Pretty safe exploration build for Open - Imperial Courier

[Innocentius]

I was looking into exploration builds that are pretty decent explorers and also quite safe on the return trips against both NPCs and players. This is probably the best I could come up with:
https://s.orbis.zone/190x

Basically the core is imperial courier exploration build with speed and some shield strength for survivability. Shields 500 Mj and boost speed 823. Jump range is 45+.

If interdicted, immediately hit heatsink and boost and you should be pretty good to high wake the hell out of there. On my last exploration trip I noticed that there is quite much flying in normal space with all the location and signal scanning so some maneuverability there either and good shields is pretty nice.

Do you take the "return to bubble" into consideration for your builds and what is your approach to it?

 

[BlackMirror]

My iClipper is unarmed. My AspX isn't, but it's also not fully loaded and I'm bad at pew-pew anyway. My approach is to dodge interdictions. I don't play in open so I don't have to worry about players. NPCs conveniently announce their intentions. Despite my terribleness, I've only been destroyed once, and that was when I got ganged up on by system patrol for accidentally poking the wrong ship.

I might consider stronger defenses if I flew something that made it difficult to dodge the interdiction attempt.

 

[Putok]

I love the courier for exploration. I use a similar build, but with an SRV. Top speed is a little under 800 and I use a 2D shield instead of 2a. I still feel basically invincible. After dropping to real space you’re past damage drop-off on most weapons near instantly and it’s at most 3-5s to get out of range of any combat build, and no combat build is breaking 400mj of shields, especially on such a small, fast target in that little time.

Plus it’s fun to fly and the cockpit is amazing in VR.

 

[Satsuma]

I'm a big fan of the courier - the canopy gives you a great view, and it's got nice internals.

Personally I believe it's better to be able to run faster than to tank harder, so I'd keep a full-size PD in that to boost more, and maybe drop off one of the heat sink launchers and shield booster, and maybe lose one of the AFMUs in favor of a buggy hangar for SRV fun. But you've got a very solid explorer loadout there.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

I was looking into exploration builds that are pretty decent explorers and also quite safe on the return trips against both NPCs and players. This is probably the best I could come up with:
https://s.orbis.zone/190x

Basically the core is imperial courier exploration build with speed and some shield strength for survivability. Shields 500 Mj and boost speed 823. Jump range is 45+.

If interdicted, immediately hit heatsink and boost and you should be pretty good to high wake the hell out of there. On my last exploration trip I noticed that there is quite much flying in normal space with all the location and signal scanning so some maneuverability there either and good shields is pretty nice.

Do you take the "return to bubble" into consideration for your builds and what is your approach to it?

Yes, I use dirty drives and always have some decent shields.
I also use engineered bulkheads and armored powerplants.

Regarding your Courier, since you're running EPTs, you'll go faster with drive distributors instead of drag drives (edit) at that mass.
~851m/s

You can also ditch the second heat sink launcher and just use synth instead.
That gives a max ammo count of 150 iirc with no extra mass.

Armored stripped down PP would be a better choice too.
You could run a 2A instead and it will be lighter and tougher yet still have slightly more power.

If you make all those changes you'll get 851m/s and 51.17ly max:
https://s.orbis.zone/197a


Great vid on making the Asp Explorer more open friendly.
It's even better now that the ADS is integrated.
(mild profanity)
[video=youtube;WkmgrFet5ac]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkmgrFet5ac[/video]

 

[Putok]

Yes, I use dirty drives and always have some decent shields.
I also use engineered bulkheads and armored powerplants.

Regarding your Courier, since you're running EPTs, you'll go faster with drive distributors instead of drag drives.
~851m/s

You can also ditch the second heat sink launcher and just use synth instead.
That gives a max ammo count of 150 iirc with no extra mass.

Armored stripped down PP would be a better choice too.
You could run a 2A instead and it will be tougher yet still have slightly more power.

If you make all those changes you'll get 851m/s and 51.17ly max:
https://s.orbis.zone/197a


Great vid on making the Asp Explorer more open friendly.
It's even better now that the ADS is integrated.
(mild profanity)

Thanks for the tip on drive distributors, you just added 50 m/s to my courier’s top speed! I feel foolish for not noticing that.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

Thanks for the tip on drive distributors, you just added 50 m/s to my courier’s top speed! I feel foolish for not noticing that.

My pleasure.
It's just the EPTs, and even then it's mass dependent.
The other use for drive distributors is undersized thrusters to maximize range, since they increase the thrusters maximum mass.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/405552-Drag-Drives-vs-Drive-Distributors-for-speed


Edit: If OP takes all of my other advice however, it will get down to a low enough mass where the speed difference will be negligible.

 

[Innocentius]

Thanks Bob. Aye, I had that 851 speed before I added that shield booster, but that drive distibutor is a good call. I rarely work with these really small and fast ships and the drag drive came there as a reflex. The other benefit of that change is that it opens up the build for planetary vehicle hangar while keeping speed still above 800 m/s. I love the low emission powerplants for exploration even though they carry a small weight penalty, but with the theme of this ship the armored powerplant makes a lot of sense especially as the top speed is so delicate to any weight additions. I heard some people complaining about the couriers being prone to overheating when scooping, but never had those issues myself.

Here is the slightly modified (and probably improved) build that has a bit more speed while also including planetary vehicle hangar that makes exploration somewhat more interesting:
https://s.orbis.zone/198k

One can also push a (very) little more jump range by switching the experimental on FSD to deep charge. I personally like mass manager more as the fuel tank is pretty small already and the difference is (mostly) negligible.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

Armored powerplants already have very good thermal efficiency.
Low emissions is overkill for exploration imo.
Maybe for a Dolphin or something else really hot running it might make sense, but it's not going to confer any extra benefit in most cases, over armored
Courier used to run hot but that was several updates ago, early Horizons.

Good point about the SRV!

 

[Innocentius]

Armored powerplants already have very good thermal efficiency.
Low emissions is overkill for exploration imo.
Maybe for a Dolphin or something else really hot running it might make sense, but it's not going to confer any extra benefit in most cases, over armored

Probably true. I just like the feeling when the ship is under 20% when idling. My DBX runs at 11% and I tested the courier and it was between 16 and 19% when not moving and either 19% or 21% when using engines (those enhanced drives take a lot of energy). When under 20% most ships do not show up in sensors really which is kind of sneaky and cool. Permanent silent running unless you start shooting at stuff Not really much use for exploring, but a personal preference of mine.

 

[Cpt Shadow Wolfe]

For my shakedown cruise with the new FSS and 'potential' dangers out there, my Anaconda explorer has decent shields, around 1600 MJ, a fighter bay (small one), Small SRV bay, 2x 3A AFMs, 3A Repair, 7A Scoop, 64 Cargo. 2x Mining Lances, the rest are size 2 beam lasers (engineered efficient), 2x size 3 beam lasers and a size 3 burst laser in the size 4 slot, Expanded Probe DSS and a docking computer. Boosts to 323. Had to scale up the power plant to handle the combat fit. Didn't know what to expect out in the black, but am ready for it I hope. Still managed to get a decent 64 or so jump range out of it. So I'm happy enough with that.

With the new FSS system, I don't have to concern myself with the sluggish SC handling of the ship since I won't have to fly to the distant planets to scan them. Only have to fly if I wanna map them, which is fine since I will only need to map one or two in a system to get a mapping tag for the money or just to leave a signpost that I was there.

 

[WR3ND]

- Imperial Courier

You don't say...

...but they'll take my small, nimble exploration ships from my cold, dead hands!

Spoiler

Fly smartly, Commanders. o7

...

Disclaimer: I don't have access to the Courier, playing the game as an independent Commander. No one else is out well in the black where I am, and I don't bother doing "proper" exploration near the bubbles anyway.

 

[BurntJello]

My Courier is fully loaded for combat too [cool]
https://s.orbis.zone/18m8

And yes, I'm taking muh lazorz with me on DW2.

I experimented recently with armored and efficient power plants... armored didn't do much for heat and efficient only helped with scoop heat. No matter what, I had to use heatsinks to land on Sdardee 1.

My shields can also survive impact (barely) on Achenar 3 (6g world). I'm actually curious if 370mj will hold when boosting into the ground FA-OFF max speed!? I think it's worth testing while in the bubble and respawn is close by. Lets you know just what your ship can handle out there.

 

[Branithar]

I’m thinking of getting a couple Couriers: one for fighting and one for fun. It looks like it would make a speedy little explorer and be fun for planetary exploration and canyon running.

 

[Zoltah-Talion]

My iClipper is unarmed. My AspX isn't, but it's also not fully loaded and I'm bad at pew-pew anyway. My approach is to dodge interdictions. I don't play in open so I don't have to worry about players. NPCs conveniently announce their intentions. Despite my terribleness, I've only been destroyed once, and that was when I got ganged up on by system patrol for accidentally poking the wrong ship.

I might consider stronger defenses if I flew something that made it difficult to dodge the interdiction attempt.

Well... here's the thing. In Open, it's just about impossible to 'dodge the interdiction attempt'. In Solo, it's pretty easy. But for some bizarre reason, in Open you just don't get that chance. However good you think you are at that interdiction mini-game, you will lose it 9 times out of 10.

Respect to the OP and Bob for the iCourier build, good stuff.

 

[marx]

A bit about using Couriers to evade player attackers, from some personal experience. While you will laugh away plasma accelerators, if you just try boosting away in a straight line, railguns will easily hit you. Evade so that you're more difficult to hit, and popping heat sinks is a great tip too. The 800+ m/s boost speed might sound good at first, but a Clipper can do 550-600 (and probably boost more often than you do) and pelt you with two railguns. (Technically it can bring four, but I don't think many will run such.) I think you can safely assume that the wing that attacks you will include at least one Clipper, or other fast ship.

There's another tactic, which is better if it pays off, but is certainly riskier: instead of boosting away, boost at your attackers and zip past them, so they'd have to turn to fire at you afterwards. Easier with a Courier and its great thrusters and acceleration, but well, you do run the risk of them getting some hits in - or maybe even a collision.

These are just against players, mind. For NPCs, it's easy: hit boost and you're safe.

Oh, and some more reasons why I like the Courier for exploration: finding a landing site is a cinch, and you can inspect stuff from really close. The low cost of the ship is also great for transfers.