Sizing AFMU
- Thread starter bkrownd
- Start date
Like I said, prior to Horizons I found a single 5A more than sufficient on my Asp - didn't come close to draining it. Meaning two 3A's would probably be more than sufficient on a long voyage. But it also depends on how often one has mishaps, so it's more of a personal baseline than most others.
As a baseline im on an est 12 month trip in my Anaconda. I've had several mishaps with 5B afmu's and I've used 2400 munitions with my B grade ones. My powerplant are now down to ~96% with everything else still on 100%. I've travelled over 3000 systems in that time (1 month).
Since powerplant damage is the only exploration stopper at the moment lets use that as a guideline to the time to turn back home.
At that rate lets say I'm using 500 munitions per 1% damage meaning I'd need around 50,000 to keep everything repaired until my powerplant went boom. Considering my AFMU's stock 7,300 each I've got enough to drop my powerplant down to ~70% before my AFMU's go empty. That's also keeping everything else repaired, even the things I could let break. If you be economical only repairing what you need you can probably half that number.
That's a crazy amount of accidents though, probably over 10 already... I've not been paying too much attention sometimes (too many crashes during the christmas 24 hour livestream).
I hope that made any kind of sense.
For the Asp it's all a bit less cost because modules should be smaller and have less health (probably), being economical and letting things like power distributor take damage then you can probably get away with 200 munitions per % powerplant damage, maybe less with a 3A as discussed above. As above from my pre-horizons experience the 2x class 3 AFMU's will be more than enough for a 2-3 month trip or less exploring. For a single AFMU 5A should be good.
To be fair if you are clued in and never play tired or drunk then you can avoid crashing altogether and not need an AFMU ever except for the occasional binary star system that cooks you a bit, a heatsink used correctly will avoid even that! There's some people that have been out for years without proper AFMU support because they simply don't crash.
Since powerplant damage is the only exploration stopper at the moment lets use that as a guideline to the time to turn back home.
At that rate lets say I'm using 500 munitions per 1% damage meaning I'd need around 50,000 to keep everything repaired until my powerplant went boom. Considering my AFMU's stock 7,300 each I've got enough to drop my powerplant down to ~70% before my AFMU's go empty. That's also keeping everything else repaired, even the things I could let break. If you be economical only repairing what you need you can probably half that number.
That's a crazy amount of accidents though, probably over 10 already... I've not been paying too much attention sometimes (too many crashes during the christmas 24 hour livestream).
I hope that made any kind of sense.
For the Asp it's all a bit less cost because modules should be smaller and have less health (probably), being economical and letting things like power distributor take damage then you can probably get away with 200 munitions per % powerplant damage, maybe less with a 3A as discussed above. As above from my pre-horizons experience the 2x class 3 AFMU's will be more than enough for a 2-3 month trip or less exploring. For a single AFMU 5A should be good.
To be fair if you are clued in and never play tired or drunk then you can avoid crashing altogether and not need an AFMU ever except for the occasional binary star system that cooks you a bit, a heatsink used correctly will avoid even that! There's some people that have been out for years without proper AFMU support because they simply don't crash.
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I just need the distribution for single common mishaps. Scaling up from there is easy.
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To be fair if you are clued in and never play tired or drunk then you can avoid crashing altogether and not need an AFMU ever except for the occasional binary star system that cooks you a bit, a heatsink used correctly will avoid even that! There's some people that have been out for years without proper AFMU support because they simply don't crash.
Yeah, the primary danger I've heard about close binaries, neutron stars, etc. Maybe the joystick or throttle will malfunction at a bad moment, you never know. "Stuff Happens" I have triple heat sinks. Internet bugs out, servers go down, doorbell rings, etc (I also fly with a cat in my lap and often another on the counter nearby...) If my ship gets even a little gimpy I'm headed back to cash in my data pronto.
To be fair I hit this stage back before we could repair canopies, had travelled around ~40,000Ly and had about 15 major accidents. Very careful flying allowed me to travel the remaining 16,000Ly back home without a single accident although I was on the edge of my seat pretty much the whole time. Now with canopy damage repairable and a % indicator you should be able to make a really good judgement when to head home.
In most cases I'd advise you point the other way either A) Hitting 50% powerplant health or B) Running out of AFMU ammo.
Main reason for B is because if your discovery scanner or fuel scoop get fried travelling the remaining distance isn't fun
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My ideal setup when exploring is 1 big AFMU and one small AFMU to use solely on repairing the big one. Both A grade, especially if you can't synthesise. Definition of what is big and what is small depends on the loadout, but I would prioritise the AFMU last - choose your scoop, shields, scanners etc first then stick the AFMUs in the remaining slots. I have never emptied my big AFMU even on trips of several weeks duration.
Edit: basically don't worry too much about the AFMU - get some experience using it, and it will all fall into place.
Edit: basically don't worry too much about the AFMU - get some experience using it, and it will all fall into place.
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Close Binaries - Forget about them. If you have had more than 2 of them that cause ANY damage by time you get to elite, you are either very very unlucky, or you panic easily. Especially true now that you can use HS in SC
FS Overheating - If this EVER happens, you are doing it wrong
Forum Bumping - Used to be the #1 danger, but since they introduced the Dead Man Switch, it will be very rare
NS Bumping - If you go poking around NS for the cash, then this will probably be the most dangerous thing out there. It will result in Hull Damage, so has little effect on the durability of any AMFU, you will be scrap before you run out of ammo
Other assorted bumps - depends on how sloppy/lazy you get, but again causes Hull Damage so not really relevant to AMFU, especially if you carry HS to help escape without additional Heat Damage (rarely worth while, but you have them so why not).
Neutron stars lose their teeth once you've seen more than one and realize just how small they are. They have one trick that makes them dangerous, and once you've figured it out they're no more dangerous than any other astronomical body, damage easily avoided by simply throttling down when entering the system. As Domaarraa says, close binaries are rare, and now that you can use heatsinks in SC, damage is easily avoided provided you didn't fall for the silly fad of not bringing them - they are lightweight and don't affect your range much, and are more useful than ever with the ability to deploy them in SC.
It depends a lot on player experience and flying style - I use AFMU's much less now than I used to before, mainly because I take damage much less frequently.
It depends a lot on player experience and flying style - I use AFMU's much less now than I used to before, mainly because I take damage much less frequently.
you should simply do some tests. take your AspE ten times in bubble against a white dwarf, repair with your A5 AFMU, than repeat, repair with your A3 AFMU. make a thread, a lot of people will be happy. i think the only test on AFMUs has been done in sideys in 1.2.
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on my first trip to the core, i had an B5 AFMU, had some accidents, used 45% of the AFMU munition. in 1.4. i have been out exploring 40 k ly without needing a AFMU at all. in horizons, i have an A3 AFMU in my AspE.
you can do a trip to the outer rim and back without any AFMU. it is just convenient/ more safe to take one (or two) with you. if you have enough internals (and you have them in your AspE), take the biggest one you can afford for any internal you don't want to use for something else.
One thing to remember, which I think most people have done at some time or other, is to exit supercruise before attempting any repairs - if you don't you'll have more repairs.
I've done this twice - once when repairing the thrusters in supercruise and secondly when powering up the AFMU and exceeding the power plant's limit (which shut off the thrusters!)
I've done this twice - once when repairing the thrusters in supercruise and secondly when powering up the AFMU and exceeding the power plant's limit (which shut off the thrusters!)
Previously (before Horizons) I've never used an AFMU - you can travel a long way and back without it, even allowing for mishaps (Sag A* and back, no AFMU, still had 99% hull when I got back). For DW, I've taken an A3 AFMU. I've used it once (after a close binary experience, though it wasn't necessary really - I only used it because I had it ). If you have one of your A3 slots free, put one in (that's why I brought one - couldn't think of anything else I needed). You can refill them with synthesis now, so no need for two. Always get A-rated if you can.
). If you have one of your A3 slots free, put one in (that's why I brought one - couldn't think of anything else I needed). You can refill them with synthesis now, so no need for two. Always get A-rated if you can.