Bitten by an ASP.

Cdr Voorheez

Cdr Voorheez
I have been quietly (ok not so quietly) advocating the virtues of the Diamondback Explorer (DBE) for quite some time now (great jump range, cheap as chips) but the time came yesterday after I returned from the cats paw Nebula and sold my data to UC: I had alot of credits. The Asp looked really inviting. I impulse spent.

So I am now on the bridge of a brand new explorer fit Asp and I can honestly say it is every bit as good as everyone says they are. Yes the LY range is only marginally better than my faithful DBE (34.5LY) but its an Asp, and they are pretty damn cool ships. Amazed when I went onto coriolis and looked at what an Asp is capable of, there is so much room to do stuff in one of these things: Trade, Hunt, Explore and Mine, all done brilliantly.

So I was wrong, Asps are damn good, I hope to stay in one for many months to come.

Barnards Loop next, then I am going to (definitely) take that long overdue trip to SagA*
 
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Ziljan

Ziljan
If Asps could boost to 400+ in normal space, and came in a sleeker form factor, they would be the perfect ship. I kind of hope they give the new Cobra a decent jump range and similarly good top speed, and that would fit the bill quite nicely.
 

Kancro Vantas

Kancro Vantas
Cdr Voorheez said:
So I was wrong, Asps are damn good, I hope to stay in one for many months to come.
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This shows how wiser you have become since yesterday. Welcome to the club of the Gods! :cool::cool::cool:

My Asp is kitted for multipurpose. It has everything I like, and is fitted for everything I do, from mining laser, to cargo scanner, from cargo racks to shield boost...and of course, my scanners, cause I go out there to explore in it!:D

Be careful now, though. Although superior in every sense, we, the Almighty Knights of the Asp, have enemies that see us with jealousy and envy from their cheaper, not as mighty ships: The Cobra League. :p:p:p

Here, we have an example of someone who clearly hasn't seen the light yet:

Ziljan said:
If Asps could boost to 400+ in normal space, and came in a sleeker form factor, they would be the perfect ship. I kind of hope they give the new Cobra a decent jump range and similarly good top speed, and that would fit the bill quite nicely.
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ppftt... Heresy!!!....the Asp is perfect!! Perfect!!...but oh well...dear Voorheez, like you, this peasant Ziljan will be posting one day a thread about how flawed he was when he made this statement!:p

Now, go and have fun killing some Cobras, Pythons, Eagles and Sideys!;)
 

Mephane

Mephane
Ziljan said:
If Asps could boost to 400+ in normal space, and came in a sleeker form factor, they would be the perfect ship. I kind of hope they give the new Cobra a decent jump range and similarly good top speed, and that would fit the bill quite nicely.
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I seriously hope in exchange for more power and hardpoints, the Cobra MK IV will be noticably slower than the MK III, let's say Asp speed. It should be a sidegride to the normal Cobra, not an upgrade because

a) No ship should become obsolete through a direct, unmitigated upgrade (yes FD missed that mark in several places, but this situation is redeemable, but not if they add fuel to the fire)
b) Especially not a ship like the Cobra MK III which so far had its own, viable niche due to its particular properties. If you just take these properties and add an extra gun, more power etc. to it, you make the other ship obsolete.
c) The Cobra MK IV is exclusive to certain timing conditions of ED/EDH purchase. In other words, a player who discovers the game next year, buys it then, will miss out. No one should be left with a sub-par ship because of the way or time they bought the game.

Actually, I find the concept of an exclusive ship absolutely disgusting. This is worse than standard MMO territory with their exclusive mount here, exclusive pet there, because those are always cosmetic alternatives only; the Cobra MK IV is a game mechanical alternative, not just a cosmetic choice. It must therefor not be a direct upgrade at all.
 

iain666

iain666
Kancro Vantas said:
Be careful now, though. Although superior in every sense, we, the Almighty Knights of the Asp, have enemies that see us with jealousy and envy from their cheaper, not as mighty ships: The Cobra League. :p:p:p
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We are not your enemies, we just feel slightly sorry for you, labouring under your delusions that the Cobra is not the best ship.

We want to help you, is all :p
 

newman1702

newman1702
Welcome to the club! After finishing an exploration expedition I decided to try mine at combat, and it does really well for RES bounty hunting. Lots of firepower, great hardpoint placement. Feels a bit like flying a B-25, especially with that cockpit and engine sound :) Eventually I'll set her back up for exploring, but yea, she's pretty good at everything. Well, haven't really tried mining with mine but given the internals, cargo space, jump range, hardpoints and all that I imagine it's pretty good at that too.
 

Ziljan

Ziljan
Kancro Vantas said:
ppftt... Heresy!!!....the Asp is perfect!! Perfect!!...this peasant Ziljan will be posting one day a thread about how flawed he was when he made this statement!:p
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Perfect ships don't blow up when you make a funny face at their power plant. Nor do they risk getting their thrusters blown out every time they flee peacefully from PvP combat. Nor can they get easily trounced by ships that cost 1/100th the price.

Mephane said:
I seriously hope in exchange for more power and hardpoints, the Cobra MK IV will be noticably slower than the MK III, let's say Asp speed. It should be a sidegride to the normal Cobra, not an upgrade because

Actually, I find the concept of an exclusive ship absolutely disgusting. This is worse than standard MMO territory with their exclusive mount here, exclusive pet there, because those are always cosmetic alternatives only; the Cobra MK IV is a game mechanical alternative, not just a cosmetic choice. It must therefor not be a direct upgrade at all.
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David Braben already said that the MkIV would not upset the ecosystem of ships, and he also said that there will be "some" instances where the new Cobra isn't superior to the old one. So no worries there. He also said it would not be pay-2-win by emphasizing that it won't be "free" in game. And we will always be able to retroactively buy a prior season to gain that access. A steep price for a single ship, so you better bet that they are going to try to make it worth while for anyone who bought the game late. To me that says that the ship will be somewhat expensive in terms of CR. The cost may be the primary balancing factor, as it is with most ships. For instance compare the Asp to the DBE. There are "some" instances where the DBE is better (namely heat) and it is technically a cheaper ship for the base model. This is the FD balance model, such as it is.
 

Alex Traut

A
I'll be honest: it would take a miracle to pry me out of my Asp, even for something like a Conda. Sure the Conda can jump further and has a lot more room for stuff. But for me, the decision of whether to change ships ultimately comes down to one thing:

The cockpit view.

I'm not even kidding. The visibility left, right, up, and especially down... that, for me, outweighs everything else. I can pretty much guarantee you the MkIV won't be competitive in that regard, which makes it just a novelty for me.
 
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Cdr Voorheez

Cdr Voorheez
I was a mega fan of the DBE namely because:

It was very cheap, you got a lot for your 12 mil
It had the heat signature of an ice planet
You could get 33.6LY out of it

I am more impressed with the Asp because:


Its a true upgrade, so yes it will naturally cost more
Its got a big chunky feel to it
It has a double bridge, which is just cool
YOU CAN PAINT IT OTHER THAN FLIPPING YELLOW
The cockpit/bridge view is the BEST in the game
It has a better jump range then the DBE and the Cobra
It has better armour than the DBE and the Cobra
It has massive potential with its many many more module slots than both DBE and Cobra
When fitted with weapons it has 6 (SIX) hard points
It is the multirole Massively Big brother of the Cobra
I don't want to upgrade to anything now for a long time, I can concentrate on exploring, trading, hunting and mining in one awesome ship.

As a matter of comparison (Coriolis)

http://coriolis.io/comparison/N4Igd...+EgUXIkAA2JDcJBmJBCJDseEgIjQMCUejEbKQVh+IA===

As you can see, with my current admittedly limited Asp load out the Asp stil way outperforms the DBE and the Cobra (MK III). But we all Know this.

I am still a fan of the Cobra and I will be buying/receiving the MK IV (however FD and DB 'gift' this to us I am not sure) when Horizons comes out for sure. But I will definitely be keeping my Asp, I am smitten already.
 
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Argos

A
I love you guys for pimping your Asps out. (Un)fortunately, I did not. I bought a decent fuel scoop and meh FSD and took off. Didn't feel like doing all that grinding just to go out and explore. So, I kept the original weapons and took off. My jump range: a whopping 18.1 LY

The Bad: short jump range. Taking forever to get to the Sag A*.
The Good: makes me have to look around a bit more and gives me a chance to actually explore the neighborhoods. Kind of like taking the old country road across country versus the highway. Actually quite satisfying. No rush for me and definitely no Buckeyball this trip.

Still though, loving this ship.
 

Cdr Voorheez

Cdr Voorheez
It's no bad thing Cdr. My trip to Sag A* is going to be deliberately long and slow so I can take full advantage of all finds.
I'm similarly unpimped. My build is very mediocre. The most expensive item is my 5A FSD. (Click on my ship on the Asp/DBE/Cobra comparison) I'm even running with a 5C fuel scoop.
 
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Ziljan

Ziljan
I figured out why I find it hard to like the Asp:

The cockpit shadows are not crisp and well defined like every other ship as you turn and twirl in the light of a star. Instead, my Asp console has three lighting modes: Midnight, Daytime, and Splotchy. Midnight and Daytime are OK. But the Splotchy mode is where everything goes to seed and kills the immersion. Instead of crisp strut shadows, we get get faint blobules that warble and hop around the console and make your think is that supposed to be? Is it raining in the cabin? In space?
 

Lupin

Lupin
I have been exploring in an Asp for many months, but next trip out will try Diamondback as I like the design.

Both these ship have pro's and con's, but after recent exploring, mining and prospecting trip I find Asp can not carry all needed modules.
So room for improvement an release in large explorer ship in the future.
 

newman1702

newman1702
Cdr Voorheez said:
I'm even running with a 5C fuel scoop.
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Heh, prepare to be blown away when you put a class 6 scoop. A 6A is too expensive for what it does imo, but a 6B is still crazy fast costing around 7 million. When I first scooped with the 6B in my Asp is when I really started loving the ship, it tops up really, really fast.
 
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