A question for explorers that have made it to the Core...

[NickTheGrey]

I've finally kitted out my Asp the way I want it for another trip out in to the Big Black. I've been inspired by all the Sagittarius A* stories I've read and have decided to give it another go...

My most recent exploration voyage was out of Unity Station in New Yembo. I started that one with the intention of getting as close as I could to the Core but I was mapping and scanning every object (apart from asteroids if they were spread too far apart) in every system I entered. After nearly six weeks of a couple of hours or so a night I was curious as to how far I'd managed to go.

Not even 200LY.

I managed to get just shy of 2 million credits for the data I brought back which was okay and certainly helped with buying my first Asp. The problem is I want to see the Core. If I scanned every object in every system that I entered, it would take literally years for me to reach the centre of the galaxy.

So with that in mind I think I'll have to compromise. Enter a system, full scan and then check out the system map. If there's anything remotely interesting that catches my eye, plot a course and then scan it before resuming course.

I'm curious - how much of a system do you scan while headed to the core?

 

[domaq]

Enter a system, full scan and then check out the system map. If there's anything remotely interesting that catches my eye, plot a course and then scan it before resuming course.

I started by scanning everything and made it 150Ly before changing my technique. The rest of my first trip was as you explained it. My style was omnivore bordering on carnivore by the end but I have less patience than some of these fine explorers here.

 

[Wihglah]

I did almost none.
still took 27 hours

get the A6 scoop

 

[Dommarraa]

My stats are 10000 systems, 5000 level 3 scans, and I am very surprised it is that high. In a 30 jump route, I would expect to scan the final star, and only stop to scan anything at all (that includes the main star) once or twice.

 

[Neokortex]

I scan a lot, when I am in the mood of scanning or jump when not and pick up only meat.

The space is so big that it doesnt matter. Sometimes u want to go quicker further sometimes not. No rules, no wrong and right but fun

 

[Alex Brentnall]

Im a high value tourist explorer travelling to Nebula and so on.

I target Water worlds, Earth likes, Ammonia worlds, Neutron stars and Black holes. Everything else I honk and move on. Set your jump distance to fastest too, that will help

 

[Draxxen]

I did maximum jumps, honk and scoop, until I reached the neutron fields, then plotted max jumps from neutron star to ns. I had to because I have a tendency to get impatient with repetitive actions and had to get there asap. I did look for planets now and again, and stopped to scan the few earth-likes and waterworlds I found. On the way back from the core I was more leisurely, started looking for interesting planets in each system I landed in, and not doing max jumps. But eventually I had to honk-scoop my rear end back to civilization because I got fed up. A week later I had explorer abstinentia and had to head out again..
I equipped the B6 scoop and was happy with its performance.

Oh, and those who say Diamondback is perfect for long range exploring have not tried it or are fine with substantially extended scoop time. I did a 20k LY run with my DB, equipped with 4A scoop - max you can have - and it was a real pain how I had to linger around the stars much longer than in the Asp. Short trips, sure thing; I love the DB. But when I go on a weeklong trip: Asp hands down.

And I now remember I did not stop by the Great Annihilator on my way to the core, so I will have to take the trip again soon.

 

[cascadia]

if you was to drive across the USA to go see family on the other side, and you stop at every strip club on the way. you might not ever make it out of your home state.

 

[Alec Turner]

I raced to the core for the Buckyball Run, merely honking each system. My policy on the way back has been to set myself goals (e.g. get to the next nebula, or do 2kly) and then, if I have time before work/bed, do some system scanning around my destination before logging off. So far it's taken me 15hrs to get there and 2.5 weeks to get back as far as the Cat's Paw nebula.

 

[Kancro Vantas]

Just honk and see system scan...anything interesting? Then scan it!

Keyword: Interesting.

Also, extremely subjective.

My interesting, as a reference, includes:

Neutron Stars/Black Holes/White Dwarves= 30 pts
Earth Like Planets= 30 pts
Ammonia Worlds= 30 pts
Water Worlds Terraformable Candidates= 20 pts
Water Worlds in General= 20 pts
Metal Rich Planets= 20 pts
High Metal Terraformable Candidates= 10 pts
High Metal Planets= 3 pts
Water Giants= 10 pts
Gas Giants with Ammonia Based Life= 10 pts
Gas Giants with Water Base Life= 10 pts
Ringed Planets= 2 pts
Ice Planets= 1 pts
Moons= 0 pts

I kinda add the values of what I see in the sys map....if I can add over 30 pts, worth to scan those bodies. If below...skip.

But then also, I see systems as a whole...and sometimes you find rarities that you know they wont report much money but they are unique and that's where their value resides.

For instance, the other day I found a Brown Dwarf that had an accretion disk, it was spinning like crazy, and beyond the accretion disk it had 3 satellite planets orbiting, one of them a binary planet, and then there was an asteroid belt, huge, that then had a ringed icy planet orbiting right outside of it. This spectacular system was orbiting not 3,000 ls from a Carbon Star, among several other Gas Giants.

That brown dwarf mini system will not pay me more than 15,000 cr. But man, was that worth it!! I took 3 hrs just taking pictures, analyzing the components of the accretion disk and the outer disk and the impossible tight orbits of the three moon-planets, etc.

And that can be totally boring to you...because interest is a matter of taste.

So, go around and scan a little to find your cup of tea. Then you'll know what you are looking for and what is your explorer style.

 

[b0rg9]

if you was to drive across the USA to go see family on the other side, and you stop at every strip club on the way. you might not ever make it out of your home state.

I live in Tampa Bay area -- I wouldn't make it out of my county.

 

[CMDR DoubleSkulls]

I'm curious - how much of a system do you scan while headed to the core?

Much more than I'm doing on the return

I'm quite variable in how much I scan, it really depends on what I feel my time pressures are, and my desire to "explore" as opposed to "travel". So I may just do the primary star (basically the minimum for me now). I may fly 500kls to scan a blue planet. One system I may scan most things, another similar system I may scan nothing except the primary (keep on moving... keep on moving... don't get distracted... ooh that looks interesting...keep on moving... look a O class just over there!)

One thing though, if I do fly out a distance to a secondary system I'll scan every planet (not every moon though) as I feel its a bit weird to do the boring bit to get out there, and then not bother with the icy planets etc.

 

[Traveller_GG]

Honk and scoop,
line up for the jump,
Hit the jump button
On the warm up go look at the system map
Zoom in on the interesting planets and think abo....
4
3
2
1
Oh, sh........

Works EVERY time for me.

You'd be amazed how far you get to go.



Or honk and scoop and do NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT LOOKING AT THE SYSTEM MAP
JUST NO.
NO.
STOP

ohgoonthen

Ohgoddammitanotherblastedearthlike.......

 

[CMDR DoubleSkulls]

If you want a trick to slow you down due to shinies... set the throttle to 50% when you engage the jump. Then you'll get the audio warning ready to jump. Then you can finish reviewing the system map at your leisure, hit 100% throttle for instant countdown or exit the jump process.

 

[Traveller_GG]

If you want a trick to slow you down due to shinies... set the throttle to 50% when you engage the jump. Then you'll get the audio warning ready to jump. Then you can finish reviewing the system map at your leisure, hit 100% throttle for instant countdown or exit the jump process.

I know this trick.

This is an excellent trick, and every time I hear:
4
3
2
1

I think "I really should've used that trick"

 

[Kuroshio]

Well, I was out two months, 3 days (including two weeks of abstinence), roughly 60 hours of playtime. Hardest part were Kylies 5-12,5 outbound ("Am I ever going to reach at least the halfway point?") and Kylies 0-5 inbound ("Is my route planner ever going to work again?").

I scanned every primary, nearly every planet and star within scanning distance while scooping, every ammonia, water world and Earth-like, and every gas giant I suspected of harboring life. 20 of the roughly 2,000 systems were previously discovered, including Sag A*. (Though roughly 10 percent of those were taken when I got back.)

And then I got tired and did a speed run for the last 10,000 light-years (Earth-likes and the primary only).

Craziest thing I ever done in a computer game since I tried circumnavigating Earth in a Cessna in FS 95. Worth every minute of boredom and frustration, every stretch of lonely M-type stars, every double scan, every 10 minute route plot near the core. Turning around at Sagittarius A* and checking the distance to Sol, and having done all 1,000 jumps to cover that distance myself, was quite a humbling experience, like the Pale Blue Dot picture, only intensified. The ability to go there was the main reason I bought the game, and I was not let down.

And, let's be fair, it was also worth an A-spec'd Asp, an A-spec'd Cobra, and an A-spec'd Vulture.

 

[Alec Turner]

Just honk and see system scan...anything interesting? Then scan it!

Keyword: Interesting.

Also, extremely subjective.

My interesting, as a reference, includes:

Earth Like Planets= 30 pts

I kinda add the values of what I see in the sys map....if I can add over 30 pts, worth to scan those bodies. If below...skip.

OK, I give up. What's the secret to finding earth likes? I haven't found a single one. You sound like you can spot them from the system map before you've even scanned them!

 

[Alex Brentnall]

OK, I give up. What's the secret to finding earth likes? I haven't found a single one. You sound like you can spot them from the system map before you've even scanned them!

Spoiler

View attachment 44953View attachment 44954

A combination of these has steered me right so far.

 

[b0rg9]

OK, I give up. What's the secret to finding earth likes? I haven't found a single one. You sound like you can spot them from the system map before you've even scanned them!

You can hear them if you turn the volume up and zoom in on the system map. It take a few seconds to fade in but ice worlds, for instance sound windy. The metal rich ones have this high pitch shimmer sound and the earth-likes you can hear birds and forest stuff. It's real faint but it's there.

 

[CMDR Space Lurker]

I went to Sgr A* in a Cobra Mk III with 25LY jump range, and I usually plotted a 1kLY route, then hopped/scooped my way with no scanning except baning the ADS until I reached the end of that route, then, to relieve the monotomy, I scanned everything in that one system I landed in.
Sometimes when I came upon a system that just looked too interesting upon entry, like 4 stars close to each other, binary blues or a blue giant with a near companion, I stopped to scan those systems as well. But on the whole, I scanned very little on the way corewards. Once I had seen the sights of the core, visited Great Annihilator and Sagittarius A*, then I hopped off about 1kLY until I found my own little unclaimed patch of core with all types of stars in it and spent a few days scanning everything. Then I tried to leave the core, but I was held back by a combo of routing problems and "I see something pretty over there!"..

The core has many, many, MANY stars.. interesting systems are easy to find.. so easy to be distracted there.

After getting my ship slightly bludgeoned by a neutron star or two, I finally left the core and went homewards. Once again scanning very little since my AMF was out of ammo and my thrusters were disturbingly dilaphidated. Made it home, go lots of 1st discoveries and about 24MCr. Totally worth it.