Ship Builds & Load Outs Rookie Explorer, any tips from experienced players?

CrashRM

C
Hi everyone,

So I'm still relatively new to Elite, been kicking around with whether I wanted to go for more of a combat role, trader etc. I've decided to try my hand at exploring.

Recently got my hands on a Diamondback Scout, stripped off all the hard points and just stuck a heat sink and scanners on there, with a high-level fuel scoop. No room for SRV or AFMU due to shoddy module space.. Pushed out of the bubble for a while recently, came back from a few hours of jumping and scanning with a nice pay packet of 800,000 (that's a lot for me).

Does anyone have any advice on how to push out further, or what must-have modules I need? I've tried shedding some weight for the jumps but have heard that it's worth giving the neutron highway for a few extra light years for a bit of damage. Hoping to stick with the Scout until I can afford the Explorer, but want to try and get some serious distance with the Scout first.

Thanks for any help you can give people, it's appreciated.
 

Kenneth McGrew

Kenneth McGrew
CrashRM said:
Hi everyone,

So I'm still relatively new to Elite, been kicking around with whether I wanted to go for more of a combat role, trader etc. I've decided to try my hand at exploring.

Recently got my hands on a Diamondback Scout, stripped off all the hard points and just stuck a heat sink and scanners on there, with a high-level fuel scoop. No room for SRV or AFMU due to shoddy module space.. Pushed out of the bubble for a while recently, came back from a few hours of jumping and scanning with a nice pay packet of 800,000 (that's a lot for me).

Does anyone have any advice on how to push out further, or what must-have modules I need? I've tried shedding some weight for the jumps but have heard that it's worth giving the neutron highway for a few extra light years for a bit of damage. Hoping to stick with the Scout until I can afford the Explorer, but want to try and get some serious distance with the Scout first.

Thanks for any help you can give people, it's appreciated.
Click to expand...

no room for SRV???

have a look here
https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/dia...1/kA==..EweloBhBGA2EoFMCGBzANokMK6A=&bn=scout

its shield less but just be gentle landing ! you can do it without taking damage

if you had a little more money you could get a dolphin and fit everything in it (or fit a 4B fuel scoop for the same price as your scout)

https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/dol...WLSA==.Aw1/kA==..EweloBhBGA2EoFMCGBzANokMK6A=

the neutron highway is a fair few thousand light years out to use it in any anger, you can have a play with neutrons though just filter your galaxy map to find some (non-sequence stars)

scan earth like worlds and high metal content worlds they will give you a nice pay day, you don't need to go far for them :) happy exploring.
 
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Tall_Toot

Tall_Toot
I little more expensive, unless you fit a 5C FSD in which case it's significantly cheaper than your DBS;

https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/dia.....EweloBhBmSQUwIYHMA28QgIwV0A=&bn=Cheep Cheep

Allows shields, an SRV and two slots for your chosen extyras. If you get the ship/ bits from a Li Yong-Rui system (15% discounts on pretty much anything, suggest Lembava/ Diguandiri), you can get it by selling your current ship plus some of that 800k that's burning a hole in your pocket :)
 

d8veh

d8veh
I've just got from start to Elite explorer in a Sidewinder doing the water world circuit. This isn't really exploring, but you can get up to about 30ly jump range, and it shows that you don't need anything special. It took me about 40 hours of play. Once you have about 15million worth of data, you go and sort out Elvira Martuuk, then go and get the stuff for grade 5 FSD. when you have the next load of data, go and unlock Felicity and get a grade 3 fast surface scanner mod.

https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/sid...jEoUwQwOYBtYhARgtoA===&bn=Sidewinder explorer
 

Satsuma

Satsuma
Honestly, if you're starting out, you probably don't care too much about jump range. You want something adequate, but you're making your money per system. So instead of getting a longer ranged ship with less internals (not to detract from the Diamondback range, they're nice ships), you could get something with better internals that would support a longer trip.

I'm a big fan of the Cobra Mk III, myself. I did my first exploration trip into another galactic arm in one, and really enjoyed it. With 6 internal bays, you can fit everything you need while still having adequate range. If you unlock one of the engineers who modify the FSD, you can boost that to a level that will allow you to get pretty much anywhere. A decent G5 roll will take that Cobra from 25 LY jumps to over 38, which is more than my Asp's jump range when I took it across the galaxy. The best part about it? It's cheaper than your Diamondback Scout while packing the internals that will enable you to recover from damage you take out in the black.
 

CMDR Corlas

CMDR Corlas
My first exploration trips were in a DBS, it's a good ship for the job.

I wouldn't worry too much about neutron boosts at this point. Just pick a place you want to go in the galaxy, and go there. :)

Enjoy the experience. Practice max scooping with min heat. Try to figure out the most heat you can be at and still safely start a jump to a new system. Start learning to identify planet types on-sight from the system map after your first honk. Take in the pretty sights. Note any unusual clusters of signal sources or anything else weird you stumble across. Make sure you have your main-sequence stars down solid. Make beautiful screenshots.

That's more what exploration is about. :)
 

Tom Jacobs

Tom Jacobs
I just made myself a d- rated hauler with srv and 3a fuel scoop. Its epic budget fun. You don't need more to explore. And if i lose it its only 100k rebuy.
 

ZeroAi

ZeroAi
Well, it depends on what you want to do?

If you're looking to jump 5000+ ly to unlock an engineer, get some first discoveries, and make a ton of money with your scans (and minor faction rep - note: don't sell all you scans to the same controlling faction,) then something like my DBX build below will work (10 million credits, 39ly jump range without engineering, 55+ ly with)

https://eddp.co/u/K4kagit5

However, if you're looking to check out the visuals and history of Elite, you'll find over 250 surface features, cqc stations, mega ships, and visitor beacons within 100 light years of Sol, and while a starter Sidewinder with upgraded FSD will work, I recommend a Keelback with SRV and SLF (around $3mil + upgrades) like we are using in our "Exploring Elite" series :)
 
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JetsonRING

JetsonRING
Systems that have all their planets conveniently lined up in a row are an explorers bonus, just fly along the line and scan each planet.

Using the neutron highway you jump right past a lot of space/ground that should be, needs to be explored. Read the forums and you will see more than a few examples of CMDRs discovering earth-like water worlds very near the bubble because too many previous "explorers" put a premium on jump-range and have jumped right past those systems. Instead of plotting "fastest" routes in the Galaxy Map, try plotting "most economical" routes. This way you will see much more real estate and that is what exploring is, not seeing how much distance you can cover. Be surprised. Christopher Columbus was not looking for the Americas, he was looking for India, and the local people of the Americas are referred to as "Indians" to this day!

Scan everything, not just with the Advanced Discovery scanner but also with the Detailed Surface scanner. Scan the star(s) too, a lot of CMDRs miss that simple step.

An AFMS cannot repair itself but they can repair each other so if you are going on a very long trip consider two AFMS. Remember also that AFMS require materials as fuel. o7
 
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