Am I doing it wrong or does it pay too little?

Ringslinger

R
Hi,

Exploration rant here.

I've been out in the black for about a year now. Off and on for sure. I went from the Bubble to Sag - A to Beagle and now to Colonia. And all I have to show for it is about 300M in data. I made 600M in like 5 weeks playing with some friends doing combat missions.

Look, I like the loop. Jump>Scoop>Honk>FSS>DSS (the good ones)>Jump. Rinse and Repeat. But am I doing something wrong? Should I just be hunting for ELW/WW/AW/HMC? Because, it takes months for me to go from one place to another and I feel like the reward is so small. I was like ... oh I'd like to think about getting a carrier...and...oh...i've been playing for 1000 hrs and don't have a 1/5 of what I need. Hmmmm..... Am I just playing wrong or is exploration just not rewarded, and if that's what I want I need to go somewhere else for it?

Anyways. Any suggestions or observations would be awesome.

Many thanks. Cheers and fly safe. o7
 

Dragsham

Dragsham
Kk lve a suggestion.
Whilst out exploring do exo bio too. Pays not fab but it adds up + uc data.
Another way is mining doubles or extremely rare triple hotspots. So map ringed planets as you find em. Just scan a ringed planet if it has a nice double go in mine a single load and switch back to explorer once unloaded onto carrier assuming you have one.
Get an app called eddi.
It's a companion app tells you what to scan. Things like terrraformables ammonia worlds etc.
You could also filter your routing to rule out lesser stars like T (the red ones) which will increase chances of elws ww etc on your route.
 
Last edited:

ORANGEORANGE

ORANGEORANGE
Ringslinger said:
Hi,

Exploration rant here.

I've been out in the black for about a year now. Off and on for sure. I went from the Bubble to Sag - A to Beagle and now to Colonia. And all I have to show for it is about 300M in data. I made 600M in like 5 weeks playing with some friends doing combat missions.

Look, I like the loop. Jump>Scoop>Honk>FSS>DSS (the good ones)>Jump. Rinse and Repeat. But am I doing something wrong? Should I just be hunting for ELW/WW/AW/HMC? Because, it takes months for me to go from one place to another and I feel like the reward is so small. I was like ... oh I'd like to think about getting a carrier...and...oh...i've been playing for 1000 hrs and don't have a 1/5 of what I need. Hmmmm..... Am I just playing wrong or is exploration just not rewarded, and if that's what I want I need to go somewhere else for it?

Anyways. Any suggestions or observations would be awesome.

Many thanks. Cheers and fly safe. o7
Click to expand...
Exploration makes very little money compared to the big money making methods today. You won't become poor, but you certainly won't be come rich. If you want a fleet carrier you're better off doing massacre missions, expansion mining support (basically hauling), or mining.
 

Ringslinger

R
Dragsham said:
Kk lve a suggestion.
Whilst out exploring do exo bio too. Pays not fab but it adds up + uc data.
Another way is mining doubles or extremely rare triple hotspots. So map ringed planets as you find em. Just scan a ringed planet if it has a nice double go in mine a single load and switch back to explorer once unloaded onto carrier assuming you have one.
Get an app called eddi.
It's a companion app tells you what to scan. Things like terrraformables ammonia worlds etc.
You could also filter your routing to rule out lesser stars like T (the red ones) which will increase chances of elws ww etc on your route.
Click to expand...

Thx. I just started running "Observatory Core" which is excellent at calling out "High-Value Targets" So that's been a plus of late.

Sadly, I've been out in the black since Odyssey launched, So I've never had opportunity to get to a station to buy a scanner or a suit.
 

Ringslinger

R
ORANGEORANGE said:
Exploration makes very little money compared to the big money making methods today. You won't become poor, but you certainly won't be come rich. If you want a fleet carrier you're better off doing massacre missions, expansion mining support (basically hauling), or mining.
Click to expand...
Yea...seems to be the case. I just wanted to put it out there and see if I was out of my mind.

Shame, I mean, combat is fine but I prefer just the quiet hum of exploration. But if that's what I have to do then that's what I'll do. But gotta make the long trip back to the bubble first.
Hopefull, I can catch a ride back to the bubble from Colonia.
 

Dragsham

Dragsham
Head back... have a rest. Get yourself a g3 artemis suit with extra jump (they do exist I got one from a space station for a few million credits came as is no engineering req)
Build a ship like say, a conda miner that's got a good jump range too.
And fill yer boots solo scanning the bubbles offerings (lots of elws) and mining at same time. You'll be a carrier owner in 6 mths or less.
Be wary of npc pirates.
Enter ring.. wait for them to scan you, all you got is a hold of limpets they sod off you boost away and begin mining.
Haz res rings also good for mining.
 

Danieros

D
Might be some star types are more likely to have the "not-bad" exploration stuff? Using this adjective because if you don't stick to those types of planets you're never going to get a FC. I wish DSS payouts were far better even for the icy planets as the supercruising to bodies would be most of the time spent, and how off-average it is compared to all known bodies.
 

Ringslinger

R
Danieros said:
Might be some star types are more likely to have the "not-bad" exploration stuff? Using this adjective because if you don't stick to those types of planets you're never going to get a FC. I wish DSS payouts were far better even for the icy planets as the supercruising to bodies would be most of the time spent, and more related to how off-average it was.
Click to expand...
I know that G & F stars are more amenable to having WW and ELW. I'm not sure if there are star types for AW and HMC(Terrraformable) worlds.

Agreed, 1300 for an ice world, barely makes it worth scanning.

I'd like to see the values increase the further from civilization you are. I'm like 50,000 LY away from Sol right now. I'd like it if the game rewarded me more than someone who just jumped 2000K away from the bubble and found an ELW. But it's the same. Except that it took me 3 months to fly out here and he did it in a sitting.

Everything about exploring is a bigger time sink, flying to the planet, DSS, FSS, landing, driving or walking around.
 

Ringslinger

R
Dragsham said:
Head back... have a rest. Get yourself a g3 artemis suit with extra jump (they do exist I got one from a space station for a few million credits came as is no engineering req)
Build a ship like say, a conda miner that's got a good jump range too.
And fill yer boots solo scanning the bubbles offerings (lots of elws) and mining at same time. You'll be a carrier owner in 6 mths or less.
Be wary of npc pirates.
Enter ring.. wait for them to scan you, all you got is a hold of limpets they sod off you boost away and begin mining.
Haz res rings also good for mining.
Click to expand...
100% part of the plan.

I've been flying my Asp Explorer to hell and back. Though I do love it, I'd like a new ship. I never thought about mining when I kited this out so I can't do any asteroid mining at all out here.
 

Dragsham

Dragsham
Yup it's a time sink loop same as just about any aspect of elite or indeed any game.
By far the quickest way to make 8 billion (that's 5 bill for carrier and 2 to 3 bill to equip it) is laser mining whatever the current crop is, platinum I think.
Or stacking massacres.
Or passenger runs.
I mine cores cos its fun not optimal.
 

Straha Yeagar

S
Danieros said:
Might be some star types are more likely to have the "not-bad" exploration stuff? Using this adjective because if you don't stick to those types of planets you're never going to get a FC. I wish DSS payouts were far better even for the icy planets as the supercruising to bodies would be most of the time spent, and how off-average it is compared to all known bodies.
Click to expand...

May not pay as much as some of the other things, though that depends on how focused one is on any particular activity. I agree with some of the things said here, in particular, I would love to see distance from the bubble as a factor in the value of a body.

But...

nIQTd4h.jpg


It is certainly easy enough to buy a carrier with exploration profits.
 

Ringslinger

R
Dragsham said:
Yup it's a time sink loop same as just about any aspect of elite or indeed any game.
By far the quickest way to make 8 billion (that's 5 bill for carrier and 2 to 3 bill to equip it) is laser mining whatever the current crop is, platinum I think.
Or stacking massacres.
Or passenger runs.
I mine cores cos its fun not optimal.
Click to expand...
Oh of course. I suppose I just think that the two different loops are not rewarded equally. The exploration time sink seems the heaviest yet lease rewarded.

Ah..well trudging back to the bubble. But of course, I have to scan everything on the way back! ha!

Cheers!
 

Rochester

Rochester
Exploration is broken, has been since pre-launch.

FD originally had an amazing proposal for exploration, which they simply never implemented, it’s evident other things took precedence and it was essentially archived to the ‘let’s not bother’ pile and we were given this vanilla version.

Generally speaking FD’s current idea of exploration is very simplistic and there is no real point to it in game apart from personal satisfaction. The original concepts were truly awe inspiring, and I now suspect very much pie in the sky.

If money is your goal go do combat, mining or smuggling. You will make money doing exploration but it will just about cover the cost of a lost A/class ship, it’s the slowest method of capital in game.

If your a true explorer then pick a reason and choose a destination, you really don’t need a god ship, a Sidewinder will do just as well, it’ll just take longer. it’s the journey which counts.

Personally it’s great to be able to look up sometimes and see a constellation and know you’ve been there in ED, gives you a real sense of scale.
 
Last edited:

Ringslinger

R
Straha Yeagar said:
May not pay as much as some of the other things, though that depends on how focused one is on any particular activity. I agree with some of the things said here, in particular, I would love to see distance from the bubble as a factor in the value of a body.

But...

nIQTd4h.jpg


It is certainly easy enough to buy a carrier with exploration profits.
Click to expand...
I mean...wow. That's impressive. Well done Commander!

I haven't always been good about keeping my tracker on but I'm nowhere close to 150,000 jumps. It's probably what...1,000 maybe 1,500 jumps to Beagle (I went all the way to Salome's reach)? That's gotta be close to where I'm at.

I don't know how to reach those numbers. That must be years and years.
 

TiberiusDuval

T
Rochester said:
Exploration is broken, has been since pre-launch.

FD originally had an amazing proposal for exploration, which they simply never implemented, it’s evident other things took precedence and it was essentially archived to the ‘let’s not bother’ pile and we were given this vanilla version.

Generally speaking FD’s idea of exploration is very simplistic and there is no real point to it in game apart from personal satisfaction. The original concepts were truly awe inspiring, and I suspect very much pie in the sky.

If money is your goal go do combat, mining or smuggling. You will make money doing exploration but it will just about cover the cost of a lost ship, it’s the slowest method of capital in game.

If your a true explorer then pick a reason and choose a destination, you really don’t need a god ship, a Sidewinder will do just as well, it’ll just take longer. it’s the journey which counts.

Personally it’s great to be able to look up sometimes and see a constellation and know you’ve been there in ED, gives you a real sense of scale.
Click to expand...
Exploration ships are not too expensive. I have made lots of credits by exploration, and loosing ship can be avoided by basic prudence. And well constellations...true explorer has gone way beyound any recognisable constellation.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom