So after earning my first million and some change blowing up wanted vessels in the RES zones of Kremainn, I had the urge to explore. After reading the forums I decided I had to have a Diamondback Explorer as I didn't want to continue turning in bounties until I had the 5 million for an Asp. I plotted a course to Wolf 406 to pick up my Explorer. After purchasing it I only had a couple hundred thousand credits to kit it out so it is basically stock. I did pick up a slightly better FSD increasing jump range to 17ly and added a couple extra fuel tanks and a fuel scoop. After reading in Reddit that the largest star discovered so far was in HIP 88838 I decided I had to see it. I plotted the ~750ly thinking it would be a good break in distance to discover if I enjoyed exploration and set out.
As I was only equipped with the basic discovery scanner and I wanted to practice my skills picking out system objects against the background it took me several 3 hour sessions over a couple of days to get to the big red giant that was my goal, exploring the 60+ systems I passed through on my way there as thoroughly as possible. I must say I was very impressed with size of HIP 88838 and it's system. I then plotted my course back, running into a stream of brown dwarfs with a couple scoopable stars peppered throughout the plotted course. I hate to say that by this point I was feeling very lazy and just honked my horn once in the systems I came across on my way home. Upon reaching my home station I dropped off my data and received my payout....500k credits.....but with many first discovery's listed (I evidently scanned a lot of asteroid clusters,icy planets, and moons that others missed or ignored)...Seeing the congratulatory box pop up made my day. I know in the time I spent I could have easily made a few million killing wanted ships at an RES, but my name wouldn't be on a piece of this game, and I wouldn't have had the thrill of seeing that little spot I though was moving actually turning into a ringed system with many moons surrounding it. I think I'm going to invest in a better FSD, Intermediate scanner, and surface scanner and get back out there. I've got a fever and the only prescription is more discoveries.
As I was only equipped with the basic discovery scanner and I wanted to practice my skills picking out system objects against the background it took me several 3 hour sessions over a couple of days to get to the big red giant that was my goal, exploring the 60+ systems I passed through on my way there as thoroughly as possible. I must say I was very impressed with size of HIP 88838 and it's system. I then plotted my course back, running into a stream of brown dwarfs with a couple scoopable stars peppered throughout the plotted course. I hate to say that by this point I was feeling very lazy and just honked my horn once in the systems I came across on my way home. Upon reaching my home station I dropped off my data and received my payout....500k credits.....but with many first discovery's listed (I evidently scanned a lot of asteroid clusters,icy planets, and moons that others missed or ignored)...Seeing the congratulatory box pop up made my day. I know in the time I spent I could have easily made a few million killing wanted ships at an RES, but my name wouldn't be on a piece of this game, and I wouldn't have had the thrill of seeing that little spot I though was moving actually turning into a ringed system with many moons surrounding it. I think I'm going to invest in a better FSD, Intermediate scanner, and surface scanner and get back out there. I've got a fever and the only prescription is more discoveries.
