Exploration

Scanning: how you find things#

Some things in a system are on your Tactical list the moment you arrive: stations, worlds, belts, gates and the visible sites. Others are hidden. They don't appear on Tactical or as markers in space until you resolve them with a scanner.

Every new pilot's starter hangar includes a Deep Scanner. It is a mid-slot module: fit it, undock, and switch it on like any other active module (the number keys toggle active modules). When its cycle finishes it sweeps the whole system at once, wherever you are in it.

1. Fit a scanner

   Put a Deep Scanner in a mid slot (see fitting). It costs very little battery, so it fits alongside a combat or mining loadout.

2. Activate it in space

   Turn it on from your module bar. A short cycle later you'll see a toast like "Scan complete: 2 signatures resolved" and hear a discovery chime.

3. Check your Tactical list

   Resolved sites now appear under the Celestials filter with the star-shaped Site icon, and as markers in space.

4. Warp in

   Select the site and press J to warp to it, just like any other destination (see warp).

Faint signals and your Exploration level#

Deeper hidden sites need a trained eye. If a scan finds sites you can't resolve yet, it tells you so: "1 faint signal too weak to resolve", along with the Exploration level you need. Low-level hidden sites resolve for anyone; the higher levels need more training.

Scanning also trains your Exploration skill, and it pays a little more XP for every site it resolves. It is one of the easiest skills to raise while you do other things: leave a scanner on your ship and run it in every new system.

From the game's own data

The scanner does double duty: on a world's surface it also surveys planetary resource deposits (see harvesting).

Finding the right system#

• The Skills window has a Travel to nearest button on unlocks you can use, including "a system with hidden sites of a level". It plots the gate route for you (see routes).
• Visible sites, phenomena and singularities each have their own nav icons, so a quick look at Tactical tells you what a system holds.
• The galaxy map (M) shows security, the landmarks of frontier systems and any Wandering Singularity that is out right now.
• Star anything you want to come back to with Favorites.

Anomalies: what's out there#

In XETODUS, "anomaly" and "site" mean the same thing: a place in a system worth warping to that isn't a station, world, belt or gate. Each has a level from 1 to 5 that sets how dangerous and how rewarding it is.

Crown Hideout and Pirate Staging Point

Combat sites held by the Hollow Crown pirates. Sometimes visible, sometimes hidden. Waves of pirates arrive while you are on site. See running sites.

Exodus Wreck Field

The drifting ruin of an exodus ark, ringed by sealed derelict caches. Always hidden. This is where most relics come from. See relics.

Rich Ore Pocket

Frontier regions only. A tight cluster of the best ores your security band offers. Always hidden.

Derelict Convoy

Frontier regions only. A string of wrecked haulers with salvage and a little cargo, free to loot and salvage. Always hidden.

Ion Storm Cell

Some frontier regions only. Charged rocks of mid-grade ore inside a storm that periodically discharges into nearby ships, biting shields and scrambling target locks. Always hidden.

How many sites a system holds depends on its security. Secure systems have only one or two, at levels 1 and 2. Contested systems have more, at levels 2 to 4, and Lawless systems the most, at levels 3 to 5. Frontier regions set their own mix: some lean toward combat, some toward ore pockets and convoys.

Other places also show on Tactical and in space, and are covered in other chapters: belts for mining, wrecks for salvage, and the Crown's world bosses and raids in missions and events.

Running sites#

Site levels#

Frontier regions use their own level ranges. The wave count is the one shown in the in-game wave notices. From the game's own data

Combat sites#

Warp in and the site wakes up. Notices count the waves for you ("Wave 2/5 incoming"), and the last wave brings a commander. Clear them all and the site announces it's cleared; it fills up again after a while.

• Higher levels mean more waves, tougher ships and better loot. Start at level 1 and 2 in Secure space.
• Pirate wrecks are worth looting and salvaging on the way out (see salvage).
• Bring friends for level 4 and 5: a fleet shares the work and the danger.
• Every site you clear angers the Crown. When its wrath peaks it sends a world boss (see world bosses).

Crown strongholds#

Clearing a combat site can turn up intelligence: a named Crown commander is holding a stronghold somewhere in the system. Everyone in the system is told, and the commander appears on every Tactical list there. You have 30 minutes before the stronghold pulls out.

Destroy the commander and its wreck may point to the next stronghold. Higher-level sites start longer chains, and a full chain ends with a Crown Warlord, whose wreck can hold rare gear, relics and its insignia.

Exploration sites of the frontier#

• Rich Ore Pockets fill with rocks when you arrive. The rocks don't regrow once cut, but the pocket refills later with a fresh layout. Bring a mining ship with the skill for the band's best ores (see ores).
• Derelict Convoys appear for a while, then drift away and return later. Loot the holds first, then salvage the wrecks.
• Ion Storm Cells pay for the risk with charged rock. Every discharge bites your shields and scrambles your lock for a few seconds, so keep your shields topped up and mine in short bursts.

The frontier regions#

Beyond the original cluster lie the frontier regions: 22 regions and 678 systems joined to the core through a few conduit gates. 15 are open to everyone; 7 are Vanguard members' regions, visible on the map to all but entered only by Charter holders.

Frontier systems are where exploration gets interesting. Besides combat sites and wreck fields they hold the hidden ore pockets, convoys and storm cells above, plus phenomena: pulsars, magnetars, nebulae and other landmarks you can warp to, admire, and (with Cartography) chart for pay.

From the game's own data

Ancient Gate Ruins: a lane echo for everyone#

You don't need any membership to profit from a gate ruin. Hold within 14 km of an Ancient Gate Ruin, out of warp, and your nav computer picks up the echo of its old lanes. After a short wait it pays Navigation and Exploration XP. Each ruin pays you once a week.

Cartography#

Cartography is paid survey work for the faction Survey Offices. You fly to a star, world, belt, gate, visible site or frontier phenomenon, hold within survey range out of warp while the chart builds, and the Survey Office of that system pays a filing fee.

1. Open the Survey tab

   In space, open Vanguard › Survey. It lists everything you can chart in your current system, with its range, time, fee and XP.

2. Warp to a target

   Press Warp on a row. Docked, the row has a Travel button instead.

3. Hold in range

   Once you're inside survey range, press Chart. Stay within range and out of warp until the bar fills. Stop cancels.

4. Collect the fee

   The fee lands when the chart is filed. That target stays charted for a week, then you can chart it again.

Fees and XP grow with your Cartography level, and Contested and Lawless space pay more for the same work: 1.8 times and 3 times the Secure fee. They also need more training to chart.

The Secure, Contested and Lawless columns are the Cartography level needed in each. Frontier phenomena appear only in frontier systems. From the game's own data

Filing fees are capped per account per UTC day, all your pilots together. The cap rises with your level, from ₡430,000 at level 1 to ₡3,370,000 at level 99. The Survey tab shows how much of today's cap you've used.

Deep Signals#

Chart about 75% of the targets in a system (the Survey tab tells you how many) and its Deep Signal appears: a members-only site past the system's outermost world. Tracing it takes 120 seconds, pays the biggest fee on the list, and sometimes turns up a sealed Exodus Fleet Databank.

Charting faster#

• Frontier Surveying (Cartography 45): Charts of gate ruins, ion storm fronts and megastructures take 15% less time (charting only).
• Swift Survey (Cartography 70): Charts take 10% less time (charting only).
• Master Surveyor (Cartography 90): Charts take another 10% less time (charting only).
• The Astrolabe, the Vanguard survey yacht, charts faster and from farther out. Fees, XP and the daily cap are the same on every hull: a faster ship saves time, it doesn't raise the cap.
• The Field Notes synergy (Exploration with Cartography) shaves a little more off every chart. See synergies.

Cartography also opens the deeper fields of the Deep Drift for Reclamation salvage tugs: Lumen Shoals (Cartography 10), Breaker's Verge (Cartography 15), Pulsar Wake (Cartography 30), Sunken Armada (Cartography 35), Ark Graveyard (Cartography 55), Veiled Rearguard (Cartography 65).

Wandering Singularities#

Every so often a small black hole drifts into a Contested or Lawless system, stays for somewhere between 20 and 60 minutes, and evaporates. A pilot who warps out to one, survives the tides on the way in and crosses its event horizon is thrown out far away in a Secure system, with a find from the other side.

When one forms, the whole galaxy hears about it. It appears on the Tactical list of its system, is marked on the galaxy map with a dark disc ringed in gold, and is listed under Almanac › Singularities (N) with a Travel button. Singularities never form in the Vanguard members' regions.

The approach#

32 km out

Warping to the singularity drops you here, outside the tides. Take a breath.

22 km out

The tides start tearing at your ship. A Tidal stress readout appears at the top of your screen, showing how much of your ship you're losing each second. It rises steeply as you close in.

6 km out

The crossing radius. Cross the event horizon lights up on your target card and on the readout.

The horizon itself

Don't fly into it. A ship that reaches the event horizon without crossing is torn apart.

Crossing#

Pressing Cross the event horizon opens a confirmation listing exactly what you risk. Read it. Then:

• Tidal shear. Your shields are stripped and the crossing takes 20 to 40% of your armor and 5 to 15% of your hull. It never takes your hull below 25%, so the crossing itself never destroys your ship.
• Your hold. There's a chance the tidal stream tears part of up to three cargo stacks loose; the dialog shows the odds. Packaged ships, keepsakes and singularity finds are always safe. Hull Bonds don't pay for crossing losses, because nothing is destroyed.
• Where you come out. A Secure system with a station, far away (usually eight or more jumps). You arrive tumbling and disoriented, protected for 15 seconds while you get your bearings. Plan your route home with the map.
• The ride. Your first crossing plays the whole way through. After that you can skip it.

Who can cross#

• You need pilot level 5 or higher (see pilot level).
• Strike craft can't cross.
• The horizon won't take a ship that has just fired its weapons, or a pilot the Accord marshals still want (see law).
• A brand-new account can't cross at all for its first 12 hours (real time since you signed up).
• Each singularity takes one ship per account. You can cross 2 times a day per pilot and 3 times per account, with 20 minutes between crossings. Counts reset at 00:00 UTC.
• New accounts (their first 3 days) cross once a day and find Trace and Anomalous items only.
• The crossing dialog and Almanac › Singularities › Crossing limits show your counts for today with the rule behind each one (pilot, account or new account), your cooldown and when the counts reset. If the horizon refuses you, the message names the exact limit you hit.

From the game's own data

What comes through#

Every crossing brings back one find. Most are Trace materials; the rarer tiers hold side-grade modules, a livery and true one-of-a-kind collectibles. The Almanac's Singularities page lists the exact odds of each tier.

From the game's own data

• Every find is an ordinary item: you can sell it on the market or trade it in contracts. No NPC ever sells one.
• The modules are side-grades, not raw upgrades: each trades one strength for another.
• A Null-Geodesic Chart carried through a crossing is used up: you pick your exit from three far systems and the tidal shear is halved.
• An Event Horizon Livery Kit is redeemed docked from Almanac › Singularities: the livery is yours on every ship (see liveries).
• Accretion Glass, Hawking Condensate and the Horizon Lattice are the inputs of the craftable Horizon Stabilizer (see manufacturing).

Relics and derelict caches#

Relics are artifacts of the exodus fleet: memory cores, flight recorders, navigation cores and fragments of the arks themselves. They come mostly from the sealed derelict caches of Exodus Wreck Fields, and the rarest from Crown Warlords and world bosses.

Cracking a cache#

1. Find a wreck field

   Exodus Wreck Fields are always hidden, so scan the system first (see scanning).

2. Warp in

   As you arrive, a few sealed derelict caches appear around the ark. Higher-level fields hold more.

3. Lock a cache

   Target a sealed cache and fly within reach of your Seal Breaker.

4. Run the Seal Breaker

   Each cycle may open the cache. When it does, the contents are yours to loot first for a few minutes.

Each failed cycle wakes the cache's security a little more. After three failures it locks out: the cache purges part of its contents, and the first lockout calls in Crown salvage crews who were watching the field. Be ready to fight or leave.

Higher Exploration, pathfinder hulls, perks and the Ruin Reader synergy all add to the chance. Higher-level caches are harder to crack. From the game's own data

In a hurry? A crafted Breaching Charge opens a sealed cache within 2 km at once, but it always sets off the alarm and brings the guardians.

What's inside#

A cache holds refined materials and components, often an Exodus Fleet Databank, and now and then something better: Exodus-Pattern modules, a Wayfarer blueprint, flight recorders and, in the deeper fields, Exodus Core Fragments, legendary modules and even an Ark Schematic Fragment. Epic and better finds are announced, and every cracked cache counts toward the Relics ranking in the Almanac.

From the game's own data

• Archivists at the faction home trade hubs buy the common relics at a modest price. Check the market too: other pilots may pay more.
• Relics are small and light, but they are worth a lot. In Contested and Lawless space, dock and bank them rather than carrying a hold full home (see losing your ship).

Growing as an explorer#

Exploration is the skill behind scanning and seal breaking. It trains whenever you scan, crack caches or fail a crack attempt, so it grows naturally while you run sites. See how skills work.

From the game's own data

Pathfinder hulls#

Pathfinders are the explorer's hull class: quick in warp, with bonuses to seal breaking, salvage or charting.

From the game's own data

Achievements#

• Echoes of the Exodus: Crack a derelict cache at a wreck field.
• Relic Hunter: Crack 25 derelict caches. Earns the title "Relic Hunter".
• Archivist of the Exodus: Crack 150 derelict caches. Earns the title "Archivist".

• Skills and perksEvery Exploration perk, synergy and unlock in one place.
• SalvageTurn the wrecks you leave behind into materials.
• World bossesWhere the rarest relics come from.