First Exploration Journey

Viking2010 · May 10, 2015

Hi

I've been playing solo for some time, slowly building up credits as I don't always get long to play each day. But I've worked my way up from the Sidey to an Adder, and now a Cobra MkIII. I've fitted it out for what I believe is good for an exploration build (see below) but happy to take some advice on the build.

One thing I am a little unsure of (as I've not had this problem yet) is getting too close to a star and dropping out of SC. Would it be a case of dropping a heat sink then charge the FSD and go, or should I turn off modules (does that even reduce heat??). I heard the better the power distributor you have the better it manages heat, so should I upgrade that to A rated gear??

My only other question now is which direction to point the ship! (I know it's up to me lol!!) It seems every man and his dog go to the core systems in search of the black hole at the centre of the galaxy, so I'm not going there! Thinking of heading towards the Heart and Soul Nebulea, about 7.5k LY away. It seems far enough away for a bit of exploration!

Oh sorry, one last question, when out exploring, when you log off is it best to get a safe distance from any planetary/solar object and log out or doesn't it matter where you are?

Thanks in advance!

gooddoc · May 10, 2015

Always throttle down to zero while your ship is jumping, so when you enter the next system your ship will then stop. I always make sure that im watching & then i nose away from the star then go to 25% throttle to fuel scoop.
Some binaries will (you know what) you up as you see 2 or 3 suns shooting towards you, but you should quickly get used to jumping.

Just decide where to go & plot. I would suggest going to a nearby Nebula on first trip to tune in your skills.

i always log off about 10LSs away from any body in a system.

One thing to make sure you take is an Auto Field Maintainence Uor 2, for those little accidents, Iv yet to take heat sinks though

Feldspar · May 10, 2015

I'm not sure what you are intending to do with those lasers, I know some people prefer to have a little bit of offensive capacity just in case, but if it is something you can kill with a couple of tiny pulse lasers you might as well just move away from it, without weapons you can put four pips in engine without worrying about hampering anything . Losing the lasers and maybe dropping the shield a class might mean you can drop a class in the power plant.

People will tell you range is not everything, this is true, but ever been bored and wished to get somewhere just that bit quicker?

For peace of mind, just move away from a star so that your heat drops and don't park on orbit lines when logging off, I'm not saying either is necessary but better safe than kaboom.

Galten75 · May 10, 2015

Many will tell you to scrap the lasers. I myself is armed so you do as you wish in that question. Better fuelscoop is always nice, you will fuelscoop alot and the faster the better. I haven't had any use on my AFMU so if you are short on cash, that is optional.

As for logging of. Move away from nearby starts, no logging of in asteroid belts or on orbital lines. Other that that, you are golden.

Regarding destination, for trying exploration out. Go for the tourist spots nearby for the sight. Pleiades or Bernards Loop for example. You will not get a lot of First discoveries though. If you what to be first. Dive or ascend a few hundered Ly above the civ-space bubble. Chose a cool direction, and then go the opposite direction.

// G

iain666 · May 10, 2015

I'm currently 9 kylies out in a Cobra, similar setup, no weapons for nearly a whole extra ly on max range, doubt it makes a lot of difference. I've needed to drop to half tanks to get to a few places but (a) you could do the same on 40% tanks and (b) I could probably have gone round and got to where I was going from a different direction if I'd had to.

shapowitz · May 10, 2015

I would drop the lasers and get a better fuel scoop, My first explorere was a cobra and it went a little like this
http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=602,mpW0Wg,2-6u6u6Q5K5K5K6k,4_w0MC7RempT2jw2UI

Viking2010 · May 10, 2015

Cheers for the advice folks. Regarding the lasers, they are just the stock ones I still have equipped. Prior to the above build, I also had a couple of multi cannons as I tried my hand at a bit of bounty hunting, but I felt stuck in the same systems grinding for credits and the call of the black is strong. 400 billion stars and I want to go see them all lol!! So I think I just thought I'd bring the lasers along for a little piece of mind....but they'll barely scratch the surface of a well armed ship so I guess I could just remove them, especially given most interdictions I get, I run like hell away!

I'll take an affordable field maintenance unit with me just in case, but are the hull reinforcement modules worth it? They can be pretty heavy, but I'm planning on using the eco route finding method rather than the fastest route, so jump distance isn't so much an issue.

Feldspar · May 10, 2015

Hull reinforcements are not worth it, unless you intend for a lot of people to be shooting at you when you have no shields.

Don't be surprised if it takes forever to get anywhere using the eco route, I would suggest going max distance until you have got out of the interdiction zone at least.

Commander BLX · May 10, 2015

I would drop the pulse lasers also the heat sink launchers unless you’re hunting neutron stars!
Get the best fuel scoop possible.
Keep the hull alloy standard.
The Heart and Soul Nebulae are played out, you many need to travel a bit further to find undiscovered goodness.

Viking2010 · May 10, 2015

I've got a star plotted out that's almost 300 ly away from my current location, on the outskirts of civilization. This will be my last stop to repair before heading in to the infinite black. It would be nice to get some first discovered tags along the way but I'm not worried if I don't get any. Maybe by going an indirect way and heading down a path parallel to the heart and soul nebula rather than directly for it I'll come across some first discoveries!

Oh and I've just upgraded the fuel scoop to a 4B model. Can't afford the ridiculous price for the A class version! Lol

EddyRockSteady · May 10, 2015

Viking2010 said:
It would be nice to get some first discovered tags along the way

That's guaranteed.

I'm on my way back (16000LY to go) with 52000LY on the clock currently and I have run into three discovered systems. Think outside the box when travelling and you'll be golden. Start with diving deep (750LY or so) and then navigate to where you want to go. Or just chase shinies. Oh yes, steer well clear of the badlands (areas between spiral arms) if you can with that jump range.

Fair solar winds to you CMDR

DiddleDum · May 10, 2015

Viking2010 said:
Hi

One thing I am a little unsure of (as I've not had this problem yet) is getting too close to a star and dropping out of SC. Would it be a case of dropping a heat sink then charge the FSD and go, or should I turn off modules (does that even reduce heat??). I heard the better the power distributor you have the better it manages heat, so should I upgrade that to A rated gear??

My only other question now is which direction to point the ship! (I know it's up to me lol!!) It seems every man and his dog go to the core systems in search of the black hole at the centre of the galaxy, so I'm not going there! Thinking of heading towards the Heart and Soul Nebulea, about 7.5k LY away. It seems far enough away for a bit of exploration!

Oh sorry, one last question, when out exploring, when you log off is it best to get a safe distance from any planetary/solar object and log out or doesn't it matter where you are?

Thanks in advance!

The previous suggestions on zero throttle will take you far (and safely at that). I use mouse/kb, so I manually scroll the mouse wheel to zero throttle. But it works. CAUTION: Beware of distractions! TV is terrible for taking your eyes off the game, especially when traveling to a new system. It sucks to take your eyes off the game for just a second, only to realize you're barreling into a star at full throttle. That'll pop you out of SC quickly. And it hurts more with neutrons and white dwarfs. Fly safely and attentively, and you'll be fine.

If I do pop out of SC, I keep the star targeted and then turn 180. I use my compass to make sure I'm fully pointed away (and facing the escape vector when firing the FSD). The compass circle should be hollow and in the middle of the compass.

And for the last question, definitely give yourself some distance away from stars, planets, asteroid/ring belts, and orbit lines. I found out the hard way this week, parking somewhat close to an Earthlike World. I was 3k ly from the Great Annihilator, and was on my last leg to Sag A*. I logged in the next morning, and got the "Your ship has been destroyed". Over three weeks of exploration, and several thousand system scans were gone, just like that. Customer Support was kind enough to give me my ship back without rebuy cost, and even threw in two pages of scan data. But millions were lost, as well as a lot of time spent getting out there. All I have are the pictures (that's better than nothing).

And yes, I immediately took off again for Sag A*. I'll be a little more careful parking my ship this time!

Safe travels, CMDR!

Surly_Badger · May 10, 2015

Be prepared to feel small and insignificant!

Also: train yourself to never hit the FSD button if your temperature is over (X) (for me, X = 40%) without thinking about it especially hard.

"especially hard" means having your finger on the button to launch a heat sink, and taking a jump vector away from the star.

Viking2010 · May 10, 2015

Great advice folks. Thank you. I'll drop the guns at the last outpost on the edge of the colonised space then take the most obscure route I can to a few places of interest.

DiddleDum, that sucks you were so close and were destroyed.

It's a shame you can't jettison elements of your ship when in space. For example, if you've got a heat sink launcher and it's empty, then it's just wasting space and adding weight.