Exploration Ship Builds & Progression

A list of builds and recommended progression for exploration ships, as well as the logic behind them with tips for new explorers.

Exploration Ship Builds

These builds are designed for a balance between survivability, range, and overall utility. Reasoning for the design will come in the section after.

Un-engineered Meta-Progression Builds
Listed in order of recommended progression:

• Hauler[coriolis.io] (2.4 Million)
  
• Diamondback Explorer[coriolis.io] (13 Million)
  
• Asp Explorer[coriolis.io] (44.1 Million)
  
• Krait Phantom[coriolis.io] (81 Million)

I highly recommend starting with Engineers and getting the Guardian FSD booster as soon as you get the Diamondback Explorer. These will allow you to significantly increase the performance of your exploration vessels, especially the more late-game ones.

Engineer Unlock Guide by CMDR Fox[cmdrs-toolbox.com]
Guardian FSD Booster Guide by CMDR TheOriginalB[forums.frontier.co.uk]

Engineered Meta-Progression Builds
Again, listed in order of recommended progression:
Diamondback Explorer[coriolis.io] (17 Million)
Asp Explorer[coriolis.io] (50.9 Million)
Krait Phantom[coriolis.io] (86.7 Million)
Anaconda[coriolis.io] (299 Million)

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How to Build an Exploration Ship

What Makes A Good Exploration Ship?

For most people, the answer to this question is simply: "Jump Range." and nothing else. Unfortunately, as popular as this thought is, it's not entirely true. While jump range is definitely a boon for any exploration vessel, stripping out all the utility & survivability for it is a fools gambit.

The ideal build would allow for a decent jump range while still focusing on:

• Heat Efficiency (Makes scooping easier and faster)
  
• Fuel Management
  
• Optional Internals
  
• Shield Strength

Simply put, it's not worth sacrificing 200-600mj of shields for 1 - 4 extra LY of jump. Realistically you don't use your full jump range the whole time, and Neutron plotting via Spansh[spansh.co.uk] already greatly expediates travel to all areas of the Galaxy.

Modules & Engineering Choices Explained
Covering some of the more controversial and confusing choices

Power Plant

One of the most common misconceptions when it comes to exploration ships is that every module needs to be D-rated. This is a horrible idea for powerplants as it kills heat efficiency - it is a much better idea to downsize to an A-rated powerplant where possible. This saves both weight while still providing good power (especially when engineered with armored) and doesn't kill heat efficiency.

In terms of engineering you also want to avoid Overcharged for similar reasons - it reduces heat efficiency. Ideally you want to run Armored w/ Thermal Spread as this offers a great balance of increased power, and heat efficiency. While you may be concerned with the increased mass, the reality is that downsizing the plant and then engineering it with armored means it will still weigh less. Even with Monstered, it still weights less than an A-rated plant 1 size larger.

Low Emissions is also a good choice but it does sacrifice jump range as you often have to oversize your plant in order to accommodate the reduction in power capacity.

Thrusters

Another controversial build choice is when players opt to undersize their thrusters. While this does result in a good weight saving, it can present danger for bad landings or when being interdicted by players in open. Maximum size D rated thrusters weigh less than A rated thrusters one size smaller, and still provide greater optimal mass.

The second big debate surrounding thrusters is the use of Dirty vs Clean Drive Tuning. Many people might see the reduced thermal load as a good reason to opt for Clean Drives, but this is a trap. The reality is that the thermal load from thrusters only really applies in normal space, when you are supercruising you are affected more by your ships power consumption raising your resting heat. At Grade 5, Clean Drives consumes more power which means that:

• Your resting heat in supercruise will be slightly higher
  
• Downsizing your powerplant may no longer be viable

The increased performance of Dirty Drives also means that you boost less to cover distance than you would have to with Clean, so essentially Dirty Drives are simply better in every conceivable way, from heat, to power, to boost efficiency per capacitor energy.

Frame Shift Drive

The question is often raised between the effect of Mass Manager vs Deep Charge. While Deep Charge does slightly increase jump range on size 4 FSD's and below, the reduction in fuel efficiency means that you will spend more time scooping, nullifying the effectiveness of the trade of. For this reason Mass Manager is considered superior.

Power Distributor

When exploring your distributor serves 2 purposes - regenerating your shields & allowing you to boost in normal space. Distributors are generally very light, so downsizing them to the point where you either cannot boost or your boost interval is longer than 10 seconds is just not worth it. Play around on Coriolis and check your boost interval - if it's above 10 seconds you should consider upsizing your distributor.

Engine focused is generally favored because it allows you to retain a good boost interval while still being able to downsize. It does mean that there is less power to SYS for shields, but shield regeneration is accelerated in supercruise, and you should have plenty of time to wait for them to regenerate.

Fuel Scoop

You generally want to allocate your Fuel Scoop to the largest available Optional Internal slot, as mentioned previously, the less time you spend scooping the better.

Shield Generator & Shield Boosters

"Explorers don't need shields." - Someone who is okay with losing all their exploration data to one mistake.

Shields have very little drawback, and with engineering they can be engineered to be quite strong for only a small impact on range & power consumption. Ideally you want to aim for having a high absolute value, for planetary landings, notable stellar phenomena, and other environmental hazards. This also allows you to use your exploration ship safely in open, provided you know how to escape ganks. Enhanced Low Power does reduce mass and power consumption but the difference in mj between ELP and Reinforced is quite big in terms of survivability.

For shield boosters, you can get an amazing amount of shield boost out of engineered 0E shield boosters, only approximately 20% less than an engineered 0A (which eats power and weighs 14T!) for only 2T per booster. Generally you want as many as you can fit but 2-4 (depending on ship) is enough to survive most dangers.

Auto Field Maintenance Unit

AFMU's are important for repairing your FSD after neutron plotting, or repairing other modules should you suffer any heat damage. Even though A-rated AFMU's have less ammo than B-rated, the repair efficiency is greater overall so they repair for more even with less ammo.

Heat Sink Launcher

Heatsinks are useful for situations where you may find yourself accidentally overheating, or when you hit a stars exclusion zone, thus preventing unnecessary hull & module damage. Ammo capacity is the go-to, the other options offer no real benefit.

Fuel Tanks

Fuel tanks are an entirely optional choice, but are heavily overlooked. If you have space for them, they make neutron plotting much faster, as you will have fewer refuelling stops interrupting you. It does mean you will spend more time at a refuel star, but it is not as much as you'd lose by having to plot stops constantly. The jump range loss is a point of contention, but in my opinion and that of others it can be greatly worth it for very long range expeditions.

Repair Limpets

Repair limpets and accompanying cargo racks act as a nice safety net should you suffer a bad landing and take hull damage. The limpet controller itself weighs very little, and the cargo racks should remain empty until you actually synth the limpets to use them.

Fighter Hangar

Ship-Launched Fighters can be effective pseudo-SRV's - they possess a composition scanner for scanning planetary points of interest and notable stellar phenomena, without having you expose the mothership to danger, or even having to land. They are also greatly expendable due to the amount that a single hangar bay can rebuild.

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Exploration Tips & Tools

Further information will be added over time. Last updated: 05/03/2021

Tools

• Spansh[spansh.co.uk] - Neutron & Galaxy plotting
  
• ED Star Map[edsm.net] - System stats, expedition recording, exploration data estimation, and more
  
• Deep Space Support Array[edastro.com] - A network of Fleet Carriers in deep space providing refuel & repair services.
  
• EDDiscovery[github.com] - Addon that tracks exploration data value and provides system information

Neutron Boosting

Using the jet-cone from a Neutron star provides you with a 4x jump range boost for a single jump. This can be used with Spansh to chain jumps in order to reach far distances relatively fast. You can also boost off of the jet-cone of a White Dwarf, however the boost is only 1.5x, and the massive size of the White Dwarf exclusion zone means that this is a very dangerous affair.

Boosting from Neutron stars is not as dangerous as it may look or sound, you slowly fly into the jet-cone while facing away from the center of the star, wait until your COVAS tells you that your FSD has been supercharged, and then you throttle up out of the cone.

Valuable Planets to Map

For maximum profit from your travels, you ideally want to use your DSS on the following bodies:

• Terraformable High Metal Content World's
  
• Water World's
  
• Terraformable Water World's
  
• Earth-Like Worlds
  
• Ammonia Worlds

You can determine if a world is terraformable by checking its description in the system map after scanning it with the FSS.

Other planets such as Gas Giants & Icy Bodies are generally not worth the time to DSS, and pay very little.

Returning to the Bubble Quickly - AKA the Suicidewinder

It is possible to instantly return to the bubble - by buying a cheap ship (From a Carrier or somewhere like Colonia), and self-destructing. You then take the free Sidewinder which should return you to your starting system (should be Ay Indi at time of writing). Naturally you can do this with any ship, but the ship you sacrifice is gone forever. Keep in mind that transferring your ship back to you over long distances takes a lot of time and can be very expensive.

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Engineered Off-Meta Builds

These builds are just for fun, if you'd like to explore in a ship other than the main meta ones for nice screenshots or just genuine love of the ship.

Dolphin[coriolis.io] (17.7 Million)
Orca[coriolis.io] (98 Million)
Beluga Liner[coriolis.io] (210 Million)
Cobra MkIII[coriolis.io] (13.3 Million)
Mamba[coriolis.io] (70 Million)
Python[coriolis.io] (130.2 Million)
Krait Mk II[coriolis.io] (107.2 Million)
Type-6 Transporter[coriolis.io] (25.3 Million)
Type-7 Transporter[coriolis.io] (84.5 Million)
Type-10 Defender[s.orbis.zone] (532.8 Million)
Imperial Clipper[coriolis.io] (142.2 Million)
Imperial Cutter[coriolis.io] (740 Million)
Federal Corvette[coriolis.io] (386.3 Million)

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[MasterZoen]

2/2
I'd contest that the Armoured modifcation isn't always better for Power Plants than Low Emissions. You're only comparing Grade 5 options against each other, but if you're willing to switch modules on/off then you don't need a lot of power.

My AX outfitted for exploration only needs 8.4 MW at most. That means that I can run a 2A Plant with a Low Emissions Grade 4 mod weighing 1.51 tons but having a heat efficiency of 0.16. In no way is the Armoured modification better at any grade for that setup.

Similarly, I disagree on heatsinks. You suggest that 3 sinks weighing a total of 2.6T and needing 15s to reload is better than 2 sinks weighing a total 0.2T tons and needing only 10s to reload with Lightweight Grade 5. This does not make sense to me, when you could have 4 sinks weighing a total of 0.4 T with 2 modules using the Lightweight Grade 5 mod.

[MasterZoen]

1/2
This guide is a bit old, but I'll say that my two favorite ships for exploring are the DBX and the AX. The DBX gives you a great sight line, and the AX handles like a dream even when loaded down with cargo.

My DBX had a stock 5A FSD, a 2D PP, a 1D PD, and 4D thrusters. A 2C and a 1C tank to get the full 41LY jump and a 4A Scoop to top up after each jump. I primarily used it as a space taxi to quickly get around and find the stuff I needed to engineer my FSD and never landed on planets. Then I slapped it full of cargo racks and used it to make the money I needed to buy and outfit my AX.

Once I had an engineered 5A FSD, I actually began to use the AX more because with the greater cargo capacity it doubled as my quick profit ship. You just can't beat a 280+ LY jump range and the abilty to jump 40+ LY at a time when you are carrying 120T of valuable cargo for a transport mission when everyone and your mother-in-law are trying to kill you.

I do miss the sights in my DBX, though.

[PlayerWon]

dbx or jumpaconda with guardian fsd ftw.
its not really neccesary to cover long distances to be an explorer. i find sectors that are undiscovered within 1000 ly of the bubble, but the more you hit the more likely you are to find one... so a long jump range is good for where the stars are far apart, but really a hinderance if your goal is to simply find and map as many undiscovered planets as possible since jumping once to cover 70ly skips over 3 or 4 systems that may have been worth gold.
its a simply process, pick a destination, turn off filters for route plotting (especially them kgbfoam system filters... everyones been to them lol), jump, honk, repeat.

[Splaetos]

Never understood why anyone thought there was a need to progress beyond a shieldless dbx for exploration. While I was playing, most of what they added to game was just money sinks to counter the vast fortunes that effortlessly flowed into your bank accounts.

[Hotklou]

@Novari - Yes, the Anaconda flies like a brick and its size sometimes makes finding suitable landing spots hard, but there's just nothing like the feeling of flying a massive mobile base of operations. Jump range isn't everything, I agree, but all its optional internals allow for it to be much more independent and versatile than any of the other smaller explorer ships. And its stronger hull and shields also help to keep your exploration data much safer. That's why I LOVE it. :)

[LeonserGT]

For off-meta fun builds, I was surprised to not see Courier there... may I suggest one? :]
https://s.orbis.zone/eauu

[mauriciotheman66]

im now in betelgeuse and someone put a carrier in there

[SwingLifeAway]

I'd agree with you

[Aurelia]

i would argue that the krait phantom is even better than the anaconda. i hated exploring in the anaconda because its like a brick and jump range is not everything anyways.

[THERNAND0]

this was awesome