New explorer starting out

[Kim_S]

Hi Commanders

I have been running around the Eravate area, my home base on Cleve Hub, and running missions, combats and so on.

And now I've built up enough confidence and experience (and a bank account that gives me options!) I would like to go exploring further.

I have a nice Asp Explorer and have read enough that I think I made a good enough explore build for my first real mission:

https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/asp...2i2f.AwRj4yvI.CwRgDBkQTNUeSIRA.&bn=Kim_Seeker

But as this is my first time away from home, I would love to hear from the experts if there's a good initial route to test myself, or am I best to just pick a direction or an interesting cloud formation to head towards. I would love a destination for my first trip as I am prone to letting the shinies take my interest, and I may never come back if that happens!

Thank you all, and fly safe!

Kim S

 

[Sylar N7]

Hi Kim!

I took a look at your build and made some adjustments:
https://eddp.co/u/Shr4kg6s

For example, you don't need two field maintenance kits when you can use your SRV to make more ammo from materials. The 5A thrusters are nice but add a lot of weight, so save 10t and go with 4a. You can 3d the power distributor and ditch the mining lasers as they're not really feasible in the black. Now with all the weight and power you can now go for a 3a power as opposed to the 4a.

If you want pure jump range there's more you can do to it, but I think it's a pretty good start. As for where to go? That's the beauty of exploration! Just pick somewhere and go! Don't be discouraged if most everything within 5k light years or so has already been tagged, as that's normal. My advice? First head either up or down on the galactic plane a few hundred light years, and then make your way out from there. I feel like you'll clear the areas already tagged a little quicker that way.

There's Sagittarius A, The Great Annihilator, Colonia, Beagle Point, Betelgeuse, etc... there's a bunch of popular spots and pilgrimage type places. Or just pick a direction and go. You make the rules with exploration! Enjoy the black, and stay frosty out there, Commander O7

PS: One last piece of advice. When entering a Neutron Star or Black Hole System, throttle all the way down before jumping. You're welcome

 

[Sapyx]

All of the routes from the Bubble out to the "shiny destinations" are thoroughly explored by now. SO if you want to do some true nobody-else-has-ever-been-here exploring, your best bet is to do one of the following things:
- Aim at nothing at all for a thousand LY or so. Then, once you get out that far, you can aim at something shiny. Or simply keep aiming at nothing.
- Aim for a relatively nearby shiny thing (like the Coal Sack) and then aim for a shiny thing that's further away but at a slightly different angle.

On my first major exploration jaunt six months ago, I headed for VY Canis Majoris - a famous destination, a red hypergiant, "the largest star in the galaxy". There's even a tourist beacon there, if you can find it. On my way out to VY Can Maj, every single star was already Tagged. Next destination: Eta Carinae. The path from VY Can Maj to Eta Carinae was almost completely Untagged; found three previously undiscovered Earth-like worlds out there. Third stop: the Eta Carina nebula, which is in a direct line out from Sol. Guess what? All the stars had already been Tagged again.

So, avoid the major "tourist routes" and you'll find plenty of first discoveries.

 

[Jaiotu]

1: Be prepared to come home early. My first attempt at a "major" journey as an explorer ended when I got about 6,000 light-years from home. This was mostly due to me "alt-tabbing" out of Elite and to a web browser between hyperspace jumps and not switching back in time to keep from dropping out of supercruise and taking damage to my hull and modules. My general rule ever since has been to turn my heading back to civilization as soon as I reach 50% hull ... though I've not had to obey that rule in a very very long time because I generally don't make this mistake.

2: Pick a destination. Much better to have a goal for your journey rather than just head out without a purpose. There's always the perennial destinations that everyone seems to visit: SgrA*, the Formidine Rift, Beagle Point, etc. but you could always go for something more obscure. Delve into some astronomy literature and find somewhere that piques your interest.

 

[Hanekura Shizuka]

Hi Commanders

I have been running around the Eravate area, my home base on Cleve Hub, and running missions, combats and so on.

And now I've built up enough confidence and experience (and a bank account that gives me options!) I would like to go exploring further.

I have a nice Asp Explorer and have read enough that I think I made a good enough explore build for my first real mission:

https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/asp...2i2f.AwRj4yvI.CwRgDBkQTNUeSIRA.&bn=Kim_Seeker

But as this is my first time away from home, I would love to hear from the experts if there's a good initial route to test myself, or am I best to just pick a direction or an interesting cloud formation to head towards. I would love a destination for my first trip as I am prone to letting the shinies take my interest, and I may never come back if that happens!

Thank you all, and fly safe!

Kim S

https://inara.cz/data/sigs/65/65248.png

First, the ship looks pretty good. If you ever want to start an argument, get a bunch of explorers to argue about the 'optimal' setup for an exploration ship. Ehremet, for instance, doesn't see the need for so many AFMUs, while those same AFMUs - and having multiple AFMUs - has saved my hide on a couple of occasions. (Granted, I generally don't see the point of heat sinks because of those AFMUs, but there you go.) I've had SRVs onboard on occasion, but rarely use them, so having more AFMUs made sense for me; also, a common Buckyballer trick is to have more 'weightless' modules such as AFMUs to act as a damage soak. Anyway, the ship needs to match how you explore; if heat sinks make you comfortable, awesome.

I would have agreed with Ehremet on the other stuff - the thrusters and power distributor and mining lasers - but I have no clue what the Thargoids might have to say about such a setup.

As for where to go... depends. Personally, if you're looking for something interesting, I think Jackie Silver gave one of the best ways to explore here.

 

[-VR- pipestein]

Hi Commanders

I have been running around the Eravate area, my home base on Cleve Hub, and running missions, combats and so on.

And now I've built up enough confidence and experience (and a bank account that gives me options!) I would like to go exploring further.

I have a nice Asp Explorer and have read enough that I think I made a good enough explore build for my first real mission:

https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/asp...2i2f.AwRj4yvI.CwRgDBkQTNUeSIRA.&bn=Kim_Seeker

But as this is my first time away from home, I would love to hear from the experts if there's a good initial route to test myself, or am I best to just pick a direction or an interesting cloud formation to head towards. I would love a destination for my first trip as I am prone to letting the shinies take my interest, and I may never come back if that happens!

Thank you all, and fly safe!

Kim S

https://inara.cz/data/sigs/65/65248.png

The best advise I could give you if you want to try a test run is to grab a long range passanger mission. It gives you a goal to hit. 20kly will be enough to test your resolve and allow you to find out if exploration is something you are interested in. On a long range mission you will hit plenty of undiscovered systems. Also it is a long enough trip for you to get a feel for your ship, its build and give you time to figure out the changes you need to make.

Other than that I agree with several others here about the build mining lasers have a very narrow usefulness. You won't need em till you need em and then you might never need em if you pay attention.Power is usually not an issue so downgrade the power plant. generally once you get out of the bubble you will turn a lot of things completely off, namely your cargo scoop, shields, AFMU, power distributor, vehicle hanger, lasers, and heat sink launcher, I say turn these off because it reduces the heat that you generate when jumping and scooping. Ultimatly you want your ship to run at about 18% heat in empty space without being near a star. This will allow you to jump while scooping if need be to speed things up, it will also allow you to jump out of an emergency drop when you get too close to a star without going over 96% or so heat. With all of this in mind power generation is a non issue once you get out into the black. Save the weight and increase your jump range.

Last I would downgrade the thrusters to D class. 5D will allow you to land on two gravity worlds with some practice anything higher than that will be an issue of course but it is a trade off. once again lighter thrusters means that you increase your jump range and you also reduce your heat.

Also I would save up for the 6A fuel scoop. It has half the weight of the 6B hence you increase your jump range, it also scoops faster than the B. If you are feeling really saucy grab a 3A scoop and save a lot of weight

All in all here is what I personally would do...

3A power plant
5D thrusters
6A fuel scoop
Dump the mining lasers, dump at least 1 AMFU, and dump the heat sinks.

Also you should not feel affraid to think outside the meta box. I have been out for almost 2 years and my AspX is using mostly stock E grade modules, and a 3A fuel scoop. E components weigh more but generate less heat and heat is a killer. I scoop slow but it forces me to look at my surroundings and appreciate them. All in all I love my ship. But then again I am nuts...

 

[Humannoyed]

If you're heading to a popular destination it may help when you climb or descent a few hundred LY above/under the galactic plane - or take a parallel route a few hundred LY left or right to find much more undiscovered systems on your way.

In case you don't already using 3rd-party tools (and you're on a pc) - I strongly recommend using such things as EDDiscovery during your journeys.

Regarding destinations - what about going from the bubble to the bubble nebula? It's nice, shiny, bubbly, and there are barnacles. And not that far away, ideal for a shakedown cruise

And most important - fly safe, Commander o7

 

[disorganise]

Also I would save up for the 6A fuel scoop. It has half the weight of the 6B hence you increase your jump range,

Aren't scoops weightless?

A's are faster but add a lot to the insurance rebuy too. I've mostly stuck with class B's due to lack of funds but it hasn't hurt (still got to Beagle). On the flip side money is practically free nowadays (5m for scanning a couple of bodies in a handful of systems on the way out to Maia for example)

 

[newman1702]

Hi Kim!

I took a look at your build and made some adjustments:
https://eddp.co/u/Shr4kg6s

For example, you don't need two field maintenance kits when you can use your SRV to make more ammo from materials. The 5A thrusters are nice but add a lot of weight, so save 10t and go with 4a. You can 3d the power distributor and ditch the mining lasers as they're not really feasible in the black. Now with all the weight and power you can now go for a 3a power as opposed to the 4a.

If you want pure jump range there's more you can do to it, but I think it's a pretty good start. As for where to go? That's the beauty of exploration! Just pick somewhere and go! Don't be discouraged if most everything within 5k light years or so has already been tagged, as that's normal. My advice? First head either up or down on the galactic plane a few hundred light years, and then make your way out from there. I feel like you'll clear the areas already tagged a little quicker that way.

There's Sagittarius A, The Great Annihilator, Colonia, Beagle Point, Betelgeuse, etc... there's a bunch of popular spots and pilgrimage type places. Or just pick a direction and go. You make the rules with exploration! Enjoy the black, and stay frosty out there, Commander O7

PS: One last piece of advice. When entering a Neutron Star or Black Hole System, throttle all the way down before jumping. You're welcome

You're mostly correct, there, a few minor things need fixing though:

- an AFMU cannot fix itself, so if there is enough room for two of them may as well bring them, and an Asp sure has enough room. They should be offline until needed, and should only be used when the ship is in normal space, not in supercruise (attempting to repair thrusters or fsd while in sc can bring additional damage). This means that their power requirements are irrelevant as you can just power down the thrusters to free up power for afmu's.

- Mining lasers can actually save you, granted in rare occasions. There's a famous example of when an explorer got stuck in a system, unable to leave without materials for jump range increase, which weren't present on any of the system's planets. CMDR Chiggy Von Richtoffen then famously performed a rescue flying almost the entire length of the galaxy equipped with mining lasers. The two met in a ring, and Chiggy kept shooting at rocks until the needed jumping materials dropped, explorer picked them up - and the rest is history. Now that being said, most people won't ever need them when exploring, I tend to not bring them myself, but I Just wanted to address the fact that they have more uses other than mining ore, and as such can be useful to explorers.


I made a few further adjustments:

https://eddp.co/u/g9BgwTjm


Here's my reasoning on the changes.

- He had a c3 shield in a c5 slot. I put that shield in a class 3 slot instead and used the c5 one for one bigger AFMU. More ammo, faster, why not. (only do this if you can afford to, as a c5 AFMU is more expensive).

- I D rated that shield. The difference is 42MJ, both are very weak and won't do much to save you in combat - you will need to be on top of your "pullout game" (mind out of the gutter after you've had a chuckle, pls) to survive interdictions (submit, face your attacker, pips 4 2 0, boost past him, wake out would be the standard practice). They will protect against an NPC's salvo or two, and against a bit more forceful thud, but you will need to be careful with both of them, so you may as well save yourself some mass and power requirement.

- 4D'd the thrusters. Better ones won't make planetary landings any easier, despite the popular misconception. Source: landing and taking off safely on and from a 9.77g world with a 5D thrusters-equipped Anaconda. An Asp can do with 4D's. When exploring he'll spend over 90% of his time in supercruise, anyway.

- You can now actually go with a 2A power plant to save even more mass.

- I didn't touch your scoop, if you can afford go 6A (it is worth it, and you lose nothing on reselling modules), but if you put a 6B there for budgetary reasons, that's a fine choice too.

I will say that both the original OP's build and the two revisions posted are more than viable, so fly what you're most comfortable with.

 

[Burke]

This is what im drifting about in atm Asp The only thing i run off is the repair unit, not really any heat issues, i can trigger the FSD while im still scooping and still jump at like 85%

If your feeling adventurous, set course for TRA X-1 dont look on youtube just go, it looks far but i did it with a 25 ly range so its perfectly doable. If you get slightly off a straight line there you will write your name on many systems on the way. Take care, if you make it i suggest you then set course vaguely in the direction of colonia or one of the connecting bases for repairs and drop your data unless you want to save it for rep elsewhere. My first long range trip started the same way.

 

[domaq]

Welcome Kim.
.
Fuel scoops have no weight so take either the 6B or 6A; whatever you can afford.
.
AFMU - the only reason to take two is so they can repair each other. If you're at that point, on your first trip out, I recommend just coming home. Take a 5A if you can afford it.
.
Destination Suggestions:
Syreadiae JX-F c0 - named after the generation ship that exists there the "Zurara." This will give you a goal, a focus, teach a bit of Elite Lore, and cool audio recordings from the ship's terminals.
EAFOTS EU-R C4-1 C 2- The Dynasty Expedition of 3270 left behind many beacons and outposts. You can find the record of their discovery HERE. Visiting one of the outposts in, for example, the Formadine Rift is a fun way to interact with the Elite storyline, use your SRV, and get some good screenshots.
.
Fly safe CMDR.

 

[Kim_S]

Thanks all for the great suggestions and comments, it's still a learning experience for me. I'm excited about a first big trip away from home, and do want to have a good chance of making it back full of wonder and experiences.

I will make a few changes to my ship from the feedback. I definitely went with the mining lasers because I had found and read the whole epic story of that rescue by Cmdr Chiggy. It was thrilling stuff even this many months after the event, and I wanted to learn the lesson of someone else from the tale I'm a total novice when it comes to mining, so I am hoping never to need them!

Anyway, great comments again thank you everyone, this ship building is more complicated for sure, and I've only dabbled with engineers. At some point that's a thing, but for now I'm wanting to explore.

Will be setting out soon, and see you when I get back!

Kim S

 

[Scubadog]

Hmm. Depending on how far and how long you plan to be out, I actually DO recommend a second AFMS. If you make a dumb mistake and take on enough damage to wreck your only AFMS, you have zero repair capability until to hobble back to a port. I am in a Diamondback Explorer and made the LONG trek to Colonia. I did not optimize my weight as much as I could have, mostly because I DID want to have the SRV, and I DID want to have shields and I had one AFMS. On a couple of occasions I set down on planets with significantly high gravity and took some hull damage that my shields couldn't protect me from. Then, halfway through the trip (which took me from January to the end of May because 23ly jump range) I was a bit more sleepy than I realized and I got cooked by screaming too close to a star. Ended up with 30%hull, dead AFMS, and most of my other modules down to 50% or less by the time I got to Colonia. Yes, I know, all preventable things. But accidents happen.

 

[marx]

First, the ship looks pretty good. If you ever want to start an argument, get a bunch of explorers to argue about the 'optimal' setup for an exploration ship.

To be fair, this also applies to combat, or trading, or pretty much any build.

About OP's build: personally, I think it could be optimized a bit further, but on the whole, it's put together well.

I would have agreed with Ehremet on the other stuff - the thrusters and power distributor and mining lasers - but I have no clue what the Thargoids might have to say about such a setup.

Frontier have since said that Thargoids will appear in specific area(s), although it was implied that this is initially. So even if a build would be popped by hostile aliens in a second, such encounters should be easily avoidable.

 

[roboteconomist]

I think a Sag A* trip is a bit too ambitious for a ship with sub-40ly range; you're liable to go insane just getting out to the core. I'd suggest heading out to one of the real-world planetary nebulae in the game; just pick something that is at least 3000ly from your starting point as that will help you unlock some of the Engineers.

If your destination isn't documented in EDSM, make sure to take some screenshots and submit an entry.

 

[Kim_S]

Can I ask 1 extra additional really dumb question ...

I would love to get some proper screenshots from my trips, and this is going to be totally embarrassing, but I play in VR with the headset and I can't for the life of me work out how to do a decent screenshot. I'm even struggling with trying to take a picture of my in-game person for EDSM profile.

Does anybody know the secret to these lovely screenshots in VR and can share it? And if this is really trivially easy and just a blonde moment, then we can all forget I asked this

 

[roboteconomist]

Can I ask 1 extra additional really dumb question ...

I would love to get some proper screenshots from my trips, and this is going to be totally embarrassing, but I play in VR with the headset and I can't for the life of me work out how to do a decent screenshot. I'm even struggling with trying to take a picture of my in-game person for EDSM profile.

Does anybody know the secret to these lovely screenshots in VR and can share it? And if this is really trivially easy and just a blonde moment, then we can all forget I asked this

Are you not getting screenshots at all or are they just low res? If F10 (default E screenshot button) or F12 (default Steam screenshot button) aren't working, check to see if one of the other applications you have running is stealing your hotkeys.

 

[Kim_S]

Screenshots are actually a full desktop screenshot, and since I run 2 monitors they are super wide. And the game is windowed, and probably a lower resolution than my PC can deliver, but the headset obviously can't.

I thought I had a nice one lined up, and maybe my head moved around and the picture is of the ceiling of the cockpit, not quite so pretty as the outside.

Maybe it's something in how I'm taking them, I was mostly just wondering if I'm missing something completely obvious as I look at some screenshots posted and they are amazing, while mine look like I'm a beginner using a 3 year old's "my first camera" toy.

Guess I keep practicing!

 

[HazardousMatt]

Here's a tip. Bind 0% Throttle to X. When in hyperspace you can then hit X so your ship will be at 0% throttle when you arrive at the star. This way you can alt tab or whatever without running into the star.

 

[Burke]

Alt f10 will give you a high res screenshot. Open it with paint and select resize, keep aspect ratio. First box 1920 second box 1200 pixels is about as large as you want to try and post on the forum. Save as JPEG and upload somewhere. Shrinking hi res shots is an old advertising trick.

Beware using a setup that cant boost, when your droping thru an atmosphere and you know you have screwed up your approach, being able to nose up and boost is a life saver. It is very useful in general for shedding unwanted descent inertia when manuvering in high grav. Even boosting straight ahead will make your ship act like a plane and level you out. A booster is the difference between taking 5% damage from the ground and splating yourself.

The thing about speed, the way i do the same thing is to slow to a stop and then disengage FSD. Find your target, line up and trigger your FSD to jump, when its half charged boost and you will enter frameshift with your thottle at 0 and you will auto brake when you drop. I only really do this for white dwarfs/neutrons. There is actually plenty of time to spam throttle 0 while you are dropping out but sometimes its good to be sure.

Spoiler