I have ventured out into openness of space, into the stars not controlled by an entity in my little cobra. I used to see the rage of the pirates, and them burning. All I feel now is emptiness of the space, how beautiful the stars are but it's very lonely. I want to discover a new planet i have already traveled about 100ly from my spawn point. How much farther should I travel to discover a planet which is not discovered by a player. Is it possible to first discover a star. But everyone can see stars and how are stars discovered (if it is possible to discover).
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Newcomer / Intro How far(approx) should I travel to discover a new planet?
- Thread starter iamadud
- Start date
The first person to scan something gets the discovery credit. Even stars. You will need to go around 500-1000 LY before you start seeing unscanned systems. Above or below the galactic plane and away from sight seeing locations like Sag A, Nebulae and other names locations will be better for new discoveries.
To get a first discovery you need to travel outside the bubble. Beyond approximately 1500 ly you will find more and more previously undiscovered systems.
You might get lucky and find something closer, of course. In general if you head out in the direction of popular tourist sites, like Barnard's Loop, it is harder to find undiscovered systems. But, basically, just equip as big a fuel scoop as possible on your ship and head "out" in any direction. After about 1 - 2 kly, the number of undiscovered systems will skyrocket until it becomes very rare to find any that have been previously visited that are not near a nebula.
It is possible to look on the Galaxy map and see what class of star is in the next system, but if you are the first to visit and scan, then the star itself will be tagged with your name.
You might get lucky and find something closer, of course. In general if you head out in the direction of popular tourist sites, like Barnard's Loop, it is harder to find undiscovered systems. But, basically, just equip as big a fuel scoop as possible on your ship and head "out" in any direction. After about 1 - 2 kly, the number of undiscovered systems will skyrocket until it becomes very rare to find any that have been previously visited that are not near a nebula.
It is possible to look on the Galaxy map and see what class of star is in the next system, but if you are the first to visit and scan, then the star itself will be tagged with your name.
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Please also note that even if you are the first one to scan a star or planet, does not necessarily mean you will get credit for it. You have to be the first one to return and sell the scan data to get the credit for it and your commander name tagged on the star/planet!
Philip Coutts
Volunteer Moderator
A few tips to help are: Never travel in a straight line and move "up" or "down" as well as in a direction. Most folk will travel in a straight line on a single plain, if you start moving around there's more chance of finding unexplored systems. Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you find systems that folk have only partially explored.
Pretty obvious, but make sure you leave the bubble. I went out on a little tour last week and got about 50 undiscovered bodies, starting from 250LY outside of the bubble. As others said, if you want to discovered new bodies, do not go towards 'tourist hot spots' and dont stay on the horizontal plane. Just point somewhere above or below, outside the bubble, where there isn't seemingly much going on.
Don't plot a course to something iconic, like one of the nebulae or a big star. Everyone has been that way before you.
Choose a random star around 1000 LY distance that looks out of the way, and go. 500-100LY out you'll find something to name.
Choose a random star around 1000 LY distance that looks out of the way, and go. 500-100LY out you'll find something to name.
I got a rather unsettling question. For starters I just got into exploring and I wondered who these guys that discover new stars and systems and what not. So I went for any system and thought, well why not contact one of the explorers and ask them. So I went for it. Turns out that the one GT I chose never even played Elite Dangerous, got no gamerscore whatsoever (at least he should have had the Kepler's eye achievement).
How can this be?????
Thanks for your thoughts
How can this be?????
Thanks for your thoughts
Ian Phillips
Volunteer Moderator
It could simply be that the name you saw is from a PC player, not an Xbox player.
You can start discovering new planets and stars in half an hour, just make sure you pick a route that is not too obvious (e.g. don't aim straight for galaxy core or the rim).
Whatever you do, pick A rated powerplant, fuel scoop and scout your rooute for scoopable stars. Good Luck!
P.S. Throttle to zero during hyperspace jump.
Whatever you do, pick A rated powerplant, fuel scoop and scout your rooute for scoopable stars. Good Luck!
P.S. Throttle to zero during hyperspace jump.
Try heading out towards (-2000,14000,520).
If your jump range is not a multiple of 32 or 41 ( typical for Asp or Anaconda) you'll have a better chance.
Take along an advanced scanner plus a surface scanner and fuel scoop.
Remember the Fuel rats!
If your jump range is not a multiple of 32 or 41 ( typical for Asp or Anaconda) you'll have a better chance.
Take along an advanced scanner plus a surface scanner and fuel scoop.
Remember the Fuel rats!
ok, so PC-players and Xbox players discover the same universe. That's something I did not know 'til now. Thanks
Entry level explorer
There is number of stations that offer advanced discovery scanner at 15% discount. Just make account on INARA.CZ and search for the closest to your location. No need to buy at full price. Lowers the entry cost (already fairly high for any activity in Elite) and also the rebuy cost.
There is number of stations that offer advanced discovery scanner at 15% discount. Just make account on INARA.CZ and search for the closest to your location. No need to buy at full price. Lowers the entry cost (already fairly high for any activity in Elite) and also the rebuy cost.
I did my first voyage of discovery in a Type-6 and found my first completely undiscovered system about 500ly form Sol. This was about 3 months ago. I headed up towards to Polaris and then zig-zagged towards the most uninteresting looking bit of sky.
Nutter's explorer's guide really helped get me going on the understanding and exploration and discovery. https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=81653
Some basics tips on discovery:
Make sure you have your discovery scanner bound to a trigger in the fire groups. When you enter a new system hold the trigger and wait for the little blue bar to fill and for it to go ping. This will populate the system map. Make sure you are not too close to the star before you open the system map so that you do not overheat.
The system map may not show all the objects in the system. Only those within the range of your discovery scanner will be shown.
If you hover over objects in the system map you can see whether somebody has already discovered them. Those objects already discovered will have DISCOVERED BY and the Commanders name in the information pop up. If you see no name then you can be the first person to discover it!
To "discover" a body you need to target the object, just like you would another ship. When locked on the target a yellow circle will appear on your HUD. Keep pointing at the object for the scan to work, this takes between 35-15 seconds depending on how close you are. Every object has a minimum distance in order for the scan to work. The smaller the object the closer you will have to be for the scan to work.
A detailed surface scanner is a great investment for any explorer. It will provide extra information on the body and at least double the payout for the discovery. However it is not necessary to have one in or to discover a body if you can't afford one yet.
It is worth scanning objects even if they have already be discovered by another Commander. Stars, gas giants, earth like worlds and high metal content planets all pay well. Check Nutter's guide for the full list of payouts. Being the first discoverer of an object gets you a 50% payout bonus, your name on the system map and a nice fuzzy feeling.
Be aware that your discoveries only register when you sell them to Universal Cartographics so make sure you make it back to civilisation in one piece!
I suggest you post here how much money (total assets) you have and we can help make suggestions on how to build an explorer ship for your budget. I you have Horizons I strongly suggest you take an SRV. It's a special feeling to drive on the surface of a planet in a system where no other commander has been before. You can also get some great screenshots to remember it by.
Fly safe Commander!
Nutter's explorer's guide really helped get me going on the understanding and exploration and discovery. https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=81653
Some basics tips on discovery:
Make sure you have your discovery scanner bound to a trigger in the fire groups. When you enter a new system hold the trigger and wait for the little blue bar to fill and for it to go ping. This will populate the system map. Make sure you are not too close to the star before you open the system map so that you do not overheat.
The system map may not show all the objects in the system. Only those within the range of your discovery scanner will be shown.
If you hover over objects in the system map you can see whether somebody has already discovered them. Those objects already discovered will have DISCOVERED BY and the Commanders name in the information pop up. If you see no name then you can be the first person to discover it!
To "discover" a body you need to target the object, just like you would another ship. When locked on the target a yellow circle will appear on your HUD. Keep pointing at the object for the scan to work, this takes between 35-15 seconds depending on how close you are. Every object has a minimum distance in order for the scan to work. The smaller the object the closer you will have to be for the scan to work.
A detailed surface scanner is a great investment for any explorer. It will provide extra information on the body and at least double the payout for the discovery. However it is not necessary to have one in or to discover a body if you can't afford one yet.
It is worth scanning objects even if they have already be discovered by another Commander. Stars, gas giants, earth like worlds and high metal content planets all pay well. Check Nutter's guide for the full list of payouts. Being the first discoverer of an object gets you a 50% payout bonus, your name on the system map and a nice fuzzy feeling.
Be aware that your discoveries only register when you sell them to Universal Cartographics so make sure you make it back to civilisation in one piece!
I suggest you post here how much money (total assets) you have and we can help make suggestions on how to build an explorer ship for your budget. I you have Horizons I strongly suggest you take an SRV. It's a special feeling to drive on the surface of a planet in a system where no other commander has been before. You can also get some great screenshots to remember it by.
Fly safe Commander!
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Just occasionally I've found something completely different...
A stash of 10 cargo cannisters of gold��.
Of course, that's when I have an exploring ship with no cargo space....
A stash of 10 cargo cannisters of gold��.
Of course, that's when I have an exploring ship with no cargo space....