I spent most of my time in ED shooting at stuff, and I still consider it the most fun way to play the game. It's fast, it pays well, it has lazorz and guns going pew pew pew, and there are explosions… lots of explosions!
On the other hand… exploration is the exact opposite – it's calm, slow and some people might even consider it boring (my self included) – however… it all comes down to your mindset.
A month and a half ago I bought an Asp and did a short circle around the „bubble“. It was a short trip to the Orion nebula and back… something around 4k Lys. I had no goal whatsoever and I just started jumping in a random direction. I almost regretted going there every singly jump I made so it was no wonder I was happy as a kitten once I got back into my Python.
So? Where does exploration fit into all of this?
Since that trip – I actually made it to Sagittarius A* in that same Asp and I had a blast doing so!
First of all – you need to set a final goal (maybe find a neutron star field) or a destination (reach Sag A*). When bounty hunting – there's a clear goal and that's what you strive to do. If you aimlessly wander the galaxy… chances are it will get boring pretty fast and you'll end as Thargoid food.
Once you decide on your destination, make sure you have the ship that can actually take you there. You want the lightest ship modules + the best frameshift drive available to you (obvious – isn't it?).
With a clear goal set in your mind – you will actually have a meaning to your travel. Every jump won't be just another jump to nowhere, it will be one step closer to your goal and it will feel like progression, which I personally find very important to have while gaming.
But… but… it's dangerous out there!
Now… You've all heard stories about people crashing into stars, burning up while jumping into binary systems or just getting smashed by radiation and gravity of the neutron star… And even if you consider yourself an awesome pilot, and you can't even imagine how would someone actually crash into a star… I can tell you it's, unfortunately, actually very easy.
It has very little to do with your piloting skills, but a lot to do with the actual feeling of being „cosy“ while jumping one system after another.
You see – exploration (at least to me) is VERY relaxing. Once you get out of the habitable space – there's literally nothing out there that can pull you out of SC and shoot you… all you have to worry about is yourself.
Now, once you've been jumping 100 systems in a row – trust me, it becomes such a huge routine one can easily forget to pull away from the star because you may think of getting beer from the fridge or something (yup, I actually did that while jumping into a ternary system and almost threw the 6-pack away while running towards my PC trying to grab the controller).
Next thing that you need to keep in check is your fuel and the type of system you're jumping into. If you can scoop the current star – DO IT! You'd be surprised how many people don't even bother checking the systems they're going through. You plot a route of 900lys and just start jumping.
What I usually do is jump into a system, pull the throttle down almost to a full stop and slowly turn towards the star while hitting the scanner at the same time. By the time my ship reaches the scooping area, the scan is done and I already have the star targeted and it's scan going already. That's 3 things at the same time. Saves you time, gives you fuel, and earns you credits… Oh yea – and doesn't blow you up…
Oh, one more thing – don't go into regions marked as „Dark region of space“. There's a good reason they're called that. You see – there are little to no stars there AND, almost every single one is non-scoopable. You'll end up either stranded with no fuel, or if you're lucky – manually plotting and searching the star map for that one star that just might give you enough fuel to get the hell out of there.
Scanning and jumping, jumping and scanning…
Yea… doing two things over and over for hours will start to get tedious sooner or later. That's why you need to just enjoy your surroundings. See that rock? Don't just scan it – go for it! Take a closer look! I bet you keep seeing awesome ED screenshots but you rarely take the time to drop into a random asteroid belt and look at the sun through it just for eyecandy.
The galaxy is a huuuuuge place with lots of beautiful scenery. Double, triple, quadruple star systems with stars sitting one ontop another, nebulas, amazing gas giants with orbiting moons which look awesome through the asteroid belts around the planet, lava worlds that look amazing contrasted to the galaxy background, distant water worlds with possible life thousands of light years away from Earth – just waiting to be explored!
And lastly – it's YOUR name on the star map! The second you get a few hundred light years away from habitable space, you'll start running into uncharted space. Almost every system I jumped into was undiscovered – meaning, once I get back there will be craploads of „Skipp Doe“ marked planets out there. And that's just cool as an Icy planet 3000ls away from it's star!
Show me the money!
If you're into exploring just for the sake of credits… well, you're in for a disappointment. The payloads are totally not worth the amount the time poured into exploring, and that's the main reason I wrote this post and the way I wrap my mind around it to justify the whole trip. For example – my first trip took me 4 days, I scanned everything useful I came across and I earned 2,3mil Cr. As a bounty hunter – I can earn 2,3 mil Cr in 15-20min. However – It's not always about the money (especially if you already have enough). It's about trying different things and seeing places neither you or any other player has been to.
