I'm back after a slightly longer gap between "long form" videos than usual. Last couple of months have been a little bit of a challenge outside of editing / work, but I'm back to life as usual. May have also got distracted with the Thargoid invasion of Sol. I didn't mention it in the video as I'd already completed the voice recording prior to the invasion, but I've found that the Mandalay isn't a bad ship at all for dealing with the Thargoid menace. Until next time, much love and o7 - and if I don't get anything released before Christmas, I hope you all have a good one and an excellent new year.
This ship makes ranking gains (can't call it grinding anymore) fun! With 96 cargo, 60yr jump, short range penetrator railguns, I can pick all 5 star rep missions! Deliver some biowaste, assassinate several pirates, collect some black boxes, fetch some palladium and silver, liberate some hostages, all easy peasy! Fun and feasible. And best of all, how pleasant it is to fly this thing. Responsiveness is amazing. My favorite ship in the game by far
The appearance seems the most appropriate for atmospheric flight, so exploring planets and landing feels less like making a meteor float under gravity (Looking at you Anaconda)
Your last point is exactly on point. I have a stripped down Diamondback Explorer, and i refuse to switch exploration ships. It looks wonderfully utilitarian, handles just right, and runs cold. And with my build, it jumps 73 Ly unassisted. How could I ever give up something I put so much love into?
Easy, mandalay is better. My dbx jumped 78ly. But my mandalay jumps 90.44. Its for the fuel scoop really. The 4 slot holding dbx back. If you are an explorer. Consider getting it.
Nice to see another of your reviews, really enjoy them...!!! I was between this one and the new Cobra, decided for the Mark V. About the Phantom, yes it's my favorite exploration ship too.
When I'm exploring planets, having the stability and lower fuel consumption of SCO compatible ships is very important to me. Which is why I'm saying "goodbye" to my DBX once the Mandalay is available for credits.
Nice feedback on the Mandalay. My thoughts on ships as a new ED commander - Fleet carriers' max jump range should be 1000 - 2000 LY with adjustable takeoff times. Any medium to large ship should have a manufacturer engineer that can adjust your ship to fit a fighter bay and allow 100 to 200 LY jumps. Space is enormous and most stay within the bubble because traveling is super far and can add a sense of boredom to the game. And I get it....I know ED was designed to give us that real experience it takes to travel the stars but omg....After years of playing and achieving so much you'd think commanders would be given access to super travel. Id seriously be willing to pay ARKs for warp travel...For example- Warp speed trips would cost anywhere from 8,000 to 11,000 ARKs. So - 1 warp jump can be 10,000 LY. Colonia is 22,000 LY from core systems. If Frontier is talking about commanders owning systems and planetary bases, this will be a feature that's hard to resist.
I still my AspX, it’s reliable, cozy and has a good 78Ly range. I personally don’t like the way the Mandalay handles, it feels like if there was a sudden gust of wind it would go tumbling away like a leaf.
I definitely want to try the Mandalay out, it looks amazing to me and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it, haven’t tried the Phantom yet but I’ll definitely give that also a go.
Working on a Mandalay exploration build..I'm close to 70ly jump range. (engineering grind) When I get there then the Guardian frameshift drive booster cherry on top. I hear Coriolis calling me.
I dont like this as an explorer - the cockpit view is lacking for me for exploration. I do use it as a fighter-bomber. I actually went back to the Asp Explorer - realizing that the most important feature (for me) - was the cockpit view (esp in VR).
I would love to try her some day. On paper mandalay eclipse phantom, but I really want to take a ride to see how she fares compare to my good ol phantom.
I was on Supercruise Assist heading to the rescue ship in Luyten's, and I was buzzing so close to the rings of the planet that when I did a roll the wing clipped and 'TOO CLOSE'.
While I am looking forward to the Mandalay, I will miss the cockpit of the Asp Explorer. The Mandalay just feels cramped in comparison which imo need to be really good on an exploration ship.
I seem to be in the minority but I'm entirely unhyped by the new ships. Would have been nice to see them do some interesting stuff rather than just best in role medium ships and the cobra mk5 as the sole small ship seems like a pretty tepid offering. I feel like it all just kind of lowers ship diversity because they are all best in role. But then they have got people spending money on the game so hopefully that will pay off and we get more content.
I dont entirely disagree. But if this is what gets us more ships next year, I am cool with it. Hopefully, we will see some more small ships and large ships, too. Imagine a Vulture MK 2, literally just a cockpit stapled to a class 4 hardpoint. Now with even worse power management. 😋
@Cathmore0 yeah a vulture mk2 is the top of my wants list. I was thinking about a ship with dedicated missile/torpedo slots that can equip more missiles per slot or larger missiles. Something like that.
It's a tricky one - having two new ships come along and be immediately one of the best, if not THE best for their chosen specialty does run the risk of making other ships immediately obsolete and in some ways reducing the variety of ships actually used. As I said in the video, if I was a cynical person... But at the same time, if it gets us new content, I'm all for it. One thing I do like about the Mandalay, is that it's more than just a decent explorer. I've been using my second one pretty heavily for combat recently - first of all pirate-bashing / powerplay enforcement and then later for the defence of Sol and a little bit of titan bombing - and for all of those, it works well enough that I'll probably pick up a 3rd one purely as an AX gunboat. It's also pretty handy for rare goods shifting too given it's jump range and having a reasonably cargo capacity for that sort of work. Maybe not the best ship for trade work, but it'll do just fine.
Would love to see an Asp Explorer Mk2 (more optional internals, better jump range, change of engine noise). That and VR on foot + incrementally making all planets available to explore would be my wish list.
![The Python MK2 - Worthy of the Name "Python"? [Elite Dangerous Ship Review]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/A-IT5MkJ_I4/mqdefault.jpg)
![The Anaconda Review [Elite Dangerous]](/img/1.gif)
I'm back after a slightly longer gap between "long form" videos than usual. Last couple of months have been a little bit of a challenge outside of editing / work, but I'm back to life as usual.
May have also got distracted with the Thargoid invasion of Sol. I didn't mention it in the video as I'd already completed the voice recording prior to the invasion, but I've found that the Mandalay isn't a bad ship at all for dealing with the Thargoid menace.
Until next time, much love and o7 - and if I don't get anything released before Christmas, I hope you all have a good one and an excellent new year.
This ship makes ranking gains (can't call it grinding anymore) fun! With 96 cargo, 60yr jump, short range penetrator railguns, I can pick all 5 star rep missions! Deliver some biowaste, assassinate several pirates, collect some black boxes, fetch some palladium and silver, liberate some hostages, all easy peasy! Fun and feasible. And best of all, how pleasant it is to fly this thing. Responsiveness is amazing. My favorite ship in the game by far
The appearance seems the most appropriate for atmospheric flight, so exploring planets and landing feels less like making a meteor float under gravity (Looking at you Anaconda)
Your last point is exactly on point. I have a stripped down Diamondback Explorer, and i refuse to switch exploration ships. It looks wonderfully utilitarian, handles just right, and runs cold. And with my build, it jumps 73 Ly unassisted. How could I ever give up something I put so much love into?
Easy, mandalay is better. My dbx jumped 78ly. But my mandalay jumps 90.44. Its for the fuel scoop really. The 4 slot holding dbx back. If you are an explorer. Consider getting it.
Nice to see another of your reviews, really enjoy them...!!!
I was between this one and the new Cobra, decided for the Mark V.
About the Phantom, yes it's my favorite exploration ship too.
I haven't bothered to pick up Odyssey yet, but the fact that these news ships are exclusive to it is definitely a motivator to do so.
For me is a very luxurious DBX
When I'm exploring planets, having the stability and lower fuel consumption of SCO compatible ships is very important to me. Which is why I'm saying "goodbye" to my DBX once the Mandalay is available for credits.
Nice feedback on the Mandalay. My thoughts on ships as a new ED commander - Fleet carriers' max jump range should be 1000 - 2000 LY with adjustable takeoff times. Any medium to large ship should have a manufacturer engineer that can adjust your ship to fit a fighter bay and allow 100 to 200 LY jumps. Space is enormous and most stay within the bubble because traveling is super far and can add a sense of boredom to the game. And I get it....I know ED was designed to give us that real experience it takes to travel the stars but omg....After years of playing and achieving so much you'd think commanders would be given access to super travel. Id seriously be willing to pay ARKs for warp travel...For example- Warp speed trips would cost anywhere from 8,000 to 11,000 ARKs. So - 1 warp jump can be 10,000 LY. Colonia is 22,000 LY from core systems. If Frontier is talking about commanders owning systems and planetary bases, this will be a feature that's hard to resist.
I still my AspX, it’s reliable, cozy and has a good 78Ly range. I personally don’t like the way the Mandalay handles, it feels like if there was a sudden gust of wind it would go tumbling away like a leaf.
I definitely want to try the Mandalay out, it looks amazing to me and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it, haven’t tried the Phantom yet but I’ll definitely give that also a go.
Working on a Mandalay exploration build..I'm close to 70ly jump range. (engineering grind) When I get there then the Guardian frameshift drive booster cherry on top. I hear Coriolis calling me.
I wonder if this took inspiration from the Milano from guardians of the galaxy.I really love it
The perfect way to wake up and enjoy my coffee :)
Jumpaconda rules!
I dont like this as an explorer - the cockpit view is lacking for me for exploration. I do use it as a fighter-bomber. I actually went back to the Asp Explorer - realizing that the most important feature (for me) - was the cockpit view (esp in VR).
Krait phantom goated
I would love to try her some day. On paper mandalay eclipse phantom, but I really want to take a ride to see how she fares compare to my good ol phantom.
I really like krait2 for exploring because I really like bringing a fighterbay on deep space trips. I really wish this ship had a fighterbay lol.
I love my mandalay. Even if i keep clipping the wings on things. Heheh.
I was on Supercruise Assist heading to the rescue ship in Luyten's, and I was buzzing so close to the rings of the planet that when I did a roll the wing clipped and 'TOO CLOSE'.
Nice
While I am looking forward to the Mandalay, I will miss the cockpit of the Asp Explorer.
The Mandalay just feels cramped in comparison which imo need to be really good on an exploration ship.
I seem to be in the minority but I'm entirely unhyped by the new ships.
Would have been nice to see them do some interesting stuff rather than just best in role medium ships and the cobra mk5 as the sole small ship seems like a pretty tepid offering.
I feel like it all just kind of lowers ship diversity because they are all best in role.
But then they have got people spending money on the game so hopefully that will pay off and we get more content.
I dont entirely disagree. But if this is what gets us more ships next year, I am cool with it. Hopefully, we will see some more small ships and large ships, too.
Imagine a Vulture MK 2, literally just a cockpit stapled to a class 4 hardpoint. Now with even worse power management. 😋
@Cathmore0 yeah a vulture mk2 is the top of my wants list.
I was thinking about a ship with dedicated missile/torpedo slots that can equip more missiles per slot or larger missiles. Something like that.
It's a tricky one - having two new ships come along and be immediately one of the best, if not THE best for their chosen specialty does run the risk of making other ships immediately obsolete and in some ways reducing the variety of ships actually used. As I said in the video, if I was a cynical person...
But at the same time, if it gets us new content, I'm all for it. One thing I do like about the Mandalay, is that it's more than just a decent explorer. I've been using my second one pretty heavily for combat recently - first of all pirate-bashing / powerplay enforcement and then later for the defence of Sol and a little bit of titan bombing - and for all of those, it works well enough that I'll probably pick up a 3rd one purely as an AX gunboat. It's also pretty handy for rare goods shifting too given it's jump range and having a reasonably cargo capacity for that sort of work. Maybe not the best ship for trade work, but it'll do just fine.
@gamingsnipsandbits yeah, content is more than just new ships and it is nice seeing them seem more invested in the game.
Would love to see an Asp Explorer Mk2 (more optional internals, better jump range, change of engine noise). That and VR on foot + incrementally making all planets available to explore would be my wish list.
The vette, cutter, and conda should be the best ships wtf?
Is not so great at parking in tight spaces. Other than that, it's almost perfect.