Asp vs. Anaconda?

[Riepah]

Hi there.

I finally got myself an Asp. It took me this long because I refused to trade and focused on missions and bounty hunting instead. After upgrading her as much as I could afford, I decided to take her on a little adventure, to do what I've done countless times in my old Viper: An Anaconda killmission.

After flying around in supercruise for a while, I finally found my target.

As usual, I tried to get behind my target... and, well, that's where my problems started. I couldn't seem to properly outmaneuver the Anaconda at all.
After trying for a while to get in a good position and dodging the Plasma Accelerator projectiles, the Anaconda began firing for real, lasers everywhere. Ouch. For a change, they all actually hit me and my shields were going down fast. So I put 4 blips into Engines and ran away.

I've seen plenty of "Viper vs. Anaconda" threads, but a quick little search didn't seem to find me a proper Asp one.

Is the Asp too clumsy in general to get behind Anacondas? Was I just not flying her right, or would better thrusters do the trick?

 

[CMDR Solarisjock]

i have not done it, but i have to ask did you upgrade the thrusters? i would imagine that the stock asp's handling would be a severe hindrance, you might need to equip yourself for a different fight then a Viper

 

[Riepah]

i have not done it, but i have to ask did you upgrade the thrusters? i would imagine that the stock asp's handling would be a severe hindrance, you might need to equip yourself for a different fight then a Viper

No, I went with stock thrusters. Couldn't find/afford better ones yet. For now I'm back in my Viper to finish the killmission I started, and when I can afford to upgrade the thrusters, I'll give the Asp another go. I'm just not convinced that better thrusters will make a difference large enough, so I'd love to hear from someone with a fully upgraded Asp whether or not it is possible to outmaneuver Anacondas, or if an Asp has to more or less take them from the front.

 

[tristancliffe]

Sorry, I've not tried in my Asp yet. But I'd like to hear how you get on once you've upgraded your Asp (if you stick with it; think of the challenge!!!), with a few grade As and a few grade Ds etc.

Do you use shield cells (I've read about them, I even had them fitted to my old Cobra, but have never used one; I always forgot I had them)?

 

[lukeren]

I've killed a few anacondas with my Asp, but dealing with them alone is a challenge. There's no issue if you're careful and have a few security vessels poking it too.
Thruster are A-rated though, as are the shields. I think you'll need at least the thrusters A-rated for this to work.

 

[Ydiss]

First off, kudos for getting an Asp purely through combat.

I can FD take on anacondas in my Asp but I spent over 27m on her. So it depends on your load out. As you have stock thrusters, you will probably not be able to manage. Upgrade those and you'll fare much better.

 

[Riepah]

Sorry, I've not tried in my Asp yet. But I'd like to hear how you get on once you've upgraded your Asp (if you stick with it; think of the challenge!!!), with a few grade As and a few grade Ds etc.

Do you use shield cells (I've read about them, I even had them fitted to my old Cobra, but have never used one; I always forgot I had them)?

Yes, I do use shield cells. Not for every Anaconda, I often enough manage to kill them without needing a cell, but some of them just turn and turret too much for me, and that's when shield cells come in handy. Shield cells are amazing, currently too strong I'd say. The difference between going up against an Anaconda with or without shield cells, especially if you're new to the whole Anaconda killing business, is immense. I strongly recommend setting a hotkey for your shield cells rather than a fire group.

In the case I described in the OP, using a shield cell is what allowed me to run away without a scratch to my hull. If I hadn't had one on me, I think I'd have quite the repair bill to deal with, if I had gotten away at all.

Sadly, at my current earning speed, it'll still be a while until I'll be able to afford the best thrusters and shield generator. My shield generator wasn't stock, but it wasn't the best available either - how fast my shields went down was remarkable, however, so I'd rather upgrade that thing too before trying another Anaconda. That said, I killed my previous prey with the Viper now and am poking USS looking for the next.

 

[prasak]

Yeah, you need the best thrusters if you want to effectively stay behind it, but in any case, its still not as good as viper, you will get much more hits.

 

[Riepah]

I've killed a few anacondas with my Asp, but dealing with them alone is a challenge. There's no issue if you're careful and have a few security vessels poking it too.
Thruster are A-rated though, as are the shields. I think you'll need at least the thrusters A-rated for this to work.

Thank you, it's good to know thrusters will make a proper difference. I hope I'll be able to dispatch Anacondas without security still, though - with the current death penalty for a single stray shot, I find them to be more of a liability than aid.

First off, kudos for getting an Asp purely through combat.

I can FD take on anacondas in my Asp but I spent over 27m on her. So it depends on your load out. As you have stock thrusters, you will probably not be able to manage. Upgrade those and you'll fare much better.

It wasn't entirely "purely" through combat - I did the occasional delivery mission, and once I went from Federation to Empire space carrying 6 rares in my Viper. I never hauled Cargo in anything bigger than a Viper, at least. I tried the Cobra once, but I couldn't deal with my sights being off-center, so I sold her after a little testrun.

Ouch, 27m? What kind of modules are you using? Mine's worth around 9m, power coupling and FSD upgraded already. 27m is much higher than I expected!
Excuse me, what do you mean by "FD"?

Yeah, you need the best thrusters if you want to effectively stay behind it, but in any case, its still not as good as viper, you will get much more hits.

Hmm, as long as the stronger shields can deal with the additional hits, I'd be okay with that. I'd just find it too depressing to stop at the Viper, the Asp was the only ship I could look forward to and reasonably ever afford without resorting to trade.

 

[Exard3k]

Thrusters are very important for every ship (even for traders at some degree). The ASP doesn't feel "right" with bad thrusters...you really can feel the mass and its inertia compared to Cobra or Viper. I won't undock a ship with lower than C-rating thrusters (D if you REALLY care about mass, e.g. exploration)

 

[GJ51]

Love my ASP. Worth 43 Mil now. I haven't gone up against an Anaconda yet but have had some Python run ins. The first didn't go well and I was down to 12% before jumping out, The second time, I was at 75% when I smoked the opposing Python. I haven't tried Shield cells yet, Plasma Cannons are the killers. If you start getting hit by one of those, it's time to bail and run... live to fight another day. I love the ASP, but it just may be that the Python is the real sleeper. It can land on Medium sized pads but seems pretty stout. Saving my pennies...