Way of the Exploring Fist

[Vicomt]

I'm similar to most people in this thread, jump in, honk, scan, system map, head for anything remotely interesting, however, there's one thing I do which I've only ever seen a couple of people talk about.

The Fastest Route Between Two Points In A System.... Is NOT A Straight Line.

When I'm moving about intra-system, I NEVER go in a straight line. I'll always "surf the gravitational potential". In general this means my route is longer distance wise, but can be MUCH shorter time wise. It works like this:
1 - Your maximum speed is dependant on the sum of the gravitational pulls at your current location
2 - The fastest way to increase speed is to fly directly away from the current local gravitational centre
3 - when moving between planetary bodies, if you get out to the radius of the body you're aiming for first, then surf the circumference, you're going much faster then when you go direct.

now obviously, when dealing with multiple gravitational sources as you are in any given system, the best you can do is an approximation, but as a rule of thumb, moving between planetary bodies, put your current body and star behind you, with your target at right angles to your velocity vector until you're comfortably up to speed, curving towards your target, slowly at first while you build speed, then faster as you reach local maximum velocity.

I've been practicing this for a while now, and whilst I have no direct evidence that it's faster to get around the system, it feels faster, is more interactive, and therefore, more fun. IMO. YMMV.

 

[Ian Phillips]

I'm on my second trip, which I started with just the vague idea of travelling the spiral arm out to the rim. That soon changed to trying to get from one arm to another.

I am using the 'Economic' style planner to plan a route. Pick a star in the general direction I want to go and plot a route, so my 'destination' star changes with each session. I figure that I'm exploring, not racing out to a sightseeing spot, so just ambling along is fine as far as I am concerned. A star is a star like any other star. Two nights ago I found a black hole on the galaxy map, a little over 600 LY away, so now that is my destination, with about 100 jumps to go

Having just threaded my way through a region of class L and T Tauri stars I have stopped scanning every planet and moon in a system. I am heartily sick of seeing nothing but Ice Planets !

I do not have an Advanced scanner (matter of personal choice) so when I arrive in a system I scan the star, activate the scanner and scoop fuel if possible. Then I'll go and scan the planets, keeping a lookout for small dots moving in the sky. I have found that when I do find another planet using this parralax method, it is best to fly directly there, because sometimes you lose it and can't find it again. I feel like a proper explorer, actually discovering new planets though my own efforts and skill. I'm absolutely sure that I miss a lot of stuff, but thats part of how it works.

Now that I have a definite destination, I have cut back on scanning all the moons and Ice planets as it takes a lot of time. Also I only scan secondary stars if they are close by (get up to 25 ls, as a speed and see if the star is moving across the sky. If it moves noticably, then I'll make the trip and scan it)

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Scan everything else

This is my downfall. I can't just fly to the Earth-likes and other interesting bits, scan those and move on. It has to be just the star, or everything else in the system as well including those ridiculous 20-minute-away outliers that inevitably turn out to be lumps of ice. I just can't bring myself to leave anything unexplored once I've started. It's a massive, massive time-sink.​

I even continued to scan some asteroid belts long after finding out that they don't pay anything or show discovery tags. I did manage to talk myself out of that behaviour (it takes ages to scan all those sodding rocks) but now I fear that if FD ever fix the code to put cash values or tags on belts, I'll find myself looking at those systems in which I left the rocks alone and planning multi-thousand light-year trips just to "fill in the blanks".

Does anyone else get obsessed over achieving a "full house" in scanned systems, even when they're mostly rocks and ice, or is it just me?

​

Only if there are no discovered tags in the bodies. Well, sometimes I scan everything just for the heck of it, but lately I've eased off a bit from the total OCD mode.

I've tried to cherrypick on my current exploration run, choosing only the interesting rocks and gas balls that looked inviting on the system map, but very quickly I found that I just couldn't do it: I just can't be lazy, and I just couldn't leave the unscanned ones. I just can't leave things as unknown. Now, I still scan all I can, if only for my own knowledge, credit value and flag status be damned.

If I do leave things unscanned, it is because there is something beyond the journey that is on my mind, and that something gives me a reason to get somewhere in a hurry e.g. enemies nearby, civilisation calling me back, worry about significant game changes, etc.

It seems the introduction of the First Discovery flag, as well as the increase in profits in recent updates, has created a real time pressure to speed along and omit apparently worthless rocks in favour of the juicier and lower hanging fruit, all in a mad rush to get your name on it for all eternity. It is, admittedly, pride-denting to see the aesthetically beautiful system or uncommon astronomical body you see on the system map with someone else's flag planted on it, but if I were to go somewhere for the sole purpose of planting a flag on it to secure immortality, I too would have done that a long time ago.

Now, it's all about the knowledge and the journey, the hope to see something different or unusual, and to learn about it. Besides, I don't have a definite destination at the moment, but I do think I know what I want to do. Personally, the only impatience I suffer from is due to the slow nature of my daily progress compared to my past self (also mostly due to my own reduced playing times these days) while I take everything in.

One of the other main reasons I still explore, as well as trying to get to know all I see, is to see how far I can go in my little ship, and how carefully, no matter what I find by whom or how long I take in real life. I'm still willing to abort my mission under the most exceptional circumstances, though, although under what sort of circumstances I'm unsure.

 

[Whiterose]

The OP has me slightly concerned.

There is no need for me to write my exploring method as he/she/thargoid has just written it!

With one exception. You know those 500K+ls trips out to a boring brown dwarf with a couple of ice planets orbiting them? I will do them, well occasionally at least, just to get my name on them

I look forward to the forums posts of "what kind of moron does this!?"

What kind of moron scans brown dwarfs...lol...cant really comment as I have scanned them in the past.

 

[streki]

+1 rep for the nostalgic title

Now we need a mining thread called: Boulder Dash

arf.

 

[Anuranium]

Since I'm more of a tourist than an explorer, I tend to get there as fast as possible. That means, 40,000ls is my limit SC for any earth-likes, black holes or ammonia worlds, unless of course, I am in the system that I mean to visit.

As for how I'm "speeding" along the galaxy?
Arrive in system, engage system scan immidiatly
Go in to scoop at maximum rate (70-80% heat)
Wile scooping, maneuver to line up with next system
As soon as FSD cooldown is done, charge FSD and steer away from the star.
Open systems map and check for interesting planets, if none take a 10 second break if there are some, abort FSD jump and go scan.

This way I could cover about 2000LY an hour in my conda with a 7A fuel scoop, not counting of course the stops along the way.

 

[AsukaZ]

OK this is the pattern I've fallen into -

Galaxy map
- zoom out to see where I am, zoom back in.
- move forward in the general direction of where I want to be heading
- set 'economic' or 'fastest' route on whim.
- select a scoopable star as the destination.
- start the jump and hit 'All Stop' (x) during the countdown.

In system -
- Hit 'All Stop' if I forgot to do it before.
- sound the horn
- target the star and scan it
- look at the local navigation panel.
- target the closest object, if its an asteroid belt skip to the next item on the list.
- accelerate and scoop fuel, when complete aim at the object targeted.
- look at the scanner and try to figure the most efficient route between objects (not very reliable though).
- Look at the nav panel, if there's another object with a lot of orbiting objects I'll go and scan that if it's not too far away. (the max distance I'll go is also subject to whim)
- When I'm happy with what I've scanned, go to the nav panel and select the next star on the route.
- rinse and repeat.

 

[BarFly]

Hello,

obviously there is no ultimate blue print how to do exploring

my Route Planning:
My first target has been Rigel. Since i have been there i decided intentionally where to head for.
But when traveling i figuered, that exploring is a wonderful art of wasting time. But just wandering round and exploring, without any aim is the ultimate senseless waste of time.

How do i do my planning.
After deciding where to go, in my opinion. strolling along the Perseus Arm to the west i'm still trying to find out, what is the best way to do things .
Right now (after reaching the 'Perseus Arm) i'm planning a 1.000 Ly route to the 'west' (wherever west is in a 3 dimensional space with no up or down). I use 'fastest' option
Writing down the endpoint on paper and if i finally choose this point i write it down in a simple textfile for copy & paste
Ok i got the route plotted in the NAV - Computer, did i mention, that i miss waypoints and set the filter for scoopable stars.
Then i watch the route carefully if there is a gap without stars shown. when calculated this gap i decide if it is a risk or not.
My Adder has a jump range of roughly 25.5 Ly. And i do know, because i tested it it is able to make 5 jumps a 24.5 Ly without scooping. if i go with the economical setting i can reach up to ~69. Ly with about 40 jumps
After this 5 jumps the tank is definitely empty, without a chance to reach another system.
Now i look along my route with the filter set to 'Irregular' -, 'O' - & 'B' - class stars. The next pass along my route i'm going to look real carefully for the grey dots and look what i can expect to find in one of the o/B -class stars. if i find something interesting it will be written into the mentioned text file.
Then looking for which is the closest Neutron Star/Black Hole to head for.
On my (~ 1.000 Ly) route right now, i found about 25 Neutron Stars and 1 Black Hole along my way. So i'm cruising from one Neutron Star to another, with some stops at interesting looking systems, scanning also the Systems between.

What brings us to - In system scanning (From one of my other posts):
Scanning is pretty time extensive.
i always scan the most massive star, usually right in front of me

Other Stars - depends on the class and how far away they are. For example Brown Dwarfs if they are inside ~ max. 3.500 ls
for a neutron Star or a Black Hole i would go pretty far.
But if a casual star is far outside, let's say 40.000 ls - i don't care, even if there are pretty promising planets around

Gas Giants - ~ max 2.000 ls that depends on the size, because of the scanning distance.

Earth like planets/Water planets - max. ~ 2.500 ls - but usually they are much closer to a star

Metal Rich ~ 1.000 lt also depends on the size. I you have to fly 40 ls through a crowded system, you need pretty long time because of the inner systems gravity. Especially if it is a tiny planet with a scanning distance below 10 ls.

(Icy) Rocks And Moons - never

Asteroid Belts - never

Documentation of the journey
The final System of any leg is written into a simple textfile, also are the waypoints.
I also make a at least 2 screenshots. one right before jumping, when the circle with the next system is shown in the hud and of any system witch is not indicated as 'Eplored by'. Additionaly i'm making a screenshot of 'Earth like' planets.
Thats it.

 

[c64orinoco]

Does everyone call the scanner the 'horn'?

I have always thought of it as the 'Guitar Bomb'

Maybe its just me.

 

[Whiterose]

+1 rep for the nostalgic title

Now we need a mining thread called: Boulder Dash

arf.

Naah, going right back it would have to be Manic Miner

 

[Cosmos]

I dont care for exploration much but the title of this thread and the first sentence.. lolz.. What have you done to my memories of a martial arts game?

 

[OamodSias]

First off, if you don't get the reference in the title, let me assure you, it's not sexual.

Well it is now, innit?

 

[Skellen]

View attachment 24424

Oh my, that brings back more 48k spectrum memories, just going to check kickstarter to see if any one is going to bring out a 21st century release of this!

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

Naah, going right back it would have to be Manic Miner

Come on, what about JetPac!......

 

[CdrTwisted]

Go to 2:15

[video=youtube;G2cEya-Hopc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2cEya-Hopc[/video]

 

[Zulu Romeo]

+1 rep for the nostalgic title

Now we need a mining thread called: Boulder Dash

arf.

<<<---- Repton.

 

[Freddie Mc]

Totally depends on mood and location for me. alot of the what you've written in the main post must hold true for everyone.

If I'm 100s of light years for any kind of target I've 2 methods for finding a interesting point to travel too.

1. Whatever system your currently jumping through. Say PRIELEE... type that in the search box followed by AA-A. It will filter through a list of stars that are usually interesting or very large. match one outcome to the general direction your going and make that a target.

2. If you turn realistic map view off zoom a little out to your position you'll notice hazy blobs. If you triangulate one of them you'll notice it's a star or other object to jump too. Like the AA-A these can also be interesting way points to aim for.

 

[Ambivalent]

My general routine for a plotted route is to kill the throttle in hyper space so i arrive at a dead stop then center on the star while i fire the space horn. Before I select the star to scan it I take note of the position on the compass of the next jump, now I select the star to begin scanning it while rolling the next system to roughly the 12 o clock position on the compass.

Space horn has fired by now and while the star scans I check the system menu, looking for terraformables and worlds, or anything else particularly interesting.

If nothing is interesting then I re select the next destination and just nose up over the star, scooping as I go and spool up the FSD as soon as its cool enough to do so.


However, I will very often skip the route planner altogether as it just picks up too many poor star choices for my liking and so I will exit the system map to the glactic map and pick my next jump manually instead alot of the time, which while slowing me down slightly makes for a much more interesting trip.

 

[AsukaZ]

...
... But just wandering round and exploring, without any aim is the ultimate senseless waste of time.
...

Disagree.

It puts money in the bank, provided you make it back and sell the data.
Also you've got a better chance to be first discoverer if you're wandering around off the beaten tracks.

 

[BarFly]

Hello,

Disagree.
It puts money in the bank, provided you make it back and sell the data.
Also you've got a better chance to be first discoverer if you're wandering around off the beaten tracks.

I haven't seen any 'Explored by XXX' for a while. Right now i'm in an area with no 'tourist spots' and i headed intentionally into this area.

 

[Lupin]

First off, if you don't get the reference in the title, let me assure you, it's not sexual.

Second, there are a lot of threads about exploring so it seems to have gained quite a bit in popularity. I'd be interested in how you deal with the different aspects of it. I have created quite a few routines for myself, and I'm interested whether these are the same for other explorers or if they have other means. That's why I'll be naming some stuff that'll seem obvious, maybe it isn't!

Moving about
The long haul. Plot close to 1,000 Ly, and promise to yourself you're not going to get bogged down in just any system. Only the really interesting ones I allow myself to be distracted by. As long hauling time goes on, the threshold for interesting seems to go down quite a bit. it will degrade from Earthlikes to funky looking gas giants to lava metal planets.

Taking it one step at a time. My Asp has a range of 33 Ly, so I'll look for systems in the general direction I was going which look interesting. Traveling in single hops. This works well where the stars are closely packed together.

When the stars become sparser, I'll aim for an interesting looking system, but turn economic routes on. I often have found quite bizarre configurations in docile looking systems. The economic route doesn't take that much longer since scooping is a matter of a couple of seconds.

All out vacuum hoovering. Caught myself doing this around 9,000 Lys from Sagi. The hops become 5-10 Ly. Direction isn't that much of an issue anymore. Also what I call Japanese Tourism mode (pardon the generalization). After a week of this and finding I'm still 7,500 Ly away, I forced myself into motion again today.

Deciding what's scan worthy
Barring the obvious: there's an Earthlike or a black hole or a neutron star and such.

For some reason I like Metal content planets. They're colourfull and usually close together. Not too interested white or brown gas giants, but will go after the disco ball giants. It's also very spur of the moment. I might pass a system by, but scan a similar system the next day.

Level of OCD
Or what distance will you travel? Anything under 100,000 Ls distance is not a factor. If it's over 300,000 ls I'll scan it if there's good stuff there, or when the rest of the system is nice, and I want to have a full system scan. Over 500,000 Ls I better see some promising Earth likes.

Fuel scoop operating temperature
Around 60-65%, allowed to stray towards the 70's, over 70 I'll increase my distance

Fuel scoop travel procedure
With a route set: Align the route pointer vertically above me, and fly with the star-on-a-stick beneath me using the stick on the radar to position myself exactly above it. When scooping is done, align with vector, wait for the temps to drop into the 50's and make it so.

Cheese!
As I said, I like the look of metally planets. If they have an atmosphere even better. Simple is beautiful. I check em all out, and many end up bmping my Hd. I'm not too big a fan of rings from a distance, but up close these are amazing. Of course every Earthlike and Ammonia world gets a place in the picture book.

Stuff I forgot to mention
I chapterized this post, but just to put some order into the chaos that is my thinking, not to set a precedent for the thread. Share any routine however mundane you may think it is.

Looking forward to reading your methodology and how it differs from mine.

SNAP Make similar choices otherwise you can spend to long in one system.

Also I will add I jump right way or change direction if current system already scanned. As likely I am following another pilot.