Explorers. How self-sufficient are you?

Stealthie

Stealthie
I'm considering rebuilding my AspX as a proper exploration ship and doing a spot of off-roading (I was thinking of visiting Polaris).

I am wondering how far most explorers go with regard to self-sufficiency in ship maintenance.
Obviously, it's worth taking a pair of SRVs rather than just 1 but is it necessary to pack an AFMU and go hunting for material for it?

Or do most explorers not bother with that, and just rely on not accidentally flying into any suns or crash-landing on planet surfaces?

I've only had a quick play with the AFMU and, TBH, I found it very confusing and gave up.
Also, I've no real experience with synthesising stuff.
So, if this stuff IS going to be necessary, I guess a decent guide would come in handy. [up]

Beyond that, any other tips for an AspX explorer build would be appreciated.
 
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Serpentis Ictis

Serpentis Ictis
SRV for collecting materials for synth. AFMU, jumponium etc. Some Cmdrs wuggest mining lasers, but I never had a need.

Lots of advice in the Exploration sub-forum. Definitely worth a visit!
 

Alex Brentnall

Alex Brentnall
100%, my water is recycled, there is a grow-lab in the back for food and provided I keep the hydrogen fusion reactor going I have oxygen for years...

In all seriousness the only things that arn't fixable are powerplant damage and hull damage. If you have an AFMU and fuel scoop you are golden, just avoid faceplanting solid objects like stars and planets :p
 

WR3ND

WR3ND
I've never even really needed AMFUs before. Once you know what you're doing, it's pretty straightforward to stay out of harms way. Polaris is VERY close to the bubble in terms of expedition ranges, and yeah, it's permit locked. I've been around it a few times just for kicks.

Here's my current deep space exploration ship – I plan on making a trek out to Beagle Point in it later this year: https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/cob...gYGkU2CDAyMf/79BwIAKeRVqSYAAAA=&bn=The Ranger

z5PYOYp.jpg

You could easily trade off the module reinforcement package for an SRV, or similar if you wanted to too. Me, I don't care for the fuel rock mini game so much.

Generally I'm out exploring in my Vulture, The Ronin, as I am now... https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...Ships!/page3?p=2828837&viewfull=1#post2828837
 
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Thetele

T
Pretty much self-sufficient. As long i have srvs I can collect materials to repair srv and re-arm AFMU to repair modules and windscreen. Hull damage is only thing you can't repair. So neutron and wd stars and high g planets are the biggest risk, then heat damage.

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WR3ND said:
I've never even really needed AMFUs before. Once you know what you're doing, it's pretty straightforward to stay out of harms way. Polaris is VERY close to the bubble in terms of expedition ranges, and yeah, it's permit locked. I've been around it a few times just for kicks.

Here's my current deep space exploration ship: https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/cob...gYGkU2CDAyMf/79BwIAKeRVqSYAAAA=&bn=The Ranger
Click to expand...

Yeah AMFUs aren't needed, but they: A) they don't have weight B) you should fill all slots with something to absorb damage. There is no reason to not fill every extra slot with AFMU. And today with neutron star boost/high way, AFMUs are nice thing to have.
 

Devari

D
Stealthie said:
I'm considering rebuilding my AspX as a proper exploration ship and doing a spot of off-roading (I was thinking of visiting Polaris).

I am wondering how far most explorers go with regard to self-sufficiency in ship maintenance.
Obviously, it's worth taking a pair of SRVs rather than just 1 but is it necessary to pack an AFMU and go hunting for material for it?
Click to expand...

Going exploring without an AFMU is sort of like driving a car on a rough road without a spare tire. You WILL eventually get a flat if you drive on that road long enough and without a way to repair or replace your tire you are either going to be limping home very slowly or not getting home at all.

The biggest issue here is FSD damage as it will have a chance of malfunction every time you try to jump once the integrity gets too low. You can repair this easily with an AFMU but otherwise you just have to deal with the malfunctions which would require you to try charging the FSD over and over until the jump is successful. On a 1000 jump trip that takes your travel times and makes them dramatically longer to the point that it would be better to self-destruct under those circumstances then take hundreds of hours with a malfunctioning FSD to get back to inhabited space.

There are also various quality of life issues that you can fix with AFMUs when exploring that won't completely ruin your trip but would be very annoying to have to deal with. Canopy damage is probably the best example here where cracks would really mess up your view out of the cockpit. The AFMU can't fix a completely shattered canopy but it can repair any cracks and restore it to full strength.

When I went to SagA I actually used a DUAL setup where my Asp carried two separate AFMUs so that one of them could be used to repair the other since a single AFMU can't be used repair itself. That meant I could fix anything except the power plant and hull and could replenish my AFMU resources if needed (I carried enough mats for several refills before I left the bubble so I wouldn't need to risk planetary landings with my SRV).

I don't bother equipping more than one AFMU anymore because it's really your hull and power plant (which can't be repaired by AFMUs) that determine your ship's overall durability when exploring and I would have sustained heavy damage to my power plant long before my AFMUs would have run out of resources or malfunctioned. If it were somehow possible to repair your power plant then I would definitely go with a dual AFMU setup again.
 

Scoopy Doopy

Scoopy Doopy
Stealthie said:
I'm considering rebuilding my AspX as a proper exploration ship and doing a spot of off-roading (I was thinking of visiting Polaris).

I am wondering how far most explorers go with regard to self-sufficiency in ship maintenance.
Obviously, it's worth taking a pair of SRVs rather than just 1 but is it necessary to pack an AFMU and go hunting for material for it?

Or do most explorers not bother with that, and just rely on not accidentally flying into any suns or crash-landing on planet surfaces?

I've only had a quick play with the AFMU and, TBH, I found it very confusing and gave up.
Also, I've no real experience with synthesising stuff.
So, if this stuff IS going to be necessary, I guess a decent guide would come in handy. [up]

Beyond that, any other tips for an AspX explorer build would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

I circumnavigated the galaxy with an AspX. I only had one SRV which I didn't need because i didn't use any jumponium but I enjoyed having the SRV. I had only one AFMU which I didn't use.

I did have two heat sink launchers though and for me, these actually did come in handy.

Currently somewhere out in the core with an Anaconda and no AFMU or SRV. I do have a fighter though which although completely useless, is fun to have a bit of a fly about in from time to time.
 
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WR3ND

WR3ND
Thetele said:
...

Yeah AMFUs aren't needed, but they: A) they don't have weight B) you should fill all slots with something to absorb damage. There is no reason to not fill every extra slot with AFMU. And today with neutron star boost/high way, AFMUs are nice thing to have.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's why I have them on the Cobra build there – "might as well," basically.

I am kind of wondering about putting an SRV on it instead of the module reinforcement though, in the off chance exploration gets some more compelling content this year while I'm out near Beagle Point. Would be kind of a pain to switch out ship loadouts then... ;)
 

CMDR ANCALAGON

C
I have bee out of the bubble for two weeks now. I am just entering the core and have been doing some neutron farming, and I have used my AFMU to repair my FSD twice now (I don't let it get below 85%). I always throttle down during the jumps, but there have been two occasions where I entered systems with a massive white dwarf and I was so close to the exclusion zone that I was dropped out of SC before I could turn (sometimes it seems like it is a bit slow on slowing down). The AFMU comes in handy, and it is better to have it and not need it than the other way around.

I also had a couple of heat sinks that I used pretty early in the trip and have been doing fine without them, but now that I am carying a massive amout of exploration data in close proximity to neutrons and white dwarfs, I whish I had more.

SRV is a must, regardless if you intend/need to collect materials or not. I find that being able to land and shred some terrain in my SRV really helps break of the monotony after hours of exploring. In fact, should I lose my SRV I would probably turn for the bubble, even if I haven't made it to SAG A yet.

The SRV may save you if you get stranded in a system and too low on fuel to jump to the next scoopable and are im need of materials to boost your FSD.
Of course, I won't make this trip again without a mining laser....
 

WR3ND

WR3ND
CMDR ANCALAGON said:
...
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I got used to exploring without an SRV before Horizons came out and took a trip out to Sgr A in 3301. I like exploring world surfaces from a ship just fine too now though. I just don't really care for the gamey feel of the SRV so much. I also don't farm neutron stars, nor cherry pick anything really. It did take me about a year and a half to get the Elite explorer rank though. To each their own.

It is a lot easier now though with route plotting based on star types now than it was. No need to worry about using an extra fuel tank on my Vulture now, for example, nor accidentally running into a black hole or neutron star if your hull is getting lower than you might prefer. It just depends how you want to go about it and what you want to do, I suppose.

Technically passenger missions are likely the most efficient way of "exploring" in the game now anyway. Just race out to wherever they want you to go, honk-jumping along the way. This can actually make jump range more important as you'll be able to complete passenger missions faster. Traditionally, jump range didn't actually really matter all that much. Having a capable fuel scoop was more important overall.

So, yeah... It depends on what you want to do and how you go about exploring.

...

I think I will go with an SRV now though, just in case... https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/cob...gYGkU2CDAyMf/79BwIAKeRVqSYAAAA=&bn=The Ranger
 
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WR3ND

WR3ND
Devari said:
Going exploring without an AFMU is sort of like driving a car on a rough road without a spare tire. You WILL eventually get a flat if you drive on that road long enough and without a way to repair or replace your tire you are either going to be limping home very slowly or not getting home at all.

...
Click to expand...

For me that "flat" would be after many hundreds of thousands of light years though (not an exaggeration), especially now with star type route plotting. For me, if I have extra room for the AFMU, might as well add it on. Otherwise it's really not necessary.
 
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goemon

goemon
i'm flying a DBE for distances below 15k ly one way. i have a srv, and so no internal for an afmu. generally the afmu is just a second safety net (like a heatsink), if you don't do neutronstarboosting.

i think the main horror is a continouisly malfunctioning fsd below 80℅ integrity.

i haven't used up even a single afmu on my conda on any trip, and with jaques "around the corner" of sag a, you have on most routes a repair "close by".
 

Snooch leBooch

Snooch leBooch
Had the same train of thoughts when planning the long range Asp. Did waste a cargo rack just for whiskey. Needed for the looooong endless nights out there. Developed a love/hate relationship with factor needtogettherenow vs. needtoexploreasmuchaspossible. Found that was the only thing that i didn't like. So it had to go. Now i simply don't care anymore. Freedom.*

*I'm a passionate explorer that goes absolutely mad with the solitude/repetition, so i bring along things to entertain me. In the 'conda i took both fighter and SRV, but the ASPX isn't the kind of horse for that race (internals). A d-rated ship with Heatsink and SRV, also A-thrusters and a size 6 scoop and 1afmu, were enough (+ the mandatory sacrifice to goddess fel. da faarseer el wrinklefaceovich) to let me enjoy the trip (50kly's round). Max range was 40ly.
It seems like all things regarding an explo-ASP build have been expertly covered, so i'd have nothing to add there except for one thing i haven't seen mentioned, "the highway". https://www.spansh.co.uk/ - edit:except for when zenith shamelessy ninja'd this while i was typing :D
I like to at least have the option to speed things up, that's what neutron's are for (~300% range for 1% ind fsd integrity). So, IF you plan on using those, or do rely on your AFMU a bit too much, or are prone to "aaaaaah, want to be home now " moments - take and AFMU and reserve some time to gather materials for it's ammo- synthesize-ation ..thing (sorry, not a native and that word gave me a cerebral cataclysm). The time "won" is arguably not higher than the time for normal travel without the gathering mats part.. still, it breaks up the monotony of deep space nghhhhhh arrrr whaaaaaa <- (we talk about that when u get there :D )
 
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