Since the purchase, Horizons DLC has decided to explore the galaxy. Bought Diamondback Explorer, DDS and Scarab. But I didn't install any improvements. Now it's too late to turn back, as I've flown relatively far from the populated part of space and am heading for the nearest neutron star. So what should I do? How do I know which system hasn't been visited by anybody before me, and from what distance should I start looking for such a system?
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Newcomer / Intro How do you find a system that hasn't been explored before?
- Thread starter NLSHD
- Start date
There are unclaimed systems even relatively close to the inhabited bubble, but they are rarer and rarer, of course.
Personally, I usually start finding unexplored systems about 2000LY out.
It helps if you travel a couple hundred lightyears "up" or "down" from the galactic plane, too.
You can tell it's unexplored when you arrive, honk and check the system map for any commander names on stars and planets.
I would also recomend not overstressing your first exploration trip. If you have a stock Diamondback (or any other ship, really) the traveling is really slow and kind of frustrating. So spend a couple days out there, scan what you can, then return back. It should get you some nice sum of money which you can use for upgrading your ship. And you'll also probably gain some exploration ranks which should unlock you Felicity Farseer so you can start looking at engineering your ship a little.
Plus shorter trips present lesser danger of screwing up. Well, to preventing the screw-ups per se, but limiting the potential loss upon a screw-up. Especially if you're planning on using neutron stars.
Personally, I usually start finding unexplored systems about 2000LY out.
It helps if you travel a couple hundred lightyears "up" or "down" from the galactic plane, too.
You can tell it's unexplored when you arrive, honk and check the system map for any commander names on stars and planets.
I would also recomend not overstressing your first exploration trip. If you have a stock Diamondback (or any other ship, really) the traveling is really slow and kind of frustrating. So spend a couple days out there, scan what you can, then return back. It should get you some nice sum of money which you can use for upgrading your ship. And you'll also probably gain some exploration ranks which should unlock you Felicity Farseer so you can start looking at engineering your ship a little.
Plus shorter trips present lesser danger of screwing up. Well, to preventing the screw-ups per se, but limiting the potential loss upon a screw-up. Especially if you're planning on using neutron stars.
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And before this thread will be closed
Is there any notifications like "You are the first explorer" or something like that? 'cause those jumps star-to-star really became routine for me and sometimes I forget to check System Map for "First Explorer" nickname. Or some webpages with progress trackers. I tried EDSM but it shows only those systems which were "explored" for EDSM not ED itself
Is there any notifications like "You are the first explorer" or something like that? 'cause those jumps star-to-star really became routine for me and sometimes I forget to check System Map for "First Explorer" nickname. Or some webpages with progress trackers. I tried EDSM but it shows only those systems which were "explored" for EDSM not ED itself
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No, not in the game at least. You can't really check the exploration data on the fly. So you only know you first-discovered something when you look at it and it doesn't have a "discovered by" name on it, or when you're selling the data. You will be notified of all bodies you've discovered and rewarded accordingly.
There is another option, though, if you want to have more control over your exploration effort. There is a fan-made companion app (for the lack of a better term), that monitors game logs for you and lets you know and do many useful things - EDDiscovery.
You can try it out if you want. It will let you track your current and previous discoveries with relative ease.
There is another option, though, if you want to have more control over your exploration effort. There is a fan-made companion app (for the lack of a better term), that monitors game logs for you and lets you know and do many useful things - EDDiscovery.
You can try it out if you want. It will let you track your current and previous discoveries with relative ease.
I'm a few days ahead of you on the learning curve. This is my first discovery; if you put this into the galaxy map you'll see how far out it is: Pru Euq JG-Y c2.
It's a great feeling the first time you honk and it says "23 bodies" and you bring up the system map and there's just a couple of suns there.
On that run, I only found that one, but many individual planets hadn't been scanned or mapped. I'm now around twice the distance out and I'm finding many new systems.
I used Elvira Martuuk rather than Farseer. She's right on the edge of the bubble with a HiTech station just a couple of jumps away. She wants archeological relics, tells you where to find them but doesn't tell you how many. The correct number is 3. Write down the system name; it isn't a mission and it doesn't create a tag in the galaxy map.
It's a great feeling the first time you honk and it says "23 bodies" and you bring up the system map and there's just a couple of suns there.
On that run, I only found that one, but many individual planets hadn't been scanned or mapped. I'm now around twice the distance out and I'm finding many new systems.
I used Elvira Martuuk rather than Farseer. She's right on the edge of the bubble with a HiTech station just a couple of jumps away. She wants archeological relics, tells you where to find them but doesn't tell you how many. The correct number is 3. Write down the system name; it isn't a mission and it doesn't create a tag in the galaxy map.
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I pointed out elsewhere that if people thought in 3D then they would find unexplored systems remarkably close still. I was in completely untagged territory less than 700Ly from Sol the other week. Drop down (or head up) some and angle away from juicy destinations and you will soon be arriving to an empty sensor screen.
Currently returning from Beagle Point (65k ly out), all I can say that after DW2, about everything between that and Sag A* seems to be tagged already, so I decided to deviate from the popular routes and go about 10kly down the Arcadian Stream instead. Even there, many systems, in particular those with neutron stars, have been visited before First thing to do if you want to have your name printed on the galaxy forever is checking via System map. If the sun bears no tag, it's a candidate. Even then, though, someone else could have been there before and just not turned in the data yet. Found me a lot of new systems including some ELW and water worlds that were pristine, let's hope for the best.
That said, you really don't have to go out that far from the bubble.There are lots of undiscovered systems rather close to the bubble, even in the vicinity of popular routes like the Neutron Highway to Colonia. Just keep a little distance and fly some 100 ly above or below the direct route and you should find plenty. IIRC still less than 1% of the galaxy are tagged at all.
HTH, o7,
First thing to do if you want to have your name printed on the galaxy forever is checking via System map. If the sun bears no tag, it's a candidate. Even then, though, someone else could have been there before and just not turned in the data yet. Found me a lot of new systems including some ELW and water worlds that were pristine, let's hope for the best.That said, you really don't have to go out that far from the bubble.There are lots of undiscovered systems rather close to the bubble, even in the vicinity of popular routes like the Neutron Highway to Colonia. Just keep a little distance and fly some 100 ly above or below the direct route and you should find plenty. IIRC still less than 1% of the galaxy are tagged at all.
HTH, o7,
When I did my recent exploration run, I figured that the direct line of sight shots between any occupied system in the Bubble and (enter cool place to go name here) would be pretty much scanned,mapped, stapled, spindled, and mutilated. So I headed WNW out of LHS 20 and ran that way for about 10klys...At that point, I turned right towards Sag A. After Sag A, I bee-lined to Colonia, and then a similar dog-legged route back to LHS 20 from Colonia. This was at an average of 56+ LYs per jumps the entire way, give or take a few short jumps the Nav Computer threw in.
Once I was about 600 lys-ISH out of LHS 20, I started continually hitting unexplored/unmapped systems. It was that way for almost all of the way to Sag A. There were a few occasional systems that had been discovered, but most that had appeared to be Jump and Go's...Jump in, fuel, and if your sensors picked up anything on the way out, that was the extend of the discovery.
From Sag A to Colonia, I expected to find NO undiscovered systems. I didn't go above or below the plane, just a straight shot to Colonia (as straight as the computer could program it I guess). I actually found quite a few undiscovered systems, and a lot of discovered but unscanned/mapped systems. Several of which had Terraformable WW's and HMC's. One man's miss is another man's credit increase I guess.
Heading out of Colonia, I did the same as my trip out of LHS 20...Picked a direction SSW from Colonia and went for about 12klys. At that point, I turned left towards LHS 20. After a couple thousand LYs, my jumps started to coincide with those of another Commander, so I headed up about 200 lys and then reprogrammed the Nav Computer. Smooth sailing for most of the rest of my journey. Once I was about 15 jumps from home, I started to constantly hit Scanned and Mapped systems, so at that point, I just started doing Jump and Goes...As I had already made Elite on my way out (when I hit Colonia), the remaining few jumps back weren't going to increase my Rank, or my bank account too much...and honestly, I was tired of jumping over and over...
All told, I traveled 71,070 light years, jumped 1297 times, made over 750 millions credits, and it took 34 days (not playing every day, but almost).
Things I noticed during my trip.
- If you jump into a system and there is NOTHING showing on your scanner display right away, you are probably First. It takes a second for the sensors to see the items that are close to you and post them on the screen. If you hop into a system and there are objects all over the place, then most likely someone has already been there, done that. BUT it doesn't hurt to Honk and then go to the System Map and look at what is there. If the Honk said there are 35 bodies, and when you look at the system map and see maybe 10 or so, then who ever was there didn't Scan the entire system.
- Honk Anyway! Say you hop into a system and you get "System Scan Complete" from the computer. I always honk anyway as I am fueling...You never know, and that way you get scan credit...it's not like you are doing anything else anyway except for swinging around the star to aim at the next jump point.
- Scan the system, even if someone has already done it. You might find that they just honked and popped a few objects. I came across a system that had 2 WW, and a HMC (all 3 terraformable) that hadn't been mapped. Yes, they had been discovered, but Mapping will get you a bigger payout for a little effort.
- Mapping is up to you...There are a couple of systems that I discovered and scanned that have Mappable bodies in them, but as they were orbiting stars in the system that were over 450,000 ls away (one was 568,000 ls) I decided to skip the mapping portion of the program and leave them to the next explorer who wanted to travel all the way out there. My rule was that if it was and ELW or terraformable WW, I would go up to 150,000 ls...Terraformable HMC's I would go 100,000 ls...But that is something you have to decide for yourself. Remember, the game should be Fun...if it starts to feel like work, then it might become a drudgery instead of a delight.
- Nebulas, Neutron Stars, White Dwarfs, BH's, etc are like a shining beacon (okay, the BH's are dark, fuzzy ones) and Commanders are like Moths...While these things are cool to look at, Everyone else has that "Ohh Nifty!" feeling about them. Which means that they will have a lot of discovered systems surrounding them and on the way to them. If you are wanting to find lots of undiscovered stuff, look in a direction where there are NOT a lot of those shining beacons.
Okay, I have beat the keyboard enough and probably put everyone to sleep...These are just my opinions, and everyone has theirs, and everyone elses stinks ...Just go out and have fun Commander...That is what the game is about.
Take Care and Check Six Commanders o7
Zorgon Peterson Michael Charlie Golf signing off...
Once I was about 600 lys-ISH out of LHS 20, I started continually hitting unexplored/unmapped systems. It was that way for almost all of the way to Sag A. There were a few occasional systems that had been discovered, but most that had appeared to be Jump and Go's...Jump in, fuel, and if your sensors picked up anything on the way out, that was the extend of the discovery.
From Sag A to Colonia, I expected to find NO undiscovered systems. I didn't go above or below the plane, just a straight shot to Colonia (as straight as the computer could program it I guess). I actually found quite a few undiscovered systems, and a lot of discovered but unscanned/mapped systems. Several of which had Terraformable WW's and HMC's. One man's miss is another man's credit increase I guess.
Heading out of Colonia, I did the same as my trip out of LHS 20...Picked a direction SSW from Colonia and went for about 12klys. At that point, I turned left towards LHS 20. After a couple thousand LYs, my jumps started to coincide with those of another Commander, so I headed up about 200 lys and then reprogrammed the Nav Computer. Smooth sailing for most of the rest of my journey. Once I was about 15 jumps from home, I started to constantly hit Scanned and Mapped systems, so at that point, I just started doing Jump and Goes...As I had already made Elite on my way out (when I hit Colonia), the remaining few jumps back weren't going to increase my Rank, or my bank account too much...and honestly, I was tired of jumping over and over...
All told, I traveled 71,070 light years, jumped 1297 times, made over 750 millions credits, and it took 34 days (not playing every day, but almost).
Things I noticed during my trip.
- If you jump into a system and there is NOTHING showing on your scanner display right away, you are probably First. It takes a second for the sensors to see the items that are close to you and post them on the screen. If you hop into a system and there are objects all over the place, then most likely someone has already been there, done that. BUT it doesn't hurt to Honk and then go to the System Map and look at what is there. If the Honk said there are 35 bodies, and when you look at the system map and see maybe 10 or so, then who ever was there didn't Scan the entire system.
- Honk Anyway! Say you hop into a system and you get "System Scan Complete" from the computer. I always honk anyway as I am fueling...You never know, and that way you get scan credit...it's not like you are doing anything else anyway except for swinging around the star to aim at the next jump point.
- Scan the system, even if someone has already done it. You might find that they just honked and popped a few objects. I came across a system that had 2 WW, and a HMC (all 3 terraformable) that hadn't been mapped. Yes, they had been discovered, but Mapping will get you a bigger payout for a little effort.
- Mapping is up to you...There are a couple of systems that I discovered and scanned that have Mappable bodies in them, but as they were orbiting stars in the system that were over 450,000 ls away (one was 568,000 ls) I decided to skip the mapping portion of the program and leave them to the next explorer who wanted to travel all the way out there. My rule was that if it was and ELW or terraformable WW, I would go up to 150,000 ls...Terraformable HMC's I would go 100,000 ls...But that is something you have to decide for yourself. Remember, the game should be Fun...if it starts to feel like work, then it might become a drudgery instead of a delight.
- Nebulas, Neutron Stars, White Dwarfs, BH's, etc are like a shining beacon (okay, the BH's are dark, fuzzy ones) and Commanders are like Moths...While these things are cool to look at, Everyone else has that "Ohh Nifty!" feeling about them. Which means that they will have a lot of discovered systems surrounding them and on the way to them. If you are wanting to find lots of undiscovered stuff, look in a direction where there are NOT a lot of those shining beacons.
Okay, I have beat the keyboard enough and probably put everyone to sleep...These are just my opinions, and everyone has theirs, and everyone elses stinks
...Just go out and have fun Commander...That is what the game is about.Take Care and Check Six Commanders o7
Zorgon Peterson Michael Charlie Golf signing off...
I'm back in the bubble with sufficient materials for my engineered upgrades and 22M credits from Universal Cartographics.
I headed out to my previous furthest point, around 30 jumps at about 43 ly each. Then I turned parallel to the bubble for a 150ly leg of short jumps, getting used to the SRV and mining materials. I was finding maybe every third system was undiscovered, many HMC worlds and a few water worlds. Even the ones that had been fully discovered, hadn't been mapped.
Then I took your advice and headed up for about 200ly. The odds certainly improved, from 2:1 to more like 1:2. When I turned directly to home, for 1400 ly of long jumps, I was still finding completely undiscovered systems 700ly out.
Next time I'll head out to where I finished (it'll be faster with a 51 ly range) and head up again for another few hundred ly.