Trying to like Exploring. I really am!

[scorpyon]

I have spent hours upon hours trading and bounty hunting to raise the cash to kit out an Asp for exploration which is something I hadnt tried yet, but was quite interested in.

Having accomplished this, I began my exploration adventures last night and today. Ok, so its not been that long yet, compared to some of the month long trips people have posted about. But there have been some interesting stuff along the way.
just this morning I stumbled into a system with 70 things to explore! That took a little time.
though I'm still sort of enjoying it, bar the fact that the mechanics of scanning involve watching your r screen do not very much while you do little. And the mechanics of travelling around the system is pretty much the same business! Ahem!

I'm not in this for the money, exactly. Though getting a bit of pay certainly helps. I' a little excited by the prospect of getting a system with my name attached, but having said that, I've also never seen another commanders name on any system I have visited, so I dont see how mine will stand out in any way.

I suppose there needs to be an element of personal wonder and enjoyment to keep an explorer going really. I sort of have this in a little capacity, but I just dont quite know how long thats going to keep up when all systems look and feel the same and theres nothing for me to actually 'play' since everything involves me just watching a screen waiting for something to maybe happen.

so I guess its all a little bit 'meh' at the moment. Not unhappy, but not particularly enthralled. And probably gonna get bored fast at this rate because I'm not much of a grind monkey really.

 

[RingoD123]

I guess your never dropping out of SC to see planets close up, fly through asteroid fields, get pretty desktop pictures of gas giants etc?
That's where exploration comes into its own, and the way you should be exploring if your not in it for the money.
Oh and learn your planet types, only scan the ones that look like they could be water worlds or earth likes, its all about time vs profit and spending hours in a single system scanning 70 rock worlds will hinder your progress a lot.
At least only picking planets that look like they could be earth likes or water worlds, you should also be able to "accidentally" catch a lot of metal rich planets etc, and also lots of terraformable's.

 

[Devil's Refugee]

My method to speed this up was; Always jump the furthest you could; scan only gas giants and planets that looked remotely Earth-like, don't go the same direction everyone else has gone, use the Galaxy Map to plot a course to supergiant stars (was always attracted to those for some reason). I spent a week exploring and covered around 6,000ly and made 3m in profit and 188 uniques I'm now listed as "Discovered By". It's not much by anyone else's standards but I quite enjoyed the solitude. Things got lairy when you start to head back and NPCs are popping on the radar, you actually get nervous because the last thing you need is to get interdicted and destroyed before you get back with the data. I must admit, I tried to go back out a couple of days later. I got around 600ly outside of occupied space then turned back. I think its easier once you're out there in the black but for me, I don't think I could do it again for a while.

 

[scorpyon]

Hmm. Its weird though. The planets that come up on my 3D hologram that look like earth type planets always seem to end up being some naff planet in the end. :-(

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My method to speed this up was; Always jump the furthest you could; scan only gas giants and planets that looked remotely Earth-like, don't go the same direction everyone else has gone, use the Galaxy Map to plot a course to supergiant stars (was always attracted to those for some reason). I spent a week exploring and covered around 6,000ly and made 3m in profit and 188 uniques I'm now listed as "Discovered By". It's not much by anyone else's standards but I quite enjoyed the solitude. Things got lairy when you start to head back and NPCs are popping on the radar, you actually get nervous because the last thing you need is to get interdicted and destroyed before you get back with the data. I must admit, I tried to go back out a couple of days later. I got around 600ly outside of occupied space then turned back. I think its easier once you're out there in the black but for me, I don't think I could do it again for a while.

how do you know if you are the one who discovered a system?

I've not been able to find that info anywhere in the game.

 

[Morlock5K]

I am loving exploring. I try to scan as many planets as possible but if they look like just rocky or ice worlds and are above 10k ls I don't bother. I have had a few systems with no-ones name to it but that may not be the case when I cash them in! The vast majority of systems are already scanned and I think that is due to coalsack nebula being close to populated space so lots of people have headed that way! I think when I've done this relatively short exploration I will head for a much longer stint into the unknown!

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how do you know if you are the one who discovered a system?

I've not been able to find that info anywhere in the game.

If you go into the sytem view rather than the galaxy view its shown there

 

[RingoD123]

Hmm. Its weird though. The planets that come up on my 3D hologram that look like earth type planets always seem to end up being some naff planet in the end. :-(

Arent you using the system screen after doing your discovery scan?
Basically, drop into system, scan primary star while fuel scooping and doing discovery scan, once discovery scan is done, jump to system screen while the primary star is finishing off being scanned and look at planets, if there is more than one that you want to scan start from closest and work your way out, when done, jump to new system and repeat.
Any system that has a secondary star more than 50k LS away I just leave, especially if im on a big journey, as the more you travel in supercruise, the more your ship repair costs will be when you return home.

 

[Morlock5K]

I'm hoping that the system screen is getting some much needed love in a future update. I think Michael hinted towards this in an upcoming patch, let's hope its 1.2

 

[Raz0rking]

once you get used to the monumental task of jumping a couple of hundrets (i have to jump a few thousand times btw) it is getting quite plesant though...the thrill of finding something exiting and putting your nametag on hundrets of systems...i have to think about a dog and a lamppost coincidentally

 

[Almighty Bob]

Make sure you have an internet radio to listen to, BBC radio 4 is good. You have to relax into exploring, then when you are refreshed its back to murder.

 

[Harbinger]

I guess your never dropping out of SC to see planets close up, fly through asteroid fields, get pretty desktop pictures of gas giants etc?
That's where exploration comes into its own, and the way you should be exploring if your not in it for the money.

I agree with this.

Oh and learn your planet types, only scan the ones that look like they could be water worlds or earth likes, its all about time vs profit and spending hours in a single system scanning 70 rock worlds will hinder your progress a lot.
At least only picking planets that look like they could be earth likes or water worlds, you should also be able to "accidentally" catch a lot of metal rich planets etc, and also lots of terraformable's.

But not so much this. If you're going to break it down into what is the most profitable then you may as well just be trading where you can make much more profit for much less effort.

Now that we have a First Discovered tag then who wants to be credited with finding a few bodies in a system and letting someone else gain credit for the rest? Not me, if my commander name is to be permanently on a system then it will be on the whole system regardless of the lack of profitability of scanning some bodies.

My goal is to have my commander name on a sizeable region of space whereby you cannot possibly pass through that region of space without seeing my commander name everywhere you go.

how do you know if you are the one who discovered a system?

I've not been able to find that info anywhere in the game.

First Discoverers appear on the system map when you click each astronomical body. When you sell data that qualifies you for a first discovery you will be informed but you'd have to take note of the system names currently. You can also see historical finds (pre-February 3rd 2015) here.

 

[Devil's Refugee]

once you get used to the monumental task of jumping a couple of hundrets (i have to jump a few thousand times btw) it is getting quite plesant though...the thrill of finding something exiting and putting your nametag on hundrets of systems...i have to think about a dog and a lamppost coincidentally

Ahahaha great analogy. I'd love to be able to carve something into an asteroid with a mining laser too..."The Devil woz ere"

 

[Deleted member 38366]

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