Asp weapon loadouts for PvP after 1.1 Patch - any ideas?

Nightshady

Nightshady
I've been running an Asp for some time now. I normally just run rare goods to make money so I only need 44T of cargo space, with the remainder of my internals used for making my Asp the best combat ship it can be. Here is my setup right now:

Bulkheads - Reinforced Alloy
Powerplant - A-rated
Thursters - Currently D-rated, but upgrading to A very soon
FSD - A-rated
Power Distributer - A-rated
Sensors - D-rated
Shield Generator - Class 6, C-rated (I switched from Class 5 to Class 6 shields and I believe it makes a noticeable difference; will be upgrading to A-rated once I get 17M to spare)
Shield Cell Unit - Class 3, A-rated (I need the Class 5 slot for cargo normally, but when hunting Elite Anacondas I do switch out to Class 5, A-rated shield cell unit)
Frame Shift Interdictor - Class 2, B-rated
Cargo holds
Utility slots - 2 point defence, 1 chaff launcher, Kill warrant scanner
WEAPONS - So this was my old pre 1.1 setup -
2 Medium gimballed Beam lasers, 4 small dumbfire missile pods

So before the 1.1 patch, I could deal with any CMDR's that dared to try and pirate me. I would simply submit to interdiction, say "I give up", then creep up on them while they were cargo scanning and unload a full salvo of dumbfire missiles (8 missiles x 4 missile pods for 32 missiles) into them which would take down their shields and hull before they could realize that the hunter had become the prey.

The 1.1 patch has made my current setup pretty much ineffective. Pre 1.1, you could fire all 8 missiles (x 4 pods) in just over 2 seconds. Now, you can only fire 1 missile (x 4 pods) about every one second. The burst damage which would end the fight in seconds is now gone, especially since that not only was the fire rate of dumbfire missiles crippled in 1.1, the damage against shields with missiles has been scaled back.

So my question... what is the best loadout in an Asp for dealing with CMDR's? I couldn't care less about what is best for pirates, as basically any setup can demolish them. I want to get input on which setup will take out a skilled and well equipped CMDR who is going to use chaff and shield cell units like a pro. Yes, I do realize that my gimballed beams are not great against CMDR's because of chaff. The reason I kept gimballed is because I liked them for dealing with NPC pirates and I pretty much relied on the missiles to take care of the CMDR's. Looking mostly for weapon setups here, but of course I am interested in any suggestions for the other equipment as well.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers.
 

Rhest

R
Asp Loadout

Nightshady said:
I've been running an Asp for some time now. I normally just run rare goods to make money so I only need 44T of cargo space, with the remainder of my internals used for making my Asp the best combat ship it can be. Here is my setup right now:

Bulkheads - Reinforced Alloy
Powerplant - A-rated
Thursters - Currently D-rated, but upgrading to A very soon
FSD - A-rated
Power Distributer - A-rated
Sensors - D-rated
Shield Generator - Class 6, C-rated (I switched from Class 5 to Class 6 shields and I believe it makes a noticeable difference; will be upgrading to A-rated once I get 17M to spare)
Shield Cell Unit - Class 3, A-rated (I need the Class 5 slot for cargo normally, but when hunting Elite Anacondas I do switch out to Class 5, A-rated shield cell unit)
Frame Shift Interdictor - Class 2, B-rated
Cargo holds
Utility slots - 2 point defence, 1 chaff launcher, Kill warrant scanner
WEAPONS - So this was my old pre 1.1 setup -
2 Medium gimballed Beam lasers, 4 small dumbfire missile pods

So before the 1.1 patch, I could deal with any CMDR's that dared to try and pirate me. I would simply submit to interdiction, say "I give up", then creep up on them while they were cargo scanning and unload a full salvo of dumbfire missiles (8 missiles x 4 missile pods for 32 missiles) into them which would take down their shields and hull before they could realize that the hunter had become the prey.

The 1.1 patch has made my current setup pretty much ineffective. Pre 1.1, you could fire all 8 missiles (x 4 pods) in just over 2 seconds. Now, you can only fire 1 missile (x 4 pods) about every one second. The burst damage which would end the fight in seconds is now gone, especially since that not only was the fire rate of dumbfire missiles crippled in 1.1, the damage against shields with missiles has been scaled back.

So my question... what is the best loadout in an Asp for dealing with CMDR's? I couldn't care less about what is best for pirates, as basically any setup can demolish them. I want to get input on which setup will take out a skilled and well equipped CMDR who is going to use chaff and shield cell units like a pro. Yes, I do realize that my gimballed beams are not great against CMDR's because of chaff. The reason I kept gimballed is because I liked them for dealing with NPC pirates and I pretty much relied on the missiles to take care of the CMDR's. Looking mostly for weapon setups here, but of course I am interested in any suggestions for the other equipment as well.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers.
Click to expand...

Looks pretty good, only a few changes I can suggest.

Railguns for your mediums. Big burst damage and heavy system damage is the name of the game. Break their shields and they will break and run. For this reason I usually run Pulse vs MC - see bellow. That being said Beam are still a great option if you don't like Railguns.

Pulse or MC for your Smalls. I prefer gimballed in either case. If someone pops chaef or is at long range I just drop the target and manually aim. The added time spent on target is huge when comparing gimballed vs manual and the damage difference negligible. The reason I like MCs vs Pulse is purely based on the aiming reticle. The Pulse looks very similar to the railgun, making it hard to distinguish it when your gimballed lasers are all over the place.

I run two class 3 Shield cell units. One set to secondary power priority. I switch them when I've used too many or all of the first. I suppose if you only need 48 Cargo large shield cell units certainly wouldn't hurt.

The testing I found online showed a 5% increase in shield power for the 6 vs 5. Not really worth the 10 Million credit investment. The sense I get is shields are designed for specific ships, the Asp receiving the optimal benefit from size 5.

I run as a pirate trader pretty often so I usually have two chaef and either one cargo scanner one k-scanner or the former and one wake scanner.

I just don't see people using Missiles very often since patch, come to think of it not once. Most everyone uses Gimballed weapons so chaef goes a seriously long way.

I'm on the fence about Bulkheads. 5% weight difference for roughly 30% damage reduction. I'm usually hightailing it if I screwed up enough to lose my shields so I'm not convinced it's worth it. If it's about repair bills, you probably wouldn't be buying 15m Shields haha.

I believe the asp is one of the most underrated ships in the game. Combat wise. I can run from pretty much anyone, and have yet to lose a 1v1 to any other players. That being said I don't sit there and die for the sake of honor :)

Good luck out there Cmdr. Watch your six.
 
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