Exploration - every ship ranked

Shiro Akai

Shiro Akai
Greetings CMDRs, long time no see.

As a preface - haven't been playing ED... well, over 2 years by now, nor I intend to. But while building new PC I was wondering which games would look better on new rig and ED came to mind. Idle thinking got me into what ships I own and which one of those would be best suited for long range exploration. Which quickly escalated into full blown comparison list of every ship in game. Out of sheer curiosity.

The best one is: Krait mk II
Absolute worst: ex equo Sidewinder, Viper, Mamba and FDL.

There you have it, end of topic :LOL:

Yeah, you wish... Disclaimer time. This ranking is not meant to be the ranking. This is my ranking. Created with my specific goals in mind, taking under consideration what I have access to and what are my capabiliities. You may agree with that. You may also don't. Just bare above in mind.

Now - how one compares apples to imaginary star ships? It would be kinda weird compare Adder to Anaconda, everyone knows how brokenly OP Adder is. So, I split the ranking into 3 categories - by ship size so ships compete within their class group. All ships were buit the same way, with the pre-fixed loadout I consider essential (priority list):
  1. FSD_booster (if ship had single biggest slot, Guardian booster went into it, even at the cost of fuel scoop)
  2. fuel scoop (biggest available)
  3. AFMU (biggest available)
  4. SRV (to break monotonny of constant flight; also to gather material for AFMU ammo and jumponium)
  5. shield (paranoia mode and extra safety for planetary landings)
  6. secondary AFMU (double paranoia mode - to fix primary AFMU, just in case)
  7. SLF (purely for monotonny breaking and that claustrophobic feeling on the very edge of the galaxy, staring at the Void)
All ships were attempted to be outfitted with above and points were allocated accordingly to determine which ship is the best for my needs. Having same build prepared I had somewhat comparability assured. Also - every ship was equipped with single heat sink launcher, detailed surface scanner and 2-nd best thrusters (biggest D-rated available). Ships built at coriolis.io, base was clear all slots and primary set for max range. FSD with added G5 range engineering with mass manager. After outfitting what fitted from priority list power management was done - all modules beside thrusters, FSD and booster, life support and fuel scoop were turned OFF. In that state of power demand power plant was picked - the smallest A or D rated, whenever possible. In that state ships were rated.

Things I took under consideration were:
  • single jump range
  • overall range (distance before the need to refuel)
  • jump to range ratio (fuel efficiency)
  • Guardian booster capability
  • shields
  • SRV
  • SLF
  • cooling factor
Categories explanation:
  • single jump range. Simple measure - how much distance ship can travel with single jump. Whithin category I took lowest and highest value and set it as a threshold and divided into 10 steps. (max_range - min_range) / 10 = step. Min jump was worth 1 point and extra point was awarded for every:
    • 3.715 LY for small ship over it
    • 2.787 LY for medium ships over it
    • 2.630 LY for large ships over it.
  • total range. As with jump, threshold divided into 10 steps, same formula. Min range was worth 1 point with extra point being awarded for additional range of:​
- 37.088 LYs for small ships​
- 32.541 LYs for small ships​
- 25.062 LYs for small ships​
  • efficiency, measured by amount of full range jumps before need to refuel. Max range / jump distance, rounded down. Result of "2" and lower was worth 0 points, "3" = 1 point, "4" = 2 point, up to 5 points for factor of "7".​
  • Guardian booster capability - booster class = amount of points. Relevant for S-ships as M and L all can equip the biggest.
  • shield and SRV - simple: 1 point if can be equipped, 0 if not.
  • SLF - as above but worth 5 points. Irrelevant for S-ships as they all are unable to carry one. Deal breaker for M and L ones.
  • cooling - 6 steps, starting at 90-100% power used with 0 points, awarding 1 point for every 10% below 90%, to 5 points if ship runs on less than 50%. Less power used gives more wiggle room when close to star.
Total was 42 points (100%) available and:
  • worst ships collected as low as 9 points (21.43%)
  • best ships achieved as high as 32 points (76.19%)
And now, without any further ado,

Small ships ranking

nxuVGyf.jpg



Medium ships ranking

Y2HMvLF.jpg



Large ships ranking

X45Nrdg.jpg



All ships together

42MqWd7.jpg


Some observations:
  • beloved Anaconda is second best, beaten by Orca which can jump equally but has far superior range. Tho lacks SLF
  • Type-9 is overall slightly better than Cutter, tho Cutter runs really cool, has all bells and whistles and some spare room
  • Beluga efficiency !
  • medium ships are no surprise here...
  • ... maybe ASP scout beating Python
  • small ships there is just one option, DBX
Conclusion - it seems that perfect exploration ship is Krait mk II (M) and Anaconda (L). Those tick all the boxes I need in my ship. They provide the best jump and range along with all paranoia-mode equipment and QOL monotonny breakers. Somewhat sad that despite bold claims that you can build every ship for every role you can't tweak given hull to max certain role at the cost of everythin else.

Anyway, it was an interesting exercise, going back to PC building.

Fare thee well.
o7
 

Alec Turner

Alec Turner
I like it, nice post!

Only extra (super subjective) category I'd add, which can actually be very important to some explorers, is how good does the ship look in a screenshot. Not about to add my own rankings on that basis tho.

Edit: oh, and one more ... how easy is it to find a landing spot (especially if you're an exobiologist or SRV enthusiast).
 

Shiro Akai

Shiro Akai
Zieman said:
Asp is not an acronym.
Click to expand...
Out of habit writing it with capitals. Also - no one noticed DBX being called DBS Explorer. But shhh, maybe it'll slip unnoticed...


Alec Turner said:
I like it, nice post!

Only extra (super subjective) category I'd add, which can actually be very important to some explorers, is how good does the ship look in a screenshot. Not about to add my own rankings on that basis tho.

Edit: oh, and one more ... how easy is it to find a landing spot (especially if you're an exobiologist or SRV enthusiast).
Click to expand...
Per Dumbledor - 5 points to Krait.


13A/24B said:
I think there's something wrong with your calculations, Eagle should be top ;)
Click to expand...
If you shuffle the categories hard ewnough I think you'll manage to achieve that.
 

Zieman

Zieman
Shiro Akai said:
Out of habit writing it with capitals. Also - no one noticed DBX being called DBS Explorer. But shhh, maybe it'll slip unnoticed...
Click to expand...
RE: caps - happens, but this particular misspelling jumps to my eyes. :)
Re: DBS Explorer - I noticed, but it isn't a pet peeve of mine :D
 

Northpin

Northpin
Shiro Akai said:
single jump range. Simple measure - how much distance ship can travel with single jump
Click to expand...

Why Viper mk4 is so low in jump range in your charts?
It can definitely do 47+ ly with normal FSD and over 50ly with Colonia Bridge FSD - and this is with strong enough shields to survive a boost crash (with 4 pips to sys)

Regarding second AFMU - you dont really need it no matter the paranoia level - if, by some sort of magic, it gets to 0% integrity, you can do a reboot&repair and get it to 1% and use it like it's new (no failures)

Edit: same question for Dolphin. It can easily do 60+ with Colonia Bridge FSD (57ly jumps with normal FSD)
 
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Northpin

Northpin
Shiro Akai said:
cooling - 6 steps, starting at 90-100% power used with 0 points, awarding 1 point for every 10% below 90%, to 5 points if ship runs on less than 50%. Less power used gives more wiggle room when close to star.
Click to expand...

And your cooling scores are bit weird too.
Percentage power used does not matter.
What matters is total power used, Power Plant Efficiency and the thermal capacity and cooling factors each ship have (the last 2 being hidden, hardcoded parameters, for each ship)
So a ship using a size 3 PP at 99.9% capacity will generate the exact same heat as the same identical ship using a size 4 PP running at 80% capacity.

Dolphin is the coolest ship ever, literally - as in it runs really cool, you can even engage the hyperdrive while scooping and still not cooking.
DBX is also very cool (it has a huge thermal capacity, similar to large ships, and also it can dissipate alot of heat, like a big ship)
While T-6 (and generally speaking the T ships) are running really hot
 

Walter2

Walter2
Alec Turner said:
I like it, nice post!

Only extra (super subjective) category I'd add, which can actually be very important to some explorers, is how good does the ship look in a screenshot. Not about to add my own rankings on that basis tho.

Edit: oh, and one more ... how easy is it to find a landing spot (especially if you're an exobiologist or SRV enthusiast).
Click to expand...

zimms said:
Great post! (y)

I would maybe add categories for super cruise handling and (the very subjective) cockpit view.
Click to expand...
Krait Mk II in each case. The Perfect Ride.
 

LifesAJourney

LifesAJourney
I'd add planetary landing easiness (or whatever you want to call it) to the equation. It's pretty important for exo exploration.

Considered also fuel scoop vs fuel tank ratio, but it would only punish the best exploration ship out there, so... no. ;)

Anyway, good job! (y)
 
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Kissamies

Kissamies
Well, to me the Krait Phantom is easily the best. One of the best jump ranges, very good cockpit view, cool, big enough to carry all the essential gear and even some extraneous vanity components I might choose to put on board. Mine survived a gank attempt at Beagle Point because I didn't completely ignore the defensive components, and it still has very respectable jump range. I see no value for having an SLF especially if the ship itself is agile enough. Not as good as a small ship for hunting the mountain fungi, though. If the SLF bays could mount landing craft, I might start seeing the value of those.
 

Northpin

Northpin
Ozric said:
How on Earth you can make a ranking of Exploration ships without even taking into account what the view out of the cockpit is like, is completely beyond me.

(also just on a side note it's DB Scout or DB Explorer :) )
Click to expand...
Yeap.
For me AspX and T6 kinda rules the medium charts because of that (T6 not only having really nice cockpit view but also it has small ship foot print - which means easy landings, comparable to any other small ship)
 

Ozric

Volunteer Moderator
Ozric
Northpin said:
Yeap.
For me AspX and T6 kinda rules the medium charts because of that (T6 not only having really nice cockpit view but also it has small ship foot print - which means easy landings, comparable to any other small ship)
Click to expand...
The T-6 is not only a brilliant Exploration ship, it's amazing for racing too! The way the front is proportioned is perfect for slamming into things lithobraking :)
 

angusmadmac1

angusmadmac1
For me my first love was dolphin then cutter along with orca . Don't like the dbx anaconda, the kraits .
It's pretty subjective , I don't rate high jump range ( my exploration ships are fitted out to at least runaway fast when I'm back in the bubble for however brief time just in case )and overall range well if you scoop it's unlimited ? And I rate cockpit view very high .
But a nice thought out post
 

Northpin

Northpin
Kissamies said:
I see no value for having an SLF especially if the ship itself is agile enough.
Click to expand...

If i'd go out exploring on a very long trip, i'd do it in Krait MK2 with SLF, dual SRV and 60 ly jump range.
Having a SLF can add a lot to the fun factor (flying for fun in asteroid fields or canyon runs and/or doing any other stupid thing in the flying book without fear of losing the ship)
 
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