Ships Anyone else love the Asp Scout's engine layout?

foxoplasma

foxoplasma
I'm pretty surprised that the Asp Scout remains unique as the only ship in the entire game that has centered engines!

Every other ship has 2 or more thruster blocks placed along the edges of the ship.
In an engineering standpoint it's definitely a great idea to have more than 1 main engine, in case the others fail (even though that's not how it works in game... if 1 drive goes down, they take the rest with them)

Although, considering the engines themselves are off center, the rotational thrusters would have to work pretty hard to keep the ship flying straight, and in an atmosphere it'd pretty much be a need for an emergency landing.

Not the Asp Scout, though! Because it's got dead center engines, there wouldn't be that much of a thrust difference, so it could concievably fly with one engine dead, although at a much slower speed.


I imagine that because it has smaller engines than other ships, it would emit less detectable heat?
I really love its unique look, and i do hope the Asp Scout gets a buff in the future, or that the devs consider more center engines when designing ships in the future.

Honestly, the Asp Scout isn't a BAD ship, it's just kind of a jack of most trades, master of absolutely nothing. Do hope it has a role carved out for it soon.

Maybe it'd be nice to make it tougher and with bigger/more hardpoints? I'd definitely be interested in more small hard hitters out there.

DbvEZYnX0AA2JTl.jpg:large
 
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[VR] optimal_909

[VR] optimal_909
I hate the Asp Explorer with a passion, but if I could somehow accept the 'turtlehead poking out of the water' canopy of the Asp, I would buy the Scout in a heartbeat. This ship looks very good from this angle, the lack of vertical stabilizer and -as you say- the cool looking center thrusters render it awesome.

By the way, that bi-thruster unit is the same as the Keelback's, including the surrounding frame!
 

Eriseley

E
I do! I also like the turn-rate. Even dead stop it's pretty good, and give a little thrust and it turns exceedingly well. Sadly that's about all it does, so it's just kinda like a T6 with less space that turns good. I use it for goofy mining where I manual scoop (it's quite nice for scooping and booping around avocado fields).

For that purpose I would basically just give it another large module slot to either pump up cargo space or maybe squeeze in a prospector limpet controller while still carrying armor.
 

foxoplasma

foxoplasma
optimal_909 said:
I hate the Asp Explorer with a passion, but if I could somehow accept the 'turtlehead poking out of the water' canopy of the Asp, I would buy the Scout in a heartbeat. This ship looks very good from this angle, the lack of vertical stabilizer and -as you say- the cool looking center thrusters render it awesome.

By the way, that bi-thruster unit is the same as the Keelback's, including the surrounding frame!
Click to expand...

Yeah, i love the external look of the asps, but i think the canopy is gross, mostly because of how ugly and barren the interior is.
 

Eriseley

E
Whoa I love the canopy, it makes total sense for a non-combat space ship to me. Great view. Totally bonkers if you fight anything, though.
 

marlowe221

M
I actually really like the looks of the Asp Scout.

The problem is finding anything to actually DO with it. It turns great and has a nice distributor for its hard point layout and... that's kind of it, really.

It also suffers from frustrating FDev physics/magic. For instance, why does the AspS have so much less internal space than the AspX? They are the same size and shape as far as I can tell. The internal compartments ought to be more similar than they actually are in game. It's just weird FDev magic at work I suppose.

The Asp Scout is also expensive for what it is. Want to fight NPCs? Almost any of the small combat ships are a better choice and much cheaper. Want to haul cargo? Get a Type-6; it holds a LOT more cargo for less than half the price. Want to get space madness honking systems outside the bubble? The DBX is around 2MCr cheaper and jumps a good bit farther.

If any ship needs a balance pass and/or complete overhaul in this game, it's the Asp Scout. As a player, it's very frustrating to be so visually attracted by a ship and then to be so underwhelmed by actually flying it.

Oh well.
 
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Jethro49

Jethro49
IIRC, the Cutter, DBX and DBS also have a centered thruster. But unlike the ASP S, they also have engines on their sides... So yeah, the ASP S design is unique (and fun), as you described ;)
 

TheMegaTurnip

Banned
T
Yeah man I love the look of the centred engines, but for a scout ship its bigger than the ASPx.

IMO It could do with being shrunk by 20% and given better hardpoints (say 3 c2's and 3 c1's). Not to mention be made a bit quicker.

The DBS is basically the combat alternative to the DBX, something it does excceedingly well, it would be nice to have a more shooty ASP for those longer range bounty excursions.

I'd really like a more mobile bounty hunting ship to go to the RES' in the pleadies and back without feeling like im sacrificing stuff to do it. There is'nt really a hard hitting long range hunter. IMO the ASPs could fill that role better than any other ship given a bit of love.

EDIT: Also needs more utilities.

o7
 
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Simon Templar

Simon Templar
AIKI_ZVEZDA said:
I'm pretty surprised that the Asp Scout remains unique as the only ship in the entire game that has centered engines!

Every other ship has 2 or more thruster blocks placed along the edges of the ship.
In an engineering standpoint it's definitely a great idea to have more than 1 main engine, in case the others fail (even though that's not how it works in game... if 1 drive goes down, they take the rest with them)

Although, considering the engines themselves are off center, the rotational thrusters would have to work pretty hard to keep the ship flying straight, and in an atmosphere it'd pretty much be a need for an emergency landing.

Not the Asp Scout, though! Because it's got dead center engines, there wouldn't be that much of a thrust difference, so it could concievably fly with one engine dead, although at a much slower speed.


I imagine that because it has smaller engines than other ships, it would emit less detectable heat?
I really love its unique look, and i do hope the Asp Scout gets a buff in the future, or that the devs consider more center engines when designing ships in the future.

Honestly, the Asp Scout isn't a BAD ship, it's just kind of a jack of most trades, master of absolutely nothing. Do hope it has a role carved out for it soon.

Maybe it'd be nice to make it tougher and with bigger/more hardpoints? I'd definitely be interested in more small hard hitters out there.
Click to expand...

This is the third thread I have read today which has made me want to try out an Asp-S. I currently split my time between a Keelback and a T-7, tried an Asp-X and just didn't get along with it. I like the idea of the Asp-S as a small explorer ship (prompted purely by the name 'Scout'!), but I wonder whether its range will be any better than my Keelback/T-7? Can it crack 30ly, do you know? And I'm entirely with you on the centred engines, love them. But do they sound any better than the ones on the Asp-X..? It would be a lot of money to shell out just to find it sounds like the Asp-X. I feel as though the Scout ought to be cheaper than it is, and have a very good jump range, sort of like the Lakon version of the DB-X.

Anyway, thanks very much for the food for thought. Rep'd!

o7
 

dayrth

Volunteer Moderator
dayrth
Madrax573 said:
The ASP-S is a very underrated ship. It needs a bit of love to get the general population to like it more. I'd love to see those wings flip out for atmospheric flight!

I too like the thruster layout, reminds me of the old Lightning aircraft.
Click to expand...

NINJAD :mad:
 

S0rkvild

S0rkvild
In depth review of Asp S is featured in Sagittarius Eye magazine

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nFR2_RKYXvdpK6yPmgAjkwRdWe-I0cF1/view

I'm using my Asp as a "long range in-bubble mission runner suited for battling with larger ships" :D. Love hugging to Condas (they are so helpless) and pounding them with four frag canons, Asp has really fantastic maneuverability and doesn't loose any grace even when heavily burdened with armor, hrp's and heavier weapons - you can't say it about Cobra, that suffers a lot when operate with increased mass. FD should do something with Asp S. Needs so kind of oomph - like an extra weapon slot, extra internal, that ridiculous canopy reworked, more utility slots, cheaper price, ANYTHING. And yeah that cool wing extension - foldable :)

This is my Asp S. I just discovered nitrogen geysers while taking a break from RES.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...a-Collection?p=6847100&viewfull=1#post6847100
 
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foxoplasma

foxoplasma
marlowe221 said:
To those that say the Asp Scout is an underrated ship, please elaborate.

What do you think it's best suited for? What are it's hidden qualities that people tend to overlook?
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Well, pure stats-wise, it does have a fairly big distributor for the 2S 2M loadout, class 4.
Since it has a class 5 slot, it can also mount a class 5A scoop for EXTREMELY fast scoop times.
I also like its maneuverability better than the asp X, particularly its better reverse speed.
It also has a pretty & unique thruster layout.

And that's pretty much it, it doesn't actually carve a niche for itself in anything. It is underrated for a good reason.
 

Madrax573

Madrax573
marlowe221 said:
To those that say the Asp Scout is an underrated ship, please elaborate.

What do you think it's best suited for? What are it's hidden qualities that people tend to overlook?
Click to expand...

Well basically put since it's update with the extra slot and size increase it has become a very good multipurpose ship.

This is what I used to use as a general purpose runner. https://s.orbis.zone/_5hfHzoo

But when it comes to numbers it boils down to Agility, agility, agility and having an oversized PD which allows the 2M + 2S hardpoints to be cap hungry and still have long firing times and lots of boosting capacity to take advantage of aforementioned crazy agility.
A lot of people will talk about the oversized canopy it shares with the ASP-E but if you can fly the scout you should never be face tanking anyways.
 

marlowe221

M
Madrax573 said:
Well basically put since it's update with the extra slot and size increase it has become a very good multipurpose ship.

This is what I used to use as a general purpose runner. https://s.orbis.zone/_5hfHzoo

But when it comes to numbers it boils down to Agility, agility, agility and having an oversized PD which allows the 2M + 2S hardpoints to be cap hungry and still have long firing times and lots of boosting capacity to take advantage of aforementioned crazy agility.
A lot of people will talk about the oversized canopy it shares with the ASP-E but if you can fly the scout you should never be face tanking anyways.
Click to expand...

Inspired by your build I'm giving it a try. It's not quite as engineered as yours, but it's along the same lines.

One thing is, I have never had good experiences with frag cannons for some reason. I never seem to be getting the DPS at the level that it should be on paper. I'm sure that's on me though. I am not a very good combat pilot. Even after 650+ hours, I still find NPCs to be challenging opponents.

The other thing is, I find the Asp Scout to be quite drifty, which does something to negate the high agility rating to me. Even with G3DD thrusters I have a hard time staying on the tails of far less maneuverable ships.
 

Farran

Farran
I think I am basically required to reply to Asp Scout threads now, so here we go.

The rather unique back view is part of what I like about the Asp Scout. It is very distinctive in screenshots and still pretty fresh because not enough people go exploring in it. It is becoming my preferred vessel at this point because it has about the same jump range as my exploration T6 but turns better than any common explorer ship.

F1FOFm8.jpg
Another reason I love it: Because of ergonomics, I have been playing with an Xbox controller lately. It sometimes likes to hit boost and reset pips instead of put down landing gear like it is supposed to. The other day, that happened inside a starport. In the AspS, I was able to flip the ship and full stop right above the pad without hitting anything. Try that in a Cutter!
 

Simon Templar

Simon Templar
Farran said:
I think I am basically required to reply to Asp Scout threads now, so here we go.

The rather unique back view is part of what I like about the Asp Scout. It is very distinctive in screenshots and still pretty fresh because not enough people go exploring in it. It is becoming my preferred vessel at this point because it has about the same jump range as my exploration T6 but turns better than any common explorer ship.

Another reason I love it: Because of ergonomics, I have been playing with an Xbox controller lately. It sometimes likes to hit boost and reset pips instead of put down landing gear like it is supposed to. The other day, that happened inside a starport. In the AspS, I was able to flip the ship and full stop right above the pad without hitting anything. Try that in a Cutter!
Click to expand...

You're making me want one!!
 

marlowe221

M
Asp Scout update:

After playing around in my local HiRez (usually the most I can handle), I can say one thing for sure: I have figured out how to use fragment cannons and they are pretty cool. They absolutely shred small ships and make medium opponents much easier. But against large ships my medium fragment cannons seemed to drop off pretty fast. I'm sure that's how it's supposed to work but it definitely makes me want to avoid large ship opponents with these weapons. I'm sure some folks like to hang around in a large ship's blind spot and whittle them down, but I'm not a good enough pilot to stay in their blind spots and it seems to take a long time in any event. I'm sure that a ship with a large hard point would be a big quality of life upgrade in this regard.

The other breakthrough I had was that I seem to be getting a better handle on the drifty-ness of the ship and can account for it better. I am still having trouble staying out of the line of fire of some opponents though - NPC Imperial Clippers really seem to have my number for some reason. I know I should be able to fly circles around a ship like that in the Asp Scout but that's just not happening. I'm sure it's down to my lack of piloting skill and not necessarily a reflection on the ship itself.

I also find myself struggling with pip management in this ship for some reason. The shields aren't great on an Asp Scout and but the engines ARE great. So I've been prioritizing engines over systems when it comes to pips as a general rule. When I do put more pips to systems it doesn't seem to make much difference most of the time in terms of shield lifespan.

This is all in a bounty hunting context, of course. I haven't really put the ship through its paces in other mission types.
 
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