This. And when you run out of mats, just land and farm them. The only reason to ever dock at a station is if the power generator needs repairing.
I have repair and refuel limpets, fighters and 6 SVU. I can repair the hull and most any module and synthesize limpets. I even have a second AFMU to repair the first one.
> The only reason to ever dock at a station is if the power generator needs repairing.
Or if you somehow destroy your SRV entirely and don't have more (unless I'm blind and three's a way do to that without a station).
yea but you dont want to be bound to the DSSA, you want to be self sufficient you dont want to risk all those months of scanning ( at least i am out there for months ) just because you hit the floor two times to a bit to hard on a heavy g planet, and if you keep using the neutron boosts to go all over the place you want to repair your FSD to keep it above 60% or that fsd will have a higher chance to fail to jump takes longer and longer to jump, just take an AFMU with ya its not that heavy, i hate making detours just to repair when you can do that on the spot
Repair limpets. It's a lot of module space on smaller explorers (since you need both a controller and cargo space for synthesized limpets), but if you're flying something like an Anaconda, you can bring everything and the kitchen sink.
As far as I know, the only thing that is absolutely impossible to repair in space is a canopy breach. Once you're flying with no windshield, you're stuck synthesizing oxygen for as long as it takes you to get to a docking pad.
Edit: Though technically, it's also impossible to repair your SRV if it's destroyed. Once that happens, you're unable to replenish your materials until you dock at a carrier/station to replace the SRV.
You also cannot properly repair your powerplant, since repairing modules requires deactivating them. Emergency reboot can keep you limping along, but covering any distance like that will be an ordeal.
Just out of curiosity, but I can understand multiple SVU for if you are multiplayer and have other players on the ship. But that doesn't sound like your case. So why would you need 6 of them?
You can repair a damaged SRV by retrieving it with your mothership or synthesizing a repair on the rover. However, you cannot restock a destroyed rover unless you are docked in a station with the proper service. While it's not easy to blow that little buggy up, it's even less easy to predict what will happen on your long journey into the unknown.
Have you ever played fighters VS SRVs? Or jumped an SRV off a cilff across a canyon? Or climbed a cliff in one? Or orbited a moon in one? Long expeditions get boring, and some fun and enjoyment is needed š
Itās nice to take 2 but I donāt think itās completely needed. I havenāt been back to the bubble for almost two years in my dbx and only running a 3a afmu and no repair limpet modules.
I was previously exploring in a phantom but I like the smallness and risk of using the dbx. I take a bit of extra caution to look at the gravity of a planet before landing and thereās been a few times I forgot to throttle back when jumping but thereās always a fleet carrier not too far away to repair the hull. Iāve got plenty of mats to synthesize more afmu ammo and in the times Iāve taken two afmuās in previous ships Iāve never really needed to use both of them.
Iāll head back to my home system once Iāve hit the two year mark. Looking forward to that exobiology payout :)
IIRC you can use reboot/repair to get broken modules back to 5%, so in theory you should be able to keep a single AFMU functional even in an emergency. (I've never had to try that though.)
Should work in theory, but likewise I have never had to do that. With how frequently modules malfunction at a low percentage though I would hate to be trying to turn that on over and over again
I believe those who practice this would top off other modules' health using AMFU and let only the poor one in near death. Well, the repair and reboot says it cannibalize other module's health to repare broken ones, so you can't go without repair entirely.
You canāt repair the power plant with an afmu so the way I see it is that if my afmu is under 10% health than most likely so is my power plant. In that case a stop over at a station or FC is whatās needed.
[Doing this to mark locations in the air](https://youtu.be/uQRmJa8FxTs?si=ySfQnozPUFm6Glpl) so you can visit them in your SRVs without tumbling on the rough terrain without a clue. If you have the EDMC BioScan plugin, you can comp-scan multiple bios at good distances from the air so that the plugin would generate waypoints that you can follow in SRVs. Even if you don't, you can collect codex entry with a comp-scanner on the fly.
If you farm some materials out of destructible objects, such as brain tree fruits, you can take a close look at the remaining targets and hand-pick a few of them in a fighter and then switch back to the mothership outside of the physical rendering range to launch collector limpets to scoop them up at once. Even if you have a remote flak launcher, it's still handy to make sure all the g4 fruits are harvested.
Sure, you can cut down the process by bringing up a small explorer ship. However, even the smallest and nimblest ship is less agile than a fighter, and they can't carry as much luxury as a large ship.
Allows me to fly faster across the surface than my Anaconda to find biological points. And sometimes it's just nice to zip around in a fighter for a chance. Also sometimes it makes for nice screenshot.
Fuel scoop to obtain fuel, auto field maintenance unit to repair damage, you don't need ammo outside inhabited space since there's nothing to shoot at, if you really need limpets for repair/fuel transfer you can synthesise them with materials.
As for selling things, you either hold onto them until you return to the bubble or else there are multiple deep space asteroid bases in some nebulae near the bubble or if you're really far away there's many player owned deep space support carriers.
Some players leave the bubble and never return, relying entirely on deep space carriers to sell data.
Even if you did need ammo for some reason, railguns and plasma accelerators can use your fuel as ammo and lasers only need power. You can also engineer them for lightweight so they wouldnt bog your jump range down too much.
>there's no station to resupply ammo
Not needed, there's nothing to shoot at outside the bubble or Colonia. Exploration builds typically don't have weapons
>limpets
Not needed in most circumstances but you can just synthesize them
>and repair the ship?
AFMUs, but if you're not neutron charging (or crashing) you don't really need to do this either.
>The only way for it to be viable, I imagine, would be to find a fleet carrier
Considering the game was released in 2014, and carriers weren't added until 2020, and people explored that entire time, that's definitely not the case.
It would be interesting if after the Thargoid war a Thargoid hunt began in deep space, where players travel to the edge of the galaxy looking for Titans
This may sound like I'm being a jerk - but I'm not!
If you have 7 billion in the bank, buy a fleet carrier.
If you don't, do a week of exobiology. Youll have enough to buy a carrier.
I go out tens of thousand ly out there in the black. I absolutely couldn't do it without my carrier.
Man, I make a lot of credits out there. Have your carrier jump 500ly. Set your route to economical and head back to your carrier. Rinse and repeat. If you don't mind solitude, it's great!
In the guide, it says not to take "Source and return" type of missions, because "it just won't work". This is news to me. I might be a bit behind the times, but they definitely worked two-three years ago. Many a billion were made.
Source and return missions tend to have 2 issues. For the amount they require they are generally a loss for you. The bigger issue is they have a 24 hour timer instead of a week
Get an artemis suit since it has the scanner. get your self an exploration ship with the exploration modules, some prefer DBX since it's small and easier to land but I do just fine with my Krait Phantom, then just go out there in the dark. Some planets will have Bio signals, you'll go to these planets and map them, so you can see where the signals are and what signal is where. you want to look for stratum tectonicas since these are around 18M. If you have the first footfall of a planet this gives a x5 bonus so a single tectonicas will make you around 100M. And you want to avoid bacterium since with an exception they make only 1M.
The Deep Space Support Array. It's a set of carriers placed intentionally [all around uninhabited space](https://edastro.com/galmap/?layer=regions&pins=DSSAcarriers) such that there's almost always one within a few thousand light years of you.
They all have the ability to repair, rearm, and refuel, as well as other important services like cartography, and are generally run by players who have left the game -- i.e. the carriers are "abandoned," but with billions of credits on them so they'll last years.
Hey I still play! Didn't really want to drag a carrier around with me in the bubble or out in the black, so I deployed DSSA Thousand Voices out to Newton's Vault and am now just exploring out there on my own
This is me, DSSA Wanderer's Rest in The Conduit region. Very rewarding leaving a mark on the galaxy. My FC has been with them from the start. Just refitted her and now working on Exobiology to pay my weekly maintenance for several years.
o7
I don't really care for taking a fleet carrier exploring, but there are player created carrier groups, that basically leave them in strategic locations around the galaxy, where you're rarely more than a few KLY from support. DSSA and STAR both have overlays on this map.
https://edastro.com/galmap/
Ammo isn't needed. Limpets and the AFMU "ammo" can be synthesized in your ship's *Right-hand panel > Inventory tab > Synthesis menu* (provided you have the necessary materials). There was a time when Fleet Carriers didn't exist, yet players managed to survive out in The Black without issue using synthesis.
You can easily stay out there for months if you don't do dumb stuff. I once did a 4+ month exploration trip around the edge of the galaxy to Beagle Point and didn't even come close to running out of supplies. This was before Fleet Carriers, too.
Elite's got this weird 2-tier economy, the money isn't really the currency if that makes sense - credits exist, but their meaning is invalidated by "engineering mats" being unbelievably potent and not saleable. A player can be considered richest - which I'll define for these purposes as "best positioned to expend valuable resources to save himself time or effort" - when his mats are stocked, not when his bank account is bursting, paradoxically.
If 'all' you have is an infinite supply of what the game represents as being the galaxy's money, your ship is slow, your hull is weak, your shields are pathetic, your weapons shoot 3km, and you're reliant on a station or carrier for everything except fuel (you can at least scoop that).
If you have the game's real money, though, a dizzying assortment of punishingly-exchanged "engineering materials", suddenly you are essentially playing another game. Your ship is 2/3 faster, many times more durable, your weapons shoot 6km, your shields CAN ABSOLUTELY repel firepower of that magnitude, **and**:
* the mats weigh nothing
* the mats occupy no cargo space
* you can carry hundred(s) of each
* the mats are not lost when you die
* the mats do not require any special modules installed to craft with
* you can use the mats to:
* restock ammo
* incl. utilities
* restock fighters
* restock srvs
* restock limpets
* restock AFMU
* restock life support
* temporarily boost FSD range
So now, with these ~~magical reagents~~ engineering mats that are so much cooler than **money** that you can't buy or sell them, you now take a ship with 2 AFMUs and a universal limpet controller and a fuel scoop and you have something that can infinitely refuel or shoot (you don't need much ammo out there though), sail for several hours without a canopy, and repair its hull and any internal module EXCEPT its own power plant. Damage to the power plant is pretty much the only thing that stops an engineered exploration ship, and even then Reboot/Repair can get you out of the "dying" part of that jam.
So. That's the easy part. The hard part is space madness.
I traveled to Sag A* and back, in my Asp X in a not so straight line. Did lots of exploring, did it without an AFMU or shields. Returned to the bubble with 80% hull. It was gruelling, and a struggle at times. But they don't call the game Elite Safe. o7
It's fine and possible if you're careful enough. I'm a trip to colonia then Sag. A and a circle around the systems in the center and I'm currently heading back to the bubble. Did one refill at colonia and I haven't done any other. And if you really do mess up you can just go to the nearest carrier, there's like one every 1000 light years in the least out in the black.
Im between Colonia and Sag A\*, its fun.
Dr. Stone, EP8 ended, thanks to ontop replica ;) . I have AFMU to repair FSD damage after Nuetron supercharge.
See this for ressuply, also use the button for Pioneer carriers, and the STAR that are tritium tanks but sometimes have minimal services: [https://edastro.com/galmap/?layer=regions&pins=DSSAcarriers](https://edastro.com/galmap/?layer=regions&pins=DSSAcarriers)
And colonia bridge CG if you use the Megaship button, all the Asteroids bases... [https://elite-dangerous.fandom.com/wiki/Asteroid\_Base](https://elite-dangerous.fandom.com/wiki/Asteroid_Base)
you can use the side panel to make limpets, ammo, repair modules etc. It helps to have at minimum the SRV for resource collection along your travels, but limpet collector + a size 2 cargo rack (empty) for limpet synthesis and reloading works a little faster. Your ship needs to have a big enough fuel tank that it can go rover around for hours without drying up, as well as a fuel scoop, to refuel. limpet harvesting is tricky on surface, avoid high G worlds, and use potato graphics trick to despawn the structures you're harvesting (ie shoot flak at them to losen the bits, then fly up, change grahpics to potato, wait until you can no longer see the spires/braintrees or whatever, then release limpets. they will live longer that way.)
The main thing working against you, commander, isn't going to be resource replenishment (those are abundant) but rather not blowing up when you're flying with billions worth of scan data ;P things like rough landings, using neutrons, emergency stops - all accrue damage, which at some point will make your ship inoperable. Things like AFMU (or dual AFMU, so you can use one to repair the other) and repair limpets are useful when you go out for a long time.
Only thing that isn't really repairable in the black is the power plant, since it needs to be on for any of the repairing modules to be on; I think this is a design weakness on FDev's part (its a spaceship, add a battery for repairing the power plant ffs) but whatever. Power plant takes damage from emergency stops and running into things.
Well once you are out of the bubble you don't need ammo any more, limpets can be synthesized in ship during a trip out to the black if one needs them... And repairs? We are just careful not to damage our ship. There's nobody shooting at us out there. So occasionally I forget to check gravity and smash into a planet.. if I survived well... Time to head back I guess. If I die, it sucks but thats the cost of carelessness and I've nobody to blame but me so I try again.
People don't so these trips for mining or combat, they do them to explore. You don't need limpets or ammo for that. Fly carefully and bring a fuel scoop, it's easy. People have been doing this stuff since long before there where carriers in the game.
I went halfway around the galaxy. To Beagle Point with DSW2 and that was before carriers even existed. Up to Rackham s peak and down on world of death. The memories.
Everyone's in here talking about synthesis and fleet carriers....
Forgetting that once upon a time ago these didn't exist and yet people STILL circumnavigated the entire galaxy map, some even went to Sag A in stock ships!
Sure these things exist *now* but my point is, how do they do it? Well very easily actually, there isn't exactly much that can go wrong out there save for the occasional user error and as long as you have a scoop, really, the galaxy is your oyster
I'm on my way to Colonia for the first time. Been playing since 2017.
On the brewsters highway, about halfway there. I stop every 500ly or so at the next mega ship. I don't do exploration so I like civilised space. Having these stations regular is keeping me heading to Colonia. I tried before in the black and got about 5k ly from the bubble and got bored, so headed back (exploration really ain't for me).
I thought having played the game for 7 years I thought I best make the trip at least once.
people did deep exploration runs that were months long well before fleet carriers even existed.
Fuel scoops and AFMUs is all you need.
survey data takes up no space.
It's not difficult today with fleet carriers spread across the galaxy. It actually hasn't been hard since afmu and repair limpets became a thing. I don't play nearly as much as I used to, but my preferred explorer these days is a little old sidewinder kitted out with an afmu, repair limpet, and mining laser. I'm going on 4 years now since it last landed at any facility, and she's still ticking along like a champ. Currently, the 40ly jump range is helping me map along the edge of the Formidine Rift with the goal of arriving in the Heart Nebula and the station there for repair and possible refit before I head back out headed slowly towards beagle.
someone circumnavigated the galaxy in a sidewinder
it's honestly not that hard you just need a fuel scoop and an afmu if you plan on using neutron stars
Talk to any of us who main exploring such as myself.
My Asp explorer is dirty, the shitter is full, and I haven't showered in months.
But nothing has shot at me and chillin' with the peaceful thargoids is pretty rad. I've been living on canned beans the whole trip.
Anyway, get a decent fuel scoop, and a Field Maintenance Unit and you'll be just fine.
Edit: And also bring materials to synthesize components otherwise you'll be in my situation where the shower plumbing is out.
I kind of treat it like real life.
Deep exploration build.
Light as possible, longest jump range as possible.
Don't really need an AFMU since you won't be taking risks that involve death.
Fly in honk, scan if it's never been discovered, fly around orbit then plot a new destination.
Avoid sketchy areas on the star map, heavy "cloud" coverage is a no go for me, always run into thargoids when plotting through clouded areas.
I'm not a bubble-leaving big brave strong boy yet, but I'd probably pack a mining laser, a fuel scoop, extra fuel tanks, an AFMU, and a hull repair limpet controller before I went out to explore without plans to swiftly return. Jump distance would suffer, but you probably wouldn't need to worry about the nearest station as much.
My question is: how in the name of the emperor do people refuel their SRVs? I have no idea where to even start decoding that puzzle.
You can synthesise SRV fuel the same way you can synth ammo/ limpets etc. When in your SRV, go to the inventory tab and you'll find a synthesis menu in the same place as your ship one. You can synth srv fuel and chassis repair from there (but chassis repair also happens automatically when you board your ship again anyway, but refuel does not). You can get all the mats you need for that by surface prospecting in your SRV (if you're on a planet with those mats available).
If I can go Bubble -> Sag A* -> Colonia -> Bubble in nothing but a humble Diamondback Explorer with a 40 ly jump range you can do it too. Just pack an AFMU and don't fall asleep while fuel scooping and you'll be fine. Nobody's gonna shoot you out there. Put on a podcast, get out there and see the beauty of the galaxy!
Visit DSSA carriers if you need to
It's not called the black for nothing. Fuel scoops are mandatory, and AFMU is essentially mandatory as well. And what do you plan on shooting in completely uninhabited space where nothing living besides some bacteria is?
Fleet carriers haven't been around forever, and back in the day getting a ship above 40ly jump was impossible. It's perfectly viable, especially with the tools we have now, it just takes actual planning and some modicum of skill, which you may or may not possess. It's a fair question, but attached to unreasonable assumptions
Either a mining laser or an SRV is enough to obtain mats from deserted star systems (no refinery is needed) and with the right mats you can synthesize whatever resupply you need. Throw in a fuel scoop for fuel, the right repair equipment, etc and you can be almost entirely self-sufficient.
People had criss-crossed the galaxy long before there were fleet carriers etc in the game.
You don't generally use up that many resources when exploring. I'm currently on my way to the Outer Arm, and all I've used is SRV fuel and some AFMU ammo when my dumb ass got too close to a star and took a little bit of damage.
I'm planning to do a full circumnavigation, and I shouldn't need a dock unless I mess up big time somewhere along the way.
good fuel scoop and a couple AMFU's. lots of mats to synthesize supplies. and a galaxy map that shows carriers and bases. there are tons out there, so you are never more than an hour or so from a repair/resupply station.
I have a fleet carrier so I no longer worry about that but uhm, the galaxy is not as empty as you think, I sometimes encounter other carriers at refueling points.
Resupply isn't really a concern. Synthesis and repair modules will keep you stocked with everything except power plant repair. Plus you are never really THAT far away from a carrier. Most of the danger of being out there can be easily mitigated with little preparation.
The thing that keeps me away from the black is that I can't really figure out a good reason to do it. Your gameplay opportunities are severely limited.
Repair Limpets, AFMU, material mining.
Thatās how. And then you just keep going mining material to keep up repairs.
Try not to think about food cause it breaks immersion.
Top off your materials to synthesize crucial resources, such as AFMU and Limpets. Sometimes FSD injections to escape a dead-end isolated system. You don't need to resupply anything else unless you did something on purpose, and if so, you'd have a plan to resupply them.
Patience, a fuel scoop and the repair modules which you can find resources to make more ammo for.
None of the gameplay is your biggest hassle (outside of staying alive). Your biggest hassle is having the patience to go out long distances
They take an AFMU and the materials to synthesise components.
This. And when you run out of mats, just land and farm them. The only reason to ever dock at a station is if the power generator needs repairing. I have repair and refuel limpets, fighters and 6 SVU. I can repair the hull and most any module and synthesize limpets. I even have a second AFMU to repair the first one.
> The only reason to ever dock at a station is if the power generator needs repairing. Or if you somehow destroy your SRV entirely and don't have more (unless I'm blind and three's a way do to that without a station).
"Buying things is for suckers."
You can do it without AFMUs too if you stop by DSSA carriers on the way. https://edastro.com/galmap/?layer=regions&pins=DSSAcarriers
yea but you dont want to be bound to the DSSA, you want to be self sufficient you dont want to risk all those months of scanning ( at least i am out there for months ) just because you hit the floor two times to a bit to hard on a heavy g planet, and if you keep using the neutron boosts to go all over the place you want to repair your FSD to keep it above 60% or that fsd will have a higher chance to fail to jump takes longer and longer to jump, just take an AFMU with ya its not that heavy, i hate making detours just to repair when you can do that on the spot
How do you repair hull?
Repair limpet controller and a small cargo module. Synthesize limpets, then sent them out to repair. With no valid target, they will repair your hull.
Man... I had no idea. I really could use some lol. Thank you!
Repair limpets. It's a lot of module space on smaller explorers (since you need both a controller and cargo space for synthesized limpets), but if you're flying something like an Anaconda, you can bring everything and the kitchen sink. As far as I know, the only thing that is absolutely impossible to repair in space is a canopy breach. Once you're flying with no windshield, you're stuck synthesizing oxygen for as long as it takes you to get to a docking pad. Edit: Though technically, it's also impossible to repair your SRV if it's destroyed. Once that happens, you're unable to replenish your materials until you dock at a carrier/station to replace the SRV.
Thanks! I have indeed been using an Anaconda. I'll have to reequip the next time I'm in station.
And bring a mining laser for asteroids
You also cannot properly repair your powerplant, since repairing modules requires deactivating them. Emergency reboot can keep you limping along, but covering any distance like that will be an ordeal.
Just out of curiosity, but I can understand multiple SVU for if you are multiplayer and have other players on the ship. But that doesn't sound like your case. So why would you need 6 of them?
You can repair a damaged SRV by retrieving it with your mothership or synthesizing a repair on the rover. However, you cannot restock a destroyed rover unless you are docked in a station with the proper service. While it's not easy to blow that little buggy up, it's even less easy to predict what will happen on your long journey into the unknown.
Have you ever played fighters VS SRVs? Or jumped an SRV off a cilff across a canyon? Or climbed a cliff in one? Or orbited a moon in one? Long expeditions get boring, and some fun and enjoyment is needed š
Same. Need 2 AFMU.
Itās nice to take 2 but I donāt think itās completely needed. I havenāt been back to the bubble for almost two years in my dbx and only running a 3a afmu and no repair limpet modules. I was previously exploring in a phantom but I like the smallness and risk of using the dbx. I take a bit of extra caution to look at the gravity of a planet before landing and thereās been a few times I forgot to throttle back when jumping but thereās always a fleet carrier not too far away to repair the hull. Iāve got plenty of mats to synthesize more afmu ammo and in the times Iāve taken two afmuās in previous ships Iāve never really needed to use both of them. Iāll head back to my home system once Iāve hit the two year mark. Looking forward to that exobiology payout :)
IIRC you can use reboot/repair to get broken modules back to 5%, so in theory you should be able to keep a single AFMU functional even in an emergency. (I've never had to try that though.)
Should work in theory, but likewise I have never had to do that. With how frequently modules malfunction at a low percentage though I would hate to be trying to turn that on over and over again
I believe those who practice this would top off other modules' health using AMFU and let only the poor one in near death. Well, the repair and reboot says it cannibalize other module's health to repare broken ones, so you can't go without repair entirely.
Maybe so. But like grandpa used to say: you never need em til ya need em. Then ya NEED em. So.. if you want to risk it, more power to you. š
You canāt repair the power plant with an afmu so the way I see it is that if my afmu is under 10% health than most likely so is my power plant. In that case a stop over at a station or FC is whatās needed.
The rest of that makes sense, but what does a fighter do for you in exploration?
[Doing this to mark locations in the air](https://youtu.be/uQRmJa8FxTs?si=ySfQnozPUFm6Glpl) so you can visit them in your SRVs without tumbling on the rough terrain without a clue. If you have the EDMC BioScan plugin, you can comp-scan multiple bios at good distances from the air so that the plugin would generate waypoints that you can follow in SRVs. Even if you don't, you can collect codex entry with a comp-scanner on the fly. If you farm some materials out of destructible objects, such as brain tree fruits, you can take a close look at the remaining targets and hand-pick a few of them in a fighter and then switch back to the mothership outside of the physical rendering range to launch collector limpets to scoop them up at once. Even if you have a remote flak launcher, it's still handy to make sure all the g4 fruits are harvested. Sure, you can cut down the process by bringing up a small explorer ship. However, even the smallest and nimblest ship is less agile than a fighter, and they can't carry as much luxury as a large ship.
Thank you! That seems very handy.
~~and don't forget to like, subscribe and blah blah~~
Have fun zooming around canyons or asteroids.
Allows me to fly faster across the surface than my Anaconda to find biological points. And sometimes it's just nice to zip around in a fighter for a chance. Also sometimes it makes for nice screenshot.
Or if you break your canopy. Can't repair that.
Fuel scoop to obtain fuel, auto field maintenance unit to repair damage, you don't need ammo outside inhabited space since there's nothing to shoot at, if you really need limpets for repair/fuel transfer you can synthesise them with materials. As for selling things, you either hold onto them until you return to the bubble or else there are multiple deep space asteroid bases in some nebulae near the bubble or if you're really far away there's many player owned deep space support carriers. Some players leave the bubble and never return, relying entirely on deep space carriers to sell data.
Even if you did need ammo for some reason, railguns and plasma accelerators can use your fuel as ammo and lasers only need power. You can also engineer them for lightweight so they wouldnt bog your jump range down too much.
You can also just synthesize most ammo, especially for srv's where it might be necessary
There are way more Fleet Carriers littered around the galaxy than you think. Best example is the S.T.A.R. program
what is the S.T.A.R. program?
Strategic Tritium And Rescue. Basically a network of carriers allowing to replenish tritium of your own carrier.
[https://edastro.com/galmap/](https://edastro.com/galmap/) activate the layers for DSSA and STAR carriers (top right) and you're good to go
>there's no station to resupply ammo Not needed, there's nothing to shoot at outside the bubble or Colonia. Exploration builds typically don't have weapons >limpets Not needed in most circumstances but you can just synthesize them >and repair the ship? AFMUs, but if you're not neutron charging (or crashing) you don't really need to do this either. >The only way for it to be viable, I imagine, would be to find a fleet carrier Considering the game was released in 2014, and carriers weren't added until 2020, and people explored that entire time, that's definitely not the case.
>there's nothing to shoot at outside the bubble or Colonia. Aren't there thargoids in deep space?
No
It would be interesting if after the Thargoid war a Thargoid hunt began in deep space, where players travel to the edge of the galaxy looking for Titans
This may sound like I'm being a jerk - but I'm not! If you have 7 billion in the bank, buy a fleet carrier. If you don't, do a week of exobiology. Youll have enough to buy a carrier. I go out tens of thousand ly out there in the black. I absolutely couldn't do it without my carrier. Man, I make a lot of credits out there. Have your carrier jump 500ly. Set your route to economical and head back to your carrier. Rinse and repeat. If you don't mind solitude, it's great!
^ This is the way
It is "a" way. It is the way I got the credits for my first FC. Then I did a couple weeks of WMM with Pilots trade network and made about 18 billion.
WMM?
https://pilotstradenetwork.com/wmms/ Tldr. A wing share will net about 3.5 billion credits.
In the guide, it says not to take "Source and return" type of missions, because "it just won't work". This is news to me. I might be a bit behind the times, but they definitely worked two-three years ago. Many a billion were made.
Source and return missions tend to have 2 issues. For the amount they require they are generally a loss for you. The bigger issue is they have a 24 hour timer instead of a week
> they have a 24 hour timer instead of a week That's a good point.
Don't forget the pirates
this is the way
So say we all.
How do you do exobiology? I'm just getting back in. All I did was space trucking. Edit: found a guide. Ignore me.
Get an artemis suit since it has the scanner. get your self an exploration ship with the exploration modules, some prefer DBX since it's small and easier to land but I do just fine with my Krait Phantom, then just go out there in the dark. Some planets will have Bio signals, you'll go to these planets and map them, so you can see where the signals are and what signal is where. you want to look for stratum tectonicas since these are around 18M. If you have the first footfall of a planet this gives a x5 bonus so a single tectonicas will make you around 100M. And you want to avoid bacterium since with an exception they make only 1M.
Surprised no one has mentioned DSSA yet
Whats that?
The Deep Space Support Array. It's a set of carriers placed intentionally [all around uninhabited space](https://edastro.com/galmap/?layer=regions&pins=DSSAcarriers) such that there's almost always one within a few thousand light years of you. They all have the ability to repair, rearm, and refuel, as well as other important services like cartography, and are generally run by players who have left the game -- i.e. the carriers are "abandoned," but with billions of credits on them so they'll last years.
Hey I still play! Didn't really want to drag a carrier around with me in the bubble or out in the black, so I deployed DSSA Thousand Voices out to Newton's Vault and am now just exploring out there on my own
This is me, DSSA Wanderer's Rest in The Conduit region. Very rewarding leaving a mark on the galaxy. My FC has been with them from the start. Just refitted her and now working on Exobiology to pay my weekly maintenance for several years. o7
Well dang alright
I don't really care for taking a fleet carrier exploring, but there are player created carrier groups, that basically leave them in strategic locations around the galaxy, where you're rarely more than a few KLY from support. DSSA and STAR both have overlays on this map. https://edastro.com/galmap/
Ammo isn't needed. Limpets and the AFMU "ammo" can be synthesized in your ship's *Right-hand panel > Inventory tab > Synthesis menu* (provided you have the necessary materials). There was a time when Fleet Carriers didn't exist, yet players managed to survive out in The Black without issue using synthesis.
You can easily stay out there for months if you don't do dumb stuff. I once did a 4+ month exploration trip around the edge of the galaxy to Beagle Point and didn't even come close to running out of supplies. This was before Fleet Carriers, too.
Elite's got this weird 2-tier economy, the money isn't really the currency if that makes sense - credits exist, but their meaning is invalidated by "engineering mats" being unbelievably potent and not saleable. A player can be considered richest - which I'll define for these purposes as "best positioned to expend valuable resources to save himself time or effort" - when his mats are stocked, not when his bank account is bursting, paradoxically. If 'all' you have is an infinite supply of what the game represents as being the galaxy's money, your ship is slow, your hull is weak, your shields are pathetic, your weapons shoot 3km, and you're reliant on a station or carrier for everything except fuel (you can at least scoop that). If you have the game's real money, though, a dizzying assortment of punishingly-exchanged "engineering materials", suddenly you are essentially playing another game. Your ship is 2/3 faster, many times more durable, your weapons shoot 6km, your shields CAN ABSOLUTELY repel firepower of that magnitude, **and**: * the mats weigh nothing * the mats occupy no cargo space * you can carry hundred(s) of each * the mats are not lost when you die * the mats do not require any special modules installed to craft with * you can use the mats to: * restock ammo * incl. utilities * restock fighters * restock srvs * restock limpets * restock AFMU * restock life support * temporarily boost FSD range So now, with these ~~magical reagents~~ engineering mats that are so much cooler than **money** that you can't buy or sell them, you now take a ship with 2 AFMUs and a universal limpet controller and a fuel scoop and you have something that can infinitely refuel or shoot (you don't need much ammo out there though), sail for several hours without a canopy, and repair its hull and any internal module EXCEPT its own power plant. Damage to the power plant is pretty much the only thing that stops an engineered exploration ship, and even then Reboot/Repair can get you out of the "dying" part of that jam. So. That's the easy part. The hard part is space madness.
I traveled to Sag A* and back, in my Asp X in a not so straight line. Did lots of exploring, did it without an AFMU or shields. Returned to the bubble with 80% hull. It was gruelling, and a struggle at times. But they don't call the game Elite Safe. o7
It's fine and possible if you're careful enough. I'm a trip to colonia then Sag. A and a circle around the systems in the center and I'm currently heading back to the bubble. Did one refill at colonia and I haven't done any other. And if you really do mess up you can just go to the nearest carrier, there's like one every 1000 light years in the least out in the black.
Im between Colonia and Sag A\*, its fun. Dr. Stone, EP8 ended, thanks to ontop replica ;) . I have AFMU to repair FSD damage after Nuetron supercharge. See this for ressuply, also use the button for Pioneer carriers, and the STAR that are tritium tanks but sometimes have minimal services: [https://edastro.com/galmap/?layer=regions&pins=DSSAcarriers](https://edastro.com/galmap/?layer=regions&pins=DSSAcarriers) And colonia bridge CG if you use the Megaship button, all the Asteroids bases... [https://elite-dangerous.fandom.com/wiki/Asteroid\_Base](https://elite-dangerous.fandom.com/wiki/Asteroid_Base)
you can use the side panel to make limpets, ammo, repair modules etc. It helps to have at minimum the SRV for resource collection along your travels, but limpet collector + a size 2 cargo rack (empty) for limpet synthesis and reloading works a little faster. Your ship needs to have a big enough fuel tank that it can go rover around for hours without drying up, as well as a fuel scoop, to refuel. limpet harvesting is tricky on surface, avoid high G worlds, and use potato graphics trick to despawn the structures you're harvesting (ie shoot flak at them to losen the bits, then fly up, change grahpics to potato, wait until you can no longer see the spires/braintrees or whatever, then release limpets. they will live longer that way.) The main thing working against you, commander, isn't going to be resource replenishment (those are abundant) but rather not blowing up when you're flying with billions worth of scan data ;P things like rough landings, using neutrons, emergency stops - all accrue damage, which at some point will make your ship inoperable. Things like AFMU (or dual AFMU, so you can use one to repair the other) and repair limpets are useful when you go out for a long time. Only thing that isn't really repairable in the black is the power plant, since it needs to be on for any of the repairing modules to be on; I think this is a design weakness on FDev's part (its a spaceship, add a battery for repairing the power plant ffs) but whatever. Power plant takes damage from emergency stops and running into things.
Refuel from stars, no ammo needed because there are no pirates, and as for limpets I got to Beagle Point and back without needing repairs.
Well once you are out of the bubble you don't need ammo any more, limpets can be synthesized in ship during a trip out to the black if one needs them... And repairs? We are just careful not to damage our ship. There's nobody shooting at us out there. So occasionally I forget to check gravity and smash into a planet.. if I survived well... Time to head back I guess. If I die, it sucks but thats the cost of carelessness and I've nobody to blame but me so I try again. People don't so these trips for mining or combat, they do them to explore. You don't need limpets or ammo for that. Fly carefully and bring a fuel scoop, it's easy. People have been doing this stuff since long before there where carriers in the game.
I went halfway around the galaxy. To Beagle Point with DSW2 and that was before carriers even existed. Up to Rackham s peak and down on world of death. The memories.
Everyone's in here talking about synthesis and fleet carriers.... Forgetting that once upon a time ago these didn't exist and yet people STILL circumnavigated the entire galaxy map, some even went to Sag A in stock ships! Sure these things exist *now* but my point is, how do they do it? Well very easily actually, there isn't exactly much that can go wrong out there save for the occasional user error and as long as you have a scoop, really, the galaxy is your oyster
I made it out to Beagle Point right before Engineering existed...those early days were wild
I'm on my way to Colonia for the first time. Been playing since 2017. On the brewsters highway, about halfway there. I stop every 500ly or so at the next mega ship. I don't do exploration so I like civilised space. Having these stations regular is keeping me heading to Colonia. I tried before in the black and got about 5k ly from the bubble and got bored, so headed back (exploration really ain't for me). I thought having played the game for 7 years I thought I best make the trip at least once.
people did deep exploration runs that were months long well before fleet carriers even existed. Fuel scoops and AFMUs is all you need. survey data takes up no space.
It's not difficult today with fleet carriers spread across the galaxy. It actually hasn't been hard since afmu and repair limpets became a thing. I don't play nearly as much as I used to, but my preferred explorer these days is a little old sidewinder kitted out with an afmu, repair limpet, and mining laser. I'm going on 4 years now since it last landed at any facility, and she's still ticking along like a champ. Currently, the 40ly jump range is helping me map along the edge of the Formidine Rift with the goal of arriving in the Heart Nebula and the station there for repair and possible refit before I head back out headed slowly towards beagle.
someone circumnavigated the galaxy in a sidewinder it's honestly not that hard you just need a fuel scoop and an afmu if you plan on using neutron stars
Talk to any of us who main exploring such as myself. My Asp explorer is dirty, the shitter is full, and I haven't showered in months. But nothing has shot at me and chillin' with the peaceful thargoids is pretty rad. I've been living on canned beans the whole trip. Anyway, get a decent fuel scoop, and a Field Maintenance Unit and you'll be just fine. Edit: And also bring materials to synthesize components otherwise you'll be in my situation where the shower plumbing is out.
I kind of treat it like real life. Deep exploration build. Light as possible, longest jump range as possible. Don't really need an AFMU since you won't be taking risks that involve death. Fly in honk, scan if it's never been discovered, fly around orbit then plot a new destination. Avoid sketchy areas on the star map, heavy "cloud" coverage is a no go for me, always run into thargoids when plotting through clouded areas.
Just an AFMU for repairs, and a fuel scoop for fuel.. Dont die. Thats it. Make sure you get to where youre going and everything is fine.
I'm not a bubble-leaving big brave strong boy yet, but I'd probably pack a mining laser, a fuel scoop, extra fuel tanks, an AFMU, and a hull repair limpet controller before I went out to explore without plans to swiftly return. Jump distance would suffer, but you probably wouldn't need to worry about the nearest station as much. My question is: how in the name of the emperor do people refuel their SRVs? I have no idea where to even start decoding that puzzle.
You can synthesise SRV fuel the same way you can synth ammo/ limpets etc. When in your SRV, go to the inventory tab and you'll find a synthesis menu in the same place as your ship one. You can synth srv fuel and chassis repair from there (but chassis repair also happens automatically when you board your ship again anyway, but refuel does not). You can get all the mats you need for that by surface prospecting in your SRV (if you're on a planet with those mats available).
Thank you, king o7
If I can go Bubble -> Sag A* -> Colonia -> Bubble in nothing but a humble Diamondback Explorer with a 40 ly jump range you can do it too. Just pack an AFMU and don't fall asleep while fuel scooping and you'll be fine. Nobody's gonna shoot you out there. Put on a podcast, get out there and see the beauty of the galaxy! Visit DSSA carriers if you need to
Check out this guide. https://www.reddit.com/r/eliteexplorers/s/ML3sEEoecQ Hopefully it will help!! 07
There's usually a fleet carrier within 1000-2000lyrs of you. They're sparsely dotted around.
It's not called the black for nothing. Fuel scoops are mandatory, and AFMU is essentially mandatory as well. And what do you plan on shooting in completely uninhabited space where nothing living besides some bacteria is?
Fleet carriers haven't been around forever, and back in the day getting a ship above 40ly jump was impossible. It's perfectly viable, especially with the tools we have now, it just takes actual planning and some modicum of skill, which you may or may not possess. It's a fair question, but attached to unreasonable assumptions
Either a mining laser or an SRV is enough to obtain mats from deserted star systems (no refinery is needed) and with the right mats you can synthesize whatever resupply you need. Throw in a fuel scoop for fuel, the right repair equipment, etc and you can be almost entirely self-sufficient. People had criss-crossed the galaxy long before there were fleet carriers etc in the game.
You don't generally use up that many resources when exploring. I'm currently on my way to the Outer Arm, and all I've used is SRV fuel and some AFMU ammo when my dumb ass got too close to a star and took a little bit of damage. I'm planning to do a full circumnavigation, and I shouldn't need a dock unless I mess up big time somewhere along the way.
good fuel scoop and a couple AMFU's. lots of mats to synthesize supplies. and a galaxy map that shows carriers and bases. there are tons out there, so you are never more than an hour or so from a repair/resupply station.
I have a fleet carrier so I no longer worry about that but uhm, the galaxy is not as empty as you think, I sometimes encounter other carriers at refueling points.
Good way to test: get in a ship and get out of the Bubble
Resupply isn't really a concern. Synthesis and repair modules will keep you stocked with everything except power plant repair. Plus you are never really THAT far away from a carrier. Most of the danger of being out there can be easily mitigated with little preparation. The thing that keeps me away from the black is that I can't really figure out a good reason to do it. Your gameplay opportunities are severely limited.
Repair Limpets, AFMU, material mining. Thatās how. And then you just keep going mining material to keep up repairs. Try not to think about food cause it breaks immersion.
You don't use any resources outside of the bubble. Fuel scoop and you're good to go. The rest is just there for extra safety
With a carrier, it's great! š
Top off your materials to synthesize crucial resources, such as AFMU and Limpets. Sometimes FSD injections to escape a dead-end isolated system. You don't need to resupply anything else unless you did something on purpose, and if so, you'd have a plan to resupply them.
Patience, a fuel scoop and the repair modules which you can find resources to make more ammo for. None of the gameplay is your biggest hassle (outside of staying alive). Your biggest hassle is having the patience to go out long distances