Questions for experienced explorers

[Major Klutz]

I've done a couple of short duration exploration trips in a DBX but now I'm outfitting an Asp for a leisurely trip to Sag.A.
I've decided on my loadout. Mostly.
I just have a couple of decisions to make and experience would be helpful.
It's down to two options.
Asp Explorer Option 1
or
Asp Explorer Option 2

Question 1
Cargo space? What's the point?
I've seen some people say that you might want to pick up salvage from planetary POI while you're out, but I think that even if I found 8 tons of Palladium it wouldn't be worth the drop in jump range to bother taking it home.
Am I missing something? Does anyone have a reason to have a cargo rack vs a second AFMU?

Question 2
One or Two SRVs?
The difference in jump range is about 0.37ly
I usually drive carefully and the SRV can easily be repaired. Still accidents can happen.
Is it worth the drop in jump range to have a spare?

Any other suggestions are welcome.
I can't afford a 6A fuel scoop so a 6B is going to have to do.

Thanks

 

[newman1702]

Empty cargo racks give you a slider with the option to make the route plotter use shorter jumps, but still longer than economical plotting. Can be useful, but it's not something you can't live without. As for SRV's, apart from accidents bugs also happen so I'd pack 2.

In case you're going with B rated AFMU's because you think they are better as they have more ammo, don't - A rated ones repair more per unit of ammo and more in total than a B rated unit of the same class. I wrote a guide about this some time ago, link's in the sig, but overall the builds look good.

 

[Major Klutz]

Empty cargo racks give you a slider with the option to make the route plotter use shorter jumps, but still longer than economical plotting. Can be useful, but it's not something you can't live without. As for SRV's, apart from accidents bugs also happen so I'd pack 2.

In case you're going with B rated AFMU's because you think they are better as they have more ammo, don't - A rated ones repair more per unit of ammo and more in total than a B rated unit of the same class. I wrote a guide about this some time ago, link's in the sig, but overall the builds look good.

Thanks.

I was leaning toward having the extra SRV. I've heard about SRVs randomly exploding for no reason but I've spent a lot of time in an SRV and it hasn't happened to me. (yet)

I went with the B rated AFMUs because the A rated ones are much more expensive and unless I'm very unlucky, they probably won't see much use.
As with the single heat sink, it's just an insurance policy so I don't kick myself for not bringing one.

 

[Scoopy Doopy]

I think collecting cargo of any type is good if you want to increase your chances of being interdicted when you get back but newman1702 gives a good reason why you might want the rack but its a bit of an edge case.

Both your load outs already give you enough jump range to get to Beagle Point and back without Jumponium though you would have to jump with half a tank a couple of times so I wouldn't stress about it. My jump range is 32.9 or max 35.? and I got to Beagle point and back across the Abyss with no boosts. Getting to Sag A* will cause you no jump problems at all.

I have heard that the SUV bug is only a problem if there are other SUV's around though I am not sure. I have one and have flown 140,000LY so far on my trip. I don't use it all that much but have collected enough for a few boosts if I need them and have about 258km on the clock. Never got below 95% damage and it repairs in your ship so again, I wouldn't stress about it.

One thing I would consider and this is a bit controversial is the question of heat sinks. The Engineers will be out soon and it will reduce the ammo of a heat sink by 1. I don't know what they will do with ships that are out in the black but you might find yourself with 1 less charge than you thought. Many people will tell you you don´t need them and there's a lot to agree with in that view. However, I have now used three on this trip though I fired one just to check if I knew where the binding was As I took two heat sink launchers with me, I still have a couple of charges left and that does make me feel a bit more relaxed. You might want to consider that.

Anyway commander, I wish you the best and look forward to seeing your name on the SagA* visitors book.

 

[newman1702]

I have heard that the SUV bug is only a problem if there are other SUV's around though I am not sure.

SUV? He's an explorer, not a soccer mom But yea, SRV's seem to start exploring randomly quite a bit more when lots of other commanders are present in your instance - I've seen a lot of that during the Distant Worlds expedition. Still, I wouldn't bring just one on a longer trip even if there aren't any group meetings planned on it - accidents can happen and when they happen tens of thousands of ly away, you want some redundancy.

 

[Scoopy Doopy]

SUV? He's an explorer, not a soccer mom But yea, SRV's seem to start exploring randomly quite a bit more when lots of other commanders are present in your instance - I've seen a lot of that during the Distant Worlds expedition. Still, I wouldn't bring just one on a longer trip even if there aren't any group meetings planned on it - accidents can happen and when they happen tens of thousands of ly away, you want some redundancy.

hehehe. I'm sitting here with rather a lot of beer which may account for the error I'll not edit it because I like the idea of running around on some random planet in an SUV now

 

[Major Klutz]

I was considering a second heat sink and I think you convinced me.
I'm used to flying in a DBX which is hard to overheat. I don't have a lot of experience in the Asp but I know it doesn't dissipate heat quite as well as the DBX.
I'll probably end up doing something that was perfectly fine in the Diamondback but causes the Asp to overheat.
I've already seen that it get's a lot hotter when I hot jump out from 2km above a planet which never caused heat alarms in my DBX

 

[iain666]

SUV? He's an explorer, not a soccer mom But yea, SRV's seem to start exploring randomly quite a bit more when lots of other commanders are present in your instance

Maybe one of the other commanders stole your SRV and that was why it seemed to start exploring randomly?

 

[Jackie Silver]

Cargo space? What's the point?

You never know what you might find out there. It would be highly embarrassing to be the person who has first contact with something weird only to find yourself unable to bring back anything from the encounter...
You can also use the cargo slider to manually limit your plotted jump range. Maybe. It used to work like that but they change the way jump plotting works every now and then to keep us on our toes.

One or Two SRVs?

Unless you're planning on messing around, one SRV should be fine, especially if you stock up on jump materials before you leave.

 

[Major Klutz]

You never know what you might find out there. It would be highly embarrassing to be the person who has first contact with something weird only to find yourself unable to bring back anything from the encounter...

Hmm. You make a good point. Might be worth the weight to bring something like that back. It's probably very unlikely though, that anything I might find would be possible to collect and transport.

 

[Will of the Warrior]

If I were you I would take more heat sink launchers, I started with 16 and now have 2 left (currently sitting near the 65KLY from Sol mark). The difference in jump range is only 0.36 between carrying one or four. I only took one SRV and haven't had any issues, but I don't use it much and I am also not looking for jump materials, so if it is lost it isn't a big deal. It really depends on what you're looking for in a trip. If I were taking a leisurely trip to Sag A* I wouldn't make jump range a top priority (though not below 30LY) and I would probably go with the pair of SRV's. And a tip, if you haven't done so already, bind a key to kill the throttle to zero and make sure you hit it during the countdown.

 

[Scoopy Doopy]

I was considering a second heat sink and I think you convinced me.
I'm used to flying in a DBX which is hard to overheat. I don't have a lot of experience in the Asp but I know it doesn't dissipate heat quite as well as the DBX.
I'll probably end up doing something that was perfectly fine in the Diamondback but causes the Asp to overheat.
I've already seen that it get's a lot hotter when I hot jump out from 2km above a planet which never caused heat alarms in my DBX

The Asp is pretty good for heat but not as good as the DBX. What most do in an Asp is to disable the shields, cargo hatch, AMU's, additional heat sinks etc and only power them on when you need them. One word of warning though, you do actually have to remember to turn on shields before attempting to land, at least until 2.1 arrives.

With the Asp, you probably don't want to charge the FSD while scooping but other than that it copes fine.

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

SUV? He's an explorer, not a soccer mom But yea, SRV's seem to start exploring randomly quite a bit more when lots of other commanders are present in your instance - I've seen a lot of that during the Distant Worlds expedition. Still, I wouldn't bring just one on a longer trip even if there aren't any group meetings planned on it - accidents can happen and when they happen tens of thousands of ly away, you want some redundancy.

A Ford Explorer or Expedition would be nice though.