Guide / Tutorial Nutter’s explorers guide to the Galaxy

Does anyone have an idea of the worth of terraformable high metal content planets? I have found several systems with 3 to 5 of these planets and am curious as to their value. Thanks ahead of time!

Hi Scolis,

I recalled Jackie Silver posted some updated figures for average prices a way back in the thread, so all rep to Jackie for this answer: about 18000 credits :)

Here's the updated post https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=81653&page=22&p=1450048&viewfull=1#post1450048

Maybe be worth updating figures in original post if you're reading, Nutter :D

Edit: worth noting the highest value system I've personally come across was stuffed with CFT HMC worlds around six different stars, so it's not just a single earthlike here and there that are jackpots :)
 
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Edit: worth noting the highest value system I've personally come across was stuffed with CFT HMC worlds around six different stars, so it's not just a single earthlike here and there that are jackpots :)

Yes, absolutely this - I've been trying to pin down where the habitable zones within which a High Metal Content planet can be a Candidate for Terraforming lie for each star (purely by trial and error, and moreover there's a lot of variation between stars at different points in a class, and with multiple stars and giants it becomes impossible to predict at a glance.)

What I can say is that the presence of an atmosphere (and consequently higher, or massively higher temperatures) does not seem to affect whether a planet can be a Candidate - the only thing that it goes off is the "base" temperature of a planet at that distance, which is constant across all bodies without an atmosphere. You can tell this by looking at binary planets and planets with moons to see the "unmodified" temperature at that distance from the star.
I think there's a lower mass limit as well, though I don't know about an upper one.
I can't tell for sure whether the composition of the planet, volcanism and its atmosphere make any difference, but I don't think so.

Very roughly speaking (I don't have enough data; CFT worlds often have an atmosphere so I can only go off ones that have an airless companion of some kind) the HMC/CFT range is 200K - 300K and Ammonia Worlds are around 180K - 200K.
As a rough guide I look at A = 4AU, F = 2AU, G = 1AU, K = 1/2AU, M = 1/4AU to start with.

Another thing is that the criterion for having a metal-rich world does not seem to be set on temperature - you can find HMC worlds with massively higher (unmodified) temperatures than some MRW, so it must be something else.

There's a relationship between mass and planet type that affects satellites and cold icy worlds but I don't understand it yet.
 
So is shield neccessary? I try to use hauler as an explorer and it has kinda lowish internal parts... So I ditched shield for auto maintenance unit.
 
So is shield neccessary? I try to use hauler as an explorer and it has kinda lowish internal parts... So I ditched shield for auto maintenance unit.
hi, i also use hauler as explorer. currently i'm 3800 ly from sol at seagull nebula. i don't have either shields or auto maintenance unit. only advanced discovery scanner and detailed surface scanner and i have jump range of 28.5ly. it's really great explorer for beginners.
 
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hi, i also use hauler as explorer. currently i'm 3800 ly from sol at seagull nebula. i don't have either shields or auto maintenance unit. only advanced discovery scanner and detailed surface scanner and i have jump range of 28.5ly. it's really great explorer for beginners.

Thanks for the answer! I just kinda paniced since I'm on the fringe of civilization, gonna move to uninhabited places soon so this was last chance to buy shields :D
 
Apparently once we are a few hundred light years out, we stop seeing pirate NPCs so where you are, perhaps a shield isn't needed now. Although there is nothing wrong with taking an auto-repair, keep in mind (in case not known) that it cannot repair most critical systems (Power Plant, Thrusters, canopy). If they start to take significant damage, it is probably time to turn around :)
 
Apparently once we are a few hundred light years out, we stop seeing pirate NPCs so where you are, perhaps a shield isn't needed now. Although there is nothing wrong with taking an auto-repair, keep in mind (in case not known) that it cannot repair most critical systems (Power Plant, Thrusters, canopy). If they start to take significant damage, it is probably time to turn around :)

Yeah, I have auto maintenance unit with me but since it can't repair the critical modules it seems kinda useless. But oh well :p
 
Early start to weirdo objects tonight:

Y3JXTEM.jpg

Teeny tiny red "giant"!
 
FYI It seems Starblazer rank has been replaced with Pioneer rank

which was somewhere around 29-30 million credits I think. Based on the progression to ranger and then to pioneer, I fully expect Elite to be 100 million.

Explore_30M.png
 
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FYI It seems Starblazer rank has been replaced with Pioneer rank

which was somewhere around 29-30 million credits I think. Based on the progression to ranger and then to pioneer, I fully expect Elite to be 100 million.

View attachment 8599

Just saw your tweet on the ED hashtag and came here to post that, didn't realise you posted hereabouts :). Congrats on your new rank! Shame Starblazer has changed, but I'd never have wanted to move up to Elite because Starblazer is too cool :D
 
... I'd never have wanted to move up to Elite because Starblazer is too cool :D

To be honest, Pioneer sounds pretty damn cool. Not in the "Dodgeball" sounding Starblazer way, but it sounds more suitable for the exploration discipline.

I hope they bring in the naming of spaceships though, because Starblazer definitely sounds fitting for my Asp.

Oh and thanks; pretty happy with the new rank - the climb to Elite is however going to be tough. Fun, but certainly testing.
 
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Hi there,

Finally took a Hauler out for a spin to get the hang of in-system exploration with Advanced and Detailed Scanners. About 50 objects, all detailed, spread out across a a few thousand LSs in a tertiary system called HD 122510. Earned a whooping 22,952 Cr, lol. It's OK, from reading here and elsewhere I knew it would be low since the System Map made it clear it was almost all rocky moons, gas giants and Cr-free belts. One Metal-rich planet though. Still, a little bit of the galaxy will forever be polluted by my ship :)

More seriously, an observation and a question. It was, according to my pilot slot, an unexplored system for which data was not available for sale. Now that I have sold data to stingy Universal Cartographics, does that data for HD 122510 become available for other pilots to purchase?

Thanks for reading!

Regards,
Sparks
 
Yeah, I have auto maintenance unit with me but since it can't repair the critical modules it seems kinda useless. But oh well :p

@Nutter, please add why AFMUs are useless to your main post and people get the word out, I keep hearing beginner explorers equipping these thinking they will be able to make infield repairs and they don't repair the things you think they do. they are weighing you down. ditch them.
 
@Nutter, please add why AFMUs are useless to your main post and people get the word out, I keep hearing beginner explorers equipping these thinking they will be able to make infield repairs and they don't repair the things you think they do. they are weighing you down. ditch them.

Afaik, they don't lessen your jump range, they only draw more power.

Since I don't really know that much about space and stuff... It was kinda odd finding a planet that is "candidate for terraforming" and it has surface temperature of 1350 K, 58% carbon dioxide in atmosphere and insane surface pressure. Doesn't sound too tempting to me. I guess that the atmosphere is fixable but they can't just eject the planet further away from its star. I think... :p

E: oh and exploring sucks lol. I was supposed to go to bed early since I have work today but I only "scanned one more system". And that lead to clock being 2am before I went to bed.
 
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Found a white supergiant system tonight out 1500 Ly or so behind the Orion nebulae with 8 metal rich planets (so far). Going to be a while before I cash it in but looking for a fairly hefty payout for it. I still have several stars and planets to scan in the system but it got late...
 
@Nutter, please add why AFMUs are useless to your main post and people get the word out, I keep hearing beginner explorers equipping these thinking they will be able to make infield repairs and they don't repair the things you think they do. they are weighing you down. ditch them.

I assume you're referring to my thread earlier today. I'm hardly a beginner (Ranger) and I know they don't repair the important modules nor do they repair the hull. However, they weigh nothing at all (0.00 tons) and they can repair other modules such as the fuel scoop. There are no negative sides to bringing one or more of them along.
 
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I just wanted to note that as an explorer that can't yet afford the advanced scanner, I've found the intermediate scanner a big help. It is extremely valuable to be able to locate at least one planet from the nav point, since then you have a visual indicator of the orbital plane to keep your eye on to find more planets. I've been by a great many systems where the first real planet is in that 500ly -1000ly range. Do I wish it had more, certainly, but there's no reason to not buy it.
 
That's a good point although it's not that it is bad exactly, more that the time it takes to afford the Advanced Scanner in a small ship is quite minimum compared to the time that can be invested in exploration. For example, we only need to trade about 100 T of rare goods.

What might be a better system, in order to promote the skill of using parallax, could be for the Advanced Scanner to progress in range from a starting 1000 ls up to infinite/huge number depending on a metric. Perhaps based on the radius of discovered objects such that finding one at 2,000 ls increases scan range by a fraction of 2,000 ls. I like the convenience of the Advanced Scanner but I feel like the absence of using parallax is lost content.
 
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Hi there,

Finally took a Hauler out for a spin to get the hang of in-system exploration with Advanced and Detailed Scanners. About 50 objects, all detailed, spread out across a a few thousand LSs in a tertiary system called HD 122510. Earned a whooping 22,952 Cr, lol. It's OK, from reading here and elsewhere I knew it would be low since the System Map made it clear it was almost all rocky moons, gas giants and Cr-free belts. One Metal-rich planet though. Still, a little bit of the galaxy will forever be polluted by my ship :)

More seriously, an observation and a question. It was, according to my pilot slot, an unexplored system for which data was not available for sale. Now that I have sold data to stingy Universal Cartographics, does that data for HD 122510 become available for other pilots to purchase?

Thanks for reading!

Regards,
Sparks

Hi Commander,

This was the intention, however currently, anything you sell is not available to other players.
 
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