Miranda was always the one meant to go - to go far, far away.
Miranda is the name of my Asp explorer. She was commissioned on 6th January 3301, the result of arduous weeks of grinding on my starter Cobra Mk III in Elite: Dangerous. Miranda was my first upgrade, a very special ship with a permanent place of pride in my fleet. She was my first truly armed ship - my Cobra never really got the hang of battle (in fact, the HCS Reminiscence still wears her loaned 4E shield!); she was an accomplished rare goods trader; and she was the first ship I explored with, the ship that became Elite. In short, Miranda brought me to places.
In February 3301, I decided for the first time to make a trip to Sagittarius A. This would be my longest trip ever. I made it to 2700 LY from civilization before I decided to turn back to sell data at the first exploration community goal at Lambda Andromedae. Then I got distracted by other things.
In May 3301, gradually the exploration bug hit me again. The yearning grew to great proportions and finally on June 11, after outfitting her for the trip, I left. The rest is history.
The Miranda Exploration Asp build is optimized for my playstyle, naturally. It was also optimized for the game version 1.3. Future versions of the game may make this build less optimal. Feel free to modify for your own needs. Elite: Dangerous is a flexible and balanced game - there are no perfect ships. :)
The Asp Explorer remains the king of exploration in Elite: Dangerous. Many CMDRs will be thinking about using the Diamondback Explorer (DBX). The latter is also a fine explorer, but I contend that the Asp is still superior.
The DBX and Asp have similar jump range. For me, a good jump range - without fretting about maxing it - is about 32 ~ 33 LY. If you can achieve this jump range while carrying whatever gear you wish, that’s good enough for a very decent exploration trip. If you are insistent on maxing it out because you want to get somewhere as fast as possible in the least amount of jumps, then that’s another story. To me, exploration is not about getting to places fast.
In this light, both DBX and Asp are more than able. The difference is that the Asp has more internal compartments: 7 versus the 5 of the DBX.
Miranda in White Apollo livery, at Shinrarta Dezhra
3A Powerplant. The guideline for selecting a powerplant for an explorer vessel is simple.
Smallest size to power your needs, and
A-rated for highest heat efficiency.
You need heat efficiency because you want your ship’s operating temperature to be as low as possible. This helps you fuel-scoop more safely and also gives you more leeway when trying to get out of high heat situations like when you’ve crashed into a star.
Miranda operates at 18% heat. Besides a small A-rated powerplant, to further bring down operating temperature, turn off the following modules when in deep space:
2nd (and more) heat sinks
Only turn on your shield when you are on the way out or into civilization, and when you’re in normal flight exploring asteroid rings or with other players nearby.
Shields DO NOT help to protect you from the heat of a star; conversely, because they generate heat on your ship, they increase the risk of heat damage.
Unless you plan to fire your weapons, boost engines or charge shields, distributors are of no use during exploration. If you plan to be armed while exploring, this build is not for you.
If you carry more than one heat sink, just leave one on. Switch to the other one when the first one is used up.
For AFMUs, only turn them on when you need to use them.
Side note on AFMUs: as a rule of thumb, do not attempt to repair your ship when you’re in supercruise or doing anything for that matter. If you attempt to repair your ship modules while you’re in supercruise, you might inadvertently repair your thrusters while they are in operation, which has the same effect as unscrewing a screw/bolt on your car engine/microwave oven/washing machine while it is in operation. This would result in an instant crashout followed by more damage to your ship. Many CMDRs have confessed to this mistake.
Follow my rule: only make repairs when you start a new game session (unless you desperately need to make repairs on serious damage). When you start a new game session, your ship is at full stop and idling. This is the best time to make repairs. Resist the urge to repair in mid-game.
You need/could use the internal compartments for these items, in descending order of importance:
Best fuel scoop you can afford.
Advanced Discovery Scanner
Auto Field Maintenance Unit (AFMU) x1 or 2
Fuel Scoop. Why is the Asp superior if the DBX can have the necessary five compartments? Firstly, the Asp has a class 6 compartment, which you can fit with a class 6 - to be precise, 6A - fuel scoop. This scoops at a maximum rate of 878kg/s and can fill up a full tank in 45 seconds, compared to the 93 seconds needed for a 4A scoop on the DBX. 48 seconds may not mean much, but I assure you, it does - just as the matter of having a class A powerplant matters to explorers (but more on that later). Having a high-rated fuel scoop also means that you can stay further (cooler) away from the star while scooping, assuming you don’t need to scoop at maximum scoop rate.
AFMUs. Secondly, the extra compartments in the Asp allow you to carry two 3A AFMU units - useful should you run into a lot of damage. To be honest though, the single 3A AFMU that the DBX can carry is enough if you are careful.
But why would you want to carry two AFMUs anyway, you ask? Well, it’s a bit of a not-entirely-necessary thing, but I’ll tell you anyway: so that your no.2 AFMU can repair your no.1 AFMU. :) Yes, AFMUs get damaged too, you know. Well, I do not know how far an AFMU needs to be damaged to become inoperative, but just to play safe.
Shield. Assuming you do want to bring a shield, which can in fact be useful on the way out/into civilization and for exploring asteroid belts, you will need that one compartment for this.
Fuel Tank. With the Asp, you may actually have one or two compartments free and one possibility is to add an extra fuel tank. However, I have learned on my last trip that the default 32 tons of fuel that both Asp and DBX have are more than enough. There is no need for an extra fuel tank in these two ships, but if you want that safety net, the Asp will provide it.
Heat Sinks. Both Asp and DBX have four utility mounts and you can leave them empty to save on weight. However, if you’re not confident about your capacity to handle proximity to stars, you might find having one or two useful. Thing is, be aware that you cannot deploy heat sinks while in supercruise. Heat sinks do not help if you hyperspace into a close or contact binary system, that bane of explorers, because you are typically still in supercruise mode. So just about the only time you can use them in exploration is when you have accidentally crashed out of supercruise into a star and are trying to escape back into supercruise. You may want to then deploy a heatsink to counter the heat build-up when charging your FSD to enter supercruise mode.
Side note on Contact/Close Binaries: first of all, always throttle to zero when in hyperspace, so that you enter your destination system at minimum spped (30km/s). Be prepared for the worst, just in case. If you do encounter a contact/close binary system, please stay calm. The first time is usually the biggest shock, especially if you pass through one star on the way in. Stay calm and immediately get your bearings. You (should) have time to get out before heat damage occurs, remember that.
Assuming you are still in supercruise (i,e. you did not crash out into normal flight), steer away and engage full throttle. Don’t fret - you have time to get out. Do not mash helplessly at your heat sink button - remember, you cannot deploy heat sinks in supercruise. Steer away from the binaries and fly away. The lower your operating temperature, the more time you will have to do this.
Shield Boosters. No, not when in deep space. After a long expedition and you’ve just landed for the first time in months at a station/outpost at the edge of the bubble, consider tacking on a (shield generator and a) shield booster if you want extra safety as you make your way further into the bubble to your home base or wherever it is you intend to sell your data.
The view through the canopy is where the Asp wins over the DBX, without question. Only the Anaconda’s completely unobscured canopy wins outright; the sidewinder’s canopy is also clear through if you look up. While the Asp does not have a fully unobscured canopy, the frames are slim enough to be unobtrusive, even elegant.
The characteristic upper canopy frame of the Asp, which looks like a goblet.
An unobtrusive canopy is important only insofar as you want an unobstructed view of space when you are exploring. And believe me I strongly recommend it. Of course, with the Debug Cam these days, this isn’t as important, but it is still a great convenience.
I hope you find this guide helpful.
Safe Journeys, CMDRs.
izzy806
germansingergirl
jacobvanloon