Today, I have to travel at least 20 ly away before I can sell exploration data. The technical reason or in-game reason for this is not obvious, but it the seems likely that the reason is to make it more difficult to grind valuable local discoveries over and over again, particularly for players with 'small ships' that can't jump that far in one go.
In locations such as the Bubble, or Colonia, where I can find a point of sale easily, this is not a serious problem. But in locations where there is no other station, or where the stations are very close, 'nearby' exploration becomes very difficult. These types of systems are starting to appear all over the place -- the Colonia highway is probably something most players will come in contact with. These systems are likely to become comparatively 'underexplored' within the 20ly radius.
If I'm exploring systems nearby Mammon, say, I need to get some 800ly away to sell them. (Hilary Depot, 1200ly to next station; Kashyapa, 2500ly).
For in-game reasons, it seems reasonable that the local station wants as much exploration data for nearby systems as possible -- think expansion. Having to rely on explorers going 800ly or more away to register their disoveries ... seems odd. (A number of similar places -- Pencil Nebula, Crescent Nebula, -- seem to have a reasonably close station a little more than 20 ly away, which makes exploration simpler).
Suggestion: Modify 20ly-limit to be enforced only for later discoveries. First discovery can be sold anywhere, but second user trying to sell same information within 20ly is denied.
(This feel arbitrary, unless there's an in-game reason for the 20ly limit.)
Alternative: If there are unexplored systems within 20ly of a station, make <20ly exploration into local missions, and if possible restrict missions to 10 identified systems or so. Once all systems within 20 ly have been explored, these missions go away. (This feels somewhat better, if 'real' exploration economy can't be done for technical reasons.)
In locations such as the Bubble, or Colonia, where I can find a point of sale easily, this is not a serious problem. But in locations where there is no other station, or where the stations are very close, 'nearby' exploration becomes very difficult. These types of systems are starting to appear all over the place -- the Colonia highway is probably something most players will come in contact with. These systems are likely to become comparatively 'underexplored' within the 20ly radius.
If I'm exploring systems nearby Mammon, say, I need to get some 800ly away to sell them. (Hilary Depot, 1200ly to next station; Kashyapa, 2500ly).
For in-game reasons, it seems reasonable that the local station wants as much exploration data for nearby systems as possible -- think expansion. Having to rely on explorers going 800ly or more away to register their disoveries ... seems odd. (A number of similar places -- Pencil Nebula, Crescent Nebula, -- seem to have a reasonably close station a little more than 20 ly away, which makes exploration simpler).
Suggestion: Modify 20ly-limit to be enforced only for later discoveries. First discovery can be sold anywhere, but second user trying to sell same information within 20ly is denied.
(This feel arbitrary, unless there's an in-game reason for the 20ly limit.)
Alternative: If there are unexplored systems within 20ly of a station, make <20ly exploration into local missions, and if possible restrict missions to 10 identified systems or so. Once all systems within 20 ly have been explored, these missions go away. (This feels somewhat better, if 'real' exploration economy can't be done for technical reasons.)
