Appalling jump range - Mandalay

[shane sparling]

I'm pretty sure the 91ly Mandy only has enough fuel for a single jump. That's how min/max jump ships tend to be. Just a proof of concept, hardly practical.

True, that is the target for a base build, as stated elsewhere I will lose some mileage building "beef" into it where required.

Because the Guardian frame shift booster gives you an extra 10ly jump range maybe?

Well spotted and quite correct, someone sent me a link to Coriolis (I forgot about that site) and its seems that I could get a late 70s build that's usable, which is disappointing for a new explorer ship. I had greater expectations, quit Elite in 2020 and only since back a week or so, still resetting my Thrustmaster to something that will make me minimally cohesive, having already experienced two rebuys (20M) due to piloting skills that would make Delta Airlines blush.

Thanks for the input and take care in the black, o7

 

[shane sparling]

I just bought a Mandalay a couple of days ago. Moderately tuned up, with a shield, with a 4G Vehicle Hangar (so I can have 1 of each type SRV), and the Thargoid FSD I get 78 ly jumps.

I'm considering putting in a passenger cabin for those "take me to a system eleventy-thousand light years away" tourist trips. They are usually pretty interesting places, and I can also get exploration data on the way too and from.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

s.orbis.zone

Thargoid FSD, wow, I am behind the times, I was thinking about not taking a SRV at all, now that we can just walk and shoot. Is that advisable?

 

[shane sparling]

He said he overcharged his PP and lightweighted his (zero weight) stock bulkheads on the first page. He just doesn't think engineering the FSD will take him to the expected jump range so he didn't do it yet.

Thank you, well read I am still not close to the game and with everyone's help including the linked Coriolis, I think I can get what I want but it will only be a disappointing 75+ build, I had hoped for 80 + as I have been away for 4 years I had hoped that the game would have advanced a little more. Before anyone tells me about all the other ways I can access the black "I do it MY way"
Cheers o7

 

[varonica]

Thargoid FSD, wow, I am behind the times, I was thinking about not taking a SRV at all, now that we can just walk and shoot. Is that advisable?

Yes, you can walk and shoot on foot but you can't pick up materials unless you are in an SRV, and sometimes it's handy for doing bio. FYI my Krait Phantom with a decent shield, A rated thrusters and an SRV gets over 75ly jump with enough fuel to do 3 full range jumps, so if you can't get better than 75ly out of a Mandalay you probably need to rethink your choices. You should be be able to get more than 80ly without to many problems.

 

[Commander Biscuit]

I think I can get what I want but it will only be a disappointing 75+ build, I had hoped for 80 + as I have been away for 4 years I had hoped that the game would have advanced a little more.

The game has advanced, well if you can call upping jump range an advancement. I've got everything including the kitchen sink and I'm at 85ly. Others have topped 90 but you're choosing to do it your own way, and that's good but it's not the game's fault.

 

[shane sparling]

I think he's not aware what Engineering means, he thinks it's going into Outfitting and picking the D components.

He doesn't know about Engineers at all.

lol, I am not sure what anything means anymore but I can assure you I have had this game one month before Engineers even came out. As it turns out it seems that I was correct in my assumption that this little ship is over hyped in Exploration terms. I fact it was so bad I thought my game was glitched hence my post. After 4 years away from this game I expected more for the lone traveler ( I know I CAN get a Fleet Carrier) Frontier always boasting about how so little of the Galaxy is explored should give us little guys better tools to get out there.

 

[shane sparling]

Yes, you can walk and shoot on foot but you can't pick up materials unless you are in an SRV, and sometimes it's handy for doing bio. FYI my Krait Phantom with a decent shield, A rated thrusters and an SRV gets over 75ly jump with enough fuel to do 3 full range jumps, so if you can't get better than 75ly out of a Mandalay you probably need to rethink your choices. You should be be able to get more than 80ly without to many problems.

I have a Phantom somewhere, I do remember engineering it for exploration but that was when it first came out, I can't even remember flying it though, I will dig in the Shinrata garage and have a look at her. My first trip will be in the Mandalay and thank you for the SRV info, I will take one. Do I need any kind of special firearm? I have the beginner suit with bio scanner, is that OK? My trip will be around 5000 lyrs out with big jumps, then turn everything down do a full sweep Bio and full system scans of an area, then scoot back, so two weeks round trip. This will be more for my benefit with new game controls ETC, I am not bothered about the rewards that much, although it would be nice to line up a new income stream...

 

[shane sparling]

You need to get one of the Pre-engineered Thargoid drives. There's about a million guides on youtube how to get one.

Thanks for that I will do a search for one (or 10) Funny but I have been revising Elite lately having just bought Odessey, strange I haven't noticed these...

Thank you...o7

 

[Bigmaec]

Apart from all the discussion, I strongly advise to use a functional build with non-paper shields. Saw a reddit post today where someone crashed into a 1 g world and lost half a billion of Exo data. Don't be that CMDR, fly with shields, fly safe.

You're not gonna die from crashing into the planet in something like this:

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

s.orbis.zone

 

[varonica]

Do I need any kind of special firearm? I have the beginner suit with bio scanner, is that OK

For doing bio, no that will be fine. The Artemis suit that is. If you intend to do any salvaging though, picking up stuff from wrecked ships for instance, then the Maverick will also be necessary as that has the cutting tool to open panels.

 

[shane sparling]

Apart from all the discussion, I strongly advise to use a functional build with non-paper shields. Saw a reddit post today where someone crashed into a 1 g world and lost half a billion of Exo data. Don't be that CMDR, fly with shields, fly safe.

You're not gonna die from crashing into the planet in something like this:

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

s.orbis.zone

Ouch! that would hurt, I had a #3 bi weave on the Mandalay the other day and banged the wing hard in the slot, 20 % hull damage!! I had already made a mental note to upgrade that on final build, luckily I played PP millions of years ago and bought a whole bunch of those Prismatic shields. At the time I bought 34 at once including the big one (#8) for a Cutter build, they were not cheap! I used a #3 Prismatic in my Aspx back in the day, that was good for a full face plant, don't ask me how I know!
But many thanks for the advice Cmdr...o7

 

[shane sparling]

For doing bio, no that will be fine. The Artemis suit that is. If you intend to do any salvaging though, picking up stuff from wrecked ships for instance, then the Maverick will also be necessary as that has the cutting tool to open panels.

Pretty sure it's a PEBKAC issue.

You could be correct, I will engineer the drive fully tonight.

 

[GreySix]

I get up to 72 on mine.

 

[shane sparling]

For doing bio, no that will be fine. The Artemis suit that is. If you intend to do any salvaging though, picking up stuff from wrecked ships for instance, then the Maverick will also be necessary as that has the cutting tool to open panels.

I will pick the Maverick up tonight

I get up to 72 on mine.

Thanks for that, o7 Commanders.

 

[DjVortex]

Grade A size 5 SCO not engineered, can't see the point as jump ranges has not increased during existing engineering.

I'm genuinely speechless.

 

[Knuttin Atoll]

I'm genuinely speechless.

Me too, but in the today's environment... Consistent at least.

 

[varonica]

Grade A size 5 SCO not engineered, can't see the point as jump ranges has not increased during existing engineering.

The entire point, nearly the only point of FSD engineering these days is to massively increase the range, that's really the only purpose for it, oh yes you can reduce heat, make it stronger, add effects like mass manager which also increase range, but why bother on an exploration focused ship. Any engineering you have already done to make stuff lighter will add maybe 5ly jump range, so you are right, it won't add much. Ideally you should be engineering the FSD first then decide if you need any more jump range by engineering the rest.

Engineering a 5A SCO FSD to grade 5 with mass manager will take you from 31ly to 54ly, that's with leaving the entire rest of the gear as base purchased. Add the Guardian FSD Booster takes it to 64ly. Taking everything down to D with no engineering and with a guardian FSD booster takes you to 79ly. If I engineer everything for low mass it gets to 82ly.

So engineering for low mass will add only 3ly, engineering FSD for long range will add 23ly, the Guardian FSD booster will add 10ly. There's your 80ly plus Mandalay.

 

[CMDR Lefty Jackson]

Very cool thread, I just bought the Mandalay and have been working on tuning it to what I want to use it for.

I'd love to use a 91Ly range, and it's cool to know this ship can have that much range, but reality is that most things we do requires other modules. By stripping it down to bare bones makes it long range, but you are very limited with it other than maybe run around scanning systems and looking out the window. People might want to throttle back on their search for the most Ly possible.

My logic tells me I need to decide what I want to do with the ship, then build according to that need. And as somebody said, the build starts with maxing out the Frame Shift Drive slot. Some builds will be longer range than others. One ship a miner, one an explorer, one a daily driver, etc. Stressing out over a couple light years seems...illogical.

My version of a lightweight daily is only getting about 35Ly. I know it's because the FSD is only shield so far, Grade 1 and I have some things onboard that add weight that are not required to operate the ship, but it's things I want or need. The result of that build is what it is.

TIP...swapping modules around is not "engineering". It's really frustrating to see how people misuse words, which dilutes it's meaning. Not everything is HD. Not everything is hacked, and not everything is engineered!

True engineering is Grade 1-5 via the engineer blue prints you have to unlock. I'm just getting started on that so I know my range will increase some, but I know also I will not get close to 91Ly simply because what I want for this ship is heavier than a gokart with a 454 blown big block. Power to weight ratio. Learn it to understand range, speed, and quickness.

That said, indeed speed is different than range.

Currently my range sucks at about 35, but it's pretty quick, at about 322 and 406 boost I think, but it could be faster. What are the fastest speeds out there? I haven't really checked. Speed is restricted by weight as well. I just want to make it fast as possible and still get the job done.

Jump range will be a result of what you use the ship for.

Personally, I really like the Mandalay. Of course, I'd like higher grade modules, but the amount of module slots is pretty good I think. 5 FSD slot could be better. Maybe some new fancy upgrade that allows slots to use higher-grade modules. A 7 in a 5 slot? Yes please!

 

[flibblesan]

This is my 94Ly Mandalay build that I spec'd mainly for exploration & exobiology. Of course everyones needs are different but this may give an idea of what can be done. I'm happy with it.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

s.orbis.zone

FSD is a pre-engineered SCO from a human tech broker which requires finding a titan drive and some other parts to unlock. I then took it over to Farseer to have the mass manager experimental applied. Gives the absolute max range you can get from a class 5 FSD.

Power usage is pretty much close to max so the AFM units are switched off until they are actually needed.

 

[anShpan]

I just want to make it fast as possible and still get the job done.

Without sketching on Edsy or Coriolis not much to discuss. It is like trying to describe chemical formulas with words instead of whiteboard.
Depending on the job to be done I would start with modules crucial for that job and only then check what is left from max speed. In general, Mandalay takes more mass without sacrificing speed much better than many others.

but the amount of module slots is pretty good I think.

Same here. I love that 3-rd C1 and using it for docking computer on exploration build.