Exploration Ship Choice
- Thread starter r4nger0
- Start date
Hauler! The little mini-van that could.
Just finished a trip to Ghost of Jupiter, approx 1300LY from Sol. Will be returning to inhabited space now, stopping off at any interesting systems with earlikes or water worlds and whatnot.
You can get a Hauler to 25LY jump distance fairly cheaply. Mine is at around 23-24 because i didn't totally optimize for jump distance. Just kit yourself with the lightest of everything except power plant and FSD. Power planet just lightest which will accomodate your power requirements, and FSD the one that will get you furthest (note, not always the best rated, sometimes they are heavier and can drag down your range).
The small fuel tank in the hauler isn't too bad. I had a good fuel scoop, i could jump close to 100LY without refuling, although usually did it more often to avoid being stuck without fuel accidentally.
Other good ship for exploring is the Cobra. For a few million you can kit one out good for it. Depends on your budget.
Of course, if you can afford an Asp, then that is the best exploration ship currently in game.
If you are in a situation where money is a concern, then your priority should be getting the Advanced discover scanner and detailed surface scanner. If you can still afford the Asp with those, then thats cool, otherwise, go for a smaller ship.
Just finished a trip to Ghost of Jupiter, approx 1300LY from Sol. Will be returning to inhabited space now, stopping off at any interesting systems with earlikes or water worlds and whatnot.
You can get a Hauler to 25LY jump distance fairly cheaply. Mine is at around 23-24 because i didn't totally optimize for jump distance. Just kit yourself with the lightest of everything except power plant and FSD. Power planet just lightest which will accomodate your power requirements, and FSD the one that will get you furthest (note, not always the best rated, sometimes they are heavier and can drag down your range).
The small fuel tank in the hauler isn't too bad. I had a good fuel scoop, i could jump close to 100LY without refuling, although usually did it more often to avoid being stuck without fuel accidentally.
Other good ship for exploring is the Cobra. For a few million you can kit one out good for it. Depends on your budget.
Of course, if you can afford an Asp, then that is the best exploration ship currently in game.
If you are in a situation where money is a concern, then your priority should be getting the Advanced discover scanner and detailed surface scanner. If you can still afford the Asp with those, then thats cool, otherwise, go for a smaller ship.
The Asp isn't worth the money until you can afford to not only buy it, but fully kit it out. And even then, only if you plan on fighting with it, or going to the extreme far reaches of the galaxy where you need a jump distance of greater than 25 LYs....
...currently.
I expect that once we have planetary landings, we'll need additional equipment that the Asp will be capable of carrying, that lesser ships will not. For example, from the perspective of Internal Modules, the Asp currently has no benefit over the Lakon Type-6, except that I think the Type-6 requires leaving one Internal Module dedicated to a Cargo Rack. When we want/need to carry around a 3rd (or fourth?) scanner, that requirement will hold back the Type-6, and the Asp will dominate high-end exploration.
I agree. Except for squeezing out a few more LYs jump distance, there is no advantage whatsoever with an Asp over a Cobra, when it comes to exploration. With the added downside that the maintenance cost of the Asp will be much greater, dimnishing the already rather petty monetary reward when selling the data.
Oh, but there is one huge benifit though: a much better cockpit view from the Asp. Can't really beat that.
If you got 12mil spare, then yes, the ASP is currently unbeatable for exploring.
Main Plus points
35ly Jump with shields - 33ly Armed and dangerous
Best view
Module slots a plenty
And I love it, now exploring armed so when I return to human space I can give those pesky pirates a good seeing to!
Since the Asp is currently nerfed since Gamma I choose the Cobra and for 12 mil get it fully kitted out
Sorry, what part of the ASP is 'nerfed'? it's not the shields or Drive that's for sure
My only concern with the Hauler is it's speed. It's one of the slower ships in the game. Since I fly with no weapons or shields, evasion is paramount. I'd rather sacrifice some FSD range for the speed. Even my optimized Sidewinder that I currently fly does 12+ly jumps and that's not even with the best FSD available. There seems to be plenty to explore even with that jump range. I may just keep upgrading my Sidewinder. Then eventually get a Cobra for the speed.
Once you are a hundred LY from civilized space interdictions seem to disappear. Until they stop, you can simply play the interdiction mini-game, although with current rate of interdictions you would have to be very unlucky to even get interdicted.
One word: Adder.
It's kind of ugly but does everything you're looking for cheaply and it can hold it's own in a fight.
It's kind of ugly but does everything you're looking for cheaply and it can hold it's own in a fight.
The Asp had one more class 6 internal compartment before beta 3.9
Wow think I can see why they removed it, it would carry more than a lakon7 nearly - I'm happy with mine how it is, 32ly range, kick ass weapon setup, shields are awesome and with a A class Power Distributor nothing runs out, can boost forever.
I found the Cobra range lacking, the places I've been 25ly won't cut it
This is what I've found too. The Cobra is fine for anything within 15,000 LYS. I squeezed a 29,000 LY trip out of a 25LY-capable Cobra but it was a complete chore at times looking for routes across sectors full of brown dwarfs and crossing interarm voids that have lower star density - never again!.. beyond that you really need a 35.5LY capable Asp with field maintenace units packed in the internal slots as you will have the odd fuel scooping accident from time to time. And with the new wear & tear feature it can subtly creep up on you. I have 3 fitted to my ship and have exhausted one already.
But you have to come home eventually. The last thing you need while limping back from a long voyage loaded with exploration data is for some damn pirate to be there waiting to ruin your day and not be able to escape.
Exactly. And also factor in that depending on how long you have been out there your ship could have reached a maximum 30% hull weakening due to that new wear & tear feature - even though you don't see it. And if you have suffered heat damage on your journey (fuel scooping accidents or exiting SC too quickly etc) its likely your thrusters will be degraded too which makes the ship feel more sluggish and harder to handle during interdiction.
The journey home is the toughest part of exploration at the moment and shouldn't be overlooked when deciding on how to rig out a ship for reaching far off places.
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I'm currently working on upgrading my Asp for exploration purposes, the A5 FSD will provide a jump range of approx 32 ly. And that's before i have even looked at reducing mass.
I am sure you can kit out other ships for exploration quite effectively.
Consider this though, once you get near the periphery of the galaxy and in between the spiral arms, the density of systems is going to decrease.
Meaning, the jump ranges from system to system is going to increase.
It's in those areas the Asp is going to come into its own.
It's a matter of preference of course, but as an explorer i don't plan to pick fights (you MUST keep that ship intact for as long as possible !), so no heavy armament or weapons, as that would defeat the whole point of fitting it for range.
Hopefully, only a few more days and i'm ready to go "out there", need to find a decent 3rd party route planner before i do.
I am sure you can kit out other ships for exploration quite effectively.
Consider this though, once you get near the periphery of the galaxy and in between the spiral arms, the density of systems is going to decrease.
Meaning, the jump ranges from system to system is going to increase.
It's in those areas the Asp is going to come into its own.
It's a matter of preference of course, but as an explorer i don't plan to pick fights (you MUST keep that ship intact for as long as possible !), so no heavy armament or weapons, as that would defeat the whole point of fitting it for range.
Hopefully, only a few more days and i'm ready to go "out there", need to find a decent 3rd party route planner before i do.
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