Newcomer / Intro A fool with Advanced Discovery Scanner

vmk

V
After hauling some rare goods, I finally had enough credits to buy Advanced Discovery Scanner. Now I'm wondering what to do with it. I haven't made any trips beyond inhabited space. What do "real" explorers do? When you travel far away, do you only scan interesting systems, and do you scan all objects or only special ones?

I'm getting tired of icy planets, and if a planet looks like an icy or a rocky planet, I tend to ignore it... All kinds of gas giants are my favorites. :)
 

Ulysses_W

Ulysses_W
Everyone has there own way of approaching scanning. For short excursions into the void it would be worth scanning all planets and stars (ignore asteroid belts). For longer hauls, you'd be better off cherry picking more interesting bodies simply because of the time it takes to complete a single scan. You'd be out there for years if you did option 1.
 
Last edited:

Nightjar

N
I always fire the ADS when I get to a 'new' system - generally whilst I'm scooping. Detailed scanning is your own choice and far more time-consuming. I haven't worked out how to judge/determine the various planets/bodies etc ... and I do it supercharged :)
 

cmdr lowest

C
The basic scanner will scan a radius of 500LS around your entry point into a system.

The advanced scanner has an unlimited range so when you enter a new system you initially can only see the star but when you pop the advanced scanner you ship computer learns the locations and types of all other astronomical bodies in the system.

Explorers can then choose to fly to each planet/giant and scan them individually with a detailed surface scanner (for increased income when selling the data) or cherry pick the high metal rich/water worlds, class IV gas giants, earth-likes as they see fit as it takes an awful long time to scan every single icy or rock planet and you don't get a huge return for doing so.

Get far enough out and there a millions of undiscovered systems which net you a 50% extra bonus payment.

I made 5m CR this morning after returning from just a week-long trip and only 2000LY away and one earth-like undiscovered.
 

krysohmyz

K
vmk said:
After hauling some rare goods, I finally had enough credits to buy Advanced Discovery Scanner. Now I'm wondering what to do with it. I haven't made any trips beyond inhabited space. What do "real" explorers do? When you travel far away, do you only scan interesting systems, and do you scan all objects or only special ones?

I'm getting tired of icy planets, and if a planet looks like an icy or a rocky planet, I tend to ignore it... All kinds of gas giants are my favorites. :)
Click to expand...

That is the right attitude if you need to make money, out of exploration. Also, if you're going after water and earth-like worlds, there's no point in going more than 2000ls from the star. After a while you'll learn to estimate the planet's worth from a system map after basic scan.

The other wing of explorers are more focused on sightseeing. If you'll find out you're one of them, you will probably go after planets with rings and other beautiful stuff and bind F10 right next to the fire trigger. :)
 

Zenith

Zenith
F10 is SO last month!
It's Debug cam now doncha know? :)

Yes, there are tourist explorers who go for the sights, mapping explorers who go to scan every system, and OCD explorers who scan EVERYTHING.

I fall somewhere between tourist and mapping.
 

Fen Harel

Fen Harel
When I first started exploring I scanned everything except asteroids. The more I do, the more picky I get. If the objective is to reach somewhere (for instance, currently I am enroute to a chunk of the Perseus Arm), its just not practical to scan every little ice world.

The flip side of that, is there are still plenty of interesting planets relatively close in which were missed by explorers in a hurry.The first Earth-like world I discovered was in a system like that, about 250-ish ly from Sol. Someone else nabbed the star and first planet, but for whatever reason they missed the Earth-like.
 

Cadarnfel

Cadarnfel
Last night I was less than 50 LY from my home station, and used an ADS to scan a COL 285 star I jumped to - it picked up three associated stars (sub-stars? don't know what to call them, but they were all showing the same main star reference XK-O D-92), along with 33 other objects, some up to 150,000 LS away. Spent about an hour in SuperCruise using the Detailed Surface Scanner, and got them all (lots of high metal content planets, along with a two or three gas giants).

Got 180,000 credits when I turned in the data just for that system, for those that may be interested in the earnings side.

My recommendation is to map a route to a system say 100LY away, using the economical routing, that way you zig-zag around, and never know what you can find. I've taken a few screenshots using the debug camera, showing the ship against some pretty neat backdrops.

I've yet to leave inhabited space like some of the more dedicated long distance explorers, but I like to take a break from trading every now and then.

FWIW, I do my exploration in a Hauler, with pretty much all Class A modules. Gets a decent jump range, and a A3 fuel scoop is very efficient at topping up the tanks.
 

InMemoriamSirocco

Banned
InMemoriamSirocco
My recent trip to New Yembo netted me 500k+ credits just because I scanned every astronomical body in every uncharted system I came across. Oh, and one of those systems now has my name stamp on it:

First_Discovery_02.jpg


New Yembo is now my home base. Brought my Vulture there to make short range exploration trips out from it and go pirate hunting in the dozens of fresh extraction sites around the system. Also, the system is currently facing a Civil war.... but the common tactic of military vessels seems to be reversing and firing, so I tried that only once. Sticking to bountyhunting and exploration now. Maybe I'll try mining for painite once Unity station has a shipyard and outfitting options.
 

Richard

R
Zenith said:
F10 is SO last month!
It's Debug cam now doncha know? :)

Yes, there are tourist explorers who go for the sights, mapping explorers who go to scan every system, and OCD explorers who scan EVERYTHING.
Click to expand...

Lol - reporting in! I even scan belt clusters. :) And yeah - I know there's no monetary or even sight-seeing point to that - it just bugs me to leave them unexplored. Guess I'm more of a surveyer than an explorer but hey - somebody has to be, right?
 

Mikey2305

Mikey2305
Start off with a short mission so that you get a feel for it. I have a starport which is a stop off / way point on the edge of the populated space. There are a few around but you will have to seek out your own. So i develop a safe corridor to where i want to start and i can whizz out there in fast mode. When i get there i switch to eco mode and just choose a random route where nearly everything is unexplored. If i come across an easy name like a HIP or an HR i add that to my waypoint. That way ive always got something to aim for. And rather than store up millions of scans which i think is a tad risky i can turn them in at about 40 at a time for a million or so. How you scan is really a matter of personal taste and whether you are doing it for money or not
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom