By Robert Harper
The Bubble Buster is a clever ship build that can cover great distances. It’s enjoyable to fly, and it's ready for the unexpected.
Elite Dangerous is, at its core, a game about exploration. One of the grandest experiences Elite Dangerous has to offer is setting out to find unknown worlds, being the first to discover a hidden gem, and then proudly placing a “First Discovered By” label beside it. Commanders that focus on exploration spend their time traveling the cosmos in search of the most beautiful systems, or embarking on expeditions to faraway beacons like Sagittarius A* or Beagle Point. RELATED: Elite Dangerous: Best Ways To Make Money
Others spend months or even years “In the Black”, tens of thousands of light-years away from civilization. That far out, no one but the Fuel Rats would dare attempt the long journey to get them back home in the event of a malfunction. Space is unforgiving, unpredictable, and undeniably vast. Commanders looking to specialize in exploration need a ship that can cover great distances, that’s enjoyable to fly, and that can deal with the unexpected as it arises.
The following is a top-tier ship build for exploring space in Elite Dangerous. It's called The Bubble Buster.
The Bubble Buster | ||||
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Speed | Jump Range | Shield & Hull | Cargo | Features |
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The Bubble Buster

This build excels at getting commanders out of the bubble to visit Guardian and Thargoid sites, make truly incredible discoveries, and jet around in style and comfort. It’s also excellent at traveling great distances inside the bubble. It can get across the bubble in just two jumps or to the nearest Guardian site in six. No sitting next to a star for minutes at a time to refuel either. The Bubble Buster refuels completely in less than twenty seconds. A simple fly-by is all that’s needed to fill it up after each jump.
RELATED: Elite Dangerous Player Goes On 85,000 Light Year Journey Without Key Tool There’s room for customization, but this build should serve most use cases as-is. It’s also surprisingly fast and fun to fly. It’s capable of repairing itself, it has all the tools needed for unexpected encounters, and it even has a self-defense mechanism to get away from pirates.
The following information describes the specific choices in the build and offers some customization options. Check this build out on Coriolis to examine it more closely.
The Ship

The best ship for this build is the Krait Phantom. There are a handful of ships that excel at exploration for one reason or another, but the Krait fits this build perfectly. It's one of the best medium ships available owing to its versatility and impressive Jump Range. It has large internals, a competitive Boost Speed, and most importantly: fancy thrusters.

The Asp Explorer is a fair replacement for this build, but the smaller optional internals mean the ship can either have a large Fuel Scoop or a 4E Corrosion-Resistant Cargo Rack, not both. However, both are essential for this build to be at its best. The other largest slot is taken by the FSD Booster, so there’s no way around it.
RELATED: The Best Sci-Fi Games That Aren't Mass Effect or Star Wars-Related Of course the Anaconda could accommodate this build as well, and it would still have room for Passenger Cabins, a full bar, and a swimming pool. However, long voyages in the Anaconda can be grating because of its glacial handling. Also, some planet surfaces make it impossible to land, and it can only dock at stations with a large landing pad.
Hardpoints

This part is easy. There’s only one hardpoint: a Mining Laser. This can be used to mine asteroid belts for precious synthesizing materials needed out in the black. The mining laser can also be used to activate Guardian Beacons.
There’s a bit of room in the Power Plant to fit more armaments for commanders with a desire for some firepower. Multicannons would do well here, and the Mining Laser can be replaced by a combat laser to keep the ability to activate Guardian Beacons.
Core Internals

The core internals chosen for this build don’t just prioritize keeping things light. Instead, there’s an even spread of priorities designed to keep the ship fun to fly and versatile while maintaining a top-tier Jump Range that rivals some of the best large ships in the game.
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- Lightweight Alloy Hull. It’s the lightest option, so a clear choice. With Heavy Duty and Deep Plating upgrades, pirates will have a tough time breaking through this hull.
- 3A Power Plant with Overcharged and Monstered. This overzealous lawnmower engine is just barely powerful enough to run everything in the rest of the build. It can’t even power the ship until it’s been fully engineered to Grade 5, so use a spare to get to the engineer and then have it shipped there to be upgraded. Upgrading to a 4A is a simpler choice and it provides more options. Doing so only drops the Jump Range by about half a light-year, but whatever else gets upgraded to use that extra power will continue to have an impact. For example: Upgrading to a 4A means the ship can power 5A Thrusters for a huge speed increase, but then the Jump Range drops a total of 2.5 ly.
- 5D Thrusters with Dirty Drive Tuning and Drag Drives. Not a typical choice for explorers, but it makes the ship a lot more fun to fly. When this build is at its best, it sports an impressive 532 m/s Boost Speed.
- 5A FSD with Increased Range and Mass Manager. This combination of upgrades creates the furthest possible Jump Range. With this build fully-engineered, the Frame Shift Drive offers a minimum Jump Range of 63ly.
- 4D Life Support with Lightweight. The Krait’s canopy is unfortunately rather exposed. Thankfully, the seven and a half minutes of emergency oxygen provided by the 4D model should be enough to get away and get repaired in the event of a breach.
- 3D Power Distributor with Engine Focused and Super Conduits. This combination keeps the Boost Interval down to 8 seconds but is light enough to maintain a high Jump Range and Boost Speed. A 2A or even 2D can be used instead if they’re fully engineered, but they offer mere tenths of a point increases in Jump Range. Bumping it up to a Stripped Down 5D grants an impressive 4-second Boost Interval while barely lowering Boost Speed, but it requires a larger Power Plant.
- 6D Sensors with Lightweight. Serviceable sensors and only 3.2 tons when they’re fully engineered. These are the best choice for every exploration-focused build.
- 4C Fuel Tank. This is in place of the Class 5 that could fit in this slot. The lower capacity doesn’t get in the way, but it’s best to check the navigation to ensure Primary stars are encountered when needed. Unladen, it can travel 241ly on one tank of fuel. This ship scoops fuel like a champ, but it can get stranded in places like The Abyss where Primary stars are few and far between.
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Utility Mounts

The Krait Phantom has a total of four Utility Mounts. While that may seem pitiful compared to the Anaconda’s eight, four gets the job done well enough. Into these four slots go the following modules:
- 2x Heat Sink Launchers with Lightweight. Heatsinks are vital to the survival of exploring commanders. Two is a bit overkill, and one can be switched out for another type of scanner when the situation calls for it. Having two for long journeys though means less synthesizing is necessary.
- 0D Frame Shift Wake Scanner with Long Range. The D rating keeps the power draw low, but provides a good base for range. With Long Range, the range goes out to 5.5km, which makes farming encoded materials much easier.
- Chaff Launcher. This is the ship’s self-defense mechanism. If a pirate interdicts the commander, they can deploy chaff, take evasive maneuvers, and jump away just as the chaff’s effect wears off.
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Optional Internals

This is where the versatility in The Bubble Buster’s design really shines. The optional internals chosen here should give commanders enough tools in their toolbox to have what they need when they need it no matter the situation.
- 6A Fuel Scoop. This scoop can refill the tank after a few jumps in less time than it takes to do a fly-by of a star. No more waiting just outside the exclusion zone while nervously eyeing the heat gauge. Elite Dangerous is one of the longest PC games to beat so every minute saved counts. On long voyages, the time shaved off of every jump builds up quick. This scoop also makes The Bubble Buster competitive in Buckyball races that permit it.
- 5H Guardian FSD Booster. No surprises here.
- 4G Planetary Vehicle Hangar. The second bay provided by this larger hangar is an important consideration. Being 10,000 light years from the nearest station means losing the one and only SRV around is a serious problem. With a second one, the pressure is significantly less. It also affords the chance to bring a Scarab and a Scorpion just for fun.
- 4E Corrosion Resistant Cargo Rack. This cargo rack can hold limpets until the day it’s finally needed for some Thargoid archaeology. 16 slots works well in the meantime. Any more than that and the ship would be slow when fully-laden.
- 3A Shield Generator with Enhanced Low-Power and Low-Draw. A shield isn’t strictly necessary for this build, but it’s a nice-to-have. The Low-Power and Low-Draw enhancements limit its impact on the Power Plant, but give a respectable 181mj of shield power. It’s enough to absorb an impact with the terrain at high-speed or buy time to escape from a pirate, but it certainly won’t survive a full-on engagement.
- 3A Auto Field-Maintenance Unit. It’s best to have at least one of these along, two for going out into the black. Keep this well protected, but avoid the Shielded enhancement unless the Power Plant is also upgraded.
- 3C Xeno Multi Limpet Controller. This multi controller has a function for Repair, Decontamination, and Research. It’s vital for long voyages into uncharted space since a Research limpet is required to score some truly incredible samples. The Repair function is also handy. This can be switched out for an Operations controller if embarking on a Recon mission.
- 1I Detailed Surface Scanner with Expanded Probe Scanning Radius. The engineering enhancement makes earning Efficiency Bonuses a breeze and saves a lot of time as well. This means that after a long trip out of the bubble, commanders can look forward to coming back to a fatter paycheck.
- 1E Supercruise Assist. This isn’t strictly necessary, and the Surface Scanner can take this slot to make room for another AFMU in the Class 2 slot. However, Supercruise without the assist can be a chore and any commander spending sufficient time in space needs to get up for a cup of coffee every now and again.

There it is: The Bubble Buster. It’s versatile, fast, and can jump incredible distances. The Power Plant is likely to be the most trouble to get engineered, but this build is otherwise pretty forgiving. It doesn’t need to be fully-engineered to work great, but once it is, it’s a satisfying ship to own and to fly.
o7, Commanders.
Elite Dangerous: Odyssey is available on PC.
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FAQs
Elite Dangerous: Best Fully-Engineered Exploration Ship Build? ›
The best ship for this build is the Krait Phantom. There are a handful of ships that excel at exploration for one reason or another, but the Krait fits this build perfectly. It's one of the best medium ships available owing to its versatility and impressive Jump Range.
What is the fastest engineered ship in Elite Dangerous? ›The Viper MK III is the fastest ship in the game at a maximum possible boost of 932 m/s.
What is the best combat ship build in Elite Dangerous? ›The best ship for this build is the Federal Corvette. The Corvette is one of the best large ships in the game, and it's impeccably specialized for combat. Its excellent turning radius gives commanders the best chance at keeping the impressive array of hardpoints on-target.
What is the most expensive ship build in Elite Dangerous? ›2 Imperial Cutter - 208,969,451 CR
That and it's literally the most expensive ship in the game. Still, anyone that gets past these hurdles will find themselves with one of the best ships in the entire game.
With its very high jump range this makes it great at doing long-range passenger missions, including those looking to go thousands of light-years. It is not as good for bulk missions as it has low compartment space.
What is the biggest drivable ship in elite dangerous? ›The Type-9 Heavy is the largest dedicated trading ship in Elite Dangerous. It's an absolute monster, with a cargo capacity of 300t as default and the potential to be upgraded to 700t.
What ship has the highest cargo capacity in elite dangerous? ›The Type-9 Heavy is a ship manufactured by Lakon Spaceways. It is the largest of Lakon's five freighter models, as well as the largest dedicated trading ship.
What is the best anti Thargoid ship? ›The absolute best choices for players new to Thargoid hunting are the Alliance Chieftain or Krait Mk. II. Medium ships will be a lot more forgiving and are the best way to learn how to properly fight Thargoids.
Is the krait mk2 better than Fer-de-Lance? ›Krait II is actually a far superior combat craft when you factor in all the bonuses. It just isnt when you have no idea how to fly / evade fire. Then the FDL is pretty much idiot proof once you get boosters for your shields and engineer them.
What are the best ships for PVE combat Elite Dangerous? ›- Sidewinder. The starter ship offers great maneuverability and two utility slots, however it's lack of healthpool, small distributor and slow speed hold it back significantly. ...
- Eagle Mk. ...
- Diamondback Scout. ...
- Viper Mk. ...
- Imperial Courier. ...
- Fer-De-Lance. ...
- Alliance Challenger. ...
- Federal Assault Ship.
Is the Anaconda worth it Elite Dangerous? ›
The Anaconda also makes for a fantastic miner, able to fit a large amount of potential Mining Lasers as well as plenty of space for Limpets and cargo holds. Its ability to mount a Fighter Hangar for Ship-Launched Fighters coupled with great self-defense potential means the Anaconda fits the role very well.
What is the best ship for transporting Elite Dangerous? ›The best ship for this build is the Imperial Cutter. It has the best shield output potential of any ship and an incredible amount of cargo space. It's also a sleek, stylish head turner. With some delicate engineering, the Imperial Cutter can squeeze out an impressive Jump Range too.
What is the most valuable in Elite Dangerous exploration? ›The most valuable planets are earthlike worlds (ELWs), water worlds (WWs), and ammonia worlds (AWs). The most valuable stars are black holes (BH) and neutron stars (NS). The least valuable planets are rocky, icy, and rocky icy bodies, which are sometimes referred to as a whole as "rice".
Is the Orca a good exploration ship? ›The jump range of the Orca can reach a rather impressive average of 36 ly before Engineering, making it a solid choice for an exploration ship at a fraction of the price of the Anaconda.
Is Orca good for exploration? ›With a heat efficiency of 0.94 you'll cook. Always go for A-class power plants. Make that a rule for yourself. But yes, the Orca is a very fine ship and a good explorer.
What is the best cheap exploration ship? ›The Diamondback Explorer is the cheapest of the four best exploration ships, the others being the Anaconda, Krait Phantom and Asp Explorer.
What is the most maneuverable ship in elite? ›Alliance Chieftain has excellent maneuverability and strong firepower that enables it to hit targets pretty hard and avert counterattacks. It incorporates six weapon hardpoints, which is a large number for a medium-sized ship. Unlike the Fer-de-Lance, Alliance Chieftain doesn't have a huge hardpoint.
Is the Keelback better than the Type 6? ›As an explorer, the Keelback has less jump range than the Type-6 due to its greater mass. Combined with more limited compartment space, the Keelback is a slightly less capable ship in the role than the Type-6. The Keelback has one role it shines in: mining.
How much cargo can a Type 7 carry? ›Just the basic configuration can carry 96 tons of cargo – with a couple of upgrades and tweaks, you can easily hit around 200 tons of cargo space while maintaining your (nominal C4) shields.
What is the max squadron size in elite dangerous? ›Once the Squadron has been created, Squadron Leaders will be able to manage the structure of the Squadron, as well as set in-game announcements to coordinate the Squadron's efforts. Squadrons can have a maximum of 500 members, including the Squadron Leader.
Is Thargoid hunting worth it? ›
Hunting Thargoid Interceptors can be a very lucrative profession with Cyclopes, Basilisks, Medusae and Hydrae being worth 6.5, 20, 34 and 50 million credits each to all Commanders in the instance on its demise that have damaged it (this includes beaming it).
What is the best ship in anti xeno? ›The Chieftain and the Krait have been the best ships for AX combat for a long time. The Chieftain offers exceptional agility paired with an excellent set of hardpoints. The Krait trades agility for tankiness and can run four medium AX weapons.
What is the max speed of a Thargoid? ›Scout | Orthrus | |
---|---|---|
Number of Hearts | N/A | 0 |
Top Speed | 280 m/s | 115 m/s |
Swarm Size | N/A | N/A |
Enrage timer | N/A | N/A |
It is the most dangerous snake of Central and South America, and causes more human deaths than any other American reptile. On average, a fer-de-lance injects 105mg of venom in one bite, although a venom yield of up to 310mg has been recorded while milking them. The fatal dose for a human is 50mg.
How far can a krait mk2 jump? ›The jump-range can reach up-to 26ly, or 40ly after mods.
Is the Krait Phantom good for combat? ›In combat, although the Krait Phantom loses some of the Krait MkII's damage output, durability, and its Fighter Hangar, its higher mobility allows it to become an agile and modestly successful fighter vessel.
What ship has the best shields in Elite Dangerous? ›Elite Dangerous: All playable ship shield comparison
Anaconda has strongest shields but Sidewinder - weakest. With shield boosters Anacondas shields can gain even 160% in strength because Anaconda has 8 utility mounts.
Despite having a lower base armour value than the Anaconda and less hardness than the Type-10, the Corvette still has a more effective defence than either, thanks to having both a higher hull hardness and shield strength than the Anaconda, and slightly higher base hull and higher shield strength than the Type-10.
What is the max Anaconda jump range Elite Dangerous? ›The Anaconda can achieve a jump range of at least 80 ly, which represents the current ceiling for jump range potential among conventional ships; larger vessels, such as Fleet Carriers, Megaships, and Starports, have proportionally higher jump ranges.
Can you get a free anaconda in Elite Dangerous? ›In Alpha Centauri there's a legendary station called Hutton Orbital that sells commemorative mugs and provides free Anacondas.
What ship is best for distribution missions? ›
Blockade Runners are arguably the best option for distribution missions all around.
How much cargo can a Type 9 carry? ›Summary. The Lakon Type-9 Heavy is the largest ship currently available in terms of cargo capacity, with 440 cargo units. It is the best ship for hauling freight from trade port to trade port, but because of its large size, it is very vulnerable to smaller ships.
How much of Elite Dangerous is undiscovered? ›🌌 Only 0.059% of the galaxy has been discovered in the Elite Dangerous live game so far! 👣 Where will you blaze your trail next?
What is the most profitable ore to mine in Elite Dangerous? ›The most profitable core mining material is either Void Opals or Low Temperature Diamonds. Void opals are commonly found around Icy rings. There are worth upwards of 650k per ton.
What is the least explored region in Elite Dangerous? ›By number of stars, the core is one of the best-explored regions. By percentage of stars, it's the least explored region by a clear margin.
Who would win a Megalodon or a pod of orcas? ›In the battle between a megalodon and an orca pod, the orcas would have the advantage.
What ships can fit in an orca? ›- Rifter – 27,289 m. ...
- Scythe – 89,000 m. ...
- Osprey – 107,000 m. ...
- Skiff – 100,000 m. ...
- Procurer/Mackinaw/Retriever/Hulk/Covetor – 150,000 m. ...
- Raven – 486,000 m.
There are no documented reports of wild, free-living orcas ever having intentionally attacked humans. The name 'killer whale' derives from 'killers of whales', not killers of people.
Is the Python good for exploration? ›There's plenty to see and scan all around. I use it for exploring and its great fun with decent jump range. It has a lot of slots so you can be self sustainable and carry luxuries. The cockpit view is a bit more restrictive, but you can get around that by flying at angles and upside down.
What is the most infamous ship? ›RMS Titanic
The supposedly "unsinkable" ocean liner set sail on its maiden voyage on 10 April 1912 only to hit an iceberg just before midnight on 14 April and sank in less than three hours. Claiming 1,514 lives, it is often remembered as one of the most famous and tragic shipwrecks in history.
What is the most stable ship? ›
All things considered, multihulls are the most stable type of boat hulls since they not only offer stability but also a nice ride through open water. Multihulls also provide more room than their monohull counterparts. The hull of a catamaran is the most stable and has the widest range of uses in many types of water.
What is the best early mining ship? ›The Adder is the earliest ship capable of efficient mining, as it can equip three mining lasers, as well as being the earliest deep core mining ship as it has one Class 2 hardpoint.
What is the fastest speed in elite dangerous? ›Maximum Supercruise speed (when not affected by stellar bodies) is 2,001c and takes 57 min to reach.
What is the top speed of the ship in elite dangerous? ›Different ships have different maximum normal speeds, currently ranging from 130 to 330 m/s.
What is the Type 7 ship elite dangerous? ›The Type-7 is an excellent shielded or Open Play trader when outfit with Military Grade Composites, a Shield Generator, and Shield Boosters. Its pitch and yaw speed combined with an acceptable base speed and adequate defenses allow it to make a hyperspace jump out of combat or potentially evade interdiction.
Is the Imperial Eagle good for combat? ›The Imperial Eagle is a slightly more viable choice for combat than the Eagle MkII due to its Class 2 hardpoint, but the reduction in agility means the pilot may have more difficulty in aligning the ship and its weapons with any targets and reliably inflicting damage.
Does speeding matter in Elite Dangerous? ›The warning text "Speeding" will be displayed on your HUD if your speed is excessive. While no penalties will be incurred for speeding in itself, if you collide with another ship while speeding then fines or bounties will be incurred. Shields only collisions above speed limit cause a fine.
What is the longest FSD jump in Elite Dangerous? ›The Anaconda can achieve a jump range of at least 80 ly, which represents the current ceiling for jump range potential among conventional ships; larger vessels, such as Fleet Carriers, Megaships, and Starports, have proportionally higher jump ranges.
What is the longest FSD jump range in Elite Dangerous? ›The Phantom can jump nearly 75 LY with a fully-sized fuel tank. If the tank is downsized to a 2C plus a 1C optional (6T of fuel against the FSD's 5T/jump consumption), the fuelled jump range rises to 80.14 LY. 80.51 LY is the theoretical max for a tank level of exactly 5T with nothing in the reserve tank.
What does USS stand for in Elite Dangerous? ›An Unidentified Signal Source or USS is a category of signal sources that will spontaneously appear throughout star systems during Supercruise. Targeting a USS will automatically scan and reveal its specific type, which can contain anything from unique ship encounters to Commodities and more.
Which eagle is the best hunter? ›
Their vision is about 8 times as humans', which means humans' eyes need to be almost the same as the size of an apple to match Golden Eagle's vision. This advantage makes golden eagle the best companion of Eagle hunters for hunting.
How much can the strongest eagle carry? ›Eagles are predators but they have a very small lifting capacity. Many times I have described our experiments and field observations on what eagles can lift. Generally a male can lift about 1.5 pounds and a female up to 2.5 to 3 pounds — the latter if there is a good headwind.
Which eagle is stronger? ›