Airship Guide

[Arcticharm]

I recently got my solo FC 1st airship to 50 in less than 1 month and half maximizing loot stats. What I liked to do was maximize the Range before any other stats whenever possible. That was so that I can always send it to the max amount of highest level sectors and thus, get as much XP as possible from every trip.

I would suggest following this gearing plan:

Upgrade Hull>Forecastle>Aftcastle then only upgrade Propellers/Sail if you can't already upgrade the Hull again. I made sure to leave the speed stat the lowest for the bonus range if I needed it. (You might not need it in the Bronze sectors)

When my Range started allowing for 5 sectors trips, all the subsequent trips included 5 sectors until I got to Rank 50.

Doing that while not neglecting forecastle and aftcastle upgrades allowed me to also have a crap ton of materials after each 4-5 sectors trip. Which helped me never run out of Airship crafting materials. (Except fucking Cassia logs, they don't exist)

I would argue that it depends on how much time you get to play or how you prefer to schedule your trips. The above is good if you only expect to be able to play every couple days and expect to only be able to send the ship back out once in a while. The other way to try to do it is to get really fast rigging and try to hit as many sectors as quickly as possible to level. If you're able to be on at the weird hours it'll take it keep it sent out then this might be another alternative to consider but you may not get as many items as the other method. Still if money is no issue and you're looking for fast xp, I would say that this might be another good method to think about.

[Ranzan]

I don't think items will be an issue. A FC in the neighborhood gifted us with mats to unlock all the schematics on the board and a few crafting mats. So upgrade the rigging or hull yields the best exp pee trip?

[Phantasmage]

Rigging then hull if you're sure you'll be able to send your Airship as soon as it comes back. Hull then rigging if you're not sure. You can leave Forecastle and Aftcastle as the last upgrades since mats won't be an issue.

[Nyalia]

Rigging then hull if you're sure you'll be able to send your Airship as soon as it comes back. Hull then rigging if you're not sure. You can leave Forecastle and Aftcastle as the last upgrades since mats won't be an issue.

Better Forecastles directly correlate with higher exp bonuses.

[Ranzan]

Ok imma test the forecast less theory out tonight. Thank you

[Phantasmage]

Do take note of Nyalia's post, she has a point. Bonus EXP can be a huge boost to the Total EXP per trip. I'd say to follow this gearing plan:

Rigging > Hull > Forecastle > Aftcastle.
Your bank will bleed due to the need to buy Airship crafting mats from the Market Board. But if you're dedicated to your Airships, you could probably get to Rank 50 in a month. It'll be tough nonetheless and will depend on your sector unlocking luck.

Planning trips on a straight line as much as possible should also yield better results, as your Airship trips will take less time.

[MiqoMog]

Seeing as this is airship related...

In regards to hard mode, you’ll have to first discover the island through exploratory voyages, and once you discover the island, you’ll be able to challenge hard mode anytime.

I'll just leave this here. Make what you will of it.

[BonzaiFerroni]

I'll just leave this here. Make what you will of it.

Neat find MiqoMog :D

Since the map is upside down from the perspective we usually see, that happens to be resting on sector 16! That big red island to the north has been a mystery, all of the other islands on the map have sectors that we've been able to unlock, except for that one! Is this SE's way of hinting that there is a new sector that can be unlocked from 16? ;D

After looking through the patch notes I'm under the impression that the new places for exploratory missions will be on a separate map from the sea of clouds, does anyone know?

[Moirethe]

Got this from reddit, looks like it drops from Sector 17. Might it drop from the same sectors as dusk leather?

Also someone got access to the Hard exploratory missions from a voyage to Sector 21&22. OP didn't specify which sector unlocked it, waiting on them to check.

[KittyMeowmix]

Diadem Hard discovered going from sector 22 to 21:
http://imgur.com/10gLNZ2