Tips for explorers

[Shaele]

I just got back from a 3 week run for the Lembava event and thought these tips would be helpful for efficient exploration.

1. Always get the biggest possible fuel scoop you can
2. After you leave civilized space, turn everything you can off, leave thrusters, FSD, scanners and power only - doing this on a DBE I got my heat down to 23% in deep space - remember to turn it all back on when you get back tho
3. When jumping to a system, always set the throttle to 0 when the FSD counts down
4. When arriving accelerate at ~30% until heat gets to 55% if you aren't refuelling by then its the wrong kind of star - you can sit there at that kind of temp and it wont go up so a good time to look around
5. while refuelling fire up the foghorn and see what you can see
6. Ignore all ice/rock worlds as they only give 500cr and you get that just from foghorn anyway
7. when you have picked the places you want to scan, head towards them at full speed. at 10s range, slow to 70-75% to avoid over shooting.
8. When in scan range slow to 50% for long range scans on gas giants (500ls + ), or 25% on <300ls. The idea on this is the further away you are, the higher base speed you maintain and the faster you can accelerate to the next target. When done, jump the next system in the list as normal.
9. If nothing to scan and you are still refuelling/parked near the star, select the next system to jump to and head there, but jump when the heat starts to drop and is <58% jump as the heat will drop at the same rate it builds up saving a little bit of time

Well, these are my tips - any others would be appreciated

 

[Cdr Voorheez]

Top tips thank you Cdr I have just upgraded to a DBE last night and am looking forward to exploring long haul too (I had a type 6). Any chance you can share your ships config?

 

[Dommarraa]

I agree with #1, but none of the others

 

[Shaele]

Hmm I recently sold my DBE and went back to my asp, but from memory it was like this

A nice ship for exploring but the Asp has a class 6 fuel scoop and that is much nicer

- - - Updated - - -

I agree with #1, but none of the others

More input - what are your tips?

 

[Murishani]

If nothing to scan and you are still refuelling/parked near the star, select the next system to jump to and head there, but jump when the heat starts to drop and is <58% jump as the heat will drop at the same rate it builds up saving a little bit of time

Most likely worth noting that this percentage and heat management stuff is going to vary based on what youre flying, what modules youre running and your PP rating.

 

[CMDR Starschulz]

I traveled through 2000 systems on my way to SAG A and back, but i can tell you for certain i pressed set throttle to zero more than 4000 times

 

[Shaele]

Most likely worth noting that this percentage and heat management stuff is going to vary based on what youre flying, what modules youre running and your PP rating.

Yep, but its a guide for how to get out of a system fast and adjust as needed for your particular ship - after 3+ weeks and 3k systems, anything that saved time was essential

 

[CMDR Starschulz]

I agree with #1, but none of the others

If you don't set throttle to zero before you land and you are just a bit sleepy, you might just see the... very BIG reason why it is a good idea

 

[Murishani]

If you don't set throttle to zero before you land and you are just a bit sleepy, you might just see the... very BIG reason why it is a good idea

Dommarraa and I both come out hot and immediately reorient to the new star, it works as long as you're paying attention, just drop to zero if youre coming into a neutron or BH system and youre worried.

 

[certhas]

I think throttle to zero has its benefits and drawbacks. I didnt throttle to zero on my way out of the bubble but when i started to encounter more Neutron Stars i did start to do it.
The NS arent the big Problem, white and especially brown dwarfs are a much bigger Problem for overheating and emergency dropping...
Anyway, since i tabed out a lot while exploring i kept to the routine of throttling to zero...
I never turned of any system, i even fly with shields activated, it doesnt really matter if you fly with 20% or 30% heat if you're cold, if you have a big fuelscoop you can scoop a whole fuel tank easily before you run to hot.
Beside all those small time savers, the saved time is tiny and marginalized if you have to doublehonk/scan...

Regarding speed and distance, i never payed close attention to the timer, what i learnd is that if you fly with 50ls/s you can start throttle down towards the blue zone if you reach 500ls distance, if you're slower eg. around 30ls/s you have to throttle to the blue zone when reaching ~250ls/s
at 200ls distance your speed schould be around 20ls/s at 100ls distance around 12-14ls/s max.
if you're still faster than 15ls/s below 100ls distance you overshoot for sure if you're still in the main stars gravity well. Accelerating and decelerating outside the gravity well of a star is way quicker.

 

[shiny57]

I think throttle to zero has its benefits and drawbacks. I didnt throttle to zero on my way out of the bubble but when i started to encounter more Neutron Stars i did start to do it.
The NS arent the big Problem, white and expecially brown dwarfs are a much bigger Problem for overheating and emergency dropping...
Anyway, since i tabed out a lot while exploring i kept to the routine of throttling to zero...
I never turned of any system, i even fly with shields activated, it doesnt really matter if you fly with 20% or 30% heat if you're cold, if you have a big fuelscoop you can scoop a whole fuel tank easily before you run to hot.
Beside all those small time savers, the saved time is tiny and marginalized if you have to doublehonk/scan...

Regarding speed and distance, i never payed close attention to the timer, what i learnd is that if you fly with 50ls/s you can start throttle down towards the blue zone if you reach 500ls distance, if you're slower eg. around 30ls/s you have to throttle to the blue zone when reaching ~250ls/s
at 200ls distance your speed schould be around 20ls/s at 100ls distance around 12-14ls/s max.
if you're still faster than 15ls/s below 100ls distance you overshoot for sure if you're still in the main stars gravity well. Accelerating and decelerating outside the gravity well of a star is way quicker.

I've found if you throttle back quickly at 6s from target you will invariably not overshoot, perhaps 7s to be on the safe side

 

[Shaele]

Its better to rely on the timer rather than distance.
The way the system works is if you are at more than 75% speed and get to 6s from the object you can slow to 75% and it will auto slow from then on at the proper rate, but its better to do it at 7s+ to help with any lag issues. I did it at 10s as I was usually half asleep or worse when exploring - its a really good way to zone out
I also have dual monitors so I always had something on the other screen and sometimes lost track of what screen had the mouse and that's why I always throttle back to 0 when jumping to avoid any pilot error

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I just got back from a 3 week run for the Lembava event and thought these tips would be helpful for efficient exploration.

1. Always get the biggest possible fuel scoop you can
2. After you leave civilized space, turn everything you can off, leave thrusters, FSD, scanners and power only - doing this on a DBE I got my heat down to 23% in deep space - remember to turn it all back on when you get back tho
3. When jumping to a system, always set the throttle to 0 when the FSD counts down
4. When arriving accelerate at ~30% until heat gets to 55% if you aren't refuelling by then its the wrong kind of star - you can sit there at that kind of temp and it wont go up so a good time to look around
5. while refuelling fire up the foghorn and see what you can see

For new explorers these are good tips

Ignore all ice/rock worlds as they only give 500cr and you get that just from foghorn anyway

But if you want to paint complete systems you do want to scan these. I would say, scan whatever you feel like. Mind the credit value if you want, or don't.

when you have picked the places you want to scan, head towards them at full speed. at 10s range, slow to 70-75% to avoid over shooting.

Overshooting can be a little faster since you can use the planets gravity as an extra brake. overshoot and circle and you're often close to the object you're scanning.

When in scan range slow to 50% for long range scans on gas giants (500ls + ), or 25% on <300ls. The idea on this is the further away you are, the higher base speed you maintain and the faster you can accelerate to the next target. When done, jump the next system in the list as normal.

Acceleration usually isn't an issue for me. Proximity and mass of the body you're close to determines how fast you can travel.

 

[colprice2002]

All good advice, though I found that the DBE can scoop, ADS scan then FSD at the same time (OK, you have to let the FSD cool, but if the heat is <65%, then you can FSD jump while scooping).

Using the biggest fuel scoop you can, it's possible to scoop at 65% heat. Don't try for maximum scoop rate, keep the heat down and take a bit longer...

The other feature that's good is to add an extra fuel tank - now I don't have to worry as much about a!series of non-scoopable stars.

 

[Gorrister]

On the system map metal rich or metallic rings around planets look similar to icy ones, only slightly more red or brown. Metallic rings are always the inner ones.

Please wright down the system and planet name of metallic rings around planets with pristine reserves and that of metal rich planets for me and post it in the "call of the wild thread".

Always scan planets with clouds. The chance for terraforming candidates is significant.

Black holes and neutron stars are often found at B star systems but dont use the filter function because it is a tiny bubble. Set to realistic mode and go for the color of the B stars. It needs a little practice but is worth it.

 

[streki]

Top Explorer (and combat) tip:

Buy one of these (this is the pre-built version)

[video=youtube;m4hyMbHpl18]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4hyMbHpl18[/video]

Best £40 I've spent.

 

[Gorrister]

For beginners with basic scanner.
Accelerare to at least 200c and look for stars that move. That can be extremely slow depending on the distance. It is easier to tell on the side window. An adder is a disaster for this methode. With a little practice you can tell the other suns in the system by the color. They mostly look just right. Dunno.
Circle the suns while looking for moving dots. The planets are only visible on the lit side.
You can tell the type of a planet by marking it and look at the hologram. Boring planets look boring.

Bye a detailed scanner first. Skip the intermediate scanner.

 

[CMDR DoubleSkulls]

1. Always get the biggest possible fuel scoop you can - Agreed
2. After you leave civilized space, turn everything you can off, leave thrusters, FSD, scanners and power only - doing this on a DBE I got my heat down to 23% in deep space - remember to turn it all back on when you get back tho - Hardpoint deployed items don't affect heat while retracted, so you may as well leave them on.
3. When jumping to a system, always set the throttle to 0 when the FSD counts down - or not, I often go at 25%, or 50% if I'm honk/scooping.
4. When arriving accelerate at ~30% until heat gets to 55% if you aren't refuelling by then its the wrong kind of star - you can sit there at that kind of temp and it wont go up so a good time to look around - see #3. Learn your FOGKBAM stars too. Don't move towards Neutron stars at all.
5. while refuelling fire up the foghorn and see what you can see - you should honk a couple of seconds after arriving in system. I do see odd problems with honking immediately causing double scans.
6. Ignore all ice/rock worlds as they only give 500cr and you get that just from foghorn anyway - entirely down to personal exploration style and preference. Rocky planets can be terraformable and worth 30k.
7. when you have picked the places you want to scan, head towards them at full speed. at 10s range, slow to 70-75% to avoid over shooting. - 7s never overshoots either.
8. When in scan range slow to 50% for long range scans on gas giants (500ls + ), or 25% on <300ls. The idea on this is the further away you are, the higher base speed you maintain and the faster you can accelerate to the next target. When done, jump the next system in the list as normal. - in general yes, I'll typically zero throttle as soon as the scanner starts.
9. If nothing to scan and you are still refuelling/parked near the star, select the next system to jump to and head there, but jump when the heat starts to drop and is <58% jump as the heat will drop at the same rate it builds up saving a little bit of time - I normally have routes plotted, so its only at the end of a leg I'll need to replot a journey. Generally I'll kick off the jump when the star is no long red and I'm heading away from it. If you are jumping hot (e.g. it gets over 95%) then hit J again to cancel the jump and cool down.
10. Using mouse keyboard I set up key binds for 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% throttle. I use these almost exclusively instead of throttle controls
11. Most of the time you don't need to rush refueling. Normally I'll aim for the primary and start scanning it while moving at 25%. If doing this learn when to zero the throttle so the scooping and scanning stop about the same time (scooping can take a few seconds longer since you'll need to point away from the star). Learn when to zero after not refueling on the previous jump is handy too.
12. Read the manual (i.e. Dognosh's list of collected wisdom)

 

[Philip Coutts]

Everyone has their own tips, setting the throttle to zero is something I always do just in case! Also I'll add in that I try to never travel in a straight line. I tend to find most humans like to move in a straight line and if you vary your path a little you are more likely to find some unexplored systems.

 

[dannywhac]

Just to add to the above:

Keyboard bind: 'Open System Map', 'Open Galaxy Map' and 'Target Next System In Route'.

Saves a ton of time.