Fellow explorers, what are your 'rules' for mapping?

[SixthVG]

As explorers, it is our duty to catalog the galaxy for Mankind. But we all need cash! I know most of us drop into a system, honk, FSS the interesting bits, DSS if it's really gonna PAY! But what are you 'rules' to a system? Do you scan the whole system if it has less than X amount of bodies? Do you scan it if something looks interesting, etc.


Me personally, I'll always scan a system if it has less than 10 bodies. Why not! Or if I see a planet orbiting a ringed gas giant REALLY close, I'll go in and scan the whole system to claim it

 

[iain666]

I map ELWs, planets I'm going to land on and one for a tag on the rare occasion I hit a system that's already fully discovery tagged. Mapping anything outside those criteria is vanishingly rare.

I always FSS everything though.

 

[Anticon]

If already discovered and mapped, I jump out. For undiscovered I always FSS and "discover" all bodies, and unless I'm in a hurry (rare) will DSS all terraformable WW's; at least 1 t/f HMCW if under 1000ls; all AW's; check out all Bio's; check NSP's; and think about looking at anything else that might be interesting. I also try to remember to look at the orrery, not just the sysmap. Time is abundant and the point of exploring is - well - exploring, so why do less than a reasonably thorough job of it? Even icy bodies can be interesting - many times I've found the only Bio's in a system to be on icy bodies. A bit obsessive maybe, but each to his own. Sooner or later the money becomes irrelevant anyway.

 

[Zieman]

For some time, my self-imposed rules have been:
Always*

• FSS everything
• map AW, ELW, WW, WG, terraformables

Sometimes I map everything just for the sake of it (usually if more than half of body count is on the 'must map' list already)

*unless in a real hurry, to get my name on something extremely rare - hasn't happened yet since introduction of FSS

 

[Deleted member 38366]

In the past, I've typically mapped nothing except ELWs, Terraformable Water Worlds and anything with Biological Signals.

Recently however, I moved to mapping all valuable Bodies (ELW, Water World, Ammonia World, Terraforming Candidates) + Bodies w/ Biologicals.
It just helps offsetting Tritium cost for expensive/long-range Operations so much better.

 

[Sapyx]

I always honk and run the full FSS the first time I enter an unknown-to-me system. Even in the Bubble.

I'll always map an ELW. Again, even in the Bubble. f it's a proc-genned ELW, I also enter the planetary stats in my spreadsheet.

I always map any planet I happen to be flying up to in the Bubble, too. Opportunity targets.

If everything in the system if already fully Tagged, I'll probably then move on.

If only part of the system had been First Discover Tagged before, then I'll move on - getting my Tag as First Discover on the remaining worlds is sufficient.

If everything is Discovered but there's at least one free Mapped tag to be claimed, I'll usually claim just the one, unless it's around a secondary star over 100,000 Ls away - even if it's a gas giant or barren ice moon. Plant the flag.

If it's a pristine, fully Untagged system, I'll probably then move on.

 

[marx]

For the FSS, it really depends on what I'm doing. If I'm just traveling somewhere in a hurry, then I just scan ELWs, AWs and WWs. If I'm not in a hurry, then I do gas giants as well. Now, if I'm surveying a specific area, then I scan everything.

As for mapping: ELWs and binary WWTCs. It's just about credits and some extra tags, and I'm after information first and foremost. My playtime is limited, so I'd rather get the most out of it.

 

[Orvidius]

I don't have any strict rules for myself, these days. It completely changes depending on mood, or what I'm currently doing. Now, in the pre-FSS era, I used to have some guidelines that I would use. This was mostly in terms of how far I was willing to supercruise in order to scan various body types. But that no longer applies.

 

[Northpin]

Generally speaking, I will map hmc terraformables and elw, aw, ww and the occasional nearby satellite - but it depends on distance, mood, etc

 

[Rooster Podunk]

As with other commanders the typical high credit maps, but honestly, it just depends on what looks interesting. Sometimes I might map everything in a system with odd or interesting star combinations, or it might just be the shear number of MRs, or interesting placement of worlds (e.g. ww way out hugging a gas giant). As for the credits, unless you are the carrier type commander, credits mean a lot less than just enjoying my time in the game.

 

[Heinz Volmer]

In my case:
Systems below 16 bodies: FSS everything, mapping stuff above 1 million
Systems above 15 bodies: FSS and mapping only for ELW, WW and AW

For now... when I got my fleet carrier I will most likely do more thorough runs which focus on finding the most beautiful and most rare.

 

[puca]

Will only resolve signals if the spectrum suggests WWs, ELWs or AWs. If so, will map all those, and any terraformables in the system, regardless of how far from the main star. If the spectrum does not suggest any WWs, ELWs, or AWs, I don't bother resolving signals and move on, possibly losing out on terraformables.

If I am in a hurry, I just honk and go.

I will sometimes resolve signals and maybe even map interesting or notable systems regardless of what the spectrum says, for example a system with lots of bodies in it (say 140+).

 

[varonica]

As explorers, it is our duty to catalog the galaxy for Mankind. But we all need cash! I know most of us drop into a system, honk, FSS the interesting bits, DSS if it's really gonna PAY! But what are you 'rules' to a system? Do you scan the whole system if it has less than X amount of bodies? Do you scan it if something looks interesting, etc.


Me personally, I'll always scan a system if it has less than 10 bodies. Why not! Or if I see a planet orbiting a ringed gas giant REALLY close, I'll go in and scan the whole system to claim it

Surely you FSS it all, it just wouldn't make sense not to while you were in the FSS. And that's the point of the FSS, it tells you what's interesting.

 

[Rooster Podunk]

Surely you FSS it all, it just wouldn't make sense not to while you were in the FSS. And that's the point of the FSS, it tells you what's interesting.

This^. I came to find out what is there. Even some low value ice worlds have high value (personally) canyons and mountain to take in.

 

[SixthVG]

Surely you FSS it all, it just wouldn't make sense not to while you were in the FSS. And that's the point of the FSS, it tells you what's interesting.

Nay, I'm currently out exploring for credits. So I just map the high-value targets UNLESS it's a system under 10 bodies then I'll map everything.

 

[Batwingsix]

I generally dont have rules. When I am out of the bubble and discovering a system that hasnt been seen yet I generally FSS it then decide from there. Once Odyssey is released and I head back out I will probably continue that just adding on surface mapping many of them and hiking a bit to see what there is. Take some plant life samples, maybe get some screenshots of interesting terrain formations and the like.

 

[SpocksOddSocks]

I don't have any strict rules for myself, these days. It completely changes depending on mood, or what I'm currently doing. Now, in the pre-FSS era, I used to have some guidelines that I would use. This was mostly in terms of how far I was willing to supercruise in order to scan various body types. But that no longer applies.

I'm similar in this. I mostly do full FSS, but I'm sometimes in a "get a move on" mode, and lapse a bit.

As for mapping, sometimes all terraformables, sometimes nothing, and every stage in between. It's rare I'll map everything, but I have done in the occasional smaller system.

I always honk and run the full FSS the first time I enter an unknown-to-me system. Even in the Bubble.

I'll always map an ELW. Again, even in the Bubble. f it's a proc-genned ELW, I also enter the planetary stats in my spreadsheet.

I always map any planet I happen to be flying up to in the Bubble, too. Opportunity targets.

If everything in the system if already fully Tagged, I'll probably then move on.

If only part of the system had been First Discover Tagged before, then I'll move on - getting my Tag as First Discover on the remaining worlds is sufficient.

If everything is Discovered but there's at least one free Mapped tag to be claimed, I'll usually claim just the one, unless it's around a secondary star over 100,000 Ls away - even if it's a gas giant or barren ice moon. Plant the flag.

If it's a pristine, fully Untagged system, I'll probably then move on.

I could have sworn I passed though an NS system with your tag on the star today, but none of the planets, which even included an ELW (unusual in itself for a visited system, but not the first time I've seen it). Perhaps it was just a similar name or I misremembered, but I do have a note of it, so I'll check next time I'm in game.

(In case you're in game before I am, it's Eolls Flyi IZ-M d8-89

EDSM - Elite Dangerous Star Map

The Galactic Positioning System of Elite: Dangerous at your service.

www.edsm.net

 

[Batwingsix]

I'm similar in this. I mostly do full FSS, but I'm sometimes in a "get a move on" mode, and lapse a bit.

As for mapping, sometimes all terraformables, sometimes nothing, and every stage in between. It's rare I'll map everything, but I have done in the occasional smaller system.


I could have sworn I passed though an NS system with your tag on the star today, but none of the planets, which even included an ELW (unusual in itself for a visited system, but not the first time I've seen it). Perhaps it was just a similar name or I misremembered, but I do have a note of it, so I'll check next time I'm in game.

(In case you're in game before I am, it's Eolls Flyi IZ-M d8-89

EDSM - Elite Dangerous Star Map

The Galactic Positioning System of Elite: Dangerous at your service.

www.edsm.net

Moving on tends to happen. I have gone through some just to bail without even honking

 

[Sapyx]

I could have sworn I passed though an NS system with your tag on the star today, but none of the planets, which even included an ELW (unusual in itself for a visited system, but not the first time I've seen it). Perhaps it was just a similar name or I misremembered, but I do have a note of it, so I'll check next time I'm in game.

(In case you're in game before I am, it's Eolls Flyi IZ-M d8-89

Nope, wasn't me, sorry - I've never been that far out over in the unfashionable eastern spiral arms of the galaxy.

I always make sure to run full FSS on every neutron star I visit, even when "speedrunning" using neutron boosts to go someplace else, because I've not yet found a neutron star ELW of my own.

 

[CmdrKull]

My rule is usually that if I scan anything, I scan everything. If there are ELW, Water worlds, or Ammonia-based life I’ll scan it, and I’ll usually set down on airless worlds with rings so those systems get a scan as well.