Advice requested on Distant Worlds Asp Explorer build
I would like some advice from experienced long range explorers on my Asp exploration build. I am planning on going on the Distant Worlds expedition, so the build is rather extreme. Since the Distant Worlds expedition will have a large number of ships, many of them 'condas with weapons, I am hoping that the smaller ships may get to wing up with them until we get away from the bubble. That way smaller ships might sensibly focus only on deep space survivability and range and ignore all combat considerations.
Highlights of the build:
33LY range target.
Miniscule A-grade Power plant.
Miniscule Thrusters and Power distributor (this will prevent boosting and give me very poor normal-space speed, but increases jump-range).
Miniscule Sensors (will that limit the range of my Detailed Surface Scanner?)
The biggest fuel scoop I can afford when we leave (the 6A is a vain hope, not the real thing).
Dual buggy hangar.
Dual 3A AFM.
2D Hull Reinforcement Package(!)
I have a coriolis.io setup linked here.
Most of the sacrifices on normal space speed are done to fit the Hull Reinforcement Package within my jump range target. Is that a sensible trade-off?
Is there something important that I forgot to bring along?
Any other thoughts?
[EDIT]
OK, after the advice below, I altered the build to account for planetary landings. After actually using the build for the first few way points of the Distant Worlds Expedition, I changed it further.
First of all, I added a shield. Without it, you often get minor hull damage when landing, even if you only descend at 1 m/s! After failing a few higher-G landings (2-3G+) I also upgraded my power distributor... That boost is a really important last resort when you realise that the ship isn't going to slow down fast enough to avoid damage!
After testing it a while I returned and upped my power plant as well. With the small power plant, I couldn't have the fuel scoop and the shields running at the same time. However, when coming in for a landing after a long day's worth of heavy exploring I tiredly forgot to enable my shields and took damage upon landing. Twice! After that I upped the power plant. This is clearly going to happen too many times on an expedition this long!
I also changed my dual AFM into an AFM and a cargo hold. The AFM can actually be repaired alone! The trick is that when it reaches zero, you can use the Reboot/Repair option of the ship. That will give the AFM a few percent, allowing it to work again, so there is no need for two of them. By adding a cargo hold, I can scoop up objects in deep space and check them out, which satisfies my exploration curiosity better! Its always been stuff I dump again, but you never know what you find!
The end result is a 32 LY target rather than a 33 LY target, but it will still do more than 34 LY on fumes, so I should be able to make the longest jumps out to Beagle point. Failing that, the planetary landing ability gives me 40 LY jumps with just basic jumponium, which allows me plenty of room. For normal exploration, there is hardly any difference between 33LY and 32LY (about one or two jumps less on a 1000LY leg of 32 jumps).
One thing I didn't mention before is my fuel tank. It is the full 32T fuel tank, which does limit my jump range a bit under usual operation. However if I need to make a longer jump I expect I can empty down the fuel tank with some short jumps, then Supercruise for reducing to a precise level and make that long jump. The larger tank means I don't need to scoop each time but can do all scooping at once and not very often (4-5 scoops on a 1000 LY leg). That allows me to jump much more efficiently, so I am usually able to jump immediately on FSD cool down.
I am now on my way past the point of no return, and the main points of the build are now:
32LY range target.
3A-grade Power plant to allow both shields and fuel scoop active without thinking of it.
5D Thrusters and 3D Power distributor, giving me boost and planetary manoeuvrability.
Miniscule Sensors (they have no impact at all on exploration)
6A fuel scoop (I actually managed to scrape together the money for it!)
Dual buggy hangar (many of my fellow expeditioners have lost at least one already!).
3A AFM (it can be repaired by the ship's reset/repair function)
3A Shield (To avoid planetary landings damage)
4 x Heat Sink Launchers (I already used two heat sinks out of my 16, but I hope experience will reduce the usage rate)
Here is the new build at coriolis.io.
I would like some advice from experienced long range explorers on my Asp exploration build. I am planning on going on the Distant Worlds expedition, so the build is rather extreme. Since the Distant Worlds expedition will have a large number of ships, many of them 'condas with weapons, I am hoping that the smaller ships may get to wing up with them until we get away from the bubble. That way smaller ships might sensibly focus only on deep space survivability and range and ignore all combat considerations.
Highlights of the build:
33LY range target.
Miniscule A-grade Power plant.
Miniscule Thrusters and Power distributor (this will prevent boosting and give me very poor normal-space speed, but increases jump-range).
Miniscule Sensors (will that limit the range of my Detailed Surface Scanner?)
The biggest fuel scoop I can afford when we leave (the 6A is a vain hope, not the real thing).
Dual buggy hangar.
Dual 3A AFM.
2D Hull Reinforcement Package(!)
I have a coriolis.io setup linked here.
Most of the sacrifices on normal space speed are done to fit the Hull Reinforcement Package within my jump range target. Is that a sensible trade-off?
Is there something important that I forgot to bring along?
Any other thoughts?
[EDIT]
OK, after the advice below, I altered the build to account for planetary landings. After actually using the build for the first few way points of the Distant Worlds Expedition, I changed it further.
First of all, I added a shield. Without it, you often get minor hull damage when landing, even if you only descend at 1 m/s! After failing a few higher-G landings (2-3G+) I also upgraded my power distributor... That boost is a really important last resort when you realise that the ship isn't going to slow down fast enough to avoid damage!
After testing it a while I returned and upped my power plant as well. With the small power plant, I couldn't have the fuel scoop and the shields running at the same time. However, when coming in for a landing after a long day's worth of heavy exploring I tiredly forgot to enable my shields and took damage upon landing. Twice! After that I upped the power plant. This is clearly going to happen too many times on an expedition this long!
I also changed my dual AFM into an AFM and a cargo hold. The AFM can actually be repaired alone! The trick is that when it reaches zero, you can use the Reboot/Repair option of the ship. That will give the AFM a few percent, allowing it to work again, so there is no need for two of them. By adding a cargo hold, I can scoop up objects in deep space and check them out, which satisfies my exploration curiosity better! Its always been stuff I dump again, but you never know what you find!
The end result is a 32 LY target rather than a 33 LY target, but it will still do more than 34 LY on fumes, so I should be able to make the longest jumps out to Beagle point. Failing that, the planetary landing ability gives me 40 LY jumps with just basic jumponium, which allows me plenty of room. For normal exploration, there is hardly any difference between 33LY and 32LY (about one or two jumps less on a 1000LY leg of 32 jumps).
One thing I didn't mention before is my fuel tank. It is the full 32T fuel tank, which does limit my jump range a bit under usual operation. However if I need to make a longer jump I expect I can empty down the fuel tank with some short jumps, then Supercruise for reducing to a precise level and make that long jump. The larger tank means I don't need to scoop each time but can do all scooping at once and not very often (4-5 scoops on a 1000 LY leg). That allows me to jump much more efficiently, so I am usually able to jump immediately on FSD cool down.
I am now on my way past the point of no return, and the main points of the build are now:
32LY range target.
3A-grade Power plant to allow both shields and fuel scoop active without thinking of it.
5D Thrusters and 3D Power distributor, giving me boost and planetary manoeuvrability.
Miniscule Sensors (they have no impact at all on exploration)
6A fuel scoop (I actually managed to scrape together the money for it!)
Dual buggy hangar (many of my fellow expeditioners have lost at least one already!).
3A AFM (it can be repaired by the ship's reset/repair function)
3A Shield (To avoid planetary landings damage)
4 x Heat Sink Launchers (I already used two heat sinks out of my 16, but I hope experience will reduce the usage rate)
Here is the new build at coriolis.io.
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A large number of us will be in 'condas and there will be more than 450 of us, so any griefer will have a ton of Anacondas on their tail! I am not worried about the danger of players!