Current signal when you are in the FSS is anything you are focussed on (zoomed in so it fill the view), planets, stars USS's, Fleet Carriers. If you target the signal when you exit the FSS it will be selected for flying to, so if you see something interesting you can target it ready to go there.
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Newcomer / Intro New system discovery
- Thread starter Brenda Zephyr
- Start date
Current signal when you are in the FSS is anything you are focussed on (zoomed in so it fill the view), planets, stars USS's, Fleet Carriers. If you target the signal when you exit the FSS it will be selected for flying to, so if you see something interesting you can target it ready to go there.
Ok, I got it now. It's a pita because so much in this game isn't explained. But thank's to ya'll I got it worked out now.
And, other than this one system, I don't really think it's worth my time to bother with it.
I bought MANY ships with the money from exploration data. Take your time and after a few systems you'll get the hang of it. When you sell the data from a few trips you'll no longer have a cash problem.
I've scanned three systems out. It's just going to make my trip to Sgr A significantly longer than planned. By a factor of months rather than days. So I might just do a few dozen more and then finish my race inwards, go back to my home base, and figure out where to sell the data, then keep on doing tourist missions for a while, scanning the odd system here and there till I get good at it. Right now, i've still a long long way to go to my turn around point.
̶W̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶I̶ ̶u̶s̶u̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶d̶o̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶h̶o̶n̶k̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶r̶y̶ ̶s̶y̶s̶t̶e̶m̶ ̶(̶i̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶f̶r̶e̶e̶ ̶m̶o̶n̶e̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶c̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶ ̶-̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶d̶o̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶w̶h̶i̶l̶e̶ ̶f̶u̶e̶l̶ ̶s̶c̶o̶o̶p̶i̶n̶g̶)̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶q̶u̶i̶c̶k̶ ̶l̶o̶o̶k̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶y̶s̶t̶e̶m̶ ̶m̶a̶p̶.̶ ̶W̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶I̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶n̶e̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶m̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶t̶h̶ ̶v̶i̶s̶i̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶(̶u̶s̶u̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶'̶l̶l̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶a̶b̶l̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶s̶p̶o̶t̶ ̶E̶a̶r̶t̶h̶-̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶W̶a̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶l̶d̶s̶ ̶q̶u̶i̶t̶e̶ ̶e̶a̶s̶i̶l̶y̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ ̶a̶p̶p̶a̶r̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶b̶l̶u̶e̶n̶e̶s̶s̶,̶ ̶A̶m̶o̶n̶i̶a̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶l̶d̶s̶ ̶w̶h̶i̶c̶h̶ ̶u̶s̶u̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶l̶o̶o̶k̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶p̶u̶r̶p̶l̶y̶-̶b̶e̶i̶g̶e̶ ̶E̶a̶r̶t̶h̶s̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶t̶h̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶)̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶I̶ ̶g̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶m̶a̶p̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶D̶S̶S̶.̶ ̶I̶f̶ ̶I̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶n̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶y̶s̶t̶e̶m̶,̶ ̶I̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶t̶i̶n̶u̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶s̶t̶o̶p̶p̶i̶n̶g̶.̶
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I scan everything with the FSS, only map valuable bodies such as ELW, WW, Ammonia worlds or bodies with interesting stuff such as bio, xeno, human signals etc. I think I have so far accumulated over 6b mostly from exploring. It took me 3 months to circle the galaxy and I got back with over 1.7b in data. But exploring that way isn't for everyone, do it how you enjoy otherwise it will drive you mad!
You can only do that if the system has already been scanned, to find out what's there in a completely unexplored system you have to use the FSS and see what signals there are, you can tell what sort of body they are by their position on the scale.
Congrats on the discovery Commander! Fly safe so you can get credit when you turn your data in.
As others have said planet scanning and mapping can make you some good credits especially on a long trip. I usually do my scanning while my fuel scoop is running then check the system map for any high value mapping targets (Earth Like Worlds (ELWs), Terraform Candidates, Water Worlds (WW), Ammonia Worlds). I can usually be done scanning the system bodies by the time my fuel tank tops off. The planet mapping is what can take a longer but you can always bookmark a planet for a return trip (not always feasible on long journeys ofc).
Even though Elite may not do much hand holding as you've noticed already; the community here is always ready to lend a hand.
And much props for Bill the Cat profile pic My current favorite t-shirts are Bloom County a "Don't blame me I voted for Bill and Opus" and a "America is ill vote for Bill".
As others have said planet scanning and mapping can make you some good credits especially on a long trip. I usually do my scanning while my fuel scoop is running then check the system map for any high value mapping targets (Earth Like Worlds (ELWs), Terraform Candidates, Water Worlds (WW), Ammonia Worlds). I can usually be done scanning the system bodies by the time my fuel tank tops off. The planet mapping is what can take a longer but you can always bookmark a planet for a return trip (not always feasible on long journeys ofc).
Even though Elite may not do much hand holding as you've noticed already; the community here is always ready to lend a hand.
And much props for Bill the Cat profile pic
My current favorite t-shirts are Bloom County a "Don't blame me I voted for Bill and Opus" and a "America is ill vote for Bill".
You can sell the data at (nearly) every station and some carriers, at the cartographics contact. Carriers take a large cut (25%) of the profit, though.
If you are interested in the BGS (background simulation) or simply want to become friends with the ruling faction in a system (sometimes desirable, for various reasons), then selling data will also increase your reputation with that faction as well as that faction's influence in the system.
Looks like you have not been far out of the bubble for a while.
As @varonica says, system map shows no bodies after a honk in virgin systems, just stars and anything within passive detection range (30ls) - you only get a populated system map if someone has scanned and sold the data.Just a brainfart. Of course I do it by looking at FSS signals, now.Looks like you have not been far out of the bubble for a while.
(it IS more than a month since I last explored, so... yeah. That's my excuse.
)
Just honk the systems as you arrive and fuel scoop past the star towards your next jump point, FSS the entire system when you are taking a break or parking for the night and only bother mapping Earth like or a few other valuable worlds.
That way you can keep the 1 minute per jump going and the credits coming in.
And why a lot of players complain because there can never find NSP's and things like Guardian ruins. If you just honk and jump you don't find anything of interest. Sure there's not much out there to find in the great galaxy....at the moment, but hopefully FDEV will correct that.
The Dolphin makes a good exploration ship, runs cold for easy scooping, good optional slots. Keep scanning!
o7
True but the OP seems more intent on travelling to Sag A* at the moment than doing a more detailed exploration. To my mind it is easier to explore thoroughly when you don’t have a destination and schedule to distract you.
That's why I said in my earlier post to do it the way he wants, if you are intent on the journey and not worried about what lies between I have no issues with that, just pointing out the possible traps you can encounter by not using the tools. Fortunately I am not distracted by schedules, it's a game, I enjoy exploring and it doesn't matter if it takes me days or months to get where I am going, other people have other priorities, that's also cool.
Yes do this, so you can rig a slightly better ship and do it properly the 2nd round.
When it came to using the FSS, I couldnt make any sense of it and just refused to use it for the 1st month or so of gameplay. When I came around to trying to properly learn it, I just banged away randomly like a monkey on a keyboard until the eureka moment came and it was like, this is it? what, I expected more. The stupid tutorials mislead me into thinking it was a case of having to match those shapes and signals by eyeball and fine tuning but in the end its just swinging the pointer until the circle turns solid. Very very misleading.
Yep I want to hit Sgr A as my main goal atm, On my return trip I'm going to follow my path inward, and scan everything till I hit civilized space again. I expect THAT to take me a significant amount of time. I do think I'll skip the surface scanning though (maybe) as it seems a tad more tedious. Why can't one probe circle the planet and scan the entire thing instead of being limited to a hemisphere? But, whatever, we'll see
I have leukemia and am house bound with nothing to do but play as I wait for my final journey into the stars that is coming slightly sooner than I had hoped for. But, hey, I get to do one of my dreams, even if it is only virtually and not at all real, and that's explore the Galaxy like I have dreamed of doing since the first day this young girl child got plopped in front of the TV to watch Neil Armstrong land on the moon. I barely understood what I was seeing, another world, and we were stepping on it. I knew it was historic, and I knew a dream born at that moment. Life has a way of stomping on our dreams, but... Elite gives me a sorta hand on being Elain, the intrepid space explorer and all around rogue of the galaxy, right? LOL
I know I freak out at times, I get all sorts of sideways when I can't understand things, which for me is not usual. It upsets me when I look at something and my brain just goes "Oh heck no" and refuses to process data. XD But ya'll have been beyond helpful, even if half the time I don't have a clue what you are saying till it gets explained like i'm a total clueless newb, oh wait I am... well dang I have to remedy that now don't I?
~Elain
It took about 4 tries once it was explained to me how to access it, then it just clicked and is easy now. Time consuming though. So I'm prolly gonna skip surface scanning andjust stick to an FSS on my trip back to civilized space.