So I decided to dive head first into exploration with the 3.5mil cr I had on hand. I already had a Type-6, a Cobra, and a Viper but decided to but ANOTHER Cobra and outfit that one for exploration while my other one was left as a mix between a combat and merchant vessel. I bought an Intmed scanner and a surface scanner for it plus packed it full of fuel tanks and a fuel scoop to add some kind of self sustainability to it. Flew around the outskirts of Imperial space for a few hours and only turned up with about 72k cr for my trouble. Did I screw up somewhere along the way? Anything I should have done differently to maximize my cost vs profit?
Am I an idiot?
- Thread starter TandBinc
- Start date
First off, go sell that inter scanner and get yourself the Advanced scanner, unless you plan to spend lots of time in all the systems you stop in (you'll miss a LOT of stars & planets in every system with only a 1000ls scan range unless you really work at it, and if you're exploring for profit instead of science, that's a lot of wasted time). Second, if you're just after cash ignore snowballs and asteroids, since they're worthless (snowballs are worth next to nothing, asteroids are literally worthless...you won't get paid for them). Finally, the best money is in first discoveries, so try to get out away from inhabited space and start tagging your name across anything unexplored you find. Even snowballs are worth a bit more if you have the first discovery tag.
If you're looking for a good Cr/hour with exploring then you've picked the wrong profession.
To to make big bucks you need to be the first to find earth likes planets and scan them with a detailed surface scanner.
It's unlikely (but not impossible) that there are any undiscovered earthlikes within 500 ly of the bubble of civilised space.
Good hunting cmdr!
p.s. As regards to build & outfitting the best drive and scoop you can afford, d class everything else, adv scanner & detailed surface scanner will do you right. Repair units optional.
To to make big bucks you need to be the first to find earth likes planets and scan them with a detailed surface scanner.
It's unlikely (but not impossible) that there are any undiscovered earthlikes within 500 ly of the bubble of civilised space.
Good hunting cmdr!
p.s. As regards to build & outfitting the best drive and scoop you can afford, d class everything else, adv scanner & detailed surface scanner will do you right. Repair units optional.
My first question to you is; are you serious about exploring, because skirting around known/inhabited space isn't going to net much? Most of us have already done that.
Second question, why not reconfigure the T6, she has a reasonable jump range if setup correctly?
Undiscovered systems net a bonus for the first person to scan and deliver the data, so it's worth heading out quite far.
1,000 lys is considered a stones throw.
Give it some thought and read what others do.
There are plenty of addicted cmdrs out there on the forums with a wealth of experience and advice.
Second question, why not reconfigure the T6, she has a reasonable jump range if setup correctly?
Undiscovered systems net a bonus for the first person to scan and deliver the data, so it's worth heading out quite far.
1,000 lys is considered a stones throw.
Give it some thought and read what others do.
There are plenty of addicted cmdrs out there on the forums with a wealth of experience and advice.
A-rated powerplant helps with heat management, smallest one that gives enough juice for the ship systems.
Speaking of heat management, the Diamondback Explorer runs massively cool...which comes in handy when scooping. It gets a pretty epic jump range too, although the top drive is around 5mil credits. I'm heading out with only a C5, and around 22-23ly range, but I can literally park in a sun's corona while scooping and sit there almost indefinitely without overheating (I think it takes my ship around 7-8 minutes to get above 90% heat, and about 2-3 minutes MAX to scoop, so yeah...oh, and it bleeds the heat nearly instantly once you get away from the star). Very good exploration ship just for that reason, although the Asp and Anaconda both have better range.
Ja, I had forgotten about heat management properties of a good power plant.
You could get heat sink launchers too for the very rare times you jump out between binaries, or emergency crash out of super cruise because you didn't throttle back on entering a new system (we've all done it��
Building a dedicated explorer ship is a great way to do it, and the Cobra is a fine ship, but you NEED an advanced discovery scanner. It's the difference between making 2000Cr in three seconds by honking the horn, or making 30,000Cr in that same seconds if it happens to be a massive system. The 1000Ls range of an intermediate scanner is nothing - systems commonly have objects 200,000Ls away or more.
Otherwise you're heading in the right general direction
Check out Nutter's Explorer's Guide to the Galaxy to get an idea of which kinds of planets to look out for (ie which ones are worth taking the time to do a detail scan on), this will teach you how to maximise profit. There are also more advanced ways, such as heading out to the fields of black holes and neutron stars out near the core, which are worth a LOT more than nearby systems.
But I do most of my exploring close to home too - I want to find things that are as close to the bubble as possible. Just this week I (finally) found an Earthlike world only 436Ly from Sol - a mere eight jumps from Jaques Station in my (fully armed and armoured) ship.
Otherwise you're heading in the right general direction
Check out Nutter's Explorer's Guide to the Galaxy to get an idea of which kinds of planets to look out for (ie which ones are worth taking the time to do a detail scan on), this will teach you how to maximise profit. There are also more advanced ways, such as heading out to the fields of black holes and neutron stars out near the core, which are worth a LOT more than nearby systems.
But I do most of my exploring close to home too - I want to find things that are as close to the bubble as possible. Just this week I (finally) found an Earthlike world only 436Ly from Sol - a mere eight jumps from Jaques Station in my (fully armed and armoured) ship.
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