In my latest game, I played an "isolationist" culture for a while. I stayed in the solar system until I had colonies on Mars (fully terraformed) and Titan (slowly terraforming). Earth has long ago ran out of mines, but my other planets have critical resources in millions, so there was no reason to rush. Instead, I researched. A lot. As the age of enlightenment comes, so does the need to expand.
My current exploration doctrine calls for two types of exploratory vessels. I call their task groups Depth First Search (DFS) and Width First Search (WFS). DFS task groups jump through jump gates the moment they discover them. WFS task groups survey the whole system before moving to the next equally distant system, from the previous. My DFS TGs are intended to be the point of first contact, and hopefully survive such contact. While WFS TGs are my primary means of geological survey.
In order to accommodate both methodologies without too much overhead, I went with modular ship design (i.e. hangars). My main survey platform are jump capable grav survey vessels.
Eagle class Gravitational Survey Vessel 4000 tons 300 Crew 1074.2 BP TCS 80 TH 40 EM 0
3125 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 3-22 Shields 0-0 Sensors 180/180/2/0 Damage Control Rating 3 PPV 0
Annual Failure Rate: 42% IFR: 0.6% Maint Capacity 504 MSP Max Repair 180 MSP Est Time: 3.14 Years
Hangar Deck Capacity 1000 tons
J4000(3-50) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 4000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
MaConfi Drive Type M/E4 (2) Power 125 Fuel Use 40% Signature 20 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres Range 168.8 billion km (625 days at full power)
Thermal Sensor TH10-180 (1) Sensitivity 180 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 180m km
EM Detection Sensor EM10-180 (1) Sensitivity 180 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 180m km
Improved Gravitational Sensors (1) 2 Survey Points Per Hour
Depending on the type of deployment, they will either carry two missile armed fighters (for DFS role) or a geo survey parasite (for WFS role). The geo survey ship:
Mole class Geological Survey Vessel 1000 tons 90 Crew 487.4 BP TCS 20 TH 20 EM 0
6250 km/s Armour 3-8 Shields 0-0 Sensors 90/1/0/3 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
Annual Failure Rate: 8% IFR: 0.1% Maint Capacity 305 MSP Max Repair 200 MSP Est Time: 5.68 Years
MaConfi Drive Type M/E4 (1) Power 125 Fuel Use 40% Signature 20 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 225.0 billion km (416 days at full power)
Thermal Sensor TH5-90 (1) Sensitivity 90 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 90m km
Advanced Geological Sensors (1) 3 Survey Points Per Hour
My "smack the living heck out of them and run" fighters, that accompany the DFS role survey vessels:
Resolution class Fighter 467.5 tons 20 Crew 115.4 BP TCS 9.35 TH 12 EM 0
8021 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 6
Annual Failure Rate: 6% IFR: 0.1% Maint Capacity 39 MSP Max Repair 36 MSP Est Time: 5.08 Years
Magazine 40
FTR Magnetic Confinement Fusion Drive E300 (1) Power 75 Fuel Use 3000% Signature 12 Armour 0 Exp 25%
Fuel Capacity 20,000 Litres Range 2.6 billion km (3 days at full power)
Size 10 Box Launcher (4) Missile Size 10 Hangar Reload 75 minutes MF Reload 12.5 hours
Missile Fire Control FC29-R50 (1) Range 29.2m km Resolution 50
Size 10 Anti-ship MIRV (4) Speed: 18,700 km/s End: 26.7m Range: 30.5m km WH: 0 Size: 10 TH: 62 / 37 / 18
Active Search Sensor MR32-R50 (1) GPS 1800 Range 32.4m km Resolution 50
Where the missiles carried by it are:
Missile Size: 10 MSP (0.5 HS) Warhead: 0 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 18700 km/s Endurance: 32 minutes Range: 35.9m km
Cost Per Missile: 21.0586
Second Stage: Hornet ASM S-S1-4 x8
Second Stage Separation Range: 750,000 km
Overall Endurance: 32 minutes Overall Range: 36.5m km
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 187% 3k km/s 60% 5k km/s 37.4% 10k km/s 18.7%
Materials Required: 8x Tritanium 10.7926x Gallicite Fuel x1250
And:
Missile Size: 1 MSP (0.05 HS) Warhead: 4 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 18
Speed: 62500 km/s Endurance: 0 minutes Range: 0.8m km
Cost Per Missile: 2.2417
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 1125% 3k km/s 360% 5k km/s 225% 10k km/s 112.5%
Materials Required: 1x Tritanium 0.9897x Gallicite Fuel x2.5
The doctrine for DSM vessels calls for fighters to exit the ship upon detection of hostiles, while the MS hightails it towards the jump point. If possible, the fighters engage their missiles at the target and follow after the MS. I don't intend to stick around for the details. Overall, this doctrine was borne out of too many survey craft getting ganked by random hostiles that shoot first and ask questions later.