Conundrum re:exploration.

O7, CMDRS

I joined the Elite Universe about a year ago. Started out like everyone else, not sure what the hell to do once I lost my starter system permit but eventually found my way to bounty hunting, mining (hmmm, painite before the nerf). Eventually worked my way into the Billionaires Club and bought all the ships I wanted.

I made Rank in the Federal Navy. Bought and engineered the hell out of my corvette after getting it blown to pieces by a souped up NPC pirate and his wingmates. Served as a taxi for evacuees from burning stations following a Thargoid attack to make rank in the Imp Navy, not because I was dying to but because I knew I could do it pretty quickly, compared to the months-long slog of a grind making Federal rank. After that grind, I decided to kiss the bubble goodbye after finalizing (or near-enough) my Krait Phantom exploration build.

So this, I did. Now I’m about 8500 LY away from “civilization” and I’ve seen some cool stuff, discovered a bunch of unmapped systems, none of which have anything exceptionally cool in them but I have seen some cool stuff. I’ve been out since before the launch Odyssey and the change seemed pretty dramatic at first but I guess I’ve gotten used to it.

Here’s my problem. I like being out here but I also kinda would like to head back. The monotony or jump, honk, scan, maybe land and drive around has kinda gotten to me, especially after not really having discovered anything super cool yet. So much so that compared to how much I had played while being in the bubble , I find myself not logging in and playing much anymore and when I do, it’s not for nearly as long as I used to.

Have I just caught grinditis or am I falling out of love with the game? At 8500-odd LY out, I’m a minimum of 150+ jumps from getting back to the bubble and that’s if I don’t have to detour around any large galactic obstructions.

I dunno. I feel like I’m rambling a bit but I hate to go back after coming out all this way but I’m just not finding anything out here that seems to make it worth the trip.

As an aside, how do you know how much your exploration data is worth before handing it in? I’ve checked everywhere I can think to look but I can’t find where that’s stored.

Anyhow, just lookin for some input from some of you all who have been out in the black for extended stretches..