A question about exploration.

[TheSporkLord]

Why hello there!

Soo.. I've got a little question about how to properly make money with exploring.
I've been on a 2 week game-time about 600LY round trip scanning as many stars as I could, A lot of metal rich worlds, and quite a couple of water and earth like worlds. So I thought, I'm gonna be rich! reality however thought differently.

I barely made 500.000Cr which is a relatively big amount, but when you just spent 2 weeks exploring end to end, it feels like I should have earned more closer to 2 million, and yes. I had a intermediate discovery scanner, and a detailed surface scanner.

So my question is: am I doing something wrong? It feels like I should have earned enough to buy an asp, but I barely earned back the money I spent buying a better FSD before the trip.

 

[Degsy]

You need the advanced discovery scanner. You'd have missed loads of planets / stars without it. You still wouldn't have made 2 mil though. Exploration is more Taoist than capitalist

 

[Jhyrryl]

My last trip was about half that time, and I made 3 to 4 million.

As noted, exploration doesn't earn as much as other options (trading, for example), but it also doesn't cost as much. The best exploration ship in the game only costs 6 to 7 million, unlike the best trading and combat ships.

Definitely get the Advanced Scanner as soon as possible. It's less about finding the out-of-the-way ice planets in the deepest parts of the system, and more about saving yourself lots of time, particularly in multi-star systems. It may feel skillful to spot a dot moving against the background, but it's nothing compared to the skill of looking at the system view after doing a full-system discovery scan and evaluating whether it's worth your time to fly around and detail scan some or all of the bodies in that system.

Star type is meaningful when deciding where to go, as is the number of stars in a system. This is another place where skill exists in the system, and it can make or break you. Pay attention to what you find as you go along, and you'll start making more money as you avoid worthless systems.

As with the scanner, the quality of your fuel scoop is all about saving time, which lets you make more money. A better scoop also reduces risk while scooping, because you spend less time near stars, and can scoop from farther away.

Getting a 25+ LY range is only necessary for sight-seeing, so a very high-end FSD is not your top priority when upgrading, despite popular opinion. If you're earning your money from exploration, then a mid-level FSD will be fine until you have everything else in good shape.

All life-supporting planets are valuable, not just earth-like and water worlds, so learn to recognize life-bearing gas giants in the system view for when you are evaluating the potential value of a system.

Hope that helps.

 

[TheSporkLord]

Fair enough about it being more about the looking around, I sure did see my fair share of beauties.

honestly it took that long because I didn't have a lot of time to play.

Thanks for the tips about te advanced scanner, gonna work my way up to buy one and make another run