Newcomer / Intro stuck at exploring

[space-viking]

I dont know if i just suck at exploring or if i am doing something wrong. I recently got ranked up and bought a fully outfitted clipper as a member of the empire. The 90m credits i got finally through a few weeks of trading and bounty hunting. Both of which im fully burnt out on. I have a few layers of insurance and ive decided to start exploring. I spent a week 1000+ ly away from core systems to visit all the nearby nebulas. I tried to follow some charts other players have made to hit good stars in my route. I also took time to scan the water and earth like planets. Most of my scanning and screenshots were from stars around the nebulas themselves. Once i started feeling lonely i headed back and spent a good hour or so selling my data. It got me over a million credits so the payout wasnt worthless besides the fun. Exploring seems like my last option for fun now. I then went to repair and refit my ship (i had 1 of each scanner on my first exploring trip...silly me) and my repair bill for my hull upkeep was 2 million credits! So ive lost alot of credits just to explore. Am i doing this wrong or is there a broken wall where exploring doesnt break even in credits?


And before anyone mentions it i am not selling my clipper in favor or an asp. I spent way too long getting it to have fun with and nothing beats that canopy view with the xml fov set to 90.

 

[Gavski]

The big ships can take a lot of credits to keep hull integrity at 100%. All that flying about/hyper-spacing etc. must be a huge strain on the craft, hence the bills. So that's an attempt to keep the game "real", I guess. Personally, I explore in bursts (unless you have a mountain of credits); trade etc. between times. Exploring shouldn't be a money-spinner per se, you do it for the thrill!

It might also be a game-mechanic to stop everyone flouncing-about in huge ships, unbalancing the game. It costs a lot to run one, which seems to put some-off.

Or it might just be that FD will rebalance the repair-side of things, if it is out-of-whack.

We could do with a Dev to tell-us the inside story on this!

 

[the100thmonkey]

Exploration is best done in the smaller, cheaper ships.

If you're heading out into the black, I'd suggest an exploration-spec Cobra over a Clipper any day.

 

[krysohmyz]

Don't get rid of the Clipper. I wouldn't, too.

But guys here are right. And you don't need an Asp. Adder is equally awesome for exploration, for mere 500k you get everything you need. (except scanners, of course. )