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Post by readyready15728 on Dec 9, 2015 12:50:10 GMT -5
My experience just having gotten back into the game is that my memory that exploration is often a pointless crapshoot has been borne out and it's killing me because I want to enjoy the game in its fullness but it seems like looting the holds of ships that I am bidden to attack during missions or those of Independents who attack me is a far more reliable stream of income including from forbidden goods.
I know multiple factors figure into the success of exploration but nothing else seems to crave XP like Explorer just to get anything at all.
Those of you familiar with the notion of expected utility might are best able to answer this question: when does the EU of exploration (or for those who don't know this, in so many words, the sum of the products of all the possible gains or losses with their respective probabilities; look at Wikipedia or Investopedia or something for more details) exceed that of other sources of income? Or is it kind of just a casino? (I only go to the casino for the "free" drinks and spend as little as possible on the machines.)
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Post by fallen on Dec 9, 2015 13:19:57 GMT -5
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Post by Cory Trese on Dec 9, 2015 14:16:05 GMT -5
Definitely one of the best ways to make money, especially in the early game and double on Elite.
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Post by slayernz on Dec 9, 2015 17:02:02 GMT -5
Exploring is an early-game way of making quick, relatively risk-free money. You DO need to know which planets yield the best return, and after making good coin, develop an exit strategy that will get you away from holes in the ground and into putting holes into other ships and the like. Mid/Late game space encounters are unavoidable, and exploration becomes more and more difficult. It isn't to say that you can't have a successful venture after, say turn 10,000, but it will certainly be harder to pull off.
With the right planets, and right approach, you can easily make several hundred thousand credits, which is enough for you to buy a new ship, start diversifying, and upskilling in other areas.
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Post by Brutus Aurelius on Dec 10, 2015 14:07:18 GMT -5
I find Explorers to be the easiest to play early game.
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Post by fallen on Dec 10, 2015 15:30:52 GMT -5
I find Explorers to be the easiest to play early game. One of my favorite ways to get off to a fast start too. |
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Post by geoklng on Dec 10, 2015 19:00:19 GMT -5
exploring is worth it when there are trade embargoes on all relevant factions, and you have to make your life in-game dealing with Rychart and Javat. In that situation,, you are better off investing the XP earned from contracts towards exploring until the embargoes are lifted. Otherwise, money comes faster on the Syndicate Capital > Steel Fortress Artifacts for Electronics route.
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Post by slayernz on Dec 10, 2015 19:31:19 GMT -5
I used to explore extensively in early game, but now I almost always go the shortage rumor approach and can usually get a couple of hundred thousand credits in no time at all (without significant crew loss due to "workplace accidents"  |
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Post by readyready15728 on Dec 11, 2015 17:55:38 GMT -5
Depending on how well-armed and -armored you are you can just gank any Independents who dare attack you and usually pay very little in lives, repairs etc. for the entire contents of their cargo hold.
Out of respect I never raided a single benign Independent but still had a lot of foolish pirates lining up to fight me even after I built my "Battlefreighter Amphitrite".
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Post by readyready15728 on Dec 11, 2015 18:02:21 GMT -5
Come to think of it, the size of my ideal vessel is probably a large part of that.
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Post by Cory Trese on Dec 15, 2015 13:43:29 GMT -5
Rages Morale and Crew Efficiency unless you're playing Pirate tho.
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Post by slayernz on Dec 15, 2015 19:10:29 GMT -5
Yup, attacking Independent ships and then enslaving crew may have a distinct impact on crew morale and crew effectiveness.
Crew does get better over time (they have an experience type of rating) just like torps and armor and stuffs. Stealing a torp from a ship results in crappier quality than buying from a core world. Exception is if you buy from a Steel Song core world, because you'll just get teapots. Disclaimer - that's not true, but then again, Steel Song ships never hit me when they shoot so it's probable ...
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Post by readyready15728 on Dec 18, 2015 12:04:47 GMT -5
Rages Morale and Crew Efficiency unless you're playing Pirate tho. Temporarily, and most of them will live. Better than walking into this:  |
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