I suspect that's the range of things. Not quite infinite, but certainly over 9000!
 
black hole is my end game. no hurry :)

I most likely will get an advanced at some point but right now I don't need or want it is what I am saying

That's your choice, and that choice is the reason there are multiple options.

What I object to is the predjudicial language you used initially.
 
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