Questions about exploration gameplay

[majogl]

Hello.

Recently i bought the mercenary edition of the game and am eagerly awaiting 16th of december. But before that id like to ask a couple of questions considering the exploration aspect of the gameplay.

1. Is the "Explorer" start option available to people who pre-ordered the game via mercenery edition?

2. Is exploration style of the game worth it / profitable?

3. If there are any guides online or videos (gamma or later mind you) could you provide link?

In conclusion the idea of exploring the vast galaxy, moving around the fringe of civilisation is the idea that probably drove me to this game most of all... any good advice will be appreciated. Thanks

Majogl

 

[metatheurgist]

1. The explorer option was only available for Kickstarter backers I'm afraid.
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2. Is exploration worth it? Hard to answer. Part of Elite's charm is that a lot of the stuff you do is pretty much a grind - it's a slow burn game. A lot of the time you'll be seeing some pretty standard systems and doing a lot of flying just to scan every celestial body. Just when you start to get a little jaded, you'll run into something like this:
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Spoiler

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As most things in this game you're going to do a lot of money grinding before you get the equipment to make exploration truly profitable. It pays enough to pay the fuel bills but unless you're the first to see an earthlike planet with platinum rings you're probably not going to get rich quick. It's still being balanced but exploration was the 3rd most profitable thing you could do when I was last playing. You tend not to run into any murderous people, but if you do, you're usually in an anarchy.
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3. No idea. You could look up Jingles' vids.
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A lot of people signed up to explore. I think the last poll was 70%, I'll be opportunistically mining and trading while I'm out there.

 

[_Flin_]

1. The explorer option was only available for Kickstarter backers I'm afraid.
.
2. Is exploration worth it? Hard to answer. Part of Elite's charm is that a lot of the stuff you do is pretty much a grind - it's a slow burn game. A lot of the time you'll be seeing some pretty standard systems and doing a lot of flying just to scan every celestial body. Just when you start to get a little jaded, you'll run into something like this:
.

Spoiler

.
As most things in this game you're going to do a lot of money grinding before you get the equipment to make exploration truly profitable. It pays enough to pay the fuel bills but unless you're the first to see an earthlike planet with platinum rings you're probably not going to get rich quick. It's still being balanced but exploration was the 3rd most profitable thing you could do when I was last playing. You tend not to run into any murderous people, but if you do, you're usually in an anarchy.
.
3. No idea. You could look up Jingles' vids.
.
A lot of people signed up to explore. I think the last poll was 70%, I'll be opportunistically mining and trading while I'm out there.

Advice:
0. Buy a fuel scoop.
1. Start exploring right away. Get used to using your discovery scanner and finding stars by looking at the star field and spotting moving objects.
2. Jumprange matters. Your forst upgrade should be a better frameshift drive.
3. Your ship progression is Sidewinder (or Eagle) -> Hauler -> Cobra -> Asp.
4. Get a detailed discovery scanner (additional to the discovery scanner) as soon as possible ( but keep money for your insurance )
5. Try to hand in your data at one faction. It gives reputation.
6. Checking buy prices for system data indicate good exploration targets (when over 500 Cr.)

 

[WeirdWizard]

Exploration gameplay is not exactly what you would call deep or rich right now. You may or may not find it rewarding depending on how much you are able to imagine your way around the limited gameplay. I suggest you not get your hopes up, given that you can't start in a good exploration ship you'll be better off playing the more well developed parts of the game for a while anyway stick to combat, missions and maybe some trading. You'll be able to scan some systems in "explored" space with your starting ship anyway which will give you a clear idea of what exploration gameplay is like.

 

[majogl]

Thanks for the advice... got a follow-up question

Since i will not get the explorer start then, i assume ill have to grind miney via bounty hunting (i drew a big red X in my mind over hauler cause i dont like vans).

1. At first i would obviously like to play in solo-mode to start off, get to know the game. I heard that solo and multiplayer are essentially the same thing, except that you get no other players in solo mode (same progress, balance changes, if i move in solo it will move me in multiplayer mode). Is that true?

 

[WeirdWizard]

Yes Solo online and Open online share the same player save and background universe. The only difference is in solo no other players will be placed in your instance.

 

[Mikey2305]

Im loving the exploration, have been doing it for a few days. At its basic level you can run around in your basic sidey, honk at things and earn some money. Like everything in ED there are basic skills that have to be learned and equipment upgrades which will make it easier and more profitable. I think its pretty cool to check out a new system and see the fruits of your labour in the system map later. Not brilliantly paid but extremely rewarding.

Just followed a hunch that that distant star which is a long way away but in the same orbit path is part of a binary. Travelled over 4000ls and yes i was right and it had its own system, planets, moons and a pirate outpost and there is one planet i havent found yet but there it is moving slowly against the background so i target it then head back home for a healthy profit

 

[Alymon]

Is exploration shared across all players or can multiple players discover the same thing? Also, is scanning just targeting the object?

 

[grafstefan]

"honk at things and earn some money"

lol, coffee all over my keyboard here at work now...

 

[majogl]

Is exploration shared across all players or can multiple players discover the same thing? Also, is scanning just targeting the object?

Id say once somebody sells the data to cartographics, its been discovered (unless for example he saw a water-based planet, but didnt have the ability to scan it thoroughly) and therefore you will not profit from that but dont worry.. If they make the number of systems available for discovery even a fraction of how many stars there are in the milky way, there is still no way that they could all be discovered. (200–400 billion)

 

[RatPatrol]

Hello.

2. Is exploration style of the game worth it / profitable?

Majogl

during the Beta 3.05 ... once I got a 'Detailed Surface Scanner'

I could jump into an unexplored system and send out this sonar like pulse that would light up a bunch of Anomalies .... which I then locked and scanned with the intermediate ranged scanner

I made over 100k just flying and scanning .....

 

[metatheurgist]

Is exploration shared across all players or can multiple players discover the same thing? Also, is scanning just targeting the object?

Yep, you just target an unexplored object - it's pretty obvious. You still get paid for scans of known objects (It's like they're updating their database with the latest changes) you just don't get paid as much as for a new discovery.

 

[jpaulwilson1982]

Hands down my favorite aspect of any space game is exploring. I'm just glad that in Elite Dangerous we'll get paid for it. But, I wonder, will we get to name new discoveries or will that just not happen? Or will there be a screening process for naming new discoveries? I can imagine all the systems named after a cuss word or named in pure silliness (Buttface 2301, Fartsmell 401, Beta Booty Centauri).

 

[InfiniteGremlins]

Is exploration shared across all players or can multiple players discover the same thing? Also, is scanning just targeting the object?

My understanding is that the first player gets a bit more, but every player will get some cash when they sell the data. (The cartographers need to update their charts to track the movement of the stars and so on.)

First you use the discovery scanner to find objects, then you get close to them and use your sensors to do a more detailed scan. Upgraded equipment gets more/better data. Just pinging things with the discovery scanner is enough to get you some cash.

 

[Lange_666]

If you like exploring, just don't get an advanced scanner because it doesn't have anything to do with exploring anymore.
You enter a system, press a button, wait for the sonic boom and you have a list of all there is "explore". No need to look and search for wanderers which might be planets or moons. Just fly up to every target and scan it...done.

This game turns all around money and setup. The more money, the bigger the setup,the closer you get to the Elite status.
But i feel that for exploring things should be the other way around. More rewarding with just a basic scanner then with an intermediate or an advanced scanner.

 

[Alymon]

Thanks for the responses. I hopped in a bit this morning before work and apparently found a couple random things to scan (actually didn't realize I was doing it until I got the message). I only made about 2,000 cr, but it was a nice bonus for my trade route.