A Puzzling Conundrum

[SNaomiScott]

So I'm out here in the black, doing my first real explo-run, and I've noticed something that's puzzling me.

A few of the systems I jump to have already been fully discovered. Yep, no problem, I still scan 'em and move on.

A few of the systems I jump to, only the main (entry point) star has been discovered. This I can understand if the person who discovered it was just passing through and auto-scanned it whilst slow scooping.

Some of the systems are partially discovered, out to approximately 500 or 1000ls from the main (entry point) star. This I can understand if the original discoverer only had a Basic or Intermediate Scanner.

But then there's the systems where only one or two planets are previously discovered, and in these cases it's almost always the water worlds and ELWs that have been tagged; you know, the 'valuable' ones. All the rest are still waiting for some conscientious explorer to come along and pin their name to them.

Now this is the bit that confuses me. If you truly are an explorer, and want to wear that badge with pride, shouldn't you be checking out every little thing along the way, even if it's something you've already seen a hundred, thousand or even tens of thousands of times before? Would a 'true' explorer just scoop up the cash cows and leave the rest alone? To my way of thinking, that sort of behaviour is more applicable to a trophy hunter than a real explorer.

Now, I don't want to offend anyone with these thoughts. They are just that, thoughts, and I genuinely have no problem with how people go about there business. I'm just making an observation and rambling randomly.

 

[iain666]

I think most of us have succumbed to the urge to scan every little thing for some period, but you can easily take 30 minutes to an hour on a system doing that - when you're talking about thousands of systems on a trip it quickly becomes apparent that you're never going to get anywhere if you keep it up.

Some people just carry on regardless but most of us have to accept defeat and do some level of cherry picking.

 

[SNaomiScott]

I think most of us have succumbed to the urge to scan every little thing for some period, but you can easily take 30 minutes to an hour on a system doing that - when you're talking about thousands of systems on a trip it quickly becomes apparent that you're never going to get anywhere if you keep it up.

Some people just carry on regardless but most of us have to accept defeat and do some level of cherry picking.

Fair enough, I can see how scanning everything along the way could potentially get tiresome. But where cherry-picking is concerned, and given the recent 'Horizons' announcement (landing on airless worlds only, for now), would that suggest that the ripe cherries are now airless worlds?

For my own part, I'm going to try and maintain the 'scan everything' approach, even if it sends me mad. At least I have my pet rock to keep me company...

 

[Jhyrryl]

Often, explorers have specific goals in mind that are more important than the minutia of any particular system. For example, they want to reach a particular destination and then explore its surroundings. In such a case, the systems that are passed through on the way to said destination are only of interest when they truly stand out as unique.

 

[knowles2]

Fair enough, I can see how scanning everything along the way could potentially get tiresome. But where cherry-picking is concerned, and given the recent 'Horizons' announcement (landing on airless worlds only, for now), would that suggest that the ripe cherries are now airless worlds?

.O

Yep once Horizons is release the ripe cherries wil be airless worlds. Hopefully Frontier will have stuck loads of stuff out their for us to discover. Usually when I discover a ripe cherry through I scan the whole system, wouldn't wanting other name to appear in that system.

 

[Sir Reginald Barthold III]

Fair enough, I can see how scanning everything along the way could potentially get tiresome. But where cherry-picking is concerned, and given the recent 'Horizons' announcement (landing on airless worlds only, for now), would that suggest that the ripe cherries are now airless worlds?

For my own part, I'm going to try and maintain the 'scan everything' approach, even if it sends me mad. At least I have my pet rock to keep me company...

o7 - Good luck to you CMDR.

I, though, have bills and a massive debt to pay (I am not selling myself in to slavery!), so working for Sirius Corp and and bringing in the WWs, ELWs, and C4Ts is what I must do.

One day, when my debts are cleared, I will indulge the urge .......

R.

 

[highpsiturbo]

If Obsessive Compulsive is your definition of "true explorer" they would scan everything.
I have a cherry picking/mood based technique. Usually scan most things except icy bodies-unless I am going somewhere specific or am in a rush for some reason -so it's usually honk and run. Sometimes if the mood takes me I scan everything.

 

[newman1702]

At first I scanned everything, too, but when you have limited time to play and realize you're scanning these identical little ice balls with little value, while you could be spending your time seeing what's in the next, potentially more interesting system.. yea. However if I find something interesting, I do tend to scan the entire system. If it's a bunch of ice balls I'll give the star a scan and move on. The only objects I always skip are asteroid belts.

And yea, Horizons does seem to have the potential to completely change this - looking forward to it quite a bit.

 

[Alex Brentnall]

Guilty as charged your honour!
I did most of my Exploration trips with specific goals in mind: See this Nebula, visit that star etc. So I spent a lot of time racing from point to point and just scanning what took my fancy.
On one trip I was also trying to get back in time for a discount on Falcon De Lacy ships in Zaonce so was in quite a rush

My trips now where I spend more time I do tend to scan everything not just the ELW/WW etc but there are a number of my discoveries where I just picked the cherries from the system

Edit: Head has been hung in shame. If the devs ever introduce some way of seeing your travel history I promise to return and discover the rest once Horizons is out and I can land on those less profitable planets

 

[Cody]

No comment!

 

[marx]

Heh, what do we have here? An explorer on their first expedition posts a thread, saying that they don't want to offend anyone, and then posing a loaded question that calls a good bunch of people trophy hunters, implies that they are fake explorers and that they also lack a conscience.
Well hey, that's a new concept.

 

[Bomba Luigi]

I'm currently 25k Lys out. Would I have scanned everything in every system I would probably stll be in a system with a Station.


Editors Note: This post may be over-dramatized to make the point a bit more clear.

 

[el_tel]

Spoiler

So I'm out here in the black, doing my first real explo-run, and I've noticed something that's puzzling me.

A few of the systems I jump to have already been fully discovered. Yep, no problem, I still scan 'em and move on.

A few of the systems I jump to, only the main (entry point) star has been discovered. This I can understand if the person who discovered it was just passing through and auto-scanned it whilst slow scooping.

Some of the systems are partially discovered, out to approximately 500 or 1000ls from the main (entry point) star. This I can understand if the original discoverer only had a Basic or Intermediate Scanner.

But then there's the systems where only one or two planets are previously discovered, and in these cases it's almost always the water worlds and ELWs that have been tagged; you know, the 'valuable' ones. All the rest are still waiting for some conscientious explorer to come along and pin their name to them.

Now this is the bit that confuses me. If you truly are an explorer, and want to wear that badge with pride, shouldn't you be checking out every little thing along the way, even if it's something you've already seen a hundred, thousand or even tens of thousands of times before? Would a 'true' explorer just scoop up the cash cows and leave the rest alone? To my way of thinking, that sort of behaviour is more applicable to a trophy hunter than a real explorer.

Now, I don't want to offend anyone with these thoughts. They are just that, thoughts, and I genuinely have no problem with how people go about there business. I'm just making an observation and rambling randomly.

Finding that only the Earth-likes and Waterworlds have been surfaced-scanned is a side-effect of the current exploration mechanic, because when out exploring, it's far too easy to get to the next unexplored system, making anything of low-value just a stepping-stone.

If getting to the next unexplored system took time and effort, then an explorer would feel that it's worth finding and scanning everything in the current system before focussing on getting to the next unexplored system.

Another side effect of the current exploration mechanic is that the 'bubble', where high-value objects have already been found and scanned, is getting progressively larger than the 'bubble' of populated space, and because commanders start in a station within populated space, budding explorers will have to travel further and further before reaching 'virgin' territory, where finding an WW or ELW has a low probability of having already been discovered.

 

[SNaomiScott]

Heh, what do we have here? An explorer on their first expedition posts a thread, saying that they don't want to offend anyone, and then posing a loaded question that calls a good bunch of people trophy hunters, implies that they are fake explorers and that they also lack a conscience.
Well hey, that's a new concept.

I genuinely didn't mean any offense, so if I have offended I apologise. I was simply making an observation, and thanks to the replies of others can now see why and how things are the way they are.

Forgive me for wanting to understand.

 

[SMcA]

Yep once Horizons is release the ripe cherries wil be airless worlds. Hopefully Frontier will have stuck loads of stuff out their for us to discover. Usually when I discover a ripe cherry through I scan the whole system, wouldn't wanting other name to appear in that system.

It takes all types.

I generally leave some worlds for others to scan and put their name on.
I sometimes scan the main star then travel > 100K Ls to tag an outlying star. Leaving the easy ones for others.

Spoiler

[video=youtube_share;kUl2dn7WTIo]https://youtu.be/kUl2dn7WTIo?t=12[/video]

 

[IronGremlin]

I think that once you've completely scanned a few dozen systems or so, most explorers get pretty tired of spending all that time for pennies in rewards - most systems aren't particularly interesting, so there is very little in the way of encouragement to get you to make scores of 1200+ ls hops back and forth to scan every last featureless rock.

For my part, I've only gotten first discovered on a single system - I did scan all 20 bodies in that system. It took me about 40+ minutes, even though the furthest body was only 1000 ls out, and I think it paid something like 250k, and had nothing screenshot worthy.

So I can definitely see why, after you've stuck your name on dozens or hundreds of stars, the novelty might wear off and you'd save full scans for something truly special.

 

[Gut Rumble]

I scan the few things of interest mostly , that is because i'm an Explorer NOT a Cartographer

 

[Jhyrryl]

I genuinely didn't mean any offense, so if I have offended I apologise. I was simply making an observation, and thanks to the replies of others can now see why and how things are the way they are.

Forgive me for wanting to understand.

Don't mind the trolls. Asking questions is what the forums are for.

Go have fun exploring how you want to explore. As indicated, those wants are likely change over time for a variety of reasons, but it doesn't matter as long as you can continue to have fun.

 

[GregMalcolm]

I kind of see myself as an Adventurer class explorer and probably do exhibit some of the hunter behaviour you describe.

I'll do what suits me at the time. I'm not above doing a little "for profit" scanning or trying to get my tags in interesting places. I'll favor photogenic planets over rock balls. I usually have some kind of objective and like to make progress towards that goal such as navigating a galactic arm are going further out than anyone else has before.

At the end of the day I want to come back to civilization with a story to tell. I'll leave the methodical scanning to the scientists.

 

[SMcA]

I scan the few things of interest mostly , that is because i'm an Explorer NOT a Cartographer

In a nutshell.