Cobra III for exploring ?
- Thread starter Kaprylo
- Start date
I think he means "a few hundred THOUSAND credits." Just FYI
Advanced discovery scanner & surface scanner
A class fuel scoop - you can scoop at @ 22 p/s without increasing temperature
A class frameshift driver. D-class everything else. ditch your guns, add a heat sink (just incase) - you'll be fast enough to outrun anything you encounter out there
job done.
A class fuel scoop - you can scoop at @ 22 p/s without increasing temperature
A class frameshift driver. D-class everything else. ditch your guns, add a heat sink (just incase) - you'll be fast enough to outrun anything you encounter out there
job done.
I use the Cobra Mk III, upgraded as previous posters have said, and am currently half way between the Pleiades and Barnards Loop. Plenty good enough for exploring, and tough enough to protect the data when you get back too.
Also, I believe the first ship to make it to Sagittarius A* in the centre of the Galaxy was a Cobra.
Also, I believe the first ship to make it to Sagittarius A* in the centre of the Galaxy was a Cobra.
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The Asp will only be more useful if you intend to get out where the stars are thin and spread further apart, but even then you'll get stuck, it's jump range is not that much greater than the cobra but it's costs are much much higher.
Lestat
Banned
I always keep lasers so you can use the USS to collect items. So you can sell them to the small outpost.
Yes, a Cobra will work for exploring.
Get the best FSD and Fuel Scoop you can, both Advanced and Detail scanners, and avoid making the ship too heavy with unjudicious upgrades. (Sometimes D equipment is actually better than A)
Try to avoid dropping your jump range below 20ly to keep your route options open.
I did a pleasure trip last night out to Polaris and back (yes I know you can't access the system).
800 ly round trip with 32 systems scanned.
Wear and tear cost me 17k on return, but UC paid me 460k for the data (one system alone netted 130k)
I know that 440k profit in a couple of hours isn't like trading (even in a Cobra), but it was an interesting experience with some nice sights.
Get the best FSD and Fuel Scoop you can, both Advanced and Detail scanners, and avoid making the ship too heavy with unjudicious upgrades. (Sometimes D equipment is actually better than A)
Try to avoid dropping your jump range below 20ly to keep your route options open.
I did a pleasure trip last night out to Polaris and back (yes I know you can't access the system).
800 ly round trip with 32 systems scanned.
Wear and tear cost me 17k on return, but UC paid me 460k for the data (one system alone netted 130k)
I know that 440k profit in a couple of hours isn't like trading (even in a Cobra), but it was an interesting experience with some nice sights.
Just curious, do people actually go around scanning every body in a system with the Detailed Surface Scanner?
I did that for a large-ish system, it took over an hour (99% of which is spent staring at the next dot in supercruise), and netted me like 40k. Not exactly my idea of a fun hour, nor profitable.
I just scan the whole system with the Advanced Scanner, and zip on to the next. I do like exploring, but more in a "I wonder what that distant nebula looks like up close" kinda way I guess.
I did that for a large-ish system, it took over an hour (99% of which is spent staring at the next dot in supercruise), and netted me like 40k. Not exactly my idea of a fun hour, nor profitable.
I just scan the whole system with the Advanced Scanner, and zip on to the next. I do like exploring, but more in a "I wonder what that distant nebula looks like up close" kinda way I guess.
After the Advanced scan you can look at the system chart.
Metal rich, Earth like, water world and gas giant planets are nice and worth detailing, but clusters, ice planets, moons seem not to have any value.
Metal rich, Earth like, water world and gas giant planets are nice and worth detailing, but clusters, ice planets, moons seem not to have any value.
Where can I get those top notch FSDs???
I took a trip few hundred Ly exploration trip this weekend in a Cobra. It was an excellent ship for the task. With a nice power supply for heat dissipation and a class 4 fuel scoop allowed me to scoop at a 200 rate to fill up my tank in no time.
Most high tech worlds will stock.
And yeah, Cobra is a good explorer. For about 4 million you can get something that can just 25LY and fitted with an ADS.
If that is out of your price range, then i can suggest the Hauler, which will have a slightly lower jump range, but still good.
Of course, what you want really is an Asp, but an Asp kitted for exploration with a >30LY jump range will probably set you back about 13 million. Its what i'm hoping to be able to afford either after my current exploration trip or soon after.
And yeah, Cobra is a good explorer. For about 4 million you can get something that can just 25LY and fitted with an ADS.
If that is out of your price range, then i can suggest the Hauler, which will have a slightly lower jump range, but still good.
Of course, what you want really is an Asp, but an Asp kitted for exploration with a >30LY jump range will probably set you back about 13 million. Its what i'm hoping to be able to afford either after my current exploration trip or soon after.
You may want to differ between exploration to make some money and sightseeing. For the first you can save some money on some components, e.g. a jump range of 15Ly is perfectly sufficient for the first, if you don't intent to go toooooo far beyond the populated bubble. E.g. if you limit yourself to ~500LY beyond the last habitated system, that opens you to ~8 times the space. And at that distance there is not that much of "fluctuation" in system density. Considering that there are many system in populated space that have not been properly (advanced and detailed) scanned yet, there is not really a reason to go much farther out.
If you want to go sightseeing to specific places far out, like the center of the galaxy, than you may want to maximize your jump range as well; but nebulas, black holes and other interesting objects can also be found much closer.
The Detailed Surface Scanner (~500kcr) is mandatory to maximize your income, but you have to fly more or less close to the bodies to take advantage of it (~1000Ls for the bigger gas giants, down to ~5 Ls for the smallest planets and moons).
The Advanced Discovery Scanner (~1.6Mcr) drastically reduces your time needed per system, as with a single scan it uncovers all bodies in the system - no more parallax scanning or dimishing returns from trips to distant secondary suns without planets.
The fuel scoop allows you to venture beyond habitated space, of course. The better ones (>100k) can save you a lot of time.
With respect to making money - don't expect to get rich very fast. My average in unknown space is ~20k credits per system visited (my max is 120k, but others have earned more already), with maybe an average of ~15 minutes per system to scan most bodies (but not asteroid clusters, and usually also not distant icy planets). To note is, that this ratio should not change/scale much with different ships. So to make millions will usually take days.
I just returned from an ~1 week trip to max ~400LY outside the bubble, scanning ~185 systems that earned me ~3.5 million credits. Considering that I am flying a >10 million Cobra kitted for exploration and combat, also have a T6 and ~8 million credits in the bank before the trip, in the same time I could earn much more with bounty hunting or trading.
If you want to go sightseeing to specific places far out, like the center of the galaxy, than you may want to maximize your jump range as well; but nebulas, black holes and other interesting objects can also be found much closer.
The Detailed Surface Scanner (~500kcr) is mandatory to maximize your income, but you have to fly more or less close to the bodies to take advantage of it (~1000Ls for the bigger gas giants, down to ~5 Ls for the smallest planets and moons).
The Advanced Discovery Scanner (~1.6Mcr) drastically reduces your time needed per system, as with a single scan it uncovers all bodies in the system - no more parallax scanning or dimishing returns from trips to distant secondary suns without planets.
The fuel scoop allows you to venture beyond habitated space, of course. The better ones (>100k) can save you a lot of time.
With respect to making money - don't expect to get rich very fast. My average in unknown space is ~20k credits per system visited (my max is 120k, but others have earned more already), with maybe an average of ~15 minutes per system to scan most bodies (but not asteroid clusters, and usually also not distant icy planets). To note is, that this ratio should not change/scale much with different ships. So to make millions will usually take days.
I just returned from an ~1 week trip to max ~400LY outside the bubble, scanning ~185 systems that earned me ~3.5 million credits. Considering that I am flying a >10 million Cobra kitted for exploration and combat, also have a T6 and ~8 million credits in the bank before the trip, in the same time I could earn much more with bounty hunting or trading.
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Actually there is a better and cheaper ship for exploration. Check this out:
http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=30V,,2-3m3m3I2C2C2C3c,4zM2jw7OW2UI
jumps a lot further than the cobra, is a lot cheaper. And since there are no enemies out there if you get past 400 ly limit you aint needin shields or weapons at all.
http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=30V,,2-3m3m3I2C2C2C3c,4zM2jw7OW2UI
jumps a lot further than the cobra, is a lot cheaper. And since there are no enemies out there if you get past 400 ly limit you aint needin shields or weapons at all.
I have been yes, apart from asteroid clusters which I understand to be worthless.
I find it quite relaxing and combine it with a second screen with a web-browser, or an old tv show I'm kinda watching (episodes of columbo atm). sometimes I'm chatting with my brother in law on skype who is also playing.
I'm using a cobra with ADS and DSS, but only a D4 FSD. it's not that limiting tbh. I've earned nearly 400k so far and I'm not putting that many hours in. also 4 small beam lasers so I can defend myself if I get interdicted or decide to drop in on a USS. Also a 16t cargo rack so that I can pick up some rares as I go along
David
Wow thx and ty every1 for all the information. Loveing the game more with this community.