Elite Dangerous - Exploration Guide - Part Three (Advanced System Analysis)

Welcome to Part III of my series on exploration in Elite Dangerous! This time I discuss how to tune out the noise in the cockpit and explain how to start building your "space intuition" when it comes to searching for unique and amazing places to visit in deep space!
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[@matfly4832]

Very helpful, thank you!

[@sntxrrr]

12:45 when I move away from a star I watch my speed until I accelerate past 1 C before I slow down to do my FSS. If I see orbital lines I will fly off perpendicular to the ecliptic. That is my routine to get a clear view of all system bodies.

[@gizmo104drives7]

Masterpiece. Onto the next mate

[@gerty4338]

Really enjoyed this series, would really like to see a part four.

[@CMDRExorcist]

Coming soon!

[@TheStoff1975]

I'm a seasoned explorer but still I find something I had no idea about in this game! And also, the icon and text and the bottom in the lower left part of the screen at 5:30, that's the object who's gravitational pull you are in, which when you exit hyperspace will be the star in that system but it'll quickly say "deep space" to indicate you are free from gravitational forces. And then change to a planet once you're close enough. So it's not navigational information as much as physics :) Also, a #4 video with "recommended addons"?

[@unrealistik2570]

Thanks bro i just started playing and your videos have helped me so much more then anyone else on youtube!

[@CMDRExorcist]

Welcome to the galaxy! Glad I could help! o7 CMDR

[@torquaymouse2236]

Great stuff, I just learnd a couple of new tricks Thank you.

[@CMDRExorcist]

Over 2400 hours from Xbox to PC over the last few years and I STILL learn new things all the time. It's crazy! Thank you! :)

[@UncleMinecraft]

Brilliant guide. Thanks. I love exploration. I love just wandering through the galaxy to see what I can find.

[@jamesd688]

I have mapped the FSS controls to my mouse using relative mouse and the the mouse wheel to adjust the frequency thingy. Great vid!

[@maxjohn6012]

Nice vid. A couple of tips I've developed myself while on looooong trips... 1) With reference to getting a good angle to the orbital plane before opening the FSS, you can see the relative angle of your ship and the nearby bodies to the orbital plane in the central display. When you are in the orbital plane, all the bodies shown will be represented with a point. As you move away from the orbital plane, those points will "grow" lines. When you are moving directly away from (perpendicular to) the orbital plane, those lines will all line up with each other. The procedure I use is to honk and scoop, orienting myself vaguely towards my next jump while scooping. After scooping I aim for my next jump and check how my inclination to the orbital plane is looking. I stay on-target unless the vector isn't diverging from the orbital plane fast enough, in which case I make an adjustment. The key point I want to mention is that, as your ship cools as you move away from the star after scooping, you can learn to identify a (ship-specific) temperature (like a baseline), or a speed (e.g. 1c) at which you can know you've gone far enough away from the star to throttle down and get a good view of the system. Another point is that it's not always necessary to get too far off the orbital plane. The star is only very likely to obscure something if you're close to it. 2) If you decide to do a surface scan of every body in a system, or even if you just plan to visit two or more, it's really helpful to switch the system map mode from "map" to "orrery" - this gives you an accurately scaled 3-D view of the system, which makes it possible to choose an efficient order in which to visit each body. If there are only (e.g.) 3 bodies, this isn't going to be an enormous time saver, but if there are (e.g.) 10, or more, this can make an enormous difference to the time it takes to visit every body (or several bodies) in the system. Map mode doesn't tell you the relative positions of the bodies in the system, only the order of their distances from the central star. Simply using "map" mode and visiting each body in order from nearest to furthest from the star can be enormously inefficient. Say for example the 1st-closest body is on one side of the star, the 2nd-closest might be on the opposite side of the star, and the 3rd-closest on the opposite side again, and so on. Not only would visiting them in order of proximity to the star mean you end up traveling a much longer line in terms of total distance, but you'll also repeatedly have to traverse the gravity well close to the star - which slows you down (a lot!) Using the orrery system map mode allows you to plot a short line which avoids the central star as much as possible.

[@metalliguitare_4143]

9:26 If it's by pure chance yeah good job, but you can know if you visited a specific star on the Galaxy Map. You can activate a filter showing the stars you already visited or not, and using that setting to calculate your route.

[@CMDRExorcist]

That's come in handy for me finding star systems I forgot to write down! A great feature, for sure!

[@vagabondquerier9375]

thank you Cmdr. this very well done and should be in Elite

[@mertar3608]

Moon moon 🤣 I remember googling that to learn they are called 'Nested moons'

[@williamvorkosigan5151]

I have weeks of Elite flying time and I am not particularly interested in Exploration. Well done for grabbing and holding my attention. I will now find part one and check your series out. I will pin part 1 in my Sqn Discord for them to check out.

[@CMDRExorcist]

That's awesome to hear! Thank you!! I plan to do more this year, especially related to biology and more on-foot stuffs.

[@PaperLaur]

Thank you so much for making these videos, your voice is really pleasant, I LOVE your philosophy towards exploration, and the little bits of actual astronomy stuff. I'm new to the game and in looking up info I've run into a lot of get rich quick guides and very cynical takes on the game, but what brought my attention to ED in the first place was the idea of exploring out in space and seeing all these cool things, because space is awesome (even when looked at with my potato graphics card). You sound like you have such a genuine joy and love for this activity--with valid criticisms on the game's failings, but still letting yourself enjoy what there is. It's making me super excited to get enough cash for a proper exploration setup!

[@CMDRExorcist]

Thank you so much! And welcome to the galaxy! I'm glad that these guides continue help people get into exploring! It can be very rewarding. Fly safe, CMDR! o7

[@welshgamer1864]

If you haven't already check EDJP journal processor, interface may not be glorious but watch what happens when you map a system in the FSS and when you leave a system, you should see an overlay in the FSS and info at the bottom of the screen

[@yutman4532]

WOW. Great help. I am a returning EDO player who made all his millions in exploration few years back. Wanted a change so went into combat. Got very bored,this caused me to loose interest. Your videos have pulled me back to what I love the most about the game. Clearest explanation ive ever seen on any game. Thanks, ill be following your tips and hopefully dissapear into the distant wilderness never to do combat again.

[@user-pw9bh8vw4t]

Such great videos and overviews - practical, straight to the point and very useful things to know. I believe based on your videos that I will dip my toe into ED as an explorer. Thanks for making these :) you make me want to explore the stars!

[@CMDRExorcist]

Awesome to hear, CMDR! Best of luck out there! o7

[@agravar]

I've really enjoyed this series. Thank you.

[@CMDRExorcist]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@Ant4gon1st]

Did you just revive the Moon Moon meme... You legend.

[@CMDRExorcist]

I'm certainly not above bringing back oldschool memes. o7!

[@Ant4gon1st]

Also, thanks for the videos, after watching them I developed a genuine interest in the exploration aspect of the game again and outfitted an ASPx yesterday to go take a short trip around the perimeter to get my bearings, before I set out to a hopefully interesting place, that I found on the Galaxy map, about 15k Ly from the bubble. o7

[@rempha]

Very nice serie. I really liked the tips on how to look out for interesting clues about places worth visiting. For me this was a big problem in my first long trip, I had almost no incentive to go closer because everything seem the same from my perspective. Do you also explore with a fleet carrier? This would be a challenge itself (for one person) to make sure you are prepared to get the fuel out in the black.

[@flipmiller8816]

Awesome vid! I had no idea what a lot of those numbers mean, and even the few that I looked up on the web, had definitions that felt somewhat abstract to me. Your breakdown of the orbital inclinations or planes (the one with the degrees off angle) combined with the visual, finally made me understand. However, I'm still gonna have to watch these vids a few times over to lock that information in my brain (and fly out to make sure I'm visualizing it properly... I guess it would have to be ringed planets cause I still have no idea how to see N/S poles (orbit lines help from space))

[@JamesMackley]

Brilliant. Amazed at how much I learnt from this considering I've been a cmdr for some time now!

[@MarkZeroGaming]

Awesome stuff, Ex! Learned a few new things! I've recently picked up an Anaconda of my own, the "Meteion's Song", and I'm kinda starting to see why you're such a fan of the Nightwish. Been doing some archaeology work for Ram Tah in Guardian space, and the urge to veer away from ancient ruins to scan down the systems and collect some exploration data is a strong one!

[@cmdr_alexxxa]

Always learning. This is a great series.

[@57thorns]

For the FSS I use the main stick to move the sight over the map, and the small top stick to change frequence (l/r) and zoom in out (u/d). This makes it a one hand operator.

[@CMDRExorcist]

Oooo! That's a great idea!!!

[@tiberiusdave252]

Great video- very helpful.

[@crawldaddy7]

What i always like to do when i drop into a system especially when i am gonna scoop i will drop my bow to go just below the the main star so if you are kinda sittin under the south pole of the main star ihave never had a problem scooping while in the fss damn fine video commander just wanted to share that

[@lanceobe6801]

I really hope frontier will up the atmospheres at least a .50, then add weather, dust, rain and snow storms. Then add primitive, insect small animal life etc, but make it very rare not extreme Overkill like no man's sky. I'm making a lot of money with exobiology but it is becoming a bit repetitive, I'd love to see large grassy fields, flowers and forest. Fossils also would be a great addition and doesn't seem too difficult to pull off.

[@alexanderlane]

Really great series! Been playing off and on a while so knew a decent chunk of this but lots of nuggets and tips I didn't!

[@CMDRExorcist]

Glad it was able to help you! I hope to do more in the not-too-distant future. SO much to talk about in regards to exploration. o7!

[@plflaherty1]

Good series, thanks.

[@werdnalleb]

I am loving these! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience. I have always wondered how to find out before hand the orbital degree of ringed bodies. I look forward to using this and the other info you showed next time I am Out There. Fly safe buddy. o7 CMDR.

[@CMDREagle131]

Professor Ex, awesome work! I've always personally used the HOSAS for FSS'ing, and HOTAS. Never had much of an issue on my end with that setup, but I am biased :P

[@genreaper]

Moon moon LOL. Good vid

[@MrTrigoon]

Wow! This is amazing!!! I didn’t know exploration was so involved. Great vid man

[@abrielkeane4169]

Just want to second your advice about the games controller for the FSS. Taking the time to set it up makes scanning a system very quick and easy. Great video as always 👍

[@MURTOE42]

It´s super easy using a HOTAS as well. You just have to configure it right ;-)

[@wonder_platypus8337]

I find the. FSS to be great on Hotas. I'm in very though so it looks like a wide swath of sky with the FSS Hud over top.

[@thebagfather4633]

great vid chap learned a few things there cheers o7

[@midwestbard8528]

o7 this was helpful.

[@swenic]

Links to part one and two in the description would be convenient, thank you

[@user-hd6qu3vh7f]

Can you do a video showing your ship build? You have inspired me to get out there

[@CMDRExorcist]

I'd like to do some upgrades to her soon before doing a feature video, but here's the build I use. It's been years since I've added or changed anything, so it's far from the exploration meta these days: s.orbis.zone/nt17

[@user-hd6qu3vh7f]

The build looks cool, but I see you have a cargo rack, but no repair limped and no AFM is that wise to go out into the black with no way to repair?

[@CMDRExorcist]

It's worked well for 6 years.

[@1LilDave]

Great stuff. I read somewhere that you could get an idea of which stars were most likely to have ELWs but in my exploring I have only found one and it didn't seem to be any different from the last few stars that I had visited. But given ED's compunction for "similar things net similar results" - is there a particular star type and size that lends itself to finding more ELW?

[@CMDRExorcist]

I've heard the same thing, but never been able to confirm it. I've found most of my WW and ELWs in the F-G-M range, but I'm not sure if that's the common range or not. Might be time to science it! :)

[@richvandervecken3954]

I have also documented a wrong system to go back to and explore on a return trip and could not find it. Happens to everyone at least once in this game I think. :)

[@OldManPaxusYT]

A bit lengthy but overall the best exploration guides i have seen! Thank you! ← Comment for algorithm + 👍 'd #OldManPaxus Rating: ☆☆☆☆

[@Gruszyn90]

Soooo... Is the part 4 coming??

[@CMDRExorcist]

Soon(tm)

[@ddviper8813]

Well done series bud. Not like a whole lot of info for someone in the game for awhile but definitely learned a few little tid bits that will help my exploration a lot. Had no idea that just looking at my radar when jumping in could give me a quick hint if the system has been discovered. Well done

[@FlexDRG]

I'm still missing information (in the first of this series) on how to jump to an unexplored, or better an undiscovered system. How does that work? You're not going to cruise Al the the way there, not even knowing if you are heading to a system.

[@CMDRExorcist]

You just select a star system on the galaxy map and use the route plotter. Bring a fuel scoop and you can go anywhere.

[@FlexDRG]

@@CMDRExorcist on the galaxy map I see lines coming of stars that just end with nothing selectable at the end. I figured there ought to be something there.. but if there isn't... What are those lines for?

[@HallyVee]

lol wait wut? It lists TWO systems on the panel? 300 hours in...

[@tobiaskotoff2572]

but you can just book mark the system you're in, as well as bookmark ANY single body in said system. why rely on writing down anything? lol

[@CMDRExorcist]

Except Elite limits you to 200 bookmarks.