New player needs tips for playing as Explorer

[R1ck8r00ke]

Hi everyone,

I'm totally new to Elite and jumping in on PS4 this week, I'm currently doing flight tutorials, starting doing a few basic missions and learning how to traverse the black.

I want to play mainly as an Explorer and earn my way as a scout speeding through the galaxy scanning new systems and earning a living through selling this data. I want to eventually have the fastest ship possible and be totally self-sufficient, playing stealthily and avoiding combat completely. I want to be on the edges of the unknown exploring the abyss.

So as I am starting to earn some credits and looking to upgrade my Sidewinder - what should be my first objectives? After my Sidewinder is upgraded what ship should I aim for next? Is The Asp Explorer my holy grail of ships that I should aim for? What build does my ship need to be? Can I drop guns, cargo and shields?

What areas of space should I head towards to hit unexplored space as soon as possible, and what do I need to be aware of out there?

I'm asking any veteran Explorers out there in the depths of the black to send info that may help me, a new pilot lifting his head up to the stars for the first time and dreaming of what may be out there...

 

[GG7]

Hi everyone,

I'm totally new to Elite and jumping in on PS4 this week, I'm currently doing flight tutorials, starting doing a few basic missions and learning how to traverse the black.

I want to play mainly as an Explorer and earn my way as a scout speeding through the galaxy scanning new systems and earning a living through selling this data. I want to eventually have the fastest ship possible and be totally self-sufficient, playing stealthily and avoiding combat completely. I want to be on the edges of the unknown exploring the abyss.

So as I am starting to earn some credits and looking to upgrade my Sidewinder - what should be my first objectives? After my Sidewinder is upgraded what ship should I aim for next? Is The Asp Explorer my holy grail of ships that I should aim for? What build does my ship need to be? Can I drop guns, cargo and shields?

What areas of space should I head towards to hit unexplored space as soon as possible, and what do I need to be aware of out there?

I'm asking any veteran Explorers out there in the depths of the black to send info that may help me, a new pilot lifting his head up to the stars for the first time and dreaming of what may be out there...

There is a TON of Elite Dangerous related channels on YouTube. Many of them offer tutorials on precisely this subject!

A few I would recommend you check out would be: (In no particular order)

Commander Josh Hawkins
Commander Shabooka
Commander Turjan Starstone
Commander Grey Test
Obsidian Ant
Commander Skoomer
Commander Plater
Chaos Wulff
Scott Manley

And many many more!

To give you a thumbnail piece of advice...

DEFINITELY the ASP EXPLORER!

That is the ship you want to shoot for. Most of the folks listed above fly an Asp X. Pretty much all Explorers do. In the meantime, try to get into a Cobra MkIII and use that ship to earn your credits for the Asp X.

 

[RyanBigDog]

Hi everyone,

I'm totally new to Elite and jumping in on PS4 this week, I'm currently doing flight tutorials, starting doing a few basic missions and learning how to traverse the black.

I want to play mainly as an Explorer and earn my way as a scout speeding through the galaxy scanning new systems and earning a living through selling this data. I want to eventually have the fastest ship possible and be totally self-sufficient, playing stealthily and avoiding combat completely. I want to be on the edges of the unknown exploring the abyss.

So as I am starting to earn some credits and looking to upgrade my Sidewinder - what should be my first objectives? After my Sidewinder is upgraded what ship should I aim for next? Is The Asp Explorer my holy grail of ships that I should aim for? What build does my ship need to be? Can I drop guns, cargo and shields?

What areas of space should I head towards to hit unexplored space as soon as possible, and what do I need to be aware of out there?

I'm asking any veteran Explorers out there in the depths of the black to send info that may help me, a new pilot lifting his head up to the stars for the first time and dreaming of what may be out there...

Do what I'm doing and focus on boom time deliveries or other easy, close missions. Just keep stacking credits until you can afford a new ship or at least heavily upgrade your sidewinder.

If you want to be an explorer it's important to know that in order to sell star map data you have to be 20+ Ly away from where the data originated or they won't buy it. So this means a lot of jumping which obviously means your first focus should be on upgrading your FSD so you can go further.

You might see all the good stuff at first but eventually you will find optional scanner upgrades that will help you map and collect data better.

Add me if you'd like, I'm pretty much just sticking to myself right now trying to earn credits. But if you need in game help or something just send a message to my console.

Username: RyanBigDog86

 

[Mr. Stevens Catering]

My order: Asp Explorer then in close second the diamondback explorer (since it got buffed). Those are the really nice cheaper exploration ships.

 

[khaos526]

My advice is you can find unexplored systems only 1000+ LY from the Bubble (and even closer). Just don't follow the same paths as 1000's of others to the core, Colonia, Beagle Point, etc. Those are the most heavily traveled routes and you will find it harder to find unexplored systems if you follow the general path. You can try to explore above or below the galactic plane as that will give you more options as well...

 

[CapitanAceRimmer]

A Hauler makes a very good short range, around the bubble explorer as soon as you have enough credits.

 

[Asp Explorer]

Just pick a direction and go, even in a Sidey

Make sure you have a discovery scanner and a fuel scoop though. Return after a few hours, sell your data, get a better discovery scanner and fuel scoop - and go out again wherever you like.

As the games has been out a few years, you'll have to travel a bit to make a "first" discovery, but if you head to unusual areas and pick short jumps, you will definitely find somewhere no-one else has been.

 

[GG7]

My advice is you can find unexplored systems only 1000+ LY from the Bubble (and even closer). Just don't follow the same paths as 1000's of others to the core, Colonia, Beagle Point, etc. Those are the most heavily traveled routes and you will find it harder to find unexplored systems if you follow the general path. You can try to explore above or below the galactic plane as that will give you more options as well...

Ultimately, the OP will want to head towards the CORE of the galaxy. Now that we have Colonia out in this direction, you can aim for that general vicinity but the stellar density is so great towards the center, you are NEVER going to have a problem finding undiscovered star systems.

Many of the YouTube channels I recommended have playlists that are focused on travel to Colonia and/or Sag A. The look of space out there is vastly different. There are a ton of nebulae and a star field so thick with stars, that it is hard to find any areas where there isn't dozens of stars for every degree of arc in the skies on any planet in this sector.

So I would have to disagree with khaos526's concern over following common trade routes etc.

Even with everyone who has been playing the game to date, we have only discovered something like 0.001% of the systems out there to discover. So you can travel with confidence knowing, that even though you may be heading in the same general direction as thousands of other players, you are never going to be wanting for brand new, previously undiscovered systems you can put your name on.

Elite is a space explorer's dream come true and hopefully with 2.4, Frontier will be fleshing out this area of the game to provide explorers more to do beyond the basics of discovery and travel.

 

[fish77]

Way back when on PC I worked my way up to a Cobra MKIII then just farmed bounties and missions so I could buy a Diamondback Explorer and kit it out with the best gear, can't remember the exact spec but was something like this

https://coriolis.io/outfit/diamondback_explorer/0pdtdFflddisdf5-------32f4f32i2f.Iw1-kA==.Aw1-kA== that was before the days of Horizons though so didn't need to consider planetary landing, tbh there's not much need for it outside the bubble anyway apart from maybe farming materials for a FSD boost if you get in trouble.

Had great range & decent refuelling time, did my first trip to Sag A and the neutron fields in it, spent around 3 months just scanning black holes & neutron stars, on the return I switched to solo once I was within a few hundred ly's of the bubble to avoid any griefers with it not having any defensive capabilities then searched for a system with a station as close as possible to the star just to make sure I got the data back ok, that couple of mins was one of the most nerve wracking I've had in Elite praying for no interdiction [big grin] took me ages to turn all the data in and made an absolute fortune, next trip out there was in an A kitted out Anaconda.

I wouldn't rush into it straight away, do the grind and make sure whatever ship you decided to go out in is equipped for the job, there's some areas of space that are sparsely populated in terms of stars between the spiral arms so you could run into problems if your jump range isn't high enough plus you want the biggest A rated fuel scoop for your ship, things are a bit easier these days in terms of route plotting, the game remembers your plotted route now (hope it's the same on PS4?) if you decide to log off plus you can apply filters, so on the journey out & back in you can filter out any stars that aren't scoopable which means you can plot a 1000 ly route then just scoop a bit of fuel after each jump, before the filter you'd plot a route, do a few jumps and hit a brown dwarf every jump so would have to stop and find a star you could refuel at then plot another pointless route [big grin] the same works out in the neutron star fields, filter out everything apart from non sequence stars, set jumps to economical and pick a star a decent distance away then just earn those credits, before I had to pick each star manually as a plotted route would give a mixed bag, another tip is to set the galactic map view to realistic then make small movements looking for black holes, I'm not sure if it will work on PS4 but it was pretty easy with a mouse to slightly pan the map round, once I've spotted some I write the names down then manually search for them one at a time to make sure I get them all.

First time out I'd head for Sag A just so you can say you've been there, doesn't look as good now as it did in the old days though it's pretty easy to navigate there, just head for the big bright clump in the centre then once you get <1000 ly's away you can plot a route direct to the black hole, there's a guide here on the neutron stars and rough coordinates to put you in the right direction https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/138197-Exploration-Mini-Neutron-Field-guide

If you do go out you'll hopefully bump into a "few" black holes & neutron stars fist discovered by me [big grin]

 

[R1ck8r00ke]

Thank you all for your words of wisdom - there's some fantastic tips there for me to learn!

I'm going to buy a fuel scoop and upgrade my scanner then plot an economical route pointing to Sag A and set off. Hopefully I can reach some unexplored space pretty fast and start earning credits.

Is it worth playing in open mode or solo mode if I just want to explore?

 

[Mr Cynical]

If you have no intention of risking a lot of exploration data when you return to the bubble, safest bet is solo, or at least when you get close. Not seen any gankers on ps4 yet tho, and I've been solely in open around the starter and cg systems.

Carefully pick the station you want to sell data to, rather than random, as it will help with rank/rep with the controlling faction. Or some engineers will accept it boosting your rank with them (once unlocked).

Tips for exploring-
Set a keybind for select next system in route.
Take an SRV
Don't crash into stars.
Watch out for abandoned creepy ships and never pick up escape pods making tapping noises

 

[Mr Fad]

Thank you all for your words of wisdom - there's some fantastic tips there for me to learn!

I'm going to buy a fuel scoop and upgrade my scanner then plot an economical route pointing to Sag A and set off. Hopefully I can reach some unexplored space pretty fast and start earning credits.

Is it worth playing in open mode or solo mode if I just want to explore?

I'd hold off on that trip if you mean doing it in a sidewinder? I've heard it done before but only by very experienced explorers or crazy people

Mini expeditions are great fun, set a star a few thousand lys away and off you go! Or maybe try some mid distance passenger missions to earn even more cash as well as exploration data.

A couple of cheap ships not mentioned for exploration are the diamond back scout and type six both of which are reasonably cheap to buy and outfit

Asp X tho!

 

[fish77]

As Mr Cynical said, set a keybind for next system in route, so if you jump into a system and there's something you want to scan you can target it, once done hit the keybind (I set it to O + R1) and the next jump in your route will be targeted, you might also want to bind SET SPEED TO X% under the Flight Throttle option, depends on if you're using DS4, if you've got a HOTAS then it doesn't matter, basically you need it if you go out to the neutron fields, they're small (not as small as they used to be, before you couldn't tell the difference between them and the background stars) but have very high mass so you can easily bump into them and cause damage, also it can come in handy on long haul flights where you might lose concentration after a few hours of jumping, scooping and honking, especially if there's a bit of lag and the next system takes a while to load and you're stuck in witch space, hit it as soon as the countdown for the FSD starts and when you arrive in the next system your throttle will be set at whichever % you chose, exploration can be boring at times with not much to see and can get repetitive so it's a good safeguard.

Also try and get a rhythm going of jumping, then once you arrive in the next system honk your scanner and position your ship for scooping or getting out of the way if it's non scoopable (shouldn't be an issue if you filter them out) if you have a slow fuel scoop try and find the sweet spot where scoop rate is at maximum without heat going up too fast then kill the throttle and have a good look on the system map to see if there's anything worth surface scanning, there's a visual guide here showing the value of planets & stars so you can decide if a trip to the outer reaches of a system is worth it or not

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/339546-2-3-exploration-payouts-visual-guide

 

[Ashnak]

There is a whole exploration subforum, you know? And we're not discriminatory against consoles

Ok. Sidey upgrade.
Step 1: get an A-rated FSD and fuel scoop, Advanced discovery scanner and detailed surface scanner, everything else to taste; D-rated modules have the least mass and therefore will give you greatest speed (in normal flight) and longest jump range.
Step 2: unlock Felicity Farseer and Elvira Martuuk. A quick trip out to the Pleiades (to collect a Meta-Alloy) will take care of the basic requirements for them. Remember to keep some exploration data for sale at Felicity's - that will speed up the ranking with ther dramatically
Step 3: slap an enhanced drive on your Sidey, then let the two gals engineer the heck out of it

After that, decide on which ship you want. Since as an explorer, you will spend a lot of time in your ship, first priority is how you like it. View, SC handling - you're going to be married to that ship for quite some time, so there's no use in taking out something that you don't really get along with, just because it has a 10% better stat somewhere.
There are perhaps two exceptions to that:
- if you want to reach far off systems outside the disc, you'll need a stripped down Anaconda. Nothing else comes even close to its maximum jump range
- if you, for whatever reason, want maximum jump range but can't afford a 'conda, you'll need a DBX

Otherwise, my explorer is currently cooling his heels ~40,000 ly out to the west while my new bubble pilot got distracted collecting meta-alloys in the Pleiades (will have to send him back to the bubble this evening - or maybe tomorrow, there's still some space in the cargo hold...). My (and not only mine) favourite exploration ship at the moment is the Dolphin, though.
- can hold all the essentials (scoop, afmu, shields, SRV, both scanners)
- simply can't overheat when scooping (you'll crash into the star first)
- can land on a towel
- nice clearance for the SRV under it
- nice spacious cockpit
- good handling
- will reach ~40 ly with a grade 5 engineered FSD

What you will need depends on you. People have been to Beagle Point in a Sidey. However, most explorers tend to pack:
- fuel scoop. Can't leave the bubble without it
- small shields. To lessen the bumps when landing on a planet. Remember you can't (yet..) repair the hull or the power plant
- ADS and DDS (scanners).
- SRV. To do something else - and to collect materials for synthesis and extended jumps.
- AFMU, to repair (minor) damage. Just don't try to repair FSD or thrusters while you're in flight....
You don't need a cargo rack or weapons. Nothing out there that is worth lugging back (quite apart from the problem that any cargo paints a big target on your ship), and anything that might want to shoot at you is much better at that than you are, so your only chnce is RUN.
Some people (me included) carry a small mining laser, though. Asteroids also will yield materials (see above), so that's another chance at doing something different for a while.