Hi Settlers,
there has been a debate ongoing on our Discord server how long it will actually take to get your first explorer ready to go explore the open space. With this post I would like to give you a bit more transparency and details, what is necessary to reach this first target in the game.
What is required to build an explorer?
To be able to build an explorer, your shipyard needs to be upgraded to level 13, which means that you need to reach Shipyard Skill level 13 as well. This part is probably not so controversial as almost 20 players have already reached this target.
Additionally, you need Explorer skill level 20, which is clearly more controversial. I will thus dig a little deeper into the stats to show you what it takes to reach this:
How long does it take to reach Explorer Skill level 20?
As you might have realized, we have built in two factors limiting development - resources and time. This is mainly done in order to make sure that nobody can come, spend huge amounts of money for resources and rule the game instantly. Even those guys who are able and willing to spend quite a bit of money for a faster development need to wait patiently. An upgrade round for the Explorer skill level takes a bit over 8.5 hours. This does not increase with higher levels. This means that if you play it ideally, you can reach Explorer Skill level 20 in 7.2 days. So by next Monday I am sure that we will see the first users being able to explore.
How much resources are necessary to reach Explorer Skill level 20?
Resources required to move forward one Skill level increase constantly. For the final round, you will need to invest 1,092 coal, 524 ore, 137 copper and 191 uranium. Overall, for all 20 levels you will then have spent 11,960 coal, 5,741 ore, 1500 copper and 2,094 uranium. To put this into perspective, this is about 1.2 imperium chests if you were to pay all of this from purchased resources. However, as a little pro tip, this would not be smart as your money is much better invested in building up your mines and depots. on level 13, your Coalmine will produce 1,040 coal per day, so enough to pay for the final upgrade to Explorer Skill level 20.
To put this into perspective, to upgrade your coalmine to level 13 you will need to invest 482 coal, 744 ore, 231 copper and 92 uranium. Additionally, you need to pay the same amount of resources for the increase of your Coalmine Skill level to 13.
Why is this grind necessary?
We know that you are all eager to start exploring. But we designed this game as a free game, which means that we do not take money for a starter pack. However, this means that we give out free planets and resources. If we were to allow exploring right away, users would just create many alt accounts and start exploring. In order to avoid this, we need a little work to be done by the users - cnsider it as Proof of Work.
Buying Explorers from other users
As you might have seen from 
I hope this helps to give a bit more clarity on this topic. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask - either here or in our Discord server.
Best regards,
Tim