Airship Guide

[Nyalia]

Hi! Bonzai asked me if I would co-author the guide and use this space to list key info and suggestions so they weren't buried in the guide. For now, this will be an assortment of information that I know. Anything that's not proven will be listed as such. To ease reading the guide, I have discovered spoiler tags. I'll put most of the data behind them so you can browse the information more easily.

Ship Builder Tool
Go here and click File -> Make a Copy to get your own Ship Builder tool.

Spreadsheets

I have created three spreadsheets for tracking, displaying, and analyzing airship-related data. When editing editable fields on these sheets, please, please, please do not use ctrl-x, ctrl-v, straight "cut" or "paste" menu commands, or click and drag one cell to another. All of these cause headaches. To paste one cell's contents into another, please instead right-click on the cell, choose "Paste Special," and then choose "Paste Values Only." This will prevent formatting from being copied and prevent cell references in formulas from being changed accidentally. If you ever see an error or otherwise want to comment on an uneditable field, please use the "insert comment" feature. I will respond to the comment when I can, and when the issue is resolved, either of us can "Resolve" the comment making it go away. View the spoiler text for details on each sheet.

FFXIV Airship Logs: This is the sheet where people can log their voyages. It also has a Ship Builder tool and a Trip Planner tool. If you would like to help maintain this sheet by copying data from the public tab to the master tab (correcting typos as you do so), please contact me privately. My contact info is located on the sheet's "cover" tab.

• Master Voyage Log: This is our voyage log database. It is periodically sorted by ship name, then by rank, then by submission order. Each ship's logs are colored based on the color the that ship's captain chose for the ship in the Airship Roster tab.
• Public Voyage Log: This is where you can share logs of your voyages. Logs entered here will be periodically copied over to the Master Voyage Log. This two-step process allows us to correct spelling errors and verify that each log does not contain mistakes that would confuse the data. If your ship gets the message that says a second item was found but your ship's condition was insufficient to retrieve it, please leave the second item fields blank. For the winds, "Violent turbulence" in the log is what we're calling "Turbulence" in the sheet. The "no wind" message is weirdly worded and mentions something about "2 surveillance levels" - despite looking odd, that's the standard "no wind" message. The "Rare?" column is asking about the "High Quality" or "Several High Quality" message included in the log, not the HQ/NQ status of the item itself. Please always include the experience value of your trip even if your ship's rank is maxed. This value is used as a sort of "checksum" to verify your sector ratings and the sectors listed are correct. It's easy for a log entry to have such errors (especially trailing new line characters or spaces in the sector name field), and this is an easy way for us to notice and correct them.
• Airship Roster: Here, you can list your ship if you'd like. If you specify a color, that color will be used for your ship on the Master Voyage Log tab. You can also use this tab to find out what other FCs on your server are playing with airships, which can help if you're short on an FC crafting or schematic material. This tab is periodically sorted by server, then FC, then rank, then ship name.
• Sector List: This tab contains both details on each sector and what items drop from each sector. The item list is dynamically generated, but the field on the far right contains items that were reported elsewhere but have not yet appeared in logs entered on the sheet.
• Item List and Static Item List: The Item List tab is purely dynamic. It lists all items found, what sectors they were found in, and what quantity ranges were reported for each Retrieval rating. Please note that the full range of Retrieval levels was not present from the start (I hadn't realized there were "Low" and "Subnormal" values until later on), and some of the data may be skewed by that. The Static Item List is a manually-entered list of the items, grouped into categories, with a list of the sectors I either know or believe the item will be found in. (To the right is a dynamically generated list of all sectors where the item was reported and how many reports there are of each - this is used to identify outliers that could be typos.)
• Ship Builder: The Ship Builder lets you see what part combinations will result in what stats. The current version allows up to four ships to be designed at once. Please share.
• Trip Planner: This tool allows you to figure out efficient paths. To add a sector to your trip, click on the cell to the left of the sector's name and press enter twice. To remove a cell from the trip, select the "x" to the left of the sector's name and press the "delete" key. The distance shown for each sector is the minimum Range adding that sector will add to the trip if the sector was optimally placed (not including the flat per-sector cost of 13!) for sectors not currently in the trip. For sectors currently in the trip, it shows the amount of range (again not including the flat 13) that will be gained by removing that sector from the trip. It will also show an estimated time for the trip based on the specified Speed stat, and the trip will be shown in optimal path order. Only 1-3 sector trips are supported at this time.

FFXIV Airship Logs - Quick Reference: This sheet contains sector and item lists as well as a Ship Builder tool and a Trip Planner tool. It does not contain the log database. No data on this sheet is dynamically generated. This sheet also contains the backup Public Voyage Log tab for when the master log sheet has too much traffic for anonymous users to edit it. If you're just looking for data and have no logs to enter, this sheet should run faster and smoother.

• Sector List: This tab contains both details on each sector and what items drop from each sector. The item chart is nearly complete (it only has one item missing at the moment).
• Item List: This tab lists each item that can be obtained by an Airship Venture and what sectors it can be found in.
• Ship Builder: The Ship Builder lets you see what part combinations will result in what stats. The current version allows up to four ships to be designed at once. Please share.
• Trip Planner: This tool allows you to figure out efficient paths. To add a sector to your trip, click on the cell to the left of the sector's name and press enter twice. To remove a cell from the trip, select the "x" to the left of the sector's name and press the "delete" key. The distance shown for each sector is the minimum Range adding that sector will add to the trip if the sector was optimally placed (not including the flat per-sector cost of 13!) for sectors not currently in the trip. For sectors currently in the trip, it shows the amount of range (again not including the flat 13) that will be gained by removing that sector from the trip. It will also show an estimated time for the trip based on the specified Speed stat, and the trip will be shown in optimal path order. Only 1-3 sector trips are supported at this time.
• Sector Map: This is a sector map that was generated from the x, y coordinates Lauphin Faux of Sargatanas derived for each sector (with "Home" located at (0, 0)). Drawn on it are arrows indicating which sectors unlock which other sectors and lines separating the three elemental regions. Sectors in the left region contain Earth and Ice crystals, ones in the middle region contain Lightning and Wind crystals, and ones in the right region contain Fire and Water crystals. While this information isn't terribly useful right now, I suspect it will be useful for determining what clusters will be found in which sectors when we can visit the islands ourselves.

FFXIV Airship Logs - Analysis: This is the sheet where we run various calculations on the data provided by the airship logs. It is periodically updated with a copy of the master voyage log. If you would like to run calculations on the data yourself, please contact me with your google account name so I can add you. My contact info is located on the cover tab.

Ship Stats

Here is what we know about ship stats:

• Survey: Endgame (rank 50) sectors require your ship to have a minimum of 90 Survey in order to visit those sectors.
• Range: Your Range stat must be equal to or greater than the total distance of each leg of your route plus 13 per stop.
• Retrieval: While this is not definitive, Retrieval does correlate with the retrieval levels obtained. Visiting endgame sectors with low Retrieval often results in "Low" or "Subnormal" results, while visiting early sectors with high Retrieval often results in "High" or "Optimal" results.
• Speed: Each trip has a fixed base time of 12 hours. Except for that fixed base time, all of the rest of the trip time is inversely related to your Speed stat. So, if a trip would take your ship 32 hours to complete (12+20), if you doubled your Speed, it would then take 22 hours to complete (12+10).
• Favor: While this is not definitive, favor does correlate strongly with the per-sector ratings.

There are many theories about what else these stats do apart from the above. The most interesting theory for what Survey actually does (apart from the minimum requirement) is that it influences whether or not you get a second item. My research into this idea shows a correlation between Survey and second items, but not a strong one. There also appears to be a correlation between sector number/rating/fuel cost and 2nd items, with later sectors having a lower chance with the same Survey. Again, these correlations are weak, and there are so many variables, it's hard to control properly for the experiment.

Trip Time Calculations

Lauphin Faux of Sargatanas has figured out the formula for determining how long a trip will take. There are three components to every trip: Base Time, Survey Time, and Travel Time.

• Base Time: Every trip has a fixed Base Time of exactly 12 hours, so for every trip, Base Time (in minutes) = 720
• Survey Time: The Survey Time is based on the total number of Cerulean Barrels the trip requires. However, sectors that require 6 barrels are treated as if they actually took 8. The formula is: Survey Time (in minutes) = Total Barrel Value * 12600 / Speed
• Travel Time: It is important to note that distances used in the Travel Time formula are NOT the distances the game shows. The game actually calculates the distances from the precise coordinates of the sector and uses the distance formula to determine how far apart two sectors are. All trips start at the "home" sector and end at the final sector that you visit. Your mammot pilot casts Return from there. The game's formula uses values that are floored at various points in the calculation, making the value the game uses differ slightly from the one given by the formula shown here. However, this formula is a very close estimate: Travel Time (in minutes) = Total Distance * 1150 / Speed

Adding these three together gives the total trip time. Due to the way the game floors numbers, the value provided will be only a close estimate.

Endgame Range Values

Once you start getting ships to rank 50 and have most of the sectors unlocked, you're going to want to start farming for items. Hitting only one sector is generally inefficient for two reasons - there's a 12 hour base time added to every trip, and endgame sectors are generally closer to each other than they are to home. Hitting 2 or 3 of these in one trip should get you far more items than single trips will. To this end, here are a list of the range values you need for various endgame sector sets and what special items each contains. I am counting SC13 and SC16 as "endgame sectors" because they contain grade IV Crafter and Gatherer materia.

Two-sector Pairs

• Range 63: SC18 > SC21 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Green Cluster x2, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema
• Range 64: SC18 > SC17 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema, Crafter Materia
• Range 65: SC13 > SC19 - Dusk Leather, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core, Fine Alumen, Crafter Materia
• Range 68: SC18 > SC20 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Iron Giant Core x2
• Range 68: SC16 > SC17 - Dusk Leather, Deep Red Cluster, Far Eastern Coin, Toy Box Schema, Crafter & Gatherer Materia
• Range 69: SC17 > SC21 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Toy Box Schema x2, Crafter Materia
• Range 70: SC18 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core x2, Gatherer Materia
• Range 70: SC21 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema, Gatherer Materia
• Range 70: SC21 > SC20 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema
• Range 71: SC17 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema, Crafter & Gatherer Materia
• Range 71: SC18 > SC19 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core x2
• Range 72: SC13 > SC18 - Dusk Leather, Deep Green Cluster, Iron Giant Core, Fine Alumen, Crafter Materia
• Range 73: SC18 > SC16 - Dusk Leather, Deep Green Cluster, Far Eastern Coin, Iron Giant Core, Gatherer Materia
• Range 74: SC19 > SC20 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core x2
• Range 74: SC13 > SC20 - Dusk Leather, Deep Red Cluster, Iron Giant Core, Fine Alumen, Crafter Materia
• Range 76: SC13 > SC21 - Dusk Leather, Deep Green Cluster, Toy Box Schema, Fine Alumen, Crafter Materia
• Range 77: SC17 > SC20 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Red Cluster x2, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema, Crafter Materia
• Range 78: SC20 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core x2, Gatherer Materia
• Range 79: SC16 > SC22 - Dusk Leather, Deep Blue Cluster, Far Eastern Coin Iron Giant Core, Gatherer Materia x2
• Range 79: SC21 > SC19 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema
• Range 79: SC16 > SC21 - Dusk Leather, Deep Green Cluster, Far Eastern Coin, Toy Box Schema, Gatherer Materia
• Range 82: SC13 > SC17 - Dusk Leather, Deep Red Cluster, Toy Box Schema, Fine Alumen, Crafter Materia x2
• Range 84: SC13 > SC22 - Dusk Leather, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core, Fine Alumen, Crafter & Gatherer Materia
• Range 84: SC17 > SC19 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema, Crafter Materia
• Range 86: SC19 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Blue Cluster x2, Iron Giant Core x2, Gatherer Materia
• Range 86: SC16 > SC20 - Dusk Leather, Deep Red Cluster, Far Eastern Coin, Iron Giant Core, Gatherer Materia
• Range 90: SC13 > SC16 - Far Eastern Coin, Fine Alumen, Crafter & Gatherer Materia
• Range 92: SC16 > SC19 - Dusk Leather, Deep Blue Cluster, Far Eastern Coin, Iron Giant Core, Gatherer Materia

Three-sector Triplets (range 100 or less)

• Range 83: SC18 > SC21 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x3, Deep Green Cluster x2, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core x2, Toy Box Schema, Gatherer Materia
  .
• Range 83: SC18 > SC21 > SC20 - Dusk Leather x3, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster x2, Iron Giant Core x2, Toy Box Schema
  .
• Range 86: SC18 > SC21 > SC17 - Dusk Leather x3, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster x2, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema x2, Crafter Materia
  .
• Range 87: SC18 > SC17 > SC16 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Far Eastern Coin, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema, Crafter & Gatherer Materia
  .
• Range 88: SC13 > SC19 > SC20 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core x2, Fine Alumen, Crafter Materia
  .
• Range 89: SC18 > SC17 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x3, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core x2, Toy Box Schema, Crafter & Gatherer Materia
  .
• Range 89: SC17 > SC21 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x3, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema x2, Crafter & Gatherer Materia
  .
• Range 89: SC17 > SC21 > SC20 - Dusk Leather x3, Deep Red Cluster x2, Deep Green Cluster, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema x2, Crafter Materia
  .
• Range 91: SC16 > SC17 > SC21 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Far Eastern Coin, Toy Box Schema x2, Crafter & Gatherer Materia
  .
• Range 91: SC18 > SC20 > SC19 - Dusk Leather x3, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core x3
  .
• Range 92: SC18 > SC21 > SC19 - Dusk Leather x3, Deep Green Cluster x2, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core x2, Toy Box Schema
  .
• Range 93: SC18 > SC20 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x3, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core x3, Gatherer Materia
  .
• Range 93: SC20 > SC21 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x3, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core x2, Toy Box Schema, Gatherer Materia
  .
• Range 93: SC13 > SC18 > SC21 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Green Cluster x2, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema, Fine Alumen, Crafter Materia
  .
• Range 93: SC21 > SC20 > SC19 - Dusk Leather x3, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core x2, Toy Box Schema
  .
• Range 94: SC13 > SC18 > SC17 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema, Fine Alumen, Crafter Materia x2
  .
• Range 94: SC18 > SC19 > SC13 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core x2, Fine Alumen, Crafter Materia
  .
• Range 94: SC13 > SC19 > SC21 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema, Fine Alumen, Crafter Materia
  .
• Range 94: SC13 > SC20 > SC21 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema, Fine Alumen, Crafter Materia
  .
• Range 94: SC17 > SC18 > SC20 - Dusk Leather x3, Deep Red Cluster x2, Deep Green Cluster, Iron Giant Core x2, Toy Box Schema, Crafter Materia
  .
• Range 96: SC17 > SC22 > SC20 - Dusk Leather x3, Deep Red Cluster x2, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core x2, Toy Box Schema, Crafter & Gatherer Materia
  .
• Range 96: SC16 > SC17 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Far Eastern Coin, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema, Crafter Materia & Gatherer Materia x2
  .
• Range 96: SC13 > SC21 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema, Fine Alumen, Crafter & Gatherer Materia
  .
• Range 97: SC16 > SC18 > SC21 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Green Cluster, Far Eastern Coin, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema, Gatherer Materia
  .
• Range 97: SC17 > SC18 > SC19 - Dusk Leather x3, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core x2, Toy Box Schema, Crafter Materia
  .
• Range 98: SC13 > SC18 > SC20 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Iron Giant Core x2, Fine Alumen, Crafter Materia
  .
• Range 98: SC17 > SC21 > SC19 - Dusk Leather x3, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema x2, Crafter Materia
  .
• Range 99: SC16 > SC22 > SC21 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Far Eastern Coin, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema, Gatherer Materia x2
  .
• Range 99: SC13 > SC20 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core x2, Fine Alumen, Crafter & Gatherer Materia
  .
• Range 99: SC19 > SC20 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x3, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster x2, Iron Giant Core x3, Gatherer Materia
  .
• Range 99: SC13 > SC21 > SC17 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Toy Box Schema x2, Fine Alumen, Crafter Materia x2
  .
• Range 99: SC16 > SC17 > SC20 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Red Cluster x2, Far Eastern Coin, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema, Crafter & Gatherer Materia
  .
• Range 99: SC16 > SC21 > SC20 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Far Eastern Coin, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema, Gatherer Materia
  .
• Range 100: SC19 > SC21 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x3, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster x2, Iron Giant Core x2, Toy Box Schema, Gatherer Materia
  .
• Range 100: SC13 > SC19 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Blue Cluster x2, Iron Giant Core x2, Fine Alumen, Crafter & Gatherer Materia
  .
• Range 100: SC13 > SC18 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core x2, Fine Alumen, Crafter & Gatherer Materia
  .
• Range 100: SC17 > SC20 > SC19 - Dusk Leather x3, Deep Red Cluster x2, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core x2, Toy Box Schema, Crafter Materia

Four-sector Quads (select trips)

• Range 96: SC07 > SC10 > SC16 > SC17 - Dusk Leather, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Blue Crystal, Far Eastern Coin, Magnificent Mogcrown, Toy Box Schema, Fine Alumen, Materia: Gatherer III x2, Crafter III x2, Gatherer IV, Crafter IV
  .
• Range 103: SC08 > SC18 > SC20 > SC19 - Dusk Leather x3, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core x4
  .
• Range 103: SC10 > SC17 > SC21 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x3, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core, Magnificent Mogcrown, Toy Box Schema x2, Materia: Gatherer III x2, Crafter III, Gatherer IV, Crafter IV
  .
• Range 105: SC10 > SC16 > SC17 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Far Eastern Coin, Iron Giant Core, Magnificent Mogcrown, Toy Box Schema, Materia: Gatherer III x3, Crafter III, Gatherer IV x2, Crafter IV
  .
• Range 105: SC08 > SC18 > SC20 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x3, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core x4, Materia: Gatherer IV
  .
• Range 106: SC18 > SC21 > SC20 > SC19 - Dusk Leather x4, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster x2, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core x3, Toy Box Schema
  .
• Range 107: SC18 > SC17 > SC21 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x4, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster x2, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core x2, Toy Box Schema x2, Materia: Gatherer IV, Crafter IV
  .
• Range 107: SC18 > SC17 > SC21 > SC20 - Dusk Leather x4, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster x2, Iron Giant Core x2, Toy Box Schema x2, Materia: Crafter IV
  .
• Range 108: SC18 > SC20 > SC21 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x4, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster x2, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core x3, Toy Box Schema, Materia: Gatherer IV
  .
• Range 111: SC17 > SC22 > SC21 > SC20 - Dusk Leather x4, Deep Red Cluster x2, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Iron Giant Core x2, Toy Box Schema x2, Materia: Gatherer IV, Crafter IV
  .
• Range 111: SC16 > SC17 > SC21 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x3, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Far Eastern Coin, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema x2, Materia: Gatherer IV x2, Crafter IV
  .
• Range 112: SC04 > SC10 > SC16 > SC22 - Dusk Leather, Deep Blue Cluster, Far Eastern Coin, Iron Giant Core, Magnificent Mogcrown, Fine Alumen, Materia: Gatherer III x4, Gatherer IV x2
  .
• Range 114: SC19 > SC20 > SC21 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x4, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster x2, Iron Giant Core x3, Toy Box Schema, Materia: Gatherer IV
  .
• Range 118: SC18 > SC22 > SC20 > SC19 - Dusk Leather x4, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Green Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster x2, Iron Giant Core x4, Materia: Gatherer IV
  .
• Range 132: SC13 > SC22 > SC17 > SC16 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Far Eastern Coin, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema, Fine Alumen, Materia: Gatherer IV x2, Crafter IV x2

Five-sector Quintets (select trips)

• Range 121: SC07 > SC10 > SC16 > SC17 > SC22 - Dusk Leather x2, Deep Red Cluster, Deep Blue Cluster, Deep Blue Crystal, Far Eastern Coin, Iron Giant Core, Magnificent Mogcrown, Toy Box Schema, Fine Alumen, Materia: Gatherer III x3, Crafter III x2, Gatherer IV x2, Crafter IV

Endgame Ship Designs

When designing your ships, there are two things to keep in mind: you need to have 90 or more Survey to visit the endgame sectors, and you need to have enough Range to follow the path you want to take without having too much extra (if you can still follow your desired path after downgrading your hull, then you should probably think about downgrading your hull to upgrade something else). With those two in mind, your options are naturally limited to a fairly small set of choices.

The following are some examples of ships I'd recommend for different purposes. All of the below designs will meet the minimum requirements for visiting at least two endgame sectors (90+ Survey, 70+ Range) except where otherwise stated. I feel that your hull shouldn't give you much more range than you're planning to use. In general, I favor Retrieval over Survey, as they do the same thing in two different ways (we think) but Survey is all-or-nothing while Retrieval is much more granular. This makes small variations matter less for Survey than for Retrieval. Also, we could be wrong about what Survey does or what impact it actually has on second items.

The Monster Hunter - Maximum Speed, high Survey, low Hull, minimum Retrieval (Zu Mount Farming)

This ship is designed specifically for hitting SC24 as often as possible, maximizing the chance of getting Iron Voyage Spoils (ie: Zu Mounts). Drop rates for these items are 1-2 for Optimal yields, and 1 for all other yields, so getting a "disappointing" yield is only slightly worse than an "optimal" yield. This makes the Retrieval stat nearly useless for obtaining them. Hitting just SC24 should take about 26 hours and 23 minutes. This version of the ship has a little more Range, allowing it to also hit one other sector from this list if desired: SC01 (adds 1h35), SC02 (adds 1h58), SC05 (adds 2h43), SC06 (adds 2h57), SC07 (adds 3h12), SC08 (adds 4h12), SC09 (adds 4h05).

• Hull: Invincible
• Rigging: Viltgance
• Forecastle: Odyssey
• Aftcastle: Bronco

• Survey: 126
• Retrieve: 46
• Speed: 154
• Range: 60
• Favor: 122

The Monster Trainer - Near maximum Speed, high Survey, low Retrieval, minimum Hull (Zu Mount Farming)

This ship is designed specifically for hitting SC24 as often as possible, maximizing the chance of getting Iron Voyage Spoils (ie: Zu Mounts). Drop rates for these items are 1-2 for Optimal yields, and 1 for all other yields, so getting a "disappointing" yield is only slightly worse than an "optimal" yield. This makes the Retrieval stat nearly useless for obtaining them. Hitting just SC24 should take about 26 hours and 46 minutes. This version of the ship has a little more Retrieval, allowing it to obtain more items on average when you fail to get Iron Voyage Spoils. It also has very slightly less Speed and Surveillance.

• Hull: Bronco
• Rigging: Viltgance
• Forecastle: Odyssey
• Aftcastle: Invincible

• Survey: 122
• Retrieve: 60
• Speed: 150
• Range: 46
• Favor: 126

The Frugal Freighter - Maximum Retrieval, high Survey, minimum Speed

This ship is ideal for FCs that want to maximize their gains from their company credits. By minimizing Speed while maximizing Survey (which we believe affects your chance at a second item) and Retrieval, you get the most bang for your buck. Just... not very often. If 84 Range doesn't do it for you, see the next ship design.

• Hull: Invincible
• Rigging: Bronco
• Forecastle: Tatanora
• Aftcastle: Tatanora

• Survey: 120
• Retrieve: 140
• Speed: 50
• Range: 84
• Favor: 136

The Frugal Flier - Maximum Retrieval, moderately high Survey and Range, minimum Speed

Like the above, this ship is designed to minimize speed, which is ideal for FCs that want to maintain a positive credit balance, especially small FCs. However, this ship has 14 more range so you can hit three sectors more easily. After three, gains start dropping from the worse ship parts in other areas combined with the need to go further from your path to hit the extra sectors. (Assuming we're right that survey affects second items,) I consider Aftcastles to be better than Forecastles due to Forecastles being all-or-nothing, whereas Aftcastles have more stages of benefit and can come up twice per sector.

• Hull: Enterprise
• Rigging: Bronco
• Forecastle: Odyssey
• Aftcastle: Tatanora

• Survey: 106
• Retrieve: 140
• Speed: 50
• Range: 98
• Favor: 118

The Fortune Seeker - Very high Survey, high Retrieval, low Speed

This ship is a minor variation on the idea of slowly getting lots of items. It doesn't have much Range, but it has tons of Survey and Retrieve, balancing them better than the Frugal ship designs. The ship is also not quite as slow as those.

• Hull: Invincible
• Rigging: Invincible
• Forecastle: Tatanora
• Aftcastle: Odyssey

• Survey: 124
• Retrieve: 122
• Speed: 68
• Range: 80
• Favor: 136

The Treasure Hunter - High Retrieval, moderately high Survey and Range, low Speed

This ship focuses on item collection, but has enough Range to hit three sectors easily while having a speed at least a little better than "plodding."

• Hull: Enterprise
• Rigging: Invincible
• Forecastle: Odyssey
• Aftcastle: Odyssey

• Survey: 110
• Retrieve: 122
• Speed: 68
• Range: 94
• Favor: 118

The Average Airship - Moderately high Retrieval, otherwise average stats

I consider this ship to be a fairly average endgame build. It has enough range to hit almost all of the doubles for farmable sectors, but only a few triples. It has pretty good retrieval while still having some speed. If this ship has enough range for you, it's likely a pretty good match. But, if you want to hit three sectors but can't hit the ones you want with only 90 range, you might want to try the next ship.

• Hull: Enterprise
• Rigging: Enterprise
• Forecastle: Invincible-II
• Aftcastle: Odyssey

• Survey: 96
• Retrieve: 118
• Speed: 82
• Range: 90
• Favor: 104

The Mostly Invincible - Very average all around

If you like average ships, this ship is as close as you'll get to a ship with completely average stats. I prefer making Speed be the "dump stat" compared to Retrieval or Range because I favor Retrieval in general, and 86 range would only let you hit two sectors. If I wanted to hit two sectors, I'd use the ship design above instead.

• Hull: Invincible-II
• Rigging: Enterprise
• Forecastle: Invincible-II
• Aftcastle: Invincible-II

• Survey: 100
• Retrieve: 104
• Speed: 86
• Range: 104
• Favor: 100

The Eager Explorer - Max Speed, low Range and Retrieval

If you still have sectors to unlock, you want to maximize speed so you can hit the sector as often as you can. If I am right that unlocking new sectors is not affected by any stat, then all that matters is the number of times you can visit it. Hitting only one sector feels like a waste, so you might as well hit a second one too. Assuming you want to hit an adult (17+) sector, you'll need at least 90 Survey.

• Hull: Enterprise
• Rigging: Tatanora
• Forecastle: Enterprise
• Aftcastle: Enterprise

• Survey: 90
• Retrieve: 78
• Speed: 132
• Range: 78
• Favor: 90

The Enterprising Explorer - High Speed, moderate Range

If you want to hit a bunch of sectors while unlocking, you might want a bit more hull:

• Hull: Invincible-II
• Rigging: Odyssey
• Forecastle: Enterprise
• Aftcastle: Enterprise

• Survey: 90
• Retrieve: 82
• Speed: 118
• Range: 96
• Favor: 86

The Trailblazer - High Range, moderately high Speed

Now, if you want enough Range to easily hit four sectors and have enough Speed that it doesn't take forever, try this one. It doesn't get as many items though, but by hitting many sectors, in theory, you have more chances to get the really rare items. This sort of design is also nice when you don't need many of an item, like when farming for some schematic mats you're missing.

• Hull: Odyssey
• Rigging: Invincible-II
• Forecastle: Enterprise
• Aftcastle: Enterprise

• Survey: 90
• Retrieve: 86
• Speed: 104
• Range: 114
• Favor: 82

The Collector's Quartet - Four ships that avoid overlapping parts

I like making one of everything. I don't really like having duplicates. To that end, I was wondering if I could make a series of four endgame ships that met my requirements (enough range to hit the sectors I wanted, but not TOO much, Survey of 90 or more) that used four sets of parts that didn't overlap at all. These are the four I came up with that I really like. Three can hit three sectors (one can hit four), and the last one can hit three if those three are SC18 > SC21 > SC22.

The Frugal Freighter
(see above)

• Hull: Invincible
• Rigging: Bronco
• Forecastle: Tatanora
• Aftcastle: Tatanora

• Survey: 120
• Retrieve: 140
• Speed: 50
• Range: 84
• Favor: 136

The Treasure Hunter
(see above)

• Hull: Enterprise
• Rigging: Invincible
• Forecastle: Odyssey
• Aftcastle: Odyssey

• Survey: 110
• Retrieve: 122
• Speed: 68
• Range: 94
• Favor: 118

The Mostly Invincible
(see above)

• Hull: Invincible-II
• Rigging: Enterprise
• Forecastle: Invincible-II
• Aftcastle: Invincible-II

• Survey: 100
• Retrieve: 104
• Speed: 86
• Range: 104
• Favor: 100

The Trailblazer
(see above)

• Hull: Odyssey
• Rigging: Invincible-II
• Forecastle: Enterprise
• Aftcastle: Enterprise

• Survey: 90
• Retrieve: 86
• Speed: 104
• Range: 114
• Favor: 82

Understanding the Voyage Log

Here are some not-necessarily-obvious details about the voyage log:

Overall Ratings
The letter grade you receive appears to be based entirely on your performance in the last sector you visited. I suspect you get a letter grade for every sector, but the game only shows you the letter grade for the last one due to a UI change made late in the design process. The letter grade will almost always correspond with the per-sector rating for that last sector, but it can be bumped to the next level. It appears to get bumped up one letter grade about a third of the time. So, if your last sector is Satisfactory, you'll usually get an A, but you might get an S instead. If your last sector was Abysmal, then you'll get a C often, but you could get a B instead. The higher the rating, the less of a chance of it getting bumped, so abysmals give you Bs much more often than satisfactorys give you Ss.

Item Rarity
Sometimes, it'll call an item "High-Quality" or say that there were "Several High-Quality" items obtained. This message is not meaningful in and of itself. Items in specific categories are counted as "High-Quality" and the others are not. None of the items that are not marked "High-Quality" can ever be found HQ (I think? Has anyone ever seen HQ Dusk Leather?).

High-Quality: FC Crafting Materials, General Crafting Materials, and Unique Crafting Materials
Not High-Quality: Schematic / Special Items, Materia, Crystals

If you obtain HQ versions of an item already marked as "High-Quality," the log will state that "Several High-Quality" items were obtained. If the item is NQ, then the log will just say that "High-Quality" items were obtained.

Unlocks
When you unlock a new sector, the unlock message is placed in a confusing location within the log. If the visit that triggered the unlock was not the last sector in the trip, the message will appear after the next sector's log starts. There will be a message stating that your visit to the sector is complete, and then one that says you've set course for the next sector. After that point, the unlock message appears. If the last sector triggers the unlock, the message appears as the very last thing in the log, after the message that tells you that you've arrived home.

Unlocks only appear in the log the first time it is viewed. After that, the messages will be absent. So, even though anyone can see the previous voyage a ship went on, only the person who first saw it and took the items from the trip will see the unlocks.

There are also reports that sometimes the unlock doesn't appear anywhere in the log at all. If this occurs, it is due to a bug that was supposed to have been fixed, so please post details in the Bug category of this forum.

Wind
We are still trying to understand how Wind works. There are currently only three messages that can appear here. One mentions violent turbulence. Another mentions high winds. The third is very oddly written - it says that there was no wind, and then goes on to say that 2 surveillance levels were sufficient for exploration. We currently do not know why the message is worded this way. I feel the meaning of the message was lost in localization.

Aetherial Wheel Prototypes

If you want to send your airship out to gather the materials for specific aetherial wheels, or if you want to know which prototype to unlock first, see below for a full list.

(* = No grade III equivalent)

Aetherial Wheel Prototype II (Deep Red Crystals)

• *Grade II Wheel of Confrontation (Increased exp from combat)
• Grade II Wheel of Recreation (Increased MGP gain)
• Grade II Wheel of Rivalry (Increased Wolf Mark gain)
• Grade II Wheel of Company (Increased GC Seal gain)
• Grade II Wheel of Productivity (Increased exp from gathering)
• Grade II Wheel of Industry (Increased exp from crafting)
• Grade II Wheel of Longeing (Increased choco exp)

Aetherial Wheel Prototype III (Deep Blue Crystals)

• *Grade II Wheel of Initiation (+ stats for characters under level 49)
• Grade II Wheel of Efficiency (+ Craftsmanship)
• Grade II Wheel of Precision (+ Control)
• Grade II Wheel of Capacity (+ Gathering)
• Grade II Wheel of Observation (+ Perception)
• Grade II Wheel of Dedication (Increased spiritbond speed)

Aetherial Wheel Prototype IV (Deep Green Crystals)

• *Grade II Wheel of Revival (Reduced weakness duration)
• Grade II Wheel of Pilgrimage (Reduced teleportation costs)
• Grade II Wheel of Nutriment (Increased food duration)
• Grade II Wheel of Permanence (Decreased durability loss)

Aetherial Wheel Prototype V (Deep Red Clusters)

• Grade III Wheel of Recreation (Increased MGP gain)
• Grade III Wheel of Rivalry (Increased Wolf Mark gain)
• Grade III Wheel of Company (Increased GC Seal gain)
• Grade III Wheel of Productivity (Increased exp from gathering)
• Grade III Wheel of Industry (Increased exp from crafting)
• Grade III Wheel of Longeing (Increased choco exp)

Aetherial Wheel Prototype VI (Deep Blue Clusters)

• Grade III Wheel of Efficiency (+ Craftsmanship)
• Grade III Wheel of Precision (+ Control)
• Grade III Wheel of Capacity (+ Gathering)
• Grade III Wheel of Observation (+ Perception)
• Grade III Wheel of Dedication (Increased spiritbond speed)

Aetherial Wheel Prototype VII (Deep Green Clusters)

• Grade III Wheel of Pilgrimage (Reduced teleportation costs)
• Grade III Wheel of Nutriment (Increased food duration)
• Grade III Wheel of Permanence (Decreased durability loss)