Ships AspX Explorer Build, I think I'm finally ready to go on a long expedition

[CptArcher]

This is my go anywhere Asp build, I would suggest a repair limpet controller for any long term exploration, also I've found a 16t fuel tank is plenty and it will increase your jump range if that is important to you. Anyway it will give you some more idea's for your own perfect build. Good luck out there Cmdr

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

coriolis.io

Nice ship you have there Gramps. That's pretty much a perfect ship.

I completed the bulkhead upgrades and just almost completed all of grade 5! Very glad it didn't affect jump at all! You guys made me rethink things so I wanted to try out the booster. I installed the Guardian booster in place of the SCA and did a little leisurely exploring in the bubble doing some road to riches. I just wanted to test the booster and see how my ship and I handle it. I have good news and bad news. The good news is the powerplant handles the Guardian FSD booster like a champ! Didn't even need any modifications whatsoever and I was still able to run shields in the bubble. Bad news, yeah, I already miss the supercruise assist. I just use it far too much. I started this game not using any assists at all, but now I found I just love the SCA and the freedom it gives me to not have to pay attention all the time haha. I like to be able to set it and forget it, end up at a planet to scan it with the DSS, and then after that, point at my next body and do the same thing. I can get up, get a cup of coffee and find that I'm nicely orbiting the next body I'm looking at when I get back to my controls. Yeah, I know there are pitfalls and dangers playing this way, that's why I'm taking repair limpets with me!

As soon as I'm done with this system, I'm heading back to my home dock and going to re-install the module.

I don't have hotas, I play using an Xbox Elite controller on Xbox One.

Sinisalo, I looked at my shield health and it is at 78 MJ in this configuration.

o7

 

[SergMx]

1. 1 light rails for fuel leak
2. Power 3A armored, integrity no repair.

 

[CptArcher]

Hi SergMx, I do have light rails with fuel slug. It might be hard to see on the spreadsheet because I have it disabled most of the time.

 

[[VR] Orodruin]

Bad news, yeah, I already miss the supercruise assist. I just use it far too much. I started this game not using any assists at all, but now I found I just love the SCA and the freedom it gives me to not have to pay attention all the time haha. I like to be able to set it and forget it, end up at a planet to scan it with the DSS, and then after that, point at my next body and do the same thing. I can get up, get a cup of coffee and find that I'm nicely orbiting the next body I'm looking at when I get back to my controls.

As stated, it is up to you how you prefer to play! Everybody else can just make suggestions and comments based on what works for them, but that does not mean it will work for you. If you found something that works for you, great! If you tested something that was suggested to you but you found that you liked your old configuration better, even greater! You tested it and it was not for your play style. Nothing more to it than that really.

 

[SergMx]

Hi SergMx, I do have light rails with fuel slug. It might be hard to see on the spreadsheet because I have it disabled most of the time.

i diff my fits and

Ships - AspX Explorer Build, I think I'm finally ready to go on a long expedition

I think I finally prepared my Asp for a long journey. I plan on heading out to Colonia, then to Beagle Point and finish off visiting Sagittarius A* before heading home. For anyone gone on such a long journey, am I missing anything on my build? Thank you! AspX Build on Coriolis

forums.frontier.co.uk

from cmdr Gramps

 

[CptArcher]

Thank you Orodruin! Here is my updated build. I entered in all the exact numbers, but for some reason my jump and shield strength are different in game than on Coriolis. My jump is at 55.66LY current, 60.34LY max jump. Now I just need to get friendly with Mrs. Ryder so she can give me a referral to Etienne Dorn near Colonia. I plan on starting my journey somewhere in The Formidine Rift before beginning to head towards Colonia.

 

[JetsonRING]

You'll probably leave the SC Assist off for most of the time, too.

 

[GeoJase]

Bung on a class 5 guardian booster, 2x AFMUs in the class 3 slots. G3 your power plant (negligible impact on jump range, more power for the FSD booster, and more integrity = less damage). This will give you >10+ ly jump range

Ditch the cargo and repair controller. There are places to repair out there.

 

[SergMx]

Thank you Orodruin! Here is my updated build. I entered in all the exact numbers, but for some reason my jump and shield strength are different in game than on Coriolis. My jump is at 55.66LY current, 60.34LY max jump. Now I just need to get friendly with Mrs. Ryder so she can give me a referral to Etienne Dorn near Colonia. I plan on starting my journey somewhere in The Formidine Rift before beginning to head towards Colonia.

Although the Phantom is better for deep reconnaissance, as an old-school player I also prefer ASP.
But it's not clear why YOU don't have a guard jump accelerator ?
My fit:

Spoiler

SHIP: Asp Explorer (ASP-MX-Ex)
===============================
speed: 306.18 boost: 416.4 [pitch: 46.54 roll: 122.47 yaw: 12.25]
jump range (all): 65.04 (453.46)
shield (exp/kin/thr): 76.91 (0.5/0.4/-0.2)
armour (exp/kin/thr): 538.88 (-0.37/-0.17/0.02)
dps: 33.21 heat capacity: 272
CORE--------------------------
[ ] L Lightweight Alloy
[1] 3A powerPlant [Armoured 5] [Stripped Down]
[2] 4D thrusters [Clean 5] [Stripped Down]
[1] 5A frameShiftDrive [Increased range 5] [Mass Manager]
[3] 4D lifeSupport [Lightweight 5]
[1] 1D powerDistributor [Engine focused 5] [Stripped Down]
[1] 5D sensors [Lightweight 5]
HARDPOINTS---------------------
[3] 1D Rail Gun[Fixed] [Lightweight 5] [Plasma Slug]
UTILITY------------------------
[1] 0I Heat Sink Launcher [Lightweight 5]
INTERNAL-----------------------
[3] 6A Fuel Scoop
[1] 5H Guardian Frame Shift Drive Booster
[1] 3D Shield Generator [Enhanced low power 5] [Stripped Down]
[3] 3A Auto Field-Maintenance Unit
[1] 3E Cargo Rack
[5] 2G Planetary Vehicle Hangar
[1] 1D Repair Limpet Controller
[1] 1I Surface Scanner

 

[CptArcher]

Thanks for sharing your build Serg! I can't tell you how helpful it is when fellow CMDRs post their builds. It helped me when finally settling on my own personal build. I probably sat at the outfitting terminal for a couple hours yesterday trying to decide how to load my build. I ended up leaving this morning using this build to The Formadine. It's virtually the same as my first build except it has upgraded bulkheads.

I'm about 1k LY outside the bubble right now. I'm already seeing an interesting and bright constellation on the way and I will be stopping there today with any luck. There are a couple nebula nearby that look interesting which I will also visit.

Anyone have any tips on finding any life out here? Specifically Notable Stellar Phenomena? Is there any kind of routine I should do to make sure I don't miss anything? Right now, I glide to a star, sit and scoop for a bit while I look at my FSS for signal sources. If there is a signal source I want to investigate, well I just end up scanning the whole system and then set a course to the body I'd like to see. I'm coming out this way to find life.

On my last trip to Hawking's Gap, I came across a Notable Stellar Phenomena. I think the only reason I found it was because I happened to look at my navigation panel and saw it while I went to DSS a water world. I'm really glad I looked at my navigation panel because I think I would have missed it otherwise. I certainly didn't see it when using the FSS. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. I just now started to look at "Features" under the FSS. Is there anything I should be checking?

 

[CptArcher]

Well that did not take long at all. I went to scan and collect samples from a pristine metal content 1.2 G world. I finished collecting my samples and decided I wanted to look at a crater about 10km from the site. I couldn't see crap. The soil on this world was reddish and the star was setting and so it was getting dim. I turned on night vision and immediately noticed I was heading straight for a ridge. I pulled up on the stick but not in time and smacked into the ridge HARD. Knocked shields offline and brought me down to 81% hull, yeah did all that on my first day...

I wanted to see if I could make it to the Formadine Rift, then to Colonia without needing repair limpets. NOPE. Very glad that I brought them and it turns out I'm going to need them. Hull is now 100% repaired and I'm continuing on with my journey.

o7

 

[Red Anders]

Thank you! The shield health is very low when powered up, I think 78? It's low but I did survive a crash with it on a 9G world! Thank you for the tip on the bulkheads. I'll perform that mod before I leave.

I'll look again when I get back to the dock

Other than the bulkheads, looks fine taking into account your explanation for prioritising the supercruise assist over a FSD booster. Personally I don't carry a repair limpet but that and the supercruise assist are personal choices not core gear. Nice ship.

Out of curiosity, what were the circumstances surrounding your 9G crash?

 

[Badman76]

Thank you Orodruin! Here is my updated build. I entered in all the exact numbers, but for some reason my jump and shield strength are different in game than on Coriolis. My jump is at 55.66LY current, 60.34LY max jump. Now I just need to get friendly with Mrs. Ryder so she can give me a referral to Etienne Dorn near Colonia. I plan on starting my journey somewhere in The Formidine Rift before beginning to head towards Colonia.

My suggestion, don't always default to stripped down experimental effect, especially on a light ship. You have it on your pp, thrusters, pd and shields saving you 0.11lys, which i doubt you even notice.

Also go 5b for the afmu. It has more integrity then a 5a, you can always synthesis more afmu ammo, but you can't repair a single afmu

I must admit, i don't like these type of exploration builds. I prefer to sacrifice jump range for stronger shields and A rated thrusters/pd/low emission pp and a few shield boosters and pdt's. If i can i'd bring Slf's, research limpets, mining lasers too

 

[CptArcher]

Out of curiosity, what were the circumstances surrounding your 9G crash?

I went to the 9G world to practice landing. I tried landing using two different methods. The first time I tried I did the technique where the operator points the nose down slightly and lets the machine glide forward. It worked great, I brought the Asp to a good landing spot and I used analog thrusters to set the bird down very gently. No problem I thought, 9G worlds are a piece of cake I thought. So then I took off and was somewhere between 750m-1k in altitude. I decided to try landing using the flight assist on - off toggle that I read about. So I turn it off, the Asp starts accelerating downward fast, I try to toggle it back on and here is where I don't know exactly what happened. Maybe I turned it on and in my panic I may have turned it back off, I do not know. What I do know is that the next thing that happened was the Asp on it's side with shields down and around 30% hull. It may have been less, I do not remember. I let my shields recharge and tried to take off. No matter what I tried I could not get the bird to take off from it's side on the planet again using lateral thrusters. I tried raising and lowering the landing gear, the Asp was stuck on its side. I was stuck. I thought I was going to have to self destruct. I tried boosting several times and I noticed I was making some progress and sliding the Asp on the ground a bit. Finally with one lucky boost I was able to get off the ground and I righted the ship and was able to start gaining altitude again. Finally got to orbit, repaired the hull, and at that time decided to take off to the black.

 

[CptArcher]

My suggestion, don't always default to stripped down experimental effect, especially on a light ship. You have it on your pp, thrusters, pd and shields saving you 0.11lys, which i doubt you even notice.

Also go 5b for the afmu. It has more integrity then a 5a, you can always synthesis more afmu ammo, but you can't repair a single afmu

I must admit, i don't like these type of exploration builds. I prefer to sacrifice jump range for stronger shields and A rated thrusters/pd/low emission pp and a few shield boosters and pdt's. If i can i'd bring Slf's, research limpets, mining lasers too

I may end up doing what you just said. It's not looking too hopeful so far having a good crash on my very first day of the trip... I admittedly was flying far too low while I was making my way to the crater. I should have been at a higher altitude. Not only that, I didn't even turn my shields on when landing the first time... Yes, that was a big mistake in itself. I didn't even realize the shields were off until I took off from the geo site to go and see the crater. I believe as the days pass, I will refine my flying technique and be more and more cautious. I almost need to have a checklist of things I need to do before I even decide to land on a planet. I am a new explorer and so I have a lot to learn.

 

[Red Anders]

I went to the 9G world to practice landing. I tried landing using two different methods. The first time I tried I did the technique where the operator points the nose down slightly and lets the machine glide forward. It worked great, I brought the Asp to a good landing spot and I used analog thrusters to set the bird down very gently. No problem I thought, 9G worlds are a piece of cake I thought. So then I took off and was somewhere between 750m-1k in altitude. I decided to try landing using the flight assist on - off toggle that I read about. So I turn it off, the Asp starts accelerating downward fast, I try to toggle it back on and here is where I don't know exactly what happened. Maybe I turned it on and in my panic I may have turned it back off, I do not know. What I do know is that the next thing that happened was the Asp on it's side with shields down and around 30% hull. It may have been less, I do not remember. I let my shields recharge and tried to take off. No matter what I tried I could not get the bird to take off from it's side on the planet again using lateral thrusters. I tried raising and lowering the landing gear, the Asp was stuck on its side. I was stuck. I thought I was going to have to self destruct. I tried boosting several times and I noticed I was making some progress and sliding the Asp on the ground a bit. Finally with one lucky boost I was able to get off the ground and I righted the ship and was able to start gaining altitude again. Finally got to orbit, repaired the hull, and at that time decided to take off to the black.

You did well to make it through that one. Blipping FA-off is (as you discovered) very dangerous because as soon as the ship loses the automatic thruster compensation from flight assist, it drops like a stone. Same with even tapping the thrusters down, without a lot of altitude for the recovery period you're going in even if you immediately stick it on its tail and hit boost. It is a brutal place, but something I think every Commander should experience at least once. If you can get a ship down on there, you can land anywhere.

I asked because assuming the 9G world was HD 148937 3, I do like to keep track of my kill count and near misses

 

[CptArcher]

You did well to make it through that one. Blipping FA-off is (as you discovered) very dangerous because as soon as the ship loses the automatic thruster compensation from flight assist, it drops like a stone. Same with even tapping the thrusters down, without a lot of altitude for the recovery period you're going in even if you immediately stick it on its tail and hit boost. It is a brutal place, but something I think every Commander should experience at least once. If you can get a ship down on there, you can land anywhere.

I asked because assuming the 9G world was HD 148937 3, I do like to keep track of my kill count and near misses

I believe that was the same world. It's 9.77 Gs I believe. You can mark me as a near miss! There is another planet in that same system that is over 3Gs too. I practiced on that one first. Yes, blipping the FA Off is not the way to do it, I did much better just gliding slowly and barely moving the lateral thrusters and I came to a pillow soft landing on that 9.77 G world. That's why I thought it was a piece of cake, boy was I sure wrong. Just one wrong mistake and that planet will flatten a ship like a pancake!

I found life on my first day out in the black! I came across some bio-luminescent pods. I'll have to look in the codex to see what they are. I found a bunch of life in this system I'm in, so I decided to just camp next to this spot and call it a night. I'm glad I practiced landing on high - G worlds, this planet is over 3G. This time I was much more careful. I activated my shields in orbit and took the Asp in for a slow approach. It was on the dark side of the world, so I had to be extra cautious and rely heavily on instrumentation.

 

[ElectricFactory]

OP, how are you planning to get to Colonia ? Are you neutron highway-ing it ? How are you ploting your route ?

 

[CptArcher]

OP, how are you planning to get to Colonia ? Are you neutron highway-ing it ? How are you ploting your route ?

I doubt I'll neutron highway it. When I do, it shaves off maybe 10 jumps every 100 and that really isn't that big of a change, plus it damages my FSD a bit. I'm pretty far from Colonia right now, 27.4k LY away, so I'm getting further and further from there it seems, not closer, hah.

I'm in the Formadine Rift right now. I arrived sometime yesterday. I already found two ELW's in the Formadine, right off the bat, but I have found no organic structures whatsoever, yet. There was one I could have confirmed but I didn't want to do that. I'm not giving up, I want to find my own. Did come across a wolf-rayet, and a black hole, and several neutrons, too many neutrons which I don't really care about, and they have already been found before me... I'm really hoping for a Notable Stellar Phenomena.... Please oh please let me find one of them already here in the Formadine! I've only ever found one NSP, a proto-lagrange cloud in the Inner Orion Spur, seems like life there is a dime a dozen though. I have found only one type-O star here in the Formadine and it had nothing really interesting. Was hoping for some prasinum bio-luminescent pods since I kind of know how to find them, but alas, there were none there. I have yet to see another type O star and I'm starting to get dizzy looking at the map trying to find one.

 

[[VR] Orodruin]

I doubt I'll neutron highway it. When I do, it shaves off maybe 10 jumps every 100 and that really isn't that big of a change, plus it damages my FSD a bit. I'm pretty far from Colonia right now, 27.4k LY away, so I'm getting further and further from there it seems, not closer, hah.

10 jumps every 100? I don't think we are taking the same highway ... If you use Spansh to plot a neutron route with a 65 ly range ship starting at Jameson Memorial you end up with a route that estimates 109 jumps. Adding the occasional refuelling stop adds 20 more jumps at most. Add another couple of short stops for repairing the FSD, you conservatively end up with something like the time equivalent of 140 jumps using the neutron highway. Even if you could jump in a straight line without stopping to refuel, jumping from Jameson to Colonia would take you 339 jumps. Adding that it takes slightly longer to neutron boost than just jump, I would say you shave off about 30-50% of the time by travelling the neutron highway. This is of course also going to depend on your familiarity and proficiency in neutron boosting and plotting your next jump etc.