Explorer ship and fit?

[localzuk]

So, I am now playing Elite Dangerous again, as I've got some time to, and I am wondering what my next progression should be, ship-wise.

 

I currently run an Eagle, which has a tiny fuel tank. So, I want to upgrade so I can travel farther without having to refuel every 3 seconds. Also, my max jump distance is about 13ly at the moment, which is limiting me somewhat also. I have about 550k credits, which isn't very much but I can do some more earning to get up to a few mill if needed.

 

Any suggestions?

[thepridster]

Cobra or asp asp is better for exploring cobra is pretty good

[pcstru]

How about a Hauler. With a 2A FS drive you will get ~21ly and you can fit a fuel scoop and Intermediate scanner for £750K. You probably want to upgrade a few other bits but for exploring that should be a reasonable base for a mere million. Edited July 29, 2015 by pcstru

[ICTDirect_Dave]

Cobra Mk. III - Elite & Dangerous Roguey

 

That's my current Cobra loadout, Its more geared toward combat but with a few tweaks it'll make a handy explorer.

 

Swap in a fuel scoop, an advanced scanner, maybe drop the missle racks for multi cannon.

 

It's worth looking at the ASP, but initially it's not much better than the Cobra and though it's definitely got the potential to be far more successful it will cost many millions more...

[thepridster]

I kitted out my cobra for combat and last night after months of not playing my first battle and expert anaconda... took me a while but I won!

[ICTDirect_Dave]

I've been taking my Cobra into some Military Strike Zones in a Patreus-contested system. It's holding up really rather well against multiple enemies.

 

I made nine kills last time, mostly Cobras, Eagles and Asp before getting sandwiched between a pair of Anaconda and taking too much damage to continue fighting. Managed to to bug out and make it back to port for a repair and re arm

[pcstru]

The Cobra is a nice ship for almost any use but kitting it out for the longest jump range possible is the best part of 2Mcr and you could be spending the better part of 8Mcr for a decent loadout. An Asp is probably the best fit for exploration but it's even more expensive to kit out.

[ICTDirect_Dave]

@localzuk did you go and buy yourself a new ship yet?

[localzuk]

Yup. Bought a Cobra Mk III. Need to find a better outfitter though, as the FSD is awful at the moment, 11LY range. Upgrading that alone would put me up to 26LY on my current budget.

[ICTDirect_Dave]

Good stuff! I love my Cobra, I've plowed over 3mil into upgrades and now it's a combat beast. I've not had to sacrifice cargo space so it's a superb ship fro running blockades and underhand smuglging