Exploration for credits
- Thread starter mp4x
- Start date
Ah ok, lol, no not less than 10kly.
I used that term just to pry away from proper full exploration. Distance, I suppose mean something whereby you get to game for a bit, a couple of hours, and finish with a few million cred in the bank and your ship docked safe and sound.
Something like that?
I used that term just to pry away from proper full exploration. Distance, I suppose mean something whereby you get to game for a bit, a couple of hours, and finish with a few million cred in the bank and your ship docked safe and sound.
Something like that?
You can definitely make a credit per hour
The nearest reaches of the neutron fields (see sticky in this form) are mid range. Assuming you have acquired an explorer mind set about what is 'mid' range. You're in a forum where 'short range' = 'less than 10kly'
If you can combine that shorter trip you propose with some passenger missions, you could beef up your profits quite nicely...
I have an AspX, so I'd use that. I've been running passenger missions that earn 1.5~3.5ml, round trip, and can earn about the same in RES/CZ areas. I just wondered what the time-in credits-out equivalent is using exploration as the job [without going off on a 10's of thousands of lightyear trip]
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Using just exploration?
Well...exploring the Maia system fully will take you some time, perhaps 40m to an hour. Let's say an hour.
That system pays 150k, if I remember correctly.
Even if that were the average per system (it's not even close to that high), at most you would get 3 systems in an hour.
Three of those systems would be 450k/hour, and I wouldn't call this a common occurrence.
I hope that answers your question - otherwise, it's off to the Neutron Fields, and I don't remember how much you can make per hour doing those...might be 1-2 million?
Riôt
Well...exploring the Maia system fully will take you some time, perhaps 40m to an hour. Let's say an hour.
That system pays 150k, if I remember correctly.
Even if that were the average per system (it's not even close to that high), at most you would get 3 systems in an hour.
Three of those systems would be 450k/hour, and I wouldn't call this a common occurrence.
I hope that answers your question - otherwise, it's off to the Neutron Fields, and I don't remember how much you can make per hour doing those...might be 1-2 million?
Riôt
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This is somewhat what brings me to this question. I was running passengers and scanning systems on the way and I had made a few credits doing this but I didn't know if that could translate to a real income. I like the idea of jumping systems without a specific goal/mission, but I'd like to get back to civilization in the same/next game session to cash in and probably swap ships for some combat
That does help, thanks. Half a million per hour is about what I thought might be achievable for a low level explorer, based on what I picked up running passengers Not quite enough to make it a solo but I hoped there might be another way to improve on that
Yeah, not trying to scare you off here, but a more realistic credits per hour...jump honking is probably the fastest way too get credits...yields about 4k per minute which will leave you in the neighborhood of about 250k credits per hour.
Not at all scary, exactly what I wanted to know - if it's a waste of time, purely as a job - or if it can be lucrative on a smaller scale 
Not at all scary, exactly what I wanted to know - if it's a waste of time, purely as a job - or if it can be lucrative on a smaller scale
It is an excellent full time job, you just don't rich very quickly. That said, once you are out in the black, your expenses aren't very high either
At some stage, you're probably going to want to gain access to Professor Palin's spiffy Class 5 thruster modifications. He requires you to travel at least 5000 LY away from the system you started the game at before he'll even start talking to you. So if you're tempted to "give this exploration thing a go" just once, then I'd strongly recommend going at least 5000 LYs out, otherwise you're going to have to do a second 5000 LY trip later when you want access to Palin. A typical explorer can do 1000 LYs a day, so doing the Palin Run isn't going to be a simple one-day job.
Make sure you have a Detailed Surface Scanner installed. The difference in credits earned between a Level 2 Scan (done without the DSS) and a level 3 scan (done with a DSS) can be significant.
To maximize exploration credits, you'll want to try to claim the 50% bonuses for being the first CMDR to scan objects. Unfortunately, since most of the "interesting" objects in the Galaxy within 5000 LY of Sol are thoroughly explored by now and the paths out to them well-travelled, getting out to a region Where No-one Has Gone Before means aiming for nothing. Or, do what I did: aim for a tourist target (mine was the hypergiant star VY Canis Majoris) and then when you get there, aim for another target even further out; the direct A to C line from Sol might be explored, but the B to C line was all mine to claim.
The most valuable things in the universe are (in approximate order of value) black holes, neutron stars, Earth-like planets and large terraformable waterworlds. The most valuable single object in the universe is Sag A, the supermassive black hole in the Galactic Core, worth about 650,000 credits, but it's quite a bit further away than the 5000 LY you need for a Palin Run.
Since you can't see Earth-like planets from the galaxy map but you can see neutron stars and black holes quickly and easily by using the map filters, the quickest, most reliable way to earn cash by Exploration is "neutron field farming". There are certain regions of the galaxy, about halfway between Sol and the Core, where neutron stars are extremely abundant. So even a relatively new player in a cheap explorer like a Hauler, Diamondback or Cobra III can spend a couple of weeks flying out to the neutron fields, spend a week farming, spend another couple weeks flying home, and become instant Elite in Exploration in about a month. Exploration ranking is determined purely by profits earned by selling exploration data and you only need about 150 million credits worth to hit Elite, compared to the 1 billion credits you need to get Elite Trader and the complex calculations and RNG reliance needed to get Elite Combat. It's boring (even a "true explorer" finds neutron farming boring) but it's probably the quickest, safest and most predictable way to attain an Elite ranking in the game.
Make sure you have a Detailed Surface Scanner installed. The difference in credits earned between a Level 2 Scan (done without the DSS) and a level 3 scan (done with a DSS) can be significant.
To maximize exploration credits, you'll want to try to claim the 50% bonuses for being the first CMDR to scan objects. Unfortunately, since most of the "interesting" objects in the Galaxy within 5000 LY of Sol are thoroughly explored by now and the paths out to them well-travelled, getting out to a region Where No-one Has Gone Before means aiming for nothing. Or, do what I did: aim for a tourist target (mine was the hypergiant star VY Canis Majoris) and then when you get there, aim for another target even further out; the direct A to C line from Sol might be explored, but the B to C line was all mine to claim.
The most valuable things in the universe are (in approximate order of value) black holes, neutron stars, Earth-like planets and large terraformable waterworlds. The most valuable single object in the universe is Sag A, the supermassive black hole in the Galactic Core, worth about 650,000 credits, but it's quite a bit further away than the 5000 LY you need for a Palin Run.
Since you can't see Earth-like planets from the galaxy map but you can see neutron stars and black holes quickly and easily by using the map filters, the quickest, most reliable way to earn cash by Exploration is "neutron field farming". There are certain regions of the galaxy, about halfway between Sol and the Core, where neutron stars are extremely abundant. So even a relatively new player in a cheap explorer like a Hauler, Diamondback or Cobra III can spend a couple of weeks flying out to the neutron fields, spend a week farming, spend another couple weeks flying home, and become instant Elite in Exploration in about a month. Exploration ranking is determined purely by profits earned by selling exploration data and you only need about 150 million credits worth to hit Elite, compared to the 1 billion credits you need to get Elite Trader and the complex calculations and RNG reliance needed to get Elite Combat. It's boring (even a "true explorer" finds neutron farming boring) but it's probably the quickest, safest and most predictable way to attain an Elite ranking in the game.
Great info Sapyx, that'll help me for sure when I venture out. I'll use my AspX, which almost always has a surface scanner anyway. At the moment though, my query was more about the ability to generate income within the couple of hours one might have for a single gaming session [after work] and completing a round-trip(heading out, scanning some systems, getting back to the desired dock and cashing it in.) If that type of work was viable, compared to the type of work I'll normally do in that time - CZ, HRES, Passengers.
I get the impression that it's not, but the replies have helped my figure out my next move
I'll use my AspX, which almost always has a surface scanner anyway. At the moment though, my query was more about the ability to generate income within the couple of hours one might have for a single gaming session [after work] and completing a round-trip(heading out, scanning some systems, getting back to the desired dock and cashing it in.) If that type of work was viable, compared to the type of work I'll normally do in that time - CZ, HRES, Passengers.I get the impression that it's not, but the replies have helped my figure out my next move
From my last handed in results at Eagle Landing I can do the following statements to income
Travelled about 6000 Lightyear in distance and scanned on that way about 2.500 bodies. When handed
them in earned 14.000.000 CR for the data which gives an overall average of 5600 CR per body.
The other calc you can do is a jump, honk, scan assumption where you get into a system, honk it, and scan the sun.
takes about 90 secs jump to jump and pay ~2000 each. This way you generate 80.000-100.000 CR/h
Its enough for fuel and repairs. Getting Elite quickly is another way.
Regards,
Miklos
Travelled about 6000 Lightyear in distance and scanned on that way about 2.500 bodies. When handed
them in earned 14.000.000 CR for the data which gives an overall average of 5600 CR per body.
The other calc you can do is a jump, honk, scan assumption where you get into a system, honk it, and scan the sun.
takes about 90 secs jump to jump and pay ~2000 each. This way you generate 80.000-100.000 CR/h
Its enough for fuel and repairs. Getting Elite quickly is another way.
Regards,
Miklos
If you are just after credits then the base figure you should use is that from just jumping & honking without scanning anything. The figures you've been given for that so far are very much on the low side.
On my recent trip to Colonia I jonked 5,489 systems and made 49.5 million credits. That's 9,000 credits per system. It is possible to do 80 systems per hour when just jonking so the base figure is 720,000 credits per hour. In reality it should probably be higher still since my figures included about 20% brown dwarf systems which don't pay much.
To get this my advice would be:
- run the non-Horizons (1.7) version of Elite. Since 2,2, witchspace takes longer in Horizons but not in 1.7
- use economical plotting as you want to hit a lot of systems and don't want to have to worry about refueling
- filter out the smaller star types (all brown dwarfs, T-Tauri, class M and K) as these systems don't often have a lot of bodies so the honk won't earn as much
- to get to 80 systems per hour you need to be charging the FSD as soon as the cool down period ends (you might also need to clear the star to get rid of the obscured target message). Make sure you are heading away from the star before charging! Learn to love a smoky cockpit but don't take damage for the sake of it & abort the jump if the temp rises to 100
- if you have a decent PC then you can view the system map whilst the FSD is charging and have time to abort the jump if there is something you want to scan. If it is on the slow side then you'll either have to not bother looking at it or jump slower.
To get above the 720k base figure, you would need to do selective scanning. Do NOT scan the main star as that's a complete waste of time (credit wise). ELWs should be scanned as long as you can SC to them within 4 to 5 mins. Metal rich planets that can be scanned without flying to should also be scanned. CFTs probably should if they are within a couple of mins SC time but they can be a bit hit & miss if you are not scanning the main star and calculating the Goldilocks zone (see eg https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/303159-Jackie-s-Hab-Zone-Calculator-version-2)
Neutron field farming should easily earn in excess of 2.5 million credits per hour.
Obviously all the above is just about maximising credits. Not many people will find it remotely "fun". And it will still pay way less than other ways of earning money. But it's something you can do whilst catching up with podcasts or even watching TV.
On my recent trip to Colonia I jonked 5,489 systems and made 49.5 million credits. That's 9,000 credits per system. It is possible to do 80 systems per hour when just jonking so the base figure is 720,000 credits per hour. In reality it should probably be higher still since my figures included about 20% brown dwarf systems which don't pay much.
To get this my advice would be:
- run the non-Horizons (1.7) version of Elite. Since 2,2, witchspace takes longer in Horizons but not in 1.7
- use economical plotting as you want to hit a lot of systems and don't want to have to worry about refueling
- filter out the smaller star types (all brown dwarfs, T-Tauri, class M and K) as these systems don't often have a lot of bodies so the honk won't earn as much
- to get to 80 systems per hour you need to be charging the FSD as soon as the cool down period ends (you might also need to clear the star to get rid of the obscured target message). Make sure you are heading away from the star before charging! Learn to love a smoky cockpit but don't take damage for the sake of it & abort the jump if the temp rises to 100
- if you have a decent PC then you can view the system map whilst the FSD is charging and have time to abort the jump if there is something you want to scan. If it is on the slow side then you'll either have to not bother looking at it or jump slower.
To get above the 720k base figure, you would need to do selective scanning. Do NOT scan the main star as that's a complete waste of time (credit wise). ELWs should be scanned as long as you can SC to them within 4 to 5 mins. Metal rich planets that can be scanned without flying to should also be scanned. CFTs probably should if they are within a couple of mins SC time but they can be a bit hit & miss if you are not scanning the main star and calculating the Goldilocks zone (see eg https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/303159-Jackie-s-Hab-Zone-Calculator-version-2)
Neutron field farming should easily earn in excess of 2.5 million credits per hour.
Obviously all the above is just about maximising credits. Not many people will find it remotely "fun". And it will still pay way less than other ways of earning money. But it's something you can do whilst catching up with podcasts or even watching TV.
You could consider trying the Mini ELW Tour. 200 ELWs, not further than 1K LY from Sol. These systems are likely to have decent planets in the goldilocks zone too, so you could add scan some terraformable candidates as well as the ELWs to increase earnings.
I went out to Jaques/SagA and back over the course of about four months and definitely had an eye on getting paid for it. To that end along side obviously ELW/WW/AW scanning, I also targetted Terraformable Worlds and Gas Giants with life. I also hit lots of Neutron Star systems.
Got to Jaques, sold 2529 scans for ~160m (lots of neutron stars)
Snooped around Jaques region, sold 2430 scans for 87.1m
Headed back to bubble via big arc sold 2463 scans for 116.5m
I didn't measure time taken. The 116.5m cash has been useful upon bubble return so that I could gain a bunch of permits. I'm due to go back out in to the black for a month or two as I need a break from the bubble-grind and also a cheeky 100m in exploration data might be useful to finish off engineer levelling. This benefit of exp data selling is not to be overlooked in my opinion.
Got to Jaques, sold 2529 scans for ~160m (lots of neutron stars)
Snooped around Jaques region, sold 2430 scans for 87.1m
Headed back to bubble via big arc sold 2463 scans for 116.5m
I didn't measure time taken. The 116.5m cash has been useful upon bubble return so that I could gain a bunch of permits. I'm due to go back out in to the black for a month or two as I need a break from the bubble-grind and also a cheeky 100m in exploration data might be useful to finish off engineer levelling. This benefit of exp data selling is not to be overlooked in my opinion.
IMO it's just SO wrong the "jonking" is the best way to earn money (exp CGs as well). Possibly one of the stupidest gameplay decisions FD have made. Full system scans should yield a significant bonus to encourage people to properly explore systems (something akin to NMSs creature bonus), Exploration CGs should take into account detailed scans (with level 3s worth more towards the CG) as well. Exploration needs SO much attention and work.