Ships Engineering my Asp Explorer for long range exploration

[Aeorath]

To scan your own wake in the void?

These are needed if you intend to go to Guardian/Tharg sites/beacons, I thought this was about "usual exploration".

People bringing wake scanners and weapons for deep space exploration

 

[Oytis57]

People bringing wake scanners and weapons for deep space exploration

Yeah, I understand everybody has to do things their own way and that's right, but when we talk about "logic"....

 

[Aeorath]

Yeah, I understand everybody has to do things their own way and that's right, but when we talk about "logic"....

Definitely, people can bring anything they want to exploration, but it slightly defeats the purpose. I do have a friend who's got a a Type 10 as an exploration ship, and he's carrying two SRV's, two fighters, hardpoints are fully equipped as for CZ... Of course jump range is pretty crap, but he says it's for RP-purposes, a "heavy fighter going on an adventure."

So I suppose people have their own ideas about exploration and "exploration."

 

[Oytis57]

Definitely, people can bring anything they want to exploration, but it slightly defeats the purpose. I do have a friend who's got a a Type 10 as an exploration ship, and he's carrying two SRV's, two fighters, hardpoints are fully equipped as for CZ... Of course jump range is pretty crap, but he says it's for RP-purposes, a "heavy fighter going on an adventure."

So I suppose people have their own ideas about exploration and "exploration."

Yeah as I said you can go to next town, 100km away with your car, with your motorbike, with your bycicle and on foot too, you'll always get there but...how?

 

[SergMx]

I remember when I flew into the guardian beacon without a weapon and couldn't figure out how to activate it.
There are just cartographers and then there are explorers who can always come across something unexplored and try to investigate it.
They won't tell him, wait don't fly away, I'll come back in a month and explore you.

P.S. I liked that they paid attention to the scanner and guns and remained silent about the other devices

 

[Kort]

Going to Beagle you don't need a huge jump range anything beyond 30 will do without problems, it will take longer of course, problems arises if yu want to go further on to Ishum's for example where you'll need above 42 and some FSD Injections, it all depends where you wanna go with your ship.
Edit:
I don't think you can reach that jump range with an AspX having onboard the SRV bay.

You can with the special FSD that is double engineered and applied mass manager that was a CG reward and a 5H Guardian FSD booster. I went from 69.05LY to 74.71LY with the special FSD.

 

[Oytis57]

There are just cartographers and then there are explorers who can always come across something unexplored and try to investigate it.

All the stuff about Guardians and Thargs is known by now,you won't find anything new over there other than what the Devs add from time to time but those are related to quests and lore and it's announced.

 

[Oytis57]

You can with the special FSD that is double engineered and applied mass manager that was a CG reward and a 5H Guardian FSD booster. I went from 69.05LY to 74.71LY with the special FSD.

Right? Good to know then, I have it on my Phantom and DBX, my Asp is for Mat gathering.

 

[SergMx]

All the stuff about Guardians and Thargs is known by now,you won't find anything new over there other than what the Devs add from time to time but those are related to quests and lore and it's announced.

That is, as I understand the same lighthouse guards no one found. The developers wrote - fly there that and shoot at it.
Can I have a link where it was written?

P.S. I wonder if you played when we were all looking for guards bases?

 

[Oytis57]

That is, as I understand the same lighthouse guards no one found. The developers wrote - fly there that and shoot at it.
Can I have a link where it was written?

P.S. I wonder if you played when we were all looking for guards bases?

I don't understand what you mean, really Try to explain with simpler words....

 

[Bantha]

Exploration is quite subjective.
Depends what your exploration goals are.
Some see exploration as getting from A to B as quickly as possible, others are happy with a longer journey, taking in more systems on the way.

If you want to get to your destination in double-quick time - let’s say your goal is to get to Beagle Point and back, then get the best jump range you can, 70+
You’re gonna need a completely stripped down ship with no weapons and minimal modules.

If you are happy stopping off at systems along the way, or you want to have a “better” equipped vessel that can also, for example, explore guardian ruins (or anything else that may be out there), then you’re gonna have to compromise on the jump range.

For me, I like the feeling of having some weapons (in a fight they’re pretty terrible - although I have still fended off NPCs with mine), I have advanced multi-cannons and an anti-xeno shutdown neutraliser - both “just in case” I meet a Thargoid, or anything else for that matter (I am of course very aware that these are pointless, I just like having them equipped - If I’m spending months alone in a ship I have to be happy and comfortable with it).
2 x SRVS, shield and booster, cargo (imagine finding something you want to pick up but can’t. I would rather have it and not need it...) and mining lasers in case I need some materials from a belt. I also have half decent shields and armour, for when I crash, or to get me out of dodge when I’m back in civilisation. Don’t forget - all exploration trips start and end in occupied space. At the end of a long trip, I don’t want to be carrying all that data back, and be completely defenceless.

Im still getting 64LY, which means that on a trip to Sag A I’m jumping 330 times vs. 300 times if I was fully stripped out. For me, that’s a negligible difference, and well worth the trade off to get that RP feeling of self-sufficiency in my Asp.

Here’s my build

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

coriolis.io

I’m not suggesting it’s right for you, but it is right for me. And you should go with whatever makes you smile

 

[Surl Tesh-echer]

Exploration is quite subjective.
Depends what your exploration goals are.
Some see exploration as getting from A to B as quickly as possible, others are happy with a longer journey, taking in more systems on the way.

If you want to get to your destination in double-quick time - let’s say your goal is to get to Beagle Point and back, then get the best jump range you can, 70+
You’re gonna need a completely stripped down ship with no weapons and minimal modules.

If you are happy stopping off at systems along the way, or you want to have a “better” equipped vessel that can also, for example, explore guardian ruins (or anything else that may be out there), then you’re gonna have to compromise on the jump range.

For me, I like the feeling of having some weapons (in a fight they’re pretty terrible - although I have still fended off NPCs with mine), I have advanced multi-cannons and an anti-xeno shutdown neutraliser - both “just in case” I meet a Thargoid, or anything else for that matter (I am of course very aware that these are pointless, I just like having them equipped - If I’m spending months alone in a ship I have to be happy and comfortable with it).
2 x SRVS, shield and booster, cargo (imagine finding something you want to pick up but can’t. I would rather have it and not need it...) and mining lasers in case I need some materials from a belt. I also have half decent shields and armour, for when I crash, or to get me out of dodge when I’m back in civilisation. Don’t forget - all exploration trips start and end in occupied space. At the end of a long trip, I don’t want to be carrying all that data back, and be completely defenceless.

Im still getting 64LY, which means that on a trip to Sag A I’m jumping 330 times vs. 300 times if I was fully stripped out. For me, that’s a negligible difference, and well worth the trade off to get that RP feeling of self-sufficiency in my Asp.

Here’s my build

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

coriolis.io

I’m not suggesting it’s right for you, but it is right for me. And you should go with whatever makes you smile

Dang, it looks impressive.

 

[badibeat]

This is how I would fully engineer the Asp for exploration. Some notes about this:

(a) The FSD has optimal mass 1856.40 T. This is higher than the class 5 long range / mass manager FSD -- I am using the CG double engineered FSD. You can get them from any human technology broker. Make sure to put mass manager on them.

(b) Supercruise assist. I think this is an important module for the type of exploration I do, where I map all terraformables, earth-likes, ammonia planets, and water worlds, even if they are far from the main star in a system. Supercruise assist makes it less tedious to get to those bodies in a system.

(c) No shield. I think explorers don't need shields. The usual reasons people cite for needing them is: (i) player interdictions, (ii) NPC interdictions and (iii) avoiding bumps when doing planetary landings.

I explore in Solo, especially when returning from a trip. Some play in Open, in which case I suggest contacting player groups that provide escorts to returning explorers, and/or add a strong shield+boosters and good thrusters to your build -- to give yourself time to escape an interdiction (although the Asp is not a very fast ship compared to the Dolphin, the Phantom, or the Orca, which are other popular exploration choices). So for me (i) is irrelevant. I have never lost to an NPC interdicting in an Asp, Krait or other medium ship -- it's always possible to evade. So (ii) is irrelevant. If you are rusty on avoiding interdictions do some missions when they send ships after you, and practice. It's quite easy. As far landings, it's quite simple to land without doing any hull damage carefully toggling FA OFF while keeping the ship horizontal. It's quite easy to do even on high G planets like Achenar 3 (I did it a few days ago as a test). Try it!

(d) Heat sink. Some people don't use them. In my experience it is definitely the case that some rare double and triple star systems, if jumped into from certain angles, would require a heat sink to avoid damage.

(e) Class A life support. Some explorers recommend class D because it is lighter. I think a nominal loss of jump range is worth it for having 25 minutes of oxygen if the canopy breaks. That and synthesis for more life support, combined with the DSSA carriers basically guarantees survival even if your canopy breaks in deep space.

(f) Clean thrusters with stripped down. Some people advocate dirty drives and drag drives. I think clean drives are better for being naturally stealthy out of supercruise (which comes in handy if you mess around with lifeforms or thargoids in space). I think this would probably run 10 or 11% heat with thrusters at full power. I don't think you ever need to outrun anything out of supercruise when exploring, if you avoid NPC interdictions, and play in Solo. Some people run dirty drives/drag drives because they want to zoom around on a planet or something -- that's fine if you like that, but it's more weight and less jump range.

(g) Repair limpet controller 1D + cargo rack. If you are doing a long term exploration mission, you probably want these as insurance for hull damage. If you want to mess around with lifeforms consider decontamination limpet controller 3D -- repairs about as much as repair limpet controller 1D and also handles caustic damage some lifeforms can do. Don't bring limpets with you -- it's extra weight you don't need. Instead, synthesize them if needed.

(h) 1D power distributor. Explorers don't need to boost over and over again (although this one will let the Asp boost if engine focused). To save energy and run a bit cooler, you can always turn off the power distributor after putting 4 pips into engines -- you never need another pip configuration as an explorer without shields and weapons, and the distributor "freezes" the last configuration you used even if it is turned off.

(i) 3A low emissions / stripped down power plant. Once you add the Guardian FSD booster, there is no practical way to get away with a 2A power plant on the Asp without running armored. But Asp is a fairly hot-running ship, so the low emissions power plant really helps with that. I think it's worth the small loss of jump range. D power plants are out of the question for explorers, because they run very hot. 3A gives you a bit of a cushion in terms of available power, in case you take some power plant damage.

(j) Heavy duty and deep plating on the lightweight armor is free hull hit points (since lightweight armor is weightless). When it comes to collisions and caustic damage (the only plausible sources of damage an explorer would face), only absolute hull hit points matter, resistances do not.

---

I think the Phantom is a better exploration ship overall than the Asp, these days. But the Asp has better canopy visibility, and better pitch in supercruise. And some like the way it looks better. And it's far cheaper than the Phantom, as well.

Excellent writeup.
Just to complete a bit (no contradiction): With a (weightless) Auto Field-Maintenance Unit AFMU you can repair a damaged canopy, but not a fully broken canopy. Fill any empty internal Slots with AFMUs to soak up damage that is spread between all modules that have health and to have more repair ammo without synthesis.

 

[badibeat]

Exploration is quite subjective.
Depends what your exploration goals are.
Some see exploration as getting from A to B as quickly as possible, others are happy with a longer journey, taking in more systems on the way.

If you want to get to your destination in double-quick time - let’s say your goal is to get to Beagle Point and back, then get the best jump range you can, 70+
You’re gonna need a completely stripped down ship with no weapons and minimal modules.

If you are happy stopping off at systems along the way, or you want to have a “better” equipped vessel that can also, for example, explore guardian ruins (or anything else that may be out there), then you’re gonna have to compromise on the jump range.

For me, I like the feeling of having some weapons (in a fight they’re pretty terrible - although I have still fended off NPCs with mine), I have advanced multi-cannons and an anti-xeno shutdown neutraliser - both “just in case” I meet a Thargoid, or anything else for that matter (I am of course very aware that these are pointless, I just like having them equipped - If I’m spending months alone in a ship I have to be happy and comfortable with it).
2 x SRVS, shield and booster, cargo (imagine finding something you want to pick up but can’t. I would rather have it and not need it...) and mining lasers in case I need some materials from a belt. I also have half decent shields and armour, for when I crash, or to get me out of dodge when I’m back in civilisation. Don’t forget - all exploration trips start and end in occupied space. At the end of a long trip, I don’t want to be carrying all that data back, and be completely defenceless.

Im still getting 64LY, which means that on a trip to Sag A I’m jumping 330 times vs. 300 times if I was fully stripped out. For me, that’s a negligible difference, and well worth the trade off to get that RP feeling of self-sufficiency in my Asp.

Here’s my build

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

coriolis.io

I’m not suggesting it’s right for you, but it is right for me. And you should go with whatever makes you smile

If you use a single 2D instead of two 1D Mining Lasers and replace the latter with two G5 Lightweight Plasma Slug Rails you are mining noticeably faster (sic!), have 1.6t less mass, can dump fuel for extra jump range and even get quite a bit more pew pew. I like the convergence of the Asp Explorer.

 

[tolm]

Unless you really like the AspX, I’d say build a Phantom. 70LY range with all the toys on board is perfectly doable with the new double-engineered FSD. More if you really strip it down.

 

[badibeat]

Unless you really like the AspX, I’d say build a Phantom. 70LY range with all the toys on board is perfectly doable with the new double-engineered FSD. More if you really strip it down.

To have all the toys at 70ly jump range you still need an Anaconda.

 

[Ted Striker]

Exploration is quite subjective.
Depends what your exploration goals are.
Some see exploration as getting from A to B as quickly as possible, others are happy with a longer journey, taking in more systems on the way.

If you want to get to your destination in double-quick time - let’s say your goal is to get to Beagle Point and back, then get the best jump range you can, 70+
You’re gonna need a completely stripped down ship with no weapons and minimal modules.

If you are happy stopping off at systems along the way, or you want to have a “better” equipped vessel that can also, for example, explore guardian ruins (or anything else that may be out there), then you’re gonna have to compromise on the jump range.

For me, I like the feeling of having some weapons (in a fight they’re pretty terrible - although I have still fended off NPCs with mine), I have advanced multi-cannons and an anti-xeno shutdown neutraliser - both “just in case” I meet a Thargoid, or anything else for that matter (I am of course very aware that these are pointless, I just like having them equipped - If I’m spending months alone in a ship I have to be happy and comfortable with it).
2 x SRVS, shield and booster, cargo (imagine finding something you want to pick up but can’t. I would rather have it and not need it...) and mining lasers in case I need some materials from a belt. I also have half decent shields and armour, for when I crash, or to get me out of dodge when I’m back in civilisation. Don’t forget - all exploration trips start and end in occupied space. At the end of a long trip, I don’t want to be carrying all that data back, and be completely defenceless.

Im still getting 64LY, which means that on a trip to Sag A I’m jumping 330 times vs. 300 times if I was fully stripped out. For me, that’s a negligible difference, and well worth the trade off to get that RP feeling of self-sufficiency in my Asp.

Here’s my build

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

coriolis.io

I’m not suggesting it’s right for you, but it is right for me. And you should go with whatever makes you smile

I'd be taking off the weapons myself.

Exploration for me is jumping deep into the black, into a never-before-seen area of the galaxy, and go scanning, mapping, landing on interesting planets etc. Exploring the unknown.

I'm thinking of switching up the Asp Explorer for a Krait Phantom. I don't know yet.

 

[tolm]

This is my Krait Phantom - well, almost:

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

s.orbis.zone

FSD is one of the new double-engineered ones so max jump is actually just over 72LY despite what Coriolis thinks.

 

[puca]

You can just set the optimal mass of the FSD drive manually to 1856.40 in Coriolis, and it will match the jump range shown in game.

 

[Bantha]

If you use a single 2D instead of two 1D Mining Lasers and replace the latter with two G5 Lightweight Plasma Slug Rails you are mining noticeably faster (sic!), have 1.6t less mass, can dump fuel for extra jump range and even get quite a bit more pew pew. I like the convergence of the Asp Explorer.

If only my OCD allowed this!
Sorry, but I can’t have a single, off centre laser. I couldn’t sleep at night knowing it was all out of whack!