Newcomer / Intro To buy or not to buy?

When you look at tips and how to videos etc check how old they are, the game has been changed over the years and while some of the advice is good the user interface and controls have changed in other cases the UI etc are still the same but the advice is now out of date.

This is actually a good point. Exploration changed quite a lot about a year and a half ago (December 2018), with the introduction of the Full Spectrum Scanner. It also changed considerably several years before that, when Horizons was introduced. You can mostly date a video/guide by which aspects they include or exclude. Anything that recommends flying without a shield, for instance, probably dates to a time before Horizons.
 
It's more the modules you fit to your ship, than the ship itself, Dave.

A good explorer ship needs the best (A Rated) jump drive and fuel scoop you can afford, together with a detailed surface scanner to maximise profits.

The Hauler is a great cheap explorer able to go around 30 ly per jump unengineered, and if you go solo you won't need shields etc.

Let us know what builds you were thinking of or ask for suggestions.

Fly safe!

Here's the spec of the ship I'm currently flying. Still using the ship I started with at the beginning but with some upgrades installed.

Jump Drive 2A
Fuel Scoop 1B
Detailed Surface Scanner 1I
Data Link Scanner 0I
Composition Scanner 0I
Discovery Scanner 0I
Life Support 1A
Sensors 1A
Thrusters 2E
Shield Generators 2E
Power Distribution 1D

Current Balance 359,385CR

As you can see I have done some upgrades but then thought I'd best check to see if I need to change anything before heading out into the void. Missions to get more credits are obviously required but I wondered if I had adequate modules to start out.

Thanks as always.

Dave.
 
Here's the spec of the ship I'm currently flying. Still using the ship I started with at the beginning but with some upgrades installed.

Jump Drive 2A
Fuel Scoop 1B
Detailed Surface Scanner 1I
Data Link Scanner 0I
Composition Scanner 0I
Discovery Scanner 0I
Life Support 1A
Sensors 1A
Thrusters 2E
Shield Generators 2E
Power Distribution 1D

Current Balance 359,385CR

As you can see I have done some upgrades but then thought I'd best check to see if I need to change anything before heading out into the void. Missions to get more credits are obviously required but I wondered if I had adequate modules to start out.

Thanks as always.

Dave.
Jump range. Less then 20 will be pain. Also scoop is 1B = "B" means heaviest. Those are used on war-ships to resist damage. Explorers use "D" (lightest) or "A" as for scoop = fastest. Because ship will gain heat near star, you don't want sit for long there.

Life support ->D, always keep D. If you broke your canopy out there nothing much will save you (however you can, it was people who did 128000ly trips with intentionally broken).

Sensors ->D. Again, better sensors are needed for fights. You want lightest.

Thrusters I would change to A ...just convinient. Shield ....well...don't keep E, use D maybe.

Power distr ... check if u can boost. Those are capacitors for all systems, because plant cannot generate too much energy fast. So you need such PD so you can do "boost" once per 10s at least in normal space.
 

Here I designed basic ship, all basic modules. With such it is possible to go 65000ly away (long-long trip though).
Keep car & AMFU turned off until u need it otherwise it will be not enough power. Pay attention I set their priority 2. I.e. bigger priority shutdowns 1st when not enough power.
 
Hard to argue with @alexzk 's build above.

The only way to make it a little lighter is to ditch the shield - BUT if you're not confident on landing it's good to have the little insurance it brings.

Top Tip - Check the gravity on any plant you do land on. Many CMDRs have learnt important lessons about momentum, especially as your frame of reference gives no real indication of the speed you are travelling at, the hard way.
 
Jump range. Less then 20 will be pain. Also scoop is 1B = "B" means heaviest. Those are used on war-ships to resist damage. Explorers use "D" (lightest) or "A" as for scoop = fastest. Because ship will gain heat near star, you don't want sit for long there.

Life support ->D, always keep D. If you broke your canopy out there nothing much will save you (however you can, it was people who did 128000ly trips with intentionally broken).

Sensors ->D. Again, better sensors are needed for fights. You want lightest.

Thrusters I would change to A ...just convinient. Shield ....well...don't keep E, use D maybe.

Power distr ... check if u can boost. Those are capacitors for all systems, because plant cannot generate too much energy fast. So you need such PD so you can do "boost" once per 10s at least in normal space.
Fuel Scoops have no mass so the only downside to the B is that it is not quite as quick or thermally efficient as the A there advantage is that they are considerably less expensive.

The correlation between mass and a modules grade mainly only applies for the core modules.
 

Here I designed basic ship, all basic modules. With such it is possible to go 65000ly away (long-long trip though).
Keep car & AMFU turned off until u need it otherwise it will be not enough power. Pay attention I set their priority 2. I.e. bigger priority shutdowns 1st when not enough power.

Thanks very much for this. I notice that there's a Planetary Vehicle Hangar but no vehicle to put in there? I have the option of buying a Scarab. Should there be a vehicle for the hangar or is that left empty deliberately?

Thanks.
 
Thanks very much for this. I notice that there's a Planetary Vehicle Hangar but no vehicle to put in there? I have the option of buying a Scarab. Should there be a vehicle for the hangar or is that left empty deliberately?

Yes, you'll need to buy the scarab, otherwise the hangar remains empty. I think they designed it this way with the intent of supporting alternate vehicles someday, but that hasn't happened so far.
 
Thanks very much for this. I notice that there's a Planetary Vehicle Hangar but no vehicle to put in there? I have the option of buying a Scarab. Should there be a vehicle for the hangar or is that left empty deliberately?

Thanks.
Yes you need to buy it, if you lost it - then you will have to "rearm" it on station. Any "rearm" station will do, even with no market of cars.
Also while you drive it...you will be loosing fuel on car, plasma charges and hull. Hull can be repaired just boarding your ship. Others you can "rearm" on station OR use synthesis which can be found on right panel. It can do many things there, however you will need minerals which you can collect using car on planet :)
My rule when I drive car is simple - once I found piece of phosphorus I do recharge plasma + recharge fuel. This way works.

Oh and 1 more, in "drive" section of setting find "flight assist" or just "assist" and set it OFF -> it must be red warning on top-right of car screen. Otherwise it will be nightmare to ride. Pay attention u have 2 assists there - for ship and for car, turn off for car.
 
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Thanks everyone for your valuable help 👍🏼 Set up my ship as per the recommendations, set off out into space, and then realised that I'd gotten rid of my Auto Docking Module. 😂😂 Smashed up my ship trying to dock on a station and had to buy a replacement. Up Sh*t Creek now until I can learn to dock in a more controlled manner. Off to the tutorial section for a fair while now I reckon.
Ah well, still lots to learn 👍🏼

Thanks again.

Dave.
 
Thanks everyone for your valuable help 👍🏼 Set up my ship as per the recommendations, set off out into space, and then realised that I'd gotten rid of my Auto Docking Module. 😂😂 Smashed up my ship trying to dock on a station and had to buy a replacement. Up Sh*t Creek now until I can learn to dock in a more controlled manner. Off to the tutorial section for a fair while now I reckon.
Ah well, still lots to learn 👍🏼

Thanks again.

Dave.
Start driving car. Landing on planets where you want will teach u. In about 1-2 weeks you will be perfect docking stations.
 
When your ship is destroyed, the ship insurance screen should allow you to "re-buy" your ship.

Unless of course, you didn't have enough credits for a rebuy, in which case you have to take the freebie sidewinder.

This is why you always hear "never fly without a rebuy" - sucks to dump millions into a ship, run into trouble, have it destroyed, and not be able to afford a rebuy.

Sent you a forum PM, BTW.

Yep it was fine, I'm aware of the insurance bit and so replaced the ship via a 'rebuy'.
Thanks for the PM too.

Dave.
 
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