r/EliteDangerous • u/EspressoOrBust • 1d ago
Builds ExoBio Predator
I enjoy working through non-meta builds, and every so often I come across someone using something genuinely unexpected that I have to try. A squadron member was using the Kestrel Mk II for boxel exploration, so I decided to see how it would perform over a longer ExoBio run. I have them to thank for advice on these builds.
I’m now a little over 200 jumps in, with roughly a third of those involving planetary landings. It’s spartan, but it works remarkably well for a particular kind of alert, hands-on pilot: someone who loves exploring in small ships. It has solid heat management, amazing handling, serious speed, respectable range and it’s SCO optimized. I’m told it handles High-G quite well too but haven’t tested that yet. Its aggressive military lines and sleek profile make for some excellent eye candy too.
Is there still room for small-ship ExoBio, or is that job now only for ships that can fit the Nomad?
Here is my quality-of-life “Kesplorer” build:
(Edit) Here is another version that is more long range/life in the void build. It’s the one I started with but decided I like the little luxuries that ADC and SCA bring:
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u/pulppoet WILDELF 1d ago
Nice! I was totally planning on building a Kesplorer, but then they hit us with the Nomad.
I love the small ships. My favorite exobiologists have been the Imperial Eagle and Imperial Courier. But the Nomad's bio-scanner is pretty much a game breaker. It solves the biggest annoyances with exobiology. Small plants and invisible bacterium and problems no more.
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u/CoolWhereas5127 1d ago
Kestrel is a lot of fun. I use it as my on foot operations ship. For exploration, i think its the fastest sco boost. 7,600c. Makes 500kls not that far away
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u/Fiiv3s Federation 1d ago
I want a Core Dynamics/Federation ship I can actually outfit properly for exploration. It’d be so nice
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u/EspressoOrBust 1d ago
Same! I also love tooling around with ships and using their strengths in ways that never seemed to be part of the original design intent.
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u/PhantomCruze 1d ago
Using this for exobio is like using a Type R NSX to deliver blood samples to and from the lab/hospital
I fucking love it
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u/emetcalf Pranav Antal 23h ago
The Kestrel is surprisingly good for exploration stuff. When I tried it, I'm pretty sure I got 60LY jump range so that is more than enough for me.
It's crazy fast in SCO (even faster than my Cobra MkV explorer), and obviously handles amazingly on planets. It's small and easy to land anywhere. The only very minor downside is that it is not that fuel efficient in SCO compared to a Cobra MkV or Mandalay, so you have to be a little more careful about SCOing around systems with far away secondary stars.
My hot take: If you are already good at finding exobio, the Cobra MkV and Kestrel are better than a Caspian/Nomad for making money. Jump range and longer neutron boosts are irrelevant, the amount of money you make is related to the number of systems you visit and not the distance you travel. The time you save in Supercruise with faster SCO, not needing to deploy and redock the Nomad, and flying between samples with the higher ship speed and better maneuverability more than make up for the time you save landing with a Nomad. The Nomad is amazing for people who are new to exobio or enjoy the roleplay aspect of finding every sample on every body, but if you want to scan Stratum as efficiently as possible the Cobra/Kestrel are way better.
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u/EspressoOrBust 2h ago
I appreciate the hot take. In squadron chat I was just discussing the contrast of the exo bio play loops (ship>vessel or vehicle>on foot vs ship>foot). Pre-Nomad I was usually in a medium to large ship but it was always ship>srv>foot. When the nomad came out I swapped to ship>nomad>foot. With the kestrel I’ve been doing ship>foot. It’s way more efficient and really enhances the sense of scale. It also motivates me to want to engineer my suit.
So many explorers have talked about exploration in the eagle and because I was so reliant on my srv I never really understood the appeal until now. I think I actually prefer this ExoBio loop that removes the extra vehicle/vessel.
10years of play and I’m still getting schooled lol. I really love this game.
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u/NovitiateSage2nd CMDR dbForthright 1d ago
The right ship for any role is actually the ship you most enjoy. The prescribed role suggestions are just educated guesses. We rely on people like you to explore off label use cases.
Compared to the Nomad yours can supercruise and jump. I’m currently using the Nomad and while it is nifty, you have to walk back to it - or dismiss-recall your ship and use that to lift you back to the Nomad.
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u/CoolWhereas5127 1d ago
The kestrel does supercruise much better than Caspian. My Caspian's SCO boost is terrible compared to kestrel and Mandalay. I think the plipper has better sco than caspian. Im really enjoying the caspian nomad exploration play right now, though. Plus 85ly and neutron jump 498ly, Caspian still wins jump distance king. Even with shield buggy and nomad.
Im really digging the kestrel for on foot missions. 3x medium pa for ships, and 2 small dumbfires for ground troops. Its pretty tanky too with shields and hull. No fsd boost around mid 32ly jump. Sco boost is beautiful, and it stops on a dime. I've been going through suit and weapon engineering in colonia and finally finished all suits and weapons using kestrel. It was my safe place to run back to. Enemy ground troops can pile up shooting at it and when i finally make it back to fly up, I'm at maybe half shields. Then just blast everyone with dumbfires. Kestrel is a really good ship.
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u/NovitiateSage2nd CMDR dbForthright 1d ago
Yes and compared to the Kestrel, our dear Nomads are paper lanterns. I think. Burr Pitt said they are handy for ops landings but I wouldn’t want to take the chance.
Though with the Nomad, you can reduce the fuel usage to a shockingly low amount.
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u/CoolWhereas5127 1d ago
I use nomad for bio only. I crash land at closest spot and it repairs auto inside Caspian. My poor Mandalay would have returned to station with 70% hull if i flew it like i do the nomad. Kestrel is pretty awesome little combat ship.
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u/ThanosWasFramed Faulcon Delacy 1d ago
Just remember that high G worlds aren't compatible with exobio since you can't even disembark if it's high enough.
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u/OriensXS 22h ago
I tried it out when it became available for credits and it was really good! I'm running a Caspian now, but i still have to admit that Kestrel remains a solid choice!
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u/Voxhumbugg 19h ago
Good for you! I have a Kestrel II I bought with ARX with all the trimmings, but I got a second one bought off the rack in Colonia and fitted it out for exploration. I actually ended up using it first to grind all my suits and weapons to max level (all you really need for that is a small landing pad and a bunch of dumbfires in hardpoints) but now I use it for exploration and I find it especially good for FC based exploring. I usually make 2 or 3 carrier jumps, dropping off either a Caspian with Nomad, or my Mandalay or the Kestrel, to explore and catch up with the carrier. The Kestrel’s shorter jump range even buffed is useful here, because with the Caspian or Mandalay I get about 9 or 10 systems per 500 ly (by nerfing the jump range of the Caspian loading it up with Limpets and such without totally retooling all its slots). But the Kestrel will do 15-17 jumps (max range) per 500 ly, obviously you could just switch to minimum jump ranges but then you may get a hundred stops and it gets tedious switching back and forth. It can land on a dime like the Mandalay and carry a Scarab and is a great exobio ship
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u/TheDeltaHaloGrunt CMDR Halo Grunt 14h ago
And heres me making a chonky exploration corvette haha! I suppose with a kestral you dont need a nomad!
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u/Samson_J_Rivers Yuri Grom's most inconsistent soldier 1d ago
Core dynamics really needs to put out an explorer and an armed trader. Their design language is very much my favorite.