Finished my first longer Trip

[Mikura]

Well, Horizon just hit and wanted to try out the Cobra MK4 as an Explorer.
Went a bit overboard with the Loadout:

Spoiler

[Cobra Mk IV]M: 2F/G Multi-cannon
M: 2F/G Multi-cannon
S: 1G/G Pulse Laser
S: 1G/G Pulse Laser
S: 1G/G Pulse Laser
U: 0I Chaff Launcher
U: 0A Shield Booster


BH: 1I Lightweight Alloy
RB: 4A Power Plant
TM: 4A Thrusters
FH: 4A Frame Shift Drive
EC: 3D Life Support
PC: 3A Power Distributor
SS: 3D Sensors
FS: 4C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 16)


4: 4A Shield Generator
4: 4A Fuel Scoop
4: 4B Shield Cell Bank
4: 4E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 16)
3: 3E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 8)
3: 2G Planetary Vehicle Hangar
2: 1C Advanced Discovery Scanner
2: 1C Detailed Surface Scanner

Was fun to fly but didnt need that much of defense so i think i will change the Loadout to this:

Spoiler

[Cobra Mk IV]S: 1G/G Pulse Laser
S: 1G/G Pulse Laser
S: 1G/G Pulse Laser
U: 0I Heat Sink Launcher
U: 0A Shield Booster


BH: 1I Lightweight Alloy
RB: 4A Power Plant
TM: 4A Thrusters
FH: 4A Frame Shift Drive
EC: 3D Life Support
PC: 3A Power Distributor
SS: 3D Sensors
FS: 4C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 16)


4: 4D Shield Generator
4: 4A Fuel Scoop
4: 4A Auto Field-Maintenance Unit
4: 4E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 16)
3: 3A Auto Field-Maintenance Unit
3: 2G Planetary Vehicle Hangar
2: 1C Advanced Discovery Scanner
2: 1C Detailed Surface Scanner

Want to keep a few Weapons around, could tone down the Powerplant, Distributor and Thrusters but doesnt make that much difference in Jumprange.
I kinda want to keep the A-Grade Thrusters because the MK4 is heavy and sluggish, had some rough Landings on higher G Worlds.


So where did i Travel you might Wonder, well to the probably most visited Place in Space the Maia or Pleiades Nebula.
Stayed there for maybe a Week and visited all Systems in a 20LY Bubble around Maia.

Did find quite a few Water Worlds, Jovians with Water and Ammonia based Life, an abundance of High Metal Content Worlds, the Black Hole in Maia but Sadly no Earth-like or Candidates for Terra-forming.

Sadly didnt find many cool sites for Screenshots, excepts maybe a binary Pair thats about to kiss but since there was posted a Picture recently and mine looked similar i didnt take one, but speaking of kissing:

Meet the Beauty and the Beast which one is which i let decide for yourself



As i headed back i stumbled across Twins of white T-Tauri Stars



Actually it was 4 of them



And this is me finishing the last Surface Mission and preparing for the final Journey Home with the Nebula in the Background




And now im deciding where i want to go next with that ship

 

[Arnoldo]

Grats on completing the trip. How did you find exploring? What you expected / hoped for? Are you going to head out on a longer jaunt? Another DW volunteer?

 

[Mikura]

Did some exploring in the early Days in a Sidewinder with the Basic Scanner, was fun at first but you did miss quite a lot, and if you headed out for a wild goose chase couse u thought that little dot just moved a bit and ended up 900k+ ls out from the Star and nothing was there it was disappointing even looking at Planets the same Textures over and over.

Horizons changed that, ill admit there are still boring passages where you jump, honk, scan and repeat, but now if you find an interesting System its actually worth looking closer at the Planets (at least the Land-able ones) with different Terrain features and you can decide to go down there.

Was a bit disappointed by the Black Hole, the distortion effect is cool, but i imagined something different like an Accretion disc and such

I was stuck with Bounty Hunting until now, now i can see me going out there for longer but i might want to get another Ship for that couse i would take ages before i arrive somewhere (i have the habit of scanning everything just for the sense of 100% in System even the Asteroid Belts no matter how far out). I have no Problem taking my sweet Time once im where i want to be, but en route to that location i dont want spend too much time but dont want to miss out on anything either. See the Problem here?

 

[Arnoldo]

Did some exploring in the early Days in a Sidewinder with the Basic Scanner, was fun at first but you did miss quite a lot, and if you headed out for a wild goose chase couse u thought that little dot just moved a bit and ended up 900k+ ls out from the Star and nothing was there it was disappointing even looking at Planets the same Textures over and over.

Horizons changed that, ill admit there are still boring passages where you jump, honk, scan and repeat, but now if you find an interesting System its actually worth looking closer at the Planets (at least the Land-able ones) with different Terrain features and you can decide to go down there.

Was a bit disappointed by the Black Hole, the distortion effect is cool, but i imagined something different like an Accretion disc and such

I was stuck with Bounty Hunting until now, now i can see me going out there for longer but i might want to get another Ship for that couse i would take ages before i arrive somewhere (i have the habit of scanning everything just for the sense of 100% in System even the Asteroid Belts no matter how far out). I have no Problem taking my sweet Time once im where i want to be, but en route to that location i dont want spend too much time but dont want to miss out on anything either. See the Problem here?

Its the Explorers quandary - scan all? Some? Which? How far is far enough? Wait, wasn't I going somewhere in a hurry?