Ships Best starter (budget) exploration ship? & loadout

twitchy040

twitchy040
As the title asks, im looking to get into exploring deep space. As it stands now I am making decient credits space trucking but want to go exploring in a purpose built ship.
So I was wondering what is the best budget ship and loadout to get me out there.

Thanks in advance
CMDR Twitchy040
 

newman1702

newman1702
What kind of budget are we talking about here? I'd say one of the more capable cheaper explorers is definitely the Cobra. Here's an unarmed, 11 jump, 23.65 ly range explorer cobra you can get for around 6.4 million:

http://coriolis.io/outfit/cobra_mk_iii/03A4D4A3D3D3D4C----02023343f40d2i2f.Iw1-kA==.Aw1-kA==

If you want, you can ditch the additional fuel tank for a 6 jump configuration and get a 25.58ly range. Or mount a smaller tank for a compromise. I know people also used Haulers and Adders for cheapo explorers, but I haven't tested that so I won't talk about it. I can say first hand a Cobra is a decent explorer. A DBE is considered a budget explorer, but is more expensive than said options, and fully kitted out not that much cheaper than a fully geared Asp.
 
Last edited:

twitchy040

twitchy040
That is definitely obtainable but need to get a few more credits atm. The 23ly jump is probly best to have to avoid aimless drifting at the hands of low fuel.
I have a hauler ATM but I didn't think you could fit a fuel scoop to it ( didn't really look too hard as I usually dont venture too far from habated space while being a galactic ups man)
Tyvm for the build!
 

Goblin King

Goblin King
Depending upon the budget I'd definitely recommend the Cobra, or if money is tighter than that then the Adder is a pretty decent ship to do it in - can't upload any potential examples as i'm at work and IT have blocked certain key sites. People have, carefully, made it to the other side of the galaxy and back in sidey's, but that may be a bit more painful than necessary.

Lots of people, especially when the game was first launched, have done it in haulers quite successfully, also if your budget can stretch to it some people swear by the L6 for an exploration vessel. Not tried it myself though, I did my time trading in an L6 and I am NEVER GOING BACK!

I still get night terrors because of the great lumbering pig. But being fair, the disadvantages of an L6 simply wouldn't come into play when exploring. Fuel scoop is vital though, as big as you can afford and fit. Every extra second you're having to scoop is a second you're not jumping to the next system (and also an additional opportunity to get distracted by the TV/woman/shiney thing and accidentally crash into the star)
 

newman1702

newman1702
Goblin King said:
Every extra second you're having to scoop is a second you're not jumping to the next system (and also an additional opportunity to get distracted by the TV/woman/shiney thing and accidentally crash into the star)
Click to expand...

I agree to an extent, but as I got an Asp that can mount class 6 scoops, I found you get diminishing returns if you want the very best scoop. For example, a 6B fuel scoop that I use costs 7,19 million credits, scoops at a rate of 752kg/s which fills up a 32T fuel tank in 42 seconds. If I wanted a 6A fuel scoop, I'd have to pay a whopping 28,7 million credits for it! That's over 20 million difference - several times the cost of a stock Asp - to get a 872 kg/s rate and cut refueling time by 6 seconds.

Now, let's assume you'll only put a scoop of this class on an exploration build - otherwise you'll probably want more cargo space or a better shield generator, depending on what you want to do, and put a smaller scoop in a c3 compartment. If exploring you'll probably want to surface scan the star you're scooping from as well. A 6B scoop fills me up before the scan is complete, assuming the tank wasn't completely dry. It actually pays to scoop on every scoopable star because I like to scan them anyway, and it's a fairly short process now with the Asp. So in this case, a 6A would be a collossal waste of 20 million credits. The thing with fuel scoops is, the price starts to increase exponentially the bigger class and rating you go. For the price of a 7A scoop you can buy a Python and have about 40 million left over for upgrades, for instance..
 
Last edited:

twitchy040

twitchy040
I like this build but I would probly drop the docking computer as I really enjoy docking manually.
But if I do that should I just leave that slot empty or toss in a _____?
 

Cdr Voorheez

Cdr Voorheez
AFMU defo. Its what i was going to do but got lazy. Defo worth a good one and a cheap one (for extra ammo) on long trips. Personal pref Cdr. But it is a good build is affordable and is working well as i type this reply :)
 

Cdr Voorheez

Cdr Voorheez
My build does several things:
A4 fuel scoop Scoops fast and agile
A4 FSD Range from 25.9-27LY depending on fuel. Sometimes run her deliberately light to squeeze out that extra LY
Has shields..always good in the bubble with millions of creds of data
A1 power distr and D4 thrusters Fast and can boost..stops you getting bumped by npcs/nobjockey players on return
A3 powerplant Good heat management with 3A reactor core doesnt go above 64% on scoops
Nice build based in advice here. Cant claim its my own :)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom