Time to explore

[Mike Reacher]

My Asp Explorer can jump, empty, 34LY.
I'd like to visit some places that turn up in the forums.
How many play hours would it take to go out 25,000LY?
There could be 2 answers, one to just get there, and one to check around as I go. (Chasing shinies as some of you say)

 

[duckofdeath]

Just jumping and not stopping would require around 45-50 seconds per jump, depending on how nice the server connection is. I think that's roughly a 2000-2500 jump trip with that kind of jump rage. I did a similar trip on my unengineered secondary a few weeks ago, just jumping will probably take you days, each way. Remember, you won't make any credits that way. Stopping to scan things slows you down to an almost complete halt. That takes a bit to get used to, the feeling of not getting anywhere on such a long trip.
I'd suggest you take a short trip first, to a nearby nebula. Learn the time saving tricks and buttons for exploration and also figure out what you would be interested in looking for. If you don't self destruct before getting home on that trip you'll have a pretty good idea on how much time you'll need to get to Sag A*. \o/
Also, plan your daily stints according to how far you realistically is able to keep going. For the love of god, don't use the 20,000 LY plotting feature if you're unsure! That will definitely make you kill yourself when you see that a jump doesn't make a dent on the whole distance.

 

[Mike Reacher]

Thanks for that.
Some people mention nebulae, but I don't know how to actually get to any. After all, you can jump to a system, but do you need to know system names to be able to jump to a nebula?

 

[duckofdeath]

There are lists with nebulae on here somewhere, I think. And on EDSM.com, too. You can also just try to search for known dittos in the galaxy map.
I think this list and map is pretty up to date:
http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Nebula
As long as it's within 20,000 LY's you can plot straight to them. Just make sure you know the basics, like what stars are scoopable, and such...
You can also search for hypergiant stars. There are plenty of those, too. Betelgeuse and its close orbit planet is a popular destination. La Superba is another hypergiant worth visiting (requires a decent jump range as it's upwards in the galaxy). Its in-game name is Y Canum Venaticorum, I think.

Edit:
There's obviously also the newer Alien related discoveries. Ruins, old stations, INRA stations and whatnot. All of that should be listed in the many Canonn threads.

 

[Qohen Leth]

Or there.

 

[Puerility]

It really depends, as duckofdeath has explained. I started an expedition to a nebula on the eastern side of the galaxy, then to Sag A then to Colonia just before the drop of 2.4. I got to the nebula 2 days ago and I've been playing about 3-5 days a week with about 1-4 hours each session. I'm kinda starting to lose my mind as I now have about 350 jumps with a 40Ly ship to get to Sag A. This is my first trip though, and it has been a successful yet learning experience. DON'T FORGET YOUR AFMU!! I've chosen not to use the Jet Cone Boosts because my FSD has experienced damage from them. So if you don't bring that AFMU then you'll eventually make the trip longer.

 

[Cpt Shadow Wolfe]

This may give you a rough idea, I purchased a second account, spent about 4 days worth of 'game' time building it up to a DBX which I outfitted for exploration, then went out exploring with it to build up cash reserves and get to Elite so I could get the Shinrarta Permit. Right around the 2 week 'game' time I had travelled over 24k Lys, and made it to Elite with a bank account that shot up from 32 mil to 360 mil. That was not a straight line 'in a hurry' run, that was taking time to scan every 'undiscovered' I came across, managed to increase my first discoveries by 10k. I am now at 2 weeks and 5 days, give or take, and have over 15k level 3 scans with exploration profits around 546 mil and that's not counting the current leg I'm on to Beagle Point (if I ever get there), I still have around another 80 different systems of first discoveries waiting for turn in, which is just around 1000 first discoveries in total (another 30 mil profit), and I am still about 15k Lys from my next rest stop at Carcosa. And I am still adding data from the first 2 legs of my trip.

 

[Major Klutz]

25,000 ly divided by 34ly is 736 jumps best case.
If you are only jumping and not taking any time to scan or explore, you can easily average one jump per minute or better. That's ~12 hours play time.

If you're scanning systems and exploring along the way, you won't fully scan and explore every system you pass through, but just select ones or interesting ones.
Expect to at least double that 12 hours.
I usually set myself a budget of a set number of systems to scan or explore. Usually only one or two systems every 1000ly.

My first trip to Sag A* was in a 32ly DBE and I recorded the statistics in this thread. https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...turned-after-10-months-(Trip-Stats)?p=5507814
It took me 207 hours of play time to go ~76,000ly in 2,472 jumps exploring along the way.
Adjusted for 25KLy that's ~68 hours. YMMV.

I would seriously consider taking a few days to engineer your Frame Shift Drive.
Even an easy level 3 roll should get you close to 45 ly per jump. A good level 5 roll would get you very close to 50ly with no other modifications at all.
That would bring the time down closer to 8 hours

 

[Satsuma]

As much as I respect Major Klutz (and I respect him quite a bit), I'm going to argue on the other side of the engineering thing: Only engineer your FSD if you know why you want to engineer it. And that depends on your answer to the question of "why do you explore?"

If you have a destination that's way out there and you want to get to it fast and you don't care about making money scanning along the way, then by all means, engineer it.

If you want to make money exploring and the destination doesn't matter so much, then it doesn't matter. You make money in exploration by scanning. Honking systems with your discover scanner. Detail scanning interesting things with your DSS. All that money comes in by the jump, not by the light year. If your scanning strategy is the same (i.e.: When do you scan? What do you scan?), you'll make the same amount per jump no matter if those jumps are 10 ly or 50 ly jumps. I'm not saying don't engineer. I'm just saying to know how you want to explore before you decide to engineer.

In the interest of full disclosure, of course, I'll admit to doing most of my exploration these days in a heavily engineered 55 LY Asp Explorer. But these days I tend to prefer a "Travel quickly to some remote area, then spend a while exploring it in detail" mode of play.

 

[Major Klutz]

From the OP, my understanding was that he wants to visit particular places and has limited play time.

I completely agree with Satsuma, if you have no specific destination in mind, there's no particular need for a bigger jump range. 100 jumps is 100 systems to scan and explore even if they are only 10 ly apart.

Even if you do have a specific destination or destinations in mind and you have limited time to play daily, there is no deadline.
As I mentioned above, my trip of 207 hours in 10 months is less than an hour per day on average.

So yeah, you absolutely don't have to engineer your FSD, but it does make the trip faster if your time is valuable.

For me I've always enjoyed setting a goal to reach specific places instead of just exploring uncharted areas.
Which means I don't really have many unique discoveries of my own, I'm just a tourist visiting places that other people have discovered.

I've done trips to NGC 6357, NGC 7822, Eta Carinae, X Carinae, Betelgeuse, HD 49368, Sag A*, the formidine rift, the southern edge, and the M67 cluster.
I just finished touring the sights around the Colonia region like Monde De La Mort, Sword of Damocles, The Mighty and the Glowbug Giant.
With the exception of the M67 cluster, you can get to all of these places with a 34ly range or even less, it just takes longer to get there.

My first trip to Colonia was in a 32ly DBE but my second trip was in a 60ly 'Conda and I was very happy with the time saved.
100 jumps at 60ly apart is still 100 systems to scan and explore but you're that much closer to your destination.

 

[duckofdeath]

736 jumps as a best case scenario isn't anywhere near realistic. That would probably require a jump range around 50 LY's.
This is what my travelled route looked like on my latest trip with a 34-ish LY range in an un-engineered AspX. That's with a filter setting going to OBFGK stars. The zigzagging is why that 45-ish kylie long trip required over 2,000 jumps...

All I'm saying is, do not set unrealistic goals for yourself on a long trip. Even though my primary CMDR is closing in on a full capital letter AU travel distance (Andromeda-distance Unit, 2.5 million light years), I massively underestimated the number of jumps I'd need for that Elite rank trip I made on my secondary CMDR, mostly because I had gotten used to a 65 LY range on my engineered Conda. On that trip, I decided to just "buckyball" the last 1,500 jumps (speed-jumping without scanning anything) with no scanning/tagging as I had reached my estimated earnings quota for an Elite rank a quarter of the way out on the trip I had booked with my passengers. I refused to give up on the missions when I realised my mistake as I had agreed with those select "famous explorers" to take them there and back in one piece... \o/

 

[Mike Reacher]

25,000 ly divided by 34ly is 736 jumps best case.
If you are only jumping and not taking any time to scan or explore, you can easily average one jump per minute or better. That's ~12 hours play time.

If you're scanning systems and exploring along the way, you won't fully scan and explore every system you pass through, but just select ones or interesting ones.
Expect to at least double that 12 hours.
I usually set myself a budget of a set number of systems to scan or explore. Usually only one or two systems every 1000ly.

My first trip to Sag A* was in a 32ly DBE and I recorded the statistics in this thread. https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...turned-after-10-months-(Trip-Stats)?p=5507814
It took me 207 hours of play time to go ~76,000ly in 2,472 jumps exploring along the way.
Adjusted for 25KLy that's ~68 hours. YMMV.

I would seriously consider taking a few days to engineer your Frame Shift Drive.
Even an easy level 3 roll should get you close to 45 ly per jump. A good level 5 roll would get you very close to 50ly with no other modifications at all.
That would bring the time down closer to 8 hours

As much as I respect Major Klutz (and I respect him quite a bit), I'm going to argue on the other side of the engineering thing: Only engineer your FSD if you know why you want to engineer it. And that depends on your answer to the question of "why do you explore?"

If you have a destination that's way out there and you want to get to it fast and you don't care about making money scanning along the way, then by all means, engineer it.

If you want to make money exploring and the destination doesn't matter so much, then it doesn't matter. You make money in exploration by scanning. Honking systems with your discover scanner. Detail scanning interesting things with your DSS. All that money comes in by the jump, not by the light year. If your scanning strategy is the same (i.e.: When do you scan? What do you scan?), you'll make the same amount per jump no matter if those jumps are 10 ly or 50 ly jumps. I'm not saying don't engineer. I'm just saying to know how you want to explore before you decide to engineer.

In the interest of full disclosure, of course, I'll admit to doing most of my exploration these days in a heavily engineered 55 LY Asp Explorer. But these days I tend to prefer a "Travel quickly to some remote area, then spend a while exploring it in detail" mode of play.

Not so much the money but it is time to stop fudging around and do some exploring.
I read Crusina Luachra's post about nice shinies, and I have only ever found one interesting thing in my playing. (Interesting name by the way.)

From the OP, my understanding was that he wants to visit particular places and has limited play time.

I completely agree with Satsuma, if you have no specific destination in mind, there's no particular need for a bigger jump range. 100 jumps is 100 systems to scan and explore even if they are only 10 ly apart.

Even if you do have a specific destination or destinations in mind and you have limited time to play daily, there is no deadline.
As I mentioned above, my trip of 207 hours in 10 months is less than an hour per day on average.

So yeah, you absolutely don't have to engineer your FSD, but it does make the trip faster if your time is valuable.

For me I've always enjoyed setting a goal to reach specific places instead of just exploring uncharted areas.
Which means I don't really have many unique discoveries of my own, I'm just a tourist visiting places that other people have discovered.

I've done trips to NGC 6357, NGC 7822, Eta Carinae, X Carinae, Betelgeuse, HD 49368, Sag A*, the formidine rift, the southern edge, and the M67 cluster.
I just finished touring the sights around the Colonia region like Monde De La Mort, Sword of Damocles, The Mighty and the Glowbug Giant.
With the exception of the M67 cluster, you can get to all of these places with a 34ly range or even less, it just takes longer to get there.

My first trip to Colonia was in a 32ly DBE but my second trip was in a 60ly 'Conda and I was very happy with the time saved.
100 jumps at 60ly apart is still 100 systems to scan and explore but you're that much closer to your destination.

I don't have a particular destination, but I'd like to visit some of the nice shinies. The ones that others have found.
My "Space Truck" is engineered. I will list the changes below and take advice.

736 jumps as a best case scenario isn't anywhere near realistic. That would probably require a jump range around 50 LY's.
This is what my travelled route looked like on my latest trip with a 34-ish LY range in an un-engineered AspX. That's with a filter setting going to OBFGK stars. The zigzagging is why that 45-ish kylie long trip required over 2,000 jumps...
http://u.cubeupload.com/duckofdeath/PYm8SL.jpg
All I'm saying is, do not set unrealistic goals for yourself on a long trip. Even though my primary CMDR is closing in on a full capital letter AU travel distance (Andromeda-distance Unit, 2.5 million light years), I massively underestimated the number of jumps I'd need for that Elite rank trip I made on my secondary CMDR, mostly because I had gotten used to a 65 LY range on my engineered Conda. On that trip, I decided to just "buckyball" the last 1,500 jumps (speed-jumping without scanning anything) with no scanning/tagging as I had reached my estimated earnings quota for an Elite rank a quarter of the way out on the trip I had booked with my passengers. I refused to give up on the missions when I realised my mistake as I had agreed with those select "famous explorers" to take them there and back in one piece... \o/

That is the thing. Try not to think Wow, let's go there or ... where ever. I have to realise that to see stuff, you have to go slow.

Now here is a list of my ASPx engineering.
No Hardpoints.
Utility: 2 point defence and 1 HS launcher.
Core: HD G5 lightweight alloy
OC G5 power plant (19.5 Power Capacity)
DD tuning G5 4D thrusters.
Inc range G5 5A FSD
Lightweight G4 Life support
High Charge Capacity G5 4D Power distributor.
Lightweight G5 Sensors
Optionals: 6C fuel scoop
Fast scan G4 DSS (mass is 2.74) Maybe I can put a normal 1.30 scan here, if anybody agrees.
2G SRV

My jumps in 1st post were incorrect.
At the moment they are 45.22 / 47.04 / 50.71

Whatsa you all think?
Forgot! I have 2 3E cargo boxes.

 

[Satsuma]

Solid ship. I'd ditch the point defense, as you won't need it, and swap the 6C scoop for at least a 6B, if you can afford it. I'm also not familiar with that power plant, so you'll want to test the heat dissipation. I run with a 3A on my Asp, and the heat dissipation of an A-rated plant is just fantastic. But I don't see anything that sticks out as unsuitable on that ship. I'd be happy flying it anywhere.

 

[SMcA]

Solid ship. I'd ditch the point defense, as you won't need it,

Agreed! more H Sinks would be my advice. A lot of people say an AMFU is essential but I find HS more useful.

and swap the 6C scoop for at least a 6B, if you can afford it.

The bigger/faster fuel scoop the better. They don't weigh anything.

I'm also not familiar with that power plant, so you'll want to test the heat dissipation. I run with a 3A on my Asp, and the heat dissipation of an A-rated plant is just fantastic. But I don't see anything that sticks out as unsuitable on that ship. I'd be happy flying it anywhere.

 

[Arnoldo]

Agreed! more H Sinks would be my advice. A lot of people say an AMFU is essential but I find HS more useful.

I've travelled >800,000Lys and never used a heat sink. I have used AFMUs so I guess I'm one of them guys....

My advice, AFMU over HS; whichever you choose, fly safe out there...

Cmdr A

 

[Aura Lorell]

Now here is a list of my ASPx engineering.
No Hardpoints.
Utility: 2 point defence and 1 HS launcher.
Core: HD G5 lightweight alloy
OC G5 power plant (19.5 Power Capacity)
DD tuning G5 4D thrusters.
Inc range G5 5A FSD
Lightweight G4 Life support
High Charge Capacity G5 4D Power distributor.
Lightweight G5 Sensors
Optionals: 6C fuel scoop
Fast scan G4 DSS (mass is 2.74) Maybe I can put a normal 1.30 scan here, if anybody agrees.
2G SRV

My jumps in 1st post were incorrect.
At the moment they are 45.22 / 47.04 / 50.71

Whatsa you all think?
Forgot! I have 2 3E cargo boxes.

My recommendation is this:

- Add a shield. It helps with landing, because it's easy to take damage accidentally without it.
- Add an AFMU. They have no weight and if you do take damage accidentally from crashing onto a star, it will help fix everything except itself, the hull, and the power plant.
- Make sure your power plant is A-rated. As others have said it helps with heat dissipation.
- Keep the fast scan DSS as the AspX turns very fast in supercruise and you will notice the difference if you scan a lot.
- Ditch the point defence. Pointless weight.
- Upgrade your fuel scoop to 6A if you can afford it, 6B if you can't. It really makes a huge difference when scooping and reduces the "too close - emergency stop" accidents.

Finally, have fun. That's the whole point of it.

 

[SMcA]

I've travelled >800,000Lys and never used a heat sink. I have used AFMUs so I guess I'm one of them guys....

My advice, AFMU over HS; whichever you choose, fly safe out there...

Cmdr A

There is no right or wrong answer. It will depend on your traveling style. I'm more of a "Give it some welly and damn the Neutron Stars".

 

[Major Klutz]

... I will list the changes below and take advice.
...
Now here is a list of my ASPx engineering.
No Hardpoints.
Utility: 2 point defence and 1 HS launcher.
Core: HD G5 lightweight alloy
OC G5 power plant (19.5 Power Capacity)
DD tuning G5 4D thrusters.
Inc range G5 5A FSD
Lightweight G4 Life support
High Charge Capacity G5 4D Power distributor.
Lightweight G5 Sensors
Optionals: 6C fuel scoop
Fast scan G4 DSS (mass is 2.74) Maybe I can put a normal 1.30 scan here, if anybody agrees.
2G SRV

My jumps in 1st post were incorrect.
At the moment they are 45.22 / 47.04 / 50.71
...

47ly is plenty of range. I assumed with a 34ly range you had no engineering.

A 19.5MW power plant capacity is WAY more than you need, so I have to wonder why you overcharged it. What are you powering with all of that power?

In general, the less power you are using the cooler you run. It helps to stay cooler when you're fuel scooping.
Overcharging reduces heat efficiency and makes you run hotter.
A rated power plants run cooler. It's better to take a 3A PP than a 4E.
I like to do a grade 1 low emissions on my 2A pp to get the weight reduction secondary effect, and it still leaves me with enough power.

Also, on your Power Distributor, with an Engine Focused mod, you can take a lighter undersized PD and still be able to boost. See engineered example below.

Here's an example ASP build for reference. Stock and Engineered
With the right power management, you can power everything with a 2A PP.
You don't need or want to have the AFMU powered all the time. You have to drop out of frame shift and stop to make repairs anyway so you just shut off thrusters to free up the power for the AFM.
You'll never need to have the PVH powered at the same time as the thrusters.
Low power mod on the shields helps reduce power, heat and weight.

As always, these are just examples to illustrate and educate. Most of these changes won't make much difference at all.
Go with your gut and build it the way you want to.

Also note, without an AFMU, you won't be able to take advantage of neutron star boosting.
You can only do it about 10-15 times at most before your FSD will start to malfunction unless you can repair it in the field.

 

[Satsuma]

I've travelled >800,000Lys and never used a heat sink. I have used AFMUs so I guess I'm one of them guys....

My advice, AFMU over HS; whichever you choose, fly safe out there...

Cmdr A

I'm also someone who favors an AFMU over HS. I do carry both on my Asp, but I use the AFMU much more than I use the HS launcher. You can fly with it powered down to allow you to run a smaller power plant. Just pop out of supercruise and depower your thrusters and FSD to power the AFMU.

I also missed the lack of shields on this ship. I agree with Aura that you almost certainly want shields, to save your hull in landing. It's possible to land without hull damage if you're careful, but it's a dicey proposal. You don't need much in the way of shields. I use a 3D on my Asp. Speaking of which, here it is for reference: Strix

 

[Han Zulu]

Agreed! more H Sinks would be my advice. A lot of people say an AMFU is essential but I find HS more useful.

One heatsink is fine, and then get materials to synthesize a bunch. The heat sink launcher adds weight and lowers the jump range, while the materials won't.

And if you make sure to turn off modules you don't need for supercruise, then you lower your heat consumption and less likely to need the heat sinks. For instance, turn off shields and distributor, they're not needed in cruise.

The bigger/faster fuel scoop the better. They don't weigh anything.

Agree. Get the biggest you can get.