Your first Expedition (Share your first Exploration)

[Moadeeb]

Hello everyone,

To earn enough money to get my ASP upgraded I simply went on short exploration runs of 300 ly and less runs around the start point. Pleiades was a rich place to visit. I did some planet runs to gather material for the FSD upgrade, some wake scans and visited some colony ships for materials as well. Was not in any rush. Took me about 5 weeks to get my ASP – X ready and a starting Anaconda. My Anaconda is not ready for exploration yet but the ASP X is ready.

The first expedition I planned is a trip to an unnamed Nebula. The distance one way is 2300 light years. I chose something not too far for the first time to wet my feet. My FSD jumps are 33 to 37 depending if laden. I have the 5A FSD with a level 5 engineered upgrade.

The one way trip to the nebula was 110 jumps and was reasonably small I think. I did not want to make my first expedition to be 5,000 LY plus as I am still new. When I plotted my course I filtered for only scoopable planets. I was lucky to find a route that worked with these filters so no worries about fuel on the way there.

I maintained discipline and did not take any side tracks. At 1,000 light years I got my first surprise. I jumped into a star system that had planets nobody explored, they were open for me to take if I wanted them. The surprise was this was so close to the start point of the game. I started in Tote. But looking at the system a little longer it was evident why they remained unnamed discoveries. They were ice balls located a long distance from the main star. Not worth the super cruise time to snatch them so I left them. I did not write down the name of the start system. Some of you may think that was crazy but I don’t need to be etched into posterity that badly.

Another surprise for me was how few stars appeared in my Navigation Panel at times. At one point along the way there was just 1 other star in the navigation window. I zoomed out to the galaxy view and realized why. I was venturing closer to the outer rim. The other funny thing was that I noticed a speck of stars appearing in my window when I was more than 2000LS from the main star. This speck was gradually closing and growing in size the more jumps I made. It took me a while to notice the obvious with that speck. The speck was the nebula I was travelling towards. Heh silly me. In every system I detail scanned the main star and honked the system. There were three or four systems maybe half a dozen that I ventured into the system for detailed scans. On one such venture I discovered a class of planet I never encountered before – a Water Giant.

When I arrive at the Nebula. Does anyone want me to identify the Nebula? I discovered it was full of “O” Class stars. This was my first encounter with them. They run straight through them. They are huge and amazing. I counted 47 of them so far. In the third star system I found my first black hole and a second black hole in the 4th. In one of the star systems I discovered a beacon that was called cupids arrow. I dropped into its place in space and I got an automated e-mail message describing the Nebula and giving its nickname. You can come out here yourselves to learn that.

Right now I am in my tenth star system and they are star systems like I have never seen before, truly different in their contents. I wanted to share my first expedition with all of you and I am asking for others to share their first expeditions also. I find this incredibly exciting and hope others feel that way also.

Many of you have obviously been on a ton of expeditions to more exotic places but I was just wondering about everyone's first.

 

[Moadeeb]

I am now on my return trip and completed the exploration. Here are the details,

Start System: Tote

Target of Expedition: NGC 822 NEBULA

Total Systems Explored: 58 inside the nebula were visited. Of these 90% were class “O” star systems. These were hands down the most unique star systems I have seen so far in this game. (keep in mind this is my first expedition). I discovered a class “O” star that is older than the one in the Galactic Record Book. I took my one and only screen shot here. I was not a tourist so did not take any. The class “O” stars are all massive. The class “O” stars appeared in clusters. Some very close. The closest stars I found were only 0.18 LY’s apart.

Black Holes: I discovered a total of 28 and all of them were in the class “O” star systems. I may have missed some in the beginning as they are not readily obvious on the system map as they appear as a blank spot. Several systems had two black holes and one had three. Two of the three were orbiting each other and the third was orbiting the two.

Memorable sights: When I was less than 10 jumps from the Nebula looking at it straight on a monkey face appeared in the Nebula. Later, inside the Nebula I happened to look out my right cockpit window and the Nebula looked like a giant eyeball, in cross section, complete with eyelid and lashes looking out into space. A third occasion I happened to be about 10,000 Ls’s away from the main star when I overshot my target. When I turned back to get it in scanning range. I noticed in the background that the main star and all of its companions were aligned across the plane of the elliptic of the main star. What I saw was a line of stars that were purple blue, white, yellow, orange and red. It was a rainbow of stars. (Nope no screenshot. Was not a tourist)

The road home: I chose a triangular route home to avoid jumping into the same star systems. So, I am heading in the direction of the California Nebula for 2,000 LY’s and then I will turn inwards towards Tote.

Total Cartographic Credits: I sold all at my starting point (Tote). 27.3 million

First Discoveries: 19. This number was a big surprise. I thought I only had 3.

Landable Bodies: YES

 

[Apsley]

Nice idea. Mine was a while ago so don't remember much detail . I think I headed 3k ly out of the bubble as a test run in a cobra mk3. Did not discover anything as interesting as you did, but managed to tag stuff which I quite enjoyed.

The thing I remember most of all though is the sense of isolation. It surprised me that a game could trigger that to the degree that it did. I've had a few much longer trips since, the longest was 10 months out of the bubble in a DBE. I'm not ready just yet for my next trip but I intend to reach Beagle Point when my feet next get itchy.

Aps.

 

[GunnerBill]

Where did the water go? Either it's on the ground or in the atmosphere. It can't just disappear.

 

[Aura Lorell]

My first one was more like a false start. I was flying a Cobra MK III. I didn't know what a DSS was for. I had no idea how the module letters and numbers worked. My jump range was abysmal. I went 'up'. Kept going for around 100 Ly until I hit a dead end. At that point I'd decided that exploration was the thing for me, so instead of trying to go further I returned and worked to get an AspX. I sat down and read things about exploration loadouts and FSDs and whatnot. That was pre-engineer time.

My Asp had roughly around 33 Ly range and I decided another (proper) trip was necessary. This time I went 'down'. Managed to go quite far (but not amazingly far) before hitting dead ends and also discovered my first ELW. Also, I still didn't understand some critical exploration mechanics, like that a simple honk is not enough for tagging and scanning of the main star is necessary. At least I had a DSS with me. After that trip I never looked back.

 

[Major Klutz]

My first short trip out was to NGC 6357 in a poorly optimized DBE. You can see the trip on my map here. The course is in red since the game didn't provide coordinates back then I only did trilaterations every 1Kly or so. I was going to go on to Sag A* but turned back to be in the bubble before a major game patch.
Later I went on to Sag A on my alt account.

... Does anyone want me to identify the Nebula? ...

By your description, I suspect it's NGC 7822. It's a short trip out and everything you describe. Most experienced explorers have been there since it's a bit of a beacon in the sky, visible from thousands of light years away.
On my first trip to Colonia I noticed a bright cluster of stars and headed toward it until I ended up in NGC 7822

I posted my pre departure and post return stats here... Just-returned-after-10-months-(Trip-Stats)

 

[osser]

My first one was 18 months. I played everyday except for 2. I returned May 22 of this year 18 months to the day of departure.
My asp explorer flew 445,590 ly's
I visited 21,227 systems
I visited 1889 Neutron stars
I visited 338 black holes
I visited 1580 Water worlds
I discovered 143 Earth Like worlds (126 were first discoveries) I lost 2 to other commanders or it would have been 128.
I went all the way to Beagle Point and was on the roster for Distant worlds.
I joined DW late and was never able to catch up however. Although I still made it to Beagle Point in time to be considered part of the expedition.
In all that time I saw only 1 other ship. I had a meet and greet with Tom the Keelback.
I visited Sag A and the Great Annihilator.
I visited countless nebula's and planetary nebula's (one of which was a 1st discovery)
I returned with 79 % hull and 80ish PP
The data sold for 1.54 billion credits (most of the data was per 2.3)

I have thread here somewhere called "Coming Home"

I plan on leaving again Nov 22 in just over a month on another long trip.

CMDR Tootiny

 

[RanbowTrout]

The first? Wandering aimlessly out towards the Coalsack in an poorly specced Hauler. Took me a couple of hours each way, but I still felt pretty good about it.
The first 'proper' one was a few weeks wandering around the 'basement' around 1000ly below the plane in a poorly specced Cobra III (something of a theme until this week, tbh). Bagged around 5 ammonia worlds and a binary ELW pair.
Chicken feed compared to more recent stuff, but it was still pretty good. Can't quite believe that was years ago now. . .

 

[iain666]

Does anyone want me to identify the Nebula?

NGC 7822? Visit it next if it wasn't, it's gorgeous. Sounds like it was though.

I went through it on my first trip out of the bubble and on to Heart and Soul. That one would have been better if I'd made it back but there was a silent running incident (I blame Windows sending key presses to ED when it shouldn't have). For my second trip I made sure that couldn't happen - hence the name of my Cobra...

 

[Kzak]

My very first expedition was a month or so after Elite went live, in a Cobra Mk III I travelled to the Pleiades (which was considered to be some distance out from civilization at the time). It was fun and educational! I undertook longer expeditions later.

 

[Deluvian]

My first?
Long time ago.. pre-Horizons era, I bought a DBX and did what I could (pre-Engineers era as well), went to the center of the Galaxy, did not even know back then about Sagittarius A..
Well, I was not flying very safely and did not understand game mechanics very well.. long story short, I did not make it back.. not very far away from The Bubble my FSD would not kick in anymore..
Self destroyed.. got really frustrated and went back to hauling/trading :|

 

[Mysturji]

I've been playing since Premium Beta.
In Gamma, before multi-jump routes were a thing, I headed out for Cygnus X-1.
One.
Jump.
At.
A.
Time.
1500+.
Light
Years.

...

When I got there, it wasn't there.
Then I came back.
In my Cobra.
Before Engineers.
Multi-jump routes were introduced when I was about 5 jumps from my destination (which wasn't there - just an O-type star and nothing else).
The trip back was a lot easier.

 

[Shinji Ikari]

I believe my first trip was a 6000 ly trip to a Wolf rayyet Star in my Asp, I then did a few 1000 Ly passenger missions. Closing to 1000 hrs of experience I just did a 130 Kly trip to Semotus Beacon.

 

[ThomasWJames]

I'm a relatively new player that has been playing off and on since October of 2016. When I first started I grinded the Rares Trade route in my Adder until I had enough for my Asp Explorer fitted for exploration.

My first true exploration mission was around October 7th, 2016 where I went 680 LY away from Deciat system to see if I could handle my future trip to Colonia. Out there I made my first "First Discovered" planet. I keep a small journal in INARA: https://inara.cz/cmdr-logbook/40600/13891/

My second expedition was on October 8th, 2016 straight to Colonia via the outposts route: https://inara.cz/cmdr-logbook/40600/13897/ I took a huge break from the game during this trip from October 29th to March 4th and finally finished it.

I try to keep track of all my "First Discovered" systems: https://inara.cz/cmdr-logbook/40600/13892/

On April 1st, 2016 I set off to Beagle Point. I'm currently about 14k light years away. I took a long break from the game from April 13th to July 9th and then again from July 9th to September 29th. These days I'm more consistent as to when I'm on and doing my trip. I predict another week or so and I should make it to Beagle Point.

After Beagle Point, I plan to pass through Sag A on my return trip. It's been such a long trip so far, but I am enjoying it, but also can't wait to get back to the bubble and grind the Engineers and then do a little mystery solving in the game.

 

[acg515]

The first one I took was in a 17 ly capable Cobra Mk 3 to the Pleiades and the Witches Head nebula, I think I made it as far as Barnard's Loop but I can't remember if I made it that far or not on that trip. Maia was a cool system to go to, there were no stations for a long ways when I went and I made some first discoveries on the way. I doubt now that you could take a flight between the Bubble and Maia now and find much that hasn't been discovered yet. The bubble has grown that's for sure. That journey was enough to net me an Asp, though back then exploration didn't make as much profit as it does now so I wasn't able to quite A-rate it and it took some smuggling to get an A-rated FSD in it. I haven't looked back since then.

 

[Roqinn]

My first was out to the Heart and Soul nebulas. It was already a heavily explored area, but I still found a few systems to tag! I saw some very pretty sights out there. I went out passed there again when I started the Dead Ends Circumnavigation Expedition. It is well worth a visit!

 

[Jackie Silver]

My first expedition (in the full game) was to visit as many of the major stars of Orion as I could, and specifically to visit Mintaka.

 

[GunnerBill]

My first was out to the Heart and Soul nebulas. It was already a heavily explored area, but I still found a few systems to tag! I saw some very pretty sights out there. I went out passed there again when I started the Dead Ends Circumnavigation Expedition. It is well worth a visit!

Pretty much this. I'd done a loop through the 'loop' (Barnards Loop!) and aimed for Heart and Soul but got stuck in a sparse area and couldn't get back out again!!

Massive panic and considered having to self destruct before a kindly CMDR on here pointed me at EDSM flight logging etc. This was in the days before 'visited stars' etc.

Once I had escaped from my prison I head back via California Nebula and places like that.

Basically as it was my Annie didn't have nearly enough jump range for that kind of exploration. Then I plugged around in the bubble ranking up etc, doing the engineer thing until pew-pew killed my elbow and I set off for SagA*

 

[acg515]

I apparently made a run out to the Veil Nebula East that I completely forgot about as well going through those screenshots from my voyages in the first year I had this game. I suppose those voyages wouldn't be considered long range now. My screenshot skills had not yet been polished. These pics are from 04/21/2015 apparently, I started within the first week this game launched back in 12/14. Hard to believe I've been playing this game since then.

 

[13A]

Some wonderful replies in this thread.

My first sort-of expedition was during beta when I decided to go from one end of 'the pill' to the other, manually plotting each jump as there was no plotter available. That was in a Hauler.

My first real expedition was after the route plotter was released and we could plot 100ly at a time. I'd worked my way up to an Adder with a 20ly range, so I could plot 5 jumps at a time - such luxury! I headed straight down, intending to see how far I could get. I think I managed about 300ly before realising that my build wasn't good for exploring. I'd basically taken my trading Adder and swapped a cargo rack for a fuel scoop, and swapped BDS for ADS.

After getting back I found that there were explorers who knew more about this than me, and there was even an explorers forum! My next trip was with D rated modules, no weapons and 25ly. I even had a DSS!