Exploration is great fun - also, AFMU question

[dreampage]

I'm currently undertaking my biggest exploration adventure yet. OK, it's more just like travelling than actually exploring but the basis of it is the same. I went to Colonia first, then I jumped over to the center of the galaxy (Sagittarius A) and now I'm currently heading back home. It takes a lot of jumps in my trusty DBX (53.53 Ly jump range) and I don't use neutron stars either. The motivation behind this little tour is to boost my exploration rank somewhat, and since I play on Xbox, to get a few achievements on the way. I got all three now (Colonia, Sag A and 25,000 Ly from the start) so I'm heading back to the bubble.

Now, I have explored quite a bit before but never this long and I was afraid that I would get "space madness" or pure boredom from doing nothing more than jumping. But actually this long trip proves to be more fun than I thought! The key is to disable the music in-game, fire up Spotify and stream some good music. Time flies this way! (The ship too.) It's really atmospheric and much better than to listen to the supercruise music of the game only. Also, having a good friend in the game and communicating with her from time to time helps a lot.

So this trip is a big undertaking for any pilot, that's why I have a question about AFMU (Auto Field-Maintenance Unit). Without the intention to offend any fellow explorers: Why is it needed in the first place? I mean honestly. I don't have it on my ship and I never needed it. Not once did my ship suffer any damage whatsoever. With so little attention you can avoid overheating and heat damage. With even the weakest shield generator you can avoid damage when landing on a planet or moon. So seriously, even after this long trip I don't get why I would need AFMU. To be honest the same goes for heat sinks. I have them on my ship, also materials to synthesize them if needed, but I haven't had to launch a single one of them ever. And I can still make thousands of Ly without stopping to refuel - I always just "lick" the stars and that's enough to go on almost indefinitely.

Now, I admit the DBX is a cool running ship so I may have an easier job than others. Maybe other ships overheat more easily and more often and that's why you need heat sinks and AFMU. But I honestly feel that whenever my ships overheated and suffered heat damage it would only be because of me not paying attention at all. I even browsed the web on my phone and reading news while travelling - I only needed minimal input for the ship to go on. I would think I wasn't doing something correctly if this was a small trip, but having gone to Colona then Sag A then back I think I've dipped my fingers deep enough into exploration now. And I think it's actually simpler and dare I say easier than what I expected having read these forums. I wouldn't use a ship that overheats easily anyway. With my DBX this whole thing is so effortless it's actually confusing. But it's a pleasant surprise nevertheless.

I encourage everyone to go exploring. It's like driving on a long-long road, listening to music and travelling for a few hours. Oh, and the skybox looks amazing closer to the core. It's worth it.

 

[Ackley 280]

Alcohol


oh and neutron stars

 

[stormyuk]

I have done something similar in the recent past on PS4, went to SagA to get my last Elite core trophy and hence the Platinum on the PS4, and then Colonia (no trophy on PS4 for that, no idea why) and then made the "mistake" of going to Beagle Point (no trophy for that either), I got the Platinum on the 12/11/2017 (12th November 2017) and I have just made it back to Colonia from BG! Its been a tough slog and I must admit the pull of other games over the madness of jump, scoop, jump, neutron boost, jump, scoop, jump got to me.

Still I only have to go back to the bubble now, but its nice to actually see ships around Colonia (even if they are only NPCs!).

With respect to the AMFU, I put two on my AspX and as you, the only reason I have needed them is due to mistakes, pancaking on a high-g planet and smashing into stars while distracted, the AspX doesn't really overheat for other reasons although I have got heat sinks fitted. I found a nice tip which showed that by disabling all none essential modules (after crashing into a star and getting back into SC) I could super cruise away without getting heat damage and then just re-enable them all.

 

[Dell Tarrant]

Prolonged neutron boosting will damage your FSD. That's when an AFMU comes in handy.

 

[YinYin]

Yeah. No need for any of that unless you are an unreliable pilot.

Super charging does damage your FSD though - so it's required to keep that up.

 

[verminstar]

If yer not using neutrons, then ye really shouldnt need heat sinks on a DBE at all. I dont need them on a T9 and it runs fairly hot in comparison, but I can still make it into SC without needing a hs if I faceplant the star.

I have a small Afmu fitted but only because Ive been out since end of summer...only used it once more after messing up a high G landing somewhat. Again, something that is only really needed fer neutron use.

53.5ly...impressive...ye think its a lotta jumps? Try a 19ly range and then complain about number of jumps

On way back to colonia now, similar sorta flight plan as yer own...in a region now that reads like Dumb boy...love these names...cya in the black cmdr ^

 

[Red Anders]

An AFMU isn't essential unless you're using neutron stars or white dwarfs for a range boost and heatsinks are not essential at all.

However there's a simple truth about exploration; it's better to have something and not need it than to need something and not have it.

With an AFMU in particular, there is no sense at all in not taking one as long as you have a slot free on your ship for it. They have no mass and when powered down they use no power. You can repair anything whilst landed and if you're landed your thrusters are powered down, which means you'll always have the juice to power up an AFMU regardless of your overall power budget.

As for heat sinks, a lightweight engineered one can weigh as little as 0.2 tons, fits in a utility slot that you probably aren't using for anything else on an exploration ship, can be kept powered down until it's needed and might just save your bacon (and your exploration data) when you jump into the middle of a trinary system.

I've done a 140,000 LY round trip without ever firing a heat sink and only using my AFMU to repair FSD damage from neutron boosting. The fact I hardly used them is no reason not to have them.

 

[Fray]

Yup, as everyone's said they're a pretty much a total waste unless you're boosting. Even hard/forced drops from SC only scrub off a percent or so, and you could stack those for months and have no real need of repairs. Given most explorers never have forced drops, even that's not a nissue.

If your ship has enough internals and you have spare slots (which is almost guaranteed with slightly larger ships), then there's no real harm in taking one just for the hell of it.

...and maybe this is semantics, but; are you really exploring? Or just traveling? You infer you're doing the latter, and so the thread title's a little misleading. The experience of 'traveling' and exploring is very different, and the latter is far more time consuming. Whilst actual explorers are still ticking off the tenth moon of a far flung gas giant, or still heading for an extrasolar capture way out on the fringes of a system, travelers are probably about twenty or so jump down the road.

/edit - Oh, and I always pack one or two heat sinks, because these days the ammo count for a single utility is terrible, and as an insurance policy for a major mistake two racks feels more useful. I've not needed one for a loooong time, but better to have them and not need them than need them and yadda yadda... My last two heat sink uses were accidental, actually. One with a pad a while back, and one quite recently as I trying to get used to rebinds on the HOTAS.

 

[Red Anders]

/edit - Oh, and I always pack one or two heat sinks, because these days the ammo count for a single utility is terrible, and as an insurance policy for a major mistake two racks feels more useful. I've not needed one for a loooong time, but better to have them and not need them than need them and yadda yadda... My last two heat sink uses were accidental, actually. One with a pad a while back, and one quite recently as I trying to get used to rebinds on the HOTAS.

Or just taker a single heatsink and make sure you have some materials in your store to synth some refills. I was very proud of my exploration Anaconda's four lightweight heatsinks which weigh less combined than a single unengineered one, then they included heatsink synth and removed the need to carry more than one

 

[verminstar]

Or just taker a single heatsink and make sure you have some materials in your store to synth some refills. I was very proud of my exploration Anaconda's four lightweight heatsinks which weigh less combined than a single unengineered one, then they included heatsink synth and removed the need to carry more than one

Only problem with that being sourcing the materials cant be done with planetary resources...not sure why anyone thought that would be a great idea but whatever...the old way still works a charm considering how few occasions where ye do actually need to pop one. Even on close trinaries, yer really only gonna need a hs if ye fly in the wrong direction. Those examples intrigue me as Ive yet to land on any trinary and just had to use a hs...and thats not an ice cube DBE, thats an even harder to fly t9 so if small ships are having trouble navigating them...then Im genuinely lost fer words how to explain how Im not seeing the issue at all.

Fray brings up a nice point actually...jumping and honking long distance isnt really exploring no matter what excuse ye tell yerself. Thats why my main exploration ship only has about a third of the range of other ships. Longer range ships like the DBE is really just a taxi service when I need to go places, which if nothing else, is yet another reason why engineering is sorta pointless on exploration ships. The gains dont justify the means...not to me anyway. To me, long range ships arent really necessary to explore with...but Im just weird like that ^

 

[Old Duck]

If you think of the AFMU is an R2D2 unit or the pretty android from Dark Matter, then it can keep you company during your long journeys. It is also my maker-space / workshop (where droid lives) with 3D printer used for synthesis, which helps this gameplay mechanic not feel like pure handwavium magic

Spoiler

 

[Red Anders]

Only problem with that being sourcing the materials cant be done with planetary resources...not sure why anyone thought that would be a great idea but whatever...the old way still works a charm considering how few occasions where ye do actually need to pop one. Even on close trinaries, yer really only gonna need a hs if ye fly in the wrong direction. Those examples intrigue me as Ive yet to land on any trinary and just had to use a hs...and thats not an ice cube DBE, thats an even harder to fly t9 so if small ships are having trouble navigating them...then Im genuinely lost fer words how to explain how Im not seeing the issue at all.

Fray brings up a nice point actually...jumping and honking long distance isnt really exploring no matter what excuse ye tell yerself. Thats why my main exploration ship only has about a third of the range of other ships. Longer range ships like the DBE is really just a taxi service when I need to go places, which if nothing else, is yet another reason why engineering is sorta pointless on exploration ships. The gains dont justify the means...not to me anyway. To me, long range ships arent really necessary to explore with...but Im just weird like that ^

I've only ever had one experience with close stars that 'needed' a heat sink. Might not be quite the issue it was since they did that change to where you get positioned on jumping into some multiple star systems but believe me, that one occasion was one that would have got anybody.

I was like you mate 'meh, I've jumped into loads of trinaries, what's the problem, bunch of clowns who don't pay attention...'. If you've seen those handbrake turn parking videos where someone slides their car into a gap with about six inches front and rear, that's what my Anaconda looked like between the stars when I entered the system. That wasn't even the best bit; that came when I went 'waaaaahhhhhh', did 90 degrees nose up and full throttle only to discover where the third one was See, it wasn't on my scanner at this point...

Ziggy put up a video of him jumping into the middle of some hellish mass of neutron stars and white dwarfs a while back, that's another great example. Like I said, you can go hundreds of thousands of light years without ever needing one but for the sake of less than half a ton of additional mass and a tiny drop of power, not carrying one could end up being the very worst kind of false economy.

 

[Fray]

Or just taker a single heatsink and make sure you have some materials in your store to synth some refills. I was very proud of my exploration Anaconda's four lightweight heatsinks which weigh less combined than a single unengineered one, then they included heatsink synth and removed the need to carry more than one

Eh, I kinda hate the idea of being able to synthesise items like that. Takes the fun out of actually being prepared, and being punished for your mistakes should you make one.

The only thing I ever top up out in the black/bright black is the SRV (I really wish you could customise/build those things, and have variations for different roles. it'd be nice to have a dedicated exploration rover with a much more efficient powerplant/fuel tank combo).

Heatsinks weigh so little they barely count as a sacrifice, so I wouldn't try to scrimp that obsessively on most ships. Maybe if I took an FDL out... but I don't see me trying that anytime soon ever.

Thats why my main exploration ship only has about a third of the range of other ships. Longer range ships like the DBE is really just a taxi service when I need to go places, which if nothing else, is yet another reason why engineering is sorta pointless on exploration ships. The gains dont justify the means...not to me anyway. To me, long range ships arent really necessary to explore with...but Im just weird like that ^

I believe the exact same.

An 'exploration' ship with a massive jump range kinda sucks as a true exploration ship, at least if it's used to its full capabilities. General exploration shouldn't be fast, because 'fast' means you skip out on so many systems, ergo contradicting the entire spirit of stellar cartography.

...should a 'true' explorer then crawl at 6Ly per jump? Maybe. Which means almost every single explorer is doing their job very poorly. ; -) I wouldn't go that far, but I think it's completely ridiculous for exploration ships to only try to max their jump range for the above reasons - the 'better' it is, the more you miss and do not chart. For me I feel very late 20's to mid-30's is a preferable performance bracket.

However, if someone's truly focusing on the hardest parts of the galaxy to reach, then a specialised long range ship is a necessity. So, as ever, it's [space] horses for [space] courses.

 

[Dutchman141]

I've only used the afmu once and that was back in the days when you could come out of a jump right in the middle of a binary star system.
Nowadays you come out of a jump a save distance away when there are two stars close together on entry point.
Never understood why they changed that, a bit of holding your hand if you ask me.

 

[verminstar]

I've only ever had one experience with close stars that 'needed' a heat sink. Might not be quite the issue it was since they did that change to where you get positioned on jumping into some multiple star systems but believe me, that one occasion was one that would have got anybody.

I was like you mate 'meh, I've jumped into loads of trinaries, what's the problem, bunch of clowns who don't pay attention...'. If you've seen those handbrake turn parking videos where someone slides their car into a gap with about six inches front and rear, that's what my Anaconda looked like between the stars when I entered the system. That wasn't even the best bit; that came when I went 'waaaaahhhhhh', did 90 degrees nose up and full throttle only to discover where the third one was See, it wasn't on my scanner at this point...

Ziggy put up a video of him jumping into the middle of some hellish mass of neutron stars and white dwarfs a while back, that's another great example. Like I said, you can go hundreds of thousands of light years without ever needing one but for the sake of less than half a ton of additional mass and a tiny drop of power, not carrying one could end up being the very worst kind of false economy.

Ok so Ill admit that fer all I say they arent overly needed, I still have 3 of them in my otherwise unused utility slots. Actually no thatd be a lie, I also have a sheild booster because its a D rated sheild, so the extra oomph a sb gives is more economical than a higher rate sheild. Economical in power and weight...but then my mind doesnt work like normal people.

I did actually try and run the T9 on a 2a powerplant, but that wasnt working out so great with the idiot lemming flying the ship when I wasnt. She needs a big cushion sometimes, especially on hard landings which are my little fetish...I love high G landings...45 degrees full tilt...see how close ye can get to terra firma when its 3.7g...thatll pucker up the old but cheeks.

Now allegedly, frontier fixed the issue with landing smack bang in the middle of binaries and trinaries...I say allegedly because now and then, it spits ye out 50ls from the star with no obvious reason as to why when the closest other star is half a system away. Oddities and things not doing as they supposed to...welcome to elite. Thats another cool reason why I prefer lakons to the conda...the cockpit view. Gotta have the biggest freeroam view possible and lakon just destroys what the conda can offer. Doesnt get much better than the t9.

But its not impossible to run face first into a star ye didnt even see either...extremely unlikely once ye actually learn how to look around ye and actually fly the ship, but accidents do happen. Sometimes accidentaly on purpose when ye see the gap and decide there and then to just go fer it...when it pays off, ye come out sunburnt and laughing and when its goes pete tong, ye normally only lose 2% anyway, sometimes less. Now while I can get outta that without using a heat sink, there will be minor damage done...but only minor and Im out before it hits 140 degrees.

I can live with a few dents and bruises...one look at whats left of the paint and it looks like a busted up old transformer atm. But thats just me ^

 

[verminstar]

I believe the exact same.

An 'exploration' ship with a massive jump range kinda sucks as a true exploration ship, at least if it's used to its full capabilities. General exploration shouldn't be fast, because 'fast' means you skip out on so many systems, ergo contradicting the entire spirit of stellar cartography.

...should a 'true' explorer then crawl at 6Ly per jump? Maybe. Which means almost every single explorer is doing their job very poorly. ; -) I wouldn't go that far, but I think it's completely ridiculous for exploration ships to only try to max their jump range for the above reasons - the 'better' it is, the more you miss and do not chart. For me I feel very late 20's to mid-30's is a preferable performance bracket.

However, if someone's truly focusing on the hardest parts of the galaxy to reach, then a specialised long range ship is a necessity. So, as ever, it's [space] horses for [space] courses.

The range is nice to have certainly, but its only a requirement when yer crossing the arms or going to the roof 10 klys straight up. Used to be the joke that long range ships were a nightmare to navigate in the core because the stars were so densely packed in, ye could probably explore most of it with a 1 ly range. They fixed the map so its easier now and I just filter out what Im not looking for...almost too easy sadly.

Getting there however...would turn yer brain into mush I fear. The truly brave would try and make it halfway in about a year...so yes, the range is nice to have. My ship has a 19ly range and Ive been out since first week in september, playing almost every day...I see loading screens in my sleep and mentally hear the FSD countdown in traffic lights during the school run. I have come to regard scanning entire systems of a hundred plus hits as relieving the boredom, and when I find O class stars, I just have to hunt them down no matter how far out of my course they take me.

Thats what Im doing now...otherwise Id have been rolling into colonia this morning...now, weekend maybe.

Regardless...I have a longer range DBE in colonia which Ill switch to soon enough before going back to the bubble...I want a T10. Only this time...nah 19ly really isnt enough. While Ill argue blind its not needed, its not providing yer sticking to the most tightly packed stars and ye have the patience of a saint. Beagle point next and 19ly just aint gonna do it ^

Everyone needs a goal...right?

 

[Han Zulu]

So this trip is a big undertaking for any pilot, that's why I have a question about AFMU (Auto Field-Maintenance Unit). Without the intention to offend any fellow explorers: Why is it needed in the first place? I mean honestly. I don't have it on my ship and I never needed it. Not once did my ship suffer any damage whatsoever. With so little attention you can avoid overheating and heat damage. With even the weakest shield generator you can avoid damage when landing on a planet or moon. So seriously, even after this long trip I don't get why I would need AFMU. To be honest the same goes for heat sinks. I have them on my ship, also materials to synthesize them if needed, but I haven't had to launch a single one of them ever. And I can still make thousands of Ly without stopping to refuel - I always just "lick" the stars and that's enough to go on almost indefinitely.

Because of the neutron stars. If you're a neutronist like me, trying to hit the N*s as much as possible, you take 1-2% damage to the FSD each time. When the damage goes down to 75-80%, you're starting to get damage on other modules as well. So you need to repair it. I usually do it before it goes under 80%.

Also, if you like to chase Herbig stars, just like brown dwarfs, the exclusion zone can sometimes get ya, and you do a super-crash and get more damage than wanted. Also, a few times, I've screwed up and started a high wake while in hot zone of Herbig star and got damage all over.

Now, considering that I'm on a 300 kylie circumnavigation expedition, it's kind'a nice to have the AFMU to fix after mistakes (5,000 jumps+, I think do a super-crash once a week on average, usually before coffee in the morning), and it's even better to have 2 of them, so one can fix the other.

Now, I admit the DBX is a cool running ship so I may have an easier job than others. Maybe other ships overheat more easily and more often and that's why you need heat sinks and AFMU. But I honestly feel that whenever my ships overheated and suffered heat damage it would only be because of me not paying attention at all. I even browsed the web on my phone and reading news while travelling - I only needed minimal input for the ship to go on. I would think I wasn't doing something correctly if this was a small trip, but having gone to Colona then Sag A then back I think I've dipped my fingers deep enough into exploration now. And I think it's actually simpler and dare I say easier than what I expected having read these forums. I wouldn't use a ship that overheats easily anyway. With my DBX this whole thing is so effortless it's actually confusing. But it's a pleasant surprise nevertheless.

Yeah. Most super-crashes are caused by pilot error, but you know, early morning, before coffee kicked in... easy to forget oneself and start high-wake while in hot zone of a herbig, or perhaps pick the wrong jet stream on a neutron star and cross the exclusion zone.

--edit

Ninja'd 10 times.

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

I keep an AFMU on any ship that I'm going exploring in. Accidents happen. My last trip to Orion, went smoothly and perfectly, however, about 4 jumps from returning home with all that data, I had back to back incidents. the second one I inadvertently hit the alt flight controls and got pulled out of supercruise coming in hot on a star. Fortunately I always carry heat sinks but the damage was done, and a good thing I had the heat sinks since I was so close and unable to pop back into Supercruise without over heating while having 2 modules at 70%. AFMU and heat sinks saved me. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

 

[Han Zulu]

"Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it."
Exactly.

Also, AFMU doesn't add anything to mass, so it's not damaging the distance.

 

[Manticore]

This:

Prolonged neutron boosting will damage your FSD. That's when an AFMU comes in handy.

If I'm n-star boosting when the FSD (engineered by the way) integrity drops below 80% I start to get significant FSD malfunctions every second jump.

AFMU? Yes use one; and they can be re-armed in the black by prospecting materials in asteroid belts or on planets.