Hm, that does sound a bit on the low side.
1.200 systems visited, definitely fewer than 250 of them fully surface scanned....10.000.000.
Lots of partial scans though, focussing on the money earners and ignoring rocky and icy planets.
How profitable is exploration ?
- Thread starter lycan6under
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Hm, that does sound a bit on the low side.
1.200 systems visited, definitely fewer than 250 of them fully surface scanned....10.000.000.
Lots of partial scans though, focussing on the money earners and ignoring rocky and icy planets.
How long does it take some of you to sell all your exploration data when you get back?
I saw a video where essentially every piece of exploration data that got sold had to get confirmed and then seemed like you had to wait for the server to acknowledge it or some such.
Anyway, the video fast forwarded through it, but I think if you come back with 100s of things to sell, that it would take a while
I saw a video where essentially every piece of exploration data that got sold had to get confirmed and then seemed like you had to wait for the server to acknowledge it or some such.
Anyway, the video fast forwarded through it, but I think if you come back with 100s of things to sell, that it would take a while
Just go out and try it. Once you reach a credit bubble, you're happy doing whatever because it's there to do. I've travelled about 250Ly, just to see the sights, then moved around places I've been to find new trading routes, and found myself grinning every time I see "UNKNOWN".
At the end of the day, I'm a trader, but it's a good excuse to find new places to trade if nothing else!
Yes, there was a call to re-instate the SELL ALL button. Clicky-Clicking through hundreds or indeed a thousand Sell orders wold be painful.
Its all about what you discover and scan ofcourse.
I did about 600 systems, approx 3-3,5 mil. Scanning the main star, earthlike, terraformable, waterworld, Gas giants (with expected life), blackholes and O types?(the real blue stars).
But 10 mil is surely impressive
On a time/credit earning basis its not all that great. You can earn credits but it takes a lot of time. The worst part of exploration is actually turning in the data to get your credits, omg is that a tedious process especially after a long trip. I spent two hours last night just clicking the sell button after 9,000 ly round trip
That said personally I don't explore for making credits I do it to see what is out there and what interesting things I can take screen shots of. On that basis I am richer for having done exploration than any number of trade runs will ever hope to come close too. Not every thing needs to be rated on credits per hour for it to be fun or enjoyable. Of course ymmv depending on what your personal aims are and what you enjoy
That said personally I don't explore for making credits I do it to see what is out there and what interesting things I can take screen shots of. On that basis I am richer for having done exploration than any number of trade runs will ever hope to come close too. Not every thing needs to be rated on credits per hour for it to be fun or enjoyable. Of course ymmv depending on what your personal aims are and what you enjoy
Exploration is the slowest way to make money. Scanning planets is the least interactive as well, turning in the data is the worst.
The reward is visiting places like this
Roaming the galaxy is the best fun in the game for me. I'll wait with selling the data until there is a sell all option. From NA it can take over 5 sec per data entry to sell, selling thousands of system data would drive me insane.
The reward is visiting places like this
Roaming the galaxy is the best fun in the game for me. I'll wait with selling the data until there is a sell all option. From NA it can take over 5 sec per data entry to sell, selling thousands of system data would drive me insane.
Who cares? It's not a race, it's a fun thing to do.
not if they want to get elite in exploration.
I take it you mean if they want to be the First to Elite in exploration? if so, then granted.
Otherwise, its still not a race.
Unfortunately there isn't. Since 1 AU is about 500 ls you can roughly figure out what is what when you're next to the star. Unfortunately the nav panel always shows the distance to your location so you're stuck by counting the moons to figure out what's what when looking for your next target. It would be a lot easier if you could flag all the entries to visit in the ship nav screen while you're at the star.
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With the extra lag from Canada I make more money on a trade run just in the time it takes to sell the data :/
For what it's worth, I tried this approach with some success. Starting at a green or blue system (where I could sell data), I scanned the galaxy map and made a note of systems which were just over the 20 LY threshold. Then, I looked at each to see which offered the greatest potential for access to unexplored systems. So, a scanning session will entail me jumping from my Base to the 20+LY point (call it System A). I'll then move along an outward track, scanning as I go & recording systems visited. At a suitable point, I'll plot a route back to Base and head back to sell my data.
Heading back is quicker if you use the "Plot route" button after selecting your base. The brown track will appear, designating your route back, passing through every system. However - if you go into System Map, you can skip certain systems and get back quicker. Just locate a system within your range (with luck it might be 2-3 systems away) & note the name. Then go back to the Navigation list, find the system and select it for jump. Repeat until home. Note - if you do it this way, the brown line remains and makes navigation easier.
Heading back is quicker if you use the "Plot route" button after selecting your base. The brown track will appear, designating your route back, passing through every system. However - if you go into System Map, you can skip certain systems and get back quicker. Just locate a system within your range (with luck it might be 2-3 systems away) & note the name. Then go back to the Navigation list, find the system and select it for jump. Repeat until home. Note - if you do it this way, the brown line remains and makes navigation easier.
Do you consider that exploration should be motivated primarily by earnings potential? Not seeing really cool stuff?
Sorry, I explored for a couple of days and never saw sceneries like that.
The reason is not that I wasn't in systems that had to offer such views.
It's because the current scanning mechanic punishes you for taking scenic routes. I mean, you have to point your ship to the object you scan and wait for up to 15 to 20 seconds. If you close in during that time you are in danger of bypassing the object before having scanned it totally, meaning you lost the data and would have to start all over again.
Also, many most beautiful objects are quite large (meaning you scan it long before you see it) or uninteresting for money, in which case I ignore it altogether.
Of course I could take beautiful routes in star systems, but that would not be what I would call "Exploration". Thats "Tourism". Exploration involves actually finding stuff, not looking at it. It means getting that information back to humanity so that they would profit by it.
For actual exploration, the game as it is now makes the job as uninteresting as can possibly be. Which is sad, since it would not be difficult to make it a lot more interesting, even without increasing the profit rate much.
Did you factor in selling? Also a system paying 200k takes at least an hour to scan, systems that pay out 200k are 1/500. Nice optimism though
Heh. I've made about 800,000cr exploring without hardly ever leaving the Empire. Not as profitable trading by a long margin, but (somewhat bizarrely) scanning partially explored and inhabited systems can net 10kCr to 20kCr per system, with the detailed surface scanner/advanced discovery scanner combo.
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*Edit* Just found my first Terrestrial world 'suitable for terraforming' with approx. 1 atm. pressure and 20% Oxygen, less than 45ly from Achenar. Happy now.
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*Edit* Just found my first Terrestrial world 'suitable for terraforming' with approx. 1 atm. pressure and 20% Oxygen, less than 45ly from Achenar. Happy now.
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