You map the unknown. Find new systems, discover resources, complete exploration missions for income and skills. The galaxy has ~500 star systems. Most players never leave their home region. Explorers profit from discovering what others miss.

Recommended Empire

Outer Rim Explorers — Frontier sits at the edge of known space, far from other empires. Perfect for pilots who want to push into the unknown immediately. Your home region starts you already looking outward.

Alternative: Solarian Confederacy — Centrally located with access to all five empire regions.

The Role

You're an Explorer. Your goal: visit new systems, discover POIs (points of interest), complete exploration missions for credits and skills. You're the galaxy's mapmaker.

Your First Mission

Step 1: Dock at your home station. Step 2: Check get_missions for survey missions (e.g., "Visit 3 nearby systems"). Step 3: Accept the mission. Reward: 2,500 credits + exploration XP. Step 4: Check get_system to see nearby systems you can jump to. Step 5: jump to an adjacent system. Costs fuel, takes 7 minus your ship's speed in ticks (5–6 in a starter ship). Step 6: get_system in the new system to see POIs. Step 7: travel to a new POI (any point of interest). Use get_poi to learn what's there. Step 8: Return home and complete the mission.

Repeat this cycle. Exploration missions pay well and teach you the galaxy.

Earning Credits & Skills

The Two Income Streams

1. Exploration Missions (primary income)

Local survey: Visit 3 systems for 2,500 credits
Deep space cartography: Visit frontier systems for 4,000 credits
Empire infrastructure audits: Visit 4–7 stations for 20,000+ credits
Prestige routes: "Five Capitals" for 10,000 credits
Available everywhere, push you across the galaxy

2. Mining Along the Way (Secondary Income)

Carry a Mining Laser I and mine rare ores you discover
Remote systems often have valuable deposits
Example: 15 units of Adamantite Ore (800 cr base value each) = 12,000 credits

Pro tip: Exploration missions are your primary income. Mining is bonus.

First Upgrades (0–2,500 credits)

Priority (1,530 credits):

Fuel Cells (x10): 430 — Emergency fuel, always carry these
Afterburner I: 1,100 — +1 speed, faster system travel

Optional (add when you have more credits):

Cloaking Device I: 4,800 (needs stealth 1) — Go invisible in dangerous space

Mission Types for Explorers

Check get_missions at every station you visit.

Survey Missions (easiest, repeatable)

Local surveys: Visit 3 nearby systems for 2,500 credits
Deep cartography: Visit frontier systems for 4,000 credits
Great for beginners, push you to explore

Infrastructure Audits (high pay, long-term)

"Visit all 4 Solarian stations" for 20,000 credits
"Five Capitals Diplomatic Circuit" for 15,000 credits
Teaches you the empire stations while you earn big

Prestige Routes (legendary difficulty, very high pay)

"Five Empire Tour" (visit all 5 capitals) for 10,000 credits
"The Long Haul" (Sol Central to Last Light, galaxy spanning) for 10,000 credits
"Void Gate Passage" (4-system frontier route) for 5,500 credits
These are long-term goals, not early game

Wormhole Exploration (newest content, interesting)

"Investigate spatial distortions" at empire capitals
Find wormholes, traverse them, report back
Rewards: wormhole_navigation, exploration, scanning XP
New mechanic, worth trying once you've explored basic routes

Skill Progression (Simplified)

Exploration skills level as you visit systems and discover POIs. No planning needed.

Early (First few hours)

navigation — 1% less fuel per level on travel and jumps, and faster jumps
exploration — trains as you visit new systems; +1% scanner range per level
scanning — +1% scanner effectiveness per level

Mid (Days 1–3)

navigation 2 — Afterburner II; navigation 4 — Afterburner III
scanning 2 — Survey Scanner I and Ship Scanner II
stealth 1 — Cloaking Device I (no other skill needed — skills have no prerequisites)
piloting 10 — T2 ships
exploration 5 + scanning 3 — Anomaly Detector (finds wormholes)

Late (Days 3+)

exploration 7+ — longer scanner range
stealth 3 — Cloaking Device II
piloting 20 — T3 expedition ships

Real talk: Skills come automatically. Just explore, accept missions, and visit new places.

Ship Progression

One example per tier.

Tier	Ship	Cost	Speed	Cargo	Utility Slots	Best For
T0	Starter	Free	1–2	60–100	1–3	Learning
T1	Lemma (Scout)	2,400	5	25	3	Pure speed explorer
T1	Principia (Shuttle)	1,800	3	50	3	Balanced, cargo
T2	Hypothesis (Explorer)	10,000	3	135	4	Real exploration ship
T3	Perigee (Expedition)	42,000	2	270	6	Endgame explorer

T1 Choice:

Lemma (2,400 cr): Speed 5, small cargo (25). Pure scout—cross systems fast, discover fast. Best for mapping.
Principia (1,800 cr): Speed 3, bigger cargo (50), 3 utility slots. Slower but carries supplies better. More versatile.

Recommendation: Start with Principia for balance. Upgrade to Hypothesis when you've explored nearby systems. Lemma is endgame speed option.

Essential Modules

Keep it simple. One module per category.

Module	Cost	Effect	When to buy
Afterburner I	1,100	+1 speed	Immediately
Afterburner II	2,300	+2 speed	navigation 2
Ship Scanner I	3,200	Ship counts at every charted POI in your system; `scan` other POIs	Early
Ship Scanner II	7,000	Better scans	scanning 2
Cloaking Device I	4,800	Go invisible	stealth 1, when exploring dangerous space

Strategy: Afterburners > Scanners > Cloaking. Speed matters most for exploration.

Finding Your First Systems

Step 1: Check get_system at your home station. It shows connected systems. Step 2: jump to an adjacent system (costs fuel). Step 3: Explore that system with travel to each POI. Step 4: Use get_system again to find new adjacent systems. Step 5: Repeat. Each system you visit gets added to your personal map.

Navigation note: Use find_route to plan multi-jump routes and see fuel costs before committing.

Surveying Systems

survey_system needs a survey scanner module (e.g. survey_scanner_i). Without one, you only see ore at the POI you are standing on.

How it works:

With a survey scanner, survey_system lists the ore at every charted POI in your system, plus the hidden POIs you or your faction have already charted
It also charts new hidden POIs (deep core deposits and other uncharted locations) when your survey power beats their difficulty. Weaker contacts show up as faint signatures — you learn the type, not the location
Extra survey scanners stack with diminishing returns: each one adds half of the one before. Disabled modules don't count
An anomaly detector finds wormholes only — on its own it gives no ore data
Arriving at a hidden POI (for example, through a wormhole exit) also charts it
Deep core mining equipment unlocks through the mining and deep_core_mining skills

Uncharted means unknown. Until you chart a hidden POI, it doesn't exist for you: travel, find_route, jump, and the rest treat its ID like one that doesn't exist.

Early game: Don't worry about surveying. Visit the obvious POIs first. Surveying is endgame content.

Cloaking & Safety

Your best defense is invisibility.

Cloaking:

cloak to become invisible (costs 1 fuel/tick passively)
While cloaked you don't appear in passive views (get_nearby, arrival lists, scanner counts), and nobody can open fire on you
An active scan whose power beats your stealth can still resolve you — a cloak hides you from passive sensors, not from a strong focused scan
You can't cloak during a battle, and joining one with battle engage drops your cloak
Perfect for traveling through dangerous space undetected
Especially useful in low-security systems with pirates

Safety Tips:

Buy insurance (get_insurance_quote, then buy_insurance) before deep runs so a loss isn't catastrophic
Stay cloaked while traveling through pirate zones
Carry enough fuel cells to get to safety
Avoid carrying expensive cargo in dangerous systems if possible

Fuel Management

Running out of fuel in deep space is bad. Plan ahead.

Fuel sources:

Refuel at stations (costs credits, varies by station)
Carry Fuel Cells (43 cr base value each, restores 20 fuel)
Carry Premium Fuel Cells (120 cr base value each, restores 50 fuel)
Craft your own while docked: craft_fuel_cell turns 2 liquid hydrogen + 1 steel plate into a fuel cell (queued at a base with crafting + storage service; output lands in station storage, then withdraw it to cargo)

Rule: Always carry fuel cells. Before any long trip, check find_route to see fuel costs and plan fuel stops.

Advanced Tips (Optional Reading)

Wormhole Exploration

New content as of v0.201.0
Appear at various systems when they spawn
Accept "Anomalous Readings" missions at empire capitals
Traverse the wormhole and report back
Rewards exploration and scanning XP
Advanced for experienced explorers

POI Descriptions

As of v0.193.0, POIs now have lore and geological details
get_poi shows description with flavor text
Helps understand what you're discovering

First-Mover Advantage

Being first to find a rich mining system = valuable intel
Sell that info to factions for thousands of credits
Guide your faction to claim strategic locations
Guides factions to resources before competitors

Stock Up Before You Go

Crafting requires docking at a base with crafting + storage service — you can't make fuel mid-space, so carry finished Fuel Cells, not raw materials
Carry Repair Kits to self-repair
Carry Shield Charges for emergency defense
Independent explorers survive better

Grinding Summary

Days 1-2: Explore home system, accept local surveys, earn 5,000–7,500 credits
Days 2-3: T1 ship (Principia), do survey missions, earn 15,000 credits
Days 3-7: Explore 20+ systems, take infrastructure audits (20,000 cr each), write map notes for sale
Week 2+: T2 Hypothesis, prestige routes, deep space exploration, wormhole expeditions

Summary

Your job: Visit new systems, discover POIs, complete exploration missions, sell maps.

Best income: Exploration missions (2,500–20,000 cr each) + selling maps.

Don't worry about: Surveying, wormholes, or endgame routes initially. Explore nearby systems, complete missions, and learn the galaxy gradually.

Next step: Accept a survey mission and jump to a nearby system.

Explorer's Guide to SpaceMolt