I suppose I am hooked now

[Duckfat]

You did a bit of a number on the paint job there.

Work your way up to an ASP and then get yourself out there. ASP scout is ok as well if you can't afford an explorer. Just anything that lets you have a decent scoop(you don't want to spend hours fuel scooping), SRV bay, and maintenance unit. Actually decent fuel scoops are expensive as well.

Do a few runs to Ceos and Sothis. You'll have the 40 million or so you need for a decent ASP setup in no time.

 

[Codger]

Nice job. Love the pics. I have an exploration T6 and it's a wonderful ship. Flies great, scoops fast, jumps far, and has a great view.

 

[Major Klutz]

Also Class of 1984 here.
I would have killed to play this game in '84 but I don't think my Commodore 64 could have handled the graphics

Oh, and ranking up with the Empire is super easy and quick at the moment but probably not so easy after the patch.
Stacking quick planetary scan missions at Millerport in the Quince system.
I went from nothing to Baron in a couple of days and made ~300 million while I was doing it.
https://youtu.be/IynELHNqh0w I was really there for the money, the empire rank was just a bonus.

 

[Jon474]

Welcome home, Cmdr.

This is the set-up of my un-modded Type-6E on Coriolis. She has travelled to BP and is half-way back as of today. Great performance from the ship.

Fly happy
Jon
Type-6E

 

[Major Klutz]

I've heard the Type-6 runs Hot.
Do you have heat problems when fuel scooping?

 

[Jon474]

I've heard the Type-6 runs Hot.
Do you have heat problems when fuel scooping?

I see this on the forums now and again (about temperatures on the T-6) but no, I don't have a problem with them. I usually scoop between 50 and 68 and rarely see temps above 70 unless I carelessly scrape the surface of the star! In normal flight she runs in the 40s and that's mainly because I fly with shields active.

She's a cool-running ship (in my view).

Flying happy
Jon
Type-6E

 

[Major Klutz]

Cool is a relative term. My DBE and my Anaconda both run at ~20% idle (with shields on) and stable at 61-63% at max fuel scoop range.

Is it stable when scooping? It doesn't continue to slowly heat up if you stay there?
I have a courier that I can't scoop for too long with as she continues to heat up.

 

[Jon474]

Cool is a relative term. My DBE and my Anaconda both run at ~20% idle (with shields on) and stable at 61-63% at max fuel scoop range.

Is it stable when scooping? It doesn't continue to slowly heat up if you stay there?
I have a courier that I can't scoop for too long with as she continues to heat up.

Ah, yes, then my temps would seem to be a bit hotter than that! I never have any problems operating within the T-6's scooping temperature range.

I have just carried out an experiment of diving (slowly) at the star until the point of max refueling rate was reached. Maximum temperature at this point was 64, and this seemed to be a stable temp. I stuck around for a few mins at this range...no change in temperature when stationary. Temp rose to 71 as I turned upwards and pulled away. Tried a second time...temps to 69...and rising. So, maybe a weak spot. The way I fly the T-6 seems to get me around this problem.

Warming up nicely
Jon
Type-6E

 

[Duckfat]

Turn your shields off. Makes a big difference temperature wise. Don't need them once out of the bubble, except for landing.

 

[Jantah]

The T6 is one of the top choices for explorers, so I am sure it will perform excellent! It's more about the feeling though, which I have to discover by simply flying it. The Hauler is not exactly perfect for exploration, but I enjoy it a lot: knowing its strengths, and improvise, be careful and surve around the weak spots.

First goal is set: the VY Canis Majoris hypergiant, ~1800 Ly from Sol: race from the bubble until I encounter untagged systems and than take it slow from there on. That should keep me and the T6 happy for a while.

For the long term: working my way up the Imperial ladder to get a Courier. Perhaps get a Vulture for that. I like to have a back-up plan in case a certain type of gameplay starts to bore me, so I can switch over.

 

[Jantah]

Well, well, just back from the first test run with the T6. After the Hauler, this is almost too easy. Shields make landing that much less stressful and AFMU's to keep the ship in top nick.

Destination for this trip was VY Canis Majoris (Red Supergiant, ~1800 LY out). Been there, got the pictures

(over 5000 Ls away, still scooping)

So, after that, I dropped down from the plane and see how low I could go. Then plotted a course back to the bubble. Meanwhile, 2.3 dropped and I still don't quite got the hang of the camera suite, so only cockpit screenshots from here.

Found this: nothing special, but this is my first untagged ELW!

And further on, to top things off, two ringed waterworlds:

Back in the bubble, with the 2.3 boost of payouts, this little trip got me 20 mil.


The numbers:

Total hyperspace distance: 6,699.06 Ly (176 jumps, 174 systems)

Exploration data value: 14,242,655 Cr + 5,789,668 Cr bonus

Max distance from Sol: 2,181.69 Ly
Max below the galactic plane: -1,343 Ly
Max above the galactic plane: -55 Ly

534 bodies scanned

Stars (191):
    M                   56
    K                   53
    F                   20
    G                   19
    TTS                 18
    A                   11
    Y                    5
    L                    4
    B                    3
    K_OrangeGiant        1
    M_RedSuperGiant      1

Planetary bodies (343):
    Rocky body                             92
    High metal content body                83
    Icy body                               76
    Sudarsky class I gas giant             31
    Sudarsky class III gas giant           16
    Water world                            14
    Rocky ice body                         10
    Metal rich body                         9
    Gas giant with water based life         4
    Sudarsky class IV gas giant             3
    Sudarsky class II gas giant             2
    Gas giant with ammonia based life       2
    Earthlike body                          1