Airship Guide

[Arcticharm]

It looks like the Rubber Ducky disproved my wind theory :O

ship looks like it got turbulent wind twice in a row and STILL managed to discover SC08. It might just be left to RNGesus

[BonzaiFerroni]

It seems sector ratings are not as straightforward as I first proposed. I had pretty much been thinking of them as an "average" of your retrieval ratings. However, here is one case where there was a satisfactory rating (+100%) from two Normal retrieval results.

There is something else in these screenshots that is significant, I had seen it a couple times before this as well. For the deep red crystals instead of the standard "High-quality deep red crystals discovered" it says "Several high-quality deep red crystals discovered." And instead of the usual 2-3 crystals I retrieved 11 of them and they were HQ. This seems to be an upgraded version of "High-quality" retrieval. Whenever I have seen this, the items were actually HQ.

It may also account for the higher sector performance rating.
Edit: Well I have found another case where I got the "Several High-quality" message but an abysmal rating....

[BonzaiFerroni]

It looks like the Rubber Ducky disproved my wind theory :O

ship looks like it got turbulent wind twice in a row and STILL managed to discover SC08. It might just be left to RNGesus

I think RNGesus plays a role but Forecastle gives him extra reason to bless you =) She had been to sector 7 twice before:

• Rank 17 with 76 Surveillance (Invincible forecastle)
• Rank 20 with 62 Surveillance (Bronco forecastle, had downgraded to make room for another enterprise part)
• Rank 22 (found it) with 76 Surveillance (Invincible forecastle re-attached)

[BonzaiFerroni]

But it seems its just a normal rating in german, i got this sometimes at the beginning.

This are the german rating texts i got so far:

worst -> best

Unersuchung von Zielort <Destination> mit äußerst wenig zufriedenstellender Leistung abgeschlossen (0%)
Unersuchung von Zielort <Destination> abgeschlossen. Die Leistung des Luftschiffs wurde als nicht ausreichend bewertet. Der Austausch von Bauteilen empfiehlt sich(50%)
Untersuchung von Zielort <Destination> abgeschlossen. Die Leistung des Luftschiffs wurde als zufriedenstellend bewertet. (100%)
Untersuchung von Zielort <Destination> abgeschlossen. Die Leistung des Luftschiffs wurde als gut bewertet. (150%)

Thanks for following up on that!

Having some way to know which reports had the potential to unlock a sector is important, but I'm wondering if listing all previously unlocked sectors will get a tad unwieldy (especially as we unlock more sectors). I've been trying to indicate in my own reports which trips actually had a potential to unlock a sector.

It might also be inferred using the name of the ship, if they've kept a steady log and reported their sectors previously unlocked. I suppose we could just include the steady reporters in the sector unlock analysis. But you are the spreadsheet wizard, this is your call!

After entering a few, I don't find them unwieldy at all, seems it is easy to shorten to something like SC03 - SC09, SC11 like I've seen people doing.

[super_aardvark]

I haven't read the last couple of pages of posts, but I just had an expedition come back with some interesting results. I've entered it on the spreadsheet; some highlights that you can see on the spreadsheet:

Two new sectors unlocked. In sector 07, rating was Abysmal, and weather was Turbulence; despite this, sector 10 was unlocked. In sector 08, conditions were more favorable and sector 09 was unlocked.

We collected two items from every sector, which is quite extraordinary for this airship. What changed? We replaced the Bronco hull and aftcastle with Invincible hull and Enterprise Aftcastle, reducing Surveillance and Favor.

A very interesting point that's not reflected in the spreadsheet concerns the repair condition of the parts. Hull and Rigging began the journey at 11% and 20% respectively, while the Fore- and Aftcastles started at 100%. The latter two ended at 76%, while the former ended at 0%.

The conclusions this experience seems to suggest (obviously, more data points are required to have any real confidence):

• Performance and weather in a sector do not determine discovery of new sectors.
• Simple airship part grade (minimum? average?) is the primary factor in obtaining a second item in a sector.
• Repair condition does not affect your chances of obtaining a second item.
• There's no point in repairing your parts before they hit 0%.

[BonzaiFerroni]

We collected two items from every sector, which is quite extraordinary for this airship. What changed? We replaced the Bronco hull and aftcastle with Invincible hull and Enterprise Aftcastle, reducing Surveillance and Favor.

If I recall correctly, you already had an enterprise forecastle, is that right? So it still doesn't quite go against the popular notion that the forecastle is important.

If simply the overall grade of your parts is a factor (in either the sector unlock or the 2nd item question)... well that would be fairly convoluted, I would hope SE wouldn't make it so weird to have a "hidden" stat like this. XD Still, lets keep it on the list of hypotheses to test when we have enough data! I think it still is reasonable to think that RNG plays some role in addition to whatever else, so that might also explain your results.

Once we have a sector with enough data points, and enough people who have various levels of forecastle, we can test the "surveillance improves the odds of finding a 2nd item" hypothesis! \o/

[Nyalia]

After entering a few, I don't find them unwieldy at all, seems it is easy to shorten to something like SC03 - SC09, SC11 like I've seen people doing.

Doing this is totally fine. You can even do just "3-9,11" if you want. In any case, I'll expand it on the master sheet for consistency so it's easier to compare, but don't mind doing that at all.

On the master sheet, I've started using "____" to space out gaps where unfound sectors are in the sequence. I feel this makes it easier to notice who is missing what when looking through where they've been.

So far, looking at the data we have, there does appear to be RNG involved with unlocking things, unfortunately. It's a bit hard to tell if higher surveillance helps, or a higher rating, or a certain wind value (though wind really doesn't seem to matter given how many unlocks were double turbulence), or a better overall rating. Comparing a trip where I found sector 06 and one where I didn't (which I totally forgot about when I made that comment about finding it first try!), very little was different. The only notable difference was I had more range.

It's clear though that there's a specific sector that you have to go to in order to unlock a given sector. 07 always unlocks from 05. 08 always unlocks from 07. And so on.



Also, I've added an Airship Roster to the spreadsheet, just because. Feel free to list your airship there! If you choose a log color from the Log Color dropdown menu, all of your log entries in the Master List will be highlighted in that color. This will hopefully make it easier to see which logs go together when we're comparing them. If any supported color combos hurt your eyes, let me know and I'll edit them.

[BonzaiFerroni]

It's clear though that there's a specific sector that you have to go to in order to unlock a given sector. 07 always unlocks from 05. 08 always unlocks from 07. And so on.

I'm glad we've at least been able to narrow it down to that! It is really tempting to think after an adjustment is made and a sector is unlocked that the adjustment was the necessary factor (post hoc, ergo proctor hoc). It will probably be a little while before we have enough data to say more confidently one way or the other.

The Champagne Supernova! will try to get as far as it can without upgrading parts. \o/ The SS Flying Squirrel also went really far without upgrading Forecastle so that will be some interesting data too.

[BonzaiFerroni]

Also, I've added an Airship Roster to the spreadsheet, just because. Feel free to list your airship there! If you choose a log color from the Log Color dropdown menu, all of your log entries in the Master List will be highlighted in that color. This will hopefully make it easier to see which logs go together when we're comparing them. If any supported color combos hurt your eyes, let me know and I'll edit them.

Entered, that is a nifty feature!

Unlocking sector 10
It looks like, from glancing over the log, all the people who have unlocked sector 10 have an enterprise forecastle at least. We just sent out the Ducky to sector 07 with an enterprise forecastle newly attached, so I'll let you know what she finds! Before that she had visited sector 07 quite a few times without an unlock.

If this trend for sector 10 continues, perhaps that is where I will start recommending the Enterprise forecastle.

Update: The Ducky is back and has unlocked sector 10! Seems like more support for the Forecastle theory

[Aeyis]

I'm starting to wonder if perhaps the ''Airship condition found insufficient for further exploration'' is related to rank (or rank + other factors)

If this trend for sector 10 continues, perhaps that is where I will start recommending the Enterprise forecastle.

Update: The Ducky is back and has unlocked sector 10! Seems like more support for the Forecastle theory

It would appear otherwise. First enterprise part the Elite had was the forecastle, but still missing both sector 9 and sector 10.


For anyone with those 2 sectors unlocked:
How much range is there between SC07-SC10 and SC08-SC09?

In other words, the range between the new sectors and the ones you discovered them from. With/without including survey time in the new sector.