Question for the old timer explorers..

Tarm Wallunga

Tarm Wallunga
Not sure if it's even possible to determine how much of the galaxy has been explored but if people could give ballpark estimates, it would answer an idle curiosity of mine. I've been dabbling in exploration since I started playing a few weeks or so ago and I'm wondering if the opportunity to get a "first discovered" tag is possible at this point, what with all the explorers and expeditions going on and the history of this game being out for about two years-ish (including beta I would presume).

Just a thought. I'm sure there's plenty of unmarked systems out there - 400 billion and more is an awfully large number. So - about how much of the Galaxy has been discovered and charted already, would you say?
 

Equinoxe

Equinoxe
I believe the developers released data on this last year..

Something like 1 new system discovered every 11 seconds. Not sure if that is accurate, but let's say it is.

This would mean that within the game a total of 2,628,000 systems would be discovered in one year.

That is approximately 0.000657% of the total systems in the Galaxy.

Please correct me if my maths is wrong, but I would say your chances of getting a 'first discovered' tag are pretty damned good......
 

MattG

MattG
Before Horizons (I think), they said that 65 million scan records had been handed in. Even if we took that as 65 million fully scanned systems (it wasn't), that's a whopping 0.01625% of the galaxy.

Realistically, if we guess 10 "objects" per system, and that it is 65 million objects scanned rather than system, the percentage is even more ridiculous.

The further you get from the bubble, the less frequent you'll see already tagged objects. Get about 5k away and it's pretty much all untagged.
 

Tarm Wallunga

Tarm Wallunga
So a few thousand light years is the magic number then, huh? Good to know. Doing my first "official" "expedition" out to Betelgeuse now, probably 100 - 150ly out (I can usually only play an hour or two a day and I usually scan everything in the system to clear all the "unexplored" from the nav-panel due to OCD-like needs) and going kinda slow. I guess I didn't crunch enough numbers or properly fathomed the extent of those numbers. Even at 100mil systems being discovered, I missed the point of that being like a quarter of a thousandth. Or something like that. I'm usually pretty decent with numbers but yeah - ok, safe to say I just gotta head in the right direction to find my own place to claim as mine :)
 

Scoopy Doopy

Scoopy Doopy
It's not only possible, for the vast majority of the time it's impossible to find a system that HAS been explored. I've seen only three systems that were already discovered in the last 16 days and those three were all by the same person.
 

Tarm Wallunga

Tarm Wallunga
A reassuring sentiment. Guess I just gotta get out there and get after it. Which is the plan - the Betelgeuse jaunt Should bring in a decent amount of cash that I'm hoping will be enough to purchase and kit out a new ship more specifically designed for exploration than my current viper load out. If not there's always RES hunting to close the gap, at least.
 

Jielle

Jielle
Going along well known routes or touristic spots means you will mostly find systems that have already been partly scanned (because everyone went there). But as soon as you take the less travelled road, it's very easy to find completely virgin systems even quite near to the bubble (i wouldn't be surprised if there was still a notable % of undiscovered systems inside the bubble). But yeah, once you're out a few 1000 lys and far from the most well known attractions, finding already explored systems will be the exception.
 

Traveller_GG

Traveller_GG
Jielle said:
Going along well known routes or touristic spots means you will mostly find systems that have already been partly scanned (because everyone went there). But as soon as you take the less travelled road, it's very easy to find completely virgin systems even quite near to the bubble (i wouldn't be surprised if there was still a notable % of undiscovered systems inside the bubble). But yeah, once you're out a few 1000 lys and far from the most well known attractions, finding already explored systems will be the exception.
Click to expand...

It gets to the point that when you're out a long way and you DO find a pre-discovered system, you develop an instant and irrational hatred of the Commander who got there first. [weird]
 

Equinoxe

Equinoxe
I'm 19klys and nearly 3 months out on my current trip. Have come across 2 systems in the last month and a half that some one got to first.

And they were 'oo shiney!' type systems that some commanders like to add as a notch on the bed post.
 

SpaceMonkeyz

SpaceMonkeyz
First longish trip I took to Eta Carinae, once I got about 700-1000 LY outside of the bubble about 95% of the systems I came in to were unscanned and the ones that were, like previous poster said were "oo shiny" systems like neutron stars, and Eta Carinae herself.

Currently I am about 7,700 LY from Sag A. (about 18k LY from sol) and even though this is a common route for people, for the past 10,000 Lightyears or so I have not seen a tag except for the only 2 S-class stars I found(grrr) and a few neutron stars(most of them have been untagged though woohoo) I think this is mainly due to star density in each sector and the sheer number of possible routes.
 
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Mike W

Mike W
Morokth said:
Not sure if it's even possible to determine how much of the galaxy has been explored but if people could give ballpark estimates, it would answer an idle curiosity of mine. I've been dabbling in exploration since I started playing a few weeks or so ago and I'm wondering if the opportunity to get a "first discovered" tag is possible at this point, what with all the explorers and expeditions going on and the history of this game being out for about two years-ish (including beta I would presume).

Just a thought. I'm sure there's plenty of unmarked systems out there - 400 billion and more is an awfully large number. So - about how much of the Galaxy has been discovered and charted already, would you say?
Click to expand...

Hi Cmdr to put this incredible Galaxy of ours in some perspective, if 1000 Cmdr's scanned 100 new systems every day, it would take us around 11,000 years to scan them all,,,,,,happy trails Cmdr o7
 

Nilt

N
I can't remember the last time I saw a tagged system. I'm slowly making my way back from SagA* and am currently 8k Ly out. Nothing but free systems crying to have my name put on them. :D
 

CMDR Boozeman

CMDR Boozeman
Hi,

I was left 28.12.2015 from my home system and I have now about 3.5K Ly left to Sagittarius A* I have passed 1106 systems so far and 824 of them are full first discovery. I do not use "tourist routes"

So, there's plenty of systems to tag :)
 
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Whiterose

Whiterose
It was worked out a while ago that at the maximum current rate the galaxy will be fully explored (with the proviso you now which ones have been explored and will be able to see the missing ones in the gal map) when my great great great great grandson is 63 years old
 

AcademicDust894

AcademicDust894
you've just jumped into an undiscovered system, scan & jump out again. That could be the last time it's ever seen again.
Mind blowing & some what Awsome. Love the fact that Elite makes me feel so tiny.
 

Mengy

Mengy
Morokth said:
I've been dabbling in exploration since I started playing a few weeks or so ago and I'm wondering if the opportunity to get a "first discovered" tag is possible at this point, what with all the explorers and expeditions going on and the history of this game being out for about two years-ish
Click to expand...

There are literally hundreds of millions of undiscovered systems out there yet, and honestly there are still unclaimed systems fairly close to the bubble yet too. Just before the Distant Worlds Expedition left I ran a run down to the bottom of the galaxy under Sol just to see how fast I could "scoop and run" in my newly reconfigured Asp, and while down there I found a lot more undiscovered systems than I expected to, merely a tad over 1000ly from Sol. The further out you get the easier it is to find a "new" system, and after you get a few thousand ly's out it starts to become hard to FIND systems that have been discovered, as almost everything is unclaimed unless you are near points of interest like nebulas and such.
 

HappySlayerUK

HappySlayerUK
Scoopy Doopy said:
It's not only possible, for the vast majority of the time it's impossible to find a system that HAS been explored. I've seen only three systems that were already discovered in the last 16 days and those three were all by the same person.
Click to expand...

I've been in the bubble since I hit Sag A* a week ago, going up and down the various neutron star and white dwarf fields. For the last five days I haven't seen one of the many many black holes I've scanned that have been tagged. Today I saw my first tagged BH and it was that bloody woman who is everywhere these days......

EliteDangerous64_2016_03_06_11_37_15_542.png
 

Fen Harel

Fen Harel
There is a region around the bubble that is mostly explored, my experience has been that once you reach that threshold the number of previously undiscovered systems drops exponentially. The last time I headed out towards Perseus it was about 1500 ly out. I would imagine that this 'mostly explored' zone is slowly expanding, and of course there are the usual caveats about popular directions and nebulae, but in general once you get past, say, 2000 ly, its almost all free and clear. Someone with more time, energy and mathematical skill could calculate this zone, but guess is that it could be modeled as a diffusing gas.

However, since the galaxy is much larger than that, no one is in any realistic danger of running out of new stuff to find. It just make take slightly longer to make it past the explored zone to reach unknown space.
 
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