Newcomer / Intro I think I have broken my new Cobra

I think I have been a silly boy

I decided to make some "upgrades" to my new Cobra. I fiddled with the power unit, the FSD, fitted two canons and a fuel scoop.

BUT.... when I took her out on her maiden voyage (a light freight run) she literally broke down! When I tried to fly off to my destination she refused to move at all unless I took my lasers off line. Apparently I have exceeded my power requirements.

I have fiddled a bit more and now she does fly and fire lasers at the same time but something still seems wrong.

I have become aware that I am daft to have gone messing about with things that I an not well versed in :eek:, so to that end.....

Can someone please explain to me the rating system applied to the ship parts. I get that an A rated part is better (if heavier) than a B rated part but..... is an A2 power unit better than a B3 or vice versa? :S

And what is a good fit for an Exploration Cobra bearing in mind that this CMDR has only 70,000cr to his nam atm?
 
The higher the component E>B the more power it consumes (generaly) so by fitting it out you have exceeded the capacity. In outfitting, as you are buying things you can see how much power you will use in total. As you havve found out you can fiddle with the priority. So when you have your harpoints out you cant use the FSD so make that priority 2. If you aren't carrying cargo you don't need to worry about the cargo hatch so make that 2 as well.

For exploring I tend to get rid if weapons and make sure my power supply is just good enough to power everything. And most components class D because they have relatively low mass.
 
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is an A2 power unit better than a B3 or vice versa

The number indicates the size of the unit. You generally always want the biggest size that you can fit into your available slot. A power unit that is a smaller size will provide significantly less power than the larger size units, even if it is A class.

The letter indicates quality, where A is best. B and D are special classes, because B is "heavy" and D is "light".

Your A2 power supply will be inadequate, as you've discovered. There are reasons for going for smaller sized units, but they are normally for specific loadouts where you are trying to vastly economise on weight, for example.
 
Try this for exploring?

[Cobra Mk III]

BH: 1I Lightweight Alloy
RB: 3D Power Plant
TM: 4D Thrusters
FH: 4A Frame Shift Drive
EC: 3D Life Support
PC: 2D Power Distributor
SS: 3D Sensors
FS: 4C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 16)

4: 1D Auto Field-Maintenance Unit
4: 4D Fuel Scoop
4: 2D Shield Cell Bank
2: 1C Advanced Discovery Scanner
2: 1C Detailed Surface Scanner

I have no idea how much this would cost. You would have power to spare for some weapons as it only uses 84% of the available power.
 
Hey OP,
You already know modules go from E (worst) to A (best) in terms of power output/usage, but generally B is the heaviest, D is the lightest, A and C weigh the same.

The number is the size, so an A3 power plant is bigger and heavier than an A2 but it also has a higher power output so can power more systems. You need to balance the total power output of your power plant with the usage of the modules and weapons you fit. Power usage is shown at the top of the bottom right graphic in the outfitting screen.

The video shows how to use module power priorities to arrange thigns so that you can run module with more power requirements than your power plant has power supply.
[video=youtube;he7XWX-LsB4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he7XWX-LsB4[/video]

You can go exploring in any ship but you want to invest in your frame shift drive to get the greatest range. The most cost effective explorer is the Hauler, although while more expensive the Cobra is great and can outrun pirates!
Nutter's guide explains how to set up for exploration: click here


Ninja'd by lots of others but hope this helps and good luck :)
 
Try this for exploring?

[Cobra Mk III]

BH: 1I Lightweight Alloy
RB: 3D Power Plant
TM: 4D Thrusters
FH: 4A Frame Shift Drive
EC: 3D Life Support
PC: 2D Power Distributor
SS: 3D Sensors
FS: 4C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 16)

4: 1D Auto Field-Maintenance Unit
4: 4D Fuel Scoop
4: 2D Shield Cell Bank
2: 1C Advanced Discovery Scanner
2: 1C Detailed Surface Scanner

I have no idea how much this would cost. You would have power to spare for some weapons as it only uses 84% of the available power.

Why do you have a shield cell bank with no shields? ;)

Advanced discovery scanner is 1.5m, Detailed surface scanner is 250k, 4A frameshift drive is 1.5m.
You could use an A2 powerplant for lower weight and 3D shield generator for lightweight shields.
 
Why do you have a shield cell bank with no shields? ;)

Advanced discovery scanner is 1.5m, Detailed surface scanner is 250k, 4A frameshift drive is 1.5m.
You could use an A2 powerplant for lower weight and 3D shield generator for lightweight shields.

Oops. Wrong option. That should be shields (I'm supposed to be at work so I rushed that a bit).
 
4D Fuel Scoop and no weapons ? Thats Pirate fodder. No weapons is fine in the Void, but getting out there, especially when you have to sit around scooping for minutes at every star, is just asking to not make it home.
Until you have a top notch explorer, I would not recommend going unarmed. I can, but my Asp is refueled (7m Cr fuel scoop) and charging the FSD within 15-20 seconds of arrival, so I am gone before they have put their coffee down.
Exploring requires the biggest, baddest, eye wateringly expensive fuel scoop you can cram into your ship.

Local exploring is a perfectly good job, but you need to be multi-roled, not kitted like a butterfly.
 
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Oops. Wrong option. That should be shields (I'm supposed to be at work so I rushed that a bit).
:)

4D Fuel Scoop and no weapons ? Thats Pirate fodder. No weapons is fine in the Void, but getting out there, especially when you have to sit around scooping for minutes at every star, is just asking to not make it home.
Until you have a top notch explorer, I would not recommend going unarmed. I can, but my Asp is refueled (7m Cr fuel scoop) and charging the FSD within 15-20 seconds of arrival, so I am gone before they have put their coffee down.
Exploring requires the biggest, baddest, eye wateringly expensive fuel scoop you can cram into your ship.

Local exploring is a perfectly good job, but you need to be multi-roled, not kitted like a butterfly.
OP, take notice of the pirate fodder bit, hence why I mentioned the Cobra being able to outrun them. No weapons is fine as long as you can get away, a D4 thurster Cobra is fast enough to run from any NPC.

Re the fuel scoop though, I don't think there's any point upgrading until you have the cash to spare. Cheap fuel scoops are slower but you just need to be more patient and have a keen eye on the scanner to make sure you don't get interdicted in the meantime. If you head out more than 5-600ly away from inhabited systems you won't see any NPCs.
 
:)


OP, take notice of the pirate fodder bit, hence why I mentioned the Cobra being able to outrun them. No weapons is fine as long as you can get away, a D4 thurster Cobra is fast enough to run from any NPC.

Re the fuel scoop though, I don't think there's any point upgrading until you have the cash to spare. Cheap fuel scoops are slower but you just need to be more patient and have a keen eye on the scanner to make sure you don't get interdicted in the meantime. If you head out more than 5-600ly away from inhabited systems you won't see any NPCs.

I've been interdicted whilst local scouting far too often to fly without some fire power in my pocket. I think if memory serves, I have a fairly average mid-range scoop but have been less clever with my FSD / power unit / distributer combo me thinks
 
4D Fuel Scoop and no weapons ? Thats Pirate fodder. No weapons is fine in the Void, but getting out there, especially when you have to sit around scooping for minutes at every star, is just asking to not make it home.
Until you have a top notch explorer, I would not recommend going unarmed. I can, but my Asp is refueled (7m Cr fuel scoop) and charging the FSD within 15-20 seconds of arrival, so I am gone before they have put their coffee down.
Exploring requires the biggest, baddest, eye wateringly expensive fuel scoop you can cram into your ship.

Local exploring is a perfectly good job, but you need to be multi-roled, not kitted like a butterfly.

All very true and good points. However on my most recent trip, setting off from near the outer edge of human control, I saw no one on my way out. For the first hundred light years it was just jump and go. Beyond that I started scanning and it took me hours to get even 700ly from Sol. I may have been lucky but it seems they have scaled back the interdictions in the zone around the populated bubble.

That build was only a basic set up. It would need to be tweaked for individual needs/budget and you could fit some weapons without too much reduction in jump range.

My plan (in my super Asp) is to scoop, run and pray.
 
I'm quite happy with my 6D scoop (not even half a million) on my way to Sag A* and usually fueled up before I finished checking the map and writing down the system name, and that's without pushing it to its limits. Paying 28 million for 6A (or even 7 for a 6B) so I could top up an empty tank roughly twice as fast doesn't and didn't seem worth the money, to be honest.

The NPC interdiction rate is way down. I remember returning from the Coal Sack in my Cobra two months ago, and I got interdicted in every single system. Not that it mattered, fast enough to submit and outrun as a Cobra is.

Ever since the last update, however, I have not seen a single NPC in the badlands. (Or any uninhabited system, for that matter.)
 
I'm quite happy with my 6D scoop (not even half a million) on my way to Sag A* and usually fueled up before I finished checking the map and writing down the system name, and that's without pushing it to its limits. Paying 28 million for 6A (or even 7 for a 6B) so I could top up an empty tank roughly twice as fast doesn't and didn't seem worth the money, to be honest.

The NPC interdiction rate is way down. I remember returning from the Coal Sack in my Cobra two months ago, and I got interdicted in every single system. Not that it mattered, fast enough to submit and outrun as a Cobra is.

Ever since the last update, however, I have not seen a single NPC in the badlands. (Or any uninhabited system, for that matter.)

I keep on meaning to get around to writing my "How to travel fast" guide (2Kly/hr), but I keep finding myself playing the game instead. Stupid game.
 
I keep on meaning to get around to writing my "How to travel fast" guide (2Kly/hr), but I keep finding myself playing the game instead. Stupid game.

I keep on meaning to do a lot of other stuff (anybody seen my kids?), but keep finding myself playing the game. :)

That's... fast. Do you scan anything on the way? I'm restricting myself to really interesting stuff, but I still need at least 1:15-1:30 for 1,000 lightyears. (And no, I can't blame the scoop for that, I just watched it carefully in the last two hours. :) )
 
No worries, I just want to get there before the Easter holidays start. :)

@Dommarra: I did a short test and the math, just for the fun of it - artificially lowering my jump range (I have an empty cargo rack for that), my Asp could probably manage those speeds, even with a D6 scoop (15-20 seconds are enough for a slightly reduced fast route jump). Unless she gets stuck in witchspace for longer than usual. But for exploration purposes, it would be hard to squeeze in the surface scan of the main star alone, so it kind of defeats the purpose of being out here. :)
 
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