Elite Dangerous is shaping up to be one hell of a game, we’ve seen a lot of combat, and even some daring stunts, but what hasn’t been fully discussed is the exploration aspect of the game. There’s exploration for the sake of adventure, sure, but what are the other advantages of exploring every system there is to explore?
In Elite Dangerous, exploring a system doesn’t simply mean just plopping your ship in the system, wait for your drives to charge up and zip off to the next. There’s a lot more to exploration here. Exploration includes scanning, and a system is only “partially” explored until all the major bodies (planets and moons) have been scanned, and that scanned data has been returned home. There’s two types of scanning, passive and active, both of these enable us to determine planet types, chemical composition, minerals, liquids, anomalies and life.
If you want to properly scan a planet, you’ll need to use active scanning, which entails using a ground penetrating radar beam. But before you do this, you might want to check around for other ships, using an active scan depletes a lot of your power, leaving you quite vulnerable. Even if you think you can escape by hiding, active scanning emits a bright beacon of emitted energy, so you’re a glowing, sitting duck.
So why do you want to do all of this in the first place? Well, scanning and returning the data nets a big prize. Return the data to either the Federation or the Empire and you’ll be paid a hefty sum. If you discover a world with life, you’ll be netting a lot of cash, but even scanning the lesser moons will grant you some money. But make sure you check what systems have been explored first, so you don’t duplicate what other players have already done, otherwise you won’t get paid.
Who do you take the data to? Take it to the Federation, and they’ll love you, but the Empire will not, and vice versa. If you’re really sneaky, sell the data to both! But try not to get caught, which can happen if both powers send research teams to the planet.
I can see a lot of adventures happening with just scanning involved. What if two ships come to scan the same planet? do you risk a fight so only you have the data? Or do you slither away to find another planet? What if you both scan the planet from opposite sides? It turns into a race back to the Federation or the Empire! Or you could just become a pirate and threaten the explorers with death if they don’t fork over the data. But this is risky. Pirates can scan for cargo, but not for data. So stick up the wrong ship and you might be left with crappy information about a moon that is practically worthless, but then again, the reverse is true, you might get lucky!
