Hey guys, ok so i just started playing again and i went mining and have a couple of ships and about 300mil credits. I want to start exploring and was wondering if there was a good guide explaining like pretty much everything from powerplay to engineering, there is like nothing ingame talking about all this. Ive seen a couple of vids here and there but there like all outdated(3-4 years ago) Thanks alot
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Newcomer / Intro How and where to start exploring
- Thread starter Kcina
- Start date
Let's make this thread your guide 
You need a ship outfitted for the purpose, start there. Do any of the usual exploration suspects appeal to you?
ANY ship can explore. It just comes down to how well suited it is. In general you want to look for a ship with good jump range and the ability to mount the modules you want to take with you. In my fleet I have a DBX and a Phantom for exploration. I sold my AspX (sniff sniff).
Which ship would you like to explore in? Then we can suggest build paths to get you on your way with a ship well-suited to the venture.
You need a ship outfitted for the purpose, start there. Do any of the usual exploration suspects appeal to you?
ANY ship can explore. It just comes down to how well suited it is. In general you want to look for a ship with good jump range and the ability to mount the modules you want to take with you. In my fleet I have a DBX and a Phantom for exploration. I sold my AspX (sniff sniff).
Which ship would you like to explore in? Then we can suggest build paths to get you on your way with a ship well-suited to the venture.
This should satisfy a lot of your desires (it is very good):
The popular guide to exploration
The popular guide to exploration By Lance ‘Spacecat’ D. of Aisling’s Angels “This cause of exploration and discovery is not an option we choose; it is a desire written in the human heart. We are that part of creation which seeks to understand all creation…” Last update: Sept 30th 3307
docs.google.com
(from original thread https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/the-popular-guide-to-exploration.191019/ - but guide is updated.)
In short: get a ship and keep on going.
The long version depends on what you mean exactly by "exploring". Going to the outermost stars? Mapping a sector? Looking for something specific? Trundle along and let yourself be surprised by what you find? Racing to known tourist spots?
Choose a ship you are comfortable in. I just made it to Salome's Reach in an old Dolphin. If I were to start again today, I don't know whether I'd use a new Dolphin, a Phantom or a Krait Mk.II. Other people like the Asp, Diamondback or Anaconda. People have been to Beagle Point in a Sidewinder, a Corvette or Mamba. Anything goes.
The long version depends on what you mean exactly by "exploring". Going to the outermost stars? Mapping a sector? Looking for something specific? Trundle along and let yourself be surprised by what you find? Racing to known tourist spots?
Choose a ship you are comfortable in. I just made it to Salome's Reach in an old Dolphin. If I were to start again today, I don't know whether I'd use a new Dolphin, a Phantom or a Krait Mk.II. Other people like the Asp, Diamondback or Anaconda. People have been to Beagle Point in a Sidewinder, a Corvette or Mamba. Anything goes.
Well for the ship, i tryed the ASP and i like it alot but i havnt really tryed any of the others like the DBX, Phantom ,anaconda or diamondback. Also for exploration i dont really no what all the things there are to explore, i have played eve online where you can specialize in mholes but in elite its different. I am aiming for long term, i really enjoy this game and want to play it for a while so with this in mind should i start by unlocking/getting certain engineers done or should i start by doing powerplay before leaving for the unknown or i just fit a ship and leave and if i do leave what do i aim for.... oh so many questions.
It's essentially boiled down to taking up a course and jumping from system to system, scanning as you go. I think it's as simple as that.
If you choose a good ship for this, and outfit it appropriately, then all you need is the desire to keep going.
When you are starting out, and your join date is 2014 so not sure how new you are, even the systems right next door need exploring. You can start locally with bubble-exploring and if it seems to suit you then go deeper. As noted already, there are many ships you could choose and which would do the job. If you want to get an idea of how that ship might be outfitted and engineered pick one. I'm always happy to have a go with a mock-up and others here are too.
If you choose a good ship for this, and outfit it appropriately, then all you need is the desire to keep going.
When you are starting out, and your join date is 2014 so not sure how new you are, even the systems right next door need exploring. You can start locally with bubble-exploring and if it seems to suit you then go deeper. As noted already, there are many ships you could choose and which would do the job. If you want to get an idea of how that ship might be outfitted and engineered pick one. I'm always happy to have a go with a mock-up and others here are too.
Ok, powerplay won't help you in any way - the engineers will.
Felicity will be able to upgrade your FSD.
A guardian FSD booster will further increase your range
Selene Jean can improve your hull armour at zero mass impact
Hera Tani or Marco Qwent can improve your Power Plant (I would recommend armoured, as the PP is the only part of your ship you can't repair without a dock)
Felicity, Progessor Palin or Chloe Sedesi can beef up your thrusters (not really necessary, but more fun)
Lori Jameson or Etienne Dorn (out in Colonia) can work on your life support (lightweight)
The Dweller for the power distributor (downsize, then engineer)
Several can lightweight your sensors
Lei Cheung can work on the shield generator (enhanced low power can halve the mass)
Didi can work on shield boosters, Ram Tah can lightweight various utilities
None of that is absolutely necessary, but Felicity, Elvira and The Dweller are all easily unlocked and can (together) already make some significant improvements.
If you want to start that way, Felicity is the first one most people start with - just be extremely careful if you want to enter her system, deciat, in open. Exactly because a lot of new players start engineering with her, this is also a known hotspot for gankers. The first thing you'll need to do for her is to fly out to the Pleiades to collect (or buy) a sample of Meta Alloys. Altenatively, you can start with Elvira and have her upgrade your FSD before you take the trip for Felicity.
Felicity will be able to upgrade your FSD.
A guardian FSD booster will further increase your range
Selene Jean can improve your hull armour at zero mass impact
Hera Tani or Marco Qwent can improve your Power Plant (I would recommend armoured, as the PP is the only part of your ship you can't repair without a dock)
Felicity, Progessor Palin or Chloe Sedesi can beef up your thrusters (not really necessary, but more fun)
Lori Jameson or Etienne Dorn (out in Colonia) can work on your life support (lightweight)
The Dweller for the power distributor (downsize, then engineer)
Several can lightweight your sensors
Lei Cheung can work on the shield generator (enhanced low power can halve the mass)
Didi can work on shield boosters, Ram Tah can lightweight various utilities
None of that is absolutely necessary, but Felicity, Elvira and The Dweller are all easily unlocked and can (together) already make some significant improvements.
If you want to start that way, Felicity is the first one most people start with - just be extremely careful if you want to enter her system, deciat, in open. Exactly because a lot of new players start engineering with her, this is also a known hotspot for gankers. The first thing you'll need to do for her is to fly out to the Pleiades to collect (or buy) a sample of Meta Alloys. Altenatively, you can start with Elvira and have her upgrade your FSD before you take the trip for Felicity.
Powerplay sux - it is only worth doing to get one of the "reward toys" - only Li Yong Rui is relevant for exploration payout and it isn't worth it in my opinion.
Yes i bought the game and played when the game had just come out but i am returning to it
Level 5 with Li Yong Rui gets you triple payout for your exploration data. If you come back from a long trip and want the money, it's well worth it. It costs 50 million and takes three hours to get.
A trip to Colonia and back doing nothing more than jumping, honking and using the FSS at each jump will get you about 200 million, which means those three hours work will net you an additional 350 million. If you come back from a long exporation trip with say 1 billion worth of data, those three hours work for the powerplay will get you an additional 2 billion. There's no other way to make that much money per hour in the game. Finally, using the Road to Riches tool and DSSing the high value planets, you make about 30 mil per hour, which goes up to 90 mil per hour with the powerplay. 3 hours a night for a week doing that will net you an extra 1.21 billion when you deduct the cost of 50 million to get level 5.
It's definitely worth it from a financial perspective. It just depends on what you want to do. If you just want to explore and travel. It wouldn't be worth looking at powerplay.
The most important thing about an exploration ship is that you enjoy being in it for a long time so the cockpit should look nice to you and give a view that you are happy with, the engine sound doesn’t get annoying over time and the handling in cruise is comfortable.
Remember when you are out exploring you are going to be in that ship for weeks/months/years on end so if any of the above get annoying it will ruin the experience.
Remember when you are out exploring you are going to be in that ship for weeks/months/years on end so if any of the above get annoying it will ruin the experience.
I can't add to the "How" that others have covered quite well. As for "where to start," I say start where you are.
As others have said, it doesn't really matter what ship you fly (the only real difference is how far you can jump, and thus, how long it will take you to get there and back, wherever "there" is). However, some useful things you'll likely want to think about taking with you on your trip (in no order of importance) that might impact your choice of ship include;
Fuel scoop; Get yourself the best one you can afford/run on your ship. You will be doing a lot of scooping out in the black. Absolutely the most essential thing you need with you. Highest grade/class you can fit.
AFMU; This will repair internal module damage, and is essential if you plan to use neutron boosts to enhance your jumps, as doing so will cause slight damage to your FSD. If you're not planning to use neutron stars, it's still useful in case you take damage elsewhere. Some people suggest taking multiples, but it's really not needed.
Repair limpet controller; This will let you fire off and control repair limpets, which can repair your hull (as apposed to the AFMU, which only repairs modules), in the event of say, accidentally crashing into a planet. Note that you will also need some small amount of cargo space (4 tons will do) so you can synthesize and hold the limpets.
Guardian FSD booster; A bit more time consuming to unlock, this module adds more jump range to your ship. Handy if you want to go really far.
Planetary vehicle hanger; If you have Horizons (and for exploration, you probably should) this will let you carry an SRV (surface recon vehicle) for exploring planets. HIGHLY recommended. You're going to explore the galaxy, might as well have a drive around the places you find. It will also let you find rocks and stuff you can shoot to gather materials for things like repair limpets, AFMU refills and fsd boosts Just don't forget to also equip a...
Planetary approach suite; So you can actually land on planets. Ships come with them by default, so just don't accidentally remove it.
Detailed surface scanner; This lets you fire probes at planets to find interesting things, like geological or biological sites. Fully mapping a planet will also get your name on the planet in the "mapped by" section, alongside the "discovered by" bit. It will also increase the payouts you receive when you cash in your finds, particularly on earth like worlds, water worlds and anything deemed terraformable. Look for those and scan them all for max value. Again, highly recommended.
Heatsinks; The only utility module you might need. Handy for saving you should you accidentally find yourself too close to a star. I've honestly never needed one, but it's one of those "rather have it and not need it" things, especially since they don't impact your range much.
Fighter hanger; Never carried one myself, but some people like having a disposable fighter to fly into dangerous canyons or approach weird space anomalies with, so as not to risk their main ship. Optional.
Mining laser; There was once a CMDR who got stranded at the edge of the galaxy unable to escape a system because he ran out of a material needed to synthesize something that could boost his jump range. If he'd had a mining laser equipped he could have found said materials and escaped. Another brave CMDR flew across the entire galaxy armed with a laser to help him out. They succeeded and it made a great story, but the moral of the story is; don't be that guy, carry a mining laser.
I think that about covers it.
Fuel scoop; Get yourself the best one you can afford/run on your ship. You will be doing a lot of scooping out in the black. Absolutely the most essential thing you need with you. Highest grade/class you can fit.
AFMU; This will repair internal module damage, and is essential if you plan to use neutron boosts to enhance your jumps, as doing so will cause slight damage to your FSD. If you're not planning to use neutron stars, it's still useful in case you take damage elsewhere. Some people suggest taking multiples, but it's really not needed.
Repair limpet controller; This will let you fire off and control repair limpets, which can repair your hull (as apposed to the AFMU, which only repairs modules), in the event of say, accidentally crashing into a planet. Note that you will also need some small amount of cargo space (4 tons will do) so you can synthesize and hold the limpets.
Guardian FSD booster; A bit more time consuming to unlock, this module adds more jump range to your ship. Handy if you want to go really far.
Planetary vehicle hanger; If you have Horizons (and for exploration, you probably should) this will let you carry an SRV (surface recon vehicle) for exploring planets. HIGHLY recommended. You're going to explore the galaxy, might as well have a drive around the places you find. It will also let you find rocks and stuff you can shoot to gather materials for things like repair limpets, AFMU refills and fsd boosts Just don't forget to also equip a...
Planetary approach suite; So you can actually land on planets. Ships come with them by default, so just don't accidentally remove it.
Detailed surface scanner; This lets you fire probes at planets to find interesting things, like geological or biological sites. Fully mapping a planet will also get your name on the planet in the "mapped by" section, alongside the "discovered by" bit. It will also increase the payouts you receive when you cash in your finds, particularly on earth like worlds, water worlds and anything deemed terraformable. Look for those and scan them all for max value. Again, highly recommended.
Heatsinks; The only utility module you might need. Handy for saving you should you accidentally find yourself too close to a star. I've honestly never needed one, but it's one of those "rather have it and not need it" things, especially since they don't impact your range much.
Fighter hanger; Never carried one myself, but some people like having a disposable fighter to fly into dangerous canyons or approach weird space anomalies with, so as not to risk their main ship. Optional.
Mining laser; There was once a CMDR who got stranded at the edge of the galaxy unable to escape a system because he ran out of a material needed to synthesize something that could boost his jump range. If he'd had a mining laser equipped he could have found said materials and escaped. Another brave CMDR flew across the entire galaxy armed with a laser to help him out. They succeeded and it made a great story, but the moral of the story is; don't be that guy, carry a mining laser.
I think that about covers it.
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One of your questions not yet fully addressed in this thread is the question of "Where to go?".
The answer depends to an extent on what, exactly, you want to get out of exploration.
Do you want to make lots of credits and/or quickly gain an Elite rank so you can unlock the Founders World permit? Then the "Road to riches" guides will help you get max credits for minimum effort. This isn't "true exploration" as Road to Riches uses planets already discovered by other people, but it counts as "exploration" as far as the game is concerned.
Do you want to fill in the Codex checklist of Things to See? Simple - just go to the systems and planets the Codex says to go to, and you can check the things off one by one. Again, not "true exploration" as you're finding things other people have already found, but if you want to see the variety of content there is to see in the game, using the Codex to find it is usually reliable, and you can probably get plenty of "true exploration" done enroute between Codex entries.
Do you want to see the glorious nebulae and spectacular giant stars you read about in the real-world news? Again, you're not the first person to want to see the biggest and boldest, so all such galactic features, if they are in the game at all, are thoroughly explored by now. Still good for epic screenshots, though.
Do you want to simply plant your flag on as many stars and planets as you can? Then you want to head out into the Unknown regions, far from the regular space lanes and tourist routes. Or, head deep into the Galactic Core - stars there are so densely packed together that even the heavily trafficked routes are still jam-packed with loads of Unexplored stars.
Do you want to find Earth-like planets, future homes for humanity? There are things you can do to maximize your chances of finding ELWs - selecting just A and F class stars and deselecting everything else in the star class filter is a good way of finding the most "valuable" systems, in terms of finding Earth-likes and Terraformables. It's kind of a "make your own Road to Riches", not quite as convenient, not quite as efficient in terms of credits per hour, but much more satisfying, as you're doing "actual exploration" - and planting the flag with Tags and Maps.
Do you want to find the rare, the interesting, the extreme edge-cases of the Stellar Forge, the things that make everyone who sees it go "Wow!"? Sorry, but there's no easy way or tips for finding those. The Stellar Forge is effectively random, and there's no way to predict such randomness. It's just a matter of constantly asking "I wonder what's in the next star system?"... and making that next jump to see what's there.
Suggestion: don't head way out to the outermost reaches of the galaxy. "Circumnavigating the galaxy" by flying out as far as any ship can reach, is a highly popular pastime for many "boldly going" explorers, and with star densities so low and traffic so (relatively) high, it means that the "galactic circumference" is quite thoroughly explored by now. Ditto with Beagle Point - people who go there and back again are "long-range travellers", but not really "explorers".
Or, to put it another way:
In the Spoiler tags is a link to the most excellent EDAstro heat map of explorability, created by Cmdr Orvidius: an estimation of the thoroughness of current exploration efforts to date. Red is "thoroughly explored", black is "almost completely unexplored". To be a "true explorer", avoid the red, white and cyan zones, and head into the blue and black.
The answer depends to an extent on what, exactly, you want to get out of exploration.
Do you want to make lots of credits and/or quickly gain an Elite rank so you can unlock the Founders World permit? Then the "Road to riches" guides will help you get max credits for minimum effort. This isn't "true exploration" as Road to Riches uses planets already discovered by other people, but it counts as "exploration" as far as the game is concerned.
Do you want to fill in the Codex checklist of Things to See? Simple - just go to the systems and planets the Codex says to go to, and you can check the things off one by one. Again, not "true exploration" as you're finding things other people have already found, but if you want to see the variety of content there is to see in the game, using the Codex to find it is usually reliable, and you can probably get plenty of "true exploration" done enroute between Codex entries.
Do you want to see the glorious nebulae and spectacular giant stars you read about in the real-world news? Again, you're not the first person to want to see the biggest and boldest, so all such galactic features, if they are in the game at all, are thoroughly explored by now. Still good for epic screenshots, though.
Do you want to simply plant your flag on as many stars and planets as you can? Then you want to head out into the Unknown regions, far from the regular space lanes and tourist routes. Or, head deep into the Galactic Core - stars there are so densely packed together that even the heavily trafficked routes are still jam-packed with loads of Unexplored stars.
Do you want to find Earth-like planets, future homes for humanity? There are things you can do to maximize your chances of finding ELWs - selecting just A and F class stars and deselecting everything else in the star class filter is a good way of finding the most "valuable" systems, in terms of finding Earth-likes and Terraformables. It's kind of a "make your own Road to Riches", not quite as convenient, not quite as efficient in terms of credits per hour, but much more satisfying, as you're doing "actual exploration" - and planting the flag with Tags and Maps.
Do you want to find the rare, the interesting, the extreme edge-cases of the Stellar Forge, the things that make everyone who sees it go "Wow!"? Sorry, but there's no easy way or tips for finding those. The Stellar Forge is effectively random, and there's no way to predict such randomness. It's just a matter of constantly asking "I wonder what's in the next star system?"... and making that next jump to see what's there.
Suggestion: don't head way out to the outermost reaches of the galaxy. "Circumnavigating the galaxy" by flying out as far as any ship can reach, is a highly popular pastime for many "boldly going" explorers, and with star densities so low and traffic so (relatively) high, it means that the "galactic circumference" is quite thoroughly explored by now. Ditto with Beagle Point - people who go there and back again are "long-range travellers", but not really "explorers".
Or, to put it another way:
In the Spoiler tags is a link to the most excellent EDAstro heat map of explorability, created by Cmdr Orvidius: an estimation of the thoroughness of current exploration efforts to date. Red is "thoroughly explored", black is "almost completely unexplored". To be a "true explorer", avoid the red, white and cyan zones, and head into the blue and black.
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Thank you so much for this!! Its people like you that make very good communities!