I am currently out in the not soooo deep black (~6kly), with an AspX with no shields at all. Instead, I brought some repair limpets to fix the bumps from planetary landings, and was very careful when setting down on that >2g planet [yesnod]. After about a week, and maybe 5-6 landings, so far I used 3 limpets (still above 70% hull, fixing it back to 100%!) and haven't used the AMFU at all - all modules still at 100%...
With that said, I contemplate to skip the SRV in future exploration trips - I only use it for raw material collection, and that I can also do in or near the bubble. First choice as alternative would be a guardian FSD booster, if I ever bother to unlock it. [alien]
I haven't watched the video, so I don't know what it says about the Detailed Surface Scanner. "Natural" choice to me was "Long Range" engineering, and so I did to grade 5. Now that I am out here, I am actually not so sure about that choice. Going long range, it gives me an obvious advantage scanning distant gas giants often well above 2kls and distant companion stars as well while going full throttle. However, most of the time I am chasing "the real money" scanning MR/HMC/WW/ELW/AW bodies, to which you have to get so close, that the "long range" bonus doesn't seem very effective, as scanning takes very long and often forces me to an almost full stop - I wonder whether "fast scan" engineering might be the better (=more credits/time efficient) alternative; maybe not all the way to grade 5, but just 3 or something... [weird]
Going grade 5 on either adds 100% mass to the DSS, with "long range" adding a 200% range bonus, and "fast scan" a 80% scan rate...
