Outfitting an ASP for a long-ish journey, did I forget to pack the toothbrush?

[SurrenderOrHAHA]

So I'm planning a long (-ish) journey.. maybe 5000, maybe 10,000 ly (one way, so x2 total)

Here's my Asp

https://www.dropbox.com/s/clmcfqbwl3ypctx/Screenshot_0107.png?dl=0

(If the link doesnt work:

*Standard Lightweight hull
*D5 Thrusters
*A5 FSD
*D4 Life Support
*A4 Power Dist
*D5 Sensors
*C5 Fuel Tank
*B5 Shield generator
*C3 Auto Field Maintenance
*C1 Detailed Surface Scanner
*A3 Fuel Scoop
*C1 Advanced Discovery Scanner

Available:
1x Class 6 compartment
1x Class 1 compartment
)


Long story short, am I forgetting something obvious? I have no experience with the Auto Field-Maintainance unit so Im not sure if a Class 3 (C3) is good enough.
I also don't know how long the ammo will last on average. If I gety too close to a star and get heat damage what can the AFM repair?

Also, 2 obvious things: I dont need the Class 6 64t cargo bay or the Class1 docking computer. Should I reshuffle something?

(Im gonna trade just a bit more to fill up with some extra cash before I leave)

Advice from explorers highly appreciated, Thanx

 

[SilverbladeTE]

take at least 1 heat sink
if you have more than 1, set the others to OFF, as I can't recall if heat sinks fire sequential or in salvo? anyway it would drain power unnecessarily to have more than 1 running
heat sinks can save your butt when you warp into a bad spot between two suns!

 

[hiasakite]

Hi - you should be able to get at least 32LY jump range out of it
Reduce the shield size (and grade)
Reduce the power plant
Put the biggest fuel scoop in the biggest slot you have

 

[777Driver]

Personally I would ditch the shields, install a second AFM and stick some heatinks on.

 

[DidierDrbois]

Take it from here.
_
Biggest problems I see in your loadout: 5B shields (too much!) and 3A fuel scoop (not enough!).
_
edit: Heatsinks! Forgot heatsinks, sorry. I personally wouldn't bother with AFM.

 

[hiasakite]

My build

http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=60g,0Wg0Wg0Wg,2-4s8S7_6u6Q8S8I,52C0O47Pc0Ky0Ky2UI2jw

Note that most stuff is turned off until you need it - to manage power..

A.

- - - Updated - - -

Take it from here.
_
Biggest problems I see in your loadout: 5B shields (too much!) and 3A fuel scoop (not enough!).

A better build if you can afford the fuel scoop

I kept the thrusters and '4A' distributor as my defence is running away..

 

[Saint242]

You need a better fuel scoop... for a voyage of that length, you'll be spending a lot of time scooping with only an 3A. Get yourself a 6D or 6C. Drop your shields to a 3D or so, if you must keep the shields (I do, I just feel weird without them, and when I get back to civilization, my docking method involves a lot of ramming the dock to slow myself down.) Move the ADS and DSS to the size 1 slots. Put on at least 2 heatsink modules, in case you end up jumping into a close binary system... or I've occasionally seen people say their FSD bugs out when jumping into a system and they end up much closer to a single star than they really should. Another AFM wouldn't hurt.

 

[SilverbladeTE]

Power plant and distributors, as they improve, decrease ship's heat, so that IS important and beneficial
and you do need shields because Murphy's Law is universal

 

[puca]

OP, the most important thing for long range exploration is the scoop, get the biggest one you can afford that will fit in your ship (I recommend at least 6C for the asp). This is not negotiable. If you can't afford it, downgrade to a smaller ship or grind first. Otherwise strip all components down to the lightest version that still works (exception: power plant should be lightest A class for less heat). Pack 2 AFMUs (they can repair each other, an AFMU cannot repair itself).

http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=60g,,2-3I6u7_6u2C8S8I,52M0OE0Ky0nE7Q42jw2UI

^ Take this as a start. Drop shield if feeling confident, add heat sinks if you think you need more. Upgrade the scoop to B (or A!) if you have money. Change distributor from 1D to 3D if you prefer being able to boost (99.99% of your time in your trip will be spent in supercruise where distributor makes no difference at all).

---

The previous poster is incorrect about the distributor -- it has no effect on heat in supercruise to the best of my knowledge (happy to be proven wrong if there are tests).

 

[Fenric]

So I'm planning a long (-ish) journey.. maybe 5000, maybe 10,000 ly (one way, so x2 total)

*Standard Lightweight hull
*D5 Thrusters
*A5 FSD
*D4 Life Support
*A4 Power Dist
*D5 Sensors
*C5 Fuel Tank
*B5 Shield generator
*C3 Auto Field Maintenance
*C1 Detailed Surface Scanner
*A3 Fuel Scoop
*C1 Advanced Discovery Scanner

Available:
1x Class 6 compartment
1x Class 1 compartment
)

Two biggest changes I would recommend are the best class 6 fuel scoop you can afford. On long trips this will save you a lot of time:
3A Scoop: Rate: 176 kg/s (3m1s to fill) 902,954cr
6D Scoop: Rate: 502 kg/s (1m3s to fill) 449,431cr

Big difference.

The second thing is shields. A B5 has a mass of 32, a D5 only 8. The more jump range the better. You could also swap to a 4D Power Distributor if you really want the most jump range, or to save some credits. This will lower how fast your ship can bleed off excess heat though. I've heard a trick is to use a smaller class A for this, like a 3A, but I haven't tried.

As others have mentioned things like heat sinks can save you from unexpectedly close binary stars which can quickly outpace what your distributor is capable of.

Maybe something like this: http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=60g,,2-8S8S7_6u6Q8S8I,52W7TC0Ko0Ko0Ko2UI2jw
If you didn't know about edshipyard, it's a nice tool for this sort of thing.

Have fun on your trip, and don't forget to get some nice screenshots.

 

[777Driver]

The previous poster is incorrect about the distributor -- it has no effect on heat in supercruise to the best of my knowledge (happy to be proven wrong if there are tests).

Disabling the distributor reduces the overall ship temp, nice thing is you can set it to your liking then turn it off. I haven't needed to make any adjustments for the last 12000LY, all pips go to the engines.

 

[Jack Schitt]

I can only echo what others have said about the fuel scoop. If funds allow fit the biggest Class 6 you can, especially if you're not planning on stopping and scanning every system you pass through. With a smaller scoop you'll be tempted to run the tank down to half or even lower and only scoop when necessary because scooping becomes a time sink. But with an uberscoop you can "top off" the tank in a couple of seconds while realigning for the next jump. Not only is this faster, but if you suddenly find yourself in the middle of a patch of T-tauris or dwarves you'll have a much fuller tank and more options for re-routing and/or sidetracking to a scoopable star.

 

[Fenric]

Disabling the distributor reduces the overall ship temp, nice thing is you can set it to your liking then turn it off. I haven't needed to make any adjustments for the last 12000LY, all pips go to the engines.

I forgot about that. I tried disabling it to make some recordings highlighting the sound effects and my ship started to freeze over.

 

[andyraptor]

Disabling the distributor reduces the overall ship temp, nice thing is you can set it to your liking then turn it off. I haven't needed to make any adjustments for the last 12000LY, all pips go to the engines.

I assume you mean

4 pips to engines

2 pips to Sys

????


@ the OP

I think you could eek out some extra range by dropping or modifying your weapon load out... I've kept my 4 x pulse lasers... the jump difference is minor

B grade units are the heaviest ... so down to C or D for shields.. again I go A... just for security on the jump out and into inhabited space... go for your own feel

personally... I don't buy into the max jump range crap.. that everyone spouts about...... one fella seems to have gotten to the far side of the Galaxy in a teeny weeny Sidey. I've been out 3K... but I plan my route into small chunks of 200 Ly (ish) @ a time and check for scoopable stars along each leg. My own Asp is def. in the multi purpose class and NOT a dedicated deep space explorer... but I'd only drop the cargo racks and put a couple of those repair modules in anyway.... I suppose it's down to your hurry factor really... do you plan to use fastest route all the time ?

do a few lower range runs out to get a feel... adjust the loadout.... and go for it. In the bigger scheme of things 5 - 10 K = short(ish) trip ?

 

[puca]

Disabling the distributor reduces the overall ship temp, nice thing is you can set it to your liking then turn it off. I haven't needed to make any adjustments for the last 12000LY, all pips go to the engines.

That's a good point, if you turn the distributor off, I think it removes the PIPs from the UI, but doesn't tank your actual stats (?I believe?). But at any rate, you want either the lightest distributor or the lightest that can boost, depending on preference.

 

[SurrenderOrHAHA]

I knew it was a good idea to ask here before I "set sail". Thanx all for your suggestions, I'll go and make the suggested reshuffling, (bigger fuel scoop, smaller shields, muiltiple AFMs, heat sinks..)

 

[777Driver]

I assume you mean

4 pips to engines

2 pips to Sys

????

No, all pips to engines nothing in shields. Why do I need shields 20000LY from any danger? Personally I don't take shields exploring, I can understand why some like the extra security. For me it's just extra weight and heat.

@Puca - Yeah, set it to whatever you want then switch it off. It will still recharge and retain your settings.

edit- Andy I get ya anything remaining goes to sys. Have had it shut off for weeks now

 

[Jack Schitt]

Lots of folk here advocating heat sinks for close encounters with stars, but in all of my brushes with fiery death I've stayed in supercruise while pulling away and the heatsink button has done nothing. From this I assumed that heat sinks don't work in SC and so stopped using them. Am I missing some way of making heat sinks work in SC, or are they only for those incidents where you get really close and are forced back into normal space with your ship belching smoke? Fortunately I've yet to suffer anything like that, other than one or two embarrassing and self-inflicted scooping burns that have led to nothing more than a couple of % hull damage. Perhaps I've just been very lucky and should fit heat sinks for my next trip before that luck runs out?

 

[hiasakite]

Lots of folk here advocating heat sinks for close encounters with stars, but in all of my brushes with fiery death I've stayed in supercruise while pulling away and the heatsink button has done nothing. From this I assumed that heat sinks don't work in SC and so stopped using them. Am I missing some way of making heat sinks work in SC, or are they only for those incidents where you get really close and are forced back into normal space with your ship belching smoke? Fortunately I've yet to suffer anything like that, other than one or two embarrassing and self-inflicted scooping burns that have led to nothing more than a couple of % hull damage. Perhaps I've just been very lucky and should fit heat sinks for my next trip before that luck runs out?

The value comes if you inadvertently drop out of SC (ie crash out) next to a star, or worse, inbetween binaries, where exiting one puts you into the other..

At least with heatsinks you can enter SC with your heat close to zero (although it will go up quickly) - instead of already being in the danger zone by the time you enter SC


Just to add- I did SagA without any heatsinks - and regretted it after I'd headbutted a couple of neutrons 18K LY out... and became v.paranoid fr the rest of the way..

 

[puca]

Am I missing some way of making heat sinks work in SC, or are they only for those incidents where you get really close and are forced back into normal space with your ship belching smoke? Fortunately I've yet to suffer anything like that, other than one or two embarrassing and self-inflicted scooping burns that have led to nothing more than a couple of % hull damage. Perhaps I've just been very lucky and should fit heat sinks for my next trip before that luck runs out?

There are rare situations that will force you out of supercruise on jump in. If you are in an asp, you will lose 0.13 ly jump range from carrying a single heat sink launcher. Whether insurance for the rare cases (or mistakes on your part) is worth the jump range loss is up to you, of course. I always carry 1 launcher, but no shields.