When I have reached civilization I will screenshot and post my exploration statistic, money right after landing and after repairs and selling all data. Right now I am at 223 systems visited, a few of those were within cilization, but that still make like 200 unexplored systems so far. However, there were a lot of systems where I just passed through, hit the discovery scanner once and then jump to the next system after only scanning the star in front of me. Otherwise I wouldn't even have made it to Mintaka by now.
I went to the Pleiades and back (not quite back yet) and I got about 200k worth of data to sell, that's with a basic scanner only and I didn't fully explore every system I went to.
vonDutch suggested that he got 850K for his data, probably Mephane is going to top that. Which means that Deep as in Really Deep Space Exploration pays quite well. This is a quite subjective assessment - diving like this into the Galaxy seems to me much less grindy than trade.
You guys are the Admunsens and Scotts of Elite: Dangerous - I salute you!
When I have reached civilization I will screenshot and post my exploration statistic, money right after landing and after repairs and selling all data. Right now I am at 223 systems visited, a few of those were within cilization, but that still make like 200 unexplored systems so far. However, there were a lot of systems where I just passed through, hit the discovery scanner once and then jump to the next system after only scanning the star in front of me. Otherwise I wouldn't even have made it to Mintaka by now.
Post release I plan to eventually try to fly into Sagittarius A*. Theoretically you could make it past the event horizon on a black hole that size before you got torn apart by tidal forces. I wanna see what happens...
Preamble: Everyone who already had a look at Mintaka on the galaxy map will likely know what this leads up to. Please do myself the favour and indulge in the entire post and don't just jump to the juicy bit at the end.
Preamble 2: I've expanded my journey towards the Orion Nebula now, check out the other posts, too.
The approach:
Bright, blazing, beautiful:
The first two planets form a binary pair between a gas giant...
... and a volcanic rock:
Let's see this one up close:
Next is a binary pair of a brown dwarf and another rocky planet:
Then we have a binary of two brown dwarves...
... together orbited by a planet which from now on I will call 'hell':
Before we get to the best part, let's have some perspective:
The juicy bit has companion of its own:
Nice attention to detail, FD - you can see how elevated terrain still receives some light while the surrounding lower areas are already in shadow:
And now, without further ado:
You can see that you can't see anything. That is unless you put yourself in the right place...
Organizing my pics now from my latest stops on my way to galactic core. Currently at HD 151564 which has 2 Stars (1 O, 1 B) and 2 black holes with .... a planet orbiting the binary black hole system
Btw for profit wise once you get a advanced scanner + detailed surface scanner I seemed to be getting a lot more for my scans. I am at about ~850k CR profits from exploration with ~500k CR from scans with "Detailed surface scanner" + "Intermediate discovery scanner" on a trip to KHAN ~250LY from civilization (return to Alliance space TELLUS) and then the rest of ~350k I made just scanning planets on my way out towards the galactic core but before reaching the last uninhabited world I sold the data before continuing.
Continuing on my journey from Betelgeuse, I'm planning to head out to the California Nebula, followed by the Heart and Soul Nebulas out near the rim. I expect to get there sometime just before final release...
Just a heads up that I have not abandoned this thread or exploded or something like that. Just having some internet problems since Friday. I am still on my way back to Sol, and I already have a plan for what I am going to do afterwards.
I came through volume with many brown dwarfs, some being close to having becomed red dwarfes:
These things things spin fast. The following gif was hand-crafted from several screenshots, but this was the approximate speed at which the images were taken:
When I found this planet, I missed the old red and dusty Mars a bit:
I really like the clouds the game generates:
Out of all the planets I have seen on the journey, this one was my favourite:
Not a black hole, but a solar eclipse:
Possibly the loneliest archipelago in the galaxy:
I also came upon a planet so tiny that going to the surface in normal flight seemed feasible. I would have tried to go all the way down to the very surface, but didn't want to risk crashing against a mountainside this close to the end of my journey:
actually there are systems with stations 'pretty close' to mintaka, i think you went the relative scenic route on this part of your journey - very nice though
actually there are systems with stations 'pretty close' to mintaka, i think you went the relative scenic route on this part of your journey - very nice though
Of course I went the scenic route all the time. I'll spent enough time going efficient routes when I will be trading a lot upon release. For now, I'll take any detour that appears promising enough to possibly have some nice vistas.
Of course I went the scenic route all the time. I'll spent enough time going efficient routes when I will be trading a lot upon release. For now, I'll take any detour that appears promising enough to possibly have some nice vistas.
