I'm An Idiot: Ruined My Exploration
- Thread starter Hepatic
- Start date
Hello OP. There's a lot of good advice and options in this thread. I would emphasize this - we are barely a quarter into the outward trip to Beagle. So if you did decide to return to the bubble and kit out a ship with a long-ish jump range you could still catch up and enjoy the majority of the expedition. You probably have the cash now from your cartographic data to fit an exploration optimized build. With a good scattering of stations between the bubble and Polo Harbour you could utilize neutron boosts (with regular FSD repairs at those stations) to get yourself back to Polo Harbour and thereafter catch up with the fleet.
I would also say this - jump range is not the be or end all. I'm in a 35Ly range Type 9 and I have squeezed in a side excursion to Colonia (with liberal use of neutron boosts). I'm having a blast so far. So don't give up!
I would also say this - jump range is not the be or end all. I'm in a 35Ly range Type 9 and I have squeezed in a side excursion to Colonia (with liberal use of neutron boosts). I'm having a blast so far. So don't give up!
A hauler will still do 30-35 with bump shields and no SRV. You can make a T6 do similar.
30 is plenty for exploration, I also had a T9 around 30. My first trip to the core was in an unengineered T6 jumping about 32ly.
We’ve been spoiled by the 45-50 average these days lol
30 is plenty for exploration, I also had a T9 around 30. My first trip to the core was in an unengineered T6 jumping about 32ly.
We’ve been spoiled by the 45-50 average these days lol
Yeah, my original trip out to Sag A*, my pre-Engineering, pre-Guardian tech Anaconda was comfortably managing a little over 30ly.
This is very true. Remember, the route has been planned out specifically to be accessible to all, not just those with 60 or 70Ly ranges. I think the minimum, provided you have a bit of jumponium, is about 20Ly. There's no reason at all for anyone to feel they haven't a place on this trip with a less than spectacular range.
I started with a 66ly jump range phantom and the biggest draw back i found was i wasn't hitting enough systems. I kept on reading in in-game chat and on here that people were selling 50 to 100 million cred data. i was selling 20 million creds.....
...why am i not getting those big figures....oh wait im only doing 20 to 40 jumps per WP. so i turned off the Guardian booster and reduced my jump range in the GalMap and i started racking up the data and then started collecting the money.
So....jump range is not the be all.
back to the OP's plight. If it was me and i was in that situation i would take the sidey suicide, get myself back to the bubble and kit out a DBX (cheapest exploship) with the Guardian booster. remember we have a week of no move at WP7, so time wise, you can get back now, unlock a few engineers to get some modules upgraded, go to the Guardian site and get the booster and once your happy with your range get yourself back out. easily done in the 3 weeks until we leave Sag A* and move into the deep black.
...why am i not getting those big figures....oh wait im only doing 20 to 40 jumps per WP. so i turned off the Guardian booster and reduced my jump range in the GalMap and i started racking up the data and then started collecting the money.
So....jump range is not the be all.
back to the OP's plight. If it was me and i was in that situation i would take the sidey suicide, get myself back to the bubble and kit out a DBX (cheapest exploship) with the Guardian booster. remember we have a week of no move at WP7, so time wise, you can get back now, unlock a few engineers to get some modules upgraded, go to the Guardian site and get the booster and once your happy with your range get yourself back out. easily done in the 3 weeks until we leave Sag A* and move into the deep black.
If you have materials or the ability to harvest them, you could do the entirety of DW2 with a ~17ly jump range. I took a 19ly ship, and just recently reached Colonia. Depending on how long I stay in the area, I may try to catch up with what I've got, or just loop back to the bubble.
Anyway, I'm sure you'll be able to cobble together a usable ship at Colonia. Outfitting isn't great, but once you find an A rated FSD, you can just build a ship around it.
Ha, I'm doing ~300.
Anyway, I'm sure you'll be able to cobble together a usable ship at Colonia. Outfitting isn't great, but once you find an A rated FSD, you can just build a ship around it.
Ha, I'm doing ~300.
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Turn off the booster to plot the route, then turn it back on to reduce fuel consumption. Just sayin'...
Damn OP, that hurts 
Glad to hear you haven't chucked it all in and are keeping going! You definitely have the makings of a true explorer! And just remember - all those of us that went out exploring pre-engineers didn't have much better than what you've managed to scrounge together in Colonia!
Pre-engineering, AspX or Anaconda could get you the best range IIRC. Possibly the DBX? You won't find the modules for an Anaconda in Colonia, but for sure you can kit out a DBX or AspX for exploration there.
As for not being able to unlock the local Engineers, that is a long-standing bugbear I have. The decisions the Devs make are sometimes completely unfathomable and very player unfriendly for no good (or at least no explained) in game or lore reason.
Glad to hear you haven't chucked it all in and are keeping going! You definitely have the makings of a true explorer! And just remember - all those of us that went out exploring pre-engineers didn't have much better than what you've managed to scrounge together in Colonia!Pre-engineering, AspX or Anaconda could get you the best range IIRC. Possibly the DBX? You won't find the modules for an Anaconda in Colonia, but for sure you can kit out a DBX or AspX for exploration there.
As for not being able to unlock the local Engineers, that is a long-standing bugbear I have. The decisions the Devs make are sometimes completely unfathomable and very player unfriendly for no good (or at least no explained) in game or lore reason.
I took a detour to Colonia to only discover that you need to unlock several bubble engineers first.
Another slice of fdev stupidity.
Colonia should have one engineer similair to Felicity Farseer with who you by default have access.
Absolutely agree. This makes a lot more sense
Elvira and Liz are easy enough to unlock. And you don't get access to Felicity "By default", you still need to unlock her, meaning a trip out to the Pleiades, to pick up meta-alloys and also for a freshly starting player enough exploration data to get the minimum exploration rank to get an invitation to her, which will get you 300ly from the start and get you an invite to Elvira, who then just needs 3 Soontill relics you can pick up back in the bubble. Pin an FSD blueprint at Elvira and whatever you want at Felicity, engineer your drive, and you're all good for heading out to Colonia and unlocking Mel.
Maybe swing by Eurybia and unlock Liz (just do some donations to the local factions to get an invite, you don't even need to do actual "mission" missions.) then drop in to her with some landmines in your cargo bay, and you're set for learning about Etienne Dorn.
Maybe swing by Eurybia and unlock Liz (just do some donations to the local factions to get an invite, you don't even need to do actual "mission" missions.) then drop in to her with some landmines in your cargo bay, and you're set for learning about Etienne Dorn.
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I still think self-destructing back to the bubble and fitting out something with an A-rated FSD would work. The difference between an unengineered 5B and 5A in a DBX is about 7 ly, which will make all the difference in the world when we get to the Abyss. With a 5B, your 30 LY jump range will require you to either detour way out to the Roncevaux Crossing or have a lot of jump boosts. A 37 LY DBX with a 5A FSD will let you cross directly with no jump boosts. Travel-time-wise, you'd be 24 kly from the main fleet, which is about 12 hours of flying in a 37 LY ship - less if you use the neutron superhighway, but you might not be comfortable with the risk. Looking at the route we've flown so far, we've been averaging 5-6 kly a week for the expedition, so if you assume you won't make it back to Sag A* in time to depart it with the rest of the fleet, you're probably looking at 30 kly until the next waypoint a week later. That brings your flight time up to 15 hours, but you can spread that out over 10 days.
If you're in the FleetComm discord, look for CMDR May. She had an accident during the original DW quite a ways beyond Sag A* and ended up back in the bubble. She fitted out a new Asp Explorer and flew out in time to meet us all before we reached Beagle Point. This, by the way, was back before engineering and before neutron boosting, so she was probably running with something like a 34 LY fitting. And DW1 flew at a faster rate than DW2. So if she could do it, you can do it. Don't think of it as "I'm an idiot who ruined my expedition", think of it as "I now have an epic story in the making!". Space-mad Hepatic, they'll call you. High speed ghost of the Abyss...
If you're in the FleetComm discord, look for CMDR May. She had an accident during the original DW quite a ways beyond Sag A* and ended up back in the bubble. She fitted out a new Asp Explorer and flew out in time to meet us all before we reached Beagle Point. This, by the way, was back before engineering and before neutron boosting, so she was probably running with something like a 34 LY fitting. And DW1 flew at a faster rate than DW2. So if she could do it, you can do it. Don't think of it as "I'm an idiot who ruined my expedition", think of it as "I now have an epic story in the making!". Space-mad Hepatic, they'll call you. High speed ghost of the Abyss...
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Hopefully the OP has had time to get a lot done while we've all been out here near Sag A* shooting at rocks.