Newcomer / Intro Ship Presentation: The Asp Explorer

[AEBRAM]

Greetings Commanders.

I would like to present how good the Asp Explorer for its multi-role diversity. This is my first content video, so please bear with my video narration.

The Asp Explorer is a fantastic ship for new players to consider. This is the reason for creating the video clip to illustrate this point. After many side conversations with a friend who swears up and down, how great the DB Explorer is, I have convinced him the Asp Explorer can do everything the DB Explorer does, and so-so much more. Our friendly conversations usually begin hashing out recommendations for our other friends to come play Elite Dangerous, and their first ship purchase that provides the diversity for long-term benefits and meet the underlying need to have enough "legs" to move about the Bubble. Our mutual census agrees new players cannot go wrong with the Asp Explorer.

The video will also show you the difference between the 5A FSD v1 and a fully engineered 5A FSD and some setup configurations: mining, farming materials, optimal SRV setup for farming Guardian basilisks, materials or blueprints, and 64t optional setup to help unlock engineers. The Asp Explorer is a fantastic ship for any purpose, and may be the main go-to for any new commander getting their start. Sometimes, you just have to see it to understand the diversity of the ship, so here you go.

Source: https://youtu.be/JE_-xo0wwr0


Thank you in advance for your patience on my first attempt making a content video showcasing the Asp Explorer.
Edited: Sorry video thumbnail loads slowly.

 

[d8veh]

You're going to hate me for this, but I feel it needs to be said. Firstly let me say that your video was well presented and made many good points. Don't let my comments discourage you from making more.

If you want to make good progress in the game, it's very bad practice to stick with one ship. All ships have their own unique advantages and disadvantages for different tasks. The DBX is better than an Asp for unlocking Guardian stuff because it has a smaller footprint, so can land in more ideal places. Although the Asp can be used for mining in a short-term situation, the normal progression would be from T6 to Python. The Asp can't hold a light to a Python for minining. The Asp makes a very good medium range explorer and could also be useful for trading rare goods or smuggling, but neither of the latter two are lucrative enough compared with other ways of improving wealth/rank.

In summary, you can play the game how you want. I did triple elite in a Sidewinder, but if you want good progress through the game, you should always choose a ship that's optimised for the task in hand. Sadly, there are not a lot of opportunities for an Asp in that respect. My advice would be that you should never build or use a multi-purpose ship. Inevitably, you will compromise its safety or ability to fulfil some tasks when you add functions.

Finally, you don't need range for collector limpets. For efficient mining, you should position your ship as close to the fragments as possible otherwise the fragments will spread and take much longer to collect. Doubling the distance would take, in theory, 4 times longer to collect, but in practice it's a lot longer because they can spread into positions where thy can't be easily collected. When mining, your rate of gain depends massively on the efficiency of the way you do it. A-class limpets last for 12 minutes compared with 7 minutes for B-class. That's a massive difference and very important for efficiency, particularly to make sure that you return with a full cargo hold and refinery.

Credits are extremely easy to get now, so you can buy all the ships you want - no need to focus on one particular ship, especially a crappy one.

 

[Krieger]

Lots of good information in your video. But it would also be nice to see the ship and it's equipment in action. For example you could show how much difference the right size/type of limpet controller makes for mining, etc.

 

[AEBRAM]

You're going to hate me for this, but I feel it needs to be said. Firstly let me say that your video was well presented and made many good points. Don't let my comments discourage you from making more.

If you want to make good progress in the game, it's very bad practice to stick with one ship. All ships have their own unique advantages and disadvantages for different tasks. The DBX is better than an Asp for unlocking Guardian stuff because it has a smaller footprint, so can land in more ideal places. Although the Asp can be used for mining in a short-term situation, the normal progression would be from T6 to Python. The Asp can't hold a light to a Python for mining. The Asp makes a very good medium range explorer and could also be useful for trading rare goods or smuggling, but neither of the latter two are lucrative enough compared with other ways of improving wealth/rank.

In summary, you can play the game how you want. I did triple elite in a Sidewinder, but if you want good progress through the game, you should always choose a ship that's optimised for the task in hand. Sadly, there are not a lot of opportunities for an Asp in that respect. My advice would be that you should never build or use a multi-purpose ship. Inevitably, you will compromise its safety or ability to fulfil some tasks when you add functions.

Finally, you don't need range for collector limpets. For efficient mining, you should position your ship as close to the fragments as possible otherwise the fragments will spread and take much longer to collect. Doubling the distance would take, in theory, 4 times longer to collect, but in practice it's a lot longer because they can spread into positions where thy can't be easily collected. When mining, your rate of gain depends massively on the efficiency of the way you do it. A-class limpets last for 12 minutes compared with 7 minutes for B-class. That's a massive difference and very important for efficiency, particularly to make sure that you return with a full cargo hold and refinery.

Credits are extremely easy to get now, so you can buy all the ships you want - no need to focus on one particular ship, especially a crappy one.

I agree with you about choosing a ship that's optimized for the task at hand, however, from a starting point perspective the Asp Explorer is a fantastic ship. Starting any game involves some "preperation" progress, such as, unlocking engineers that allows players to build more optimized ships. There is a significant night and day comparison between an engineered combat ship v. non-engineered combat ship and engineering blueprints delves into how-to optimize your ship: such as, weight management, jump range, ship speeds, optimizing optional internal and utility modules, and the full spectrum to test drive other ship builds. When I began my Elite Dangerous experience, the most important progress of the game was unlocking the engineers while earning credits from missions or exploration, and those activities were made easier with a ship that has "space legs" (68.x - 73.x LY jump range) to get around with enough customization to meet specific needs.

Farming Guardian blueprints and materials was much easier and didn't encounter any inconvenience on the landing pad size, and often beat my buddy's pimped out DBX to the mark when I had to trigger the pylons for them. I could cite other advantages over the DBX but their both good ships: My preference will stand by not wanting to transfer another ship to a location just to haul 50t cargo back to another location for an engineering requirement (avoids the whole ship juggling inconvenience); Once their unlocked than you still have those federation or imperial navy missions for rank that require fetching a commodity to complete.

The diversity of the Asp Explorer provides that customization well. That is the reason for me recommending the ship to new players or Commanders who are looking for an excellent well-rounded ship to bop around the bubble on. Besides my interest to promote the ship, it's a good stepping stone for players to pilot a reliable ship while they find their groove in Elite Dangerous; often leading their personal preference and interests into building optimized ship for this that roles or purpose.

Thank you for the feedback and also the lesson about limpets. I thought range mattered but you're right. You will inevitably be pretty darn close to the asteroids where range is mute. There are unidentified signals in some systems, and when explored have wreckage with floating engineering materials, and sometimes encoded data, where to-a-degree range is useful. Unidentified signals is a different topic discussion, as the fly by and grab on your way to surveying planets.

 

[AEBRAM]

Lots of good information in your video. But it would also be nice to see the ship and it's equipment in action. For example you could show how much difference the right size/type of limpet controller makes for mining, etc.

Thank you for your suggestion. I will do that next time. Maybe revise my video clip and edit "in action" gameplay.

 

[d8veh]

Thank you for your suggestion. I will do that next time. Maybe revise my video clip and edit "in action" gameplay.

Your video is fine as it is for what it is. People like to see videos of how to do things, so make another one for a specific task. Explain the ship, load-out, reasons for choices and alternatives, then show it in action doing the task, when you can show how the choices you made contribute to the success of the task and perhaps what would have gone wrong if you had made other choices.

 

[Frankymole]

Finally, you don't need range for collector limpets. For efficient mining, you should position your ship as close to the fragments as possible otherwise the fragments will spread and take much longer to collect. Doubling the distance would take, in theory, 4 times longer to collect, but in practice it's a lot longer because they can spread into positions where thy can't be easily collected.

They don't spread that much, otherwise the mining lances from powerplay having 2000m range instead of 500m would be pointless. Fragments stop moving after a while. Not realistic, but a useful game mechanic. I saved a ton of time not having to travel close to every asteroid, especially when prospecting three at a time.

 

[d8veh]

They don't spread that much, otherwise the mining lances from powerplay having 2000m range instead of 500m would be pointless. Fragments stop moving after a while. Not realistic, but a useful game mechanic. I saved a ton of time not having to travel close to every asteroid, especially when prospecting three at a time.

Correct. Mining lances are completely pointless except for some niche methods, like team mining. How much have you actually mined? I've done over 300,000 units, mainly experimenting with different methods and load-outs to optimise earnings rate. What sort of mining rate do you achieve with your lances? I can normally fill my 512T Cutter with platinum in an hour using 4 conventional mining lasers, weapons focused PD and 12 collector limpets. That works out at around 120 mil per hour overall.

 

[Frankymole]

Correct. Mining lances are completely pointless. I'm guessing that you don't have a lot of experience mining. How much have you actually mined? I've done over 300,000 units.

Hahaha. I've been mining since it first existed and am very experienced with the revisions since. I've got mining cutters, pythons and even a Corvette on 4 accounts. Increasing speed in collecting is never wasted. Travelling further between trios of rocks your mining is.

 

[d8veh]

Hahaha. I've been mining since it first existed and am very experienced with the revisions since. I've got mining cutters, pythons and even a Corvette on 4 accounts. Increasing speed in collecting is never wasted. Travelling further between trios of rocks your mining is.

I edited my post before you replied. can you answer the questions? I also have 4 accounts. here's my main one on Inara. can you show yours? See mining top ten.

INARA

The community site for Elite: Dangerous, Starfield, Kingdom Come: Deliverance with the game databases, information, gaming news and other handy content...

inara.cz

 

[AEBRAM]

I took this picture while moving across the bubble to help a friend out; but the image demonstrates the 'exploration' setup with the "legs" with the v1 FSD to quickly move about the bubble. There are other ships choices that have the same potential, such as the mentioned DBX, but sharing again for the new players.

 

[Frankymole]

View attachment 288547
I took this picture while moving across the bubble to help a friend out; but the image demonstrates the 'exploration' setup with the "legs" with the v1 FSD to quickly move about the bubble. There are other ships choices that have the same potential, such as the mentioned DBX, but sharing again for the new players.

A good friend of mine who escorted me back to Elvira on the final leg from Star One later went exploring with me down the Outer Arm to the very furthest, darkest system there. He had a DBX, I had an AspX. Him being on US time and me on UK, we went in legs with some crossover for claiming systems' planets in a Wing. We had to do lots of jumponium stuff at the far end. There was nothing the AspX couldn't do that the DB couldn't, and vice versa. One was lighter with fewer slots, so less luxury items, but anyway. They've both amazing for explorers.

 

[aRJay]

I have said it before but I still think it is something to keep in mind.

When choosing a ship that you are going to be flying for long periods, such as exploration, pick one where you like the cockpit view, sound and the ships handling. Enjoying what you are doing is more important than having the ultimate performance.

 

[AEBRAM]

I have said it before but I still think it is something to keep in mind.

When choosing a ship that you are going to be flying for long periods, such as exploration, pick one where you like the cockpit view, sound and the ships handling. Enjoying what you are doing is more important than having the ultimate performance.

I completely agree with you. Not to sound weird but I like the cockpit of the Asp, it has good visibility up/down/left/right, and I spend so-so much time using the ship because it satisfies all my immediate needs. Plus, you can jump to the external camera to explore the scenic views, so the cockpit view could be negotiable when you just enjoy flying one particular ship model. For new players here: It costs 10% of the ship cost to buy then sale the ship but I do encourage checking them out when you can afford the credit loss: but its worth the expense to find your cockpit preference.

 

[AEBRAM]

I edited my post before you replied. can you answer the questions? I also have 4 accounts. here's my main one on Inara. can you show yours? See mining top ten.

INARA

The community site for Elite: Dangerous, Starfield, Kingdom Come: Deliverance with the game databases, information, gaming news and other handy content...

inara.cz

I could tell you right now. I am not the "best" miner but I'm on the learning curve to get better to consider spending a more dedicated miner; this is one the reasons why I wanted to add that optional mining setup because it's a reasonable credit expense for anyone to decide whether that type of activity interests them.

Any player could be fed 100s of millions credits to jump start their ship shopping experience. Part of my presentation was sharing my practical experience that would kick start any new player in a fair-good direction. My standing advice for any player is chase unlocking engineers because the errand/material grind time will will reward the person throughout the rest of their game experience, and this is where having a ship with enough customization pays for itself 10x over.

 

[Thwarptide]

You're going to hate me for this, but I feel it needs to be said.

Which reminds me, my ex wife said the same exact thing.
It was the first and last time she said it [just before I got rid of her]
Good riddance as far as I’m concerned.
Grass sure is greener between the shed and the back fence now.
Sure miss her cook’n though.

 

[Frankymole]

Which reminds me, my ex wife said the same exact thing.
It was the first and last time she said it [just before I got rid of her]
Good riddance as far as I’m concerned.
Grass sure is greener between the shed and the back fence now.
Sure miss her cook’n though.

My wife ran off with our next door neighbour.

I miss him.


(Badumtish.)

 

[Para Handy]

.....
When choosing a ship that you are going to be flying for long periods, such as exploration, pick one where you like the cockpit view, sound and the ships handling. ...

I completely agree with you. Not to sound weird but I like the cockpit of the Asp, it has good visibility up/down/left/right, ....

I totally agree with this and for sure my AspX is my favoured explorer but the cockpit is the reason* I have resisted any temptation to buy an ultra-wide monitor. I wouldn't be able to wind the FOV in so as to remove those LASEK-bright lights on the canopy struts out of frame:






* P.S. I am really not joking about that.

 

[aRJay]

I completely agree with you. Not to sound weird but I like the cockpit of the Asp, it has good visibility up/down/left/right, and I spend so-so much time using the ship because it satisfies all my immediate needs. Plus, you can jump to the external camera to explore the scenic views, so the cockpit view could be negotiable when you just enjoy flying one particular ship model. For new players here: It costs 10% of the ship cost to buy then sale the ship but I do encourage checking them out when you can afford the credit loss: but its worth the expense to find your cockpit preference.

The Asp has one of the better cockpits for the view the T9 looks almost the same but without the annoying lights, the engine sound of the Asp though I find annoying after a while.
After I moved on from a Cobra III the Asp Explorer was my only ship for all activities until I had enough funds for a Python and/or FdL, but that was back in the days the get rich quick schemers we’re claiming to be able to get you into an Anaconda in six weeks I didn’t do that so I was there for a while.

 

[Thwarptide]

My wife ran off with our next door neighbour.

I miss him.


(Badumtish.)

That poor guy.