Nordic's Quick Guide to Exploration

Fit a Fuel Scoop and an Advanced Discovery Scanner on a ship with a good jump range and set a course for some far away star. That is the real quick guide to exploration - but I reckon you need a bit more information on where to go and how to set up your ship. For even more in depth information and tips for exploration, go to Nordic's Comprehensive Guide to Exploration.

Where to go - or rather: How long time are you willing to spend on your exploration trip?

2-5 hours of game time:

• Maia and the Pleiades: Less than 400 ly from the central systems of the Bubble and with a group of inhabited systems, Maia and the Pleiades barely qualify as being outside the bubble of human civilisation, but the beautifully colored nebula, the Maia black hole, the barnacles and alien encounters make up for this. Also, if you are new to exploration you should be able to rack up enough exploration data on the way there and back to give you the first couple of ranks, if you scan all unknown stars and interesting planets.
• Nearby black holes: Though not the most spectacular of their kind, there are quite a few black holes near the Bubble. Here is a list with a few of the closest to Sol, noted with approximate distance: HIP 34707 (190 ly), p Puppi (200 ly), 40 Upsilon-2 Hydrae (250 ly), HIP 63835 (300 ly, 3 black holes), Beta Muscae (300 ly, also has a neutron star), HIP 100289 (300 ly), Maia (400 ly, inside Pleiades Nebula), HIP 47296 (400 ly, 2 black holes), and 11 Sagittae, HIP 28711, HIP 19218, HR 1185 and HIP 37017 all at around 400 ly from Sol.
• Nearby ancient ruins: The ancient ruins were built by a space faring race that appears to be extinct by now. The closest ancient ruin, and the one that was found first is in the system Synuefe XR-H D11-102, appr. 340 ly from Sol, on planet 1 B, coords. -31.7877,-128.9711. Other nearby ancient ruins can be found in IC 2391 SECTOR YE-A D103, planet B 1 (coord. -54.5715,25.094) (450 ly), IC 2391 SECTOR ZE-A D101, planet C 3 (coord. 29.42,-59,54) (500 ly), IC 2391 SECTOR GW-V B2-4, planet B 1 (coord. -29.1664,-30.5041) (560 ly), IC 2391 SECTOR FL-X B1-7, planet A 2 (coord. 9.2,-130.06) (580 ly), an SYNUEFE YY-Q C21-19, planet 2 A (coord. 21.9079,-39.8234) (580 ly). There have been found quite a few more, but most of them are 9000 ly or more from Sol. You can see the whole list here: https://ruins.canonn.technology/
• The Thargoid Structures: Recently a number of large Thargoid structures have been found. Bring an Unknown Artefact to unlock the doors. At the time of writing these are the ones that have been discovered (distance to Sol): HIP 19026, planet B 1 C (coord. -17,-152)(350 ly), Pleiades Sector OS-U C2-7, planet 4 A (coord. 58.21,-177.04)(400 ly), Aries Dark Region DB-X D1-63, planet A 7 A (coord. 25.53,78.18)(200 ly), Col 285 Sector CV-Y D57, planet AB 4A (coord. 4.78,136.25)(300 ly), HIP 14909, planet 2 A (coord. -26.5,-27.5)(450 ly).

6-10 hours of game time:

• Nearby Nebulae: The closest nebula to the Bubble is the Pleiades Nebula, and it is pretty, but if you go a bit further you can see much more spectacular nebulae. A recommended tour of nearby nebulae would be to go to Barnard's Loop and Horsehead Nebula (appr. 1400 ly from Sol), through Witch Head Nebula (890 ly), Orion Nebula and Running Man Nebula (1200 ly) and Flame Nebula (1350 ly). If you fancy a detour on the way home, go to the California Nebula (970 ly from Sol and about the same from Barnard's Loop).
  Another option for seeing nearby nebulae is going to Heart Nebula and Soul Nebula (7800 ly towards the galactic rim). On the way there you should definately visit Veil Nebula West (1400 ly), Veil Nebula East (1900 ly), North America Nebula and Pelican Nebula (1900 ly) and Elephants Trunk Nebula (2700 ly).
• The southern edge of the galaxy: Go "south", ie. towards negative numbers on the z-axis of the galactic coordinates, and you will see the stars thinning out. Somewhere between 8000-10,000 ly from Sol, depending on your jump range you will begin to find it difficult to plot a course. That is when you should turn around and have a look at our galaxy, and it will really look like a disc, somewhat thicker on the middle. If you have also moved a bit "up" or "down" (ie. on the y-axis) you will get the best view.
• The frontier asteroid bases: Quite a few asteroid bases have been found several thousand ly from the Bubble. Here are some that you could visit: ...

11-19 hours of game time:

• Colonia: At 22,000 ly from Sol, the Colonia region is the largest and furthest group of human settled systems outside the Bubble. The first station in the region was Jaques, which ended up there because of malfunctioning a jump trying to reach Beagle Point. Besides being home of a large group of players, Colonia is situated in a beautiful nebula and is close to many interesting features of the Galaxy such as the group of small nebulae called the Festival Grounds, and it is less than 10,000 ly from Sag A*. Remember to stop by Eagle Nebula (7000 ly from the Bubble) on the way there.
• Farther nebulae: There are a lot of nebulae in the Elite Galaxy, some are from real life, others are procedurally generated. There are quite a few marvellous ones near the Bubble, but if you head towards the core you shouldn't miss the Lagoon Nebula (4500 ly) and Trifid Nebula (5500 ly), NGC 6357 (8100 ly), Greae Phio (also called the Greae Phio stellar forge, 13,000 ly towards the core) and Eeshorks (18,000 ly). If you end up at Sag A* and feel like going a bit further you should see the Dryao Chrea Stellar Remnant at DRYAO CHREA VU-P E5-7481 (29,000 ly from Sol), The Rose Nebula (30,000 ly from Sol) and The Green Crystal planetary nebula at EOK GREE TO-Q E5-3167 (31,000 ly).

20-30 hours of game time:

• Sagittarius A*: The supermassive black hole in the center of the Galaxy is quite a sight, and it is a destination for the pilgrimage of just about every explorer at some point in their career. While you are in the core, also go to the Great Annihilator, another supermassive black hole, about a thousand ly from Sag A*. If you fancy racing for a good time, take a look at the Buckyball Sag A* Challenge: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=168568 
• The neutron fields: About 1000 ly above and 1000 ly below Sag A*, there are two large areas, appr. 2500 ly in diameter, with unusual concentrations of neutron stars. Besides from being interesting stellar objects, neutron stars are also one of the best sources for income through exploration data. Go to about 2000 ly from Sag A*, either 1000 ly above or below the galactic plane (ie. +1000 or -1000 on the y-axis) and filter your galactic map to include only non sequence stars and set your route planner for economy and head for a neutron star about 1000 ly away. For each you scan you should be able to get about 300,000 credits worth of exploration data.
• Formidine Rift: Located about 20,000 ly due "west" of the Bubble (negative on the x-axis), a lot of mystery has surrounded the Formidine Rift. Some think that it has been hyped more than it is worth, at least for what FDev have given us so far, but there might still be things out there. One of the things that have been found in the Formidine Rift is the mega ship Zurara in the system SYREADIAE JX-F C0, another are the abandoned bases at PLAA AEC IZ-N C20-1, planet A 1 A (coords. 25.0029,21.5814),PLAA AEC TT-B B41-3, planet B 2 (coords. -9.3229,-103.8591), PLAA AEC RY-B B41-1, planet 2 B (coords. 50.9203,-155.0895), PRU AESCS HW-S B31-2, planet CD 1 (coords. -7.2989,-35.9180), EAFOTS EU-R C4-1, planet C 2 (coords. -34.2057,-77.6673), EAFOTS RA-G B11-0, planet 3 (coords. -17.8731,-76.0522) and EAFOTS LZ-H B10-0, planet D 1 (coords. -23.0844,-174.8980).

30+ hours of game time:

• Beagle Point: Is located on the exact opposite side of the Galaxy and is the farthes point from Sol reached before synthesis and engineered Frameshift Drives. Apart from the historical aspect of going to Beagle Point, this will also take you past some of the most amazing sights of the Galaxy, including the Omega Nebula, the Greae Phio stellar forge, Sagittarius A* and the Rose Nebula. If you want to know more, I recommend diving into the wealth of information provided by the first Distant Worlds Expedition: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=198085

Your exploration ship

The above mentioned times are calculated from a ship with a jump range of a 35+ light years, though I recommend you aim for 40+ ly. The best ships are the Diamondback Explorer and the Asp Explorer. The Anaconda is the king of exploration, but if you can afford that you probably don't need to read this guide. Other good ships for exploration are Cobra, Hauler, Type 6, Adder and maybe Dolphin.

Your ship should have an A-rated Frameshift Drive, and if you want jump range of 40+ ly you also need to engineer it with at least a grade 3 increased range.

Power Plant should be A-rated but one size smaller than you can fit. Life Support and Scanner should be D-rated. You will probably want to fit a smaller size Power Distributor and maybe also Thrusters, both of them preferably D-rated and otherwise A-rated.

The single most important optional module is the Fuel Scoop, you won't go far without it. Fit the largest Fuel Scoop you have space for and the highest rated you can afford.

The second most important optional module is the Discovery Scanner. This should always be the Advanced Discovery Scanner - if you can't afford fitting your AspX or DBX with an Advanced Discovery Scanner, sell the ship and buy a Hauler or a Type 6 instead.

If you plan on getting rich by seeking your exploration data you should also fit a Detailed Surface Scanner.

If you plan on landing on planets you should remember to bring a SRV and probably also Shields, which should preferably be D-rated with the size of your second largest optional module slot.

AFMU (Automated Field Maintenance Unit) is not required, but it is recommended for longer trips and/or if you have a tendency to get too close to stars.

Lastly there are Heat Sinks. If you bring an AFMU you will probably not need it, but on rare occasions explorers find themselves arriving in star systems in between binary stars or even inside companion stars, and if you hesitate even the slightest this can destroy your ship, unless you have been fortunate enough to bring Heat Sinks.

Other outfitting tips: Your ship should be unarmed, armor should only be Lightweight Alloy and absolutely no Shield Cell Banks or Hull Enforcements.

Right, now you are just about ready to go, but to save time there is one more thing you should learn:

Buckyballing

Buckyballing is a technique to travel long distances as fast as possible and has it's name from the Buckyball Racing Club. The idea is to minimize time between jumps while also scooping fuel at the same time.

The technique is most efficient if you select only scoopable stars when plotting your route, ie. O-B-A-F-G-K-M type stars. Fastest route should always be selected.

Right after entering the new system, point your ship straight at the center of the star until you hear the fuel scoop. Then you straighten up depending on you fuel reserves - if you are above 3/4 tank pull away from the star, if you are below 3/4 tank fly through the outer corona just above the line indicating crash danger.

If you find it difficult to keep the the tank topped off, fit a Cargo Rack on your ship, and slide the "Cargo Mass" option to the right before plotting the course. This will make the jumps shorter and reduce the fuel consumption for each jump.

Have a safe journey!

o7