Wow good stuff! A couple questions if I may...
1. So, is mining stuff (vis a vis the mining lasers) not necessary for long trips out in the nowhere? Don't I need to be able to mine for components to synthesize Limpets and Heat Sinks, etc?
(Speaking of Heat Sinks, when I was using my Hauler, Heat Sinks saved my butt twice, and I'd thought about using it a few other times! But so far in the Dolphin, it's never gotten above 50%! And I've been absolutely terrible with figuring out how to skim stars in it without getting too close and dropping out of SC, even!)
2. So as others have made the obvious pretty clear to me, explorers do not need anti-combat mods as one will hardly be places where it's necessary. Good to know
But, aren't thrusters that can boost you above 400 pretty necessary? For those rare times I DO have to get away? (I have encountered interdiction a few times as I've explored, and I like to think my boosting and weaving as I locked on another system has saved me... or maybe my lack of cargo? But if I start carrying passengers like I want, will that make me more a risk of NPC pirates when I do come around habited areas?)
3. So this Guardian FSD Booster, which others have recommended, isn't that an Engineered item? I only just unlocked Felicity Farseer, and it looks like one has to grind with a cargo hauler for a while to really get anywhere along the engineering path.
(Speaking of availability of mods, I totally agree with the fuel scoop! It's just that the 4A has been the best I can find at stations so far
)
Thanks for the feedback and help!
1. Adding a mining laser is occasionally handy, and something you should do if you plan to be out for a very long time, or are leaving with very few engineering mats already stockpiled in your personal inventory (engineering mats, and all those things you need for synthing limpets, heatsinks and jump boosts are stored on your character, not your ship), but if you don't plan to be away for that long, or aren't trying to get to extremely distant and specific stars (where jump boosts would be needed) or if you just do prep and get enough materials to last you a good while before you leave, then it's not as important.
As for heatsinks, sure, if your ship runs cool enough you may never need them (as I said myself, I've only ever used one once, and even then it probably wasn't
necessary), but there are times when you can jump into a system and find yourself stuck between 2 stars, or you get curious about a white dwarf and forget you should never get close to those dam things, or you find a landable planet close to a star and it's real hot, so I'd rather have one and never use it than forgo one entirely. Heatsinks also obviously don't use raw mats, so a mining laser doesn't help with those anyway, so making sure you have ammo for that and the mats to synth more, alongside all the other stuff you might need even before you leave the bubble is just a sensible idea imo.
I do tend to use both heatsinks and mining lasers on my ships, but I also run entirely engineered, medium or larger ships for exploring, and having all these things barely negatively affects any other aspects, so it's a non-issue. Honestly though, other than the 1 time heatsink, they barely get used. I've never used my mining laser for mining resources, since I already have all the resources maxed out and have never gotten stuck somewhere and needed to emergency synth limpets or jumponium or afmu ammo. The only thing the laser has been used for is occasionally beaming some weird space wildlife.
2. Depending on the ship, interdictions are usually pretty easy to avoid, and they only happen at the very beginning and very end of your exploration journeys. Out of hundreds of jumps to get somewhere and then get back and make hundreds more jumps, only like, 5 of them might even be in systems where interdictions
might take place, so chances are low you'll even get attacked, even less so if you're quick about pressing on from those systems and getting home quick after a long journey to safely land and sell your data.
Though honestly, even in the absolute, worse case scenario, where you've been out for a thousand jump round trip and you get interdicted at the very last moment in the 1 system right at the end where you're vulnerable as you head for a station and you happen to also fail the minigame and get pulled from supercruise, it's not a concern, because you just come to a stop, wait for the pirates to scan you and then they fly away... but this only happens if you're not carrying anything. I duno how carrying passengers affects things as I've never done it whilst exploring and never would, but so long as your cargo is devoid of anything except limpets, even failed interdictions aren't a concern. The pirates just won't attack.
So, my advice is, if you're going long distance exploring and are concerned about interdictions; fly something that's good at winning the minigame, have enough jump range so you have fewer systems to travel through on your way back into the bubble to minimise interdiction chances, don't carry any cargo and don't bother with passengers (I honestly don't know enough about passengers and how likely they are to get attacked, and they offer no benefit to my style of exploring so eh). I've never felt the need to run from pirates or had an "oh sh*t, I need to full throttle and run!" moment whilst exploring, because there's absolutely no chance pirates will ever even attack me, even if I should fail the 1 in a thousand chance interdiction.
3. FSD booster (and a bunch of other Guardian tech) is a whole line of special unlocks that can be gotten which involves visiting ancient alien ruins, driving your srv around these sites shooting stuff and doing a little timed puzzle thing to get a blueprint fragment and some other assorted alien junk, then heading back to the bubble and cashing it all in to permanently be able to buy the associated module. The fsd booster is generally regarded as the best one to get and is a nice little side quest that's worth doing even if you ignore the rest of the Guardian stuff. It's not essential, but it is extremely useful.
