Exploration jump range

Ian Doncaster

Ian Doncaster
Northpin said:
Not saying that one cannot explore in a 50ly ship,. just that it can be better to do it in a 70ly one since it has only perks.
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I'm not going to restrict my jump range to 50LY arbitrarily, but 70LY would absolutely be worse for me on most trips because I'd either have to fly a ship I don't like spending extended time in or compromise on too much other functionality. Getting where I'm going a couple of hours quicker wouldn't make up for that.

Different people will certainly put that trade-off at different distances; equally the argument that one can explore in a 70 LY ship but a 90 LY one has only perks is more obviously disputable, and I think the same applies to 50/70.
 

Ozric

Volunteer Moderator
Ozric
crouzilles said:
Hi everyone,

Every ship build I find when looking for exploration builds have as big a jump range as possible. Forgive me if I am being a complete tool, but isn’t the point of exploration to explore as many systems as possible, and therefore not need long jump range?

Don’t hesitate to call me a tool, but please explain why, I am obviously missing some important info.

Thank you
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You are correct it is. The debate of what is exploration and what is travel is as old as the game :)

With a 41Ly jump range and top grade synthesis you can reach every system that it's possible to reach by ship in the game, and that is needed for Ishum's Reach. People just like to min/max everything, but it's not necessary. Build for comfort if you're going to be out a while (don't undersize thrusters in case you want to land on a high g planet).

It's is worth noting that larger jump ranges do have the benefit that you can travel back to civilisation quickly if something comes up though, so it's not all just posturing. But if you follow a build guide you will have the same jump range as everyone else who follows that guide, and then if you go to a popular destination area then you are likely to follow the exact same route as countless before you, meaning less undiscovered systems.
Another reason why flying above/below the galactic plane is also a good idea.
 

Shurimal

Shurimal
Ian Doncaster said:
70LY would absolutely be worse for me on most trips because I'd either have to fly a ship I don't like spending extended time in or compromise on too much other functionality.
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To be honest, a Phantom can easily do 70 ly with the SCO drive while carrying 400+ MJ shields, repair limpets, 2 SRV-s, class 1 HRP and a small lightwight laser for activating Guardian beacons:

EDSY

EDSY is a ship outfitting tool for Elite Dangerous
edsy.org edsy.org

On the other hand, unless I go to the edges of the galaxy, I don't bother with jumprange anymore. Anything that does 50 ly is good enough, especially if doing carrier-based exploration. Hell, my first real exploration trip was to the middle of Elysian Shores in a 50 ly DBX and I went to Colonia for Odyssey engineering and back in a 40-something ly Courier (spent more time romping around in mountains looking for that last sample of No-Fun-Goida than jumping between systems, anyway😛). My go-to ships for exploration these days are Viper MKIV, Cobra MKIII, Courier or basically any ship I feel like using. Even FDL can do 40 ly which is comparable to what a completely weight-weenied AspX could do before engineering.
 

Navigare Necesse Est

Navigare Necesse Est
Ozric said:
You are correct it is. The debate of what is exploration and what is travel is as old as the game :)

With a 41Ly jump range and top grade synthesis you can reach every system that it's possible to reach by ship in the game, and that is needed for Ishum's Reach. People just like to min/max everything, but it's not necessary. Build for comfort if you're going to be out a while (don't undersize thrusters in case you want to land on a high g planet).

It's is worth noting that larger jump ranges do have the benefit that you can travel back to civilisation quickly if something comes up though, so it's not all just posturing. But if you follow a build guide you will have the same jump range as everyone else who follows that guide, and then if you go to a popular destination area then you are likely to follow the exact same route as countless before you, meaning less undiscovered systems.
Another reason why flying above/below the galactic plane is also a good idea.
Click to expand...
I don't know how other people explore but I pick a target, not random systems. And longer jump ranges tend to get you faster to your target.
 

angusmadmac1

angusmadmac1
Navigare Necesse Est said:
I don't know how other people explore but I pick a target, not random systems. And longer jump ranges tend to get you faster to your target.
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Oh that looks nice I head over there , ohh that pattern of stars looks interesting let's go there ohhh hang on a bubble nebula . As Angus goes meandering through the universe .
Cruisin' and playin' the radio
With no particular place to go
 

Navigare Necesse Est

Navigare Necesse Est
angusmadmac1 said:
Oh that looks nice I head over there , ohh that pattern of stars looks interesting let's go there ohhh hang on a bubble nebula . As Angus goes meandering through the universe .
Cruisin' and playin' the radio
With no particular place to go
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That's picking a target pretty much. I don't do scientific studies much either before setting a course.
 

Factabulous

Factabulous
With recent changes to exploration like Exo-Biology and Fleet Carriers the old maxims have changed somewhat - maybe the guides haven't caught up.

Fleet Carriers being spread around the galaxy mean there is less need to be self-sufficient - you can usually repair in a few thousand Ly, so taking 'all the modules' is less of a requirement.

Exobiology means more close encounters with planets - so being able to survive those momentary lapses of concentration when visiting high-G planets is important (previously there was little reason to ever land apart from boredom / mat farming).

Most of my explorers are now small ships (Dolphin / CM3 / DBX) because I find they bounce better than even medium ships, any jump range approaching 50 Ly is fine.

The only reason I've taking a large ship with a longer jump range out recently was to collect Stollen/Gyre Pods (small ships can't compete on cargo capacity). But I wouldn't class that as exploration.

Anyway OP, YMMV - just do what you want - if that doesn't work then do something else ;)
 

JCCarven

JCCarven
Felix DiCestria said:
If you're doing Fungoida, other stuff is fine.
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If you won't do something most likely no one will.
Factabulous said:
Most of my explorers are now small ships (Dolphin / CM3 / DBX)
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I switched from a Dolphin to a Courier with 3A Enhanced Thrusters. Most of the time, you leave Mass Lock in a couple of boosts. I'm okay with her range of 35-38 LY, but you can squeeze more than 40 LY. I also replaced the vehicle hangar with an extra fuel tank since I'm not using it anyway.
 

aRJay

aRJay
Navigare Necesse Est said:
I don't know how other people explore but I pick a target, not random systems. And longer jump ranges tend to get you faster to your target.
Click to expand...
I used to pick a direction then find something that way to act as a target to give the route plotter something to work with but that target was rarely intended to be a destination.

Post FC the last time I went out and back I picked a destination than used an external tool to plot jumps for it, so I would initiate a jump then chase the FC in a Hauler exploring & sampling between 11 or potentially over 200 systems until I caught up.
 

Doctor Dread

Doctor Dread
Btw, is anyone here old-timer enough to remember a crazy guy from Texas who, in the first year and with NavComp of 100 LY circumnavigated the gallaxy in a Sidewinder?!!

I was here from the day one, remember the guy and months and months of his screenshots from the most far-flung places imaginable, but forgot his nick.
IIRC, that was all he did, and once he made the outer rim circle, he left the game.
 

Northpin

Northpin
Ian Doncaster said:
I'm not going to restrict my jump range to 50LY arbitrarily, but 70LY would absolutely be worse for me on most trips because I'd either have to fly a ship I don't like spending extended time in or compromise on too much other functionality. Getting where I'm going a couple of hours quicker wouldn't make up for that.

Different people will certainly put that trade-off at different distances; equally the argument that one can explore in a 70 LY ship but a 90 LY one has only perks is more obviously disputable, and I think the same applies to 50/70.
Click to expand...

My low ceiling for exploration ships used to be 65ly jump range.
I still find this acceptable, but with SCO drives it can be easily upped to 70 - and it's easily doable for Phantom or DBX with decent shields, or my favorite the AspX (even tho it has crap shields and really bad brakes)
Conda can also do 70+ with lots of shields and lots of general utility, but it's a drag to fly in supercruise

Other than that, there are not many ships that i would consider for exploration with less than 65ly jump range, out of them the favorite being the Type-6

Obviously that's just me and more often than not i do things on impulse - for example, i decided to participate in the Explorer Anchorage CG in a Friday afternoon - at that time i didnt even had the Guardian FSD Booster, but i got it unlocked, build an hybrid Conda for mining/bounty hunting that could still jump like 65 ly empty and by Sunday at noon i was in EA System.
So, even if im out exploring, i may decide to cut it at anytime and get back to civilization asap, hence me prioritizing the ability to fast travel, without compromising the ability to explore safely (that is decent shields and the ability to boost at least 2-3 times in a rather quick succession)
 
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