Exploration

Exploration is a major element of Starsector, mainly involving exploring the Sector beyond the Core Worlds.

Within these uninhabited systems lies forgotten treasures such as Blueprints, AI Cores, Special Colony Items & forgotten legacies of the Domain of Man.

This space isn't completely empty either, as Independent explorers, Pirates & Luddic Path ambushes, REDACTED & stranger things can be found.

Sector

Main article: Sector

As stated earlier, Exploration mainly pertains to the exploring of the procedurally generated Sector with its mainly different types of systems & planets.

Generally, the type of celestial bodies doesn't have a significant impact on the amount / type of loot & discoverable objects, though Black Holes & Neutron Stars tends to have more Research Stations. More relevant is that these different types of celestial bodies can offer sources of Hyperspace Topography points, which will make travelling (& exploration) easier.

When entering a system for the first time, the player will gain information on the following:

• The number of planets and their types.
• The number of Objectives and any existing Domain-era infrastructure.
• If the system has a Gate.

Type

The following is unverified.

Besides Constellation Age, there is another attribute which mainly pertains to the discoverable objects of the system.

Systems within the same constellations generally adhere to the same typing.

REDACTED		Generally the most dangerous due to the presence of REDACTED, some of the systems still have ghosts of the First AI War, and can potentially serve as a source of AI Cores.
Explorarium		These systems have the presence of drones sent out by The Domain eons past, possessing Domain-Era Probes, Domain-Era Survey Ships & Derelict Motherships.
Derelict		Everything other than the above, contains the usual derelict stations, debris fields, derelict ships, and so on.

Abyssal Hyperspace

Main article: Abyssal hyperspace

Abyssal Hyperspace is the region of Hyperspace beyond the Persean Sector.

As of the current version (0.97), there isn't too much to explore besides Limbo, though the player can survey as much rogue planets as they wish.

Discoverable Objects

A System Map showing some discovered objects.

There many different objects that can be discovered within these systems that can be found, then explored / salvaged for loot and other things.

Much like fleets, these objects have sensor profiles, these profiles are added to a players sensor strength to judge whether a player can see an object or not.

This means that although a player may have a detection range of 2000su (1000su = 1 map grid square) they can detect objects more than 2000su away, this information should be considered when choosing a course between points of interest in system to maximize salvageable objects found.

A list of discoverable objects & their sensor range are:

List of Discoverable Objects
Icon	Object	Detection Range	Notes
	Cargo Pods	-	These are created by the player when they eject cargo from their fleet.
	Debris Field	-	As unknown sensor readings, Debris Fields are by far the largest, where the player can distinguish them on this alone.
	Derelict Ship	1000	Derelict Ships have some of the smallest unknown sensor readings. Its map icon is shared with Probes, Survey Ships & Motherships, and is the smallest in comparison.
	Domain-Era Probe	1700	Its map icon is shared with Derelict Ships, Survey Ships & Motherships, and is around the same size Derelict Ships.
	Domain-Era Survey Ship	2700	It's map icon is shared with Derelict Ships, Probes & Motherships, and is visibly larger than the first 2.
	Domain-Era Survey Mothership	3500	It's map icon is shared with Derelict Ships, Probes & Survey Ships, and is the largest of all of them. It's guaranteed to drop one of the following: Catalytic Core · Synchrotron Core · Pristine Nanoforge
	Standard Caches	1700	There are 3 main types of cache: Supply, Equipment & Weapons
	Small Caches	1200	There are 3 main types of cache: Supply, Equipment & Weapons
	Research Station	2200	A very common source of Blueprints
	Mining Station	2200	Occasionally, can drop a ridiculous amount of Ore.
	Orbital Habitat	1700
	Domain-era Cryosleeper	3500	Enables the building of a Cryorevival Facility in nearby colonies.
	Coronal Hypershunt	3500	Enables the use of a Hypershunt Tap in nearby colonies.

Loot

Exploration, or more specifically salvaging the various derelicts & Ruins, can provide the player with a variety of loot.

Exploring & looting Ruins after a survey can provide all of the following below, with bigger ruins providing more & better loot.

List of Loot
Commodities	The most common loot obtained during exploration, with Supplies, Fuel, Metals & Heavy Machinery being the usual suspects that can be found from almost all derelict objects or ruins. Other commodities, such as Transplutonics, Volatiles & Organics, can also be found albeit less consistency. These commodities like Ore & Rare Ore are mainly found within certain derelicts like Mining Station. Certain commodities such as Crew, Marines & Harvested Organs can be found from non-drone derelicts like stable Debris Fields, Derelict Ships & Stations.
Weapons	Are surprisingly infrequent, mainly due its main sources being some ship derelicts, stations & weapon caches, with the latter being the most reliable source.
Ships	Can be found in spade as derelicts & recovered to bolster a player's fleet early in a campaign, though whether or not they require story points to be recovered is up to chance. Smaller hulls can also be occasionally found in more significant non-drone derelicts such as stations or ruins.
Officers	Found in non-drone derelicts like stable Debris Fields & Derelict Ships. Officers found this way will always be at least level 5 with 1 elite skill. Even more rarely are "legendary" officers that are level 7 with 5 elite skills, of which only 4 can be found each campaign.
Administrators	Found in non-drone derelicts like stable Debris Fields & Derelict Ships. Administrators found this way will almost always have the Industrial Planning skill.
Hullmod Specs	Hullmod Specs can be found in a rather vast variety of objects. They are most commonly found in caches, ruins & stations.
Blueprints	Blueprints can be found in a rather vast variety of objects. The biggest (& almost guaranteed) sources are research stations, bigger ruins, weapons caches & equipment caches.
AI Cores	AI Cores are mainly found in common objects besides debris fields & derelict ships. The more valuable Alpha Core can be found in rarer objects like stations or ruins.
Special Colony Items	Special Colony Items are only found in a few places, mainly stations & bigger ruins. Notably, Derelict Mothership will always drop one of the following: Catalytic Core · Synchrotron Core · Pristine Nanoforge

Intel

Whenever exploring one of the common discoverable objects, the player has a chance of gaining intel which they can view in the Intel Screen. These intel mainly pertains to information regarding exploration, mainly more discoverables of interest or exploitable Market Conditions for a certain world, along with the relevant system.

A non-exhaustive list of intel would be:

• Intel about the existence of a(n) ________ in a system:
  • Debris Field, Derelict Ship, Cache, Research Station, Mining Station, Orbital Habitat
• Intel about the condition of a world:
  • Full Survey Data.
  • Habitable (not necessarily the Habitable condition but lower hazard rating).
  • Higher "tier" Resource Conditions.
    • This is only for Rare Ore Deposits, Volatiles Reserves & Ruins.
• Intel about Domain Exploration Derelicts in a system:
  • This is pertaining only to Domain-era Probes, Survey Ships & Motherships.
  • These can only be obtained from other Domain-era Derelicts.
  • The player follow these "bread-crumb" intel to find a Mothership and its prize.

Note: As per this blog post, intel regarding the condition of a world will be reworked to give full survey data on higher class / value planets.

Logistics

Exploration can be a particular strain on logistics due to long distances & potentially infrequent chances to resupply.

In turn, there's a multitude of ways to improve exploration capabilities or mitigate its costs.

Capacity

Increasing cargo & fuel capacity is an easy way of improving a fleet's ability to haul back loot and traverse the Sector for long distances & timeframes (by the simple fact of being able to bring more supplies & fuel).

Dedicated freighters (Buffalo, Colossus, Atlas), tankers (Dram, Phaeton, Prometheus) and/or combat freighters (Hound, Cerberus, Wayfarer, Mule) evidently provides significantly more capacity over dedicated combat ships.

While practically, the player would need & already have some of these ships, more may be needed to effectively explore the systems beyond The Core Worlds.

List of Capacity Improvements
Icon	Name	Improvements
	Expanded Cargo Holds	Increases maximum cargo capacity by 30/60/100/200, depending on hull size, or by 30%, whichever is higher. For civilian-grade hulls, also increases maintenance supply use by 50%. S-mod: Doubles the cargo capacity increase and, for civilian hulls, negates the maintenance cost increase.
	Auxiliary Fuel Tanks	Increases maximum fuel capacity by 30/60/100/200, depending on hull size, or by 30%, whichever is higher. For civilian-grade hulls, also increases maintenance supply use by 100%. S-mod: Doubles the fuel capacity increase and, for civilian hulls, negates the maintenance cost increase.
	Bulk Transport	+50% cargo capacity (maximum 50%) Maximum at 2000 or less base cargo capacity in fleet +50% fuel capacity (maximum 50%) Maximum at 2000 or less base fuel capacity in fleet +50% personnel capacity (maximum 50%) Maximum at 5000 or less base personnel capacity in fleet Increases the burn level of all non-militarized civilian-grade ships by 2

Expenditure Reduction

Reducing the supplies upkeep & fuel consumption is another method of improving a fleet's traversal ability.

List of Expenditure Reduction Improvements
Icon	Name	Improvements
	Efficiency Overhaul	Reduces supply use for maintenance, fuel use, and minimum crew required by 20%. Increases the combat readiness recovery and repair rates by 50%. The per-day supply consumption for CR recovery is increased to account for the increased recovery rate, but the total supply cost remains the same. S-mod: Reduces maintenance cost, fuel use, and minimum crew requirement by a further 10%.
	Surveying Equipment	Reduces the heavy machinery and supplies required to perform surveys by 5/10/20/40 depending on hull size, down to a minimum of 5 for each. S-mod: Increases the survey cost reduction by 100%.
	Containment Procedures	-50% crew lost due to hull damage in combat (maximum: 50%) Maximum at 240 or less total deployment point cost Reduces fuel consumption by 25% or 25 units, whichever is lower +25% fuel salvaged The "Emergency Burn" ability no longer reduces combat readiness
	Makeshift Equipment	Reduces monthly supply consumption for ship maintenance by 50% or 100 units, whichever is lower -50% resources required to survey planets
	Derelict Operations	Deployment point cost of ships reduced by 6% per d-mod (D) hull deployment cost reduction also applies to maintenance cost

Traveling

Main article: Hyperspace

In addition to simple travel in hyperspace, there are various methods to reduce the fuel consumption.

An important fact is that up to burn level 20, daily fuel consumption will increase with speed accordingly, but going beyond burn level 20 won't increase the daily fuel consumption any further. During normal operations it isn't to go past burn level 20, but there are certain terrain & abilities that can be used to achieve such speeds.

Hyperspace Storm Surfing can be used to travel quickly at the cost of Combat readiness & supplies.

Slipstreams can be used for very efficient travel between its speed & innate 50% fuel consumption reduction when convenient.

Hyperspace Topography progression unlocks a myriad of useful bonuses, such as Reverse Polarity & Generate Slipsurge.

When the player progresses to the current end of the Galatia Academy questline, they will obtain a special device that allows them to make use of a legacy of the Domain.

The player can also find another forgotten legacy of the Domain at the Limbo System in Abyssal hyperspace.

List of Burn Level Improvements
Icon	Name	Improvements
	Augmented Drive Field	Increases the maximum burn level by 2. S-mod: Increases maximum burn level by a further +1.
	Navigation	-30% terrain movement penalty from all applicable terrain +1 to maximum burn level Increases the burn bonus of the "Sustained Burn" ability by 1

Crew Attrition

Evidently, Crew is needed for crewing ships, conducting operations such as salvaging & surveying and having a skeleton crew for ships to maintain a certain level of combat readiness.

As such, care should be taken regarding typical Crew attrition, from salvage & survey accidents to hull damage / crewed fighter losses in combat.

• Ensuring sufficient Heavy Machinery & avoiding higher accident risk salvage operations.
• Using uncrewed fighters instead, such as Mining Pod Standard Wing, Wasp Interceptor Drone Wing or more exotic choices will completely negate casualties from lost fighters.
• Just simply bringing extra Crew to serve as a buffer.

List of Crew-related Improvements
Icon	Name	Improvements
	Additional Berthing	Increases maximum crew capacity by 30/60/100/200, depending on hull size, or by 30%, whichever is higher. For civilian-grade hulls, also increases maintenance supply use by 100%. S-mod: Doubles the crew capacity increase and, for civilian hulls, negates the maintenance cost increase.
	Blast Doors	Installs additional hermetic and heavily reinforced doors at critical junctures throughout the ship. Increases hull integrity by 20%. Ship takes 60% fewer crew casualties from hull damage sustained in combat. S-mod: Increases the crew casualty reduction to 85%.
	Recovery Shuttles	Reduces the casualties suffered by fighter pilots by 75%. S-mod: Increases the fighter pilot casualty reduction to 95%.
	Damage Control	-25% hull damage taken -50% crew lost due to hull damage in combat 50% faster in combat weapon and engine repairs
	Fighter Uplink	* -50% crew lost due to fighter losses in combat (maximum: 50%) +20% top speed (maximum: 20%) +50% target leading accuracy (maximum: 50%) Maximum at 8 or less fighter bays Effect increased by 1.5x for ships with offcers, including flagship
	Salvaging	+50% resources - but not rare items, such as blueprints - recovered from abandoned stations and other derelicts +20% post-battle salvage -75% crew lost in non-combat operations
	Containment Procedures	-50% crew lost due to hull damage in combat (maximum: 50%) ~ Maximum at 240 or less total deployment point cost Reduces fuel consumption by 25% or 25 units, whichever is lower +25% fuel salvaged The "Emergency Burn" ability no longer reduces combat readiness

Salvaging & Hostile Resupply

While exploring the various derelict objects, the player will be able to salvage some supplies & fuel for some minor field restocking.

In additional, combatting other fleets, whether Pirates or Independents, can also allow the player to resupply in some sense. Distress Call can be used to purchase fuel, or for "hostile resupplying".

List of Salvaging Improvements
Icon	Name	Improvements
	Salvage Gantry	Increases the resources gained from salvaging abandoned stations, derelicts, floating hulks, and other such by 10%/25%/30%/40%, depending on hull size. Only affects the recovery of common resources such as fuel and supplies, and not rare items like blueprints. In addition, 20% of the bonus applies to post-battle salvage. Each additional ship with a salvage gantry provides diminishing returns. The higher the highest recovery bonus from a single ship in the fleet, the later the diminishing returns kick in.
	Salvaging	+50% resources - but not rare items, such as blueprints - recovered from abandoned stations and other derelicts +20% post-battle salvage -75% crew lost in non-combat operations
	Containment Procedures	-50% crew lost due to hull damage in combat (maximum: 50%) ~ Maximum at 240 or less total deployment point cost Reduces fuel consumption by 25% or 25 units, whichever is lower +25% fuel salvaged The "Emergency Burn" ability no longer reduces combat readiness

D-mods

Main article: Damage hullmods

In turn, it is possible to gain D-mods that counteract the various properties stated above.

List of Relevant D-mods
Icon	Name	Improvements
	Compromised Storage	The storage capacity of this ship is significantly degraded. Crew, cargo, and fuel capacity reduced by 25%.
	Degraded Drive Field	Whether due to battle damage, manufacturing defects, or cycles of poor maintenance, this ship's drive field is suffering from permanently degraded performance. Maximum burn level decreased by 1. Sensor profile increased by 50%.
	Degraded Life Support	Decreases maximum crew capacity by 50%, and maximum combat readiness by 5%.
	Erratic Fuel Injector	Increases fuel use by 50% and decreases the zero-flux boost by 10 su/second.
	Faulty Automated Systems	Increases minimum crew required by 50% and decreases maximum combat readiness by 5%.
	Increased Maintenance	Increases the monthly maintenance supply cost by 30%. Increases minimum crew required by 30%. Decreases maximum combat readiness by 5%.

Tips & Tricks

Fuel Range Display

Visible Extensive Ruins around a Barren World

• Taking Exploration missions or before a trip will help cover costs as well as direct the player to a system guaranteed to have some form of salvage & hints on where exactly it is.
  • Bringing some otherwise hard to find Transplutonics to build Makeshift Comm Relays in the outer reaches can pay for itself by letting you pick up extra missions during exploration.
  • Eliminating Bounty target(s) in the area can also serve this purpose, albeit not giving information of things of interest.

• Low level danger beacons have good chances at better salvage possibilities. The low level Remnants found inside can either be fought with a tiny fleet of capable combat ships, or ignored with a larger fleet or hunted down if you have at least 1 Burn 11 ship to force combat.

• The "Fuel Range" Button (2) in the Map allows a player to easily check the range of their fleet. Inner, darker circle shows range for two-way trip, while outer, lighter circle shows range for one-way trip.

• Be wary of Scavenger fleets while in the Outer Worlds. Scavengers can have huge fleets & often become desperate enough to resort to Piracy. Seems the fleets with same or bigger strength to player may turn Pirate when they see the player, and will chase after them for a fight.

• High Resolution Sensors is a useful hullmod for exploration as often derelict ships & various caches are not near any point of interest that the player may be attracted to. Increased sensor strength also boosts the range of Remote Survey.

• The Neutrino Detector is invaluable for exploring vast areas of space without sacrificing mobility. It can point to you towards objects of interest and a little skill will help you negate its flaws.
  • More specifically, the player can move in a straight line that isn't towards/away any of the readings, true readings will gradually change direction relative to the player's fleet while false readings will remain static in its direction.

• Bringing extra crew to ensure any salvaged vessels can be used without additional supply usage is important, however many debris fields and derelict ships can contain cryopods with additional crew, so staying below maximum crew is recommended.
  • These cryopods can also contain Marines, Officers (level 5 & 7) and Colony Administrator.

• Neutron Stars have a far higher chance of containing Research Stations in particular close to the star however they will not contain habitable planets, unlike main sequence stars.
• Black Hole systems also have high chance of containing Research Stations, generally near the black hole or a Gas Giant in that system.

• Transverse Jump can help reduce the danger of Neutron stars as well as providing additional entrances to star systems that have hostiles on the other side or opportune exits from hostilities within star systems.

• It is possible to use Emergency Burn to get to other side of Neutron Star. Often best using it then flying right "through" the heart of the star

• Space Junk in orbit of planets indicates the presence of ruins, with the bigger amount of junk indicating better ruins.

• Exploration Missions will create things to salvage even once the entire sector has been cleared. If the player takes a salvage mission for a derelict in a system they have fully explored a new derelict will generate.

Up to date for latest version, 0.97a.