How do I keep track of my cartography data?

PANTHER STARFORCE · Mar 8, 2016

Hello everyone. Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere.
I've long wondered if there is a screen on board my ship where I can track how much cartography data I've thus far collected while out exploring? To date it seems like a mystery jackpot and I never have any idea how much money I'll make when I return to port.

Or perhaps I just don't understand the value of cartography data and it actually has dynamic value in which variables factor in to it's final value when cashed in???... such as receiving star port, distance from origin, etc... thus impossible to calculate final value until cashed in?

Again sorry for the Noob question. I fear I'm just missing something basic here, a menu screen, etc...?

Thanks!

-EJIRO

Jackie Silver · Mar 8, 2016

There's no easy way. You could do it precisely by keeping a log yourself of everything you scan and estimating the value of each item using one of the threads dedicated to that purpose (there's one here *mutter* *grumble* parvenu!)

Alternatively you could work out the average value that you're getting per system on your journeys - total value / number of systems, then just keep a count of the number of systems you scan on your trip and multiply by the average.

It doesn't have dynamic value, except insofar as you get more if you're the first to scan something. You can get more credits for your data by holding high rank with Sirius, but that's a high stakes gamble as you'll lose your rank over the course of any lengthy exploration trip and need to regain it without exploding in the process. ^^

I don't bother, personally, but then I haven't been scanning for cash for yonks.

iain666 · Mar 8, 2016

Nope, you're not missing anything....

You can track your progress externally and one of those apps (Captain's Log) will give you an estimated value of your data if you fill in the data for the planets you scan.

PANTHER STARFORCE · Mar 9, 2016

Thank you both for responding. Much appreciated.

So um... wow. Am I alone in feeling like the lack of a method to track cartography earnings makes the design of that career horribly... broken?

I mean philosophically whether someone is grinding an exploration career for cash or not... every other path in the game to earn money comes with some trackable table or notation somewhere in the UI.

This seem hilarious that Frontier would omit this and then defer it to community created tools outside of the game. This is as absurd as me having to use Microsoft OneNote as my Galaxy map bookmark notebook. LOL. (though I realize that's getting fixed in the future) But still... this kinda stuff is critical path design for the game IMO.

Geebus.

-EJIRO

AJW · Mar 9, 2016

Anyone "grinding an exploration career for cash" has made a desperately poor career choice.

Roqinn · Mar 9, 2016

I have taken to writing down my ELW, WW and Ammonia worlds. Until there is a program that can automatically track my exploration data, I will continue this way.

EddyRockSteady · Mar 9, 2016

F10.

SMcA · Mar 9, 2016

EddyRockSteady said:
F10.

http://i.imgur.com/O5uK3oz.png

If you are going to use screenshots to record your travels. Screen Shot changer is a good tool. Amongst other things it will change the name of the screenshot to the star system, name and date taken.

DD_Crash · Mar 9, 2016

Another vote for Captains Log Its a well thought out and useful tool.

PANTHER STARFORCE · Mar 10, 2016

Thank you all again for the feedback and advice. Captain's Log looks amazing. I'll most definitely use that when I set out on my journey!

cheers

-EJIRO

gooddoc · Mar 10, 2016

EJIRO said:
Thank you all again for the feedback and advice. Captain's Log looks amazing. I'll most definitely use that when I set out on my journey!

cheers

-EJIRO

Im on the DW expedition & Iv used Captain's Log since last year's shambolic update forced most of us Explorers to stay put while problems with the exploration Data server were resolved....remember that week guys????

I find CL a good program that tracks your travels system by system & allows you to input as much data as you want on those systems.

Also yes, the information that you've got from your scans is basically invisible until you arrive back home & go to sell it.
Something that us Explorers have been wanting FD to look at since the game was released, but alas, Exploration has still not made it to page 1 on the 'things to do to improve the game' list.