Hi there!
I noticed in every discussion about exploration ships: jump range is the first thing to pop up. But having visited over 2000 systems and got ranked Ranger, I have a growing doubt that this is not quite right.
First of all, before arguments start, let's draw a line between two completely different approaches to exploration:
- The first one is a discoverer (or tourist, or racer), who picks a destination and sprints towards it as fast and possible, scanning the sweetest spots on the way. The goal of a tourist is to visit as many interesting places as possible. However, "Insteresting" doesn't mean "profitable". In fact, you usually find that almost every "landmark" had been scanned before you, so you don't get your 50% extras. For this strategy, the jump range is actually very important.
- The second is a surveyor, who goes from system to system in some direction, or even without a direction at all, and scans every profitable object. Surveyor makes living from exploration, so the goal is to maximise the profit. As soon as you get beyond 1000Ly from the bubble, most systems are not scanned by anyone, and any system is equally likely to be valuable (depending on a star-type, of course), so there is no point of being picky about the routing.
Obviously, this is a vague division: everybody plays a combination of both styles.
Recently I was typically playing as a surveyor. Although I fly Asp with A5 FSD, I noticed that most of the time I don't use its potential and simply switch to economical route-planning. In this case, my route is far from the straight line, especially between the galaxy arms, but who cares: I got my scans. And I spend considerably less time fuel scooping.
So my conclusion is that the jump range is important only in some cases. However, there are more important properties that are missing from many discussions. For example, ship's maneuvrability in SC is probably the most relevant, especially speed-up and slow-down capabilities. But I have never seen any statistics on this or information on how it can be upgraded. I am sure there are other parameters that go unnoticed too.
I would really like to know opinion of other players, more mature explorers. What do you think?
Update:
I would like to thank all for very insightful discussion, and for pointing out where I was wrong.
These are the cases when the jump range becomes a crucial factor:
- when you want to travel home quickly.
- when you want to quickly reach an unexplored area.
- when you want the ability to switch exploration strategy.
- when you travel to the rim or above/below the galaxy plane.
- ... (think of any other? please tell us)
Also important for exploration:
- turning speed in SC.
- scooping speed.
- heat management.
- ...
I noticed in every discussion about exploration ships: jump range is the first thing to pop up. But having visited over 2000 systems and got ranked Ranger, I have a growing doubt that this is not quite right.
First of all, before arguments start, let's draw a line between two completely different approaches to exploration:
- The first one is a discoverer (or tourist, or racer), who picks a destination and sprints towards it as fast and possible, scanning the sweetest spots on the way. The goal of a tourist is to visit as many interesting places as possible. However, "Insteresting" doesn't mean "profitable". In fact, you usually find that almost every "landmark" had been scanned before you, so you don't get your 50% extras. For this strategy, the jump range is actually very important.
- The second is a surveyor, who goes from system to system in some direction, or even without a direction at all, and scans every profitable object. Surveyor makes living from exploration, so the goal is to maximise the profit. As soon as you get beyond 1000Ly from the bubble, most systems are not scanned by anyone, and any system is equally likely to be valuable (depending on a star-type, of course), so there is no point of being picky about the routing.
Obviously, this is a vague division: everybody plays a combination of both styles.
Recently I was typically playing as a surveyor. Although I fly Asp with A5 FSD, I noticed that most of the time I don't use its potential and simply switch to economical route-planning. In this case, my route is far from the straight line, especially between the galaxy arms, but who cares: I got my scans. And I spend considerably less time fuel scooping.
So my conclusion is that the jump range is important only in some cases. However, there are more important properties that are missing from many discussions. For example, ship's maneuvrability in SC is probably the most relevant, especially speed-up and slow-down capabilities. But I have never seen any statistics on this or information on how it can be upgraded. I am sure there are other parameters that go unnoticed too.
I would really like to know opinion of other players, more mature explorers. What do you think?
Update:
I would like to thank all for very insightful discussion, and for pointing out where I was wrong.
These are the cases when the jump range becomes a crucial factor:
- when you want to travel home quickly.
- when you want to quickly reach an unexplored area.
- when you want the ability to switch exploration strategy.
- when you travel to the rim or above/below the galaxy plane.
- ... (think of any other? please tell us)
Also important for exploration:
- turning speed in SC.
- scooping speed.
- heat management.
- ...
Last edited:
