CMDR BrauHaus profile > Logbook
(Type-9 Heavy)
I arrived back in the bubble with my "Carrier Support" Anaconda. I then purchased an Imperial Eagle and named it Fed Rank Grind. I'll probably do my entire Federation grind in Imperial ships and my entire Imperial grind in Federation ships. I grinded out my Sol permit in the Imperial Eagle then returned to Ray Gateway to pickup my Colonia Hauler. I engineered it a little bit, added the enhanced thrusters and bumped up the FSD a bit. I also added shields and a SRV bay. The jump range isn't the best but I thought it would be cool to do this trip with my beatup Hauler. I renamed her "Into the Mystic" and added an Ice paint job then headed out to Hutton Orbital to start the expedition. Upon arrival I purchased a Mug and some Centauri Mega Gin. I'll probably sell them at the end of the trip but in the meantime I'll be carrying an extra 2 ton in my cargo bay. It might also lead to some "illegal goods" encounters or pirate activity to spice up the trip a bit.
I was looking to try out one of my exploration ships and saw the There and Back Expedition. I signed up because it was a return trip to Colonia and allowed me to unlock the engineers in the region. I traveled out to Colonia in my Anaconda but I outfitted it for mining and removed the AMFU's and several other items in favor of cargo racks and mining equipment. This lowered the jump range a bit but I still was hitting almost 70ly jumps. It also removed any chance of using the neutron highway as I had no way to repair myself. I got a late start and most of the group was in Colonia so I didn't get a chance to mine Tritium or help any carriers.
I did unlock the engineers in Colonia, save the combat requirement. I also "mailed" my almost fully engineered Diamondback Explorer to Colonia. I saw a new expedition called Matariki Tiki-Tour and I have always wanted to go to Hutton Orbital so I registered for that and hightailed it back to the bubble in my Anaconda.
I documented my whole trip back to the bubble but it wasn't very interesting as I rushed back. I did make about 45 million in exploration data and it was enough to purchase a Diamondback Explorer to unlock the engineers. Once I got moving I purchased a Python for mining Low Temp Diamonds and that made more than enough money for an Anaconda, Krait Phantom and Dolphin with an extra 600 million left over.
I've decided to engineer the following ships for exploration.
Anaconda - Large ship that was later modified to explore and mine, this will be used for carrier support and mining Tritium.
Krait Phantom - Medium ship and ultimate explorer. This will be self-sufficient and carry at least 2 SRVs in the event one is lost or stuck I can just abandon it and move on.
Diamondback Explorer - Small ship for exploration and possible neutron highway bus. I've found that I don't enjoy this ship due to the small fuel scoop. With it's massive jump range it might excel on the neutron highway for fast movement through the galaxy.
Dolphin - Small ship for exploration. I've grown to really like this ship a lot and may use it as a main exploration vessel once carriers are deployed. While the jump range is a touch shorter it does allow a larger fuel scoop and it has a nice cockpit view. This will allow me to scoop and jump out of uninteresting systems faster. The small size will also make it easier to land on planets. The only drawback is the smaller AMFU and single SRV. With carriers deployed repair and restock is less of an issue.
Colonia Hauler for trip back to bubble to unlock engineers: https://coriolis.io/outfit/hauler?code=A0p3t3F0l3d3s3f2---2t02--3x2i.Iw18kA%3D%3D.Aw18kA%3D%3D..EweloBhAWEoUwIYHMA28QgIwV3fEQA%3D%3D
I D-rated all the internals to save weight and an A-rated FSD and Fuel scoop is now available. I really wanted to include an SRV bay but it dropped my jump range by almost 10ly so I will be going without. I am also going shieldless to save weight. For a normal exploration ship it is severely lacking but it has a 14ly jump range advantage compared to my Sidewinder that I used to get out here. I have a cargo rack equipped in the event I might need it. I am also saving the size class 2 slot for an AFMU in the event I start taking more damage than expected. I made it out here without one so I shouldn’t need one for the return trip but I may purchase one along the way if I see a need. I also have a class 1 spot open for a repair limpet if needed also.
I picked the Hauler over the Diamondback because the Fuel Scoop was larger than the FSD. With the jump ranges being near identical the trip should be shorter as I will be spending less time filling the tank. My plan is to get to the bubble in the shortest amount of time.
Technically I could just suicide but if I took the hard way to get to Colonia I'm not going to cheap out and take the easy way back to the bubble. Plus the collection of exploration data allows me to "seed" ship purchases so I can unlock engineers with something other than a Hauler.
At his point in time Engineers have appeared in Colonia and we are now just seeing some A-Rated ship components. Things are quiet in here and I am looking forward to seeing what else is out there in our galaxy. A lot of explorers use Colonia as a first exploration point and usually head into the core of the galaxy. The stories of their adventures have inspired me to join their ranks and explore the galaxy. Unfortunately it takes quite the ship to do deep space exploration requiring lots of modifications to be made by engineers. The engineers in Colonia refuse to speak to me without a referral from the bubble. I have also heard of stories that we turned back the first Thargoid invasions and have reverse engineered jump boosters from their technology. In an effort to build a deep space exploration ship I may have to conquer my fears and return to the bubble. The trip out to Colonia took me weeks to accomplish and I was in a rush to leave the bubble and didn’t take time to see the amazing sites along the way. While the technology is severely lacking I have decided to dust off my old Hauler, strip the mining equipment and shields off of it and add various scanning equipment for my return to the bubble. I’ll attempt to gain standing with the engineers so I can go back to Colonia and work with the local engineers. I’ll also have a much better ship for my return to the bubble and I’ll enjoy the sites on my way. I should be able to make enough money to upgrade my ship and equip it for the various missions required by the engineers and maybe if I am lucky obtain some Thargoid technology to go even further and deeper into the core.
Wow, what a mess. This ship cost about 70 million just for the basic E-Rated ship. I purchased this and really don’t have enough money to outfit it let alone have enough money for a rebuy. Comparing it to the Type-7 it will be less efficient for running passenger mission despite the fact that it can land at outpost. I’m going to continue using the Type-7 to run passenger missions in an effort to equip this ship but I may skip actually using it and work on moving into a Type-9 passenger ship instead to focus on the Anaconda. I will use the Python as a true multi-role ship for community goals and such. I really liked this ship in the bubble and it is my primary ship for everything including moving between stars despite its lower jump range. It just isn’t worth the time/money savings to use a longer jump range ship then mailing and re-equipping the Python at the destination. All I can say is that the Python in my opinion is probably the best ship in the game due to the fact that it can use Medium landing pads. If this is not an issue then that Anaconda is the best ship in the game and neither really require a full review, especially a test drive.
What the build doesn’t show is an extra size class 2 slot that has been added. This is equipped with a docking computer. The Type-7 will be my first large landing pad size ship for use in Colonia. Once I purchased the ship I had about 5.5 million left over for rebuy and cargo purchases. I saw a wing mission to find and deliver a little over 880 cargo. After doing the math I found a pickup location very close and would have just under 2 million left to cover the cost of a rebuy. Also I noticed that it would take just over 3 trips to complete the mission so I sold my shields and bought an extra size class 5 cargo bay. This boosted my cargo capacity to 304 tons allowing me to complete the mission with room to spare. After purchasing my 1st load of cargo I noticed that my math was off a bit and I would risk flying without a rebuy. On my 2nd trip I noticed the purchase price went up quite a bit and there would be no way I could afford a rebuy, plus if it went up much more I would risk not having enough money to purchase the last of the cargo. I did luck out and had about 100,000 credits left over from my last purchase. Once I turned in the mission I had about 7.7 million credits. Not worth the risk of flying shieldless and no rebuy. In addition the first time I left the station without shields I smashed into the mailslot. Note to self, the cockpit in on the bottom of the ship so if you fly through the middle you will smack the top half of the ship against the station. Glad I purchased a docking computer, now I only have to worry about take-offs. I equipped a D-Rated FSD and it would overheat on almost every jump. Once I had replenished my money I looked for some 4D rated shields and a better FSD. I located a size class 5B Frame Shift Drive and equipped that and also went back and upgraded both my Diamondback Explorer and my Asp Explorer. I then mailed all my ships back to Colonia. The Type-7 is very expensive and I feel the money train will slow down quite a bit from scanner missions. I was able to hit about 10 million in 90 minutes with the Asp Explorer. No way will I be able to accomplish that in a Type-7 unless I wing up with some pro’s. I’m going to avoid that until I get a Type-9 at the very least.
Type-7 Revised (Colonia Style)
I’ve tried various configurations and it looks like passenger missions are best now that wing missions are nerfed. I noticed that First Class missions have the highest payouts with some being 100,000 per passenger for a quick trip. I outfitted a Type-7 with all First Class cabins netting about 54 seats, 8 cargo slots for potential mission rewards and a class 3D shield. This seems to help the money train quite a bit. Business class pays about half what first class does so on Elite missions expect about 50,000 per seat. I compared the Type-7 with the Python and the Type-7 is a much better ship for passengers with the one major drawback of needing a Large landing pad. Ironically the Type-7 is also better than the Orca and even the Beluga. The Beluga can only seat 51 First Class Cabins if you wish to have a shield due to the restricted slots. If there was an unrestricted size class 5 slot you could put a shield there but you are forced to use a Size class 6 slot instead. With the Type-7 you can run a Size class 3 shield saving the Size class 5 and 6 slots for passenger cabins. Again the freighters are a much better passenger ship than the passenger ships if you are not interested in luxury cabins.
I was looking forward to this ship so I transitioned a bit early as I felt the benefits outweigh the disadvantages of having a mostly E-Rated ship. I stripped almost all of the optional modules from the Asp Scout to save money. I started with 9.5 million credits and after swapping modules and purchasing the ship and 5C FSD I was left with 1.8 million credits and a mostly E-Rated ship with no shields. I think I may swap back to my Diamondback Explorer and run a few scanner missions then get a D-Rated shield and D-Rate most of the core components. I will eventually kit this out for exploration, mining and cargo delivery missions trying all the various configurations for this ship. For now I will fly back to my home base of Colonia Hub and see if they have 3D shields available. Upon landing I was able to get some 3C Bi-Weave shields. Those will do for now but I want some stronger shields eventually. There was no D-Rated stuff I was interested in. I might have to eventually go with C-Rated stuff to support mining but at this point I have enough cash for 3 rebuys and not enough money to complete a generic multi-role ship. For now this will do fine moving cargo with the 96 available slots with a shield. The Type-6 can haul 16 more tons of cargo but it doesn’t have shields, fuel scoop, SRV bay, planet scanners or a discovery scanner. For my Type-6 missions to new systems requires me to stop by a Navigation Beacon and download the system map. If one is not available I have to swap ships and scan with the ADS, swap ships back and then deliver the cargo. So… If I wanted to go pure cargo the Asp could haul 128 cargo but the added features of fuel scoop and ADS make this great for long and blind delivery missions. In fact I might just haul cargo to start, just to build rep and increase my Merchant rank. I might swap to mining once I get enough money and do a bit of that also and use the DBX for exploration and scanner missions with its much better size 5 shields.
The current ship build is for exploration and scanner missions. There was no D-Rated Scanner or Life Support modules less than 6,000ly from Colonia and the SRV Hanger was also the heavy version. Jump range is limited on the Asp Scout due to this. I flew to Colonia Orbital to upgrade the SRV Hanger and get a larger Fuel Scoop. The price for a 5A scoop was 9 million and the 5B scoop was 2.3 million. Since I don’t plan on staying in this ship I decided to swap the installed cheap scoop with the cargo rack for more storage. I ran a few data deliver missions for reputation gains and did some scanner missions to generate enough cash to purchase an Asp Explorer. I think I’m going to strip this ship since I don’t plan on using it much and transfer the more expensive components to the Asp Explorer thus allowing a quicker transfer into a ship that I know I will keep and use. There is nothing wrong with this ship but also nothing great about it.
The build for this ship is not optimized. I just took what was available and used it to get an idea of what mining would be like if I had prospector drones. Since Ogmar is full of mining missions I figured I would give a few a try. I took mining missions at one of the outpost next to a pristine field. I took 3 missions and it took close to 200 limpets to mine enough minerals to complete them. Overall it took 3.5hours to make about 1.5 million credits. Total waste of time. I noticed that I needed a better power distributer to handle the single medium mining laser. Rather than upgrade the power distributer I think I’m going to just do cargo runs with the existing 64 cargo boxes already outfitted and run data missions to increase rank with the various bases. I’ve noticed that several people on Dove Enigma are also in different area in the Colonia system. I might just move cargo and data for the next 1.5 million then upgrade to the Asp Scout. One thing I noticed about the Keelback that was super cool is that if you go from max speed to a stop as fast as you can and look out the side windows you will see engine flames from the reverse thrust. Unfortunately that is the only thing cool about this ship. If you hit the boost it sounds like a metal service plate fell off the ship. Kinda goes “twang!” and then putters to a faster speed. Also the pitch controls are the worst of any ship that I’ve flown including the Type-9, Anaconda and Imperial Cutter. Overall the little brother Type-6 can do everything this ship can do for 1/3rd the cost. I’d probably have to give up the medium mining laser but the Keelback can’t power all of its weapons anyway. The Type-6 could probably power two small mining lasers and have the same if not better mining capability. If you actually want to use the Keelback as a combat ship you also would have to give up one of the larger cargo slots for shields reducing your hauling capability, increasing power usage and overloading your power distributer even more. I’m not even sure if you can gather enough parts to make the armed miner/trader concept even work in Colonia.
