Ship Builds & Load Outs Beluga Liner Luxuriously going where no CMDR has gone before. (Beluga explorer)

Cookie Smuggler

C
i was playing around on coriolis and put together a luxury exploration ship for those times when you want to explore but also want the kitchen sink, and the kitchen, and the custom bed with 7,777 threadcount bedding and other such things.

The jump range isn't all that good, but it should get you wherever you want or need to go and has all the essentials for exploration.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
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so what do you all think? would it get me to colonia or sag A*?
P.S the lux pass cabin is to represent where the CMDR and guest (or 2) would live while in the black
 

WeComeInPeace

WeComeInPeace
Yes that Beluga would probably get you across the galaxy and back, as long as you don't meet the Big Green Beluga Eater on the way. It will take some time though.

A few general comments:

Sooner or later most explorers feel the need to go somewhere as fast as possible. Fast in ED is different. Each time you jump you spend time fuel scooping and lining up for the next star. With a large enough fuel scoop that time is roughly the same for any ship, and it's longer than the actual jumps. Therefore to travel fast you need to do as few jumps as possible, meaning you want to have as high jump range as possible.

When you build an exploration ship, mass is a concern. Mass eats jumprange and maneuverability. Therefore many explorers tend to go as lightweight as possible. That typically means D-rated modules with lightweight engineering.

You will need some gadgets along the way. A SRV is a must, but I have traveled to some pretty far away places, and I've never needed the AFMUs unless you use neutron stars to boost the FSD.

When you fuel scoop the ship gets hot. One way to deal with that is to engineer the Power Plant to get a lower efficiency. This is weird, since normally high efficiency is good. Not so in ED. If your PP has lower efficiency, it produces less heat. With a normal A-rated PP the efficiency is 0.40. Not bad, but with a Low Emission engineering + Thermal Spread you can go as low as 0.13, basically "meaning" one third the trouble with heat. It's much more complicated that that ;)

Once you get tired of jumping from star to star, the Beluga is almost as large as a Fleet Carrier, so like the SRV, I like to bring a Ship Launched Fighter on my exploration Conda. It's like that ATV on a large Mobile Home. I see you also have thought about that.

You won't need a large shield. However, I do like proper thrusters on my exploration ships. It keeps you safe at high G planets, and it makes the ships more fun to fly. That also means that you should look at the Power Distributor. Too long boost intervals is a killer of fun.

My favorite exploration ship is much smaller and less luxurious than the Beluga, but there might be stuff you can use.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
coriolis.io coriolis.io
 

Adeliza

A
Yep very nice, my first trip to Sag A and Colonia was in a Beluga almost the same as yours'. Is slower than my DBX/Annie travel times later were but nice to have eveything with me including SLFs to scan surface features without needing to land the big girl :giggle:
 

Norquinco

N
I made exactly the same decision a couple of weeks ago, and since then I've been gathering mats and unlocking engineers to make my vision a reality... a big beaufitul Beluga packed to the brim with everything I could ever need for exploration AND a luxury cabin just to say my character has a good place to relax after a hard day swanning around in the black:

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
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No compromises here, I set 50ly as a minimum jump range and made a list of realistic engineering mods. For instance it doesn't have light weight 5 on the life support because I'd have to go to Colonia first just to get it, and the PP doesn't have overcharged 5 because I dont want to go to the bother of unlocking Hera Tani, and it's just not needed on the build.

I'm about half way through, just got the PP, Thrusters and life support to go, then I'm off. I've added engineering to the shield boosters but I'll probably run out of patience and sack that off.

I'd insert a screenshot but for some reason this forum doesn't like .bmp files. Happy star hunting CMDR! o7

Sod it I'll just user imgur:
https://imgur.com/a/obw1Zhq
Source: https://imgur.com/a/obw1Zhq
 
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GloatingSwine

GloatingSwine
WeComeInPeace said:
Yes that Beluga would probably get you across the galaxy and back, as long as you don't meet the Big Green Beluga Eater on the way.
Click to expand...

Can't.

No mailslots out in the deep black.

Norquinco said:
I've added engineering to the shield boosters but I'll probably run out of patience and sack that off.
Click to expand...

With resistance augment they'll give you very little value. The main thing shields do for an explorer ship is cushion you against rough landings or otherwise bonking into things, and collision damage doesn't care about resistances.

Another thing about power plants on exploration ships is that quite a lot of your modules can be turned off almost all of the time. So build with that in mind. If you find yourself needing module or hull repairs, for instance, you can just power down your thrusters and turn on the AFMU. (you'll probably be repairing the thrusters anyway because most of the damage you'll take is heat or sudden drops from SC which do little bits all over)

This is your build, on a bit of a diet but losing no actual capabilities (and gaining some, fuel dumping and supercruise assist because you'll be spending a lot of time supercruising to things. A PWA does nothing for you because there's no overlap between material content for jumponium and cores) and with power management so that it can run on a 4A Armoured/Thermal Spread plant. (Generally a good explorer engineering, because you can't repair power plants either so the extra integrity is a nice safety blanket.) Also the Beluga is pretty toasty so an overcharged plant will make fuel scooping a sweaty job.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

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

Norquinco

N
Thanks for the advice, I think I got a bit carried away with excitement, I know you can turn some modules off when you aren't using them, but I liked the idea of more POWAH. But as you say, it's a waste of mass.

I don't really know much about mining, I just want enough to be able to collect some raw mats off asteroids if need be (Dead SRV, no where to land) but if you say I don't need the PWA then fair enough.

I have a couple of questions tough, what do you mean by fuel dumping, and why the Railgun?

Thanks!
 

GloatingSwine

GloatingSwine
Norquinco said:
I have a couple of questions tough, what do you mean by fuel dumping, and why the Railgun?
Click to expand...

You can jump further with less fuel in your tank, the only way to voluntarily get rid of fuel is with the plasma slug experimental available on railguns and plasma accelerators. Railguns come in size 1 so they're lighter.

Using more power doesn't just mean a bigger plant and more mass as well, it also means more idle heat. Idle heat in supercruise is bad for an explorer because you will often have to scoop lots because you've jumped through a sequence of non-scoopables. That means overcharged plants are bad for you because they reduce efficiency. Especially on a Beluga which is a notoriously toasty ship to begin with.
 
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Darrack

Darrack
My first big expo was in a Luga, Col to SagA then out east, loved every minute, still have her tucked away on my FC.
BUT having just done over 40KLY in my Annie I,m not sure i could go back to that luxury and be without my 7A fuel scoop.

Fly Safe
 

Distant Carrier

Distant Carrier
Here - the exact opposite of your Beluga and the other ones linked...

Coriolis EDCD Edition

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

Not sure if it's linked right, I've never linked a build.

My philosophy with this ship is that I don't mind not getting places fast when I'm going no particular place, and also it will land just about anywhere, and also it's fast as hell and absolutely nothing is going to catch it out in the voids. Stressing out about fuel scooping is actually kinda zen.. this little guy only has a few jumps in it before it's stranded :)

Currently it's missing its vehicle hangar and includes some other trade-secret tweaks, and it's even more insanely fast - actually scary to let the autodock land it especially at docks with their odd geometries. It's so fun to fly that it's my main wander-around-the-place ship right now. Also, this ship would probably physically fit inside the cargo space of a Beluga... Captain's Yacht, anyone?

Edit: Actually, I've run quite a few different iterations of this, some with cargo racks for relic hunting, some other variations. Overall I'm a tiny ship person, so naturally I've shown up at the Exploraconda/Beluga Wanderer/Luxurious Antarctic Cruise exhibition :)
 
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