unmanned science vessels CAN explore

[mister_lobos]

just in case anyone didn't already know...
science vessels can explore without a leader, the scanners will reveal nearby lanes, worm holes, gates, ruined megastructures, ships, and planets, they can even explore worm holes..
the better your scanner tech the further they see.
they just can't actually survey or research anomalies / projects and sadly can't be set to automatic either. but if they get attacked, not a big loss.

you can also just transfer a leader from one ship to another if they find something to survey / research.

this was of minor use in the past, but with the leader cap meaning less scientists to use for exploration, just use empty science vessels.

[Sola Di Ryuvia]

no point really you need to survey to claim a system. Exploring a system won't allow claiming.

[mister_lobos]

but the systems further from your claimed space, good way to find worm holes and ruined megastructures, especially in a giant galaxy.

[Sola Di Ryuvia]

your surveying science ships explore, and wormholes require scientists to stabilize and use. Basically you save a nearly insignificant amount of time to leave unsurveyed systems that the AI might then steal. Just don't have the scientist research the anomalies/projects and have 1 dedicated to those tasks while the others only survey and it'll speed up everything by alot.

[Ryika]

ANY ship can "explore" as soon as you have the first scanner upgrade or access to the scanner edict, not just unmanned science ships. That's... not a secret.

[Bumc]

Dip into discovery, get map the stars, take a random empty science ship, explore until you hit first neighbors while your actual scientists are busy surveying your guaranteed habitable worlds if you have any.
Pretty generic start, wormholes are not very useful to find early, but knowing what choke points you can realistically take early enough is crucial.

[Luzilyo]

Honestly, exploration in itself seems rather pointless without surveying. I usually survey with a meticulous scientist because some anomalies can provide pretty decent bonuses. Then I put my other scientists on exploration to keep them busy to keep their automation order from getting cancelled all the time while still keeping all potential anomalies available for the meticulous guy. For example, if I have a carefree scientist, I put him on explore + anomaly research, if I have an archaeologist scientist, I put him on explore + archaeology, and my head of research (ideally spark of genius) will get explore + special projects. With that setup, it is sometimes annoying that they choose to explore while there are other active tasks for them (unresearched anomalies, etc), but at least I can keep their automation order on and won't have to constantly restart it. Later in the game, when there's not so many anomalies and other things anymore, I usually just put them to assist research, so that I can have them do something actually useful while they wait for new stuff to pop up.

[corisai]

Originally posted by Luzilyo:

Honestly, exploration in itself seems rather pointless without surveying.

If you're stacking outpost reduction cost bonuses - no, it's very worthy to find a nice chokepoints and grab them before enemies.

Originally posted by Luzilyo:

I have an archaeologist scientist

Wasted perk in the long run. Don't pick on scientist you gonna to save.

P.S. If you're going psionic - your council scientist SHOULD BE spiritualist ;)

[Luzilyo]

Yeah, I just take it early on for some nice speed bonus with dig sites. Once all dig sites that I have access to are done it becomes pointless, so I'll just have him assist research until he dies and then grab a new one with a more useful trait.

Thanks, but I always play with genetics ascension perk, usually make my main species erudite, robust, and very strong, enslaving and nerve-stapling all others. lol. Good advice for my wife tho, she usually likes psionics.

[corisai]

Originally posted by Luzilyo:

Good advice for my wife tho, she usually likes psionics.

Forget to mention - it's true if you own Paragons DLC.

It will unlock for that scientist (Researcher veteran class so scientist made for sitting in council) a destiny trait with +10% resources from any psionic pop, +25% society research and massive bonuses to research psionic techs (but it pretty irrelevant at that time).