Tips for Exploration Journey?

Nerix

Nerix
Hello Commanders, a friend and I would like to start an exploration journey and we are looking for tips in which direction to head. We outfitted our ships quite well I hope, tips appreciated. My build: https://edsy.org/#/L=F600000H4C0S40...ts405faK03G0022_Pc6y002jwG090_W0,EXPLORACONDA

We are not sure yet which route to take, so first some background regarding our expectations and then some questions:
  • I have participated in the DW2 exploration tour (at least partly) and know about the many great waypoints. But I think we would prefer discovering something new (generation ships, life forms, nice vistas, first codex entries if anything left, or even Raxxla or other mysteries). So we are more interested in exploring than sightseeing. We do not have a specific time schedule or distance in mind. We are not in a hurry and want to fly out into the black as long as we have fun doing that.
  1. Which direction from the bubble and which sector is least explored? In which direction would you head, if you would want to get into "uncharted territories"? Is it possible to get some data about this, e.g. with EDSM?
  2. Are there any current clues about Raxxla which can be tackled down to locations / regions in the milky way, or other interesting mysteries? We might head in that direction.
  3. Do you have any "mechanical" tips how to do exploration right. How do you make sure after entering a system that you don't overlook something interesting? Scan all bodies with the FSS? Could be a bit daunting. Just do a honk and check the FSS wavelength diagram to see if there are some interesting objects? Actually I miss the old system where you could check the system map for interesting constellations - that is not possible anymore without scanning all bodies, right?
  4. Even if I said we are more explorers than sightseers, sightseeing tips are of course also welcome, when you think it is a must see.
Thanks and o7
CMDR Nerix
 

Nerix

Nerix
Might a moderator move this to the exploration forum section if deemed necessary? Answers on topic appreciated anyway ;)
 

GroG79

G
Get some boosters to supplement your very weak shield
Also a sca might be nice for those nice finds 300.000ls away
 

Nerix

Nerix
Two very useful tips, thanks. Haven't thought about the sca, that could be handy indeed.

Is there a known formula to calculate the time as a function of distance until you reach an eta of 7s and have to throttle down? Could be an alternative to a sca.

Regarding boosters: my outfit is based on minimising weight while sustaining as much functionality as possible. So I chose a powerplant as small as possible (and thus small shields, a small distributor that is just able to boost etc).
 
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GroG79

G
Adding two d rated booster (consider a-rated low power) upping the Powerplant to 4A costs you 0.5 LY jumprange.

You choose to bring a lot of toys; are they more important than survival? A c4 shield is also a valid option.


Choices choices
 

marx

marx
Welcome!

First, about your build: it seems like you're preparing to visit NSPs too, and in that case, a Decontamination limpet controller would be better than a Repair one. A few NSPs have a corrosive attack, and the decon. limpet can repair your ship hull as well. (Though not as much as the dedicated repair limpet can.)
As for the other stuff about your build, consider what others have already said: you could have significantly better survivability for only a small cost in jump range. Personally, I think the trade-off is well worth it. The Anaconda does very well in this regard.

For something new though that's not procedurally generated stuff, you have decent chances with finding surface life for the Codex in the distant regions, and well, not much else. I'd recommend looking for generated stuff more.

As for the other questions:
1: The EDAstro saturation map has already been suggested. You could head South-East for the closest mostly-unexplored sectors, although you'll hit the inter-arm gap relatively soon. If you head West, there's plenty of unexplored stuff there: entire regions which few explorers tend to visit. (A good reason among the ones why I put my DSSA carrier there.)
2: None that I'm aware of. Nothing solid, at the very least. If there were, plenty of people would have been all over that place anyway.
3: No current way of doing that. Basically, you have two choices: one, either grind the FSS minigame out to completion to find if the system is interesting and worth grinding out the FSS minigame, or two, decide what you are looking for and what you are fine missing, and only do those systems which might have what you're looking for. Or maybe only start FSS-ing entire systems once you're farther out.
4: The GMP POI (also visible on the EDAstro interactive galaxy map) might be good destinations to visit, although be aware that not all of them might interest you. Planetary features discovered before Odyssey have almost certainly changed.

I think that's all then. Good luck out there!
 

Orvidius

Orvidius
I'll echo what everyone else is saying about the ship build. The build you have is perfectly fine, as long as you're confident in your ability not to have accidents. I used to explore this way too (lightweight build, maximize jump range), and did just fine with it. But since the costs of making a mistake are quite high (potentially months of data at stake), I think it's worth toughening up the ship. If you explore long enough, you'll eventually have an accident, even if it's not your fault, such as a joystick breaking while on a landing approach.

Some of us did the math a while back, and the E-rated shield boosters engineered to be heavy duty will give you the best shield bonuses per ton, especially if you have a slightly larger shield to start with. That is, it's more wasteful to install a size 6 or 7 shield, when you could use a size 4 or 5, and several shield boosters.

I usually try to get my exploration ships into the 500+ MJ range of shielding, if the ship is large enough (the number will definitely be a lot smaller on the AspX, DBX, etc). It's certainly not necessary, but it might save you from some mistakes. As an anecdote: I've only blown up while exploring once. And my 500 MJ of shielding still wasn't enough to save me (flying a Phantom at the time). I was visiting a Lagrange cloud, and looking at the Peduncle Pods. I thought I had plenty of room, so I boosted away to leave the cloud. Well, those pods have a habit of moving when you get close, and they're much bigger than you are. So one of them thrusted toward me at exactly the same moment, and my wing clipped it, and I was sent spinning and exploding immediately after.

Just something to think about before you launch.

Jump range is one of those things that people tend to put too much emphasis on. It's helpful, for sure. But exploration is more about the number of jumps you can do, and thus how many times you get to "roll the dice" to find cool things. So it's really more of a time investment than a "distance covered" sort of thing, unless you're just absolutely trying to get from point-A to point-B. So I think a good balance can be struck where you sacrifice only a tiny bit of jump range for a lot of extra toughness and/or utility. Having a fighter hangar on board is in this category too, of course. It's an optional thing, but can be worth sacrificing a little jump range to have the capability. I think once you get past about 60 ly, everything else is pure bonus anyway. ;)

For the specific questions, I'll add a few additional thoughts:

For question #1, generally you'll want to stay out of the central north/south corridor between the bubble and Beagle Point, since that's heavily traveled. The exception is the core area, since the star density is so high that even that central corridor still has plenty to discover. The east/west areas are very lightly explored, except in close proximity to Colonia. The extreme edges of the galaxy are pretty heavily tagged, but you don't have to come very far back in from the edge to find lots of pristine systems again. Nebulae are pretty heavily explored, but there are still things to find in some of them.
 
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Nerix

Nerix
Thanks for the the excellent answers and tips! Probably tonight we will start (or at least work on our builds a bit more). I will definitely consider adapting my build to be more on the safe side, but as Orvidius earlier approach I might just go for having no accidents or just mild ones (risky, I know ;).

Capture.JPG
 

Orvidius

Orvidius
I think the one you're looking at here is "raw" (I'm used to using Coriolis rather than EDSY). ;) The ultimate proof is what is displayed in the cockpit. In the right-side panel, looking at the ship stats, in the bottom tab, it'll show your current jump range and shield strength.

With the shield boosters, what you're missing is how magical a grade-5 heavy duty mod + super capacitors experimental can be. For 2T it adds +50% shield strength. Compared to an unengineered D-rated booster (or one with resistance mods), which only adds +8% for 1T.

For instance, this build: Test build

I increased the size of the shield to a 5D, and installed two engineered E-rated boosters. Current jump range is still over 71, and raw shield is increased to 697.

Kinetic resistance won't help you while exploring, as that only affects weapon damage. Collisions are raw damage only.
 

VR micmacmoc

VR micmacmoc
Exploration has been the most rewarding part of Elite for me, take time off if you would to ensure space madness doesn’t occur by arranging CQC games with your fellow travellers. A steep slope and both rewardingly so.
 

Nerix

Nerix
Nordmarken said:
Real explorers don't use shields.

Now have a drink.
Click to expand...
Haha, we just had a test in the bubble. Only 5g and it worked quite well... until I wanted to land with the vertical thrusters when I was 50m above the ground. Shields nearly gone, but hull intact. I think I'll go for the better shields ;)

Anyone with a manual how to land without a scratch on high-g worlds? I just know to approach more like a plane. Low approach angle, don't roll, no vertical thrusters. But kind of difficult to search for a landing spot on the ground... Still remember one of the first waypoints in DW2 - I made it to the surface in one piece but with scratches, but ships falling from the sky everywhere... Busy times for the hull seals :D
 
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taekni

taekni
Here's a tip - don't dismiss and recall your ship while conducting exobiology, as the stupid thing will destroy itself while it tries to land.
 
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