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[Aklyon]

Depends on whose ships are available, really. Theres things you can get away with in Templar ships that will go rather badly otherwise, and Exigency ships are hard to use effectively (but very cool even if I'm terrible at it)
But theres always a carrier involved in my fleet, even before the current fighter buff.

[WealthyRadish]

Anyone have any advice for when you just start off?

I feel like im constantly reloading games after about 1hour.

I just make no progress what-so-ever and feel like I struggle early on.

An easy way to print money early on is to go to the "Askonia" system and smuggle drugs and organs between the lobster homeworld and Cruor. They're two moons or whatever that orbit the same planet, but lobsterfest has organized crime that churns out drugs and organs while Cruor is party central with increased drug demand. There'll be tons of purple space russians patrolling around, but the worlds are so close together that it's very easy to make quick money between them over multiple trips. You smuggle by turning off your transponder and sneaking around, using the "go dark" ability and hiding in debris belts to avoid the authorities. You can also sneak off to the purp homeworld and usually sell off a ton of organs and drugs at modest profit as well.

I am assuming that this setup will be the same in every game, though. I'm not sure what the degree of randomization is.

[Frumple]

Combat strategy wise, honestly my strategy right now generally boils down to "Carriers? Carriers. More carriers." Or at least stuff with fighter bays, by hook or hullmod. Then some smaller fraction of non-carriers that don't die too easily (with me generally piloting whatever's on hand that's flimsiest), preferably with missile mounts to one extent or another. Much easier to land boom when their PD is saturated with fighters. Much easier to swarm with fighters when their PD is busy shooting missiles. Is good times. Throw in some ion and shield busting stuff for giggles and you're pretty golden.

[Fewah]

Is exploration actually profitable now?
Like is there a point?

In the last version I just found myself running out of fuel and getting stranded constantly.

[Aklyon]

Is exploration actually profitable now?
Like is there a point?

In the last version I just found myself running out of fuel and getting stranded constantly.

Last version didn't have exploration. It had combat and trading.

[Hanzoku]

On surveying and fleet layout, once you have a bit of cash, a prometheus and an atlas with the survey gear hull mods carries your loot, fuel, and ensures most planets only need 5 supply to survey.

[Frumple]

It can definitely pay for itself, if nothing else, eventually. It can take a bit to run across class 4 or 5 data, but even the smaller stuff is usually at least a few thousand. If you're surveying as you explore (particularly if you're doing it on top of bounty hunting, checking nearby systems after hitting one, or similar stuff for probe drop missions), you can end up raking in a good fair amount.

Currently doing a new mod-enabled run, but my other one (the legion/paragon monstrosity) cleared over a million on two separate distant-system runabouts. Primary reason I could take those two in when I found 'em, since affording it was totally a thing. Few class IV and/or V survey datas, couple of alpha AI cores,* the smattering of <other stuff>, start your exploration on a multi-week out bounty so you can guarantee a couple dozen k when you get back, it can add up pretty quick. You definitely need good support ships if you're going for that, though, and/or be willing to pick up derelicts as you go along to net more cargo/fuel space. Plenty of cargo space and fuel, lots of crew (more for scavenging than surveying, though you need hundreds for the biggest stuff regardless).

Incidentally, small exploration tip -- if you don't need to be moving hyper quick (and even if you might, since you can easily eject the excess) going over weight with supplies (specifically the supply item) is basically without downside. It massively inflates your maintenance supply costs, but all that really means is the problem is self-solving and in the interim you can often enough fix up stuff while they're draining back down to equilibrium. Kinda' useful if you're hitting ships or debris fields along the way.

... though that said, unless you're using tugs, I would probably recommend avoiding the biggest fuel/crew/cargo transport ships. Their burn limit is a total nuisance otherwise. Think they're better off if you are using tugs, but probably don't bother otherwise.

* Give them to tri-tach if you can and you're after cash, by the by. Assuming it's not random per game, they apparently give double bounty for AI cores (i.e. 300k for a single alpha), which can rapidly become hella' bank if you're faffing around the outer systems hitting drone fleets and stations.

[Hanzoku]

I sort of consider the tier 3 talent that ups sustained burn's boost by 5 to be something of a mandatory quality of life talent. It's just as good for bounty hunting, as the AI has a tendency to run straight away with emergency boost, and moving at speed 20 you'll run them down. Even if you miss, most fleets sort of hover uncertainly nearby, which lets you turn off sustained burn, reorient, and crank back up to speed.

[EnigmaticHat]

Sindria (Diktat capital world) is also a great place to sell survey data.  Probably a reference to the fact that they currently only have one system.

[Aklyon]

Sindria (Diktat capital world) is also a great place to sell survey data.  Probably a reference to the fact that they currently only have one system.

Its based on market stability. Tiny unstable pirate markets won't buy survey data for much, Sindria will.

[EnigmaticHat]

That makes sense I guess.  Hardly going to go looking to start a new colony when there's pirates blowing up your food convoys.

[Frumple]

... unless you really want to pack up and leave, considering pirates are blowing up your food convoys. It wouldn't be too surprising if a colony in that situation was suddenly very interested in that nice garden world you found tucked somewhere pirates don't frequent all that often, heh. Might be cheaper to just hire the player's fleet to go murder the pirates, though.

[inteuniso]

... unless you really want to pack up and leave, considering pirates are blowing up your food convoys. It wouldn't be too surprising if a colony in that situation was suddenly very interested in that nice garden world you found tucked somewhere pirates don't frequent all that often, heh. Might be cheaper to just hire the player's fleet to go murder the pirates, though.

Most people prefer to pay to make a problem go away than to make them go away from a problem.

[Flying Dice]

Once you have the cargo and fuel capacity, an easy way to turn a profit exploring is to take one of those 100k+ reward 'press the button in this distant system' missions, go out there and do it, then survey the system and every system you can manage on the way back to the sector core.

[Ehndras]

...I've actually had the opposite experience.

Find a size 5+ pirate world/station, sell class V survey data for 220k each, profit.

...Hence, why I'm sitting on nearly 4 mil.