Agreed! I think one of the best things that i did early on was to travel to Colonia. It really gives one a dose of prospective. Thus i have never understood people complaining about things like the 500ly trip out to the guardian stuff.
Exploration addiction? Or insanity?
- Thread starter Shiro Akai
- Start date
Agreed! I think one of the best things that i did early on was to travel to Colonia. It really gives one a dose of prospective. Thus i have never understood people complaining about things like the 500ly trip out to the guardian stuff.
I've made several attempts over the years to 'get serious' about exploration and really push out into the black. I love the new exploration mechanics, too. That said I still cannot muster the stamina for extended periods away from the bubble. I like flip-flopping between activities else I get bored, and I only have one account.
Solution: multiple accounts. [big grin]
I did a long trip once, while watching the episodes from all four seasons of Doogie Howser M.D...
Yep! Mad!
There is another step you must take. You cannot be one with the void otherwise. Becoming an explorer is an important decision, a road down which you have gone and cannot return. But there is something more you need to do.
Go to the edge.
Whether that's right up to the top, down to the bottom, or out to the fringes. Doesn't matter. But it must be the point at which stars run out. Where you can direct your ship away from the galaxy, the whole galaxy, all and everything that you know, direct away from the galaxy and see the true blackness.
Once that is in your veins, there is no way to live happily in the bubble again, with all those normal suburbanites.
So, um, yeahhhhhh....
I did the 5k for Palin... then that was that. Nearly 1000 hours later I've just been to Colonia, then Sag A* and now I'm about 15k from the bubble randomly looking about the place; nebulas, phenomena, the "usual". I love it. Mind you, my Anaconda jumps 77LY and I am a dab hand with neutrons should the need arise. Which it does. All the time.
I actually want to get home... but I can't help myself; I keep going off to look at stuff.
Also, second account. Just started in a Sidey. Wow, it's rough! Love that too... stupid game.
I did the 5k for Palin... then that was that. Nearly 1000 hours later I've just been to Colonia, then Sag A* and now I'm about 15k from the bubble randomly looking about the place; nebulas, phenomena, the "usual". I love it. Mind you, my Anaconda jumps 77LY and I am a dab hand with neutrons should the need arise. Which it does. All the time.
I actually want to get home... but I can't help myself; I keep going off to look at stuff.
Also, second account. Just started in a Sidey. Wow, it's rough! Love that too... stupid game.
I struggle with a frustrating paradox - I enjoy being out there, but I have to dial up the commitment before I can leave civilization behind.
Once I am out there, with nothing to do but whatever I want on any (accessible) planet that I want, it's some of the best time I have in this game. Just the basics - me, my ship, and the Galaxy, with no treadmills, goldrushes, or anything else that I *should* do.
I am somewhat waiting to hear an announcement for upcoming things before I head out again, but I think another trip is coming soon.
Riôt
Once I am out there, with nothing to do but whatever I want on any (accessible) planet that I want, it's some of the best time I have in this game. Just the basics - me, my ship, and the Galaxy, with no treadmills, goldrushes, or anything else that I *should* do.
I am somewhat waiting to hear an announcement for upcoming things before I head out again, but I think another trip is coming soon.
Riôt
I’m another one who got their feet wet early. A 60kly journey to the Blue Wonder with a passenger in my 32lyr Asp before I realised quite how far it is, how long it takes in real life hours or that passengers counted towards Exploration rank.
As others have said it makes the Bubble tiny. Which is great if I’m at Dav’s or Sothis and decide I need to go to a Guardian site.
I couldn’t explore for months on end with only one account though, so now I have two and switch between them for stints ‘in and out’ of the Bubble. I’m also a complete convert to the new mechanics and never just jump/honk now....unless I’m using the Neutron Highway in my 80lyr taxi-conda to visit my Colonia fleet.
As others have said it makes the Bubble tiny. Which is great if I’m at Dav’s or Sothis and decide I need to go to a Guardian site.
I couldn’t explore for months on end with only one account though, so now I have two and switch between them for stints ‘in and out’ of the Bubble. I’m also a complete convert to the new mechanics and never just jump/honk now....unless I’m using the Neutron Highway in my 80lyr taxi-conda to visit my Colonia fleet.
Or you can just play on Xbox where the stars disappear about 2k out from the bubble in any direction. Talk about shafting an entire playerbase in a primary aspect of the game. FD has known about it for more than a year at least, I'm sure they will fix it promptly.
Exploration in ED is a procedurally generated wasteland of sameness. Boring as heck for many unless you do it with friends (or so I hear but that is the excuse for a lot of lameness in ED).
I would do more of it, in small chunks, if I could use a second commander. But I refuse to buy a second copy of the game to do that.
I would do more of it, in small chunks, if I could use a second commander. But I refuse to buy a second copy of the game to do that.
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Maybe it is an acquired taste.
I'm new to this so I never tried the "old" exploration system, only the new one. Instead of 50+ ly jump, I do short ones, 16-18 max. I've found a massive amount of systems with no planets scanned, only the stars (and sometimes only one of them), and sometimes about 38 bodies without names for "first discovered" nor "first maped", many of them good metalic planets, type II giants, amonia and water based ones, so I'll do also the DSS scanning of course
But then I realize, 38 bodies! It is going to take me HOURS of doing the same repetitive task of moving to the giant, scan it, try to hit the efficiency bonus (impossible if I get the "mapped" bug) then go for the moons... but then at the end I keep asking myself "Besides getting my name on them and the money once I sell the info... why am I doing this repetitive task?" It is fun the first 20 times, but by the 35 body I start to consider to forget the last 3 icy bodies, then my OCD kicks in and I end traveling the last 60,000 ls to scan them too, at least is easy to get the efficiency bonus even with the mapped bug.
After all that, it really feels like a chore, so I say "Screw it, I'll hit hyper/scoop/hyper/scoop until I get back at the bubble again. But then, I can't resist the temptation to honk, and it goes all over again. I haven't felt so forced to do something in a game since the Farm Ville craze in Facebook 10 years ago.
As soon as I'm back at the bubble I'll buy a Cobra and start to do combat missions, then a Dolphin to do space Uber, then something to mine or get all the engineers or whatever, this whole exploring is just not for me.
I'm new to this so I never tried the "old" exploration system, only the new one. Instead of 50+ ly jump, I do short ones, 16-18 max. I've found a massive amount of systems with no planets scanned, only the stars (and sometimes only one of them), and sometimes about 38 bodies without names for "first discovered" nor "first maped", many of them good metalic planets, type II giants, amonia and water based ones, so I'll do also the DSS scanning of course
But then I realize, 38 bodies! It is going to take me HOURS of doing the same repetitive task of moving to the giant, scan it, try to hit the efficiency bonus (impossible if I get the "mapped" bug) then go for the moons... but then at the end I keep asking myself "Besides getting my name on them and the money once I sell the info... why am I doing this repetitive task?" It is fun the first 20 times, but by the 35 body I start to consider to forget the last 3 icy bodies, then my OCD kicks in and I end traveling the last 60,000 ls to scan them too, at least is easy to get the efficiency bonus even with the mapped bug.
After all that, it really feels like a chore, so I say "Screw it, I'll hit hyper/scoop/hyper/scoop until I get back at the bubble again. But then, I can't resist the temptation to honk, and it goes all over again. I haven't felt so forced to do something in a game since the Farm Ville craze in Facebook 10 years ago.
As soon as I'm back at the bubble I'll buy a Cobra and start to do combat missions, then a Dolphin to do space Uber, then something to mine or get all the engineers or whatever, this whole exploring is just not for me.
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Been eating void for 7 weeks. Definitely not addicted, but certainly having fun, relaxing, seeing the sights. Got a long way to go to get all the way around the galaxy, but I'm working on it.
Yes, outer ring, widdershins.
I'm currently about 5Kly out from the bubble on a round-about trip to colonia. (the path I'm taking will probably make it over 30Kly to get there)
So I'd say pre-3.3 it was insanity, but now it's enjoyable.
Hehe, I'm on the last straight (yeah, "straight"... you should see my travel map) of what you're planning. 3.5-ish k LYs till Colonia, 33k LYs in the back. What started as R2R check, after 4 systems turned into: "lets fly outside". 5k LYs later it was... hmm, let's go to Colonia.
That's something I want to do one day. Beagle Point and some other fringes. Maybe not the ultimate since engineering to that point will take too much time but to go as far as I can. I'm somewhat tempted to bite the bullet and proceed to BP after reaching Colonia. When I think I will have to make whole run from the Bubble I don't feel like it. But from Colonia, it's almost half way done.
I may take a little break, snoop around Colonia and run some missions to build local rep. After that - Sag A* visit no. 2. And from there it's easier to get to BP than from the Bubble. Sounds like a plan.
I've made several attempts over the years to 'get serious' about exploration and really push out into the black. I love the new exploration mechanics, too. That said I still cannot muster the stamina for extended periods away from the bubble. I like flip-flopping between activities else I get bored, and I only have one account.
Just like me. I'm fooling around Bubble, running weird missions, earning pennies. I long for exploration journey but the sheer amount of time needed to actually get anywhere is somewhat off putting. I too have one account and I would gladly accept 2nd CMDR slot. Tho I'm not willing for another ED copy.
I start to feel the need to visit one fringe. And I may do so.
It was true for me before the update. Well, it still is from certain POV (gotta love OB-1 lecturing Luke on Dagobah). That "sameness" was one of the reasons i wasn't eager to do much exploring. After mere 10 jumps you felt you already seen everything. And it was mostly true. Same stars, same beige planets, same rocky and icy bodies. Same thousands of Ls to nearest semi-interesting planet which requires tens of minutes of flight.
But even with heavy repetition of content I don't feel it boring. I don;t fly with friends for I don't have any friends. Just me, my ship and procedurally generated wasteland. New FSS brings more action to the boredom and I feel I spend that time more pro-active. And when bored of jumping I land and drive a bit. Or visit eye pleasing spot, be it nicely colored gas giant or icy ring.
Breaks the monotonny.
That last paragraph sums the big change up for me.
My first forays into ‘exploration’ were little more than scanning/tagging, just train spotting really. Then I started to look at the data a bit more and actually visit the planets I was scanning. That breaks the monotony and leads to some interesting finds, whether it’s an incredibly deep valley, amazing view or just a challenging surface to land on or drive around it offers more than ticking off another HMC or WW.
Even discovered systems probably have planets unvisited by other Cmdrs as the scan but don’t land pull is strong.
My first forays into ‘exploration’ were little more than scanning/tagging, just train spotting really. Then I started to look at the data a bit more and actually visit the planets I was scanning. That breaks the monotony and leads to some interesting finds, whether it’s an incredibly deep valley, amazing view or just a challenging surface to land on or drive around it offers more than ticking off another HMC or WW.
Even discovered systems probably have planets unvisited by other Cmdrs as the scan but don’t land pull is strong.
I find it useful to set myself "rules" when I set out. These rules are obviously subject to change by mood, but for me the happy medium right now is to jump, honk, and use the FSS to discover everything in the system. Then only use the DSS for valuable worlds like ammonia, water, Earthlike or HMC terraformable. Have EDDiscovery open on a 2nd monitor if you have one.
On the old system, I really felt like I had to scan every single body (hey - icy bodies are planets too!), but that does get quite old quite fast. Then you're just left with "honk-scoop-jump" which is quicker but boring.
It's also important to make the distinction between travelling and exploring. Too many people (including me for a time) consider them the same thing, or a by-product of the other.
Exploration means pointing your ship in a direction (any direction, doesn't matter, but it's better if it's to nowhere in particular IMO because you'll find virgin systems faster) and then high jump it out of the bubble at maximum (scoopable stars only) and then switch to economy jumps and every star type once I'm out. I can then do 1000 light years at a time, with about 80-100 jumps. You don't need a big FSD or fuel scoop for this. I'm currently 12kly out in a Sidewinder & having a great time.
Travelling on the other hand is just about getting from point A to point B as quickly as possible. If you see some sights along the way, great, but it's accidental exploration rather than the focus of your trip.
In my opinion.
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