Beluga Liner for Exploration?

[OfftheRails]

I spent most of last week taking passengers to the edge of the core in my new Beluga. With a 6A scoop it wasn't horrible, I got 30ly out of her after a little tinkering with Ms Farseer.

All three parties goldfingered themselves along the way, but I made 20 mil from the exploration data and painted my name on a few dozen systems so it wasn't a total washout. Next time I'll remember to adjust my behaviour in the following ways:

1) Either take shields along for the ride, or resist the temptation to land on a 2G world to get a screenie (9 million credits down the toilet)
2) Pay attention to the star class on jump and throttle back before passing the event horizon (17 million on that one)
3) Don't hang about at Gandharvi plotting a course while some sociopath decides to scan me for reasons surpassing understanding (24 million!!!)

Expensive mistakes.

EDIT: Final shot, on the pad, somewhat the worse for wear

 

[Quineloe]

I couldn't get it higher than 34 LY, which is pretty meh for traveling long distances, and it's not very supercruise agile

 

[GammaZ]

No overheating. Just visit an engineer and apply some efficient engines. Do a grade 1 which will give better efficiency and you can maintain the stock default power output. Take enough still for a few rolls and you can get a secondary which increases your power output!

Plus, once out in the black, you can turn off all non-essential systems until they are needed.

Interesting thing about beluga is that it does not have heat issues while scooping or doing anything else apart from charging FSD. When charging FSD, even away from star in normal space, it heats up to ~70-80%, and if i boost once it goes over 100%. I have G1 overcharged PP on passenger beluga, but it one of those "more power and slightly more efficiency" roll, and A7 DD5 thrusters, i obviously would not do that for exploration, but still will using low emissions PP and, may be, clean drives help with this particular issue?

 

[PEREGRINUS19]

I had fun flying a Beluga Liner out to the Conflux & back ...not the best exploration build with the Fighter but I wanted to take a Fighter & SRV with be just to play around with

Spoiler

http://beta.coriolis.edcd.io/outfit...DAFbuJuZLAAAA?bn=Explorer Beluga Liner v2.2.0

just did 22,000 to 23,000ly with it & the paint wear was awesome

Spoiler

Though the repair bill was a little expensive:

Spoiler

 

[A D]

Some of the passenger missions are for research and 000's of light years away, so there is an argument that it is suitable for exploration. However, IMO there are better ships to use once you take passenger trips out of the equation.

I used a Beluga for a bit. It is not agile and is heavy. "D" rating it leaves gaps (e.g. not enough power, weak thrusters, etc.). The interior module set up is also restricted, so there are limited slots remaining for exploration options e.g. you may have to leave something behind. Also, the biggest interior slot is a class 6 which I found too small for a fuel scoop in a ship that drinks (fuel) like a fish. The jump range is ok, but not great. After fitting the ship it may well be around 21 light years per jump and need to be engineered to get it over the 25 light year range. In my view, you need at least that range if you don't want to be jumping all the time.

For exploration I chose an ASP Explorer. It's agile and light and has a good jump range (32 light years without engineering). D rating it gives enough power and thrust. It also has a reasonable number of interior slots and can fit a class 6 fuel scoop which means the tank can be topped up regularly without stopping. A final consideration may also be the insurance, should you crash or destruct in the deep. The ASP insurance will come in around 700 - 800 k fully fitted. The Beluga insurance will come in around 8,000,000 - 10,000,000 million fully fitted, so loosing it in the deep will be costly.