Airship Guide

[Nyalia]

On the spreadsheet, if there are any errors in the Master Voyage Log (such as your ship's name being missing), please right-click on the incorrect cell, click "insert comment," and leave a comment for me. I (or Arcticharm) will correct the error, then clear the comment. Also do this if there is an error on any other page, such as the unlock conditions on the sector list tab.

Thank you to everyone who is donating data! The database is coming along nicely.

[Cobheran]

I can confirm Gold Ore from Sector 8!


Went there with:
Enterprise - Hull and Fore
Invincible - Rigging and Aft

Heading into Sector 9 at rank 25 with Enterprise Hull, Fore, and Rigging, and unlocked sector 10 which requires rank 27 to visit. I'll let you know what we find!

[Yarem]

Bad news...

Ship returned from 6->5->2 with A rating and bonus in every sector(6 =150%, 5= 50%,2 = 100%) but neighter 11 or 7 was found. :/

Sector 5 where i expected a discovery, got bonus but rating was abysmal with replacement of parts recommended message...

So the "You need bonus to find new sectors" theorie seems to be busted... or there are other requirements, like minimum ship level/grade of parts, too.

I started a new try with full invincible build to see if there is a different result.

[Ascobol]

Hello,
I added some comments to the sheet "Ship Parts" as I couldn't edit it directly.

I only added the comments to the hull section, but the numbers are the same for the 3 other sections as well.

And incase anyone wants to know it, the repair costs/amounts of repair kits needed per ship part, are linear from Bronco 1 to Tatanora 6.

[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/

[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.

[Arcticharm]

A little late, but last night we did manage to find SC07 after our third or 4th trip to SC05. We were running invincible hull and propellers with bronco aft and forecastle (survey @70). I took screenshots of the log after finalizing it the first time and when I went back to look I don't see the messages about finding sector 7 at all in the Voyage log (there is something in my chat log) but I kind of remember it being there when I first looked at it like I've seen in some other screenshots.

http://imgur.com/a/4PB6N

[BonzaiFerroni]

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

Damn! Every time it looks like we may have figured this question out we get some disconfirming report! :P

I'm not entirely convinced rank isn't a factor as well. It is the one confounding factor in every observation reported! We have had people be fairly high rank and not find sectors. But it could just as easily be Rank + RNG as Forecastle + RNG. It could also be Rank + Forecastle + RNG. And if it is... we have virtually no hope of know that for sure. Each factor you add increases the sample size necessary to give you adequate statistical power to reject the null. Can anyone do a bayesian analaysis? :P Anyway, it will still be fun trying to figure it out!

When I have an airship back in the workshop I'll try to get you some numbers for range, if someone hasn't already.

A little late, but last night we did manage to find SC07 after our third or 4th trip to SC05. We were running invincible hull and propellers with bronco aft and forecastle (survey @70). I took screenshots of the log after finalizing it the first time and when I went back to look I don't see the messages about finding sector 7 at all in the Voyage log (there is something in my chat log) but I kind of remember it being there when I first looked at it like I've seen in some other screenshots.

Thanks for the report! It looks like you were Rank 21, so it might be that your rank stat finally pulled it's weight. Or it may just be RNG, given enough attempts even a lower probability will succeed.

Speculating more, it isn't at all unusual for SE to use base level as a factor in stats formulas. In crafting, the most important "stat" that people never talk about is your level relative to the recipe level. Even someone with high stats will have some difficulty attempting recipes 2-3 levels above their own. And even someone with low stats should have a much simpler time when doing recipes 2-3 levels below. With crafting the contribution of class level relative to recipe level is nonlinear as well, so that would also complicate a statistical analysis.

[Aeyis]

When I have an airship back in the workshop I'll try to get you some numbers for range, if someone hasn't already.

My current hypothesis is that in order to discover a new sector you need to have enough range left over to ''reach'' it from the sector you discover it from. This would explain why I failed to discover it so far since I had been using pretty much the max the Elite's range to visit 4x sectors.

Send it out for only sector's 7 and 8 now, will be back tomorrow.