Newcomer / Intro Ship check, and repairs in space? SRV? Synthesis?

[Piratescribe]

OK, I got my final mods for my Explorer/Passenger ship. Any final suggestions?
https://s.orbis.zone/d9ap
(The passenger cabin is non-negotiable. I know it's not optimum to combine exploration and passengers, but it's what I wanna do for fun )
I have one last newbie question that for the life of me I'm just not fully "getting"... synthesizing things I'll need when exploring: repairs, fuel, heatsinks, AFMU "ammo"...? Do I understand this right:
All I need is the SRV, period. I use it to collect raw materials on planets (eg Zinc, chromium, tungsten...) and assuming I have enough of all the materials, I can synth repairs and heat sings, etc?
I don't need anything else, like a refinery or mining laser, right?
Thanks for any feedback!!

 

[[VR] Orodruin]

I think you need to be more specific on exactly what you want to do with the ship. You say Explorer/passenger, but typically exploration involves extended time away from civilisation during which any passenger missions may expire. Alternatively, long range passenger missions, but then what you are doing is more travelling than laid back exploration in order to keep up with deadlines.

Do note that you have effectively left a size 4 slot empty and that you should play around with power priorities and turning unnecessary modules on/off as needed will allow you to min/max more. Also, for any ship that is going for a lot of jumping, you really should unlock the Guardian FSD booster (you'll want to put a point defence in one of the top utility slots for the unlock - you can sell it afterwards). You even have a size 4 slot free to put one in, although I really would get rid of the passenger cabin for an actual exploration ship.

Apart from that, you should start your engineering. Just putting increased range and mass manager from Felicity Farseer on would put your jump range at almost 45 ly even without the FSD booster.

I'd also note that you have no way of repairing your hull if out in the black. The AFMU is only for repairing modules and to fix actual hull damage you need repair limpets - both a repair limpet controller and some cargo space to carry limpets.

For some inspiration, this is the exploration Dolphin of my alt (Inara update failure, the armour is G5 heavy duty + deep plating aka magic dust armour):

EDSY

EDSY is a ship outfitting tool for Elite Dangerous

edsy.org

The heat sink isn't really necessary because the Dolphin is a freezer, but it weight is next to nothing and it is cheap life-insurance in case something extraordinary would happen. Note how I run a size 4 planetary vehicle hangar because you just never know when your SRV decides to blow up when out in the black and it is convenient to have a spare one. In general, I could squeeze some extra jump range out of it, but it has enough for most things and it is designed for relaxed exploration - not going from A to B as fast as possible.

Note that you can also get away with a 2D power distributor (or even a 1D engine focused one) and still maintain the possibility to boost.

 

[Hell Razor5543]

May I suggest you also add a mining laser or two to your build? You can also extract some materials from asteroids, and you do not need a refinery to do this.

 

[[VR] Orodruin]

May I suggest you also add a mining laser or two to your build? You can also extract some materials from asteroids, and you do not need a refinery to do this.

To be honest, you'll get nothing you wont get easier from a planetary landing. Only in very rare cases exploring the absolute fringes would this be the only way out to find materials for things like FSD injections. Ideally, you should also not go on an extended exploration trip without first ensuring you have an ample supply of synths.

 

[Piratescribe]

May I suggest you also add a mining laser or two to your build? You can also extract some materials from asteroids, and you do not need a refinery to do this.

I had someone else suggest I had no need for mining laser if I have an SRV. This is not the case? There are needed materials I could get with the mining laser that I can't get with an SRV? (And to double-confirm... if I understand that right... I do NOT need a refinery and I will still be able to use the acquired materials for repair and synthesis?)

 

[[VR] Orodruin]

I had someone else suggest I had no need for mining laser if I have an SRV. This is not the case? There are needed materials I could get with the mining laser that I can't get with an SRV? (And to double-confirm... if I understand that right... I do NOT need a refinery and I will still be able to use the acquired materials for repair and synthesis?)

With a mining laser you can break both minerals (painite etc) and materials (iron, sulphur, etc) from an asteroid. You need a refinery only for the former. However, without collector limpets collecting them requires manual scooping. However, you can get the materials also with an SRV by surface prospecting.

 

[Piratescribe]

I think you need to be more specific on exactly what you want to do with the ship. You say Explorer/passenger, but typically exploration involves extended time away from civilisation during which any passenger missions may expire. Alternatively, long range passenger missions, but then what you are doing is more travelling than laid back exploration in order to keep up with deadlines.

Do note that you have effectively left a size 4 slot empty and that you should play around with power priorities and turning unnecessary modules on/off as needed will allow you to min/max more. Also, for any ship that is going for a lot of jumping, you really should unlock the Guardian FSD booster (you'll want to put a point defence in one of the top utility slots for the unlock - you can sell it afterwards). You even have a size 4 slot free to put one in, although I really would get rid of the passenger cabin for an actual exploration ship.

Apart from that, you should start your engineering. Just putting increased range and mass manager from Felicity Farseer on would put your jump range at almost 45 ly even without the FSD booster.

I'd also note that you have no way of repairing your hull if out in the black. The AFMU is only for repairing modules and to fix actual hull damage you need repair limpets - both a repair limpet controller and some cargo space to carry limpets.

For some inspiration, this is the exploration Dolphin of my alt:

EDSY

EDSY is a ship outfitting tool for Elite Dangerous

edsy.org

The heat sink isn't really necessary because the Dolphin is a freezer, but it weight is next to nothing and it is cheap life-insurance in case something extraordinary would happen. Note how I run a size 4 planetary vehicle hangar because you just never know when your SRV decides to blow up when out in the black and it is convenient to have a spare one. In general, I could squeeze some extra jump range out of it, but it has enough for most things and it is designed for relaxed exploration - not going from A to B as fast as possible.

Note that you can also get away with a 2D power distributor (or even a 1D engine focused one) and still maintain the possibility to boost.

This is some great feedback! Thank you!

And like I said, I do know the BEST most efficient and optimum builds are those where the ship is meant for one thing and one thing alone. But being able to run passengers on long trips and still do charting and mapping etc, is part of my RP and general wanna play style. I may find it sucks, but I want the experience to find out.
Looking at available passenger missions, I'm seeing most take me places I'd never travel, and around things I'd never know about. So that's why I really want to mix those two concepts.

I have started the Engineering track, I unlocked Felicity Farseer... but I'm seeing that to get much good out of it, I'm going to have to build a ship specifically for the engineering grind, yes? And pretty much focus on that for a time? I will later, I wanna kinda play a bit first. Same with Guardian unlocking, yes? I do plan on doing that, but I'll get to it after a while

I'd been going back and forth about the Repair Limpet, from what I've been reading, for explorers, most probable damage is going to be modules, not hull, so it's often advised to save the space and mass and just go with the AFMU. You think having the Repair Limpets really would be worth it?

Thanks again for the feedback! o7

 

[[VR] Orodruin]

I have started the Engineering track, I unlocked Felicity Farseer... but I'm seeing that to get much good out of it, I'm going to have to build a ship specifically for the engineering grind, yes?

Getting the basic engineering such as grade 5 FSD from Farseer done does not require that much of a grind. And it is a significant increase in jump range we are talking about. You will need to do some material gathering, but you don't really need a specialised ship. The worst part is the encoded data needed, but you can get that relatively fast from Jameson's crash site and cross trading (or you can start scanning wakes if you prefer the RP - although it will take longer).

Same with the Guardian FSD booster. It will take a few hours to unlock, but yo don't really need anything that special and seeing an ancient ruin is something new at least once. Equip a point defence for the sentinel missiles and a cargo rack to carry the HN Shock Mounts needed for the unlock. Sell both when you're done.

 

[[VR] Orodruin]

I'd been going back and forth about the Repair Limpet, from what I've been reading, for explorers, most probable damage is going to be modules, not hull, so it's often advised to save the space and mass and just go with the AFMU. You think having the Repair Limpets really would be worth it?

I would not go on an extended exploration trip where I was planning to land on planets without one. The relative proximity of the DSSA carrier network makes things a little less crucial, but it is the only way of repairing your hull out in the black without landing at a carrier or a station. If you land on planets, accidents do happen - no matter how unlikely, you don't want to be in that position.

Module damage, in particular to your FSD, occurs on a regular basis when you supercharge your FSD using a neutron star. The AFMU is therefore indispensable.

 

[Ashnak]

No, you don't need a refinery for synthesis - completely different concept. Refinery is only needed to create sellable minerals.
You can collect:

• raw materials from surface prospecting in your SRV or asteroid mining
• manufactured materials from signal sources, ships you blow up or the inside of burning stations
• data materials from scanning ships, wakes, data beacons (on planets/bases or in encoded signal sources)

There are also Guardian materials (manufactured and data) and Thargoid materials you can get, but those play no role on synthesis.
Depending on what you think you'll need to synthesise, check the recipes. Heatsinks e.g. need some manufactured mats you won't be able to collect out there.

 

[Ashnak]

Oh, forgot: you can also get data and manufactured mats as optional mission rewards.

 

[Hell Razor5543]

I had someone else suggest I had no need for mining laser if I have an SRV. This is not the case? There are needed materials I could get with the mining laser that I can't get with an SRV? (And to double-confirm... if I understand that right... I do NOT need a refinery and I will still be able to use the acquired materials for repair and synthesis?)

The advantage behind having mining lasers is that you can get some materials without having to land on planets (which can, if you are not careful, be risky; remember to check the G force of a planet BEFORE you find out the hard way that it is a High G planet!!!). You do NOT need a refinery to scoop up materials.

 

[CMDR SleepyDelegate]

There was a great story that happened a while back, when a commander did not have a mining laser and was using jumponium to cover some longer jumps while going back from Beagle Point. This commander got in a situation, where he did not have enough materials to synthesise jumponium and he could not proceed further, he was about to self destruct, but then...

I recommend you to read that story, as it was one of the best stories ever to happen in the Elite Dangerous universe...

You can read that story here... It is better than many novels you can find in a bookstore:

End of the Road

I've messed up. I am less than a thousand light years out from Beagle Point beginning a slow-boat journey home. Using the new feature in the galaxy map which highlights previous systems you have visited, I was retracing my jumps back and made a 50% boost into a system. It has one landable...

forums.frontier.co.uk

EDIT: Get rid of that passenger cabin...

 

[Hell Razor5543]

And ^^^this^^^ is why I recommended fitting the mining lasers. Felix Macedonia found that none of the PLANETS had the materials he needed for the Jumponium, but the rings (or belts) did. Unfortunately he did not have any mining lasers. My exploration ship has a pair, because of Felix's experience.