Don't feel bad, most explorers do too. That's why most fly with both shields and an AFMU, the ship will eventually force you to head home without them.
Exploration Ship Choices will be taking an arrow to the knee in Update 3.1
- Thread starter Mengy
- Start date
Don't feel bad, most explorers do too. That's why most fly with both shields and an AFMU, the ship will eventually force you to head home without them.
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Shields are only necessary if you plan on landing - and even then you don't really need them below 0.5g, which is 99% of landables.
Shields don't protect you from emergency drops anyway.
I've not carried an AFMU since my first trip to NGC 7822 because I found I did more damage from trying to fix my FSD while in SC than from furry copilot induced errors.
My AspX consequently has two class 3 cargo slots fitted and even after >100 kLY trips I've never had modules below 85%.
You know all those Degraded Emissions, occupied escape pods and bits of wreckage out beyond the Bubble.
That. That's how we coped
Slow and careful and plan your trip.
Once your canopy started to take too much damage it was time to head home most direct way. Nothing worse than having weeks or months worth of data then lossing it. Mind you since the ship tells you now what the next star is before your jump its easier. Years ago unless you looked at your map beforr each jump you never knew what you were jumping into.Thing i never understood. And most exploration i did was pre-2.0 and right after 2.0 release. How do you get your ship to the point when your canopy breaks? You have to have a lot of emergency drops for this to happen. I mean A LOT. Sure mistakes happen, but that much mistakes clearly mean that there is something wrong with the pilot.
If you collide with a mountain, without shields ......[mad] It's even more hazardous now with the long range camera, if you forget to switch on shields and try selfie photography as you zoom low over the ................. [where is it]
Yeah, planetary stuff is a bit more dangerous as there are things to collide with...
Will typical "explorer shields" (or AFMU for that matter) help in this case though? I'd probably bring max size shield+a bunch of boosters if i was planing to do some advanced lithobraking...
From the experience face-planting combat-fitted vulture into the side of the canyon at full boost with 2-4-0 power distribution is not only survivable, but shields are still on after that. And with the booster said vulture will have ~35Ly jump range, which was about as good as you could get pre-engineers...
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It was my first long outing a long long time ago. Learning exploration in the black. Not taking note of next star. Close calls on neutrons or being dropped between 2 stars on entry. I learned how to deal with neutrons but back then couldn't do anything about getting dropped between 2 stars only takes a couple of those back then to start cracking the canopy. These days its alot easier and safer.
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Shields don't protect you from forceful SC drops anyway. Only thing they are useful for for an explorer is to protect from damage caused by slamming your ship into the ground in a planetary landing.
If you limited module downgrading to nerf the Anaconda, you'd screw all other ships which use that technique too. I would have to have a size 7 Power Plant on my Explorer Corvette because it is a size 8. No thanks, it is hard enough squeezing out 30ly from it as it is.
No, the Anaconda's Hull mass is the problem. Everyone knows it. Even FDev knows it. BUT, FDev has allowed it to remain broken for too long to fix it (by adding around 300t to it). The only way that could change is if a new ship was introduced which could replicate the Anaconda's jump range and internals but NOT be able to trade or especially fight effectively.
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And protecting you a little when coming back to the bubble. Generally when I am out in the black i turn off the shields once out of the bubble and only turn the back on when landing and getting back into the bubble.
AFMU definitely not essential.
Maybe its just me, but when i go long range i like to be proper exploring, ie, don't care when i get there or when i get back. Includes being personally present and actually flying my ship, not being in a neurotic rush to get somewhere. If you give each jump an extra 5-9 seconds, you're always safe.
Helps to have a second (or third) account.
Maybe its just me, but when i go long range i like to be proper exploring, ie, don't care when i get there or when i get back. Includes being personally present and actually flying my ship, not being in a neurotic rush to get somewhere. If you give each jump an extra 5-9 seconds, you're always safe.
Helps to have a second (or third) account.
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I second this. Both the AFMU being unnecessary for general exploring (unless you happen to have the space anyways) and the second account.
Having that second account to go out into the black and take my time, while keeping my main within the bubble has been an absolute turning point for me. Now I can enjoy both worlds of more arcade style gameplay and the immersive/roleplayed side. Shame it's relatively complicated to set that up, instead of just buying an additional CMDR save slot for one's existing account.
This brings back the memories...
My first relatively long exploration trip was in T6, somewhere between 1.1 and 1.2 IIRC. It was not that long by today's standards, like barnards loop-ngc7822-heart&soul-eagle-ngc6357 and back to bubble. Made all the noob mistakes too, from not taking HSL (on T6...) and cooking ship a couple of times on dual stars to trying to repair FSD in supercruise (i had AFMU but it did more harm than good and could not repair canopy back then), slamming into neutron stars/black holes and nearly running out of fuel (no transfer limpets back then either). Still did not seem to need repairs that much and returned safely with something like 90% hull and slightly cracked but still strong canopy. After that i concluded that AFMU is totally a waste of space and money. Never used one in exploration ships after that... Sure it is probably useful now that we have neutron star boosts, but TBH i did not explore after they were added.
Also... T6 since i remembered it. Great exploration ship, and overlooked by many because of no "explorer" in its name. Considerably cheaper than both DBX and Asp because of smaller modules, has more internals than DBX and scoop-fsd-fuel tank ratio similar to Asp. And it will be able to carry class 5 booster too...
I already say this many times:
we need more UTILITY options, not for OPTIONAL;
Almost all non-combat build have plenty of utilitys to spare and only a few optional (If they have optional at all) to spare;
we need more UTILITY options, not for OPTIONAL;
Almost all non-combat build have plenty of utilitys to spare and only a few optional (If they have optional at all) to spare;
Is this a problem though?
There seems to be a lot of concern that in effect big ships shouldn't be better - shouldn't they be? Especially for things like long range exploration, cargo hauling etc? The ability to take more stuff with you at the cost of money and manoeuvrability seems reasonable.
Then again I would like to see the idea of module bays that split large bays in to two or more smaller ones which would help in ship flexibility.. And maybe those larger modules should have some other downsides (though that fuel increase is pretty big).
We'll have to see what happens with the later updates. FD have hinted at doing things with the limpet controllers for example that might mirror how we fit the SLF or SRV.. Perhaps the sensor bay can be modelled to do something similar with mounting the ADS, DSS and any other new sensors we will be able to fit - that might free up some space in the smaller ships - though, again, bigger ships would presumably benefit just as much.
There seems to be a lot of concern that in effect big ships shouldn't be better - shouldn't they be? Especially for things like long range exploration, cargo hauling etc? The ability to take more stuff with you at the cost of money and manoeuvrability seems reasonable.
Then again I would like to see the idea of module bays that split large bays in to two or more smaller ones which would help in ship flexibility.. And maybe those larger modules should have some other downsides (though that fuel increase is pretty big).
We'll have to see what happens with the later updates. FD have hinted at doing things with the limpet controllers for example that might mirror how we fit the SLF or SRV.. Perhaps the sensor bay can be modelled to do something similar with mounting the ADS, DSS and any other new sensors we will be able to fit - that might free up some space in the smaller ships - though, again, bigger ships would presumably benefit just as much.
And engineered drives.
Yeah. That first trip was somewhere around 1.1 or 1.2. At that stage I headed towards the coal sack nebula but back then I didn't know you could move the galaxy map vertical lol. I know seems stupid now. From the coal sack headed toward the scorpio constellation because they were bright on the horizon and mapped around there a bit then went down under sagA and came up through sag A. Then headed for neutron farming on the way back to the bubble. I think it was around 26-30kly trip which back then was pretty big. I was so scared heading back into the bubble that someone or npc would kill me and lose all that data. Which came to just over 90mcr. (Back then was a decent haul from exploration). Which is how I afforded my python. I got back with around 85-90% hull and a minor cracked canopy. It was a great trip.