Newcomer / Intro Exploration

I've decided to go exploring and I wondering what is the best way to locate previously unexplored systems? Is it just luck or is there some way of locating the edge of explored space?
 
I've decided to go exploring and I wondering what is the best way to locate previously unexplored systems? Is it just luck or is there some way of locating the edge of explored space?

Just go 2000ly out in any direction and you're in unexplored space. If you go to the nebulas and such, you'll find they've been mapped. A fun place to go is out to FLYUAE sector and drop 1000ly below the galactic plane. Lots of neutron stars there. Or SKAUDE or SKAUDAI sector and look for black holes. FLYUAE is easier to reach, for your first jaunt you might want to start there.

(to find locations in a sector you can either try $SECTOR AA-A H### where ### is any digits between 1 and 7, or google 'elite dangerous $SECTOR' and see if anyone drops any names of interesting places in the sector. Then go there and explore!
to get there, search for the location, mark it, then click the nav map back to your location; align the map toward where you're going, zoom out a bit, and scroll toward the destination then pick a star ~750ly on your way and go there. lather rinse repeat)
 
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Just go 2000ly out in any direction and you're in unexplored space. If you go to the nebulas and such, you'll find they've been mapped. A fun place to go is out to FLYUAE sector and drop 1000ly below the galactic plane. Lots of neutron stars there. Or SKAUDE sector and look for black holes.

Thank you.
 
I choose a spot at random and fly in that direction.

When you get 1000LY out every system you jump to is undiscovered (I've found - but I'm not heading in common directions)
 
A lot of people head for the core, and a lot of people head for Barnard's Loop. So if you want you can go in a different direction, say towards the rim.

But space is very large, and once you get out a several hundred light years or so, you should be finding mostly undiscovered.
 
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A lot of people head for the core, and a lot of people head for Barnard's Loop. So if you want you can go in a different direction, say towards the rim.

But space is very large, and once you get out a several hundred light years or so, you should be finding mostly undiscovered.

The rim? Which direction is that?
 
The rim? Which direction is that?

The rim of the galaxy.

I've been out abut 10 kly, more or less going 180 degrees from the direction of the core. I went out as far as I could until the stellar density was so low there were no more jumps possible for my ASP.

You can get farther out on the rim, if you travel a bit spinward first and pass through the Perseus Arm to wispy end of the Outer Arm.

There is a nice map of the actual Galaxy in Wikipedia. We're in the Orion Arm (a small spur off the Sagittarius Arm). If you head to the rim you go through the Perseus Arm. For whatever reason I like exploring there.
 
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Not having done any exploration yet,
I haven't gone outside 3 or 4 jumps from my starting point yet.

I would love to see a video of how you guys are doing what you are describing.
Do you need special scanner above the basic scanner? is it the same process on the galaxy map or do you power up the FSD to Max and just fly in whatever direction?
 
Not having done any exploration yet,
I haven't gone outside 3 or 4 jumps from my starting point yet.

I would love to see a video of how you guys are doing what you are describing.
Do you need special scanner above the basic scanner? is it the same process on the galaxy map or do you power up the FSD to Max and just fly in whatever direction?

I'm not even sure of how to take a screenshot yet. I would like to know how to take a screenshot with an external view of my ship.
 
I'm not even sure of how to take a screenshot yet. I would like to know how to take a screenshot with an external view of my ship.
CTRL+ALT+Space is the default, though if you have any custom key bindings you may have to set your own for Debug Camera in Options/Controls (Miscellaneous section iirc).

Normal screenshot is F10.
Hi-res 4K shot is CTRL+Alt+F10 (doesn't work in Open play - Solo and Private only).

Shots are saved to Pictures/Frontier Developments/Elite Dangerous as BMPs.
 
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CTRL+ALT+Space is the default, though if you have any custom key bindings you may have to set your own for Debug Camera in Options/Controls (Miscellaneous section iirc).

Normal screenshot is ALT+F10.
Hi-res 4K shot is CTRL+Alt+F10 (doesn't work in Open play - Solo and Private only).

Shots are saved to Pictures/Frontier Developments/Elite Dangerous as BMPs.
A small correction: the regular screenshot key has always been just F10.
 
I've decided to go exploring and I wondering what is the best way to locate previously unexplored systems? Is it just luck or is there some way of locating the edge of explored space?

*pointing in random direction*. Just keep going that way. When you hit the end, turn right. Keep going. or left...

Seriously.

Z...
 
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You activate the debug camera (chose a nice binding in the controls) and "fly" the camera just like you would your ship.

By the way, even going for the core is worth it - I'm 5,000 LYs out from Sagittarius A* right now, and not a single system on my entire trip has been already discovered. Not much of a surprise, actually - if you assume a 1,000 by 1,000 LY corridor from civilized space to the core and stick to a set of X/Z coordinates until you get close, there are 250,000 different fast and direct routes. (Assuming a maximum deviation of 10 LY in each direction.
 
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Most of the time I just do a Advanced discovery scan to see of I wish to "discover" the system. I have been working one sector 5000Ly from SOL.
Examined thousands of systems (just one sector mind you) and have yet to stumble across a single one that has been discovered.
But just like me, others may have scanned them but chosen not to discover.
After a very short time and hundreds of jumps, you become picky about the systems you wan't to stop and leave your name on.
 
I don't even scan the star unless I stop to scan something else. I press the jump button about 14 secs after entering the system, and still have time to scoop, honk, check the system and Galaxy map for my next star type.
Time yourself with the stop and scan method and see my most people who do the same take weeks to get to Sag a
 
I don't even scan the star unless I stop to scan something else.

A perfectly valid way to play. One thing I like about Elite is that we can play, in this case, explore as we want, by setting your own objective. (Or setting no objective as the objective, I suppose.)

What I do is set an objective for each 'expedition.' I am currently on my 6th, the 3rd since I got my ASP. What I wanted to do was travel along the Perseus Arm until I was 20 kly from Home. I did that, it took me about 20 days, and now I am on the way back. (I am taking a shortcut, cutting across the gap to the Orion Arm.)

The way I do it, I scan the primary star and take a look around. I try to get all the HMCs, and gas giants within around a few tens of thousands of ls from the center. I also try to get secondary stars that are somewhat farther out since you don't have to get to close for the scanner to kick in. On average I get about 1000 ly every four or five hours.

I plot courses using the fastest route, not the eco routes, and am sort of balancing the needs of getting somewhere with the needs of scanning a lot.

But, there are many ways to do this, from tourists who want to go places, to those who want to scan every last ice cube. All are equally valid.
 
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