Asp as a bounty hunter?

-Ice

I
Is this feasible? From the stats I've seen, it'll be slightly slower than the Cobra, same maneuverability, higher HP (shields + hull) than the Cobra, but what really gets me is the 4 utility slots. With the Cobra and Viper having only 2 utility slots, I put a Chaff Launcher and a Kill Warrant Scanner on those slots. With the Asp, I can put in a Frame Shift Wake Scanner plus maybe Point Defence or ECM. With Frame Shift Wake Scanner, I can at least pursue the ships that try to escape via FSD.

The Asp also has more hardpoints than either the Viper or the Cobra, with 2 Mediums and 4 Small.

Any thoughts?
 

CarlosMaximus

C
Being larger is a double-edged sword. Sure, more utility/weapon slots, stronger shields/hull, but the Asp is a HUUUUGE target from above or below. If you feel up to the challenge, give it a go! Just make sure you've got insurance! ;)

Edit: If you're using some sort of head tracking device (oh the wonders of modern technology!), the Asp does offer a fantastic field of view as well. :)
 
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Feldspar

Feldspar
The Asp is fine as a bounty hunter, but:

1) Repair and running costs are much higher
2) You are a bigger target for others to hit

Having said that, loads of guns is cool.
 

DaWoodster

D
Pre nerf I used to load mine with 6xDumbfires and get some revenge after being pirated, surprising how quickly they die.
I think the repair costs are waaaay too high for it to be a financially viable BH'er, unless you are just after some fun...
 

Monk

Monk
In combat, I treat the Asp more like a gunboat. I put a big laser on it and the rest are cannons. I keep my distance and let NPCs and my laser tear away shields. Once that is down...I full charge into the fray...increase pips to shields and unload as many cannon salvos as I can. If I can get the angle right, and target the power plant, I can take out an anaconda with just one drive
 

Sophist

S
-Ice said:
Is this feasible? From the stats I've seen, it'll be slightly slower than the Cobra, same maneuverability, higher HP (shields + hull) than the Cobra, but what really gets me is the 4 utility slots. With the Cobra and Viper having only 2 utility slots, I put a Chaff Launcher and a Kill Warrant Scanner on those slots. With the Asp, I can put in a Frame Shift Wake Scanner plus maybe Point Defence or ECM. With Frame Shift Wake Scanner, I can at least pursue the ships that try to escape via FSD.

The Asp also has more hardpoints than either the Viper or the Cobra, with 2 Mediums and 4 Small.

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

I just went from a Cobra --> Asp --> Cobra and can offer a bit of feedback on what I found over and above what you have already mentioned.

--Asp is REALLY expensive to run relative to a Cobra. Repairs are significantly more as are the upgrades obviously.
--The Asp is a lot more sluggish in combat, the Cobra is more nimble all around, and faster. The Cobra is also quicker to accelerate and stop which are important in combat.
--The extra firepower and power reserves of the Asp was very nice. With 4 beam lasers and 2 dumbfire missle racks it certainly packed a punch. But in the end I found the added maneuverablity of the Cobra to be a more important factor in combat, for me at least.

Many of the items you mention are certainly important as well. The extra hardpoints are very nice, and the Asp is an all around tougher bird. But it needs to be, because it will get hit more too. I should note that I do have the Cobra at "A" level and I only got my Asp to "B" level before discarding it.
 
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Neofactor

Neofactor
I use it all the time, but I've sunk about 17 mil into my Asp to keep it competitive. My only advice is upgrade the shields to rank B class 6 and get the thrusters to class C at the very lease (class B is preferable). The reason being, you need the extra defense for the ship's size and class C thrusters and up allow you to boost away from larger ships much faster giving you some chance of escape. Also the power distributor is the most worth while and cost effective upgrade so get that to rank A as quickly as possible. If you don't have at least 7 million for upgrades after buying the asp I can't see much reason to take it out for a fight. It's sad how bad the stock parts are...

I think overall it is better than the cobra, but the Cobra get up to about 440 m/s in boost where my asp can only get to 360 m/s with rank B thrusters.
 
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Dr Roly

Dr Roly
Asp is my favourite ship for NPC hunting. The tight weapon grouping, good power distributor and adequate performance are a nice combination. The ability to fire 4 x pulse lasers almost indefinitely and then follow up with the projectile weapon of your choice is a real boon. It's a bigger firepower upgrade from the Cobra than the numbers suggest. However, the large size makes it sub-optimal for Elite Anacondas, but still do-able. Never done PvP with it. My guess is it wouldn't be ideal.
Edit: Basically, it can kill anything it can't outrun.
 
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Neofactor

Neofactor
I once tried against a viper and he crushed me... Well it went on for 10 minutes but I never got through his shields once. With the new balancing, and better ship components the only thing I wouldn't fight is a Player in a Python or an Anaconda. The Clippers are also scary but the hard point placement makes chaff very effective against them. Needless to say if you want to do PVP nothing less then B thrusters and B shields.
 

Darkium

Darkium
I love my Asp, only downside is price and speed. It's a great multipurpose ship. But if you want a pure fighter, a specificly fitted viper or cobra is better.
 

Belsameth

Belsameth
I loved my Asp or rat hunting. Needs A grade shields tho, as the thing is basically a pancake, so easily hit from the right angle.

fitted it with 2 medium pulses and 4 small MCs myself, as I love to get up close and personal (generally I just open the window and hand the opposing pilots a stack of bullets instead of shooting. That close).
 

Evil

Evil
Asp is the best NPC farming ship,

1. Nothing can escape it (fast enough to keep up with vipers and cobras)
2. It can out turn any AI ship (even NPC eagles)
3. Has a stronger weapons loadout than smaller ships (faster safer kills)
4. Can carry more shield cells than smaller ship (more sustained combat)
5. D6 shield (more time to pump cells and higher resistance)
6. It has more modules (multiple chaff, Heatsinks)
7. Better power allows for more variable weapons loadouts.

Theres more but thoses are the best points for bounty hunting.
 

Katkon

K
Sophist said:
I just went from a Cobra --> Asp --> Cobra and can offer a bit of feedback on what I found over and above what you have already mentioned.

--Asp is REALLY expensive to run relative to a Cobra. Repairs are significantly more as are the upgrades obviously.
--The Asp is a lot more sluggish in combat, the Cobra is more nimble all around, and faster. The Cobra is also quicker to accelerate and stop which are important in combat.
--The extra firepower and power reserves of the Asp was very nice. With 4 beam lasers and 2 dumbfire missle racks it certainly packed a punch. But in the end I found the added maneuverablity of the Cobra to be a more important factor in combat, for me at least.

Many of the items you mention are certainly important as well. The extra hardpoints are very nice, and the Asp is an all around tougher bird. But it needs to be, because it will get hit more too. I should note that I do have the Cobra at "A" level and I only got my Asp to "B" level before discarding it.
Click to expand...

With a class 6 shield and SCB it's a very efficient and cost effective killing machine. if you can't keep the shields up, downgrade to a Viper or Cobra for cost reasons.
 

CMDR Swift Arrow

C
-Ice said:
Is this feasible? From the stats I've seen, it'll be slightly slower than the Cobra, same maneuverability, higher HP (shields + hull) than the Cobra, but what really gets me is the 4 utility slots. With the Cobra and Viper having only 2 utility slots, I put a Chaff Launcher and a Kill Warrant Scanner on those slots. With the Asp, I can put in a Frame Shift Wake Scanner plus maybe Point Defence or ECM. With Frame Shift Wake Scanner, I can at least pursue the ships that try to escape via FSD.

The Asp also has more hardpoints than either the Viper or the Cobra, with 2 Mediums and 4 Small.

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...


If you want to PVP vs a viper or cobra, you definitely need to have heat seekers (class 1) equipped. Two should be sufficient. What tends to happen is that you can get relatively close to eating their shields, but then they'll just run away out of range. When they run, that's when you start lobbing heat seekers at them till they blow up.

Another possibility is that they'll actually try to ram you in a suicide run. Just put 4 pips to shields and pop a shield cell if you think this is what they are trying to do.

Just, whatever you do, at least pack a heat sink and set a hot key to it (I use "V" for "vent"). With the new changes, heat management will be a much bigger issue.
 

InMemoriamSirocco

Banned
InMemoriamSirocco
As "Evil" above me stated. I run an Asp with those specs:

[Asp Explorere fitted for bounty-hunting, rare trading and exploration]

U: 0A Frame Shift Wake Scanner
U: 0I Point Defence
U: 0I Point Defence
U: 0I Point Defence
S: 1B/FS Missile Rack
S: 1B/FS Missile Rack
S: 1F/G Pulse Laser
S: 1F/G Pulse Laser
M: 2F/G Pulse Laser
M: 2F/G Pulse Laser

BH: 1I Military Grade Composite
RB: 5A Power Plant
TM: 5A Thrusters
FH: 5A Frame Shift Drive
EC: 4D Life Support
PC: 4A Power Distributor
SS: 5D Sensors
FS: 5C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 32)

6: 6E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 64)
5: 5A Shield Generator
3: 3E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 8)
3: 3E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 8)
3: 3A Shield Cell Bank for bounty hunting (or 3A Fuel Scoop for long range trips)
2: 1C Detailed Surface Scanner
2: 1C Advanced Discovery Scanner

Even with hardpoints deployed, I use only 98 % power and most often, I only have to use my four pulse lasers to smoke anything up to an Asp. Seldom I need my seeker missiles to finish off a fleeing target or quickly decimate packs of smaller enemies swarming me. I rarely even need to use a shield cell at all. The few times I get damaged at all are so rare that the profit I make for NPC farming completely makes this irrelevant.
 
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Don_Von_Hulio

Don_Von_Hulio
It has a nice alpha... but its still a fat and easy target. At least the Python has a slim contour instead of being in the shape of a potato like the ASP. Same with the clipper, even though the clipper is somewhat spread out it still maintains a sleek silhouette. Only exception to the battle oriented ships at the moment is the Drop ship, but "supposedly" its main focus is transporting ground units inside a hot zone and most likely providing air support for ground units similar to an Apache Attack Helo.... now the question remains, "will it ever have a chance to fill out that role before i die." and "will that gameplay feature even work.... much less worthwhile or rewarding."

Imo its biggest downfalls are its canopy because its huge and because of its shape all the modules are relatively close together so if the shield drops and the enemy is using kinetics... something else will give out too if one cant get out of the line of fire.

Now in 1.1, i would not recommend taking it out on Assassinations period. If your shield drops, by the time it comes back the cost in repairs exceed the reward amount.
 
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Troa Barton

Troa Barton
The asp is an amazing all rounder for any role it can haul more than the type 6, can pack a better assortment of weapons, has power reserves to space and is also somewhat diecent at exploration (screenshots aren't happening).
however it is very expensive to fully kit out.
rebuy/repair is also expensive.
if you have the money this is an amazing ship.
 
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