To Asp or not to Asp
- Thread starter Neuros
- Start date
Amazed at the number of people staying stick with the Type 6. Go for the Asp:
- 120T of cargo with shield: no more expensive scrapes when docking in a hurry
- better jump range and double the fuel tank: you can do those 150LY runs without stopping or scooping
- handles better from the get-go, and is a joy when you upgrade the thrusters
- enough weapons to defend yourself easily, plus hardpoints for chaff and point defence will keep anyone off your tail if you run
- much stronger hull if you do find yourself in trouble
And perhaps less directly relevant to trading, but:
- the cockpit view
- the noise of the engines
- 120T of cargo with shield: no more expensive scrapes when docking in a hurry
- better jump range and double the fuel tank: you can do those 150LY runs without stopping or scooping
- handles better from the get-go, and is a joy when you upgrade the thrusters
- enough weapons to defend yourself easily, plus hardpoints for chaff and point defence will keep anyone off your tail if you run
- much stronger hull if you do find yourself in trouble
And perhaps less directly relevant to trading, but:
- the cockpit view
- the noise of the engines
The point is, with the Asp you really don't need to. Feel free to strip out weapons/shields if you wish, but you can run an Asp fully kitted out for trading and with a simple swap of shield generator (from class 3 to class 6) and addition of shield cell bank you're ready to bounty hunt.
Traded mine in for a Clipper yesterday, but in the longer run I'll rebuy one. Now concerning trade, I'd say it depends - I used to trade rares in the Asp and there, jump range is more important than raw cargo space, imho. For pure short-range hauling it's probably better to stay in the Type VI and save for a Type VII, aspecially if you don't have at least ten additional millions to fit the Asp.
Granted, in a pure trading configuration the rebuy will be a lot less, but still substantially more than the T6. But I'd rather use a dedicated trading platform for hauling, than gut my Asp and as I said, I really do like the T6
Yesterday I traded in my Type-6 for an Asp as well. After the trade in I had 3 million left. 2 for upgrades, 1 for trading capital and insurance fund. Which I thought would be enough to get started with.
I knew the upgrades were expensive, but still they surprised me with exactly how expensive. So I also sold the Viper and all of it's upgrades.
I had a B4 FSD on the Type-6, which was good enough for the job. On the ASP, a B5 FSD is something in the order of 1.6~1.7 million. And an A5 is more than 5 million, if you can find one.
So I'm running a C5 FSD for now.
I didn't want to sacrifice the shields, so only 96 cargo instead of the 104 for the Type-6 with shields.
My 2-jump trade route turned into a 3-jump route, I've got less cargo space, fuel costs are more than tripled ... so no, the Asp is not a better trader.
But then again, the Asp isn't a dedicated trading ship. It has other virtues. So I decided to do something else with it.
I installed a basic discovery scanner and an advanced surface scanner, and I'm now on a rare items trading journey with 88 cargo space left. Some systems with rares are a dozen jumps apart, and I'm exploring every unexplored system on the way. (I'm not "aimless" anymore! Just "mostly aimless")
The exploration makes it a lengthy affair, so don't expect loads of profits quick doing this. But it's a nice change from grinding your well established trade routes.
When I return from the lengthy rares trade route, I'm buying the Type-6 back so I have both the Type-6 and the Asp. I'll turn the Asp into a fighter/explorer instead of a trader/explorer and keep the Type-6 for the money making untill it can be replaced with a Type-7.
I knew the upgrades were expensive, but still they surprised me with exactly how expensive. So I also sold the Viper and all of it's upgrades.
I had a B4 FSD on the Type-6, which was good enough for the job. On the ASP, a B5 FSD is something in the order of 1.6~1.7 million. And an A5 is more than 5 million, if you can find one.
So I'm running a C5 FSD for now.
I didn't want to sacrifice the shields, so only 96 cargo instead of the 104 for the Type-6 with shields.
My 2-jump trade route turned into a 3-jump route, I've got less cargo space, fuel costs are more than tripled ... so no, the Asp is not a better trader.
But then again, the Asp isn't a dedicated trading ship. It has other virtues. So I decided to do something else with it.
I installed a basic discovery scanner and an advanced surface scanner, and I'm now on a rare items trading journey with 88 cargo space left. Some systems with rares are a dozen jumps apart, and I'm exploring every unexplored system on the way. (I'm not "aimless" anymore! Just "mostly aimless")
The exploration makes it a lengthy affair, so don't expect loads of profits quick doing this. But it's a nice change from grinding your well established trade routes.
When I return from the lengthy rares trade route, I'm buying the Type-6 back so I have both the Type-6 and the Asp. I'll turn the Asp into a fighter/explorer instead of a trader/explorer and keep the Type-6 for the money making untill it can be replaced with a Type-7.
With shields on both vessels, you carry 16 more tons per trip in the Asp over the T6. If you're doing your job right then that'll make you 20k more per trip in the Asp. Someone earlier in this thread mentioned 660k losses - that's just 33 trades. If you make more than 33 trades in the Asp then the rest is profit
Don't think of the modules as losses either, just fit rubbish items in those slots prior to trading, only takes 5 mins.
Don't think of the modules as losses either, just fit rubbish items in those slots prior to trading, only takes 5 mins.
I voted stay in the Type 6, because if you buy the Asp, you'll never get to the Type 7!
I have an Asp for combat, and a much-loved Type 6 for industry/exploration. Maybe the temptation to just pimp the thrusters a little more isn't the same in a trading Asp, but that thing can soak up a lot of credits, and has kept me in a Type 6 since Gamma. Right, now I'm off to blow 16mil Cr on a better shield...
I have an Asp for combat, and a much-loved Type 6 for industry/exploration. Maybe the temptation to just pimp the thrusters a little more isn't the same in a trading Asp, but that thing can soak up a lot of credits, and has kept me in a Type 6 since Gamma. Right, now I'm off to blow 16mil Cr on a better shield...
Asp can fit a lot more cargo, has hugely more firepower, is significantly faster and jumps much further, opening up more direct trade routes.
Type 6 is slow, practically defenceless and has the aesthetics of a brick. It's only redeeming feature is the price.
Type 6 is slow, practically defenceless and has the aesthetics of a brick. It's only redeeming feature is the price.
what repair costs? dont crash.
refuel? The extra cargo space more than makes up for the fuel costs and then some.
I get what? 16 more t in cargo in an asp. My current route is at 2.6k profit per t per trip, so thats an extra 41.6k per round trip in an asp as opposed to a type 6. plus I can do it in 1 jump and with quicker dock times at each end, so I squeeze in an extra trip an hour.
Lakon on this route is about 1.4mill an hour. Asp is about 1.9mill, thats if I run it perfectly so knock off a bit for inefficiencies. but you are still looking at the asp paying for itself (ie rebuy loss) in a few round trips...then making more money than the type 6. even if you just get same number of trips per hour its still 1.6mill, so only a few more round trips to pay for the rebuy loss of the asp....
The better FSD etc can all be sold prior to selling the asp and used in future ships so they are not losses at all.
better cargo, better jump range, better docking speed......why you would not go to an asp is beyond me.
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But this means that you have to downgrade the Asp's default Class 5 Shield to a Class 3 Shield, otherwise you would have 96 tons instead of 120 tons. Should not be a real problem but I think it should be mentioned
When switching ships, only the hull sale generates loss (you can sell modules for buy price, but not hulls).
So: As soon as you are comfy with your cr balance, drop all your modules to the lowest possible level and sell all sellables, then get a multipurpose hull (like the Asp) and just swap around modules whenever you want to do something different.
Best FSD+Scoop+(Advanced+Detailed) Scanners, drop shields to B3, drop everything else -> Explorer
Sell scanners at 0cr loss, insert cargo racks -> trader with big jump range
Sell racks, put in best thrusters, lower the FSD, get weapons -> Bounty hunter
The Asp, like the Cobra (and the Python?) can do everything quite well, yet nothing as good as a specialized ship (fighter role debateable).
So: As soon as you are comfy with your cr balance, drop all your modules to the lowest possible level and sell all sellables, then get a multipurpose hull (like the Asp) and just swap around modules whenever you want to do something different.
Best FSD+Scoop+(Advanced+Detailed) Scanners, drop shields to B3, drop everything else -> Explorer
Sell scanners at 0cr loss, insert cargo racks -> trader with big jump range
Sell racks, put in best thrusters, lower the FSD, get weapons -> Bounty hunter
The Asp, like the Cobra (and the Python?) can do everything quite well, yet nothing as good as a specialized ship (fighter role debateable).
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Can ASP NPC hunt up to Anaconda / Python and the big question....
PvP against Vipers and Cobras?
I used a long-loiter time (4 x lasers, 1 x shield boost) combat spec Viper to anarchy nav beacon camp for long periods of time. I always chose NPC targets first, but, well, you know, sometimes another player kills steals too many times or sometimes one of them just doesn't like my name and opens up first...
So, I sold the viper and went the Type 6 route, credit farming, and am up to 8 mill in assets. Can I fit an ASP to go anarchy nav beacon camping again and still be able to handle an NPC anaconda and python, and also still be able to fight PvP? I never have seen a player controlled Asp where I camp, but I have killed many many of them flown by NPCs while bounty hunting. In fact, the Asp was my favorite NPC ship to kill with my Viper. Camp under its belly, target its power plant and unload my lasers. They blew up so fast it wasn't funny. Coldnt turn fight at all either. But again, we're talking NPC controlled ones which are obviously different...
So, can an Asp be made to dog fight a bit? Can it turn? Class A thrusters / Class A Shield gen and 4 x lasers of some kind? Also have to fit ECM / Shield Boost / and point defense or what? I imagine when the hull takes damage, the repair costs are nuts-so.
Any PvP / NPC Anaconda hunting opinions with the Asp? How much assets do I need (I will sell the type 6 and all modeules) to make the Asp survivable in combat right out of the gate?
PvP against Vipers and Cobras?
I used a long-loiter time (4 x lasers, 1 x shield boost) combat spec Viper to anarchy nav beacon camp for long periods of time. I always chose NPC targets first, but, well, you know, sometimes another player kills steals too many times or sometimes one of them just doesn't like my name and opens up first...
So, I sold the viper and went the Type 6 route, credit farming, and am up to 8 mill in assets. Can I fit an ASP to go anarchy nav beacon camping again and still be able to handle an NPC anaconda and python, and also still be able to fight PvP? I never have seen a player controlled Asp where I camp, but I have killed many many of them flown by NPCs while bounty hunting. In fact, the Asp was my favorite NPC ship to kill with my Viper. Camp under its belly, target its power plant and unload my lasers. They blew up so fast it wasn't funny. Coldnt turn fight at all either. But again, we're talking NPC controlled ones which are obviously different...
So, can an Asp be made to dog fight a bit? Can it turn? Class A thrusters / Class A Shield gen and 4 x lasers of some kind? Also have to fit ECM / Shield Boost / and point defense or what? I imagine when the hull takes damage, the repair costs are nuts-so.
Any PvP / NPC Anaconda hunting opinions with the Asp? How much assets do I need (I will sell the type 6 and all modeules) to make the Asp survivable in combat right out of the gate?
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