Exploration tips for a noob?

ArcaneTheWoof

ArcaneTheWoof
Sorry if this is a turbo-noob topic, but I've been playing Solo/Private group to get a feel for the game; now that I'm comfortable with it, I'd like to start playing in Open, and I'm trying to decide my play style, and I'm leaning towards peaceful exploration/science. I've seen a few threads here and there about exploration, but they all mostly talk about astronomical dangers, e.g. flying into stars like a doofus, but I don't see anything about pirates or other nasties, and I just want to be sure I know how to handle interactions with other players. Is piracy something I need to be concerned about? Are there areas of space I should generally avoid?

Also, are there any specific exploration missions? For example, do miners ask for scanning information about distant locations to make their trips more lucrative and less reliant on "getting lucky"?

Big preesh for any info ❤🙏
 

Riverside

Riverside
Fit a fuel scoop, the biggest & best you can afford & just start jumping ;) Keep an eye on your fuel & learn which stars are scoopable (KGBFOAM), the rest will come with experience :)

If you want missions you could try passenger ones, they will take you to a visitor beacon that you can use as a destination to aim for if you don't have anything in particular in mind.

If you are concerned about other players fit a shield in your biggest optional slot, fit the best hull armour & accept you won't have the jump range of a lighter ship but you will have more hitpoints & more time to escape ;) Realistically unless you visit a known player hotspot you probably won't meet another player by accident, the galaxy is a big place ;)
 

ArcaneTheWoof

ArcaneTheWoof
Thanks for the tips guys, really appreciate it! I’m not super worried about other players, but as I intend to do pretty long-distance voyages, I’d rather not risk data loss unnecessarily, so just playing it super safe. Cheers!
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
Piracy? Not really, player pirates are rare as hen's teeth. Gankers, i.e. players who kill other players without any roleplay or apparent motive, though, are abundant.
But these face the same situation as anyone else: the Galaxy is big. So they tend to accumulate at known hotspots - the first tier engineers, community goal systems and of course Shinrarta Dezhra.
My currently most active account is on Open most of the time, and I rarely see another soul - and I haven't been interdicted or attacked by a player in ages (last time that happened, I was still in Colonia). On the other hand, my explorer account flies only in the fleetcomm or mobius private group. You won't meet anyone out in the black in any case, unless it's a planned event.
 

Go'Gen

Go'Gen
ArcaneTheWoof said:
"....Is piracy something I need to be concerned about? Are there areas of space I should generally avoid?..."
Click to expand...
With the introduction of Fleet Carriers, "pirates" (more like gankers who will kill you on sight just for fun, no questions asked) can now be everywhere, especially in popular and recommended exploration sytems.
So I bet sooner or later, no matter where you are, you will encounter one in Open and you will die and lose your months worth of exploration data.
And no, there's no shield which will save you. Because in FCs they can bring specialized ships, while you are alone in only one, light exploration build.
If you want marginal possibility of meeting another peaceful player, do it while in private group. Mobius is one like that, 10.000+ cmdrs, PvE only, no attacking on players (google how to enter).
Enjoy your ride in ED!
o7
 

ArcaneTheWoof

ArcaneTheWoof
Ashnak said:
Piracy? Not really, player pirates are rare as hen's teeth. Gankers, i.e. players who kill other players without any roleplay or apparent motive, though, are abundant.
But these face the same situation as anyone else: the Galaxy is big. So they tend to accumulate at known hotspots - the first tier engineers, community goal systems and of course Shinrarta Dezhra.
My currently most active account is on Open most of the time, and I rarely see another soul - and I haven't been interdicted or attacked by a player in ages (last time that happened, I was still in Colonia). On the other hand, my explorer account flies only in the fleetcomm or mobius private group. You won't meet anyone out in the black in any case, unless it's a planned event.
Click to expand...

Thanks! That’s a comfort~

Go'Gen said:
With the introduction of Fleet Carriers, "pirates" (more like gankers who will kill you on sight just for fun, no questions asked) can now be everywhere, especially in popular and recommended exploration sytems.
So I bet sooner or later, no matter where you are, you will encounter one in Open and you will die and lose your months worth of exploration data.
And no, there's no shield which will save you. Because in FCs they can bring specialized ships, while you are alone in only one, light exploration build.
If you want marginal possibility of meeting another peaceful player, do it while in private group. Mobius is one like that, 10.000+ cmdrs, PvE only, no attacking on players (google how to enter).
Enjoy your ride in ED!
o7
Click to expand...

II want to play in Open because I do want some sense of there being a possibility of interaction, whether I like it or not, or saying hi to players when around systems... and maybe deciding to get involved with events for role playing reasons. >w>


space voyager said:
Don't go. :D Kidding.
Click to expand...

Somebody’s gotta chart the galaxy! FOR SCIENCE
 

Dragsham

Dragsham
I play in open whilst out in the black. In fact, wing related stuff aside, I'm in the open 90% of the time.
From an explorers perspective yes it's very risky. Especially if you've no carrier to download data too.
So think on that. Most experienced players have lost data and go solo whilst exploring out in the black. But there's truly nothing out there to worry about. Assuming your not in any populated area or highway. By that I mean the shortest routes to any given point of interest like Sag A or Colonia.
I doubt any ganker would be out so far hoping you'd cross his path.
But you never know. And without the ability to offload that 300 mill of data you've accumulated with all that scanning and tagging new discoveries..big risk in the Open
 

WR3ND

WR3ND
I'd probably only add to what's been said: Don't ignore the meta, but use a ship you like to pilot. I like something nice and agile. If you're just bagging and tagging with the FSS, it doesn't matter as much, but I see that more as a... putting it nicely, gateway to exploration in the game rather than exploration itself.

There are still things to find in the game, but they might not make you any credits, and it depends what you're looking for.
 

ArcaneTheWoof

ArcaneTheWoof
WR3ND said:
I'd probably only add to what's been said: Don't ignore the meta, but use a ship you like to pilot. I like something nice and agile. If you're just bagging and tagging with the FSS, it doesn't matter as much, but I see that more as a... putting it nicely, gateway to exploration in the game rather than exploration itself.

There are still things to find in the game, but they might not make you any credits, and it depends what you're looking for.
Click to expand...

For me, credit acquisition is secondary to the sense of being an explorer and making discoveries. On my first long-haul voyage in Solo, I discovered an Earth-like world, and that felt special because in a boatload of jumps, I only spotted one, so I imagine they’re fairly rare; it was a good feeling to stick my name on that discovery. It felt very Star Trek.

I also hope to bring a friend or two along for the voyage in multi-crew. Could help reduce space madness to drag some company out in the Black. ...Maybe we can sing some sea shanties :p
 

Shiro Akai

Shiro Akai
Exploration and Open doesn't go along much. Open is best experienced in high pop areas (Bubble, Colonia), where exploration is exactly opposite - you go into total emptiness and player encounter is nigh impossible. And even if, it'd be another explorer so no real threat.

NPCs - those are "occasion spawn", they appear when certain triggers are met: namely you have mission and/or cargo. Exploration is no cargo stuff so no triggers for NPCs. When you leave the Bubble it's you and space. For days, weeks.

General tips:
  • first consider what is your goal: to get to places or to explore/investigate? Then pick ship accordingly. For getting to places you need far jumping ship so this implies DBX/AspX/Phantom/Anaconda. For more thorough exploration any ship will do, tho the bigger the better, small ones like Adder/T-6 are still capable explorers but may lack the space for stuff. There is a general talk about what ship to pick and some say that max range is not important. I stand on this: I still can make 15 LY jump in my 60+LY ship. You can't do 60 LY jump in your 15 LY range ship.
  • prepare for your journey. The best FSD + G5 engineering + guardian booster for max range. Biggest A-rated fuel scoop, biggest AFMU in the next slot (comes handy when using neutron highway), SRV bay (preferably dual bay for extra safe), optionally SLF if you can outfit it (it's nice to fly between asteroids in a ring on on the verge of the Galaxy). If space allow - another small AFMU (to repair the primary one).
  • learn to scoop fuel on the go. Two methods: jump until empty, then refill all. Jump, refill lost fuel, jump, refill - this way you're always at full tank.
  • practice neutron jumps, avoid white dwarfs. WD gives low bonus for extra danger (large exclusion zone, short jets, easy to cook) while neutron are cold, small zone with long jets. Throttle at 5%, face away from star, dive shallow and you should be fine.
  • don't forget scanners.
  • when moving from A to B quick make soure you have some Netflix/YT/whatever in the background. Long range exploration looks thrilling. On paper. In reality it's mind boggingly boring.
 

Zieman

Zieman
Many good points made already.

Some things I feel are important:
-fly a ship you like to fly
-keep a healthy reserve of Jumponium materials stocked
-have SRV for getting more mats and to break the tedium sometimes
-have (at least) light shielding for planet landings, can save you when you eventually do lithobrake
-best FSD you can afford and bother to engineer
-biggest & best fuel scoop you can afford
-when out there, think 3D
-have FSS and DSS fitted

Secondary things, opinions on these vary more:
-A grade powerplant, size & engineering according to your ship's thermal performance and needed power levels
-not all modules need to be powered all the time
-mining laser can be useful (https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/end-of-the-road.308075/)
-rail gun with plasma slug experimental can be useful in fine tuning your fuel level
-when going to sell your data, no use risking it in open
 

Saws n Sins

Saws n Sins
Always, Always, ALWAYS be sure to look at the gravity of the planet before you decide to enter it's orbit and try to land on it. You would not want to be 1000's of ly's out in the black and go land on a planet and not realize it's an extremely high gravity planet. Hasn't happened to me yet but I've heard of the horror stories and because of that always check myself. Would be a shame to lose your ship like that
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
Shiro Akai said:
...
first consider what is your goal: to get to places or to explore/investigate? Then pick ship accordingly. For getting to places you need far jumping ship so this implies DBX/AspX/Phantom/Anaconda.
....
Click to expand...
You forgot the Dolphin 🐬.
And the Mk.II isn't that much worse than the Phantom, either - but can carry a fighter bay, if you want a few disposable recon vehicles.
While the DBX is still up there in jump range, the small scoop makes it a dubitable pleasure.
 

Stabby_Dave

Stabby_Dave
A handy tool also, is EDDiscovery. There's a popup screen on it for showing visited stars. That's handy to see what's worth mapping. Everyone has their own way of doing it. Find one that makes you happy.
 
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