Airship Guide

[Cions]

Our airship discover sector 22 from sector 20

[Moirethe]

The Spreadsheet got a confirmed entry of SC22 unlocking from SC21 - so yes, noone has said that 22 unlocks from 20 because its 20->21->22 ^^

I just found sector 22 thru a voyage from 21-20.

Was this the post that they used to confirm it on the spreadsheet? Because they said they were "pretty sure" it was from 21, but they didn't have access to the log to confirm. Either multiple sectors are actually available to discover a sector, or the other 2 people with actual screenshots were right and it's actually from sector 20.

[WhiteWings]

Was this the post that they used to confirm it on the spreadsheet? Because they said they were "pretty sure" it was from 21, but they didn't have access to the log to confirm. Either multiple sectors are actually available to discover a sector, or the other 2 people with actual screenshots were right and it's actually from sector 20.

If I remember it correctly that person later said the sector unlock was at the bottom of the log, which would mean it unlocked from 20. I do not recall seeing anyone actually report sector 23 unlocks from sector 21 in this thread. And it amazes me how those saying it unlocks from 20 were getting shot down.

We've also unlocked it from sector 20, but have no screenshot for it.

[BonzaiFerroni]

Guys, I appreciate the additional reports that allowed us to correct the sector 22 unlock! There was an earlier report that wasn't quite clear. The screenshot really helps, a picture is the best kind of confirmation there is (although that isn't always possible because of the bug that sometimes doesn't show the unlock in the log). There is no one to blame on this except me, I added it to the guide a bit too soon. Maybe like some of you, we've been targeting the wrong sector to find 22, so this is welcome news!

Updating the guide! \o/

If I remember it correctly that person later said the sector unlock was at the bottom of the log, which would mean it unlocked from 20. I do not recall seeing anyone actually report sector 23 unlocks from sector 21 in this thread. And it amazes me how those saying it unlocks from 20 were getting shot down.

Remember, hindsight is 20/22! =D

I don't think anyone was trying to shoot anyone down, there has just been some confusion about which sector unlocks which based on how it is displayed in the voyage log. The unlock message comes after the "changing course to (the next sector)" so it is quite common to get mixed up on which sector actually unlocks it. Add to that, it sometimes doesn't even show up in the voyage log, even in the initial report! Sometimes it doesn't show up in the initial report and only shows up after you "finalize report", so it is really quite inconsistent.

Finally, there has been a trend that the sector on the map that is closest is the unlocking sector, which was consistent up until sector 22.

Anyway, I think we are all doing pretty good considering \o/ Keep those reports coming folks, and lets see if we can find sectors 23 and 24!

[WhiteWings]

Remember, hindsight is 20/22! =D

I see what you did there. :3

We will also make sure to take a good screenshot next time.

[Nyalia]

I think there was a misunderstanding. I apologize. I had 22 listed as either unlocking from 20 or 21 because it wasn't clear since people had been sending ships to both sectors. I asked for confirmation, and someone said they confirmed it was 21, not 20. No proof was posted, but I took them at their word. I will change it to 20. If someone can confirm unlocking it from 21 via a trip that does not include 20 but does include the 22 unlock, I'll restore it and we'll have our first dual-unlock sector. Until then, I'm going to assume the person who "confirmed" that 21 unlocked 22 was in error since no screenshot was shown.

[Nyalia]

No one has yet logged a voyage to a sector from 17-22 that brought back elemental crystals. Can you even get crystals from SC17+ sectors?

As for rank 50 max airframe ships, let's assume that Survey and Favor are non-desirable stats at endgame. If I'm right, Favor just influences exp bonuses (I could totally be wrong), and we don't know what Survey does, but I'm of the opinion that it isn't terribly useful later on or else they wouldn't have a min survey requirement on the rank 50 sectors. Again, I could totally be wrong. So, let's look at some ships that keep Survey as close to 90 as possible without going under while maximizing airframe usage.

Now, how much Hull do you need? You need exactly enough to reach your destination. So, the question is, what are you farming? My FC likes Deep Red Clusters more than the other colors (reduced rates and heat of battle), so that would mean I would want to farm SC17 or SC20. SC20 has the better rare item (Iron Giant Core), but SC17 has the better materia (Crafter Comm/Comp III/IV). I have no idea how far the two are from each other, but looking at the map, I can postulate that 17 is about as close to the path from Home to 20 as 15 is. Using the numbers from 15, I get 81 range to hit both 15 and 20, so I feel it's safe to assume that home->17->20 would take ~80 range. Just hitting 20 takes 53 range, and just hitting 17 takes 46 range.

Obviously, the stats we want to maximize are speed and retrieval. Speed has a directly inverse relation to travel time. So, a ship with 50 speed would take exactly twice as long to fly a route as a ship with 100 speed. However, it is unclear how retrieval affects yields. However, it's clear that the higher your speed, the lower your retrieval, and vice versa, due to the way the penalties are set up. Also, your retrieval affects your forecastle choice due to the minimum survey needed.

Looking at the endgame sectors, I'd love to hit two per trip instead of just one. Here are some cost pairs for the ones I know of (due to the route-split issue, I have reports from people who have 19+20+21 unlocked but not 16, 17, or 18, and I personally have 16+17+18 unlocked, but not 19, 20, or 21). I don't have numbers for SC22 yet at all, so I have no idea how far it is from the others. SC16 isn't as interesting as the others unless you're farming for materia, and if you're farming for materia, you probably want the nearby sector SC17 as well. I'll have to re-examine this when I know more numbers.

Range 64: SC17 & SC18: Crafter Materia, Red Clusters, Green Clusters, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema, Dusk Leather x2
Range 68: SC16 & SC17: Crafter Materia, Gatherer Materia, Red Clusters, Far Eastern Coin, Toy Box Schema, Dusk Leather
Range 70: SC20 & SC21: Red Clusters, Green Clusters, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema, Dusk Leather x2
Range 74: SC19 & SC20: Red Clusters, Blue Clusters, Iron Giant Core x2, Dusk Leather x2
Range 79: SC19 & SC21: Blue Clusters, Green Clusters, Iron Giant Core, Toy Box Schema, Dusk Leather x2


The Maximum Speed Duo
This ship might or might not have the range needed to hit both 17 and 20. Again, I don't have the 17->20 data. If it does have enough, I might run it for farming those two. This ship is likely to get low yields, but much more often than a ship that had higher retrieval (and thus lower speed).

Survey 90
Retrieve 78
Speed 132
Range 78
Favor 90

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



The Maximum Yield Duo
So, let's look at having enough range for SOME dual sector runs, but personally, I don't care for the SC19/SC21 sector pair, so let's not worry about getting enough range for that pair.

Survey 92
Retrieve 132
Speed 78
Range 76
Favor 108

Hull: Invincible
Rigging: Enterprise
Forecastle: Invincible II
Aftcastle: Tatanora



The Slightly Balanced Duo
Trying to balance out Yield and Speed while still keeping Survey at 90+ and Range at 70+, this is the best I can do:

Survey 96
Retrieve 114
Speed 96
Range 72
Favor 108

Hull: Invincible
Rigging: Invincible II
Forecastle: Invincible II
Aftcastle: Odyssey



The Slightly Longer Range Duo Trio
I don't think any of the above will let me hit 17 and 20, so here's an attempt to get a ship with more than 80 range, while keeping survey at 90+ and maximizing the other two stats. There are three possible ships with these stats, all of which have 200 combined Speed/Retireve and none of which I actually really like. It's also pretty much impossible to get a ship with 82-84 range that has 90-96 survey, and almost all ships with more then 80 range wind up having 94+ range.

1 - Balanced and Boring
Survey 100
Retrieve 100
Speed 100
Range 86
Favor 108

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

2 - Slow and Steady
Survey 92
Retrieve 136
Speed 64
Range 94
Favor 108

Hull: Enterprise
Rigging: Invincible
Forecastle: Invincible II
Aftcastle: Tatanora

3 - Frugal and Fast
Survey 90
Retrieve 82
Speed 118
Range 96
Favor 86

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



The Single Sector
All sectors are 54 or less from home, except sector SC22. If you're only hitting one sector, you might as well maximize stats. I feel like it's better to hit two sectors rather than one though, assuming two sectors have whatever you're trying to farm.

Survey 96
Retrieve 110
Speed 110
Range 54
Favor 112

Hull: Bronco
Rigging: Odyssey
Forecastle: Invincible II
Aftcastle: Odyssey



The Sector 22
It takes 56 range to hit just sector SC22, the furthest sector from Home. All other sectors require 53 or less.

Survey 92
Retrieve 128
Speed 92
Range 58
Favor 112

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



The Short Swift Single Sector Ship Schematic Summary
Now, if your single sector is NOT SC19, SC20, or SC22 and you value speed more than retrieve, you can go with this:

Survey 100
Retrieve 92
Speed 128
Range 50
Favor 112

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



The Minor Traveler
Now, if you don't want to hit the endgame (17+) sectors and want to instead farm something from the early game sectors, and you want to hit as many sectors as possible, you can make one of these three, all designed to have tons of range and no survey/favor:

1 - Balanced and Boring
Survey 58
Retrieve 100
Speed 100
Range 128
Favor 50

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

2 - Slow and Steady
Survey 50
Retrieve 136
Speed 64
Range 136
Favor 50

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

3 - Frugal and Fast
Survey 66
Retrieve 64
Speed 136
Range 120
Favor 50

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


If you instead just want to hit a reasonable number of sectors, the following two are great choices, in my opinion:

The Minor Miner Miner
There are three sectors with gathering materia pre-17: 04, 10, and 16. Hitting all three takes 78 Range. Unfortunately, only one of those can drop tier IV materia, but if you want to gather tier 3 too, you can do this (and the trip would take about 33 hours):

Survey 54
Retrieve 106
Speed 126
Range 78
Favor 62

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


The Crafty Crafter Crafter
There are three sectors with crafting materia pre-17: 03, 07, and 13. Hitting all three takes 95 Range. Unfortunately, only one of those can drop tier IV materia, but if you want to gather tier 3 too, you can do this (and the trip would take about 36 hours):

Survey 54
Retrieve 110
Speed 110
Range 96
Favor 58

Hull: Invincible II
Rigging: Odyssey
Forecastle: Bronco
Aftcastle: Odyssey



Summary
In summary, Invincible II Forecastles are incredibly useful for hitting the 17+ sectors. Almost every ship schematic shared here uses them. I personally wouldn't bother with an Odyssey or Tatanora Hull, but I suppose one of those would be really useful for hitting a ton of early game sectors. But even then, most trips won't use THAT much range.

[Jeykama]

My FC likes Deep Red Clusters more than the other colors (reduced rates and heat of battle)

Keep in mind that there is no Heat of Battle III (unless I'm blind), and Reduced Rates is a green color type.

[Nyalia]

Keep in mind that there is no Heat of Battle III (unless I'm blind), and Reduced Rates is a green color type.

Really? We haven't found Empty Clusters yet, so I was just expecting the IIIs to be like the IIs, and I coulda sworn Reduced Rates was Red. Hmm. I'll have to check that again. Thanks for the corrections!

[Jeykama]

Really? We haven't found Empty Clusters yet, so I was just expecting the IIIs to be like the IIs, and I coulda sworn Reduced Rates was Red. Hmm. I'll have to check that again. Thanks for the corrections!

Aye there are a few FC actions that inexplicably don't have rank 3 counterparts, unfortunately Heat of Battle was one of them (the others being Brave New World and Back on your Feet)

Easy way to remember what color for what FC action is that red is for xp/currency boosts, blue is for stat boosts (think blue materia), and green is for misc utility. i.e. blue is mostly useless except for helping your crafter/gatherer breakthrough a minimum stat cap.