Newcomer / Intro Hi all...making progress, tips needed for exploring.

[Garik]

Hi all. Old BBC model b Elite veteran who's getting back into the swing.

After a couple of false starts I'm now earning some money by exploring and trading. Docking and take off are sorted as is the navigation. I've just bought some extra cargo space. I'm finding the fitting out menus slightly confusing, no doubt I'll get used to it. I'm not really sure what the point of extra paint jobs are either. Why have a flash paint job when you can't see it? No external views.

I've just found out that I have a free Eagle sitting in a shipyard. I thought I had to be an original backer to get that particular freebie so I didn't look for it first off. But apparently being a pre purchaser qualifies me....doh. I'm now light years away from the shipyard. I'll have to work my way back to it.

......that aside, back to exploring.

Anyone got any tips/strategies for exploring systems with a bog standard scanner??

 

[InfiniteGremlins]

Look for distant planets moving against the background stars.

Asteroid belts don't get you much cash, so you get more out of the time you spend scanning earth-like or resource rich planets.

 

[Tiamat]

First make sure your scanner is assigned to a fire group in your right UI.

Look for systems on the galaxy map that have no data and once you jump into that system move away from the star and throttle down before turning to look at the start. Lock onto the start and fire the scanner and you will get message telling you that you have discovered new astronomical objects. Look in your left UI and you will see the unexplored items so lock one and cruise over. You will see "scanning" in the panel left of your radar so let that resolve to collect data. Rinse and repeat.

Take the data to another system at least 20ly away and sell it at the cartographers in the station menu. I think you get better money the further away you sell but I have not actually tried this. If the bug is still there you might see your credits drop to zero when you sell the data but don't panic, it is not lost. Sell another bit of data or relog to make your credits display properly again. It might be fixed now but I can't remember seeing it in the patch notes.

Happy hunting Commander!

 

[Garik]

Thanks for that guys. It's all useful.


I assume the more planets/moons/asteroids found the greater the value......I'll plod on

 

[Tiamat]

Generally the more you find the more cash you get. I forgot to say that if you upgrade your scanner to a detailed surface scanner you will get more cash too.

 

[The Land]

You don't necessarily get more cash for discovering more planets/moons - it's more that the best feature of a system determines its value.

For instance - system with 5 ice worlds - no more than one ice world. If you have metallic or earthlike worlds that's very good news though.

The Detailed Surface Scanner seems to double your exploration income. Given that the average income per system without the scanner is about ~1000 - most about 600, good systems up to 5 ot 10k - the scanner is a very long term investment - 250 systems to pay off!

So far as I can tell, part of the trick is to not spend time looking at low-value things; e.g. if the 2 closest planets are icy rockballs, the 3rd planet is unlikely to be anything different...

The most profitable use of exploration is finding a system with Metallic rings reasonably close to a station with a market. Then you can mine, mine mine to your heart's content!