Bridging the Gap (Getting beyond the ASP) - Help!

[Bear_Grylls]

Hey All,

I've got no idea how many hours I have in this game, but for at least 2 days a week (up to all 7 days at times) since I bought this game I've been playing well into the early hours in the morning, playing wherever possible - it's great!

Despite this, I'm at a dilemma - I have a T6 and a Vulture, the vulture is fairly well equipped, the T6 is fully geared for trading (I even dropped the shield, i'm not picking it back up I'm good enough at flying to do without). I'm interested in getting any of the ships beyond the ASP. But, if we look at the price for these ships, we can see that there is around an 11mil CR difference between the relatively affordable ASP and the incredibly expensive (at least, to me) T7.

I'm burning the midnight oil getting trading done, but it doesn't feel fast enough. :/

Anyone got any ideas/knowledge they could bring to light on bridging the gap between the sub 7mil CR ships and the 17mil and above CR ships?

Thanks CMDRs!

 

[Grumpy181155]

It depends on how you play, whether you are in open or groups / solo. I prefer to play in groups / solo and my play style is to do a little of everything and I don't want multiple ships until I can afford multiple ships.
.
I've got an ASP that is almost A spec'ed and I can trade a little, explore and it is fine for PvE at RES's. I have got the money now for a Python but I am going to wait a little while until I can afford a reasonable trade Python (plus the insurance) that will do the same job as my ASP. When I first got the ASP I was worried about the money I was going to have earn before I could get the Python but it came. I didn't set out to EARN credits. I set out to enjoy myself, explore, gain rank and the credits come.
.
Kick back, relax, gain some rank with whatever faction you like and enjoy the journey.

 

[Bear_Grylls]

It depends on how you play, whether you are in open or groups / solo. I prefer to play in groups / solo and my play style is to do a little of everything and I don't want multiple ships until I can afford multiple ships.
.
I've got an ASP that is almost A spec'ed and I can trade a little, explore and it is fine for PvE at RES's. I have got the money now for a Python but I am going to wait a little while until I can afford a reasonable trade Python (plus the insurance) that will do the same job as my ASP. When I first got the ASP I was worried about the money I was going to have earn before I could get the Python but it came. I didn't set out to EARN credits. I set out to enjoy myself, explore, gain rank and the credits come.
.
Kick back, relax, gain some rank with whatever faction you like and enjoy the journey.

That's a good point, it's easy to get distracted from the enjoyment of the game by the money side of things, sounds like I will get an ASP and go exploring for a while, maybe when I get back I'll be able to afford my hopes and dreams XD

 

[Alex Brentnall]

That's a good point, it's easy to get distracted from the enjoyment of the game by the money side of things, sounds like I will get an ASP and go exploring for a while, maybe when I get back I'll be able to afford my hopes and dreams XD

Yeah, ASP is a good stage to leave the human bubble for 2 months and come back with 140mil of trade data. Check some of the threads in the exploration forum though, it will take longer than you think.

I personally jumped to a Clipper and managed to get into top 5% on a bunch of community goals which boosted my ship progress up to a Python and Conda fairly quickly...

 

[who?]

Yeah, that's good advice, just do what you enjoy, and you'll get there. Why grind your way to a better ship, just so you can grind your way faster to a better ship, in order to grind your way sooner to a better ship.... Some seem to forget the "grind" is the game.

That said, the CGs can be very good. Keep an eye on Galnet and the Active CG thread here. I got lucky by following the thread, heading straight to a system as soon as a bounty-hunting CG started and ended up with 43m in 3-4 days, plus a ship discount as the global reward.

 

[Bear_Grylls]

Yeah, ASP is a good stage to leave the human bubble for 2 months and come back with 140mil of trade data. Check some of the threads in the exploration forum though, it will take longer than you think.

I personally jumped to a Clipper and managed to get into top 5% on a bunch of community goals which boosted my ship progress up to a Python and Conda fairly quickly...

I left inhabited space for a couple of hours in a Hauler once, came back with 1mil CR (I knew what I was looking for, I'd done tonnes of research), the issue with exploring is that if you decide 'I want to go do some combat now' you cant, you've got potentially days before you can even see another ship.

 

[Alex Brentnall]

I left inhabited space for a couple of hours in a Hauler once, came back with 1mil CR (I knew what I was looking for, I'd done tonnes of research), the issue with exploring is that if you decide 'I want to go do some combat now' you cant, you've got potentially days before you can even see another ship.

Depends on where you go. In the ASP with a decent loadout you can do over 1000LY per hour. Since NPCs' disappear over about 500LY from human space you could do local exploring and always be within an hour of combat.

True you won't see too much in the way of Nebula or sights but it will pay the bills

 

[Lord_Itchybum]

I'm kind of in the same situation as you OP. Although I have an Asp already I am looking at what ship to get next. I did buy a T7 but sold it within a couple of days. it was horrible to fly and that made trade grind even worse. Have thought about the Fed Dropship or the Clipper but I don't have enough ranks for either one so the only option is the Python. I have enough to buy one now but not enough to outfit. So once Powerplay is released I am going to go to Sag A and then explore around a bit before coming back and then I might buy the Python.

It's a tough decision whihc ship to buy when they cost so much and you lose 10% of the price if you don't like it.
Next update I really hope FD put some ships into the 20-30 Million credits price range. IMHO there just is not enough choice there.

 

[Bear_Grylls]

I'm kind of in the same situation as you OP. Although I have an Asp already I am looking at what ship to get next. I did buy a T7 but sold it within a couple of days. it was horrible to fly and that made trade grind even worse. Have thought about the Fed Dropship or the Clipper but I don't have enough ranks for either one so the only option is the Python. I have enough to buy one now but not enough to outfit. So once Powerplay is released I am going to go to Sag A and then explore around a bit before coming back and then I might buy the Python.

It's a tough decision whihc ship to buy when they cost so much and you lose 10% of the price if you don't like it.
Next update I really hope FD put some ships into the 20-30 Million credits price range. IMHO there just is not enough choice there.

I almost feel like the 20mil CR + ships are reserved for the most dedicated of players, once you get an equipped python the money should just roll in with great ease, being the top 5% of most CGs is hardly a challenge, BUT you have to get there first, and man is it difficult to get there...

 

[Alex Brentnall]

I almost feel like the 20mil CR + ships are reserved for the most dedicated of players, once you get an equipped python the money should just roll in with great ease, being the top 5% of most CGs is hardly a challenge, BUT you have to get there first, and man is it difficult to get there...

Oh yeah, I forgot to say. Trading CG's are impossible without the top ships since you're doing 2 trips for every other CMDR's one.
Bounty hunts on the otherwise are much easier. I made top 5 CMDR's with a Combat Clipper in one of the princess goals a while back so any ship like the Vulture, ASP can get top 5% with time efforts. I do agree though its a lot of time but a nice boost to the already good profits from bounty hunting.

New missions coming in 1.3 update may be decent for profit, not checked that out properly yet.

 

[Grumpy181155]

That's a good point, it's easy to get distracted from the enjoyment of the game by the money side of things, sounds like I will get an ASP and go exploring for a while, maybe when I get back I'll be able to afford my hopes and dreams XD

Take some good music with you. It can get a little boring out there sometimes but it is nice when you get back and you get the credit for being the first to discover a 'new' system.

 

[Grumpy181155]

I left inhabited space for a couple of hours in a Hauler once, came back with 1mil CR (I knew what I was looking for, I'd done tonnes of research), the issue with exploring is that if you decide 'I want to go do some combat now' you cant, you've got potentially days before you can even see another ship.

The ASP has such a huge jump range so when that happened to me (needed some pew pew) in the nav panel I selected max jump range instead of economical and got back in a hurry. I had to refuel more than otherwise but it was a lot faster coming back than it was going out.

- - - Updated - - -

 

[Agarthan]

Community goals are where it's at. I barely participated in the 78 Ursae Majoris goals and earned almost 20 million, just from the bonus payouts, not including all the bounty and bond money.

 

[Katkon]

After a year of playing, my biggest learning is this: bigger ships and more credits do not equate to fun. Take it slow, see the sights, try new stuff and strive for variety. And fly small ships for maximum grin factor. It's fun to be th under dog, and boring to require virtually no skill to win against an NPC or player - which is basically what bigger ships enable. Bigger ships add a nice incentive to keep going, but if you get there too fast, you'll burn out. With a year under my belt I've only managed to get to the ASP and Vulture and am only worth 15-16M credits. But I refuse to grind for fear of monotony and boredom setting in, and refuse to try new/bigger ships accessible in beta as I don't want to spoil the eventual surprise.

 

[Dunkel Reynolds]

It's just Asp. You don't have to yell the name at us.

Fwiw, I hung out in my Asp for quite a while, doing a little of this and a little of that until I scrounged just enough money and gained enough rank for a Clipper. I tried a few "speciality" ships...Vulture, whatever the small trader is...but I get bored doing one thing. I didn't make money as fast as if I had focused on trading of RES hunting or whatever, but I had more fun doing a little exploring, a few odd missions, a little bounty hunting, etc. So in that sense, the gap after the Asp is quite large if you want something with the same flexibility.

 

[DidierDrbois]

Yeah, there's a bit of gap. Here's what I've done to bridge it. I didn't exactly plan ahead for it but it worked.
_
Getting bored with hauling rares and hunting bounties, I set off to Sagittarius A* in the Asp, picking up all the nebulae and sights along the way. Netted some 30 million, then spent just a few days in the Vulture and a T7 (both of which I hated) and now I'm sitting in a Python making a fortune on CGs and pretty much nomad-ing the civilised space.
_
It's not the fastest way to hop over the gap but man I had an absolute blast of a time. Still having. Good luck!

 

[Grumpy181155]

It's just Asp. You don't have to yell the name at us.

.

You're right. My apologies. I'll have to change my Avatar now.
I have been doing that everywhere. Now I feel a bit like a goose

 

[Steve72]

I traded rares with bounty hunting along way in my asp. This was before boost for bounty hunting. Then bought t7 did a few hours earning 2.5 mill an hour. Bored thepants off me. Got enough for vulture. Bh got buffed. Earned 2mill an hour.

Sold asp and t7 for python with basic uogrades. Earned upto 3mill an hour on a really good res spawn.

Now nomad bit of trading bh and with 1.3 around corner a bit of mining. I play a few hours per week since release.

If I ever get to anaconda it wont be soon but getting bigger ships is a bit of a grind to keep them if you do risky things. Rebuy is steep on python its just off pitting on a conda so im sticking with python.

 

[Schattenbogen]

Did buy an Asp, multi-role at first, 64 tonnes cargo and armament. Did a bounty hunting (before update), did missions, did trade, did exploration.
When Vulture came up, had enough to buy one and equip him, so my Asp became an unarmed fast cargo/exploration ship. Like to do rares trade with it (not fast money but more fun than space trucking), reputations missions and exploration, a bit of CG (but never better than 40% tiers with only 64 tonnes cargo).
I mostly use Vulture for combat CG and RES bounty hunting to have money (1/1.5M per hour) and as Asp is to costly to risk it in combat zones.

Took me a moment to try all this and it allowed me to grow my bank account, slowly but surely.
Now I'm bored by RES bounty hunting I will sold my Vulture, buy a new full multi-role ship and keep my Asp as special missions/exploration ship.

 

[magnit]

I set up short term goals. At first it was 1 MCr / day, then as cargo space increased with my ship upgrades it became 2 MCr / day and then 3 MCr / day and at T9 5 MCr / day. That way I thought I wouldn't burn out, but it was still very boring. I don't recommend it to anyone unless you have a lot of free time and nothing better to do. I had and have and I still went the way.

I now have an A specced Viper and Python and a D-specced Anaconda plus 75 MCr in the bank. I'm going to take a break from Elite and try and recuperate from the grind because it wasn't worth it.