Frontier, can we PLEASE have a new Exploration ship now?

[Stealthie]

Frontier cannot change the Anaconda, but it can bring other ships up to provide choice.

Oh, they could.

The only real justification for not nerfing it seems to be "there are explorers in Annies who'd be stranded".

That could easily be solved by simply cutting the Annie's integrity in half and then increasing the weights of the uprated hulls to match other ships.
You're out exploring in an Annie with a light-alloy hull and there's no change.
You want to up-armor an Annie to make it a viable combat ship and you'll add enough weight to make it similar to other ships.

And, if there is anybody out exploring in an Annie with an MGC hull, they can contact support for help.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Imperial Explorer

No. No, no, no, no, no, no. Nein, njet, non, nee.

Not a rank locked explorer. No way. No ma'am.

What's wrong with the ASP?

It's ugly as sin. Looks only a manufacturer could love.

There is a guy that uses an T7 for exploration.

There's quite a few of us actually

 

[askavir]

It's ugly as sin. Looks only a manufacturer could love.

It's pretty from behind. But yeah I agree that the front is ugly. Not a fan of glass bubble cockpits either. I prefer a regular cockpit, but with a large window. I like to feel like I'm inside a spaceship, not strapped in front of one.

 

[kofeyh]

Oh, they could.

The only real justification for not nerfing it seems to be "there are explorers in Annies who'd be stranded".

That could easily be solved by simply cutting the Annie's integrity in half and then increasing the weights of the uprated hulls to match other ships.
You're out exploring in an Annie with a light-alloy hull and there's no change.
You want to up-armor an Annie to make it a viable combat ship and you'll add enough weight to make it similar to other ships.

And, if there is anybody out exploring in an Annie with an MGC hull, they can contact support for help.

No. They can't. Frontier won't knock the Anaconda. Not going to happen. So we can dance around the topic and get nowhere, or accept the reality and resolve that via other means.

Your solutions don't basically solve the problem; it's not that anaconda is what it is (that's bad) its nothing else comes close (and that's worse).

If the mountain cannot move, then other things must, to compensate.

 

[Old Duck]

"There is a guy that uses an T7 for exploration."

There's quite a few of us actually

Interesting.... Off to Coriolis I go!

 

[kofeyh]

I prefer a ship that has the looks of an explorer (Diamondback, T6, T-7 (not the horrible Asp)), has a decent jump range (40LY and up is fine) and sufficient slots (minimal 6), and handles well in SC. And it has to have an all around view, which is why the Anaconda often hailed as the best explorer ships, I consider one of the worst explorer ships.

If it has one relatively quite large slot for the scoop, that would be a bonus.

Also it would help if an explorer ship has to slots tailor made for scanners with regard to size.

Considered the krait? View isn't terrible. The ship is upside down, but it does grow on you.

 

[Evoflash]

It's ugly as sin. Looks only a manufacturer could lovely

Tend to agree, and yet in Elite original and FFE, the Asp looked sleek, dangerous and very cool - especially when it barreled in for attack.

 

[A D]

Hello Frontier,

I think this has been brought up a few times, but it has indeed gotten to the point of extreme frustration for so so many people.

Every single new ship released in the last year or more has been combat focused. Even the multi-role Krait is a basically a more combat friendly version of the Python. And before that, we got the Beluga (still in a bad spot, still needs buffs) and the Dolphin.

You know what's missing here?

The last time we got an exploration focused ship was THREE YEARS AGO (Diamondback Explorer). Since then, nothing. There are a grand total of three deep space exploration friendly ships currently available: Diamondback Explorer, Asp Explorer, Anaconda. And when I say deep space exploration, I mean ships with a pre-engi/pre-guardian tech jump range of over 30LY when fitted with D-rated gear.

Now obviously, any ship can go exploring in the deep ... but when you're travelling FAR, range matters a great great deal as space sickness is a thing and sometimes you need to get back to the nearest base ASAP.

The biggest problem with the current lineup is that there's no decent mid-range explorer. There's this big gap between the Asp and the Anaconda where a huge number of low jump range ships lie. The community *absolutely* needs a dedicated explorer in the 30-50 million credit range stock. And certainly something much more agile in supercruise than the Anaconda (I HATE exploring in that thing), as well as having a better cockpit view. As it stands, you either take DBX or AspX for an agile and comfortable explorer with limited internals, or you grab an Anaconda that can fit limpets and a fighter bay, but feels like you're piloting a coma patient.

Those of us who like travelling far are more than happy to have a ship with very limited weaponry a la cargo ship or passenger liner. Give us an 8 or 9 optional slot ship with a great cockpit view, good supercruise agility, and great range, and we'll be happy and stop complaining.

Anything in the works? Maybe a pair of explorers that arrive with the exploration update?

I think we may have it - the Krait Mk II.

I've been testing the ship for a few days with a fit out and engineering focused on exploration. Pretty impressed so far. Core modules are ample and can be downsized without compromise (if looking to save weight), plenty of optional slots, runs at a cool 26C in super-cruise, reasonably agile with engineered thrusters, has a good all round cockpit view and is multi-crew capable. Still engineering to reduce mass, but ATM have a maximum jump range of 43Ly without the Guardian FSD booster, so could well come out around 55Ly with a booster fitted.

As far as the optional fit out is concerned, can fit everything I had on the AspX (big fuel scoop, D shields, ARM, SRV, advanced and detailed scanners) PLUS a fighter bay for some canyon skimming when passing time (and still have one slot to spare).

The only negatives I have found so far is the large bulkhead each side of the cockpit (but still have plenty of room to see out) and the unusually dirty canopy which is quite noticeable when the light catches it.

So, all in all, the Krait Mk II is shaping up well and a strong candidate to replace my AspX for exploration.

 

[ArkSeaJumper]

If the general consensus is to carry a SLF, (don't know myself, maybe for the boredom). Then can we use the fact it it a 3D Printer?

I need to repair my ship, ok. print a repair 'fighter'

I need to survey this asteroid belt, Ok, print a survey / mining 'fighter' (also able to collect materials)

I 'need' to zip through this canyon, to stop the voices in my head telling me to press the big red button marked 'uninstall', etc etc.

 

[Mengy]

Respectfully disagree!

How come so many people choose the awesome Asp? Likely because all those slots in the Anaconda are paid for with disastrous handling.

This is a chart of what explorers will be flying on the upcoming DWE2:

Pilots are willing to suffer that disastrous handling of the Anaconda for two reasons:

1. Lots of internals.
2. Best in class jump range.

Doesn't mean people like the ship, it's just the best tool for the job. THIS is why we want more (or better) exploration ships, so explorers can have more choices of best tools for the job. So the best choice won't always be the Anaconda. So we can finally have more ship diversity on expeditions, and so that every big multiplayer exploration voyage can stop looking like an Anaconda convention.

Spoiler

 

[A D]

This is a chart of what explorers will be flying on the upcoming DWE2:



Pilots are willing to suffer that disastrous handling of the Anaconda for two reasons:

1. Lots of internals.
2. Best in class jump range.

Doesn't mean people like the ship, it's just the best tool for the job. THIS is why we want more (or better) exploration ships, so explorers can have more choices of best tools for the job. So the best choice won't always be the Anaconda. So we can finally have more ship diversity on expeditions, and so that every big multiplayer exploration voyage can stop looking like an Anaconda convention.

Mengy, see my post a couple above. The Krait Mk II is a real contender for best "all round" exploration ship.

 

[Mengy]

Mengy, see my post a couple above. The Krait Mk II is a real contender for best "all round" exploration ship.

Oh the Krait turned out to be an awesome ship, mine can already jump 57lys outfitted for exploration even with an SLF, but it's jump range is far less than the Anaconda, Asp, and DBX. It's a good explorer like a few other ships but it's not an alternative to the Anaconda. Explorers just wan't competitive alternatives to that one ship.

Maybe the Krait Phenom will be an exploration optimized version of the Krait?

 

[space voyager]

Not gonna say I've needed an SLF while exploring but it's damned nice to be able to get out and have a blat around planetary canyons in an SLF without putting your whole trip in jeopardy.

Highly recommended if you're flying a suitable ship. [up]

THIS all the way. If you're out of the bubble for weeks, you'll know how to cherish any toys. I'll go mining in asteroids just to see something else except jumps with occasionally more interesting scanning.

 

[Sylow]

Oh the Krait turned out to be an awesome ship, mine can already jump 57lys outfitted for exploration even with an SLF, but it's jump range is far less than the Anaconda, Asp, and DBX. It's a good explorer like a few other ships but it's not an alternative to the Anaconda. Explorers just wan't competitive alternatives to that one ship.

Maybe the Krait Phenom will be an exploration optimized version of the Krait?

.
Hmm. 57 LY and still not good? Are you sure this is about exploration and not interstellar racing?
.
Also, unless FD implentes a hard cap, there will always be one ship which has half a LY more range than the others and thus apparently is the "best" choice. It's just like with cargo ships, as long as one can just carry 4 tons more than another, it'll be seen as the better cargo ship.
.
It might be just me, but in my eyes the the criteria "does the job reasonably well and is fun to use" counts. And 57 LY jump range in my eyes is more than just reasonably well.
.

 

[Stealthie]

Doesn't mean people like the ship, it's just the best tool for the job. THIS is why we want more (or better) exploration ships, so explorers can have more choices of best tools for the job. So the best choice won't always be the Anaconda. So we can finally have more ship diversity on expeditions, and so that every big multiplayer exploration voyage can stop looking like an Anaconda convention.

See, this relates to another idea I had.

Perhaps they could introduce a handful of "ship outfitters" into the game?
Say, a couple in Imp' space that deal with Saud Kruger anf Gutamaya, a couple in Fed' space that deal with Core Dynamics and Zorgon Peterson and a couple in Alliance space that deal with Lakon and DeLacy.

You buy a ship, as you currently do, and it has the standard internal slots.
You hoof across to a "dealership" (possibly in a permit-locked system, forcing you to make the effort to unlock it) with your standard ship and they can reconfigure the internals in a selection of different ways.
Ideally, you could pick whatever internals you want but maybe it'd be better if you could just pick from a selection of pre-defined templates.
You could pick a configuration suited to exploration, trading, combat or mining etc.
You get one go at this and then you're done.
No do-overs.

If you don't/can't make use of this feature it wouldn't be a big deal.
You'd still have the same functionality you currently do.
If you did use it, it'd take your ship in a specific direction, toward combat, trading or exploration etc and then it'd be a bit better for that thing but if you want to do something else you're going to have to buy a complete new ship - thus giving people a reason to spend credits on multiples of the same type of ship.

 

[Old Duck]

.
Hmm. 57 LY and still not good? Are you sure this is about exploration and not interstellar racing?
.
Also, unless FD implentes a hard cap, there will always be one ship which has half a LY more range than the others and thus apparently is the "best" choice. It's just like with cargo ships, as long as one can just carry 4 tons more than another, it'll be seen as the better cargo ship.
.
It might be just me, but in my eyes the the criteria "does the job reasonably well and is fun to use" counts. And 57 LY jump range in my eyes is more than just reasonably well.
.

I saw a friend of mine one day in the CG with me, and less than 24 hours later he was in Colonia. That just kills the scale of the galaxy. I kinda miss(ed) the days when only the most dedicated could make it to Beagle Point after months of hard work fighting against the black. THOSE people were explorers. Today we're just tourists camping in our fancy motor homes.

 

[A D]

.
Hmm. 57 LY and still not good? Are you sure this is about exploration and not interstellar racing?
.
Also, unless FD implentes a hard cap, there will always be one ship which has half a LY more range than the others and thus apparently is the "best" choice. It's just like with cargo ships, as long as one can just carry 4 tons more than another, it'll be seen as the better cargo ship.
.
It might be just me, but in my eyes the the criteria "does the job reasonably well and is fun to use" counts. And 57 LY jump range in my eyes is more than just reasonably well.
.

Agree. With 50Ly + standard jump range (i.e. without neutron or jumponium) I start to look for other things in an exploration ship to make the trip more enjoyable e.g.cockpit view, SLF, etc. Maybe jump range would be a higher priority, but only if I wanted to get right out on the edge of the galaxy.

 

[Nadreck]

GALNET, OCTOBER 3304: In a surprise move, Faulcon DeLacey has just announced and released a modified version of its popular Krait Mk2. The new ship, dubbed the "Krait Explorer", sacrifices all of its large weapon hardpoints to achieve a mass reduction of 10 tons and the addition of two size-1 internal equipment bays in the now-empty spaces.


...Job done.

 

[A D]

I saw a friend of mine one day in the CG with me, and less than 24 hours later he was in Colonia. That just kills the scale of the galaxy. I kinda miss(ed) the days when only the most dedicated could make it to Beagle Point after months of hard work fighting against the black. THOSE people were explorers. Today we're just tourists camping in our fancy motor homes.

These young'ens have it good now days... when I was a boy I had to walk 10 miles to school each day without shoes.

 

[Stealthie]

These young'ens have it good... when I was a boy I walked 10 miles to school each day without shoes.

Up-hill both ways?