Srv and planetary exploring?

Eqitx · Jan 13, 2017

Apologizes if it has been answered already but i'm planning some exploration and was wondering:
apart from using the 1.5 mil scanner and the planetary scanner scanning around any unknown system founded while jumping (and hoping to find a new one to discover and put your name on it) what else is there to do?
I was planning to bring an srv with me and do some landings. Is there anything precious/highly valuable cargo to be found on a 10k+ ly planet so far from home?
Some POI (like those passenger missions) to analyze and make money on it maybe? [where is it]
I mean, is exploration simply fly around pushing the jump 50+ times , push the right button to scan and sell exploration data once back to bubble? Nothing else? :|

Duckfat · Jan 13, 2017

Exploration is a mixed basket. It all depends on your personality, play style, what you consider interesting etc.

I like being deep in the black, but find myself getting slightly bored at times and anxious to get back to the bubble and try something different for a while. It's a shame ED is limited to one commander per account. I got around this by purchasing a second one. I have one ship out in the middle of nowhere and another in the bubble. Every once in a while I get the itch to explore and switch accounts. When I get a bit tired of that I switch back and do other stuff.

As for what you can do you pretty much listed them all. Bringing an SRV along is always a good idea. If you plan on going some ways out you might need it to gather material for repairs and jump boosts. But it's still fun to get down on the surface and see if there's anything interesting around.

But mostly it's about sight seeing and generally relaxing with a mellow gameplay style that's fairly stress free. Quite a few people also get their jollies from sharing screenshots, or being the first to tag this, or do that. During the early days(and still on going) there were all sorts of peeing contests over who's gone furthest and done what in which ship and so on and so forth. And that's fine, but you have to either love it or be a bit of a sucker for punishment. I just do what makes me happy. If I get even the slightest urge to give a certain style a rest and do something else in the game I go for it.

So explore and have fun, and most importantly do what you feel like. You should never keep going just because you're 20K LYs away and feel committed. That's a good way to burn yourself out.

Eqitx · Jan 13, 2017

Many thanks, the answer i was needing.

GreyAreaUK · Jan 13, 2017

I'll just add that I also thought that SRVs were something of a feature looking for a use, until I tried one out. They are ludicrously fun to drive. Plus you can mine outcrops for materials (which don't take up cargo space) so you can generate your own AFMU ammo, jumponium, etc. None of that is required as such, but it's enormous fun to do.

Think of it this way: it's better to have one and never use it than to not bring one and then miss it

Qohen Leth · Jan 13, 2017

Learn some basic astronomy, learn to master the GalMap, train your eye and you will know how and where to find quite exceptional stuff. In a few hours of travelling/galmapping, I found several supergiants, about 25 giants, binary giants, several multi-BH+Neutron systems, Wolf-Rayets, etc. All untagged. And that's without planetary features (steep canyon, 20km mountains, etc.). When you find something cool, check the surrounding. A while back I had found a Wolf-Rayet, then I eyeballed the galmap and found 127 others within a 1000ly-side area. There's much more than just honking for ELWs

BaldEagle · Jan 13, 2017

Having a meet-up with another Commander is more fun with an SRV

disorganise · Jan 14, 2017

There are days when it feels like non-stop jonking and little satisfaction. There are other days when the sheer beauty, vastness of scale, absolute solitude, etc, make you grin until sore. Such is life in the black.

For the former, there's the SRV and there's Arena (or a 2nd account...). I spent nearly 3 months *only* driving an SRV - it was almost always fun - maybe a little tedious right at the very end but mostly because of a self imposed arbitrary time limit. SRV'ing with other Cmdr's is awesome fun - they're repairable so you need not be scared of bumps...unlike the ship. Climb a mountain, race down a gully, do doughnuts on ice - the fun factor is huge

Eqitx · Jan 14, 2017

For a moment the desire to explore was fading away

(pushscan-jump-pushscan-jump wasn't my idea of fun and exploration haha

)
but yes, there is more and there is fun and pleasure if approached properly

Thanks everyone

varonica · Jan 14, 2017

I was landed on a planet the other day around 5kly from the bubble due to a small blue resource POI, after harvesting that I just drove around a bit, like you do, when I suddenly saw some unusual reading on the wave scanner, barely there really right at the top. I wasn't in a large POI with crashed ship, data links or occupied escape pods so I thought that a bit strange. As I said they were very faint and took me a considerable time tracking down but finally I came across a few broken bits of metal and plastic poking out of the crater floor, just enough to trip over.

Some poor soul many years ago, maybe even hundreds of years, must have crashed and the slow passing of time and deposit of cosmic dust had buried his remains and just about buried his ship, I raised a virtual flag for him, saluted and left, not much more to do really.

But it does give some thought, there are things out there that don't show as POI, that aren't part of an instance created just for the player, that barely give any indication at all, they are just there waiting to be found. I just happened to land in the area, farewell lone explorer, rest in peace!