Dolphin Explorer

Freebird

Freebird
It looks like a viable ship for exploration. I've done a quick fit and it gives 26 jump range unmodded.

Some stats
Power plant 4A
Thrusters 5A
FSD 4A
Life support 4D
Power Dist 3A
Sensors 3D
Tank 4C (16T)

2 class 1 weapon slots (empty) and 3 utility

Internal (5,4,4,3,2,2,2)
Class 5 can only equip cabins and cargo :(
4A Scoop
4A Shield
3A AFMU
2G SRV bay
DSS & ADS

That gives 25.85(27.50) and can boost to 400.

I'll see what I can get when I've engineered it and reduced the weight, but first impression is good.
 

Monk

Monk
25ly isn't bad for a little ship. Zippy little guy, too.

Probably going to hit like 33ly engineered?
 

goemon

goemon
25.85 > 38+ ly with a best roll, with the weight reduction and d-class shield 40+ ly. might have found my shortrange explorer :)
 

Deleted member 110222

D
The Dolphin will be a very popular exploration boat, I think. The fuel scoop is massive for the tank size, the range is adequate, and, you can carry all the essentials, plus a cabin for missions.

I say in its current form, we have the best of the bunch out of the Saud Kruger's!
 

Mengy

Mengy
Freebird said:
With 3A PP, 3D PD and 3D shield I get 27.81 / 29.73.

2A PP is just a little underpowered until I visit Mr Qwent ;)
Click to expand...

That doesn't sound bad, not as good as I wanted, but not terrible.

How many jumps does that 4C fuel tank get you? Can it be dropped down to save mass? The little fish has potential, possibly, she has above average range and great internals, I'll be buying one for sure, at least just to play around with.
 
Last edited:

marx

marx
A 40 ly jump range should be easily achievable. I had a +30% (not +50%!) optimised mass / +5.5% max fuel per jump FSD lying in storage, which is far from the best. On a typical explorer loadout (everything D-sized, except the power plant), without a passenger cabin it hits 36.09 ly full tank, with the stock tank size. Adding a 20T class 5 cabin lowers that to 35.58 ly though. But with a top G5 FSD roll, I think that 40 ly with a cabin should still be doable.

Also, is it just me, or does this ship look really adorable?
 
Last edited:

Freebird

Freebird
DrewCarnegie said:
Drop the thrusters to 4D and you'll clear 40, I'd guess.
Click to expand...

Agreed, and that will probably get me down to a 2A PP

- - - Updated - - -

marx said:
Also, is it just me, or does this ship look really adorable?
Click to expand...

It sounds good too. The boost even sounds vaguely dolphin like.

- - - Updated - - -

Mengy said:
How many jumps does that 4C fuel tank get you? Can it be dropped down to save mass?
Click to expand...

Can't say at the minute, me stomach is grumbling about being fed! But I shall be experimenting later.....
 

Kaybe

Kaybe
It's weight and internals make this ship have roughly the same specs as a Type 6, and Type 6 also has a 16T fuel tank. A 4A scoop is more than okay for this since the changes a patch or two ago to jump alignments sorta force you to scoop at every star anyway.

What I really want to know is how hot this ship runs. For example, Beluga runs bloody hot as hell, and we know explorers don't handle heat all that well.
 

Mengy

Mengy
marx said:
A 40 ly jump range should be easily achievable.
Click to expand...

The sad thing is though, it still won’t compete with the Asp or Conda. I was truly hoping for the Dolphin to give us a comparable alternative, an option at last, but it doesn’t sound like that’s going to happen. It will be a less than ideal alternative, always lesser than the Asp and Conda.

I’m tired of being forced into the Asp or Conda if I want to value my traveling time. [sad]
 
Last edited:

marx

marx
Mengy said:
The sad thing is though, it still won’t compete with the Asp or Conda. I was truly hoping for the Dolphin to give us a comparable alternative, an option at last, but it doesn’t sound like that’s going to happen. It will be a less than ideal alternative, always lesser than the Asp and Conda.

I’m tired of being forced into the Asp or Conda if I want to value my traveling time.
Click to expand...
Given that it's cheaper than the Diamondback Explorer and is a passenger ship, not an explorer, I'd say it's in a good place. No offense, but I think your expectations for the Dolphin were too high then.


Also, a bit more added info. I did a quick and perhaps rough measurement of the supercruise handling times, with speed set at the middle of the blue bar:

Pitch: 16.2 sec
Roll: 4.3 sec
Yaw: 21.5 sec
 

Mengy

Mengy
marx said:
Given that it's cheaper than the Diamondback Explorer and is a passenger ship, not an explorer, I'd say it's in a good place. No offense, but I think your expectations for the Dolphin were too high then.
Click to expand...

I admit, my expectations were high. I really just wanted an actual passenger ship to at least be comparable to multi-role ships at doing long range passenger missions, and I figured the small Dolphin ship was the best opportunity to do that. But alas, like always when it comes to going into deep space, the Asp and Anaconda do the job better than anything else, and thus they will remain the most used ships for such tasks, including long range passenger missions.

I suppose I just want some variety in ship choices and capabilities. Maybe I’m just tired of flying my Asp because there isn’t anything equal, and I was indeed hoping the Dolphin would give me an alternative.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom