Travel/Exploration Guide
Need to get somewhere, want to look at stuff, here’s the basics.Hardpoints
Beam Laser/Mining Laser - Optional for exploration, sometimes you want or need to poke things with a thermal weapon.
Utilities
Frame Shift Wake Scanner - This utility mounted module allows you to scan wakes left behind by ships that have jumped after using their FSD. While not necessary for exploration, you may come across certain strange wakes that are not typically found in human space.
Manifest Scanner - This utility mounted module allows you to scan a target and see what cargo, if any, it holds. While not necessary for exploration, you may come across ships or objects that can be scanned.
Point Defense- This utility mounted module automatically shoots down missiles, limpets, and torpedos. While not necessary for exploration, some situations you may encounter may be made easier with proper placement of a point defense turret.
Shutdown Field Neutralizer - This utility mounted module emits a grown field around your ship the longer you fire it that neutralizes shutdown fields, thus prevent you and nearby ships from being deactivated in certain situations. While not necessary for exploration, certain events can occur while exploring certain areas of space that this module would be useful to have.
Xeno Scanner - This utility mounted module allows you to scan various non-human life forms. While not necessary for exploration, you’ll want it when you come across an organism.
Core Internals
Frame Shift Drive - This is the thing that lets you jump. Typically you want the largest Size, Grade A version you can buy with Long Range (Grade 5) engineering with Mass Manager experimental.
Frame Shift Drive (Engineered V1) - You will want this for any ship that has a Size 5 maximum for its FSD. Add the Mass Manager experimental in most cases.
Optional Internals
Auto Field-Maintenance Unit - This module allows you to repair other modules aboard your ship this excludes your power plant, the AFMU itself, and a broken canopy. It has ammunition that can be synthesized. To use it, access the Modules Tab on your Internals Panel. Select the desired modules and repair. The repairing modules are shut off while being repair and you must manually reactivate the module. It is advised to drop into normal space or land prior to repairing Thrusters and Frame Shift Drives.
Cargo Rack - You put stuff in this.
Corrosion Resistant Cargo Rack - These come in sizes 1, 2 and 4 only. Some commodities are corrosive and will damage your hull and modules when you collect them. This rack is designed to prevent the damage and is recommended for exploration ships.
Decontamination Limpet Controller - This limpet controller can remove corrosion from your ship and repair a small portion of your hull.
Detailed Surface Scanner - This module allows you to launch probes into planets and rings for a more in-depth scan. Completing a planetary scan reveal any Geological, Biological, and other sites/points of interest on the planet, if the planet has any. Successful scanning of a ring reveals any hotspots for mining.
Fuel Scoop - A must have for nearly any journey. The fuel scoop allows you to refill your fuel tank by flying in supercruise outside of the exclusion zone of any K, G, B, F, O, A, and M class star you come across. Unless you make a terrible mistake, you’ll never be stranded in space if you have one of these. The bigger you can get, the faster you can refill your tank.
Hatch Breaker Limpet Controller - This limpet controller can be used to attach to the cargo hatch of a ship or cargo container and eject a number of units of cargo.
Planetary Vehicle Hangar - This allows you to carry and deploy an SRV when you land on a planet. It can also be deployed while docked at a planetary station.
Scareb - The SRV. Remember to actually equip this when in outfitting. You can personalize it with Livery. This vehicle allows you to drive on the surface of planets. It has a Data Link Scanner, Composition Scanner, and Repeater Cannon. Remember to assign BOTH scanners to a trigger and the weapon to the other trigger. Some scannable targets may require you to enter Turret Mode.
Recon Limpet Controller - This limpet controller can be used to attach to certain hackable devices to receive Encoded Materials and potential information.
Research Limpet Controller - This limpet controller can be used to collect biological samples from xeno-life forms you encounter. These samples can be sold. Some lifeforms may become angry and hostile when you attempt to cut a piece off of them.
Shield Generator - This module creates a shield so you don’t die so fast. Not necessary for exploration but certainly helps.
Ship Design
The very basic modules you will want for exploration are Fuel Scoop, Details Surface Scanner, Planetary Vehicle Hangar, and (if available) Guardian Frame Shift Drive Booster. After you decide what parts from the long list above will be on your ship work on your Core Internals. Keep in mind that you want your ship to be lightweight so look for the D Rated modules first. Your Frame Shift Drive should be the highest Size and A rated your ship can hold. You can undersize your Power Plant, Thrusters, and Power Distributor. Sometimes a smaller sized, A rated Power Plant will be better than a larger size, D rated.
When engineering your ship, lightweight and stripped down are the typical modifications and experimentals to go with. The Frame Shift Drive is generally given best range with Long Range and Mass Manager. Sometimes the Deep Charge experimental gives better range. An overcharged modification on your small Power Plant should give it all the juice your ship will need. Keep the hull your ship comes with and reinforce it as this will not add weight.
Basic Exploration Ship Examples
- Asp Explorer - more expensive - shorter jump range - https://edsy.org/#/L=Fg00000H4C0S00,mpXEi200,CzY00CzY00Dho00EB200,9p300A7200AOi00Ads00AsO00B4S00BNC00Bcg00,,52200mpT6hC007Q40005U0003w001IM002jw00,Guardian_0asp
- Diamondback Explorer - less expensive - longer jump range - https://edsy.org/#/L=Fi00000H4C0S00,Ei200,CzY00CzY00Dho00EB200,9p300A5U00AN800Ads00Aqq00B4S00BK400Bcg00,,4_w000720005U007Q4006e4001IM000HM002jw00
The Galaxy Map
The Galaxy Map is the primary tool you will be using to travel. There are many, many options and filters to use on the map to help you get to where you want, I will go over a few key points here.
Route Plotting: This is the second Tab of the Galaxy Map. Here you can search for a specific system by name, see your current location and targeted location, adjust your jump data, and adjust your cargo mass.
Jump Data
Economical Routes (1KLY) - This is the most fuel efficient plotting method. Your COVAS will plot jumps that use the least amount of fuel to jump short distances which means you will go through the most number of systems with this. Great for gathering Universal Cartographics data in bulk. This allows you to travel the furthest distance without a fuel scoop at the slowest pace. It can only plot routes up to 1,000ly.
Fastest Routes (20KLY) - This is the least fuel efficient plotting method. Your COVAS will plot jumps that use wanton amounts of fuel to jump your greatest distances which means you will go through fewer systems to reach your destination. Great for getting somewhere fast. This allows you to travel less overall distance without a fuel scoop but ultimately faster. It can plot routes up to 20,000ly.
Use Jet-Cone Boost - REQUIRES Fuel Scoop. This is for daring pilots who are willing to risk their ship and data for increased jump range. White Dwarf stars can add 50% or 300% of your current jump range to your jump range for one jump. All you have to do is fly into one of the star’s arms and wait a moment for your fuel scoop to absorb those delicious star flakes. Short arms are dangerous and not advised to use as they are primarily within the very large exclusion zone of the White Dwarf. Neutron Stars generally gave long arms that are safer to enter. Entering the jet-cone arms causes your ship to fly erratically. DO NOT EVER DROP OUT OF SUPERCRUISE IN THE WARM EMBRACE OF A WHITE DWARF.
FSD Boost - This allows you to plot one jump using your jump range for a fuel injection synthesis. Toggle it on and adjust the slider to see your range for a Level 1 (Basic), Level 2 (Standard), or Level 3 (Premium) FSD Injection. You will then need to Synthesize the appropriate FSD Injection in your Internals Panel on the Inventory Tab under Synthesis subsection in order to make that jump.
Cargo Mass
X Tonne(s) - Adjust this slider to see you jump range with however many tonnes of cargo.
Filters: This is the fourth tab of the Galaxy Map. Here you can set what systems the map shows you based on various criteria such as star class, civilization type, visited/not visited, services provided, etc.
For beginner players and those just looking to go far, fast, it is suggested to select the Star Class filter from the drop down menus and toggle only the O, B, A, F, G, K, and M on and the rest off. Then Toggle on Apply Filter to Route. These are the scoop-able stars.
Show by Size: Population - This slider allows you to adjust the minimum and maximum population range for systems you are looking for.
Options: These are additional options for the Galaxy Map and are located under the fifth tab.
The System Map
The System Map has four tabs and two modes. The first tab gives a basic rundown of Minor Faction’s, if present, in the system. The second tab shows you information relevant to whatever you have selected on the map. The third tab shows you any bookmarks you have in the system. The fourth tab lists all ports, landfall planets, surface structures, fleet carriers, and installations in the system.
Map Mode displays the various bodies in a system and straight lines coming off of what the bodies orbit. If shows basic distances but not actual positions.
Orrery Mode shows the positions and orbital paths of celestial bodies in a system.
The Navigation Tab
On the External Panel the first tab is Navigation. Once you do a Discovery Scan and/or Full Spectrum Scan of a system your Navigation list will fill up with targets. Here you can easily select an in-system destination or a nearby system to jump to.
How To and What Do
So you made it through all of the set-up and are ready for the guide part of this guide. Ok, here we go. Go to your Galaxy Map, pick a star, plot route, go.
It is that simple but then, it also is not. First up, set up your fire groups. You’ll want whatever scanners you have on your ship assigned to triggers. Data Link and Composition Scanners pair well with each other and are stock on every ship. The Discovery Scanner is also stock and goes well in a fire group opposite the Detailed Surface Scanner. Limpets should probably go on triggers of there own.
You can pick your own destination or go to the Internals Panel -> Home Tab -> Codex -> Discoveries and browse through those lists and locations. Keep in mind, the Discoveries only shows one location for a thing in each sector, not all or how many. Different sectors of the galaxy have different assortments of things to see. Everything you can scan has a different value.
For most of your time exploring you will need to be in Analysis Mode (blue HUD).
When jumping into a system there are several things to do if you are out to get Universal Cartographics data after you have scooped fuel. First, honk your horn (use the Discovery Scanner). This tells you how many celestial bodies are in the system. Check your Navigation to see if the bodies are all stars or if there are any Unknowns. Also, nearby Notable Stellar Phenomenon may appear. Fly away from the star a short distance and activate your Full Spectrum Scanner (FSS). Default for this on PlayStation is Triangle+R1. There is a tutorial for it in game, I’m not going into that here.
Once you have completed the FSS you can use the System Map to target each body and fly to them in Supercruise. Once near the planet, throttle down, ensure you have it targeted. This is when you launch probes from your Detailed Surface Scanner at the planet and any rings that orbit it. You can engineer the DSS to have a larger scan radius to make it easier to reach the scan bonus. Once you complete the surface scan and if there are any site discovered, target one and land.
At biological and geological sites there are objects to scan in your SRV with the Composition Scanner. There are also Raw Material nodes to shoot and collect. Generally there is one type of geological structure and/or one type of biological structure on each planet so visiting one site of each is often enough to get scans. If there are other signals, visit them too. There may be abandoned settlements or crash sites with delicious lore. Do this for each and as many planets as you see fit in each system.
The abandoned settlements or other structures and sites you encounter tend to be great resource gather allocations as well as other thing. There may be lore or even puzzles to solve. Some locations have hidden threats or spooky events.
If there are any Notable Stellar Phenomena in the system, visit them. There are usually two types of things in these locations at once. One will be very noticeable and can be targeted and scanned. The other things in these sites are often very small and difficult to find on radar and visually. These smaller things are sometimes lifeforms that your xeno scanner may work on or your research limpet may be able to collect a sample from.
Sometimes you may find derelict ships or other things in space with scannable data points that provide interesting audio recordings that tell the ultimate fate of the last occupants.
Once you have had your fill of exploration, return to your chosen port and turn in your Universal Cartographics. Stations control by Minor Factions in Expansion pay more for exploration data. Some Galactic Powers pay their Rating 5 loyalists double for Universal Cartographics.
While flying in a system with other ships, supercruise or normal flight, it is advised to “always be scanning.” That is, scan ships by targeting them and getting them within your scan angle, and waiting for the scan to complete. Doing this is an almost passive method of gathering Encoded Materials.