Next ship 'up' from the Cobra

[rennarda]

So I love the Cobra - it's the ship I keep coming back to. I haven't made mega-bucks, but I probably have just enough to buy an Asp if I go all-in. But isn't an Asp similar to a Type-6 in terms of it's cockpit and flying style ? The T6 is like flying a big old space-barge. I prefer the sleeker feel of the Cobra and Sidewinder.

So the question is, what's the natural next ship up from a Cobra if you don't include the Asp ? It feels like there a gap in the line-up to me. I'd love a Python, but that's a long way off financially - there should be a Faulcon DeLacey ship at around the 2-3 Million mark.

Or have I missed something ?

 

[Shintai]

The Asp isnt like a T6 at all. And remember to have insurance.

 

[starjump]

There is a gap and its being filled when we get the rest of the ships - i think. For me with an almost fully tricked out Cobra it is the ASP im going for now. Almost there cash wise. I use the T6 (trader! nothing like ASP) to bring in the most money and i use the Cobra for bounty hunting/smuggling and rep building (by turning in lots of bountys and doing missions fast).

 

[RustiSwordz]

Its the 6mils Asp. This is why we really need more Cobra level ships with the new ones coming out. Price range from 250k to say 1.5 million. 6 mils for an Asp is way too much.

 

[Hell Razor5543]

I am in an Asp, having upgraded from a Cobra. It is currently worth 28Mcr, has 88T cargo space, and can handle itself in a scrap (well, it could if there wasn't a numpty at the controls!). When finances permit I will have a fleet, but there would be (at least) 2 Asps, one as a trading vessel with decent combat capabilities, with another being kitted out for exploring (again, with decent combat kit).

 

[StayFrosty]

Or have I missed something ?

You might have missed the part where bigger isn't necessarily better.

I'm sticking to Vipers, Sidewinders and Haulers myself.

 

[starjump]

I am in an Asp, having upgraded from a Cobra. It is currently worth 28Mcr, has 88T cargo space, and can handle itself in a scrap (well, it could if there wasn't a numpty at the controls!). When finances permit I will have a fleet, but there would be (at least) 2 Asps, one as a trading vessel with decent combat capabilities, with another being kitted out for exploring (again, with decent combat kit).

If we only got rented storage at stations to drop off our weapons and other modules, and then just load up whatever other kit we store in them. So change from fighter to miner in a heartbeat. Even maybe offload modules into slots. So you can have all fighter modules/weapons in 1 slot, and when you want to load that onto your ship you just click "LOAD SLOT" (better named, just for explantion) and you get all modules saved in that slot loaded into your ship. That way you can have a miner slot, fighter slot, trader slot and quickly change between them. On top of that add cool offload/load sounds as you change the gear and voila - aweomness.

 

[rennarda]

As I said, I love the Cobra. But some times bigger IS better. I've found a good little trade run that returns 1500Cr per ton on one leg, 300 on the return - that's nearly 200k for a 10 minute run in a T6, if I strip out all the non-essentials and pray I don't bump into a pirate. I can handle just about anything in the Cobra - but it just doesn't have the haulage space for those really big profits.

FIWIW my cobra is pretty much all A rated and worth about 3MCr on trade-in. I just want for another couple of Class 2 hard points, or maybe Class 3, and a couple of Class 4 interior compartments.

I'm a bit of a nomad, so having a fleet of ships wouldn't work for me as there's no way to bring them all with you.

 

[NEBBI]

I guess whether you move up depends on what you want from the game. Im happy in a cobra until I find out how much a fer de lance costs

 

[starjump]

As I said, I love the Cobra. But some times bigger IS better. I've found a good little trade run that returns 1500Cr per ton on one leg, 300 on the return - that's nearly 200k for a 10 minute run in a T6, if I strip out all the non-essentials and pray I don't bump into a pirate. I can handle just about anything in the Cobra - but it just doesn't have the haulage space for those really big profits.

FIWIW my cobra is pretty much all A rated and worth about 3MCr on trade-in. I just want for another couple of Class 2 hard points, or maybe Class 3, and a couple of Class 4 interior compartments.

I'm a bit of a nomad, so having a fleet of ships wouldn't work for me as there's no way to bring them all with you.

So the ASP will be epic then and perfec' for your needs. I gotta go back to my grind. I need that ASP.

 

[Skyfire]

As I said, I love the Cobra. But some times bigger IS better. I've found a good little trade run that returns 1500Cr per ton on one leg, 300 on the return - that's nearly 200k for a 10 minute run in a T6, if I strip out all the non-essentials and pray I don't bump into a pirate. I can handle just about anything in the Cobra - but it just doesn't have the haulage space for those really big profits.

Well, for trading once you have enough credits you can't go far wrong with a T6, in which you can get 104 tons and still have shields! It's cheap for the amount it carries, and doesn't need too much in outfitting. It seems to me you need to look at your trade run. A small group of us have found one where we get about 1650cr/ton one way and about 1300cr per ton the other way, and is only 2 jumps and takes about 13 minutes for the round trip. That's around 300k in the T6, and about 1.2mil per hour. Grind that route for a few hours and you soon get the cash coming in!

FIWIW my cobra is pretty much all A rated and worth about 3MCr on trade-in. I just want for another couple of Class 2 hard points, or maybe Class 3, and a couple of Class 4 interior compartments.

Answer - the Asp. It has 6 weapons, and ALL are grouped right around the cockpit so there is no problem of some not always able to get on target. Personally I use 4 x beam lasers and 2 x m-cannon. You also have 4 utility mounts available for point defence, chaff, k-warrant, or whatever else you want! HOWEVER, ALWAYS make sure you have plenty for the 'death duty' insurance! Also note that if you DO get it damaged, repairs will be costly! A shield Cell Bank or two probably will help there (there's talk they will nerf these soon!). So much more cash in the bank over and above insurance is a must!

I'm a bit of a nomad, so having a fleet of ships wouldn't work for me as there's no way to bring them all with you.

No problem, find a 'home base' with one ship, buy a good old Sidewinder (or maybe an Eagle), scoot across to where your other ship is stored, sell the sidey, and bring it across. Repeat if you have more ships! It saves you having to re-buy a ship you like, then having to hunt around for that specific Class 5 A rated whatever it was that's not stocked in many shipyards! You never know, you may find the good old Sidewinder just a bit of fun and enjoy the experience of having only a laser pointer and a paper bag for a shield!

 

[BBcokeley]

You might have missed the part where bigger isn't necessarily better.

I'm sticking to Vipers, Sidewinders and Haulers myself.

Same, I had an asp, the 1mil insurance is a killer when all you wanna do is have fun in anarchy.
.
Wet up against 2 asps and a cobra in my tricked out asp, and got badly hurt after killing the 'easiest' (asps were dangerous and compitent) not realising the cobra was kitted out so much better with his elite rating and destroyed me.
.
Came up to a similar fight in a fully A rated viper, annihilated all three ships ony taking 10% hull amage total (I don't use shield cell Manks), so ive docked the asp and will prob sell it if an inbetweener ship gets launched soon. but the insurance 1000000 compared to 100000 is a no brainer

 

[Bortas]

So the question is, what's the natural next ship up from a Cobra if you don't include the Asp ? It feels like there a gap in the line-up to me. I'd love a Python, but that's a long way off financially

The ASP is the one and only logical next step up from the Cobra. And the Type 6 is the tool to bring in the cash needed to buy one.

Of course you can always skip the ASP and grind all the way up to an Imperial Clipper in your T6, if you like.

 

[bAdbUd]

As I said, I love the Cobra. But some times bigger IS better. I've found a good little trade run that returns 1500Cr per ton on one leg, 300 on the return - that's nearly 200k for a 10 minute run in a T6, if I strip out all the non-essentials and pray I don't bump into a pirate. I can handle just about anything in the Cobra - but it just doesn't have the haulage space for those really big profits.

FIWIW my cobra is pretty much all A rated and worth about 3MCr on trade-in. I just want for another couple of Class 2 hard points, or maybe Class 3, and a couple of Class 4 interior compartments.

I'm a bit of a nomad, so having a fleet of ships wouldn't work for me as there's no way to bring them all with you.

Not true an A Rated Cobra comes in at 7 million. The 4 main A graded modules cost 1.5 million each themselves.

You can always just buy a Sidewinder and then move all your ships to the same port.

 

[Lupin]

Currently have Cobra for missions and Type 6 for trading, using them to work up to Asp which will need 14m to cover was I consider better then I have and work on upgrading rest as needed.
This is taking into account combat, working capital (Used for trading) and the all IMPORTANT insurance.

As someone on this forum has already said, only buy what you can afford to LOSE.

 

[rennarda]

So it sounds like I'm doing it 'right' then - but I still feel there's too big a gap between the Cobra and the Asp.

 

[Starlanced]

I have an Asp and thinking about going back to a Cobra. First off an Asp is very expensive to fit, and it has a fat 'Asp' pun intended, it 's very floaty and slow to respond, as a bounty hunter/smuggler it just doesn't suit me well, and one fitted the way I want I only get 2-3 ltYrs more jump the my all A cobra.

It would be great for exploration though as all D class equip and a class A frameshift drive gets you about 35 LtYrs jump range. Just remember it doesn't handle like a combat ship, we need a ASP equivalent for the viper.

 

[Astronaut Teemo]

If you like the cobra, you will love the asp. It's got 2 more utility slots, 2 more weapons ( and the weapon convergence is pretty good), amazing jump range, way more cargo potential, etc. you can outfit it for pure combat, piracy, or a generalist layout like I do.

I use the size 6 internal as a 64 cargo slot (my only cargo spot), got a couple shield cells, hatch breaker, interdictor, cargo, kw and frame shift scanners, with a chaff. It's perfect for everything I want it for ( bounty hunting, smuggling, assassination, piracy, any bb mission, occasional rare trading, etc).

Basically it's a steal for 6 mil. You won't regret buying it, just make sure you have enough to at least upgrade it a little at the start, plus insurance. Then it will start to make you some good money for whatever you choose to do. It can take quite a lot to FULLY upgrade it, I think mines worth about 32 mil basically maxed out, the main thing that isn't is the interdicter, I'm using 3c and the 3a is like... 7 mil I believe, but then those things get crazy expensive anyways lol.


Tldr: get an asp, it's amazing.

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Of course you can always skip the ASP and grind all the way up to an Imperial Clipper in your T6, if you like.

The main thing keeping me from getting a clipper is the bug that causes it to not count as having mass to mass lock people, that's a huge downside to it for any kind of combat. When that gets fixed I'll be all over it.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

I don't know about you all, but I would love two or three ships at each "spot" in the hierarchy. Similar cost, similar capabilities, but different looks and subtle differences in performance - essentially different manufacturers filling the same utility niche. A Ford, BMW, Honda situation. It would add a lot of depth to the world, IMO.

 

[CMDR Reza Malin]

The Asp is great, and should be a go too ship for a lot of people. You can strip it and trade more than a T6, or you can rig it for combat in which it is very effective. It can do pretty much anything, like the cobra, but it is more effective than the cobra at everything as far as i can see.

Yes its a big step up in terms of cash, but its worth it. I prefer combat ships but i bought a T6 once i found a solid trade route, traded my way to an asp and then now i can use the asp for everything. If i need money i trade, if i don't need money i can go looking for trouble.

Another great thing about the Asp is that it has an awesome jump range when you start upgrading it. I am not sure what all the other ships are like for jump range when you upgrade their FSD, so i can't fully say if its the best, but i know my asp with a B5 FSD can hit about 22ly jump range fully laden. Makes trading so much more time efficient and hassle free.

Im saving for a T7 now, and will trade my asp in so i can double my trade profit per run. Its currently around 380k every 10-12 minutes, so in a T7 it will be about 760k every 10-12 mins instead! Then i will make credits twice as fast and just rebuy the asp in no time and have both, then my asp can truly be about making trouble!