Newcomer / Intro Advice for a would-be Explorer?

CMDR Nightjar · Mar 24, 2015

When I started, I just wandered - picked a system about 200ly from where I was, plotted an economical route and started jumping. Initially you can stay in occupied space, so you don't necessarily need the fuel scoop, but you WILL get interdicted and need to know how to escape (or fight if you keep weapons etc). [I started in solo mode to avoid the PvP aspect, and play in Mobius now]. The fog horn announces an 'unexplored' system - it means you've just found some info you'll be able to sell later.
Keep doing this for a while, in a general 'away' direction, docking/refuelling every now and then. Whenever you dock, check the cartographics section and sell whatever you can.
As your bank balance goes up, upgrade as you wish - you can sell back the upgrades at cost, so it doesn't all need to be saved. Detail scanner early on for extra reward.
ALWAYS keep enough in the bank for your insurance.
You are aiming for enough to kit out a ship as per one of the suggestions above - all good suggestions - the sidewinder is a bit 'constricted'

Good luck out there ... it's BIG!

withnail7 · Mar 24, 2015

ethelred said:
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edit - useful to bind the gal maps & system maps as you'll be looking at these a lot, the disco scanner (surface scanner is auto when you are close enough) and the "select next destination on route" key

That's a really good tip (not that the rest weren't!) Rep+1. just need to make sure I don't bind the wrong keys now! cheers

Concenaros · Mar 24, 2015

I'll keep all that in mind. Thanks for the input everyone and Nightjar. I appreciate all the suggestions and help.

I should have enough info to go on at this point, if you have any more tips I'd be super happy to hear them.

Feel free to PM me if you've got any interesting tips that may help with exploration.

I should probably get back to work...

But I'll keep skimming the forum for the rest of the day.

Greyhawk · Mar 24, 2015

You lose everything if you die. You will be shredded in seconds in a Hauler.

Concenaros · Mar 24, 2015

I agree, I just need to possibly bind it to my X1 controller because I'm using a Console Controller to play.

I'll map it to a button combo that isn't in use. If not I'll just map it to a keyboard button and switch between the two.

Concenaros · Mar 25, 2015

Just an update

As of this moment I'm the proud owner of an Adder!!

I was able to do some base exploring with just the discovery scanner and made over 100,000 CR in a few short hours. I'm going to be jumping farther out tomorrow or Thursday and hopefully I'll get that detailed surface scanner sometime soon.

Thanks for the help again, everyone!!

InMemoriamSirocco · Mar 25, 2015

Concenaros said:
Thanks InMemoriamSirocco.

That clears up my question about the Adder Vs. the Hauler and the Scanner question.

So how does one find an unexplored system? Do I just FSD into blank space, Scan and then jump towards an unknown point or something? I'm completely new at this, so I just want to have a clear idea as to what I'm doing before I start venturing out.

View attachment 24125 View attachment 24126

It's as easy as looking at the map.

Concenaros · Mar 25, 2015

InMemoriamSirocco said:
View attachment 24125 View attachment 24126

It's as easy as looking at the map.

Ah fair enough. I guess I still haven't fully examined all of the features of the Galaxy and System maps yet.

There isn't a way to tell if you've scanned the astral bodies within a system already is there? Does it show up within the system map when you click on one of the discovered planets/stars/belts?

Also, I have another super important question. Now that I've got my Adder, what would the next best ship possibly be to upgrade into? I'm basically looking to set an in-game goal for myself and work towards it.

nazartp · Mar 25, 2015

Concenaros said:
Also, I have another super important question. Now that I've got my Adder, what would the next best ship possibly be to upgrade into? I'm basically looking to set an in-game goal for myself and work towards it.

Depends on what you want to do. Want to fight - get a Viper, want to have a jack-of-all-trades ship - get a Cobra (one of the best all-rounders in the entire game). After you have your Cobra, once again, set your path on what you want to do. Trade - T6, fight - Vulture, everything - ASP (best explorer in the game).

Concenaros · Mar 25, 2015

Hmmmm, guess I'm going to be heading for a Cobra then. I first need to get myself a DSS and and Adv DS.

Once I have those I should be able to make decent money. I don't really need to upgrade any of the modules in my Adder atm. Currently can jump around 13 ly and I have a decent enough Fuel scoop to get around 40 - 50 units/s while sitting on a star.

Would there be any reason to upgrade my Power distributor or Powerplant or Thrusters for exploration?

I know the FSD needs to be top-notch for those quick charge + Long Jump scenarios.

nazartp · Mar 25, 2015

Concenaros said:
Would there be any reason to upgrade my Power distributor or Powerplant or Thrusters for exploration?

I know the FSD needs to be top-notch for those quick charge + Long Jump scenarios.

Consider this - if you are interdicted and killed, you lose all exploration data. To get out of interdiction, you need good power distributor and thrusters. I would make it a priority to get a class A distributor to be able to boost continuously. Power plant affects you in a more subtle way - the better the power plant, the less heat your ship takes. Meaning spending less time by a star refueling and being able to shoot longer. Thrusters are a personal choice. They affect significantly your top speed and maneuverability. If you are playing in Solo, the priority is relatively low. If you are playing in Open, I'd make them the next priority after power distributor.

Concenaros · Mar 25, 2015

nazartp said:
Consider this - if you are interdicted and killed, you lose all exploration data. To get out of interdiction, you need good power distributor and thrusters. I would make it a priority to get a class A distributor to be able to boost continuously. Power plant affects you in a more subtle way - the better the power plant, the less heat your ship takes. Meaning spending less time by a star refueling and being able to shoot longer. Thrusters are a personal choice. They affect significantly your top speed and maneuverability. If you are playing in Solo, the priority is relatively low. If you are playing in Open, I'd make them the next priority after power distributor.

This makes total sense. They will probably be my next upgrade after I get my detailed scanner. I want to prioritize getting that first as they're kinda pricey. Once I get it I should be able to double my CR income to almost double what it is now. I think it worked out to around 50,000 CR per 45 mins for me last night. I just kept boosting and jumping and scanning whenever I reached the next star.

Other than those mods though, there isn't anything else i'd really require until I get a new ship I suppose?

nazartp · Mar 26, 2015

Concenaros said:
This makes total sense. They will probably be my next upgrade after I get my detailed scanner. I want to prioritize getting that first as they're kinda pricey. Once I get it I should be able to double my CR income to almost double what it is now. I think it worked out to around 50,000 CR per 45 mins for me last night. I just kept boosting and jumping and scanning whenever I reached the next star.

Other than those mods though, there isn't anything else i'd really require until I get a new ship I suppose?

Chaff and, if you have cash, point defense. That's about it. Enjoy!

theEmohawk · Mar 26, 2015

Power plant - a lot of explorers will downgrade their power plant to a smaller A-grade unit (I.e. fit an A4 instead of a D5 or an A5). The A-grade ones dissipate heat better and when you've kitted out an exploration ship you're not going to be needing so much juice.

Scanners - I'd upgrade to an ADS before the DSS. You can't scan what you can't see, and if you want to make money quickly your better just pinging a system and getting those credits, than spending time running the DSS on the few planets you'll find with the BDS.

Scoops - biggest and highest rated you can get... To a point. Off the top of my head a C6 scoops faster than an A5 and costs less (I could have those wrong, but the point I'm making is going up a size can make a bigger difference than a better grade. It's not unusual for exploration ships to have the scoop in the biggest compartment and shields in the next size down.

Get out into uninhabited space - it greatly reduces the chances of being interdicted. It also makes it far more likely that you'll find undiscovered systems, and therefore get the 50% bonus when you sell the data.

The Adder is nice, and a good choice. I did a lot of my early exploration in an Adder. I visited my first black hole and neutron star in my Adder. You don't have to go outside populated space for those either (or not far) the closest NS is 70ly from my home system. I'm now in an Asp 15k ly from home in a region dense with NS and BH... These are good for the pay day when I get home. Earth-like are the other big payout, but they are like hens teeth - learn to spot them on the system map after you've fired your ADS (none of the EL I've discovered would have shown on a BDS, one might have shown on an IDS).

Power distributor - whether your exploring, trading or fighting the PD should be one of the first upgrades. I go straight to an A when I buy a new ship.

Equipping your ship for deep space - identify a system near the edge of populated space. Stop there to strip out weapons and any extra weight (maybe downgrading shields and buying a bigger scoop) before heading out.

A tip I read recently (unfortunately I was already a long way out when I read it) is to keep a cargo bay. If you don't have a cargo Bay you can't use the slider to adjust your jump range, so you're stuck with fastest or economic routes. Fastest uses quite a lot more fuel, and if you want to travel long distances quickly it will be quicker to drop from max jump range so that you don't spend as long scooping. So it's possible to travel further quicker with more jumps with each jump being shorter. That's because fuel use isn't directly proportional to distance.

Hope this gives you a bit more to think about as you gain more experience exploring. Oh, and read Nutters Guide.

Frohike · Mar 26, 2015

Hey guys.
Finnaly I got my Hands on E

and got a first question.

Sorry if it has already been answered, but in an older thread about exploration someone says, there is no reason in detail scanning every "unexplored" body your scanner just discovered IF you do NOT have a surface scanner.
So as I am just flying around and trying to get my first $ by exploration and dont have much credits yet or even a surface scanner, my question is: should I still try to detail scan (aligning your ship at the celestial in certain short range and wait for the automatic "scanning" action to be completed) or is it still and just a waste of time for me without a surface scanner?

Thanks in advance

willowfan · Mar 26, 2015

The detailed surface scanner will double the income from scans, but it's still worth doing even without one. In fact if you don't do the surface scan you won't earn anything at all. Just doing a discovery scan will not earn anything, it just shows up what is there to be scanned.

What is a waste of time is scanning asteroid belts, Universal Cartographics pay exactly 0CR for scanning them.

Dommarraa · Mar 27, 2015

You do earn quie a bit with just use the discovery scanner

vmk · Mar 27, 2015

theEmohawk said:
A tip I read recently (unfortunately I was already a long way out when I read it) is to keep a cargo bay. If you don't have a cargo Bay you can't use the slider to adjust your jump range, so you're stuck with fastest or economic routes. Fastest uses quite a lot more fuel, and if you want to travel long distances quickly it will be quicker to drop from max jump range so that you don't spend as long scooping. So it's possible to travel further quicker with more jumps with each jump being shorter. That's because fuel use isn't directly proportional to distance.

Thanks for a hint! I was amazed by the fuel usage difference between 15 LY and 24 LY (my current maximum) jumps, but I didn't know how to force the galaxy map to create routes with shorter than 20 LY jumps.

Kuroshio · Mar 27, 2015

willowfan said:
Just doing a discovery scan will not earn anything, it just shows up what is there to be scanned.

I'm pretty sure it earns you a small amount of credits (~200 before the patch, so it should be ~400 now) without surface scanning anything.

willowfan · Mar 27, 2015

That would be from "scanning" the star on entry to the system which is a freebie scan you don't have to initiate. You won't earn anything from the other bodies in the system unless you actually go visit them.