Diamondback Explorer or Scout?

[JagerBlaze]

I want to do a Combination of exploring, combat, and smuggling in the long run and wondering if anyone had some advice or words of wisdom to give me an idea of what to shoot for. Im between a rock and a hard place so to speak.

 

[sPeaRr]

Stick with a cobra. The scout is a fighter and last time I checked, glitchy on xone. The explorer is not even that good as an explorer. It can't carry enough before it is over mass. Save your money for an asp. It's the upgrade to the cobra. Happy hunting commander.

 

[pferris]

Both ships run very cool temp wise so they are good for silent running..... the explorer has one of the biggest jump ranges when you stick a 5A FSD in it.....

Think of the scout as a military explorer - small, nimble, and able to mount a good number of guns on its small frame. IF you are looking to smuggle small volumes is great.

I had it, and only left it as I got the explorer because I wanted to haul more rares and have the large jump range

 

[X-Terminator]

The Asp is the all rounder. It's only weakness is its Shields but can fight hard too. Scout I have for combat but again even less Shields and then has no room for cargo in my setup of 3 boosters + a mostly useless Chaff (lol!). It's Speed is great if you miss out all that Hull/Bulkhead nonsense.

 

[Stealth Gamer92]

I want to do a Combination of exploring, combat, and smuggling in the long run and wondering if anyone had some advice or words of wisdom to give me an idea of what to shoot for. Im between a rock and a hard place so to speak.

Explorer is what I use as a combo Smugler Bounty hunter ship, I have had it set up to explore before but I recently bought an Asp so downgraded the FSD and sold the exploration scanners for extra cargo and wattage for a couple Medium Rail Guns this serpents got some bite now, plus as stated above excelent heat management for stealth!

 

[Stealth Gamer92]

Stick with a cobra. The scout is a fighter and last time I checked, glitchy on xone. The explorer is not even that good as an explorer. It can't carry enough before it is over mass. Save your money for an asp. It's the upgrade to the cobra. Happy hunting commander.

Upgrade the thrusters. I just had to upgrade to D thrusters(lighter than E and carry more weight) to not be overmass with all slots with max cargo(34 I think).
.
EDIT: By the way Scout's fixed.

 

[JagerBlaze]

Right now Im in a Viper, shield boosters, 2 beam lasers, 2 Multicannons on top, shield cell bank, I love this thing, got a top of the line power plant and distributor. Thanks for input, I really appreciate it.

 

[Jacob Marshall]

I want to do a Combination of exploring, combat, and smuggling in the long run and wondering if anyone had some advice or words of wisdom to give me an idea of what to shoot for. Im between a rock and a hard place so to speak.

[PC player]
Depends on how much of each you want to do, and to what extent (don't you hate answers that begin with 'Depends')?

I have an Asp for exploring 2kly+ and, when I can be bothered, moderate trading.
I have a Cobra that I used for (PvE) combat and smuggling.

Now, I barely touch the Cobra but run a Scout; it's now my default ship for the Bubble. I run it with multi-canons, 2 x sb and 2 x 8t cargo bays. You may say 'ohhh but the smuggling!?!1/!'; smuggling in this game isn't fully formed. You can smuggle from Station A to Station B and make 1k/t credit on your contraband, or you can run legal goods and make the same, but without the penalties.

The 16t is ample for smuggling as currently is in the game (imo ofc) because the best use of smuggling at the moment is via the mission board, e.g 100k for smuggling 4t Personal Weapons.

DBS Awesomeness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPXf3v1bttg&feature=youtu.be

And anyone who says it's a slouch in combat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDz1mDI586w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-f_gPVbbTQ#t=20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWpdg0AR4c0

The fact it has the thermal signature of an ice-cube and looks like a cross between a Harrier and Heli-gunship is a bonus plus, if you like the Viper you will like the DBS.

 

[JagerBlaze]

[PC player]
Depends on how much of each you want to do, and to what extent (don't you hate answers that begin with 'Depends')?

I have an Asp for exploring 2kly+ and, when I can be bothered, moderate trading.
I have a Cobra that I used for (PvE) combat and smuggling.

Now, I barely touch the Cobra but run a Scout; it's now my default ship for the Bubble. I run it with multi-canons, 2 x sb and 2 x 8t cargo bays. You may say 'ohhh but the smuggling!?!1/!'; smuggling in this game isn't fully formed. You can smuggle from Station A to Station B and make 1t credit on your contraband, or you can run legal goods and make the same, but without the penalties.

The 16t is ample for smuggling as currently is in the game (imo ofc) because the best use of smuggling at the moment is via mission quests e.g 100k for smuggling 4 Personal Weapons.

DBS Awesomeness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPXf3v1bttg&feature=youtu.be

And anyone who says it's a slouch in combat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDz1mDI586w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-f_gPVbbTQ#t=20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWpdg0AR4c0

The fact it has the thermal signature of an ice-cube and looks like a cross between a Harrier and Heli-gunship is a bonus plus, if you like the Viper you will like the DBS.

Thank you for all that sweet info!

 

[Tempestfox3]

It's a simple matter of what style of combat you prefer and how important long range exploration is to you. Explorer gets much better jump range and packs more firepower and better shields but is quite a lot less agile than the scout.

Stick with a cobra. The scout is a fighter and last time I checked, glitchy on xone. The explorer is not even that good as an explorer. It can't carry enough before it is over mass. Save your money for an asp. It's the upgrade to the cobra. Happy hunting commander.

Uh, What? It's really quite good at exploring. And it is pretty decent at combat too. Have you tried upgrading the thrusters? It's only the stock ones that have the mass issues and you'd want the D rank ones for exploring anyway.

[PC player]

The fact it has the thermal signature of an ice-cube

Tell me about it. even the AI ones have a habit of popping off the sensors if you get over 1.5 - 2km away from them.

 

[Quantis Trap]

The Diamondback Explorer has a glitch in outfitting which tells you it's over mass prematurely. In my experience, that happens only the first time in outfitting. If you get out of outfitting and back in, the over mass problem will be fixed. It's a really weird bug for sure. I bet that bug has turned off many people who have sold the ship without realizing it is a first time outfitting fluke.

The Diamondback Explorer is now my second favorite ship in the game. No other ship in the game will allow you the fit it with all A Spec and still have a 30ly jump range.

 

[Jacob Marshall]

...
Tell me about it. even the AI ones have a habit of popping off the sensors if you get over 1.5 - 2km away from them.

Aye, I think FD were more precise in their language than I gave them credit for; it's a Scout, they aren't meant to be seen

Imo this is about the closest thing to a 'stealth-boat' we have in game and that Thermal-sig is an immense strength, potentially more so against ships with larger shields (larger take longer to recharge), but I haven't tested this yet

Sorry for going O/T.

 

[TriumphANT]

I want to do a Combination of exploring, combat, and smuggling in the long run and wondering if anyone had some advice or words of wisdom to give me an idea of what to shoot for. Im between a rock and a hard place so to speak.

In general, multipurpose ships will have a failing somewhere. The Cobra's great, as is the Asp, because they have lots of module slots, so you can have two for exploration (ADS/DDS), two for combat (Shield/SCB) and two for trading/smuggling (Cargo).

But my honest advice would be to kit out two ships. Exploration is a lightweight, low power game to get your jump range up. You can put in power plant, thrusters and power distributors one or two classes lower than spec, e.g. a 3A power plant, 4D Thrusters, 3D Power Dist. into an Asp. Total weight for all 3 is 8T. For combat, you need them maxxed out. 50T. Building an exploration Adder is WAY cheaper than balancing out the power/weight/heat stuff for a smuggler/explorer ship. The ADS @ 1.5MCr will always be the biggie, and the DDS is essential to max out your profits. Max out a Cobra for smuggling and combat, or a Vulture for more combat balance. On the Vulture you can get 36T if you switch down to 4A Shields, and the Vulture is so tough that 5A is overkill anyway.

 

[X-Terminator]

Exactly, it's compromise somewhere. Best to have more than the 1 Ship so you can always change your style and roles.
Yet even 1 ship can be made into so many different uses. Afford more ships instead of the risk of losing your main big one that may get you caught out.