Newcomer / Intro Exploration - I'm missing something...

[Badmiker]

Commanders, o7

Returning to the helm after 30 years. Disappointed to find out that my prized Cobra and that my prior ranking, 'Elite Archangel', are now obsolete. However, I'm nback in the black with my newly engineered Krait and looking for new stuff.

And that's the problem; I cannot find anything. I'm a few thousand ly from home but every system I arrive in seems to have been discovered.

-how can I tell, when I first arrive in a system, whether it's been discovered or not? Currently I'm opening the system scanner and mousing over a planet but is there an indicator on the dash, or in the nav panel which I'm missing?

-Is there any way to quickly know if there's something interesting in the system: vulcanism, guardian ruins (what else)?

-can I tell if there are any other commanders around? I'm on Xbox (why on earth isnt this cross-platform?!) and the galaxy seems pretty empty.

I doubt anyone can help with this but...
What's with the high wake loading screen; endless gas clouds swirling past? It looks like a really bad loading screen, is non-immersive and, when there's 10's or 100's of jumps to go, get's pretty dull.
I was hoping to enjoy the trip through a nebula; watching it grow ever larger until it wrapped around and past me, but no: there's nothing but just repetitive swirly graphics. I would have thought that high waking would be an opportunity for Frontier to show off the scope and scale of the galaxy: to have stars going past, nebula arising and falling; to give a sense of travelling and of exploring. I dont even understand the effect on the ship; I imagine that in frame-shift there may be disruptions which prevent some things from working but why can I not access the nav panel but I can access other onboard functions?

 

[Dommarraa]

"A few thousand" isnt far enough if you headed towards Sag A*. Its the well trodden route. Head away from the Sag A*/Colonia route and you will quickly find thousands of them.

If there is NOTHING on your scanner immediately on arrival, then its a Virgin system. If the main star is immediately visible then not, but that does NOT mean the rest of the system has not been scanned or probed. FSS the system, then check the System Map, then probe anything of interest.

The Bubble is pretty empty anyway, the chances of meeting anyone a couple of Kylies out is zero.

Yes, the jump animation is indeed a loading screen. Its proceduraly generating the system (and planet terrain), so is actually mightily impressive and really a little too busy to try and be fancy.

 

[Chris Simon]

Hi and welcome, commander.

If you want to find undiscovered places, you'll have to either go off the beaten path (the "obvious directions" from the inhabited space like nebulae and other points of interest. Try going up or down on the galaxy plane or simply in a random direction) or you could go further. The community of explorers has been at it for years, now, so the immediate vicinity of the bubble is pretty explored.

When you open a system map and mouse-over (or whatever the appropriate term is for XBox) a star or a planet, it will tell you whether somebody else discovered it. If there's no name on the tag, it's undiscovered.

Yeah, the witchspace could use an overhaul, but like Dommarraa (and you as well) said, it's a loading screen. We can't expect much from a loading screen.

 

[Badmiker]

So I can tell from the scanner whether it's been discovered? If the scanner is empty (until I honk?) then I'm the first there?

I'm heading out to Heart & Soul, but have been trying to keep high above the plane. Maybe I'm just being impatient...

 

[Caramel Clown]

So I can tell from the scanner whether it's been discovered? If the scanner is empty (until I honk?) then I'm the first there?

I'm heading out to Heart & Soul, but have been trying to keep high above the plane. Maybe I'm just being impatient...

You are being a little impatient, but main reason why you find so many explored systems is because you fly a popular destination. Get off the beaten path, and you will realize we have barely scratched the surface. Don't plot straight from the bubble to any popular nebulae, or galactic core. Ascend above the galactic plain first, or dive below. Make a hook. Plot in zig zags and not straight lines. If you really want to avoid explored systems, stay away from Sol-Colonia-Sagittarius triangle. So many people have plotted these routes now, it's like a busy highway now. Figuratively speaking. But as soon as you pick unconventional direction you will find uncharted systems. Or get some patience, and get to the core. There are so many stars...no, not even that. Inconcievable amount of stars. Enough for many lifetimes of exploration. However, if you just want to see interesting places there's nothing wrong with sightseeing and visiting landmarks(spacemarks?). In the end this is what exploration is about for many of us. Go see Canis Majoris, Betelguese, Veil Nebulae is especially lovely this time of year

 

[Chris Simon]

So I can tell from the scanner whether it's been discovered? If the scanner is empty (until I honk?) then I'm the first there?

I'm heading out to Heart & Soul, but have been trying to keep high above the plane. Maybe I'm just being impatient...

No, when you enter a system and don't see the discovered bodies, it just means YOU haven't been there. Find a body, check it on the system map and it will tell you whether it is discovered or not.
And yes, like I said, don't fly in predictible lines. Heart and Soul is a very prominent "tourist attraction" which means that the direct line between it and the bubble is probably fully explored for years, now.
But if you fly just a couple LY in any direction, you will probably start finding unexplored areas.

 

[d8veh]

You can find plenty of undiscovered systems, If you fly up or down 1000LY before going in the direction to your target system.

 

[Badmiker]

Thanks for the advice, maybe picking up a 'famous explorer' mission and expecting to find unexplored along the way was a bit optomistic.

It's a bit of a trial run anyway, just to see how things hold up: whether I really do need a repair module (not so far), would a fighter be fun/usefull (yes), how important is that last kg & 0.1ly jump (very).

Next time I'll head out randomly. Well, randomly in search of spectacular Guardian sites, or are these areas likely to have been well searched? Any tips on regions to go search?

 

[Caramel Clown]

Thanks for the advice, maybe picking up a 'famous explorer' mission and expecting to find unexplored along the way was a bit optomistic.

It's a bit of a trial run anyway, just to see how things hold up: whether I really do need a repair module (not so far), would a fighter be fun/usefull (yes), how important is that last kg & 0.1ly jump (very).

Next time I'll head out randomly. Well, randomly in search of spectacular Guardian sites, or are these areas likely to have been well searched? Any tips on regions to go search?

You could have a look at Codex. Quite a nice tool to give you suggestions about where to do.

 

[Dommarraa]

Thanks for the advice, maybe picking up a 'famous explorer' mission and expecting to find unexplored along the way was a bit optomistic.

It's a bit of a trial run anyway, just to see how things hold up: whether I really do need a repair module (not so far), would a fighter be fun/usefull (yes), how important is that last kg & 0.1ly jump (very).

Next time I'll head out randomly. Well, randomly in search of spectacular Guardian sites, or are these areas likely to have been well searched? Any tips on regions to go search?

AMFU - Essential
AMFU x2 - Not Neccessary
Repair Limpets - Not unless you are going on a mega long trip
Fighter - Nah, its too dangerous. Your main ship can plough into the ground.
UltraMax jump range - No, a comfortable ship with all the modules is better (Research Limpet Controller, Small Pulse Laser etc)

Guardian Areas are scanned to death. We were looking for Guardian Sites.

 

[Caramel Clown]

Never ask explorers what is the best exploration ship or loadout There are as many different answers as there are explorers. You don't sound like a total beginner, by the end of your first long range trip you will know exactly what do you want in your ship. If you break it down to basics, the only module that is true necessity is a fuel scoop. Rest is flavor and quality of life. Even then...there's been a mad lad that made it from Sol to Colonia on one tank, no refills

 

[Badmiker]

Oh, I undoubtedly have the best ship.
As does everyone else.

I'm loving the scale of it all; not just the physical scale of the galaxy but the endless ship building options. I've spent as much time on EDSY as I have playing.

So what's Canonn researching now?
I've yet to meet a Thargoid but you've got to think that we need to take the fight to them somehow?

 

[McGyverCP]

When I took my big run I started hitting unexplored systems about 500 ly out from my start (LHS20). Say that LHS20 is the center of the dial, and SagA is "North"...I went WNW for 10K LYs, then headed towards SagA. From there, across to Colonia (even that probably very well traveled path had many unexplored's in it), then SSW from there for a few thousand LYs, then back to LHS 20. I did over 70K+ LYs, found hundreds of systems (jumping an avg of 55 LY per jump), and made almost 200 Million in exploration credits.

The systems are out there, just as they say, walk a bit off the beaten path. Welcome back to Elite Commander!

Take Care and Check Six Commanders! o7

 

[Caramel Clown]

When I took my big run I started hitting unexplored systems about 500 ly out from my start (LHS20). Say that LHS20 is the center of the dial, and SagA is "North"...I went WNW for 10K LYs, then headed towards SagA. From there, across to Colonia (even that probably very well traveled path had many unexplored's in it), then SSW from there for a few thousand LYs, then back to LHS 20. I did over 70K+ LYs, found hundreds of systems (jumping an avg of 55 LY per jump), and made almost 200 Million in exploration credits.

The systems are out there, just as they say, walk a bit off the beaten path. Welcome back to Elite Commander!

Take Care and Check Six Commanders! o7

You would've probably make 2 billion with current exploration payouts Exploration actually pays these days.

 

[aRJay]

Thanks for the advice, maybe picking up a 'famous explorer' mission and expecting to find unexplored along the way was a bit optomistic.

It's a bit of a trial run anyway, just to see how things hold up: whether I really do need a repair module (not so far), would a fighter be fun/usefull (yes), how important is that last kg & 0.1ly jump (very).

Next time I'll head out randomly. Well, randomly in search of spectacular Guardian sites, or are these areas likely to have been well searched? Any tips on regions to go search?

If you are heading for any well known site head off in a direction that takes you nowhere interesting at all then head towards the interesting location, if the first heading is long enough you should be in relatively unexplored territory while you head for your destination.

 

[Factabulous]

Thanks for the advice, maybe picking up a 'famous explorer' mission and expecting to find unexplored along the way was a bit optomistic.

Well, that is your issue - there are not that many tourist beacons for those missions to go to, so you're travelling a common route. Explains the relative lack of unexplored systems on the way. And the tourist beacons went in before the codex, so they won't be the same places. Ideally fdev would add new missions based on codex locations, but ... we're not getting much in the way of new content at the moment, and the codex isn't exactly accurate.

 

[Ashnak]

Looking for virgin systems? You might be interested in this - or especially this (scroll down a bit for the Elite: Dangerous Exploration Time Lapse Heatmap (cumulative) - worth it watching in full screen).

 

[Caramel Clown]

Looking for virgin systems? You might be interested in this - or especially this (scroll down a bit for the Elite: Dangerous Exploration Time Lapse Heatmap (cumulative) - worth it watching in full screen).

Love this heat map. It looks like we've explored a lot, but in reality it's what it looks like - thin webs and strings of explored space and pretty much untouched wilderness in-between. Especially interesting how near the center above and below the galactic plain so little activity.

 

[Ozric]

I'd suggest going a few hundred Ly 'up' or 'down' from the galactic plane when looking for unexplored systems, the path is less trodden there. Around 1-1,500 Ly you encounter the White Dwarf/Neutron belts that run around the areas of dense stars in the galaxy, with the exception of ~1,000Ly of the bubble, and the 0, 0 line (which is a bizarre thing to encounter the first time you travel along the belts )

Spoiler

These will help you to travel faster, but are generally more explored. It doesn't really matter though, as others have intimated, once you get a reasonable distance from the bubble and not on a direct line to one of the hotspots you won't even need to try to find undiscovered systems.

So what's Canonn researching now?
I've yet to meet a Thargoid but you've got to think that we need to take the fight to them somehow?

Not much unfortunately
Helping out with repelling the Thargoid attacks is about all there has been going for a long time now... Still it keeps Lab 69 happy.
The rest of us will bide our time, the time for science will return... Soon™

Looking for virgin systems? You might be interested in this - or especially this (scroll down a bit for the Elite: Dangerous Exploration Time Lapse Heatmap (cumulative) - worth it watching in full screen).

The thing I love about looking at these Heatmaps is not only seeing the major POIs near the bubble, but seeing the Col 70 sector stand out so well

 

[Badmiker]

Looking for virgin systems? You might be interested in this - or especially this (scroll down a bit for the Elite: Dangerous Exploration Time Lapse Heatmap (cumulative) - worth it watching in full screen).

That is very, very cool. Lot's to digest there. Loving the animation.

So, about this Raxxla thing; is it a thing? Where is it?