Newcomer / Intro First exploration trip

bookmite

bookmite
I have ventured into doing something I never thought I would enjoy..and I've done it on the cheap in a Dbx I've set off from Cubeo, heading towards Bernard's Loop. I was having issues plotting anything much over 250 ly, but it got a bit better as I went on.

I was originally heading for colonia , but couldn't even get the gal map to function well enough to even plot in the general direction.

My first stint got me 1850lys from Cubeo, I'm overnighting at the Flaming Star before setting off nebula hunting. I cashed in my data at Flaming star logistics and had 4 new discoveries, made 2.5m credits and ranked up to Pathfinder . Not bad for my first few hours.

The Dbx is a beauty, I've stripped her out of most of the A rated stuff, and swapped it for D's and removed the weapons. For some reason I couldn't fit a 4a fuel scoop, so had to settle for a 3a which is not ideal, but workable. I have a class4 AFMU , and both scanners. My jump range is 48ly which for this ship is fine. It runs very cool, rarely getting over 65% whilst scooping .

I'm doing the tourist thing rather than pushing the boundaries in exploration but if anyone can suggest anything worth seeing in this general direction I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks guys
 

Rulyam Van Houten

Rulyam Van Houten
Plotting straight routes can be a pain at times; this is how I do it:

First boomark the final distant destination. Then to ensure that no system is selected exit and re-enter the galmap.

Zoom to the destination in 'realistic' map mode and line it up with current location. After that scroll towards current location checking star distances until some 995-1000ly distance is found. Bookmark it and plot route using any desired map filters.

If there is a less awkward way to plot straight routes I'd be glad to learn.
 

colprice2002

C
Plotting routes:-
Bookmark your destination, record (paper, pencil) the distance from current location, the x,y,z coordinates.
Record your current x,y,z coordinates.
Estimate the number of 1000 ly segments.
Now, subtract current x from target x, similarly for y and z.

Divide the change in x,y,z by the number of jumps.
Add this value to your current coordinates. Now plot a course to those coordinates (nearest star system).

Remember that - ve coordinates exist!

That will give you a pretty good straight line to the destination. Your route plotting won't follow it exactly because of star spacing/jump range/route filters etc.
 

Mysturji

Mysturji
I tend to use more of a gung-ho just get on with it approach:)
Bookmark your destination system & note how far it is from your current location.
Zoom out of the galaxy map until you see both your location and destination.
Divide the total distance by 1000
Zoom in on the area ~1000 LY away, in a straight line between you and your destination and pick a star <1000 LY away.
(There's no need to adjust for +/- elevation unless the difference is significant)
Apply star filter.
Start jumping.

Note that near the core, the stellar density is really quite dense, and the route plotter can't cope with that many choices, so plotting a long route takes forever: Plot shorter (and shorter) routes as you approach the core. Near Sag A*, I found that about 3 jumps per route was all I could manage, but they may have improved that since then.

Also note that near the rim, the stellar density is so sparse that it finds it hard to plot long routes. (It won't take forever, it will just fail.) I found about 300 LY was the maximum out there, but again, it may have improved since then.

Happy Honking! :D
 

Templehof

Templehof
I am just about home after my first little run down to the heart and soul nebula. It's great to hear someone else is still tipping their toe into exploration! As of writing this I'm a couple hundred LYs from barnard's loop. Maybe we'll bump into each other commander! :D
 

bookmite

bookmite
Thank you guys, I'll try each of those methods later today, it's kinda hard at the moment with the gal map bugs. If it lets me, I want to go down ( if there is a down ) from the galactic plain . Using old school 2d mapping as an analogy, if north is up as you open the map, then I've been heading SW, through the palaedes, outotz sectors, and my last 600ly was to Flaming Star, I was more concerned about getting away from civilisation until I saw the Flaming Star sector come up on the map, and I remembered seeing an article about the new station there, typically of me, I easy get distracted:) . So today I'll be looking for Nebulae and generally heading in the direction of them

I've decided I'm out for a month at least, it's good to get away from missions, grinding mats not to mention npc's , not even seen one since I left, or a human come to that . Having slept on it, I've also decided it's not about the destination, it's about the journey, so who knows, if anyone asks " He went Thatta way " :D

Cmdr Templehof ...thanks buddy , hope we can catch up, if you look up Flaming star logistics in Edb.io it will show you whether it's viable for you, but you could cash in your data , which is always safer and worth the detour. I'll be there for a few hours more yet , but I'll watch out and check if you're about before I pull anchor

Fly safe but no so shiny Cmdrs
 

Rulyam Van Houten

Rulyam Van Houten
I'm nearing Gagarin Gate on the way to Colonia and then I'll continue to Beagle Point. This is THE expedition for me.

Just scanned a system with an ELW, three waterworlds and two additional terraformables.
Edit: that system was worth 4.1 MCr

See you out there!
 
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Templehof

Templehof
Rulyam Van Houten said:
I'm nearing Gagarin Gate on the way to Colonia and then I'll continue to Beagle Point. This is THE expedition for me.

Just scanned a system with an ELW, three waterworlds and two additional terraformables.

See you out there!
Click to expand...

wow I'm jealous, but with the upcoming event I wish to watch and my asp not being as engineered as I would like I'm staying put for a bit. Maybe in time I can dedicate myself to improving my ship and by having a little trip I know what I REALLY need out in the black. Anyhow good luck commander hope you make lots of credits and flood the screenie threads! ;)

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bookmite said:
Thank you guys, I'll try each of those methods later today, it's kinda hard at the moment with the gal map bugs. If it lets me, I want to go down ( if there is a down ) from the galactic plain . Using old school 2d mapping as an analogy, if north is up as you open the map, then I've been heading SW, through the palaedes, outotz sectors, and my last 600ly was to Flaming Star, I was more concerned about getting away from civilisation until I saw the Flaming Star sector come up on the map, and I remembered seeing an article about the new station there, typically of me, I easy get distracted:) . So today I'll be looking for Nebulae and generally heading in the direction of them

I've decided I'm out for a month at least, it's good to get away from missions, grinding mats not to mention npc's , not even seen one since I left, or a human come to that . Having slept on it, I've also decided it's not about the destination, it's about the journey, so who knows, if anyone asks " He went Thatta way " :D

Cmdr Templehof ...thanks buddy , hope we can catch up, if you look up Flaming star logistics in Edb.io it will show you whether it's viable for you, but you could cash in your data , which is always safer and worth the detour. I'll be there for a few hours more yet , but I'll watch out and check if you're about before I pull anchor

Fly safe but no so shiny Cmdrs
Click to expand...

Nice! Don't worry being distracted I think is theee key for exploration. I bee lined alot and missed out on just being in a new place. Happy splorin buddy!

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Oblivion said:
I'm still coming back from it. i spent 2-3 weeks on it (about 2-3 hours per day) about 18000 ly to go.
Click to expand...

Yeah I have alot of free time so managed to do a like 6k LY point to point trip, just gracing the heart and soul nebulas. I hope in time to go back and into the rift. Colonia, and Sag A are future goals... Heck they are even rights of passage for explorers.
 

Toffmeister

Toffmeister
Don't be scared to dawdle. Take your time and use the camera a lot. I like landing now and again especially near ringed planets.

I tend to park up overninght on planets. (No I don't know why either.)
 
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Alex Brentnall

Alex Brentnall
South of Sol: Messier 78 (bit difficult due to permit system, fly upwards vertically to ~+250 height and get directly above before dropping down to the nebula)
South East of Sol: Betelgeuse (bring an SRV)
West of Sol: Veil West Nebula
North East of Sol: Fine Ring Nebula


All close to the bubble. All totally worth seeing, my trips usually start/end at these :)
 

Maymo

Maymo
bookmite said:
I have ventured into doing something I never thought I would enjoy..and I've done it on the cheap in a Dbx I've set off from Cubeo, heading towards Bernard's Loop. I was having issues plotting anything much over 250 ly, but it got a bit better as I went on.

I was originally heading for colonia , but couldn't even get the gal map to function well enough to even plot in the general direction.

My first stint got me 1850lys from Cubeo, I'm overnighting at the Flaming Star before setting off nebula hunting. I cashed in my data at Flaming star logistics and had 4 new discoveries, made 2.5m credits and ranked up to Pathfinder . Not bad for my first few hours.

The Dbx is a beauty, I've stripped her out of most of the A rated stuff, and swapped it for D's and removed the weapons. For some reason I couldn't fit a 4a fuel scoop, so had to settle for a 3a which is not ideal, but workable. I have a class4 AFMU , and both scanners. My jump range is 48ly which for this ship is fine. It runs very cool, rarely getting over 65% whilst scooping .

I'm doing the tourist thing rather than pushing the boundaries in exploration but if anyone can suggest anything worth seeing in this general direction I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks guys
Click to expand...

Good luck Bookmite!
Did you find a passenger to take with you then? Is that why you couldn't take the 4a scoop? 3D shield? :)

Must admit I'm now actually looking forward to my first exploration trip! I've always been put off by the cockpit of the AspX (looks so cold and uninviting) and the DBX (there's wires hanging out all over the place!) but now we have the Dolphin! The Dolphin has an elegant and spacious cockpit with room to stroll around. It just looks like a very cozy place to be when in deep space!

...plus the Dolphin has that banshee screech when you boost to wake up all the alien life!
 
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mikelipino

M
Hi commanders, I'm new here as well. I've been playing ED for about a month now. As an old fan of the X-Wing series, ED seemed like the closest thing available to that experience, and it was my key driver for buying a VR HMD. It does not disappoint.

After making some money doing missions and collecting bounties, I saved up some credits to buy a Cobra MkIII and outfit it as an explorer. First trip was a test trip to the Pleiades, economical plotting to get the hang of scanning systems and planets. I was very confused when I by chance plotted a trip to Maia and saw ships and stations. That is until I learned how the faction map worked....

Second trip was in a random direction, 1000 ly out, 500 ly below the plane, just to see what I could see. It may sound silly but I felt a lot of pride finding my first planet, then my first system, then my first water world, all named after me when I got back. These are the simple pleasures of the explorer.

After getting back to the bubble and grinding some missions, I got my Asp X! In VR the Asp X cockpit is a huge glass cage. Very fun to fly around in. Just a little more grind to go, some light engineering to increase thrusters and FSD, and then it's back into the black.

Any recommendations for destinations?
 

Alex Brentnall

Alex Brentnall
mikelipino said:
Hi commanders, I'm new here as well. I've been playing ED for about a month now. As an old fan of the X-Wing series, ED seemed like the closest thing available to that experience, and it was my key driver for buying a VR HMD. It does not disappoint.

After making some money doing missions and collecting bounties, I saved up some credits to buy a Cobra MkIII and outfit it as an explorer. First trip was a test trip to the Pleiades, economical plotting to get the hang of scanning systems and planets. I was very confused when I by chance plotted a trip to Maia and saw ships and stations. That is until I learned how the faction map worked....

Second trip was in a random direction, 1000 ly out, 500 ly below the plane, just to see what I could see. It may sound silly but I felt a lot of pride finding my first planet, then my first system, then my first water world, all named after me when I got back. These are the simple pleasures of the explorer.

After getting back to the bubble and grinding some missions, I got my Asp X! In VR the Asp X cockpit is a huge glass cage. Very fun to fly around in. Just a little more grind to go, some light engineering to increase thrusters and FSD, and then it's back into the black.

Any recommendations for destinations?
Click to expand...

What I said 2 posts ago, all on the "everyone should see" list
 

bookmite

bookmite
Hi Mike, welcome aboard the noob exploration thread :) for me, its not about the destination, its the journey, lets face it one station or out post is very much like any other. It also depends what you want to see, for me its nebulae, and other random space anomalies. This trip is my first ever pure exploration trip, all my previous ventures outside the bubble have all been about missions and mat grinding.

Im taking a line under the galatic plane too, im not far out in exploration standards, but far as i have ever ventured, so far 3400 lys from my home system. I also found a water world today, undiscovered. it was a nice feeling doing the scan and getting the report back read to me via Eddi , but i fear it will be some weeks before i can get the data sold and recorded for posperity.

Before i logged off for the night, i found a metal rich planet apparently rich in arsenic and chromium, so i landed there, lit the barby, and had a beer, i have to say it has a lot more features than the usual potatoes we land on, with mountains and gulleys galore. i intend to take the buggy out for a run tomorrow, to grab that arsenic . luckily i actually videod fining the waterworld, if i can work out how to edit it, i may post it up on youtube.

fly safe
 

bookmite

bookmite
CMDR Maymo said:
Good luck Bookmite!
Did you find a passenger to take with you then? Is that why you couldn't take the 4a scoop? 3D shield? :)

Must admit I'm now actually looking forward to my first exploration trip! I've always been put off by the cockpit of the AspX (looks so cold and uninviting) and the DBX (there's wires hanging out all over the place!) but now we have the Dolphin! The Dolphin has an elegant and spacious cockpit with room to stroll around. It just looks like a very cozy place to be when in deep space!

...plus the Dolphin has that banshee screech when you boost to wake up all the alien life!
Click to expand...

Ha :) i had a choice of my clipper, AspE, python, or orca, the way the dice rolled on the dbx made it a no brainer, 49.7 Ly jump range. The Dbx sounds like an old tractor, very industrial, but flies almost like a condor.

The only passengers I have is Astra and my Eddi companion, very useful in these situations. well untl you have 30 planets to scan, then i quickly shut them both up :)

I'm only into day two of my trip, but so far im enjoying it, i make sure its not all jump and honk, my first landing on a undiscovered world got aborted as the G was too high for my too small thrusters, so i decided to wait till i found a low grav planet, who knows what i have missed huh :p

fly safe buddy
 
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