Genuinely surprised by all these unexplored systems

[RolloTreadway]

Which isn't something I'd normally expect to be surprised by. I'm a seasoned explorer, I spend half my life in unexplored systems, out in the black.

But what surprises me is this: I've just been on a long expedition around the 'southern' parts of the galaxy, and I'm meandering around the bubble as I make my way to civilisation. I'm only 1600Ly from Sol - in galactic terms, I'm just at the end of the street. And I keep finding unexplored systems - or, in some cases, systems where the star has been logged but nothing else (probably visited once and once only, in the early days of honk-and-jump, I'd guess).

I had no idea there was still a substantial amount of exploring to be done in our own neighbourhood! I'm rather tickled by this.

 

[Frankymole]

Which isn't something I'd normally expect to be surprised by. I'm a seasoned explorer, I spend half my life in unexplored systems, out in the black.

But what surprises me is this: I've just been on a long expedition around the 'southern' parts of the galaxy, and I'm meandering around the bubble as I make my way to civilisation. I'm only 1600Ly from Sol - in galactic terms, I'm just at the end of the street. And I keep finding unexplored systems - or, in some cases, systems where the star has been logged but nothing else (probably visited once and once only, in the early days of honk-and-jump, I'd guess).

I had no idea there was still a substantial amount of exploring to be done in our own neighbourhood! I'm rather tickled by this.

I remember finding unscanned twin water worlds about 700ly below the Bubble. Granted, it was in the early years, but after engineering came in. Happy times.

 

[ORANGEORANGE]

Which isn't something I'd normally expect to be surprised by. I'm a seasoned explorer, I spend half my life in unexplored systems, out in the black.

But what surprises me is this: I've just been on a long expedition around the 'southern' parts of the galaxy, and I'm meandering around the bubble as I make my way to civilisation. I'm only 1600Ly from Sol - in galactic terms, I'm just at the end of the street. And I keep finding unexplored systems - or, in some cases, systems where the star has been logged but nothing else (probably visited once and once only, in the early days of honk-and-jump, I'd guess).

I had no idea there was still a substantial amount of exploring to be done in our own neighbourhood! I'm rather tickled by this.

Inverse-cube law in action! A doubling in distance from Sol results in an 8-fold increase in systems!

Most systems within 400 ly are discovered, while 400-800 is a mixed bag, and you can find many beyond 800 as long as it's not in well-traveled spots.

 

[Sapyx]

I would expect, if one were to do a rigorous statistical analysis, that there would be a sharp dropoff in percentage-explored at around 5000 LY, thanks to the Engineering requirement to fly out to that distance.

 

[Frankymole]

I would expect, if one were to do a rigorous statistical analysis, that there would be a sharp dropoff in percentage-explored at around 5000 LY, thanks to the Engineering requirement to fly out to that distance.

In my experience of watching streamers, they don't really explore, they just fly out to 5000ly as quickly as possible (one honk in each system, at most) then whizz back as soon as the engineer is unlocked, no wasting time scanning planets. They usually stay near the galactic plane too.

 

[marx]

I would expect, if one were to do a rigorous statistical analysis, that there would be a sharp dropoff in percentage-explored at around 5000 LY, thanks to the Engineering requirement to fly out to that distance.

Don't forget that the galaxy isn't homogenous nor isotropic at that scale, so just doing an inverse square law isn't going to work. Fortunately, one can get a pretty good estimate about how many systems a boxel probably contains. Take a look at the relevant EDAstro maps here and here (in-depth explanation here), you'll see how they look... and that there appears to be no drop visible around 5,000 ly. Nor does there appear to be anything similar on other charts, graphs, maps.
I don't know what exactly your criteria for rigorous statistical analysis are though, but the data is freely available to all, so you too could make it.

Still, there are some factors to consider:
1. Somebody just rushing the Engineer requirement and not exploring neither before nor after is likely not uploading their data anyway, so no crowd-sourced data indicating that they were there
2. Self-destructing back right after reaching the distance means losing all tags they could have, so no in-game presence indicating that they were there
3. These days, catching a carrier to Colonia would be the best bet anyway, as that not only fulfills the requirement without having to play, but they'll want to eventually unlock the Colonia Engineers anyway. (Streamers of course won't do this, because it'd be terrible material for live video.)

Considering all these, I wouldn't expect a drop to be significant, even if there were one.

 

[Untilting]

Which isn't something I'd normally expect to be surprised by. I'm a seasoned explorer, I spend half my life in unexplored systems, out in the black.

But what surprises me is this: I've just been on a long expedition around the 'southern' parts of the galaxy, and I'm meandering around the bubble as I make my way to civilisation. I'm only 1600Ly from Sol - in galactic terms, I'm just at the end of the street. And I keep finding unexplored systems - or, in some cases, systems where the star has been logged but nothing else (probably visited once and once only, in the early days of honk-and-jump, I'd guess).

I had no idea there was still a substantial amount of exploring to be done in our own neighbourhood! I'm rather tickled by this.

Yep, there's still stuff to be found out in the grey. When I first started doing Exobiology about a year ago these were perfect - close to the Bubble there were loads of systems where only the star and gas/water/ammonia/ELW had been logged, so lots of unscanned rocky/icy/metal-rich worlds full of salad.

And three months ago I took my Hauler out for a quick spin and found my first unexplored system with an ELW - less than 1000ly from Sol.

 

[jmatt]

What I don't understand is systems where a handful of planetary bodies are discovered and lots left undiscovered. Like someone came in, FSSed the system but didn't take the time to get everything, just one or two before moving on.

I'm trying to decide if it was some jackarse only interested in sticking his undeserving name on as much as possible with minimal effort, or if Frontier decided to add more planets at some point afterwards.

 

[Frankymole]

What I don't understand is systems where a handful of planetary bodies are discovered and lots left undiscovered. Like someone came in, FSSed the system but didn't take the time to get everything, just one or two before moving on.

I'm trying to decide if it was some jackarse only interested in sticking his undeserved name on as much as possible with minimal effort, or if Frontier decided to add more planets at some point afterwards.

It might also be due to the change in the way scanners work. You couldn't scan the entire system in one go in the early days. You had to actually go up to stuff even to get the level 1 (level 2?).

 

[Ian Doncaster]

And with the cheaper scanners in the old version, you could only even tell there was a planet you needed to go up to if it was within 500/1000 Ls or you happened to pick it up. So it's possible that they didn't even realise the other planets were there.
(If the expensive planets are discovered and the rock/ice balls not, that's just that they couldn't be bothered to fly up to each one - slightly less effort than mapping, but not necessarily by much)

Inverse-cube law in action! A doubling in distance from Sol results in an 8-fold increase in systems!

Though that starts to become a poor approximation pretty quickly - you're starting to lose system density significantly before you even get out of the bubble, if you head up or down.

 

[HRDiagram]

Another contributing factor to partially scanned systems (perhaps insignificant in terms of quantity?) could be the emergency trips that Fuel Rats, Hull Seals and other pilots do to assist those who find themselves stranded: I imagine they don't necessarily scan everything along the way, but rather rush to the destination, as timing is essential.

 

[RolloTreadway]

And with the cheaper scanners in the old version, you could only even tell there was a planet you needed to go up to if it was within 500/1000 Ls or you happened to pick it up. So it's possible that they didn't even realise the other planets were there.
(If the expensive planets are discovered and the rock/ice balls not, that's just that they couldn't be bothered to fly up to each one - slightly less effort than mapping, but not necessarily by much)

I remember 'don't bother to scan the rice' was a common theme back then!

 

[jmatt]

You had to actually go up to stuff even to get the level 1 (level 2?).

Yikes!

 

[nemolomen]

I had no idea there was still a substantial amount of exploring to be done in our own neighbourhood! I'm rather tickled by this.

I'm currently about 1200 LY out from Sol and finding the same thing, some unexplored systems and many systems that were not fully explored.

The exobiology is rich as well, pun intended. I made 236 Mil yesterday and another 50 Mil today.

And the best part is that, if I want/need to, I can be back in the bubble within about 45 minutes or so...

 

[Greasetrap42]

I have also visited systems where planets were discovered, but the Terrestial and WW were not scanned. Sometimes the entire system is discovered.

Here are my possible explanations:

a) Planets near the primary star get auto discovered when a cmdr is blindly jump-travelling. The cmdr was just traveling, and maybe honking while fuel scooping.

b) Cmdrs that already have exploration Elite rank and overflowing credits might not care. I assume other priorities, especially if they took the time to FSS the full system. I'm not sure what they are looking for... maybe icy rings to refuel teir carrier? Guardian ruins? I don't know.

 

[Chrystoph]

You said you were south of Sol. That would be common for early exploration to ignore because things that were in the distance were more likely to be unexplored, resulting in more northerly success.

Given the twin motivations of "claiming something cool" and economy (~10,000 systems yielded around 286MCr at the end of DW1) at the time, RIce worlds (referred to as Potatoes) were often ignored as not worthwhile.

There was no bonus for full scans at the time.

 

[varonica]

There was no bonus for full scans at the time.

As opposed to almost so small it's not really worth it these days lol.

 

[Codger]

I have a couple of areas within 1500 LY of the bubble where I have found many untouched systems. I go out there if I don't feel like a long journey. The only downside is the star density isn't as impressive as it gets toward the core.

But yeah, there's plenty of stuff to find still.