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DancingShade
Jul 26, 2007

by Fluffdaddy
If conflict zones just had a decent payout compared to RES bounty hunting - or even carried some kind of actual rep boost - they would have a purpose.

Otherwise nothing beyond BGS stuff, yeah.

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Section Z
Oct 1, 2008

Wait, this is the Moon.
How did I even get here?

Pillbug

DancingShade posted:

If conflict zones just had a decent payout compared to RES bounty hunting - or even carried some kind of actual rep boost - they would have a purpose.

Otherwise nothing beyond BGS stuff, yeah.

Thought as much. Despite being a target rich environment, you can't even consider them all that great for raising your Combat rating either (outside of old 'killsteal credit from a battleship' exploits).

Because conflict zone ships are all tougher than anything outside of them (last I even bothered to go in one, at least). You can kill a RES Bounty Elite Anaconda through straight up hull damage faster than you can kill smaller "mostly harmless" ships in a Conflict Zone.

I don't even care about the money there. My original goal I set myself in beta was to have nice Naval ranks for both the Empire and Feds, even before there were ships as rewards for that. Half the reason I originally burnt out and took a long break was because my Naval ranks were bugged to hell and back.

It was quite the relief seeing my Empire Naval rank finally rise up from None, Zero, nothing, when I finally returned to Empire Space after reinstalling. For now though, I think I'll settle for Baron like I settled for Ensign as Fed (At least I was already halfway through Chief Petty Officer there).

Astroniomix
Apr 24, 2015



Section Z posted:

Somebody remind me what practical purpose (compared to RES bounties) conflict zones serve outside of trying to get the BGS politics to move in the way you are hoping.

New and exciting ways to get bitchslapped into oblivion by rail asps.

Hamelekim
Feb 25, 2006

And another thing... if global warming is real. How come it's so damn cold?
Ramrod XTreme
I such at combat which depresses me. Lack of money and poor load out are probably the main issue. Viper IV seems alright otherwise. I need a good 30ly Explorer ship under 600k to make some money exploring.

Zaardvark
Apr 28, 2015

Ceci n'est pas un GIF.

Hamelekim posted:

I such at combat which depresses me. Lack of money and poor load out are probably the main issue. Viper IV seems alright otherwise. I need a good 30ly Explorer ship under 600k to make some money exploring.

You can scrape together a substantial nest egg by spending some time bounty hunting in the company of some of our more established frogs. Just ask around in Discord and someone can help you out.

TheresaJayne
Jul 1, 2011

TomR posted:

New VR menu screen is kind of neat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r9A2p031ks

Finally, Waited 1 hour for the patch then 30 minutes for the shader thing, then into my ship in VR.

Looked to the right to see what was in my cargo, the screen froze. Message on desktop "Sorry something went wrong and Elite is going to close, we will send a report to :frontear: Tell us what you were doing

so Working as intended i guess

Truga
May 4, 2014
Lipstick Apathy

DreadLlama posted:

Here is a 5 minute video about a real thing that people are doing right now.

We have a pretty good map of where stuff is in your head. In fact, our own internal accelerometer's operation is pretty well understood.

I have a question for Occulus Rift users. Given that stimulating people's brains is already a thing we do, and we already know where the part of the brain that senses motion is, how much would you reckon people would pay for an accessory that stimulates your inner ear so when you pull a hard turn in your ship you feel fake g-forces?

Phi230 posted:

As a flight sim enthusiast I would pay good money for something like that.

All you would need is a chair that constantly spins in one direction at a constant speed and input would change the acceleration of the chairs spinning and you would feel fake g force. You would get used to the constant spin after a minute or so and with VR over your eyes you actually would feel as if you were sitting still.

It's crazy to experience. In my flight school we messed around with a chair like that and just manipulating the movement of the chair makes you feel all sorts of crazy stuff that actually isn't happening.

Prepare to get amazed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ_G_zbObWU
e: Video sucks at explaining anything, the description is good though:
Using a safe technique that sends electrical signals to the vestibular system in the ear, Entrim 4D synchronizes the body’s balance system with the changing movements in the VR videos. Users thus feel as if they are a part of the on-screen action, and can even sense direction and speed of movement.

Truga fucked around with this message at 13:20 on Mar 26, 2016

Truga
May 4, 2014
Lipstick Apathy
Newbie question: I google around the web and find ships have about 10% higher top speeds than what I'm reaching with all A grade modules. Are those super stripped down fits to get max speed or am I missing something?

i.e. I can't get viper past 400, but http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Viper_MkIII says 441m/s


e: nvm I played around a bit with coriolis.io and figured it out, it's super stripped down to get there.

Truga fucked around with this message at 14:20 on Mar 26, 2016

Literally Kermit
Mar 4, 2012
t

Truga posted:

Newbie question: I google around the web and find ships have about 10% higher top speeds than what I'm reaching with all A grade modules. Are those super stripped down fits to get max speed or am I missing something?

i.e. I can't get viper past 400, but http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Viper_MkIII says 441m/s


e: nvm I played around a bit with coriolis.io and figured it out, it's super stripped down to get there.

Yeah, you are seeing everything D rank, no internals, no weapons, only thing A ranked thrusters

Main Paineframe
Oct 27, 2010

Hamelekim posted:

I such at combat which depresses me. Lack of money and poor load out are probably the main issue. Viper IV seems alright otherwise. I need a good 30ly Explorer ship under 600k to make some money exploring.

Ha ha, no. The advanced scanner alone costs well over a million credits, and the detailed surface scanner costs 250k credits. There's not much point in cheaping out on an exploration ship, because the loadout is pricey no matter what.

Libluini
May 18, 2012

I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...
Grimey Drawer

Section Z posted:

It was quite the relief seeing my Empire Naval rank finally rise up from None, Zero, nothing, when I finally returned to Empire Space after reinstalling. For now though, I think I'll settle for Baron like I settled for Ensign as Fed (At least I was already halfway through Chief Petty Officer there).

Ranking up without using tricks and shortcuts is bananas. It's as slow as if you were actually going up through real life ranks. (Well, it fells like it at least.)

In fact, before we had feedback on how far we are from the next rank, the slowness convinced me and many others there was some kind of bug preventing ranking up. Hell, for all we know there really were bugs in the rank-system, but because of zero feedback we just couldn't possible know.

Considering the new system gives better feedback, but is also even slower, I'm kind of glad for this, though. As one of the many people complaining about bugs, I got "helped" when it looked like my Empire Naval rank was stuck.

For a time I even assumed this "help" had my progress-bar stuck at a perpetual 100%, but after I became a Prince it turned out Frontier solved the bugged Empire-progress by simply gifting me a titanic amount of rep. It just took until reaching "Prince" before I had churned through all of that. Now my progress-bar works like normal again, but I don't actually care for the Empire, so my rank from now on will be "Prince, 18%", for eternity. :v:

Tippis
Mar 21, 2008

It's yet another day in the wasteland.

Main Paineframe posted:

Ha ha, no. The advanced scanner alone costs well over a million credits, and the detailed surface scanner costs 250k credits. There's not much point in cheaping out on an exploration ship, because the loadout is pricey no matter what.

Pretty much, yeah. On the other hand, the logic applies to both ends: there's very little point in splurging out on hugely expensive ships and parts, because for the most part, they will weigh more and just get in your way. There are some exceptions, like getting an A-rated power plant to keep cool, but even then, you want to downsize it to keep weight down (and because you don't need insane power output), which lowers the cost.

Exploration sits in a fairly narrow cost band, with an (initially) annoying high starting threshold.

DreadLlama
Jul 15, 2005
Not just for breakfast anymore
I remember when I first started exploring. You can get by with a type 6 but it'll cost you 3.8mil to get started and (for the record) I personally did not enjoy flying it.

This DBS is 200k more and where I'd start personally. As Tippis said, there's a threshold to cross before you can start exploring. Nevermind what kind of ship you put it in: If you can't afford an advanced discovery scanner and at least a 4A FSD, you will not have a fun time exploring.

DancingShade
Jul 26, 2007

by Fluffdaddy
No to mention the appropriate size A-grade fuel scoop.

Exploration does make money, true. But it doesn't make it fast. If you just want cash quickly find a non-hazardous resource extraction site and follow the space cops around and kill steal when their targets are weakened.

BitBasher
Jun 6, 2004

You've got to know the rules before you can break 'em. Otherwise, it's no fun.


Truga posted:

Prepare to get amazed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ_G_zbObWU
e: Video sucks at explaining anything, the description is good though:
Using a safe technique that sends electrical signals to the vestibular system in the ear, Entrim 4D synchronizes the body’s balance system with the changing movements in the VR videos. Users thus feel as if they are a part of the on-screen action, and can even sense direction and speed of movement.

Then in practical use you have to strap yourself into a 5 point harness in a chair bolted to the floor because your body no longer attempts to sit upright because you are hijacking it's sense of what upright is?

Those systems are what keeps you in your chair.

tooterfish
Jul 13, 2013

DancingShade posted:

No to mention the appropriate size A-grade fuel scoop.

Exploration does make money, true. But it doesn't make it fast. If you just want cash quickly find a non-hazardous resource extraction site and follow the space cops around and kill steal when their targets are weakened.
It's worth noting that there's absolutely no need to fork out for an A rated scoop if you have room for a bigger C or B class one. Larger scoops perform better than smaller ones, and are much cheaper.

Truga
May 4, 2014
Lipstick Apathy

BitBasher posted:

Then in practical use you have to strap yourself into a 5 point harness in a chair bolted to the floor because your body no longer attempts to sit upright because you are hijacking it's sense of what upright is?

Those systems are what keeps you in your chair.

Yeah, you'll need some sort of support to stay in the chair I think if they do this kind of stuff in a game like elite.

Libluini
May 18, 2012

I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...
Grimey Drawer

Tippis posted:

Pretty much, yeah. On the other hand, the logic applies to both ends: there's very little point in splurging out on hugely expensive ships and parts, because for the most part, they will weigh more and just get in your way. There are some exceptions, like getting an A-rated power plant to keep cool, but even then, you want to downsize it to keep weight down (and because you don't need insane power output), which lowers the cost.

Exploration sits in a fairly narrow cost band, with an (initially) annoying high starting threshold.

Why do people keep saying this? It's plainly wrong. If you are a newbie just starting out, your basic Sidewinder and your basic discovery scanner are all you need. You can add all that other stuff later.

If you like exploration, you'll have fun doing it, so grinding for the best scanners straight away is counter-productive.

Mike the TV
Jan 14, 2008

Ninety-nine ninety-nine ninety-nine

Pillbug

Libluini posted:

Why do people keep saying this? It's plainly wrong. If you are a newbie just starting out, your basic Sidewinder and your basic discovery scanner are all you need. You can add all that other stuff later.

If you like exploration, you'll have fun doing it, so grinding for the best scanners straight away is counter-productive.

I agree. It's kind of like saying you shouldn't bounty hunt until you can afford a well-fitted Vulture. My first exploration trip was in a hauler and I just went to Coalsack and back. It was fun and got me started.

Tippis
Mar 21, 2008

It's yet another day in the wasteland.

Libluini posted:

Why do people keep saying this? It's plainly wrong. If you are a newbie just starting out, your basic Sidewinder and your basic discovery scanner are all you need. You can add all that other stuff later.

If you like exploration, you'll have fun doing it, so grinding for the best scanners straight away is counter-productive.

Because you'll quickly have very little fun doing it since you spend so much time just trying to find planets and jumping through worthless systems because your jump and scan range are pitiful. Yes, you can collect some exploration data with a Sidewinder and BDS, but it'll be incredibly slow going — a slowness only matched by how slowly you arrive in new areas with anything interesting to scan.

If you like exploration, some quick grinding to unlock the bare essentials will go a go a long way towards making the actual exploration part a hella lot more productive.

Mike the TV posted:

I agree. It's kind of like saying you shouldn't bounty hunt until you can afford a well-fitted Vulture. My first exploration trip was in a hauler and I just went to Coalsack and back. It was fun and got me started.

No, it's not the same. You can kill steal just fine in a pulse Sidewinder and rack up some ridiculously huge bounties with ease — you can't even discover some systems and planets without proper upgrades.

It's more like saying that, just because you fired off your laser in the presence of bountied ships does not mean you're actually bounty-hunting. You actually have to earn bounties for that to be the case, similar to how “exploration” and “discovery” without ever reaching (much less discovering) anything doesn't quite live up to the name.

Tippis fucked around with this message at 19:09 on Mar 26, 2016

Section Z
Oct 1, 2008

Wait, this is the Moon.
How did I even get here?

Pillbug
A proper discovery scanner is often the difference between finding only the sun right in front of you when you jump in, and 50+ space objects.

The default discovery scanner can't even detect the planets that have STATIONS orbiting them half the time from where you jump in, in the assorted "Populated, but still counts as unexplored" systems.

Though for some bare bones sightseeing it can work just fine with your default (and you can sorta squint and try to find distant paralax effects and honk over and over till you are close enough), it's just so much better with a proper scanner. Helps your exploration rank a hell of a lot more too.

EDIT: Totally get out there exploring space as early as you want. But the Advanced scanner really is a big deal for QoL and results.

Section Z fucked around with this message at 19:05 on Mar 26, 2016

Libluini
May 18, 2012

I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...
Grimey Drawer

Tippis posted:

Because you'll quickly have very little fun doing it since you spend so much time just trying to find planets and jumping through worthless systems because your jump and scan range are pitiful. Yes, you can collect some exploration data with a Sidewinder and BDS, but it'll be incredibly slow going — a slowness only matched by how slowly you arrive in new areas with anything interesting to scan.

If you like exploration, some quick grinding to unlock the bare essentials will go a go a long way towards making the actual exploration part a hella lot more productive.

Holy gently caress, I didn't mean you should literally use your starting Sidewinder. (You can though)

A little bit of flying around already gives you enough money to upgrade your ship. A couple missions on the side and your first little bit of exploration-money and you can already change into an Adder. No grinding involved, just do what you want to do.

Also I should point out if jumping around and scanning poo poo isn't fun for someone, they're maybe in the wrong line of work. :shrug:


Edit:

Tippis posted:

No, it's not the same. You can kill steal just fine in a pulse Sidewinder and rack up some ridiculously huge bounties with ease — you can't even discover some systems and planets without proper upgrades.

It's more like saying that, just because you fired off your laser in the presence of bountied ships does not mean you're actually bounty-hunting. You actually have to earn bounties for that to be the case, similar to how “exploration” and “discovery” without ever reaching (much less discovering) anything doesn't quite live up to the name.

This kind of reasoning doesn't work since there's just so much stuff to find in the galaxy, even just with the basic scanner. On the contrary, you're basically saying bounty hunting isn't worth it until you're able to eliminate every single ship everywhere.

Libluini fucked around with this message at 19:14 on Mar 26, 2016

Tippis
Mar 21, 2008

It's yet another day in the wasteland.

Libluini posted:

A little bit of flying around already gives you enough money to upgrade your ship. A couple missions on the side and your first little bit of exploration-money and you can already change into an Adder. No grinding involved, just do what you want to do.

You need to make up your mind on that one. Either you grind — do something on the side — or you don't. Getting some side income from basic honking while you do other stuff is all fine and good, but it's doing the other stuff that will earn you the money. You're not really exploring.

So why not do it whole-heartedly, get the obligatory boring part out of the way as quickly as possible, and then get going with a basic actual-exploration setup?

Libluini posted:

This kind of reasoning doesn't work since there's just so much stuff to find in the galaxy, even just with the basic scanner. On the contrary, you're basically saying bounty hunting isn't worth it until you're able to eliminate every single ship everywhere.

Yes, saying that “you can get huge bounties in a sidewinder” is exactly like saying that bounty-hunting isn't worth it until you can murder everything. Are you for real?! :psyduck:

No. I'm saying that if you're not finding anything new, you're not discovering anything. If you're not going anywhere new, you're not exploring. If you're not earning bounties, you're not bounty hunting. Bounty hunting has zero equipment requirements; exploration has a tiiiiny bit higher threshold than that.

Tippis fucked around with this message at 19:18 on Mar 26, 2016

Libluini
May 18, 2012

I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...
Grimey Drawer

Tippis posted:

You need to make up your mind on that one. Either you grind — do something on the side — or you don't. Getting some side income from basic honking while you do other stuff is all fine and good, but it's doing the other stuff that will earn you the money. You're not really exploring.

So why not do it whole-heartedly, get the obligatory boring part out of the way as quickly as possible, and then get going with a basic actual-exploration setup?

Doing one or two missions while flying around isn't grinding

Do you really see no difference between a boring grind for millions of credits and and just earning money while having fun?

I confess I did grind for my first Asp, since back then there was no other exploration ship inbetween Adder and Asp and neither the Cobra III nor the Type-6 I used as crutches where real explorers goddamnit. :mad:

I hated every second of it and only did it because we explorers got even less money back then. But if I had to do this over today, I would instead slowly upgrade through the new exploration-ships instead of grinding again.


Edit:

Tippis posted:

No. I'm saying that if you're not finding anything new, you're not discovering anything. If you're not going anywhere new, you're not exploring. If you're not earning bounties, you're not bounty hunting. Bounty hunting has zero equipment requirements; exploration has a tiiiiny bit higher threshold than that.

Now you're not making any sense. :psyduck: First, nothing is preventing you from taking your ship out until you find new, pristine systems. Where you'll find new stuff. Also you do can explore things without it being completely new, this is even the basis of many real life exploration efforts. So your weird philosophical argument against exploration without discovery is false.

At last, bounty hunting has exactly the same requirement as exploration. You start out with a basic discovery scanner and buying a very basic fuel scoop and some slight FSD-upgrade is the same as adding chaff and some poo poo for better combat.

Libluini fucked around with this message at 19:24 on Mar 26, 2016

Tippis
Mar 21, 2008

It's yet another day in the wasteland.

Libluini posted:

Doing one or two missions while flying around isn't grinding

Do you really see no difference between a boring grind for millions of credits and and just earning money while having fun?

Since earning ”millions of credits” isn't much of a grind either, no, I don't see the difference — especially not since the supposed fun you're getting out of your idea is the same fun you'll get out of the supposed grinding.

quote:

I hated every second of it and only did it because we explorers got even less money back then. But if I had to do this over today, I would instead slowly upgrade through the new exploration-ships instead of grinding again.
If you did it today, you'd know where to go and do three or four missions to get enough to get the basic exploration equipment and one of the cheaper multi-role ships. I'm sorry that you had to grind. I'm happy to say that the grind you're envisioning no longer exists.

Libluini
May 18, 2012

I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...
Grimey Drawer

Tippis posted:

Since earning ”millions of credits” isn't much of a grind either, no, I don't see the difference — especially not since the supposed fun you're getting out of your idea is the same fun you'll get out of the supposed grinding.

For a newbie starting out a couple million credits to get the best scanners looks like a lot of grinding, especially if they rather spend that time travelling around.


Tippis posted:

If you did it today, you'd know where to go and do three or four missions to get enough to get the basic exploration equipment and one of the cheaper multi-role ships. I'm sorry that you had to grind. I'm happy to say that the grind you're envisioning no longer exists.

Wait a minute, a couple posts ago you claimed exploration had a too high treshold for entry for you and now you reversed your position by 180° :psyduck:?

You basically just reworded what I said earlier:

Libluini posted:

A little bit of flying around already gives you enough money to upgrade your ship. A couple missions on the side and your first little bit of exploration-money and you can already change into an Adder. No grinding involved, just do what you want to do.

gently caress your post even sounds like you had copy + pasted that bit from my old Newbie-Guide for explorers


Edit:

Tippis posted:

Pretty much, yeah. On the other hand, the logic applies to both ends: there's very little point in splurging out on hugely expensive ships and parts, because for the most part, they will weigh more and just get in your way. There are some exceptions, like getting an A-rated power plant to keep cool, but even then, you want to downsize it to keep weight down (and because you don't need insane power output), which lowers the cost.

Exploration sits in a fairly narrow cost band, with an (initially) annoying high starting threshold.

Tippis posted:

If you did it today, you'd know where to go and do three or four missions to get enough to get the basic exploration equipment and one of the cheaper multi-role ships. I'm sorry that you had to grind. I'm happy to say that the grind you're envisioning no longer exists.

I mean I'm not the only one seeing this, right? Tippis first claimed exploration is annoyingly expensive, then suddenly switched to the opposite position

Libluini fucked around with this message at 19:36 on Mar 26, 2016

Phi230
Feb 2, 2016

by Fluffdaddy
What module reduce running heat? Power plant or power distribution? I'm in a viper IV running at 28% ambient heat.

Also are there any programs or websites to design/share fship fittings?

tooterfish
Jul 13, 2013

Power plant.

coriolis.io

Tippis
Mar 21, 2008

It's yet another day in the wasteland.

Libluini posted:

Wait a minute, a couple posts ago you claimed exploration had a too high treshold for entry for you and now you reversed your position by 180° :psyduck:?
No, I said that it had an (initially) annoying high starting threshold. As in, you will not be doing it from the very start, unlike pretty much everything else. I then said that, once you get over that hump, the rest is easy.

quote:

For a newbie starting out a couple million credits to get the best scanners looks like a lot of grinding, especially if they rather spend that time travelling around.
“Looks like” ≠ is. I say that as a one-month newbie. The “grind” is a matter of not having found the right system — that is all there is to it. Once you find that one, you ignore the exploration for a handful of missions to get the bits you need, and then you're off. The difference between what you're saying and what I'm saying is that I'm saying you should not do a couple of missions on the side. You should do a couple of missions, period. Then you're done. No “on the side” because that will just mean you have to wait longer before you can start exploring.

quote:

I mean I'm not the only one seeing this, right? Tippis first claimed exploration is annoyingly expensive
Read every word of the quote; they all carry meaning.

Phi230
Feb 2, 2016

by Fluffdaddy
Are any of the imperial ships even worth anything as combat vessels

Nostalgia4Infinity
Feb 27, 2007

10,000 YEARS WASN'T ENOUGH LURKING

Phi230 posted:

Are any of the imperial ships even worth anything as combat vessels

Yes. Both the Clipper and the Courier are formidable combat vessels.

Helter Skelter
Feb 10, 2004

BEARD OF HAVOC

Phi230 posted:

Are any of the imperial ships even worth anything as combat vessels

Pretty much all of them. The Cutter is debatable, though, thanks to its poo poo maneuverability.

Main Paineframe
Oct 27, 2010

Libluini posted:

Why do people keep saying this? It's plainly wrong. If you are a newbie just starting out, your basic Sidewinder and your basic discovery scanner are all you need. You can add all that other stuff later.

If you like exploration, you'll have fun doing it, so grinding for the best scanners straight away is counter-productive.

Sure, but the person who originally asked said he wanted to do exploration to make some money, and he's already got enough money that just honking bubble systems with the Basic scanner won't proportionately provide much income. So it's safe to say he'll want the "literally double your money for no extra effort" module at the very least. Having fun is one thing, but if you want to make money on it, and already have enough credits that a couple thousand credits per system is no longer impressive, you're going to need to buy some poo poo.

Section Z
Oct 1, 2008

Wait, this is the Moon.
How did I even get here?

Pillbug
You don't explore to "make money". Not unless there is a community goal based on exploration data specifically or something. To mangle what the earlier guy said "If you are exploring to make money, maybe you are in the wrong line of work :shrug:"

Anyways. Wanted Asp Explorers and Wanted Diamondback Explorers are basically pinatas of effort to cash value bounties, especially if you target the power plant. You will get 50k+ bounty on a ship that's not as hard to chase down as a wanted cobra.

For reference. An Eagle stock is 45k. Hauler is 53k. Adder is 88k. Murdering two whole wanted haulers to help fund a Stock Eagle with three pulse lasers and a not poo poo power distributor, will let you easily rack up bounty money personally unless you start chasing after Pythons, Imperial Clippers, and Anacondsas first thing.

I do think it's much nicer to have a good discovery scanner for exploring. But that is still an object that will cost about as much as an entire exploration tricked out Adder put together otherwise (Unless you buy a premium maintenance unit, which also costs a lot).

It's basically down to "Do I want to spend 1 to 2 hours setting up a tricked out tiny exploration ship, or 2 to 3 hours for one that also has a cool scanner"

PS: A wanted sidewinder bounty is usually gonna be more than what you make on the average system "explored", particularly starting out as an explorer.

I primarily :airquote: explore by ID honking my horn and IDing the jump in point suns so I can fill out my map of which suns are scoopable or not in populated space. It just bugs me when a system with proper space stations is "unexplored" and you can't even buy map data for it.

Sometimes I take the scenic route and stop to explore an empty system with 20+ planetary objects and multiple suns not counting the asteroid fields. And I make 12k which helps pay for gas, ammo, and light scrapes on my hull. (Again, sidewinder bounties are generally worth more than casual exploration).

I still intend to someday do some light exploring, if only to round out my current Pilot's federation rank. But that will be for the hell of it, because I want to. You explore because you want to, because any financial results from it are incidental, and space looks cool.

Section Z fucked around with this message at 20:13 on Mar 26, 2016

Libluini
May 18, 2012

I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...
Grimey Drawer

Tippis posted:

No, I said that it had an (initially) annoying high starting threshold. As in, you will not be doing it from the very start, unlike pretty much everything else. I then said that, once you get over that hump, the rest is easy.

“Looks like” ≠ is. I say that as a one-month newbie. The “grind” is a matter of not having found the right system — that is all there is to it. Once you find that one, you ignore the exploration for a handful of missions to get the bits you need, and then you're off. The difference between what you're saying and what I'm saying is that I'm saying you should not do a couple of missions on the side. You should do a couple of missions, period. Then you're done. No “on the side” because that will just mean you have to wait longer before you can start exploring.
Read every word of the quote; they all carry meaning.

You're just not getting it. "On the side" means while you're exploring. You're already exploring, there is no waiting period, no grind.

Of course if you feel you can only explore after doing other stuff to raise the money for a "proper" exploration ship, fine go ahead. It's still silly to demand every newbie should do it your way, even if they don't like these other things.

Generally, you do stuff for money if you want a specific ship/loadout, but if you don't care for that you can just fly off and do it the slow way.

You can do it from the start and the starting threshold is zero.

Literally Kermit
Mar 4, 2012
t
To put it in perspective, if you jumped into Sol on the opposite side from the Earth and honked your Basic Discovery Scanner, you would only pick up Mercury and Venus

However there's no problem making do with one for starters. Just make it a priority to upgrade, and make do with spotting planets by eye. Just like on Earth, planets are pretty frickin' bright.

You don'r even have to get much in the way of an FSD upgrade, although that should be a priority, too. "Survey" an area by going star to star, rather than fastest route. Your fuel will go longer, too. If you want to maximize time, just jump star to star and just target and stare at a star a while. Everything in the bubble has been discovered anyway but you can make good money selling the data.

Section Z
Oct 1, 2008

Wait, this is the Moon.
How did I even get here?

Pillbug

Libluini posted:

Generally, you do stuff for money if you want a specific ship/loadout, but if you don't care for that you can just fly off and do it the slow way.

You can do it from the start and the starting threshold is zero.
Well, also a Fuel Scoop if you want to venture any farther than being able to make round trip away and back from stations on a single tank of gas. Which to be fair you can probably buy with your starter cash (You start with more than 1,000 credits these days, right?).

Unless you are okay with not being able to make it back alive with your exploration data. Then yeah, zero threshold.

This is primarily "Don't take Libluini literally about You need nothing" to new player. I've seen brown sea people actually take the common mantra of "gently caress you, you don't need anything to explore!" literally and become stranded in space out of gas.

Section Z fucked around with this message at 21:16 on Mar 26, 2016

Literally Kermit
Mar 4, 2012
t
Also here's another Kermit Pro-tip

Make about 2.5 million credits, doing whatever

Go to a system called LHS 20 which will have all you need. If it does not, nearby Borr will!

These systems are under the influence of a power that gives 15% discounts on ships and outfitting. Buy this:

http://coriolis.io/outfit/sidewinder/02A2D2A1D1D1D1C--02022p0h2i2f.Iw1-EA==.Aw1-EA==

This has all the basics for deep space exploration, a scoop that fills up a sidewinder in 30 seconds, an A ranked power plant that can handle heat for refueling purposes, a jump range of almost 20 ly, and the best scanning equipment, for just shy of 2 million.

This is all you need if you wanna make some dough while seeing cool things. It's better to take it slow than go deep deep space though, you will have to make sure if you go fastest route that there's hydrogen emitting stars on the way - or you might not be able to refuel.

If you seem to be pretty close to no fuel and not enough to make another jump, check the map for a system close by where you can refuel, if any. The farther you jump, the more you fuel you use, so stick to economical routes until you get the feel of deep space!

tooterfish
Jul 13, 2013

Literally Kermit posted:

Also here's another Kermit Pro-tip

Make about 2.5 million credits, doing whatever

Go to a system called LHS 20 which will have all you need. If it does not, nearby Borr will!

These systems are under the influence of a power that gives 15% discounts on ships and outfitting. Buy this:

http://coriolis.io/outfit/sidewinder/02A2D2A1D1D1D1C--02022p0h2i2f.Iw1-EA==.Aw1-EA==

This has all the basics for deep space exploration, a scoop that fills up a sidewinder in 30 seconds, an A ranked power plant that can handle heat for refueling purposes, a jump range of almost 20 ly, and the best scanning equipment, for just shy of 2 million.

This is all you need if you wanna make some dough while seeing cool things. It's better to take it slow than go deep deep space though, you will have to make sure if you go fastest route that there's hydrogen emitting stars on the way - or you might not be able to refuel.

If you seem to be pretty close to no fuel and not enough to make another jump, check the map for a system close by where you can refuel, if any. The farther you jump, the more you fuel you use, so stick to economical routes until you get the feel of deep space!
Sidey isn't a great choice tbh (also, wtf happened to your AV!?). A hauler is a better cheapass explorer.

http://coriolis.io/outfit/hauler/02A2D2A1D1D1D2C-02022v0h2i2f.Iw19A===.Aw19A===

Roughly same price (a few thousand credits more), exactly the same fit. Bigger tank, faster scoop and 5 6LY more range. Plus you get to drive a space van.

edit: I can't count.

edit edit: also, to illustrate the point I made earlier about scoop size: 2B costs 64,000cr and scoops 65kg/s. 3C costs 50,000cr and scoops 126kg/s. Size really does matter!

tooterfish fucked around with this message at 22:12 on Mar 26, 2016

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Libluini
May 18, 2012

I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...
Grimey Drawer

Section Z posted:

Well, also a Fuel Scoop if you want to venture any farther than being able to make round trip away and back from stations on a single tank of gas. Which to be fair you can probably buy with your starter cash (You start with more than 1,000 credits these days, right?).

Unless you are okay with not being able to make it back alive with your exploration data. Then yeah, zero threshold.

This is primarily "Don't take Libluini literally about You need nothing" to new player. I've seen brown sea people actually take the common mantra of "gently caress you, you don't need anything to explore!" literally and become stranded in space out of gas.

This should surprise me, but somehow it doesn't. I'm not even feeling like rolling my eyes at this. Is this peak cynicism?

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