Imperial Explorer

[sequ]

There are many kind ships in game right now. Some of them are multipurpose, some specifically made for one role.

Cost of multipurpose, combat and traders ships lays in a wide range. You can upgrade step by step, almost in linear relation. Same do not goes for Exploration ships. I will talk about Long Range trips with 30LY+ jump range without any FSD Grade 5 upgrades, because you will not only need a daily runs in bubble, but a serious vast rift runs and you ship must be capable of doing this effectively.

Diamondback Explorer. Perfect quality-price ship.
Cost: 1.6 M Exploration Outfitting Costs: 14 M Jump Range ~ 33 LY

ASP Explorer. Must have candy. Used by army, that why dashboard looks like a piece of metal lecturing desk. But since it was using in intel, scout missions, ASP have his famous glassy cockpit with fantastic panoramic view.
Cost: 6 M Exploration Outfitting Costs: 17 M Jump Range ~ 33 LY

Anaconda. Main goal in game for some players. But look at the difference in costs. There must be something on a halfway from ASP to Anaconda.
Cost: 141 M Exploration Outfitting Costs: 140 M Jump Range ~ 37 LY

Suggestion:

Imperial Explorer. Gutamaya. Why? Because ASP is a milliary tin can, Anaconda too large. Gutamaya proudly presents theirs new beautiful ship. Travel with comfort, in a business class cockpit. Enjoyment in details. Cockpit should be as glassy as ASP.
Cost: 60 M Exploration Outfitting Costs: 40 M Jump Range ~ 38 LY

Standard:

Size	Medium
MNV	6/10
Speed	240 m/s
Boost	310 m/s
Hull	260 T
Cargo	0 T
Fuel	32 T
Jump Max	39 LY
Full Tank	37 LY

8	-	Light weight alloy
5	2A	Power Plant
5	4D	Thrusters
6	6A	Frame Shift Drive
4	4D	Life Support
5	4D	Power Distributor
5	5D	Sensors
5	5C	Fuel Tank

7	7B	Fuel Scoop
5	5B	AFMU
3	3D	Shiel Generator
3
2	2G	SRV Hangar
2	-	Discovery Scanner
2	-	Surface Scanner

4 Medium Hardpoints
7 Internal Component

Medium size for better planetary landing. Hull is lighter than ASP. FSD Class 6. 6 slots for internal with one Class 6. 4 hardpoints to have some defense. Good looking cockpit, some kind of courier, but more like a glass sphere.

Usage:

1. Exploration. Imperial Explorer outjump both ASP and Anaconda, due to class 6 FSD and lighter hull.
2. Trader & Miner. 188 T at max with no shields and scoop. 6/10 maneuverability and 4 medium hardpoints, won't allow you to fight back again high ranked NPC. Risky. For the same amount of money you can get a Python.
3. Combat & Piracy. Only as a support role in wing or versus lower class ship. For the same amount of money you can get a Fer-de-Lans.
4. Courier delivery. Data and few tons of cargo could work. Especially for long range mission with limited time.

I have read these threads and some reddit posts:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...sting-tidbits-from-the-exploration-livestream
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...nsive-Hidden-Fast-No-weapon-ultimate-explorer

Sequence of Threads:

Spoiler

UI	https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/258391-UI-Serious-Downgrading
UI S&F	https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/258652-UI-Serious-Downgrading
Imperial Explorer	https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/270589-Imperial-Explorer
Imperial Explorer S&F	https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/270493-Imperial-Explorer

Thanks.

 

[CMDR BOSLEY]

It seems slow for an imperial ship. This is the the ship I want to see as a medium imperial

The primary role I would prefer is combat because imperials dont have a combat ship. But with a name like the hunter you would expect good jump range for chasing down targets. So it could potentially meet both purposes.

 

[sequ]

Nor Vulture nor Fer-de-Lans are capable for long jumps. But the idea of hunter is interesting. Maybe it could be less powerful then vulture, but have an ability to chase target on a long distances, having a better fuel tank, for more than 3 jumps (like vulture and ferdelancy).

About "slow for imperial ship", with 5A it will be faster. And it only mince numbers, only for approximation, to balance long jump range.

 

[Azmuth Divarchchron]

It seems slow for an imperial ship. This is the the ship I want to see as a medium imperial http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/elite-dangerous/images/8/89/443372868max.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20141029105631
The primary role I would prefer is combat because imperials dont have a combat ship. But with a name like the hunter you would expect good jump range for chasing down targets. So it could potentially meet both purposes.

This ship is already in the game, and I hate to break it to you it has no FSD. It's a CQC ship meanign it has to be carried by larger ships IE anaconda, Imperial cutter, Federal corvette.

As for your suggestion sequ I support your suggestion ot add another explorer vessel in the game. what I would suggest would to add max stats for this in comparison to exploration stats so people can get a good Idea for how this ship might appear. Other than that everything else looks fantastic.

 

[sequ]

I didn't go deep into balancing and playing with stats. What i did is compared DBE / ASP / FDL / Anaconda, and made a proximate numbers for spec. And the stats for exploration i've already put into table.

I'll add max jump for each ship.

 

[CMDR BOSLEY]

This ship is already in the game, and I hate to break it to you it has no FSD. It's a CQC ship meanign it has to be carried by larger ships IE anaconda, Imperial cutter, Federal corvette.

As for your suggestion sequ I support your suggestion ot add another explorer vessel in the game. what I would suggest would to add max stats for this in comparison to exploration stats so people can get a good Idea for how this ship might appear. Other than that everything else looks fantastic.

This ships looks entirely different than the imperial fighter and even if this was an early concept art for the imperial fighter they could totally make a medium ship out of this. I love the imperial fighter i use it all the time in cqc but this looks 100302.4445% cooler(dont ask how i did the math for that the equation will literally blow your mind, went through a few too many imperial slaves on that). The imperial fighter npcs have a diiferent model than the cqc model which i prefer to the cqc model. But if you look at the scale of this ship it is no imperial fighter sized ship, look at the profile compare the canopy to the body. Then do the same with any other ship. Also for reference here is the main game imp fighter and the cqc imp fighter:

Notice the size of the thruster/nacelles in comparison to the main hull, the fighters are about the same where as the hunter the body is far larger than the thruster/nacelles

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Nor Vulture nor Fer-de-Lans are capable for long jumps. But the idea of hunter is interesting. Maybe it could be less powerful then vulture, but have an ability to chase target on a long distances, having a better fuel tank, for more than 3 jumps (like vulture and ferdelancy).

About "slow for imperial ship", with 5A it will be faster. And it only mince numbers, only for approximation, to balance long jump range.

True they have bad jump range but in myopinon they shouldn't, if he fdl were truly a bounty hunting ship than it would have a better jump range to keep up with it prey. The vulture's range isnt nearly as bad but its no explorer. The dbs is an excellent combat ship and has good jump range.