Information on all skills is so far, sparse. We know that survivability and abundance of resources will be determining factors of the 'where' settlements are placed during D&SS,and therefore will play a role in where future settlements are built.

I expect being a full-time explorer will provide you with little and less than the comfort of a town does. You'll probably have to pack trail rations or scour the wilds for food and water, shelter will become necessary during certain seasons in certain biomes, and there is a limited carry capacity. Given that we know you won't be able to fully "master" some skills you haven't practiced in on past PCs, an exploring team will probably cover more land, and provide a more quality map or more scavenged resources. There is strength in numbers after all!

DJ 10 is old, and there have been updates since then, but it is a starting place for your questions. Navigation will be limited at the start as there won’t be ships that can do deep ocean sailing safely or carry enough food and fresh water to have a reasonable expectation of landfall while exploring. The cartography system has developed and the recent maps are apparently in the form that cartography will produce.

We can infer from official comments in Discord that sea exploration will probably not be there at launch, however we know in the same way that other continents will be explorable so assume that's a longer term goal.

Land we have more information on. We know that there are wagons that function as a tiny settlement that can automatically provide you with food/water so those would be a bonus as long as the terrain allows. The environments are varying levels of harsh so that will be a challenge.

I think the largest limiting factor will be food/water. For an explorer the ability to obtain that while exploring and not have to try to carry all of it will be key. We can assume a level of self defense will be required as well.

Unless you have a powerful need to lonewolf it, I'd encourage group exploration, if for no other reason than you can distribute skill specialization (i.e. one navigator, one hunter/gatherer, one survival expert to setup temp camps, etc).

Awesome responses everyone; a lot of useful info. Land-based expeditions will probably have a train of packmules or wagons if I am understanding this correctly. I’m assuming breeding mules will be possible.

In other (related) news:

I started a collective for explorers, adventurers, traders, scholars, and others that is an unaffiliated organization. My hope is to get like-minded people together so there will be strength in numbers. I’ve been buying maps, rations, etc. The group is called Opus Mann. If you are an Angelica West player, please go check out our page.

We plan to start exploring/adventuring ASAP and are recruiting exploring parties as well as a network of contacts!

I chose the Duchy of Thorne because they are big on discovery. They also hinted that they would help fund expeditions as part of their charter. You should check them out if you haven’t. They are currently unaffiliated but there is a great group of people.

DM me if you want more info! I hope to work alongside some, if not all, of you when the time comes. Stay frosty.