Returning Player, need some advice on Exploring

So how much of a hassle is it to mine the tritium? That's the main thing that's holding me back. I don't know how much tritium per LY the FC uses so I don't know how often I'll have to mine.
You need route plan to make it easy. For example I mined 130t each 4 jump. Went 60000ly 1 way, now coming back in relaxed mode. I need occasional mining now.
Install Vista Genomics. Usually, I just follow the carrier, = 7 jumps of the ship. Scan everything. Than sell & 50% to the carrier. I doubled my and carrier balance while flying 60000. However, this takes time. Expect years long trip.
You will need to mine the tritium if you have 1 way over 35000ly. Otherwise it is possible just to spend what you've loaded in the Bubble.
As for short trips, you can load foods, machines, etc. And visit distant stations around the Bubble, sell some juice for the scientists :D Pretty RP fun I should say. I think you can have 10000t of the tritium + 10000t of the goods.
 
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You need route plan to make it easy. For example I mined 130t each 4 jump. Went 60000ly 1 way, now coming back in relaxed mode. I need occasional mining now.
Install Vista Genomics. Usually, I just follow the carrier, = 7 jumps of the ship. Scan everything. Than sell & 50% to the carrier. I doubled my and carrier balance while flying 60000. However, this takes time. Expect years long trip.
You will need to mine the tritium if you have 1 way over 35000ly. Otherwise it is possible just to spend what you've loaded in the Bubble.
As for short trips, you can load foods, machines, etc. And visit distant stations around the Bubble, sell some juice for the scientists :D Pretty RP fun I should say. I think you can have 10000t of the tritium + 10000t of the goods.
Thanks, I had not thought of following the FC and scanning systems. Were you doing a quick "honk" or doing the FSS for all the bodies then mapping the worlds that pay $$$$?
I think I'll do at least 5 jumps to get away from the bubble before I start doing the follow routine.
 
Following the FC is my favoured approach to exploring.
I just send the FC off around 499Ly to a chosen system then plot a route to the same system for my ship.
I FSS each system that has bodies other than stars as I go visiting and mapping high value planets as the mood takes me or if they have exobiology of interest especially if I haven’t ticked it in the Codex.
A short time after starting I change the route target from the destination system to the bookmark for my FC.

Depending on where I am heading I will start the routine after 1 or 2 jumps, it is surprising what has been missed.
 
it is surprising what has been missed.
Yes, even when jumping with my carrier I have made it my habit of exiting my carrier each jump and doing a minimum of FSS'ing the system, this can slow you down a lot when you find what's been left out there.

I normally work the opposite to some here, most of the time I work ahead of my carrier, if something of interest is found then I jump the carrier to me with the advantage that I can call it to a specific location in a system, if nothing of interest then I will jump my carrier to my last location before I exit carrier range, I will not wait for the carrier but carry on exploring.
 
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I've gotten some good ideas here. Last night I decided to head towards the "Seagull Nebula" but ran into a problem with permit locked systems which I thought was odd since I was 1500LY outside the bubble. I did some research and found out this was something Frontier did on purpose, apparently in prep for an upcoming event. So now I'm just wondering aimlessly. I may change up and head towards the area I explored 3 years ago. I think I still have photos of ELW's I found that show the system name that I can plug into the FC Router website. I remember visiting Colonia and the "Cat Nebula". My problem right now is I'm using the Galaxy Map to pick a destination star by zooming into the distance but when I double check it with the router I found on one occasion I was backtracking. If I plug in one of the systems I visited 3 years ago in the Cat Nebula then I can use the router and export the list of systems. It's so much easier to have a destination system than it is to wonder aimlessly.

Following the FC or going ahead of it to the next system 500LY away works for the enroute portion of the trip. But once I'm far enough out I plan to use my Sidewinder to jump to all the systems within 10LY or so and FSS them. Then rinse and repeat. I'm still too close to the bubble to get many undiscovered systems.
 
I found photos of the 3rd and 4th ELW's I discovered and to my surprise they were not mapped yet. So I plugged the system into the FC Route website and it was 25,300LY! Ah, no. It would have taken me back thru the bubble so I could have topped off with Tritium but just too much. So I'm continuing in more or less the same direction just plotting one jump at a time.
 
Thanks, I had not thought of following the FC and scanning systems. Were you doing a quick "honk" or doing the FSS for all the bodies then mapping the worlds that pay $$$$?
I think I'll do at least 5 jumps to get away from the bubble before I start doing the follow routine.
If you ask me what I do ...
1. Jump 500ly carrier.
2. Follow it on ship, 7 jumps about.
3. Scan as usual, full FSS. Come close for ELW/Terra forms/etc. Land if it is land-able.
4. Get 3 samples of all bio signals on the route. However, lately I use plugin for EDMC, which shows expected things there with price. So I skip 1 mil known items now too.
5. Look on map to pick next jump point. I look for non-usual stars around and do detours if something.
6. By my route plan each 3-4 jumps I scan all perspective systems around carrier looking for tritium, than short jump of the carrier to the rings and mine. Usually this (6) takes whole playing evening.
 
I topped off the gas tank and I now have 20,198T of Tritium, 21,368/25,000 slots taken.
So here is your numbers:
1. Refuel carrier to have 1000/1000 after each jump - total distance 115 500.
2. Refuel when 0/1000 - 113500
3. Refuel to keep 1000/1000 AND mine 130t (130T is good number, MK-2 does it in 45 mins in average) each 4 jumps - 181000
4. (3) and each 3 jumps - 227500
 
I've been following my FC and finding nothing but junk systems. I'm about 4500LY from the nearest inhabited system. Some Gas Giants but so far no Tritium. I have found and mined lots of Alexandrite, Musgravite, Monazite, Serendibite, and Benitoite. Roughly 30M Credits worth but I think my time is better spent looking for biologicals. I had one moon with 4 bio signs, I found two of them and went back into orbit and landed 3 more times aiming for the "teal" color in all the blue. Note to self: Change modes before landing so I can see if it's daylight where I'm going.

The Mandalay is a great ship but it is sometimes a PITA to land. I'm going to switch to my Diamondback, it has a SCO FSD and the same range. Once I get a lot further out I'll start exploring all the nearby systems with the Sidewinder. I'm now heading to the "Monkey Head" Nebula, so far I haven't encountered any permit locked systems like I did trying to get to the "Seagull" nebula.
 
First, I have done very well with Exobiology. I just got back to the FC from 2 systems that had a total of 6 planets with Biology. About 170M credits total. I found a website with photos of each of the bacterium, that was a big help. I've switched down to the Viper Mk IV from the Diamondback since the Viper is a bit smaller. My only problem is I don't have a SCO drive for the Viper but that's not a big deal. Next I'm going to switch into my Sidewinder with a fuel scoop and extra fuel tank. I'm ditching the Vehicle Hanger, I've become good enough a flying nose down low that I'm not using the SRV. I'll see how that goes. My Sidewinder can do 30LY jumps so not too bad.

The "following the FC" thing hit a snag yesterday. I set the destination and started the countdown then starting jumping ahead. The 2nd system had rings with Tritium but it was too late to stop the jump. I would have had to backtrack the FC 400LY or take a mining ship that far. Now I'm not going to start the FC jump until I'm halfway to the destination.
 

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Your total balance can be 1 day payout for the bios (if you're lucky). I had twice such a "daily income" in my long trip.
 
The "following the FC" thing hit a snag yesterday. I set the destination and started the countdown then starting jumping ahead. The 2nd system had rings with Tritium but it was too late to stop the jump. I would have had to backtrack the FC 400LY or take a mining ship that far. Now I'm not going to start the FC jump until I'm halfway to the destination.
That's why I work ahead of my carrier:)

This is why I stick my head out and have a quick scan when am jumping with my carrier, 1 system 4planets with bio 3 of them HMC's.

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I've been at this for about 5-6 weeks now and have learned a lot. The bio is fantastic for earning credits, I am usually getting 1B credits for a 500LY segment. I pick a star from my Scout Ship that's just under 500LY. I route with economy mode so usually get 20-30 jumps. Nearing the final jumps I send for the Carrier to meet me at the last star. That got to be a PITA when Colonization went live, Carrier slots were about impossible to get, and when you finally did it took 1:15 to jump. I've found if I try after most GB and EU players have gone to bed it's a lot easier. I didn't realize the filtering system was broke, I wondered why I kept getting routed via Class M suns. I'm only at 4 total ELW's but I don't really care because the bio is so profitable.
 
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