Just returned from my first real exploration voyage, and wanted to jot down a few thoughts for the benefit of others who might just be starting out, mainly because some of what I expected from reading the forums wasn't exactly what I found (but in a good way!). The version for those who find Twitter a bit of an intellectual challenge: Exploration Awesome. Explore Now.
The Longer Version
I kitted out a Hauler, mainly following Nutter's guide, but with the large fuel tank and the addition of a high capacity field repair kit. I started out visiting the Chameleon nebulae and then did a slow spiraling drop into the basement, testing how far I could go to the "bottom" of the galaxy. I finally reached the limits of my jump range about 1200 LY as the Millenium Falcon flies from Sol, and about 1100 from my base of operations. Nothing like the epic runs so many of you are undertaking, but not a bad first trip to get some experience Here are the things that surprised me:
1) Space is big. Yeah, I know, everybody says it, and everyone knows it in theory. But I never really expected to feel it. But sitting there at the bottom of the galaxy, I was unexpectedly moved. Instead of looking through the galactic core from our terrestrial vantage point I was looking up into the galaxy that now seemed to be like a big blanket over the top of me. In the other direction there was virtually nothing, just the inkiness of the vasty black with a few isolated outpost stars. Now I know what looking up at the night sky in New York City must be like.
2) Reading the forums, I'd been led to believe that everything within about a 1000LY radius of the core worlds had been trod pretty heavily. But 90% of the systems I had visited had never had anyone else there before me.
3) I'd also been led to believe I wouldn't make a whole lot of money from exploring. Now I guess that depends on what your definition of "whole lot of money" is. It certainly didn't net me enough for an Anaconda! But visiting around 250 systems netted me just a shade under 7 million credits. I know that the metric that a lot players use is "credits per hour" and on that measure maybe that isn't a terribly efficient earning rate. But another measure is return on investment. I spent about 2.2 million outfitting the hauler, so that seemed like a pretty good return based on outlay.
4) All alone, out of any human contact, I was unexpectedly moved again by the traces of human effort that I came across. Someone might have tagged a star on the way through, perhaps on a speed run or just desperate to get home, but left the rest of a lucrative system unexplored. Someone else might have explored almost the entire system but left a couple of earning planets in the middle out (probably through misjudging orbital mechanics, I did it myself). Most of the time as an explorer you want no one else to have been there before you, but then at other times it is curiously comforting.
5) Not as dangerous as I was expecting. Got interdicted a couple of times, and certainly had to navigate a couple of dangerous systems. But I was careful, and didn't run into any problems that weren't self-inflicted (my near catastrophe came when I inadvertently engaged my frame drive while fuel scooping; but that's what the repair kit was for!). Somewhere on the forums I read a couple of golden pieces of advice, however: don't explore when you are either drunk or tired and certainly not when you are both. It can be hard to call a halt to a session; exploring has that addictive "just one more" quality to it. But the more tired you get, the more you start making small mistakes. A couple of times I found myself nodding off and realized that I hadn't zeroed my throttle in witch space; once I almost plowed into a planet while nodding off. With exploration, routine keeps you alive and the more tired you get the more routine suffers.
6) Space is surprising. I'm still in search for discovering an earth-like planet, as we all are. I thought I'd found one, based on its map appearance, but when I got there it was really close (size, distance, temperate, water) but with a carbon dioxide atmosphere. So, basically, what earth will look like in a couple hundred years. I did come across a previously discovered earth world, however, and in a delicious exploration irony, it was only 25ly from my home base, and I found it on my last jump before arriving home!
7) Because of 6), don't overlook anything. Conventional wisdom is that F, G, and K, stars are the best places to look for ELWs and terraformable planets. But I found no shortage of water worlds elsewhere. And my biggest single payout system was actually 4 M-class stars, three of which had no fewer than ten metal planets each, some of them waterworlds, and several giants with various forms of life.
8) People diss the dark nebula because they aren't as showy as some others. But the Chameleon is lovely, a delicate wispy drape of dust that looks striking from every direction. Go and visit if you haven't seen it yet.
Next steps? I need to work on my much neglected rep. Any by the time I get round to my next voyage, PP will be here and the game will be slightly different, a little more dangerous. For that reason I will probably sell the hauler and fit up a Cobra. Largely because the family minivan interior of the hauler is driving me nuts. Also, after 2400ly of travel the cockpit badly needs some air freshener. But I've found I really enjoy the short-jump meandering kind of exploration so at the moment there won't be any need for the Asp, although that may come next. But even though this trip went well, being out there where even though you could run into other humans, even if that was unlikely. . .well, being out there without weapons made me subtly anxious.
So this was a great intro to exploring, and the power of that fraction of a second between warping into a new system and firing up your scanner, where anything is possible and everything is out there waiting to be found.
The Longer Version
I kitted out a Hauler, mainly following Nutter's guide, but with the large fuel tank and the addition of a high capacity field repair kit. I started out visiting the Chameleon nebulae and then did a slow spiraling drop into the basement, testing how far I could go to the "bottom" of the galaxy. I finally reached the limits of my jump range about 1200 LY as the Millenium Falcon flies from Sol, and about 1100 from my base of operations. Nothing like the epic runs so many of you are undertaking, but not a bad first trip to get some experience Here are the things that surprised me:
1) Space is big. Yeah, I know, everybody says it, and everyone knows it in theory. But I never really expected to feel it. But sitting there at the bottom of the galaxy, I was unexpectedly moved. Instead of looking through the galactic core from our terrestrial vantage point I was looking up into the galaxy that now seemed to be like a big blanket over the top of me. In the other direction there was virtually nothing, just the inkiness of the vasty black with a few isolated outpost stars. Now I know what looking up at the night sky in New York City must be like.
2) Reading the forums, I'd been led to believe that everything within about a 1000LY radius of the core worlds had been trod pretty heavily. But 90% of the systems I had visited had never had anyone else there before me.
3) I'd also been led to believe I wouldn't make a whole lot of money from exploring. Now I guess that depends on what your definition of "whole lot of money" is. It certainly didn't net me enough for an Anaconda! But visiting around 250 systems netted me just a shade under 7 million credits. I know that the metric that a lot players use is "credits per hour" and on that measure maybe that isn't a terribly efficient earning rate. But another measure is return on investment. I spent about 2.2 million outfitting the hauler, so that seemed like a pretty good return based on outlay.
4) All alone, out of any human contact, I was unexpectedly moved again by the traces of human effort that I came across. Someone might have tagged a star on the way through, perhaps on a speed run or just desperate to get home, but left the rest of a lucrative system unexplored. Someone else might have explored almost the entire system but left a couple of earning planets in the middle out (probably through misjudging orbital mechanics, I did it myself). Most of the time as an explorer you want no one else to have been there before you, but then at other times it is curiously comforting.
5) Not as dangerous as I was expecting. Got interdicted a couple of times, and certainly had to navigate a couple of dangerous systems. But I was careful, and didn't run into any problems that weren't self-inflicted (my near catastrophe came when I inadvertently engaged my frame drive while fuel scooping; but that's what the repair kit was for!). Somewhere on the forums I read a couple of golden pieces of advice, however: don't explore when you are either drunk or tired and certainly not when you are both. It can be hard to call a halt to a session; exploring has that addictive "just one more" quality to it. But the more tired you get, the more you start making small mistakes. A couple of times I found myself nodding off and realized that I hadn't zeroed my throttle in witch space; once I almost plowed into a planet while nodding off. With exploration, routine keeps you alive and the more tired you get the more routine suffers.
6) Space is surprising. I'm still in search for discovering an earth-like planet, as we all are. I thought I'd found one, based on its map appearance, but when I got there it was really close (size, distance, temperate, water) but with a carbon dioxide atmosphere. So, basically, what earth will look like in a couple hundred years. I did come across a previously discovered earth world, however, and in a delicious exploration irony, it was only 25ly from my home base, and I found it on my last jump before arriving home!
7) Because of 6), don't overlook anything. Conventional wisdom is that F, G, and K, stars are the best places to look for ELWs and terraformable planets. But I found no shortage of water worlds elsewhere. And my biggest single payout system was actually 4 M-class stars, three of which had no fewer than ten metal planets each, some of them waterworlds, and several giants with various forms of life.
8) People diss the dark nebula because they aren't as showy as some others. But the Chameleon is lovely, a delicate wispy drape of dust that looks striking from every direction. Go and visit if you haven't seen it yet.
Next steps? I need to work on my much neglected rep. Any by the time I get round to my next voyage, PP will be here and the game will be slightly different, a little more dangerous. For that reason I will probably sell the hauler and fit up a Cobra. Largely because the family minivan interior of the hauler is driving me nuts. Also, after 2400ly of travel the cockpit badly needs some air freshener. But I've found I really enjoy the short-jump meandering kind of exploration so at the moment there won't be any need for the Asp, although that may come next. But even though this trip went well, being out there where even though you could run into other humans, even if that was unlikely. . .well, being out there without weapons made me subtly anxious.
So this was a great intro to exploring, and the power of that fraction of a second between warping into a new system and firing up your scanner, where anything is possible and everything is out there waiting to be found.
