Explorca or Krait Phantom

Rawnuruodo

Rawnuruodo
Cheers, fellow CMDRS!

Currently contemplating my Orca or my Krait Phantom for a long-range exploration tour into the Black. These are my builds:
Orca Explorca
Krait Phantom

Both are very similar in almost every aspect (I wanted to make them especially "cold" and don't want hot builds), so it most likely comes down to style – but also handling in supercruise and landing on planets. I know the Phantom inside and out, but somehow I'm way more curious about the Orca. I just don't want to realise after 20k+ LY that it was a bad decision.

So where are my Explorcators (if that's a word)? Who used both in the Black and can make an honest comparison about their pros and cons?
 

Zador

Z
I weighed up the options for long range exploration and concluded the Krait Phantom was my top choice.

I used two size 3 AFMUs, both turned off so not consuming power. Could use a 4A PP with low emissions if desired, otherwise pretty similar to your build. I think a mining laser could be a useful addition in the event of needing to synth and running low on materials.
 
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Darrack

Darrack
Rawnuruodo said:
Cheers, fellow CMDRS!

Currently contemplating my Orca or my Krait Phantom for a long-range exploration tour into the Black. These are my builds:
Orca Explorca
Krait Phantom

Both are very similar in almost every aspect (I wanted to make them especially "cold" and don't want hot builds), so it most likely comes down to style – but also handling in supercruise and landing on planets. I know the Phantom inside and out, but somehow I'm way more curious about the Orca. I just don't want to realise after 20k+ LY that it was a bad decision.

So where are my Explorcators (if that's a word)? Who used both in the Black and can make an honest comparison about their pros and cons?
Click to expand...
I would defo go for the Phantom for the center seating position, my fav is the AspX but for long range i prefer the Krait for having 2SRVs.
My Phantom is only a 63LY jumper but i only ever downgrade the PD, everything else is factory size.
A lot of the max jump range paperbuilds out there done by 'tubers' are utter rubbish in reality and will get you killed first sign of a mistake (which you will make).

Building ships is down to personal choices but if i could offer one piece of advice go for a bigger shield generator, mine has a class 5 with 350mjs.

O7
 

Rawnuruodo

Rawnuruodo
Darrack said:
I would defo go for the Phantom for the center seating position, my fav is the AspX but for long range i prefer the Krait for having 2SRVs.
My Phantom is only a 63LY jumper but i only ever downgrade the PD, everything else is factory size.
A lot of the max jump range paperbuilds out there done by 'tubers' are utter rubbish in reality and will get you killed first sign of a mistake (which you will make).

Building ships is down to personal choices but if i could offer one piece of advice go for a bigger shield generator, mine has a class 5 with 350mjs.

O7
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply! I could do a 4D shield enforced and wouldn't loose much jump range, while the power draw would be negligible. My main concerns are handling in supercruise (and in general) as well as landing without too much problems.
 

Darrack

Darrack
Helmut Grokenberger said:
None of them. I take the Beluga or the Dolphin over both of them depending on how many toys I want to take.
Click to expand...
Well yes the Luga is THE exploration ship but i think the OP is talking smaller ships.
Also if you want everything don't rule out the Python still with 55LY ish jump.

O7
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
Phantom has the advantage of offering you a decent view when hunting for salad - so, are you playing in Ody or in Horizons?

But: on my last trip, starting from Colonia, I did set off in Phantom. Turned around after a few klys and swapped that for a DBX. Has a few compromises (especially the small scoop - that bugs me the most), but I got fed up with trying to find a landing spot in acceptable proximity to some plants - especially fungoids. The DBX I usually can set down with the blue circle over the plant, which makes that SRV mostly redundant.

This one should be pretty close:

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
s.orbis.zone s.orbis.zone
- at least to what I'd have liked to use. I think I skipped the hull engineering and a few other minor bits, as I was in Colonia and haven't unlocked the Colonia hull engineer on that account yet.
 

Helmut Grokenberger

Helmut Grokenberger
I play in VR, so the experience might be different, but the Saud Krugers have HUGE canopies with a great view. I never look out the floor windows of the Krait anyway, I usually skim the surface at a 45° angle.
 

Rawnuruodo

Rawnuruodo
Darrack said:
The Orca is amazing to fly especially in SC, but as a Brit i cant get on with left hand drives :ROFLMAO:

O7
Click to expand...
So it’s on the proper side you mean? 😉 I’m currently testing my Orca closer to home and yes the SC handling is phenomenal for its size. I have an Anaconda engineered for exploration and now I’m crying how slow it is compared to this zipper.
 

CMDRQuainMarln

CMDRQuainMarln
My answer to your dilemma is, Phantom for general long range explorer and Exobiology, and occasional long range passenger missions in the Orca. The Orca is delightful, but the length sometimes makes planetary landings harder and the jump range while ample is less.
I also prefer strong shields to protect from crash landings and find my Phantoms 3A power plant with grade 1 low emissions and thermal spread good enough to supercruise at as little as 16% heat and fuel scooping is easy.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
s.orbis.zone s.orbis.zone
 

Orvidius

Orvidius
For exo-bio, I found that the ideal ships were the Imperial Courier and DBX, with their tiny landing footprints. I never had to land terribly far from bio samples, even the ones in the hilltops.

So having said that, in may ways I feel it's a wash between the Phantom and the Orca, and may come down to style, and preferred cockpit. I love the downward views in general, so the AspX and Krait variants have always worked well for me. But the Orca also gives you the most "Star Trek" like experience, and while you can't look down past your feet, you can see downward over the console at a better angle than in most other ships. Having played mostly in VR, I take viewing angles very seriously. And the Orca never bothered me (whereas I was cursing the Anaconda continuously).

I don't remember how up to date these are, but I think these were the last configurations I used:

 

Rawnuruodo

Rawnuruodo
Orvidius said:
For exo-bio, I found that the ideal ships were the Imperial Courier and DBX, with their tiny landing footprints. I never had to land terribly far from bio samples, even the ones in the hilltops.

So having said that, in may ways I feel it's a wash between the Phantom and the Orca, and may come down to style, and preferred cockpit. I love the downward views in general, so the AspX and Krait variants have always worked well for me. But the Orca also gives you the most "Star Trek" like experience, and while you can't look down past your feet, you can see downward over the console at a better angle than in most other ships. Having played mostly in VR, I take viewing angles very seriously. And the Orca never bothered me (whereas I was cursing the Anaconda continuously).

I don't remember how up to date these are, but I think these were the last configurations I used:

Click to expand...
I'm probably going with the Orca, as I know the Phantom rather well. And I must say even without VR the cockpit view is beautiful. Plus this ships handles very swift in SC, I'll probably retire my Conda for doing "speed runs" to somewhere. But flying around for a long time is much more enjoyable in an agile ship!
 

DjVortex

DjVortex
Rawnuruodo said:
Currently contemplating my Orca or my Krait Phantom for a long-range exploration tour into the Black. These are my builds:
Orca Explorca
Krait Phantom
Click to expand...
Couldn't you use a size 3 cargo rack in the Krait? IIRC cargo racks do not add anything to the weight so they don't affect jump range. But having more available cargo space can be useful if you encounter some interesting stuff to collect. (While you are at it, put another cargo rack in that empty slot.)
 

Rawnuruodo

Rawnuruodo
Rawnuruodo said:
Cheers, fellow CMDRS!

Currently contemplating my Orca or my Krait Phantom for a long-range exploration tour into the Black. These are my builds:
Orca Explorca
Krait Phantom

Both are very similar in almost every aspect (I wanted to make them especially "cold" and don't want hot builds), so it most likely comes down to style – but also handling in supercruise and landing on planets. I know the Phantom inside and out, but somehow I'm way more curious about the Orca. I just don't want to realise after 20k+ LY that it was a bad decision.

So where are my Explorcators (if that's a word)? Who used both in the Black and can make an honest comparison about their pros and cons?
Click to expand...
Hey CMDRS, I went with the Orca in the end and it is a JOY to fly! Here's the final built and also some pictures:
IMG_5631.jpg

IMG_5634.jpg

IMG_5650.jpg
 
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