Exploration, finding stuff
- Thread starter anikaiful
- Start date
Can you name the system please.
Hmm, DP Draconis, I think.
Well done! I always scan when I enter a system and occasionally try to eyeball a parallax to try and spot the out of range stuff. I haven't managed to find anything yet.
How much did that scan get you? Personally, I think with the difficulty involved in spotting one of these it should be reward you handsomely.
i did something similar in Danu, though it wasn't quite as far out (somewhere around 200k LS i think) spent a good 10 minutes burning out there and when i turned in the data i only got 500 credits, ah well you win some you lose some.
nothing beats that feeling of satisfaction when i notice that dot start to move against the background and realize my hunch was right though, definitely worth it.
Yes, you can discover stations and extraction sites. I have found quite a few of each.
I read somewhere that any system you discover with a population but no stations should be ticketed.
I would love to know the same. A couple of times I have seen a moving dot (i guess it's the parallax phenomena), the I super cruised to it, and found out it was a planet. Finding the moving dot is pure luck for me. I don't have any systematic way to find it.
I haven't found anything using the D-scanner. Perhaps I don't know how to use it. Does it have a small range?
One more question: Are there planets in all systems? and what about space stations?
/ CMDR Redec
Secondary stars also often have a distinctly different look from the backgrounds stars, with a bigger halo and more saturated colors, which also helps spotting them. And often the orbits are already known and displayed during supercruise.
Fly away from the star at full speed, perhaps to a distance of about 2,000 Ls, turn around and fly towards the star again. While you do that keep your head on a swivel, look around and check for bright white dots that start to move in front of the star background when you reach higher speeds (2c and more).
Once you've discovered and scanned the first planet and its orbit you very likely know the ecliptic plane of the system. Most of the other planets will be on that same plane around the star and you can check for moving dots a little more focused. Don't be too sure about that, though. Some planets will have an inclined orbit (caught rogue bodies from deep space, for example). They might even orbit perpendicular to the ecliptic plane of the other planets.
Also keep in mind that planets will only appear to be very bright when you look at the side of the planet that faces the star. If you approach them from behind they will be darker and harder to spot, so perform several passes from different sides of the star.
Oh, and on an unrealistic note: if you for example discovered a planet called DP Draconis 4 and a planet DP Draconis 6, then you can be sure that there is a DP Dracons 5 between those two orbits somwhere that you've missed. Well, it's not that unrealistic, because orbit analysis could show that there must be another body affecting the other two, but it's still a very good hint.
Fly away from the star at full speed, perhaps to a distance of about 2,000 Ls, turn around and fly towards the star again. While you do that keep your head on a swivel, look around and check for bright white dots that start to move in front of the star background when you reach higher speeds (2c and more).
Once you've discovered and scanned the first planet and its orbit you very likely know the ecliptic plane of the system. Most of the other planets will be on that same plane around the star and you can check for moving dots a little more focused. Don't be too sure about that, though. Some planets will have an inclined orbit (caught rogue bodies from deep space, for example). They might even orbit perpendicular to the ecliptic plane of the other planets.
Also keep in mind that planets will only appear to be very bright when you look at the side of the planet that faces the star. If you approach them from behind they will be darker and harder to spot, so perform several passes from different sides of the star.
Oh, and on an unrealistic note: if you for example discovered a planet called DP Draconis 4 and a planet DP Draconis 6, then you can be sure that there is a DP Dracons 5 between those two orbits somwhere that you've missed. Well, it's not that unrealistic, because orbit analysis could show that there must be another body affecting the other two, but it's still a very good hint.
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The advanced discovery scanner should pick up every celestial body in a system. I have had it pick them up 40,000+ Ls from my location.. I will have to give it a look see if I don't already have the data in my navigation database.
Harbinger
Volunteer Moderator
- Basic = 500 LS
- Intermediate = 1000 LS
- Advanced = System wide
Some systems contain only stars.
If you can't see a space station in your Navigation tab upon entering the system, there isn't one.
If there is an economy/population but no space station then it's a buggy system and should be ticketed:
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Oh, goodness, I should get on with ticketing those, I've found dozens.
Also a roughly one-solar-mass, one-solar-radius Y-dwarf as system primary...
Secondary stars also often have a distinctly different look from the backgrounds stars, with a bigger halo and more saturated colors, which also helps spotting them. And often the orbits are already known and displayed during supercruise.
Fly away from the star at full speed, perhaps to a distance of about 2,000 Ls, turn around and fly towards the star again. While you do that keep your head on a swivel, look around and check for bright white dots that start to move in front of the star background when you reach higher speeds (2c and more).
Once you've discovered and scanned the first planet and its orbit you very likely know the ecliptic plane of the system. Most of the other planets will be on that same plane around the star and you can check for moving dots a little more focused. Don't be too sure about that, though. Some planets will have an inclined orbit (caught rogue bodies from deep space, for example). They might even orbit perpendicular to the ecliptic plane of the other planets.
Also keep in mind that planets will only appear to be very bright when you look at the side of the planet that faces the star. If you approach them from behind they will be darker and harder to spot, so perform several passes from different sides of the star.
Oh, and on an unrealistic note: if you for example discovered a planet called DP Draconis 4 and a planet DP Draconis 6, then you can be sure that there is a DP Dracons 5 between those two orbits somwhere that you've missed. Well, it's not that unrealistic, because orbit analysis could show that there must be another body affecting the other two, but it's still a very good hint.
Jigsaw, you are a gentleman and an explorer. Using this method I have finally managed to find something smaller than a dwarf star.
I mapped Mufrin system this morning and made 40K into the bargain. Thank you.
To coin a phrase from the OP "Yay me".
I kind of wish it didn't - Livingstone didn't just turn up on the banks of Lake Victoria and press the 'Map All Of Africa' button!
Using the basic scanner to catalogue all the moons of a big gas giant is great and saves a lot of tedious mucking about, but the advanced scanner is OP and takes all the skill out of exploring, IMO. Apart from anything else, it's supposed to be like a radar ping, so bodies 40,000Ls away shouldn't give a return signal until 80,000s later (e.g. 22 hours!)
EDIT: on the subject of performing parallax scans, I've got quite good at steering my sidey while looking straight up. You can use the scanner to keep the star underneath you (thus performing a sort of orbit) and in the plane of any known planets (which maximised the chance that you'lll spot the parallax)
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Remember Commanders!
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You must assign your basic discovery scanner to a fire group before you are able to use it actively instead of just passively. Passive scans mean the only way you will discover other stellar bodies is using the parallax technique and literally bumping into them
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It took me a week to figure this out lol.. So I'm hoping I save a lot of you the trouble!
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Warning!! Active scans create a lot of heat and will light up your signature to everyone in the same system pretty much..
When you come to buy a surface e scanner don't sell the discovery scanner to get it as you need both of them, one for the system and one for the surface's.
Have fun commanders!! Now Boldly go, where no man, has gone before!!
"All is Flux" Cmdr. Jezath
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You must assign your basic discovery scanner to a fire group before you are able to use it actively instead of just passively. Passive scans mean the only way you will discover other stellar bodies is using the parallax technique and literally bumping into them
.
It took me a week to figure this out lol.. So I'm hoping I save a lot of you the trouble!
.
Warning!! Active scans create a lot of heat and will light up your signature to everyone in the same system pretty much..
When you come to buy a surface e scanner don't sell the discovery scanner to get it as you need both of them, one for the system and one for the surface's.
Have fun commanders!! Now Boldly go, where no man, has gone before!!
"All is Flux" Cmdr. Jezath