Which ship (under Cr40mil) for jack-of-all-trades exploring?

Piratescribe

Piratescribe
I am having a TOUGH time trying to figure out what ship to get for Exploring! Asp Explorer? DBX? Krait Phantom? Orca? (Top limit of my budget.) Maybe even a Fed Assault Ship?!
Here's my goals:
1. Range. BUT I do not need to eke out the highest max LYs possible! I want good long range but I don't need to be an extremist about it.
2. Variety. I want to be able to land a wide variety of places, take the SRV out. Not get stuck somewhere where I can't take advantage of something interesting -- scoop something up or take care of a rogue bounty while I'm out. Again, weight is not my biggest priority.
3. Avoid combat, however... I'd like to run in Open, and RISK combat but AVOID combat. I'd prefer to turn tail and run if I get attacked. BUT I would like to go far afield and maybe take care of a pirate or bounty below my weight class while I'm going out as far as I can.
4. Good upgradeability. I'm only just starting my Engineering quests, I have no idea what's in store for me. I'd like to be able to have one Exploration+ ship that I can keep upgrading, if that's how it works?
Based on these priorities, what would be a good one to go with?
 

[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos

[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos
Piratescribe said:
Oh, I haven't seen that in any of the "Best Ships for Exploring" lists online! :O And under 2mil, huh!
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Honestly, you cant beat it. Sure, others jump a little further. But I get about 50-55ly out of mine, I fit a big ol' full scoop in it and just park on the star, I've had it up to 60 (temp) once. Carries SRV, extra fuel tank in case you come across a stack of un-scoopable stars. I've done some miles in mine and I wouldn't consider anything else. Looks nice, nice view out of the front. Lush.
 

[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos

[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos
I'm sharing this build, it is not my own, but it gives you a good idea of just how versatile the Dolphin is.

Ashnak said:
Let me see...
  • FSD Booster - check
  • fuel scoop - check
  • dual SRV bay - check
  • shields - check
  • AFMU - check
  • cargo rack - check
  • repair limpet controller - check
  • fuel transfer limpet controller - check
  • DSS - check

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
s.orbis.zone s.orbis.zone

What am I missing?
Click to expand...
 

goemon

goemon
i have the feeling it might be usefull to so0rt some things out

  • "a combat capable ship". i know there are some "gankproofed" (assuming a very competent pilot) - but the difference between a pvp and pve engagement are so massive, you'll have to decide what you are aiming for.
  • "a pve combat capable ship" - this again depends on your combat rank. on my colonia account, which is i think mostly harmless, i can shoot down any - again mostly harmless ranked - random pirats with the two seeker racks on my t6.
  • "a pve safe ship" - besides the fact that there are no npc beyond a radius of ~500ly around any station (so in most of the galaxy there are no npc), safety is mainly speed. any ship that can reach over 440 m/s boost speeed, has any shield and a powerdistributor fitted that allows to boost is safe.

that said, i'm sitting in a dbe since years on my main account. i love that ship. but you can't bring everything with you. dolphin as above is a great explorer, if you like the cockpit (i don't). AspE is historically a renowned explorer (some love it, some don't), but you still have to compromise, if you want to bring everything you might need. krait phantom is the first ship allowing all internals fitted including cargo and research limpet controllers. it's also very fast, but it has restricted view by its hull to above. orca is often overlooked.

and then there are the ships very few fly for exploration today, but have their pros and cons. viper mkIV. smallest ship with complete loadout, perfect to land at guardian ruin and structures at places, where other ships can't. courier. t6. better fuelscoop-fsd size relation than an AspE, also faster. cobra. imperial clipper. python - full luxury of internals. and so on.

ship choice for exploration is imho mainly the question, which ship has the right vibe for you to spend a lot of time in it. you'll find out.
 
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Piratescribe

Piratescribe
goemon said:
i have the feeling it might be usefull to so0rt some things out
[...]

ship choice for exploration is imho mainly the question, which ship has the right vibe for you to spend a lot of time in it. you'll find out.
Click to expand...
Some good feedback!
PvP is what I most want to avoid. I've NEVER been good with PvP anything. ... but I don't want to stay in Solo :( Even though I want to run away from any possible PvP combat, I want to have the chance and ability to run away. I hate feeling alone in the galaxy with a bunch of robots :p Know what I mean?
PvE I want to be able to pick and choose my fights. If an NPC I think I can take on in my ship mostly outfit for exploration attacks, I'd like to stay and fight unless it gets too hot.

Orca I saw, but thinking that's just outside my budget. But I'll consider it.... (a day of Road to Riches I could afford it, but man that feels like cheating)
 

goemon

goemon
[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos said:
I've never used a Dolphin in a combat sense, not fighting anyway. running away, yes.

I don't think I've ever strapped guns to it.....:unsure:
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railgun dolphin is what some people i flying. my bubble dolphin has two engineered seeker racks.

if you really want to do pve combat in an exploration ship, i guess krait mkII is the way to go. or clipper. i personally wouldn't (why risk the exploration data onboard?).

if it is more about the "alone with robots" thingie, there is are some pve-only exploration focussed private groups, where i in fact meet more people while exploring than in open.
 

Piratescribe

Piratescribe
goemon said:
[...]
if you really want to do pve combat in an exploration ship, i guess krait mkII is the way to go. or clipper. i personally wouldn't (why risk the exploration data onboard?).

if it is more about the "alone with robots" thingie, there is are some pve-only exploration focussed private groups, where i in fact meet more people while exploring than in open.
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Fair question, good point! :)

Yeah. Oh? Where can one find such groups?? :O
 

goemon

goemon
Piratescribe said:
Where can one find such groups?? :O
Click to expand...
in the groups or this subforum.

Announcing FleetComm, the exploration-focused Private (pc) Group

"Those who took part in the Distant Worlds Expedition, the First Galactic Expedition, the Crab Nebula Expedition, and several others will be familiar with the Kamzel private group. The Kamzel PG was created by CMDR (Erimus) Kamzel to allow a safe space for the Distant Worlds pilots, and that...
forums.frontier.co.uk forums.frontier.co.uk
many of the exploration focussed groups like IGAU, Canonn, ... also have their own private groups.

and there is
 

goemon

goemon
(btw. i'm at no point advocating for not flying in open. open is VERY safe at almost all places in the galaxy. but the expectation, that an exploration ship being safe for pve would provide the same if encountering a hostile player is just wrong - damage per seconds, availability of special tools like fsd-disrupting missiles and so on is a totally different level - more so if you encounter a player who has build their ship only for destroying other player ships, while you sit in a ship build for explroation mainly. there are some builds though, but those will require a very competent pilot to escape, and they are still nowhere to get into combat with a player in a pvp-build. the likelyhood of encountering a pvp-player when exploring is almost zero though - if you are not at "busy" places, like a very recent discovery, a CG in colonia and such.)
 

gthk

gthk
Cobra Mk3. However I do a lot of engineering (try and error) barely to make it 50.16 ly, including a SRV. No weapon at all since it is an exploration build.
 

Nordmarken

Nordmarken
I would say the DBX. Small ship that can land anywhere with ease. With the new double engineered fsd I now have a jump range of 70 ly. It don't overheat easily. You can fit a hangar bay with a srv in it and also a size 3E cargo bay (8 units).

Only drawback is the max size of its fuel scoop.
 

puca

P
If you aren't concerned with maximum jump range, the dolphin is amazing. It is very maneuverable in supercruise, can land on small surfaces, has 9 slots (so it can fit all the usual explorer things, and supercruise assist as well), and will never ever overheat (no need to even pack a heatsink).

Here's mine. Total cost: a bit over 17 million (but this is also fully engineered). 61 ly jump range. If FD ever released a double engineered FSD in class 4, I would never fly another exploration ship probably.
 
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