First time posting here about my first time going exploring! I owned the game since release but never came more than 150ly away from my starting point.
I mostly did bounty hunting and some trading but now I wanted to see a bit more of the galaxy!
So I stored my Python and bought me a nice Diamondback Explorer! I first thought about an Asp Explorer but I had that ship before and the Diamondback could do the
same I wanted for cheaper.
I only own the base game, so no FSD engineering or SRV for me. I built the ship for high jump range, made it to 36ly range and also put another 16 tons of fuel in it just to be sure.
slightly overkill for this ship I think.
Okay so since it was my first time leaving the bubble I didn't want to overdo it and regret my decision so I thought I'd do some nebula sightseeing around barnard's loop.
So this is the route I flew in the end.
witch head nebula -> orion nebula -> running man nebula -> flame nebula ->barnard's loop -> horsehead nebula -> messier 78 -> california nebula -> pleiades nebula
So more sightseeing than real "new" exploration so I didn't find really anything new but I got a lot to see
So let's go!
I stopped by some ice rings, really nice view. Everytime I came into a new system, I honked the horn and scanned the star. After that I looked at the system map and if there was anything interesting I would scan that too, if not I would just
jump to the next system.
halfway there to witch head nebula, barnard's loop is also in the background.
inside witch head nebula, now about 850ly away from home. My first nebula and wow it was beautiful. Also nice to see barnard's loop getting bigger and bigger in the distance.
A little bit later I found messier 78. I didn't see it on the galaxy map and decided to visit the nebula after coming back from barnard's loop.
Inside barnard's loop! A beautiful sight. Orion nebula was interesting too because of the many stars in that region.
After that I visited messier 78. Nice blue color and definitely worth the visit.
I then began the journey to california nebula but couldn't take the direct route as there seem to be a lot of permit locked systems in that area. You can see that pretty good on the galaxy map screenshot I posted above.
On my way to the nebula I encountered a ISS with a destroyed ship and some exploration data in a canister. Couldn't take it though because of no cargo space. But the location made for a nice screenshot.
california nebula is a beautiful sight, even from such a distance.
And I'm there! A wonderful view and so worth it!
On my way back I visited pleiades nebula but I don't have screenshots from that one.
Finally back home!
Another surprise was that I was the first one to visit a system, which I really didn't expect in such a popular and well explored area. Though the system was slightly underwhelming I'm happy I put my name somewhere on the galaxy map!
All in all from the standpoint of an explorer it was a short journey that only took me half a day or so but it was nice to be in populated space again. I'm planning my next mission at the moment, maybe a bit further this time,
5000ly or so. On this sightseeing tour I managed to get 1562ly away from my starting point and made 13 million credits in exploration data. That put my exploration rank from ~20% Trailblazer to 41% pathfinder.
And I came to love the Diamondback Explorer, such a neat little ship!
I hope you enjoyed my first post and stay safe commanders!
I mostly did bounty hunting and some trading but now I wanted to see a bit more of the galaxy!
So I stored my Python and bought me a nice Diamondback Explorer! I first thought about an Asp Explorer but I had that ship before and the Diamondback could do the
same I wanted for cheaper.
slightly overkill for this ship I think.
witch head nebula -> orion nebula -> running man nebula -> flame nebula ->barnard's loop -> horsehead nebula -> messier 78 -> california nebula -> pleiades nebula
So more sightseeing than real "new" exploration so I didn't find really anything new but I got a lot to see
jump to the next system.
I then began the journey to california nebula but couldn't take the direct route as there seem to be a lot of permit locked systems in that area. You can see that pretty good on the galaxy map screenshot I posted above.
california nebula is a beautiful sight, even from such a distance.
On my way back I visited pleiades nebula but I don't have screenshots from that one.
All in all from the standpoint of an explorer it was a short journey that only took me half a day or so but it was nice to be in populated space again. I'm planning my next mission at the moment, maybe a bit further this time,
5000ly or so. On this sightseeing tour I managed to get 1562ly away from my starting point and made 13 million credits in exploration data. That put my exploration rank from ~20% Trailblazer to 41% pathfinder.
And I came to love the Diamondback Explorer, such a neat little ship!
I hope you enjoyed my first post and stay safe commanders!