ASPing for trouble

Darth Ender

D
getting killed by an NPC is akin to admitting you have hep c or some other embarrassing but avoidable disease. No matter what ship you have.


As far as loadouts, it seems that power supplies siphon heat better if the power load is lower than the power supply. So having extra stuff that is using available power that you dont really need inhibits the heat dissipation ability of the given power plant.

This has a two fold effect. 1. it limits your fuel scoop if you need one. Note: if you have a trade route you can reach in 1 jump, you dont need a fuel scoop. Cargo racks make better financial sense.
2. Dissipating weapon heat. The less load on your power plant the better. Things like chaffe and extra point defenses etc. are parasites.

If you are using the asp for trading at the moment, then you should have a fairly safe trading route (i assume you are playing in Open mode because it's the only mode that matters) and this route is not heavily traveled by humans. Given that you found a decent trading route that is 1 jump apart, ditch the fuel scoop and ensure your shield and every other internal component that can't be turned into a cargo rack is using the least massive version of itself. You'll want a kws and decent weapons so when you are up for an npc battle, you will easily win. You dont need a chaff launcher or even a point defense. Elite npcs dont interdict you ever as far as I've seen so you really dont need to worry.

An asp outfitted for decent trading (even 96 ton cargo is fine) should be able to make a decent amount of credits every 10 min. (easily over 130k credits) with absolutely no risk. At that rate you should be able to A-rate your asp in relatively short time.

Of course you will go faster by holding off on upgrades and staying with the high cargo room ...maybe even ditching the shield and going or 120+ ton cargo. Obviously trading is OP so moving to bigger ships is the wisest choice and a T7 is not out of your immediate reach at this point ...then anaconda and T9 wont be far off once you start hauling in a T7. I suggest everyone who can do this now...do so.. because hopefully in 1.2 they fixed this utterly broken and over powered profession.
 

Pogo

P
The key to getting the best out of an Asp is kitting it out properly for one task only. When you want to switch roles (do some combat instead of trading rares) SWAP OUT YOUR COMPONENTS.

When I need the cash I strip out weapons and big shields to get 112T cargo space (have A3 shields just in case) and trade rares on a 3 hour circuit netting 3 million CR. When I come home from the long rares circuit I swap things out and install better thrusters, A5 shields, A5 scanner, weapons, two slots of SCB, and the Asp transforms itself from a nice rares runner to a nice combat tank.

I just love the engine noise.
 

starjump

starjump
I keep fighting with my Asp and make around 200-500K per "round". Far away from trading rates, but i have fun - and thats what counts. :) I do check commodities when i go from system to system and check what it sold/bought. If the alarm bells go off (seeing a good commodity price listing) i do some trading for a little while to mix it up and gain some more cash.
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The only thing is to be CAREFUL with the Asp to not scratch it too much (or worse!). At least before your name changes to Richie Rich. :)
 
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Neutronium

Neutronium
Vampyre111 said:
My Cobra was pretty maxed out all the way around. My bank account was around 6.5 million CR. I thought OK it's ASP time. I'd set it up for trading and running rates and really make some serious cash. Nope. No matter what I do with this ship, I loose money. I even got blown up by an Anacondas.

To get enough cash for insurance and force myself to avoid combat, I sold all of my weapons and stick to trading. Now, I'm stuck with 98tons of hydrogen fuel and cannot find a profitable buyer. The best so far has been a 2CR/ton loss. I want to get rid of this stuff and get back into rare trading for a bit to restore my nest egg.

The other night, I came close to becoming the proud owner of a Sidewinder back in LHS-3477(I think that's it) I didn't realize I was flying without insurance! That's when I sold the weapons.

Oh well, I know things will get better. I'm rated as Competent. There is no "in" in front of that rating.
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My Cobra was anything but maxed out when I decided to switch it for the ASP (I decided not to own multiple ships since it is impractical IMHO to leave ships in diffrenet systems - its much more practical to switch ;) )

But it wasn't stock-fitted either: I have decided that a D-Class kitted ship has the best manouverabillity and jump range (provided you have an A class FSD - the only exception is this ;) )

So when I switched to ASP I had 8.5 mill crs in cash and about 4 mill cr in Cobra. After stripping the Cobra I ended up with 12.5 Mill Cr.
After buying the ASP and fitting it with D components - this time everything was D because I didn't (and still don't) have enough money for A-class FSD, I was left with about 4 mill Crs. Insurance cost is around 300-350K crs So I am cool.

My ASP has no Hardpoints and utility mounts though so when I get interdicted I use my R.U.N. protocol (Run Urgently Neutronium :D )
 

Schattenbogen

S
I buyed my Asp the fast way, by using a T6, and as soon as I was able to buy the Asp, I did and configure it as a T6 : max cargo and no weapons.
I used it as a better T6 until I had enough money to buy better equipment and slowly reduced the cargo capacity until 64 tons. Helped me not to go crazy while piloting a T6.

Now I have an excellent multi-role spaceship, far better than the Cobra, able to explore or do bounty huntig, and when I need some money, I have a 64 tons cargo to help (which mean a standard 120k in a two-ways trip). Not sure it is possible to pay reparations costs and insurance of an Asp without having some good cargo option.
Having a cargo full of precious stuff and loitering near a Nav Beacon is a good way to have the bounties comes to you.

Not the "best" spaceship, but she allow me to play as I want at any moment and this is the most important for me.
 
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Astronut57

Astronut57
clivewil said:
one of the biggest problems with the Asp for those of us on a tight budget is repairs and maintenance costs

usually if my Asp (or any ship for that matter) got chewed up in combat, i'd take it to the nearest station and get it fixed up. yesterday i decided not to, but waited to take it home to my own friendly base to fix it. i was quite surprised at the difference in repair bills, home was much cheaper. (i realise most of you already knew of this little perk. call me Mr. Slow)

View attachment 18874
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Ok count me in too as one of the few people who didn't know this.
+rep to you sir :)
 

the100thmonkey

the100thmonkey
The Asp is not the tank you all believe it to be. It has a serious design flaw.

I sold mine for a T7 to trade up to the FdL and Vulture when they come out.
 

clivewil

clivewil
the100thmonkey said:
The Asp is not the tank you all believe it to be. It has a serious design flaw.
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i used to use my Asp for general haulage, delivery and light combat, but used the Cobra for sustained combat and higher level assassinations. since the last patch or so though, the Cobra has had trouble finishing off a fight before the target manages to enter cruise. it seems due to the recent updates it frequently fails to boost after the target and then fire for long enough to kill it - thermal overload keeps shutting down the weapons, and the NPCs seem to enter SC very quickly (some Vipers do it instantly as soon as you target them)

so, i have been taking the Asp out instead and it survives much better than it used to. she has been in many RES sessions, into the warzones a few times, and has done several assassinations. what did i change? - 'B' thrusters. they made enough difference to turn 'slightly losing' into 'slightly winning' and now most times she takes no damage at all even after an hour or more in the RES, whereas before she'd always come home bleeding with bits missing

yesterday i bought her military composite armour, but i must admit i haven't seen any real benefit from it yet to justify the 5 million it cost
 

the100thmonkey

the100thmonkey
You will see it if the shield goes down!

The design problem is not really an issue against an NPC - they don't exploit the weakness. If you tangle with a CMDR that knows about the flaw, you'll go down in two to three minutes.
 

the100thmonkey

the100thmonkey
neutronium said:
My Cobra was anything but maxed out when I decided to switch it for the ASP (I decided not to own multiple ships since it is impractical IMHO to leave ships in diffrenet systems - its much more practical to switch ;) )
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Buy Hauler. Equip A2 FSD. Downgrade everything to D components. Jump 30ly at a time. Get to other ship in less than 5 jumps. Strip and sell Hauler. Profit. ;)
But it wasn't stock-fitted either: I have decided that a D-Class kitted ship has the best manouverabillity and jump range (provided you have an A class FSD - the only exception is this ;) )
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What you have decided is irrelevant - D class thrusters on an Asp are objectively horrible, and you're gimping the ship until you can fit at least B class kit!
So when I switched to ASP I had 8.5 mill crs in cash and about 4 mill cr in Cobra. After stripping the Cobra I ended up with 12.5 Mill Cr.
After buying the ASP and fitting it with D components - this time everything was D because I didn't (and still don't) have enough money for A-class FSD, I was left with about 4 mill Crs. Insurance cost is around 300-350K crs So I am cool.
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For about 12mcr, you can equip a good trading vessel with 120t of cargo space, A3 shields and enough weapons to make NPC interdictions nothing more than an irritation.
My ASP has no Hardpoints and utility mounts though so when I get interdicted I use my R.U.N. protocol (Run Urgently Neutronium :D )
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The R.U.N. protocol is quicker and easier, but you do have the option of fighting and popping smaller NPCs that interdict you.
 
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halide

H
I was in same position as you. Worked the Nav points and doing it easy now. When you can afford the upgrades the ASP becomes amazing. Can shred an eagle, adder, Hauler in seconds. Even the cheapest gimballed multi cannon and pulse lasers work well. Repair costs will hopefully drop with 1.2 update and then you should have an easier time with it. Stay away from conflict zones though. Got my handed to me at start with those first paper shields.
 

Apocryphic

Apocryphic
Something is wrong if you're actually buying hydrogen fuel for something other than a fetch quest. Take the loss and move on, be thankful it's not even 200cr.
 

TheMarshall

T
This is so very true. When you factor in your time, effort, fuel (unless you scoop) then its sometimes better to take a hit and move on to your next trade. In the hour it takes you to find a tiny profit, you could have made that several times over on an alternative commodity trade.
 
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