Just bought my first Asp and may have bitten off slightly more than I can chew. LOL

[rennarda]

The Asp is a great ship, but you have to grow into it. It takes a lot of upgrades to really shine. Mine is currently worth 9M on trade in and I'm working up to the 5B thrusters at 1.7M

The main benefit of the Asp for me is that it's actually a serious combat ship. It makes a great trader for high value cargos (rare or metals) because you can actually defend yourself if interdicted. I've spent a bit of time bounty hunting with it - 4 x multicannons and 2 x beams are a powerful combo !

 

[Jerakeen]

when near Orrere, head to Leesti(george lucas station), and if you cant find what you want there try Zaonce(ridley scott station), between the two of them they have tons of modules.

Or if you're at the other end of that rare run KP Tauri (one jump from 39 Tauri) has even more than Leesti

The Asp is a lovely ship. Wait until you get it fully upgraded (about 30+ million) It's awesome.

 

[Scoob]

Running a B5 in my Asp. This makes doing the rares circuit fairly speedy taking up to 21ly chunks out of the two long stretches. Additionally, while I do have a fuel scoop, the Asp can cover 150+ly happily on one full tank, which is pretty impressive. I do still wonder though why the larger ships pay a LOT more per tonne of fuel than the smaller ones. I mean, 1 tonne of fuel is exactly that, irrespective of ship. Maybe it's a "green" fuel tax - FD are UK based after all and the UK love taxing stuff like that!

Scoob.

 

[Sniger]

Or if you're at the other end of that rare run KP Tauri (one jump from 39 Tauri) has even more than Leesti

The Asp is a lovely ship. Wait until you get it fully upgraded (about 30+ million) It's awesome.

Pretty good call on the 30 MCr, this is the loadout I run for general trading and navpoint hunting: http://www.edshipyard.com :80T cargo, 24+ LY range, and enough defence and firepower to make just about any pirate turn tail.
(A full war loadout will set you back another 20-30 MCr or so, depending on the role (BH/Pirate/Mission) and weapon selection. )

Given the current selection of available ships, I don't see anything that would make me park my ASP; it can haul like a mule, fight like a tiger, and jump like a kangaroo..
It's a Cobra(multirole/handling), a T6(cargo), and a Viper(weapons), all mixed into one .. I definately agree on the bolded part of the quote!

Module availability on the route you mention: try taking a peek at Solo Orbiter in Altair, they have a nice selection too

 

[Hell Razor5543]

I would say that you need at least 20Mcr to buy and outfit an Asp to a decent degree. Mine has A class kit wherever possible, and is worth about 34Mcr.

 

[Darth Krayt]

I think the Asp is workable from stock, just buy incremental upgrades as you can afford and it gets better, always keeping an eye on the insurance rebuy cost of course. Mine is now worth about 17mil (must resist temptation to look at the Type 7). In the last Beta test I had the opportunity to use the T9 buy and sell equipment trick/exploit and got to try out a fully A grade Asp - I liked it and think I could stay with the Asp without being bothered to upgrade to any other ship. I'd buy a Cobra and Viper just to mess around in though.