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Newcomer / Intro Exploring
- Thread starter Kalius
- Start date
InMemoriamSirocco
Banned
I've also taken the time to write down some tips for exploration builds:
Exploration builds: Better safe than sorry
Exploration builds: Better safe than sorry
Absolutely!
Flying without shields is a very bad idea. what good is all that time you spent exploring if you don't survive the trip back?
Any player who is about to interdict a hauler will first target you and flip through targeting your subsystems. If he sees no shields, you're toast.
You might also consider a chaff launcher as it messes up targeting you.
It's the power PLANT, not the power distributor that helps with heat dissipation.
I'm 25k ly from home making my way slowly back, and I've had the distributor disabled for the last 10k ly... it makes no difference when you're jumping and in SC.
I'm 25k ly from home making my way slowly back, and I've had the distributor disabled for the last 10k ly... it makes no difference when you're jumping and in SC.
Thanks everyone!
Slightly off topic: How is exploring actually done? I don't mean scanners and stuff, I mean the mode of travel. Can we jump to unexplored stars? Or do we have to SC to them, then jump back? Also, if we can jump to unexplored stars, can we plan routes through the galaxy map to these stars? Or do we need to discover stars to plan routes involving them?
I would just check this in-game but I'm at work.
Slightly off topic: How is exploring actually done? I don't mean scanners and stuff, I mean the mode of travel. Can we jump to unexplored stars? Or do we have to SC to them, then jump back? Also, if we can jump to unexplored stars, can we plan routes through the galaxy map to these stars? Or do we need to discover stars to plan routes involving them?
I would just check this in-game but I'm at work.
Pick a point on the galaxy map - the galaxy map includes all stars, not just discovered/explored. And plot a route to it. The route planner will take you to that system regardless as to whether any intermediates have already been discovered. Once you're outside the initial bubble, unless you're on a well travelled route to a tourist spot, every system will be a new discovery.
If we had to super-cruise to every new star that would make very, very, extremely slow and tedious exploring.
The top speed in SC is 2001c (All together now.... Ta-dadada Daaa... Ta-da! Ta-da! Ta-dadada Daaa... Ta-da! Ta-da! ...)
A few tips:
2 methods of exploring that I favour are...
Pick a far away interesting destination (nebula, cluster, known black hole, etc) and go there in "fastest route" mode, then then switch to economical mode and wander around looking for interesting stuff and scanning it, then head back.
Pick a direction (plot a route to anywhere beyond occupied space) and go there in fast mode, until you hit unexplored systems, then switch to economical mode and wander.
In both cases, when you start wandering, pick destinations with stars more likely to contain interesting stuff (Type G, F, K and sometimes A or B for metallic planets and water worlds; Type O, B and maybe A for neutron stars & black holes)
Class M stars generally tend to be boring, but some of them may surprise.
When you enter a system, throttle to zero and target the main star as soon as it shows on your radar. While it's being scanned, ping the system with your discovery scanner then look at the system map. There's a lot of info there, even before you scan the planets close-up. Look at the planet graphics:
Asteroid fields are worth nothing. Ignore them.
White(ish) planets (often pink around brown dwarfs) are iceballs. Don't bother.
Blue tend to be water worlds - very high value (but sometimes they're ammonia). Icecaps may also indicate the presence of water
Dark grey is metal-rich - high value. Most other colours are either high metal content (medium value) or rocky (low value) but sometimes even these can be terraformable (check the distance (AU) from the star, and the type of star - "Goldilocks zone"), which increases their value.
Dark with red bits is young/volcanic. Could be metal rich high metal content or rocky, but (I think) worth less since the metals are hard to get at, being so hot.
Planets with clouds have an atmosphere - Hit or miss, but could be worth a look.
Gas giants are generally boring, but it may have life which makes it interesting for scientists, so a slightly higher value. (If it has spots, this MAY indicate a higher probability of life, but I'm not sure.)
Apart from the type of star, the name can also give you a clue. e.g. "HIP 1234" might be more interesting than "Szeriouszlyunpronounszable Sector qwerty-348495 X-573"
Always know where your towel is.
A few tips:
2 methods of exploring that I favour are...
Pick a far away interesting destination (nebula, cluster, known black hole, etc) and go there in "fastest route" mode, then then switch to economical mode and wander around looking for interesting stuff and scanning it, then head back.
Pick a direction (plot a route to anywhere beyond occupied space) and go there in fast mode, until you hit unexplored systems, then switch to economical mode and wander.
In both cases, when you start wandering, pick destinations with stars more likely to contain interesting stuff (Type G, F, K and sometimes A or B for metallic planets and water worlds; Type O, B and maybe A for neutron stars & black holes)
Class M stars generally tend to be boring, but some of them may surprise.
When you enter a system, throttle to zero and target the main star as soon as it shows on your radar. While it's being scanned, ping the system with your discovery scanner then look at the system map. There's a lot of info there, even before you scan the planets close-up. Look at the planet graphics:
Asteroid fields are worth nothing. Ignore them.
White(ish) planets (often pink around brown dwarfs) are iceballs. Don't bother.
Blue tend to be water worlds - very high value (but sometimes they're ammonia). Icecaps may also indicate the presence of water
Dark grey is metal-rich - high value. Most other colours are either high metal content (medium value) or rocky (low value) but sometimes even these can be terraformable (check the distance (AU) from the star, and the type of star - "Goldilocks zone"), which increases their value.
Dark with red bits is young/volcanic. Could be metal rich high metal content or rocky, but (I think) worth less since the metals are hard to get at, being so hot.
Planets with clouds have an atmosphere - Hit or miss, but could be worth a look.
Gas giants are generally boring, but it may have life which makes it interesting for scientists, so a slightly higher value. (If it has spots, this MAY indicate a higher probability of life, but I'm not sure.)
Apart from the type of star, the name can also give you a clue. e.g. "HIP 1234" might be more interesting than "Szeriouszlyunpronounszable Sector qwerty-348495 X-573"
Always know where your towel is.
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Can I also recommend: if any of you explorers encounter any Borg or Covenant out there in the great darkness, please do NOT let them follow you back to our home world.
Thats' what happened last time, and they made such a mess. It's such a newbie error...
I have been thinking about a trip to Borg space. I wanted to follow TNG flight path, I have seen that somewhere years ago, but Google wont throw it my way. Voyager path is total fiction, so that leaves a Borg hunt. Worth it now or wait the Imperial Courier ?
Always go for the biggest fuel scoop you can get. Always go for an A-rated power plant.
Otherwise, my personal preference is as small a shield as I can get away with. I don't take heat sinks, but I do have an AFMU. No weapons, hull reinforcements, shield boosts.
With heat sinks my feeling is: you might end up needing, perhaps, 1, due to terrible bad luck. But if you find yourself firing off lots of them, you might want to reconsider your fuel scooping technique. Also, since 1.2, I believe, heat damage goes to modules not the hull (at some point, the hull gets it too). So an AFMU can fix the module damage.
If you throttle down before coming out of hyperspace you really shouldn't have issues with overheating. Close binaries where you pop out of hyperspace in the middle - inside the cooking region - are not that common.
Otherwise, my personal preference is as small a shield as I can get away with. I don't take heat sinks, but I do have an AFMU. No weapons, hull reinforcements, shield boosts.
With heat sinks my feeling is: you might end up needing, perhaps, 1, due to terrible bad luck. But if you find yourself firing off lots of them, you might want to reconsider your fuel scooping technique. Also, since 1.2, I believe, heat damage goes to modules not the hull (at some point, the hull gets it too). So an AFMU can fix the module damage.
If you throttle down before coming out of hyperspace you really shouldn't have issues with overheating. Close binaries where you pop out of hyperspace in the middle - inside the cooking region - are not that common.
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