Question in prep of VERY long exploration voyage

I did Beagle Point and Voyager Tour back and didn't care at all about PP integrity. IMHO it's totally irrelevant outside of combat.
However obviously 1-2 AFMUs are a good choice and a repair limpet controller as well. Don't forget to fit at least one cargo rack, otherwise synthesizing those limpets might be a challenge 😎
 
I always D module/light weight my ships for long range having done pre engineer exploration with 30 range vs currenty engineered exploration I can say I'd never go back to short jumps.

I feel that only the ASP or Conda are really viable for exploration because they retain good range whilst being able to have hull repair and a AFM. I think being able to repair is really important now.

Lightweight engineer everything, get a guardian FSD booster for 10+ range and use Farseer to get more FSD range.
 
After going on Distant Worlds ][ I've become exploration hungry.

Good on you. There's a whole exploration subforum over there, in case you didn't notice.

... getting my anaconda up to 75LY

Not another one...
Ok, it's your ship, and you're going to spend the next year or so in it, so you'll need to know what you're doing. Me, I prefer something that actually moves when I twist the stick and that I can land without dropping a crew to bulldoze a couple of football fields first. And since you aim for jump range, you probably aren't even going to make the only valid excuse for an Anaconda, i.e. taking multiple SRVs and SLFs.

Back to the PP. OC is always a bad idea due to the heat. Armoured or Low Emissions is the way I go. Damage to the PP - well, ramming a star (or a planet) is pretty much the only thing that will damage it, so unless you make a habit of e.g. grabbing a drink while jumping to the next system or getting a bit too close while scooping or supercharging, you should be fine.
AFMU is good for your conscience (and essential if you want to do the Neutron Dance), Repair Limpets likewise.
 
What about just making sure you really, really like the look / feel at home in the canopy of the ship you're going to take?

All that stuff doesn't matter the moment you finish doing the actual engineering. The next time you even think about it is when you slam into a canyon wall at the wrong angle or have an accident while scooping.
 
My exploraconda has 77.3 LY range.

7D Fuel Scoop
6D Auto Field-Maintenance Unit
5H Guardian FSD Booster
2G Planetary Vehicle Hangar (SRV)
3D Shield Generator
2C Fuel Tank (The extra 4 tons comes in very handy)
1C Detailed Surface Scanner (Expanded probe scanning radius)
1E Advanced Docking Computer
1E Supercruise Assist

3A Guardian Power Plant
5D Thrusters
6A Frame Shift Drive
5D Life Support
4D Power Distributor
8D Sensors
5C Fuel Tank
1I Lightweight Alloy

Have flown tens of thousands of LY and used neutron hwy a lot. Never had any issues getting anywhere I wanted to go and BTW, never used up the AFM ammo. Just drop out of SC about every 20 jumps if using the neutron hwy to repair FSD. Easy peasy!
 
I've completed two long distance runs; one in a 77.something LY Anaconda and one in a 60-ish LY Krait. They were both excellent for different reasons. If your aim is to get around the galaxy, jump distance is probably key (cos space madness), but if you want to SEE stuff, then jump distance is somewhat secondary.
 
IIRC damage on modules do to overheating or emergency drops is a percentage of the module's health, not a fixed amount. Because of this, enhancing the health of the PP is not a good decision.
Emergency drops is percentage damage, yes.

Overheating definitely depends on the module integrity, though - if I overheat my combat ships through careless SCB or Railgun use, it's always the chaff launcher (by far the lowest integrity module on the ship) which fails first while the high-integrity core modules are barely touched.
 
Emergency drops is percentage damage, yes.

Overheating definitely depends on the module integrity, though - if I overheat my combat ships through careless SCB or Railgun use, it's always the chaff launcher (by far the lowest integrity module on the ship) which fails first while the high-integrity core modules are barely touched.

True enough.
 
thank you all so much for the insight.

Can someone please explain in more detail that method of repairing the power plant in deep space?
the one that talked about sacrificing other modules.
I have a 6A and a 1A afmu.
I don't intend to take damage recklessly, it's just that occasional carelessness over the course of MONTHS will add up.

You can't repair the Powerplant in the normal fashion with an AFMU.
Reboot/Repair maybe available though - like the AFMU repair option this is also available from the module panel if you select a module. That option takes that particular module offline briefly and will then do an emergency repair that sacrifices integrity from other modules to bring the damaged module back up to 1% (or presumably some part of 1% if you've got a high integrity module??). This will let you get a damaged ship more or less up and running but isn't as effective as the AFMU (which can fully repair repairable modules), worth noting that low health modules typically won't work properly - of instance the FSD can drop you out of SC at exciting times. So, on the whole, you want to use the AFMU for anything critical.
Powerplant is an annoying one in that you'll be running low power once it gets sufficiently damaged and you can't get it back up to a good state - so a somewhat higher starting integrity is probably a good move.
 
When going out on a long exploration trip, the Number One advice is always to fly the ship you're most comfortable with, and do a shorter test run first.
Would suck to eventually find that you can't wait to ditch your ship when you're 300 jumps away from the nearest shipyard.

You said you flew an Asp on DW2, so that would probably work. Compared to that, you'll find that the Anaconda handles significantly worse in supercruise, and you might not like the cockpit. (That's subjective, of course.) The increase in possible jump range might not compensate for that - after all, jump range only matters if you're in a hurry to fly from A to B, or when you're travelling to/through sparse areas.

Most ships can do 50 ly with a reasonable amount of engineering, and that'll get you almost anywhere. (Comparison: back when the top jump range was 40 ly, we still explored all regions of the galaxy. Especially once synthesized boosts became a thing.)
See this thread for data on how exactly all the ships handle in supercruise, and EDAstro has some pretty good comparisons between all the ships. (However, note that the SC figure there only uses pitch, not yaw nor roll.)

NS boosts won't damage your power plant (nor your hull), everything else can be avoided if you pay some attention. Best to rely on yourself first, not engineering.

One more thing that nobody mentioned here: heatsink launcher. I've been exploring since the game was released, and I only had to use it once (jumping through a star and immediately overheating from the two stars), but the launcher can be engineered to weigh next to nothing. Even the base 1.3T won't impact your range much, unless you're flying an Imperial Courier.
 
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I always D module/light weight my ships for long range having done pre engineer exploration with 30 range vs currenty engineered exploration I can say I'd never go back to short jumps.

I feel that only the ASP or Conda are really viable for exploration because they retain good range whilst being able to have hull repair and a AFM. I think being able to repair is really important now.

Lightweight engineer everything, get a guardian FSD booster for 10+ range and use Farseer to get more FSD range.
Hey now, there are plenty of excellent exploration ships outside of the Asp Explorer and Anaconda.

My own Krait Phantom, the CNR Keeshond, for example. She can jump 63 light years and go 441 light years before needing to scoop. She's well equipped with surface scanner, dual AFMU's, dual SRV's, repair limpet controller and 8 tonnes of space for limpets. And, with G5 heavy duty deep plate bulkheads, prismatic shields and three boosters, she's not made out of tinfoil and twine.
 
Jump range is overrated. Sure, an extra 20Ly makes a big difference. But I've never understood the desperation to eke out an extra fraction of a Ly (unless you're going for a record, of course).

So, yeah, sacrifice 1Ly for a more durable ship, definitely. That tiny range drop isn't going to make a whiff of difference on such a long trip, but the greater integrity just might.

Overrated not really.
When travelling: yes, when exploring: no.
I just returned from exploring fringe systems some 1500ly straight down the bubble.
Down there distances vary between 70-145LY
So one LY extra could be the difference between: normal jump and synthesizing. (wasting 10 or more ly on a boost, or synthesizing and fall short a LY)
 
Here's mine, it does 74.39 ly if you don't fill the extra fuel tank. Has Everything you might need, shields, boost, 2 AFMUs, 6 Srvs, fuel transfer, mining lance and armoured powerplant..


Questions!

Will your shields activate at all since the Shield maximum mass is lower than your hull mass (388t<400t)? Is that not how Shield Maximum Hull Mass works?
Caping Enhanced low power at G2 would solve this.

Is it not risky for your PP to be so underdimensioned in capacity that you cannot support thrusters and FSD in case of PP malfunction (40% output), which might pull you out of supercruise, causing further damage.
I've been wrestling with this problem and it can be accomplished with a 3A G5 Armored and monstered PP, and 4D G1 Dirty Thrusters.

For reference:
 
If you insist on a Conda, then armour that PP ! Its so boring to fly long distance, you will be falling asleep and face planting stars on a regular basis.
Recommend the Asp or my current preference, the Phantom
 
One point to consider is you should aim for a jump range that is different from everyone else's.
This means you are less likely to hit all the same systems as the person before.
So removing a few LY jump range might be the way to do.
I'd generally avoid neutron jumps except for the odd one to jump a gap. They do a fair bit of ship damage over time.
Good luck, see you in a few months.
 
One point to consider is you should aim for a jump range that is different from everyone else's.
This means you are less likely to hit all the same systems as the person before.
So removing a few LY jump range might be the way to do.

A smart way to think but, rather than actually reducing a ship's jump-range, you can just twiddle the galmap route-plotting settings to assume your ship's got cargo aboard (providing you actually have a cargo rack) in order to reduce the distance of each jump while route-plotting.

That way, you can put yourself out of step with everybody else and still retain maximum range when required.
 
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