Newcomer / Intro What are you up to?

[Simon Templar]

I'd like to pick the collective brains in here (it's a particularly knowledgeable and patient corner of the site), if I may (as well as share last night's milestone.

I fly an A rated but unengineered T6, Orpheus. I am currently pre-engineers, so set out from my home base in Kotait for Maia, in order to pick up the meta alloys for Felicity. The galaxy map told me that that was 350 or so light years, and would take me 67 jumps (Orpheus is a generalist unaarmed trader/mats gathering/casual exploration build T6, and I was taking her 'as is', so with 80T or so cargo capacity, shields, SRV bay, 4A fuel scoop etc., so she only pulls IIRC around 29ly on a jump). Suited me as I want to get my explorer rank up, so planned to take a moderately leisurely pace and see some sites along the way, and maybe pick up some mats if anything presented itself.

Well the whole trip went very well, better than expected, but has left me with some (probably rookie) questions, if I may. I feel as though I have some very basic gaps in my knowledge, to be honest with you, and have never even really scratched the surface of exploration, and have missed a chunk of the game.

Each time I landed at a system, I would see whether there were unexplored planets with a few thousand ls, and if there were I'd fly up and honk them. I also had a play around with the new (to me!) scanner and tried planet surface scanning/mapping for half dozen or so more unusual planets. Well - on one of the planets, just short of Maia, one whose surface I had scanned, I also chose to land in the SRV and have a drive around. It was bathed in sunlight, it was a good-looking ochre-coloured planet, my lovely red Orpheus would look lovely gleaming in the sunlight (sorry, haven't figured out how to get screen shots from Xbox to laptop), and I fancied a drive. Started out, and noticed that my nav map had lots of points of geological interest. Drove to the nearest one, and it was mats city, they were all over the place. Basically a mix of some sort of crystal and some sort of pebble. I was getting more chromium, zinc, iron and some more exotic stuff than I could carry. So spent a good hour there stocking up, then went on my way to Maia. Bought my meta alloys (woo hoo), and handed in the exploration data from my 67 jump trip (plan was to do the same on the return journey, and hand that in to Felicity by way of ingratiation). The data netted me more than I expected - 3m credits!! That might be chump change to some of you, but to me it was over half an exploration rank and doubled my bank account, so gave me the budget to setup a mining Keelback (already bought the hull and A rated a couple of the components including the FSD). But also, on handing in the data, I got an achievement, apparently I was the first to discover one of the planets I scanned! That was my first new planet discovery, so quite a moment for me (and really has me rediscovering my love for the game, I'm fully back now, mind, body and soul) - I simply hadn't thought it possible to find an undiscovered planet between the game starting point and Maia as it's hardly the back of beyond. But this leads me to the questions:

1) The crystals and pebbles I found on the planet surface - was I able to see these in my nav screen only because I had completed a planetary surface scan? And could I have found them on the planet's surface by chance had I not scanned ahead of time? I have never found more than two sources of mats next to one another previously, and never crystals or pebbles, both were new to me. There were over 100 mats sources within a close drive, and a constant crackling as if I were packing a Geiger counter around Chernobyl, and plumes of steam/smoke. All entirely new to me;

2) New planet discovery - must this be one of the planets on which I used the DSS, with the probes, or is it just coincidence that I got a first discovery when I first used that scanner?;

3) New planet discovery - I have no idea which planet I discovered. It is likely a remote, anarchy rock in the middle of nowhere (it's a barren, desolate wasteland out there on the way to Maia, as you will all know), but I'd still like to revisit it. But is that checkably possible or would I have to physically find it..?

Anyway, will stop there as this is an appallingly long post, and doesn't even have pictures to break it up/increase interest (which is a shame, as it was a fun voyage), but I'd appreciate any opinions. I had to stop at the first outpost short of Felicity, the first place I could dock, as the ever-lovely Mrs Templar returned with the kids, but I did check the value of my exploration data (didn't hand it in as I'm waiting to get to Felicity in a dozen or so more jumps), and its value is 2.8m. So all in all my strongest evening in a while. And one which cemented my love of the trusty T6, even before any engineering.

Apologies for the extreme length of this post. Stick me on 'ignore' if it's too much, but I'll try to be more succinct going forwards!

o7

 

[Codger]

Sounds like you’re having fun, Simon

As for your questions:
1) Yes, you find them with a surface scan. You can find them by just driving or flying around, but it’s unlikely. Planets are big. Finding a crystal field or fumaroles is the best way to get raw materials these days, so you figured that out on your own.

2) To get a first discovery you just need to scan the planet with the FSS, or fly close and scan with your ship. You can also get a “first mapped by” tag if you’re the first to surface scan it.

3) You’d have had to write it down when you were selling the data. It’s not saved in your logs, unfortunately.

 

[Simon Templar]

Sounds like you’re having fun, Simon

As for your questions:
1) Yes, you find them with a surface scan. You can find them by just driving or flying around, but it’s unlikely. Planets are big. Finding a crystal field or fumaroles is the best way to get raw materials these days, so you figured that out on your own.

2) To get a first discovery you just need to scan the planet with the FSS, or fly close and scan with your ship. You can also get a “first mapped by” tag if you’re the first to surface scan it.

3) You’d have had to write it down when you were selling the data. It’s not saved in your logs, unfortunately.

Lol indeed I am. Finally getting to grips with things. Often good to step away from a project, reflect then return. It often, in my experience, either lets you take things to a whole new level or tells you that it really isn't for you.

1) I don't use the Codex, think of it as a box of spoilers, I don't mind using the odd snippet I might have picked up in a space bar or something, but a laid out guide takes away some of the mystery for me, so I very much prefer the make it up as I go along approach. Very glad to have discovered this one at the beginning of my engineering journey!

2) Thank you - food for thought.

3) Figured as much! Guess I'll have to either find it again or make better notes next time.

Thank you very much for the response, Commander.

o7

 

[Simon Templar]

You can find them by just driving or flying around, but it’s unlikely. Planets are big.

I actually think that this throwaway line is one of the easiest things to forget in this game. It's a proper pearl of wisdom, thank you.

 

[Dommarraa]

I fly an A rated but unengineered T6, Orpheus. I am currently pre-engineers, so set out from my home base in Kotait for Maia, in order to pick up the meta alloys for Felicity. The galaxy map told me that that was 350 or so light years, and would take me 67 jumps (Orpheus is a generalist unaarmed trader/mats gathering/casual exploration build T6, and I was taking her 'as is', so with 80T or so cargo capacity, shields, SRV bay, 4A fuel scoop etc., so she only pulls IIRC around 29ly on a jump). Suited me as I want to get my explorer rank up, so planned to take a moderately leisurely pace and see some sites along the way, and maybe pick up some mats if anything presented itself.

Can I just point out that 350 ly in 67 jumps is 5ly per jump. TURN OFF ECONOMIC MODE !

 

[Simon Templar]

Can I just point out that 350 ly in 67 jumps is 5ly per jump. TURN OFF ECONOMIC MODE !

Lol I was waiting for someone to spot that! In my defence, I was stopping off and taking my time to tool around exploring at various points, so deliberately didn't want to get anywhere close to an 'as the crow flies' course. It also might be why I bagged my first discovered planet. So I'm happy with the choice but yes, will change the setting when I am heading further afield.

o7

 

[Codger]

I actually think that this throwaway line is one of the easiest things to forget in this game. It's a proper pearl of wisdom, thank you.

When the new DSS was released I tried it out on the nearest landable planet, and found that there were a dozen geological sites on it. It was in a heavily traveled system, too. But no one had run across them. In the bad old days folks would spend hours and hours trying to find stuff by eye. We had no clue how much stuff was actually there until we got the new scanners.

 

[Simon Templar]

When the new DSS was released I tried it out on the nearest landable planet, and found that there were a dozen geological sites on it. It was in a heavily traveled system, too. But no one had run across them. In the bad old days folks would spend hours and hours trying to find stuff by eye. We had no clue how much stuff was actually there until we got the new scanners.

Brilliant, thank you. I certainly put in a few hundred km on my SRV on my old career. I look forward to a new, more efficient me.

o7

 

[Phongsalt]

Welcome to the world of exploration.The fact that you found an undiscovered system on the well beaten track to Maia ,(lets face it,everyone who uses Farseer makes the journey) also speaks volumes about the size and scale of the game.
It is possible to find poi's without mapping the planet.In the upper right corner of the FSS
screen,a small panel with a spining wheel.The longer it spins,the greater the chance of poi being present.Eventually it will resolve into either; the type (geo/bio) and number of sites present,or none.

 

[Codger]

Welcome to the world of exploration.The fact that you found an undiscovered system on the well beaten track to Maia ,(lets face it,everyone who uses Farseer makes the journey) also speaks volumes about the size and scale of the game.
It is possible to find poi's without mapping the planet.In the upper right corner of the FSS
screen,a small panel with a spining wheel.The longer it spins,the greater the chance of poi being present.Eventually it will resolve into either; the type (geo/bio) and number of sites present,or none.

To be accurate, you can tell that there are POIs that way, but you still need to DSS the body to find the actual locations.

 

[Simon Templar]

Welcome to the world of exploration.The fact that you found an undiscovered system on the well beaten track to Maia ,(lets face it,everyone who uses Farseer makes the journey) also speaks volumes about the size and scale of the game.
It is possible to find poi's without mapping the planet.In the upper right corner of the FSS
screen,a small panel with a spining wheel.The longer it spins,the greater the chance of poi being present.Eventually it will resolve into either; the type (geo/bio) and number of sites present,or none.

Yes, indeed, I had hopes of being a first to discover at some point, but I had thought I'd have to go much further afield. I took a slightly circuitous route, but still didn't think that the Kotait-Maia route was unusual enough to have a shot at a first discovery. This game is massive.

 

[aRJay]

I'd like to pick the collective brains in here (it's a particularly knowledgeable and patient corner of the site), if I may (as well as share last night's milestone.

I fly an A rated but unengineered T6, Orpheus. I am currently pre-engineers, so set out from my home base in Kotait for Maia, in order to pick up the meta alloys for Felicity. The galaxy map told me that that was 350 or so light years, and would take me 67 jumps (Orpheus is a generalist unaarmed trader/mats gathering/casual exploration build T6, and I was taking her 'as is', so with 80T or so cargo capacity, shields, SRV bay, 4A fuel scoop etc., so she only pulls IIRC around 29ly on a jump). Suited me as I want to get my explorer rank up, so planned to take a moderately leisurely pace and see some sites along the way, and maybe pick up some mats if anything presented itself.

Well the whole trip went very well, better than expected, but has left me with some (probably rookie) questions, if I may. I feel as though I have some very basic gaps in my knowledge, to be honest with you, and have never even really scratched the surface of exploration, and have missed a chunk of the game.

Each time I landed at a system, I would see whether there were unexplored planets with a few thousand ls, and if there were I'd fly up and honk them. I also had a play around with the new (to me!) scanner and tried planet surface scanning/mapping for half dozen or so more unusual planets. Well - on one of the planets, just short of Maia, one whose surface I had scanned, I also chose to land in the SRV and have a drive around. It was bathed in sunlight, it was a good-looking ochre-coloured planet, my lovely red Orpheus would look lovely gleaming in the sunlight (sorry, haven't figured out how to get screen shots from Xbox to laptop), and I fancied a drive. Started out, and noticed that my nav map had lots of points of geological interest. Drove to the nearest one, and it was mats city, they were all over the place. Basically a mix of some sort of crystal and some sort of pebble. I was getting more chromium, zinc, iron and some more exotic stuff than I could carry. So spent a good hour there stocking up, then went on my way to Maia. Bought my meta alloys (woo hoo), and handed in the exploration data from my 67 jump trip (plan was to do the same on the return journey, and hand that in to Felicity by way of ingratiation). The data netted me more than I expected - 3m credits!! That might be chump change to some of you, but to me it was over half an exploration rank and doubled my bank account, so gave me the budget to setup a mining Keelback (already bought the hull and A rated a couple of the components including the FSD). But also, on handing in the data, I got an achievement, apparently I was the first to discover one of the planets I scanned! That was my first new planet discovery, so quite a moment for me (and really has me rediscovering my love for the game, I'm fully back now, mind, body and soul) - I simply hadn't thought it possible to find an undiscovered planet between the game starting point and Maia as it's hardly the back of beyond. But this leads me to the questions:

1) The crystals and pebbles I found on the planet surface - was I able to see these in my nav screen only because I had completed a planetary surface scan? And could I have found them on the planet's surface by chance had I not scanned ahead of time? I have never found more than two sources of mats next to one another previously, and never crystals or pebbles, both were new to me. There were over 100 mats sources within a close drive, and a constant crackling as if I were packing a Geiger counter around Chernobyl, and plumes of steam/smoke. All entirely new to me;

2) New planet discovery - must this be one of the planets on which I used the DSS, with the probes, or is it just coincidence that I got a first discovery when I first used that scanner?;

3) New planet discovery - I have no idea which planet I discovered. It is likely a remote, anarchy rock in the middle of nowhere (it's a barren, desolate wasteland out there on the way to Maia, as you will all know), but I'd still like to revisit it. But is that checkably possible or would I have to physically find it..?

Anyway, will stop there as this is an appallingly long post, and doesn't even have pictures to break it up/increase interest (which is a shame, as it was a fun voyage), but I'd appreciate any opinions. I had to stop at the first outpost short of Felicity, the first place I could dock, as the ever-lovely Mrs Templar returned with the kids, but I did check the value of my exploration data (didn't hand it in as I'm waiting to get to Felicity in a dozen or so more jumps), and its value is 2.8m. So all in all my strongest evening in a while. And one which cemented my love of the trusty T6, even before any engineering.

Apologies for the extreme length of this post. Stick me on 'ignore' if it's too much, but I'll try to be more succinct going forwards!

o7

Congratulations on your discovery and on doing a proper explore rather than just jumping as far as possible.

One way to find your world would be set your galaxy map to filter out systems not visited then you could re-plot your route and by selecting the systems on it go to the systems maps and look for your name.

Of course as long as you were as diligent on your way back, brave carrying cargo, there is a chance that when you sell your new data of another first discovery.

 

[ElectricFactory]

No news to anyone here but this is one hell of a game. I like that there’s no end goal, nor boss to beat nor any limits save for self-imposed ones. You don’t have to explore. You don’t have to mine. You don’t have to take any preset path.
I love it.

 

[Baxder]

I'd like to pick the collective brains in here (it's a particularly knowledgeable and patient corner of the site), if I may (as well as share last night's milestone.

I fly an A rated but unengineered T6, Orpheus. I am currently pre-engineers, so set out from my home base in Kotait for Maia, in order to pick up the meta alloys for Felicity. The galaxy map told me that that was 350 or so light years, and would take me 67 jumps (Orpheus is a generalist unaarmed trader/mats gathering/casual exploration build T6, and I was taking her 'as is', so with 80T or so cargo capacity, shields, SRV bay, 4A fuel scoop etc., so she only pulls IIRC around 29ly on a jump). Suited me as I want to get my explorer rank up, so planned to take a moderately leisurely pace and see some sites along the way, and maybe pick up some mats if anything presented itself.

Well the whole trip went very well, better than expected, but has left me with some (probably rookie) questions, if I may. I feel as though I have some very basic gaps in my knowledge, to be honest with you, and have never even really scratched the surface of exploration, and have missed a chunk of the game.

Each time I landed at a system, I would see whether there were unexplored planets with a few thousand ls, and if there were I'd fly up and honk them. I also had a play around with the new (to me!) scanner and tried planet surface scanning/mapping for half dozen or so more unusual planets. Well - on one of the planets, just short of Maia, one whose surface I had scanned, I also chose to land in the SRV and have a drive around. It was bathed in sunlight, it was a good-looking ochre-coloured planet, my lovely red Orpheus would look lovely gleaming in the sunlight (sorry, haven't figured out how to get screen shots from Xbox to laptop), and I fancied a drive. Started out, and noticed that my nav map had lots of points of geological interest. Drove to the nearest one, and it was mats city, they were all over the place. Basically a mix of some sort of crystal and some sort of pebble. I was getting more chromium, zinc, iron and some more exotic stuff than I could carry. So spent a good hour there stocking up, then went on my way to Maia. Bought my meta alloys (woo hoo), and handed in the exploration data from my 67 jump trip (plan was to do the same on the return journey, and hand that in to Felicity by way of ingratiation). The data netted me more than I expected - 3m credits!! That might be chump change to some of you, but to me it was over half an exploration rank and doubled my bank account, so gave me the budget to setup a mining Keelback (already bought the hull and A rated a couple of the components including the FSD). But also, on handing in the data, I got an achievement, apparently I was the first to discover one of the planets I scanned! That was my first new planet discovery, so quite a moment for me (and really has me rediscovering my love for the game, I'm fully back now, mind, body and soul) - I simply hadn't thought it possible to find an undiscovered planet between the game starting point and Maia as it's hardly the back of beyond. But this leads me to the questions:

1) The crystals and pebbles I found on the planet surface - was I able to see these in my nav screen only because I had completed a planetary surface scan? And could I have found them on the planet's surface by chance had I not scanned ahead of time? I have never found more than two sources of mats next to one another previously, and never crystals or pebbles, both were new to me. There were over 100 mats sources within a close drive, and a constant crackling as if I were packing a Geiger counter around Chernobyl, and plumes of steam/smoke. All entirely new to me;

2) New planet discovery - must this be one of the planets on which I used the DSS, with the probes, or is it just coincidence that I got a first discovery when I first used that scanner?;

3) New planet discovery - I have no idea which planet I discovered. It is likely a remote, anarchy rock in the middle of nowhere (it's a barren, desolate wasteland out there on the way to Maia, as you will all know), but I'd still like to revisit it. But is that checkably possible or would I have to physically find it..?

Anyway, will stop there as this is an appallingly long post, and doesn't even have pictures to break it up/increase interest (which is a shame, as it was a fun voyage), but I'd appreciate any opinions. I had to stop at the first outpost short of Felicity, the first place I could dock, as the ever-lovely Mrs Templar returned with the kids, but I did check the value of my exploration data (didn't hand it in as I'm waiting to get to Felicity in a dozen or so more jumps), and its value is 2.8m. So all in all my strongest evening in a while. And one which cemented my love of the trusty T6, even before any engineering.

Apologies for the extreme length of this post. Stick me on 'ignore' if it's too much, but I'll try to be more succinct going forwards!

o7

After my own heart, my friend. There are some great guides for engineering and exploration out there, including some on how to interpret the SRV scanner signals (in short, though, non-crackly sounds are good!). I've relied heavily upon these, with great success:
Engineering:
Reddit
Reddit
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRfYYnnOztJrPCttVgh5lS6PtrCRvdenq

Guardian Tech (If exploration is your gig, you're definitely going to want the FSD booster):
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/walkthrough-guardian-module-blueprints.438289/
Reddit

Edit: OK. Don't just paste reddit links. Got it.

 

[Simon Templar]

Congratulations on your discovery and on doing a proper explore rather than just jumping as far as possible.

One way to find your world would be set your galaxy map to filter out systems not visited then you could re-plot your route and by selecting the systems on it go to the systems maps and look for your name.

Of course as long as you were as diligent on your way back, brave carrying cargo, there is a chance that when you sell your new data of another first discovery.

Thank you, and that's a good idea. And yes I did dawdle on the way back, so there is always a chance of that, yes. Brave or stupid? Probably the latter, but I did was interdicted half a dozen times on the way back and eluded them, and if a ship did turn up in a system while I was scanning I would simply leave as I had 2T of meta alloys in the hold. But Orpheus does now give me a feeling of such go anywhere security that I am likely to prove the idea that pride goes before a fall before too long. I have even left her parked in what looks basically like a pirate stronghold as I ran out of time to get all the way up to Felicity, so my fall might come during my first 20 minutes this evening. But I'm choosing to stay positive.

o7

No news to anyone here but this is one hell of a game. I like that there’s no end goal, nor boss to beat nor any limits save for self-imposed ones. You don’t have to explore. You don’t have to mine. You don’t have to take any preset path.
I love it.

This isn't a game - it's an alternate life

After my own heart, my friend. There are some great guides for engineering and exploration out there, including some on how to interpret the SRV scanner signals (in short, though, non-crackly sounds are good!). I've relied heavily upon these, with great success:
Engineering:
Reddit
Reddit
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRfYYnnOztJrPCttVgh5lS6PtrCRvdenq

Guardian Tech (If exploration is your gig, you're definitely going to want the FSD booster):
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/walkthrough-guardian-module-blueprints.438289/
Reddit

Edit: OK. Don't just paste reddit links. Got it.

Gosh, thank you, much food for thought, thank you so much for posting. I have never tackled any Guardian stuff, but have heard of the FSD booster. Plan was trade my way into a T6 and Keelback (done!), unlock Felicity (almost done!), engineer the heck out of T6 and Keelback (starts tonight!), fit out Keelback for mining (tomorrow, thank you Codger), try mining (this weekend), then ponder Guardian stuff in the margins of a longer T6 exploration run.

Always good to have a plan!

o7

 

[aRJay]

Thank you, and that's a good idea. And yes I did dawdle on the way back, so there is always a chance of that, yes. Brave or stupid? Probably the latter, but I did was interdicted half a dozen times on the way back and eluded them, and if a ship did turn up in a system while I was scanning I would simply leave as I had 2T of meta alloys in the hold. But Orpheus does now give me a feeling of such go anywhere security that I am likely to prove the idea that pride goes before a fall before too long. I have even left her parked in what looks basically like a pirate stronghold as I ran out of time to get all the way up to Felicity, so my fall might come during my first 20 minutes this evening. But I'm choosing to stay positive.

o7




This isn't a game - it's an alternate life




Gosh, thank you, much food for thought, thank you so much for posting. I have never tackled any Guardian stuff, but have heard of the FSD booster. Plan was trade my way into a T6 and Keelback (done!), unlock Felicity (almost done!), engineer the heck out of T6 and Keelback (starts tonight!), fit out Keelback for mining (tomorrow, thank you Codger), try mining (this weekend), then ponder Guardian stuff in the margins of a longer T6 exploration run.

Always good to have a plan!

o7

There is a ferry out from the Zende system to a Guardian rich area (and back) it travels every Thursday while the servers are reset (07:00) just dock with it before that happens then undock in another system after the reset.

When visiting active guardian sites it is recommended to use a ship with point defence installed on top and land close to the site, small ships tend to be easier to do this with.

 

[Rustnsawdust]

Apologies for the extreme length of this post

No apology necessary - it's a pleasure to read someone enjoying the game rather than the many complaint threads that run endlessly (and repetitively) on the forums.

We had no clue how much stuff was actually there until we got the new scanners

Yup - I mentioned it in an earlier post, when beta arrived at the end of my planetary circumnavigation. That 'planet' was actually a rather small moon and I had just taken a month to drive the entire equator and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Using the new scanners it turned out to have more than a dozen geo and bio sites, and I had driven within a few kilometres of a braintree forest.

 

[Dommarraa]

No news to anyone here but this is one hell of a game. I like that there’s no end goal, nor boss to beat nor any limits save for self-imposed ones. You don’t have to explore. You don’t have to mine. You don’t have to take any preset path.
I love it.

Not totally true. To unlock some of the Engineers, you do have to participate in these side activities for a short period. When you do, I have observed that approaching it with an open mind, and treating it as a new experience (as FD intended), makes it a lot more fun than approaching it with the angry "I demand to blaze my own trail" attitude of some.

 

[Baxder]

Not totally true. To unlock some of the Engineers, you do have to participate in these side activities for a short period. When you do, I have observed that approaching it with an open mind, and treating it as a new experience (as FD intended), makes it a lot more fun than approaching it with the angry "I demand to blaze my own trail" attitude of some.

Awesome avatar! Another mouth to feed! Have you checked out Tron 2.0? (Video game). It's quite old now, but awesome. And cheap.

 

[TomcatMF]

So I just finished outfitting my AspX Discovery for exploration. G5 FSD with the Guardian FSD booster gives me a 60 LY range. I also have an AFMU in case I run into trouble out in the black. I had enough room for one 3E cargo bay in case I run across something rare out there for me to scoop up.

This trip will serve a few purposes. First I will get a chance to really try out exploration. I plan to take my time and do a full FSS scan on every system, then I will surface map anything that has surface features, as well as any ELW or Terraformable planets. I'm headed in a westerly direction from the bubble, so I hope to find some First Discoveries out there. Second I will head out past the 5000LY mark to unlock Professor Palin. The third purpose is to gather as many materials as possible from the surface of planets to fill up my raw materials coffers to the brim.

I will begin my trip today.