Newcomer / Intro Why I start early exploration

Glastinghouse

Glastinghouse
Hello fellow commanders,

today I decided to follow my dream of exploration earlier than I initially thought to do. But why? Because yet again I was devastated by NPCs during a job that was not above my own explorer-rank (but maybe I missed something?). I am annoyed by the constant interdictions, as many are, especially because I feel that there is no escape. I manage to do a jump to another system or in supercruise but 2 seconds later the same guy interdicts me again.
Today I wanted to salvage trade data but 4 NPCs appeared. They brought me down to 10% hull when my FSD was fully charged...and what does it say? "Align ship with trajectory" while everything in front of me was clear. A second later I was dead.
That is super annoying and honestly it seems to be a bit unfair to me. Yet the game always pulls me back with the fascination it emits to me. So I decided to go exploring a bit further to cool my head down, even my ship has not yet a fully upgraded FSD (I was saving for it but boom, ship destroyed 1-2 times again). I think I'll head out in the direction of the spiral arms :)

Maybe someone experienced the same and wants to join me, I'd be happy!

Cmdr Glastinghouse
 

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
Sorry to hear that.
First advise - Don't do salvage missions until you have a really good ship. You get ambushed almost every time, especially in space salvaging (rebel transmissions, etc.) Planetary salvage is a bit safer, but can go wrong very easily, too.
In a smaller non-combat ship, I'd recommend sticking with deliveries and courier missions.

Second - Exploration is better anyway. :)
If for nothing else then for money and experience. You can easily make 20 million in a week-long trip, if you have decent scanners. Range doesn't matter, the more systems you visit the better. After that you can buy something either really strong, or really fast, if you want to feel safer.

I think realizing that Elite isn't like other games is crucial when you begin playing. Ordinary gamers go instinctively after missions, because that's how all other games work - missions. But in Elite, missions are actually one of the most dangerous activities you can choose.
 

CMDR Mr. Boombastic

CMDR Mr. Boombastic
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Ashnak

Ashnak
Well, if you read around in the forum(s), you probably know a lot of the advice aspiring explorers usually get. Otherwise, just ask.

The main obstacle (as in so many other endeavours) is the money you can spend on your ship - and any other preferences you have for that ship. Those A-rated fuels scoops are really expensive.

Going in the direction of the spiral arms - which ones? If you mean that you want to stay inside the Sol arm and go east (or west), ok. A nice little sight seeing trip would be HIP 63835. A little further out and in the other direction (IIRC) would be the Eskimo nebula. Both paths are well traveled, so you're unlikely to get any first discoveries.

What I would avoid, in the current political climate, would be a trip in the direction of the Pleiades.

Otherwise, take a look at the Exploration forum. People there are much saner friendlier than in the general forum.
 

Alex Brentnall

Alex Brentnall
Glastinghouse said:
Hello fellow commanders,

today I decided to follow my dream of exploration earlier than I initially thought to do. But why? Because yet again I was devastated by NPCs during a job that was not above my own explorer-rank (but maybe I missed something?). I am annoyed by the constant interdictions, as many are, especially because I feel that there is no escape. I manage to do a jump to another system or in supercruise but 2 seconds later the same guy interdicts me again.
Today I wanted to salvage trade data but 4 NPCs appeared. They brought me down to 10% hull when my FSD was fully charged...and what does it say? "Align ship with trajectory" while everything in front of me was clear. A second later I was dead.
That is super annoying and honestly it seems to be a bit unfair to me. Yet the game always pulls me back with the fascination it emits to me. So I decided to go exploring a bit further to cool my head down, even my ship has not yet a fully upgraded FSD (I was saving for it but boom, ship destroyed 1-2 times again). I think I'll head out in the direction of the spiral arms :)

Maybe someone experienced the same and wants to join me, I'd be happy!

Cmdr Glastinghouse
Click to expand...

Howdy,

Few questions:
1) Have you heaed out yet?
2) What ship do you want for exploration - how much do you need?
3) Are you on pc
4) Are you near enough UK timezone?

With a bit of help I could show you a few things about the game and quite rapidly shoot you up into say a Cobra or DBE a T6... even an Asp but that'd take a tad longer. On my 2nd acc I managed sidewinder to Cobra in about 1.5hrs play but obviously that comes with a lot of experience.

Let me know if you are interested either here or fire me a PM. I work most days and this week I'm looking busy Mon/Tue/Wed night but I could do Thursday after 5pm or Friday after 12 noon. Or pretty much anytime this next weekend. As I said it shouldn't take too long depending on what you have as your goal.


Also from my experience on my 2nd account. If you are not powerplay aligned, don't take missions, are not wanted and don't carry cargo then you have close to a 0% chance of being interdicted. I got 1 interdiction in about 8 hours play following those rules. Yes they are fairly restrictive but they allow you to get into bounty hunting with very little to fear which is what I used to shoot my credit values up dramatically in the early game phase.

Edit: A quick example - That align with trajectory bit. That sounds like your ship was "drifting" which you can tell by the direction of the "space dust" outside your screen. The only other time it comes up is when you are very close to an object like a star and it gives you a compass point to aim for to escape which is directly away from the star. This compass shows on the smaller circle just up and left of the main radar.
 
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Alex D

A
Glastinghouse said:
[...]
They brought me down to 10% hull when my FSD was fully charged...and what does it say? "Align ship with trajectory" while everything in front of me was clear. A second later I was dead.
Click to expand...
This means you weren't aligned in the direction of the targeted system/object.
You must be aligned to the target you want to low/high wake to, in order to activate FSD (you don't need to be aligned for charging).
 

Limoncello Lizard

Limoncello Lizard
Scavenging missions are fun, but you need a good ship to do them in. Either very fast or very tough, or both.

You can still be interdicted while exploring, though it should stop once you are about 1000ly from Sol.
When you decide to return to civilization with lots of data to sell, you migh want to check the forums for CMDRs to help escort you back.

Don't take a completely helpless ship. We are eagerly awaiting aliens turning up sometime soon. If they are anything like the Thargoids of the old Elite, you may wish you had taken a fast ship with shields and mine launchers.
 
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