ED-ExpeditionStats

A PowerShell script that generates expedition statistics from Elite Dangerous journal files.

Purpose

Elite Dangerous does not have a built-in expedition summary. This script processes your journal files for a given time period and produces a plain-text report suitable for sharing on forums or Discord.

Originally written for the Distant Worlds III community expedition (3312 / 2026).

Requirements

• PowerShell 5.1 (Windows Desktop) or PowerShell 7+ (cross-platform)
• Elite Dangerous journal files

Usage

# DW3 default (2026-01-18 to today)
.\ED-ExpeditionStats.ps1

# Custom date range (real-world dates)
.\ED-ExpeditionStats.ps1 -StartDate "2026-01-18" -EndDate "2026-03-22"

# In-game dates also accepted (year offset 1286)
.\ED-ExpeditionStats.ps1 -StartDate "3312-01-18"

# Custom journal path
.\ED-ExpeditionStats.ps1 -LogPath "D:\Journals"

# Filter to a single commander (when multiple share a journal folder)
.\ED-ExpeditionStats.ps1 -Commander "SEVETAMRYN"

The script automatically finds your journal folder under Saved Games\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous. Use -LogPath to override if your journals are elsewhere.

When multiple commanders share a journal folder, the script produces a separate report for each. Use -Commander to filter for one.

Both journal filename formats are supported: Journal.YYYY-MM-DDTHHMMSS.01.log (current) and Journal.YYMMDDHHMMSS.01.log (older).

A progress bar is shown during processing and disappears before the report is printed.

Output

==================================================
  Expedition Statistics
  Period: 2026-01-18 to now
==================================================

PAYOUTS
  Cartographic:     630,763,121 cr
  Genetic:       15,371,836,900 cr  (845 scans, 81 unique species)
  Codex:             10,143,750 cr
  Total:         16,012,743,771 cr

EXPLORATION
  Systems visited:        1736
  Systems discovered:      793
  Codex entries:           884

FSD JUMPS
  Total jumps:            1824
  Supercharged:            310

DISTANCE TRAVELED
  FSD:              168,496.8 ly
  Carrier:           32,371.6 ly
  Total:            200,868.4 ly

FIRST DISCOVERIES
  Earth-like worlds:         2
  Water worlds:             55
  Ammonia worlds:            8
  Terraformable:           146
  Neutron stars:            35
  White dwarfs:              7
  Black holes:               0
  Wolf-Rayet stars:          0

  Note: 6 death(s) recorded. Distance figures may include recovery travel.

==================================================

Statistics explained

Stat	Source
Cartographic payout	Sum of MultiSellExplorationData.TotalEarnings
Genetic payout	Sum of Value + Bonus per entry in SellOrganicData.BioData
Genetic scans	ScanOrganic events with ScanType=Analyse (completed scans)
Unique species	Unique Species values from completed scans
Codex payout	RedeemVoucher where Type=codex
Systems visited	Unique destinations from FSDJump
Systems discovered	Unique systems where a star Scan had WasDiscovered=false
Codex entries	Unique EntryID + Region combinations where IsNewEntry=true
Supercharged jumps	JetConeBoost events (neutron star / white dwarf cone)
FSD distance	Sum of FSDJump.JumpDist
Carrier distance	CarrierJump events (online) + StarPos delta across sessions (offline while docked)
First discoveries	Unique bodies with WasDiscovered=false in Scan events
Deaths	Died events — distance figures may include recovery travel

Notes

• Journal files are selected by filename date, so sessions spanning midnight may be partially included or excluded at the boundaries.
• Carrier distance covers both online jumps (logged via CarrierJump event) and offline jumps while docked (calculated from StarPos coordinates between sessions).
• Codex entries are per-region in Elite Dangerous — the same species in a different galactic region counts as a new entry.
• First footfall count is not included — the game tracks first footfalls in its database but does not log a dedicated journal event.