Don't repaint your exploration Courier

[marx]

I've been out exploring for three weeks in my Courier. Went from Jaques to 2,000 ly above the Ishtar region, found some good stuff along the way - like an Earth-like world with a landable moon and metallic rings. (linky) Upon arriving back to the Colonia region, I thought my paintwork hasn't even degraded to 0%, because it looked only moderately weathered:

Spoiler

But then, without checking the percentage, I decided to repaint it with the Black Friday skin. The result speaks for itself:

Spoiler

For reference, a pristine Black Friday pain should look like this:

Spoiler

So, my advice to anyone with Gutamaya ships: if you go exploring in one, don't paint them any other colour!
(Although now I wonder how a chrome Cutter might look at 0%.)

 

[Major Klutz]

So the original paint job is white on top of white primer?
Good to know.

I've given mine a cobalt paint job but I haven't taken it to Hutton or out on an exploration trip yet.
Though I'm seriously considering taking it out to explore since it will be much better at covering ground looking for Geysers and other volcanism.
She could do 34/37Ly with the FSD I have in it and 680M/s with the thrusters. I just need to lighten a few other modules. https://eddp.co/u/81UtlmFY

 

[RevLogos]

So the original paint job is white on top of white primer?
Good to know.

I've given mine a cobalt paint job but I haven't taken it to Hutton or out on an exploration trip yet.
Though I'm seriously considering taking it out to explore since it will be much better at covering ground looking for Geysers and other volcanism.
She could do 34/37Ly with the FSD I have in it and 680M/s with the thrusters. I just need to lighten a few other modules. https://eddp.co/u/81UtlmFY

Great minds think alike. I engineered a Courier for the SW2 expedition, and my loadout is identical to yours even down to the engineering work. Except I used the 2D Enhanced thrusters and 2D PD. Comes out about 4T lighter and a bit over 35 LY laden jump/39 unladen, but the boost speed is lower at around 515 with G4 DD.

Not much more to lighten up. The Life Support yes, but that's only 0.5T to begin with; best we could shave off is about 0.25 T.

 

[Zeeman]

...
But then, without checking the percentage, I decided to repaint it with the Black Friday skin. The result speaks for itself:

Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/7jefXa4.png

...

Geez, they could pretty much sell that as a "tribal tattoo skin".

Z...

 

[marx]

Not much more to lighten up. The Life Support yes, but that's only 0.5T to begin with; best we could shave off is about 0.25 T.

An interesting feature of the Courier is that it's so sensitive to mass that lightening anything is worthwhile. This was my build on this ship while I was out, and here is my top jump range record. Slap an SRV bay on there, and it can still do 40 ly - although I do prefer the better forward speed.

Geez, they could pretty much sell that as a "tribal tattoo skin".

Heh, yeah. Gutamaya ships still look good when their paintwork is worn, but if you apply your own paint, I guess you void the warranty.

 

[Major Klutz]

I started gathering mats last night to lighten the sensors and HS launcher, so I headed over to Dav's Hope and quickly remembered how much I hate the fuel scoop in this thing

On a side note, I'm still overheating while scooping, even with clean thrusters.
I need to put a better LE mod on the PP but I'm not sure even that will do it.
Maybe I just need to shut down shields while scooping.

Are you able to scoop (stopped) at 176/s and sit there indefinitely without heat climbing?

 

[StiTch]

(Although now I wonder how a chrome Cutter might look at 0%.)

I have a chrome exploration iCutter. I'll post a pic of it at 0% if there isn't one already when I get home.

 

[marx]

On a side note, I'm still overheating while scooping, even with clean thrusters.
I need to put a better LE mod on the PP but I'm not sure even that will do it.
Maybe I just need to shut down shields while scooping.

Are you able to scoop at 176/s without heat climbing?

Sure, I can scoop without overheating and without stopping at stars, although that's due to using a 4T tank, not the stock 8T. The route planner filter and the jump destination star display help a lot. I travelled a bit over 70,000 ly in the Courier in the past three weeks, overheating only once - got dumped into a star sandwich then. Still got away at 102% heat though.
Like you said, lowering your baseline heat by shutting down shields, distributor and so on might help if you're still having problems.

@ StiTch: Sounds good, please do. Safe travels!

 

[JetsonRING]

I wonder how a chrome Cutter might look at 0%.

I have several chromium ships including the Cutter and have never seen any degradation of the finish whatsoever (maybe some fine scratches) though I have never gotten it down to 0%.

 

[Major Klutz]

Update: Build and Engineering Complete. https://eddp.co/u/HH1JaSaj
34.4ly on a full tank. 37.8ly on fumes. 500M/s cruising speed. 675M/s boost, every 11 seconds.

I gave priority to speed over weight and jump range to make searching for volcanism more fun.
I could get up to 37ly/41ly with a slower ~300M/sec cruise and ~400M/sec boost every 15 seconds. https://eddp.co/u/bnqFhSDH

I can refuel from one jump with a quick swoop through without significant heat gain, but if my tank is nearly empty, I still can't hold still while scooping without overheating.
Even with LE Power Plant and Clean Thrusters and Shields Off. Maybe because of the enhanced thrusters.
So if I go a few jumps without refueling, I need to make multiple passes to fill up. Something I'm not used to with DBE or Asp.

Scooping is a pain, but she sure is fun to fly.

 

[marx]

I can refuel from one jump with a quick swoop through without significant heat gain, but if my tank is nearly empty, I still can't hold still while scooping without overheating.
Even with LE Power Plant and Clean Thrusters and Shields Off. Maybe because of the enhanced thrusters.
So if I go a few jumps without refueling, I need to make multiple passes to fill up. Something I'm not used to with DBE or Asp.

So, why not refuel at every jump then? You need to get to the other side of the arrival star anyway, might as well skim it. Unless you include unscoopables in your route, of course. But to be honest, I don't think the Courier is built well for that.

 

[Major Klutz]

So, why not refuel at every jump then? You need to get to the other side of the arrival star anyway, might as well skim it. Unless you include unscoopables in your route, of course. But to be honest, I don't think the Courier is built well for that.

You're right, it's not well built for that. But occasionally I like to visit carbon stars or neutron stars or black holes and sometimes I just want to plot the most efficient route as straight as possible.
Which can mean sometimes refilling from a half tank or less.

For example, last night, on a 5 jump plot to see an Engineer, I randomly jumped through a T-Tauri, and two brown dwarves in a row. Hit a scoopable on my fourth jump but then my tank was nearly empty.
I didn't fill up though, just grabbed enough to make the next jump and then refueled at the engineer base.
Yeah, I should have filtered for scoopables but I was trying to be fast.

Like I said, it's not the ideal explorer, but it is more fun to fly than the ideal explorers.

 

[Rudi Raumkraut]

For me the Courier is doing fine with an undersized 2c tank, even with dirty drive mod on the enhanced thrusters...
Of course you cant plot 5 jumps without scooping, but you also get a better full tank range