Ships Where am I going to hit my limit in an Asp?

[Dunkel Reynolds]

I'm currently running a mid-level kit Asp and rather enjoying it. I can bounce around, doing a little of this, little of that...do an RES for bounty hunting, hit a conflict zone, do a little light trading, some smuggling, etc etc etc. I realize it's not the best ship for any one of these in particular, but it's nice to be able to mix it up a bit.

So just wondering when it's going to really be limiting me to stick with it? When will it hit max potential and I'd really be better off upgrading? And to what does one upgrade to keep the same style of play?

 

[Alex Brentnall]

Well its the best explorer apart from an exceptionally expensive Anaconda.
If you fancied going to try for Elite you're talking a good 20mil sell value to run a comfy ship. (Can show you a build if you're interested.)

Other than that I'd say for combat upgrade to a Vulture/Clipper when possible. Clipper can also do trading.
Or jump straight to a Python.

No large ships are particularly good at smuggling, would recommend keeping a cheap cobra for that.

 

[DiBBz]

the ASP is still quite a decent ship to use to this date

just think cobra but better in almost every where (Except speed) however il admit that you can only reach is pure potential and notice it becoming a beast if you start decking it out with good class components.

and tho the ASP is a average ship to be used in almost all fields it really is only suited for some.

if you buy a ship of the line and dont upgrade it asap then it just becomes a waste IMHO and possible dire in most cases but by the sounds of it you took the passive progress it over time route witch is not the best IMHO.

also i dont really get the last part to well. "and I'd really be better off upgrading? And to what does one upgrade to keep the same style of play?"

 

[Dunkel Reynolds]

the ASP is still quite a decent ship to use to this date

just think cobra but better in almost every where (Except speed) however il admit that you can only reach is pure potential and notice it becoming a beast if you start decking it out with good class components.

and tho the ASP is a average ship to be used in almost all fields it really is only suited for some.

if you buy a ship of the line and dont upgrade it asap then it just becomes a waste IMHO and possible dire in most cases but by the sounds of it you took the passive progress it over time route witch is not the best IMHO.

also i dont really get the last part to well. "and I'd really be better off upgrading? And to what does one upgrade to keep the same style of play?"

Well, I certainly don't mind putting money into it if it's a worthwhile investment. I don't want to throw money away making something marginally better if the money is better spent on upgrading to another ship entirely. I'd like to hold onto it for as long as I can.

And what I meant by the last part was...at what point does the Asp lose it's value and force me to buy a larger ship? And when I hit that point, what is the logical successor to the Asp that will allow me to keep my sorta "jack of all trades" style, rather than forcing me to go "trader" or "combat" or whatever.

Thanks for the input!

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Well its the best explorer apart from an exceptionally expensive Anaconda.
If you fancied going to try for Elite you're talking a good 20mil sell value to run a comfy ship. (Can show you a build if you're interested.)

Other than that I'd say for combat upgrade to a Vulture/Clipper when possible. Clipper can also do trading.
Or jump straight to a Python.

No large ships are particularly good at smuggling, would recommend keeping a cheap cobra for that.

Yeah, I'm a little disappointed in the smuggling aspect so far, but I know I'm not alone in that. Hopefully they do something about that in the future.

I was kinda looking at the Clipper...I've seen people discuss it as another all-around type ship. Currently grinding up Imperial rank, so we'll see where that goes.

And FWIW, I don't mind dumping 20 mil into it if I'm actually getting my money's worth out of it.

 

[Alex Brentnall]

Well, I certainly don't mind putting money into it if it's a worthwhile investment. I don't want to throw money away making something marginally better if the money is better spent on upgrading to another ship entirely. I'd like to hold onto it for as long as I can.

And what I meant by the last part was...at what point does the Asp lose it's value and force me to buy a larger ship? And when I hit that point, what is the logical successor to the Asp that will allow me to keep my sorta "jack of all trades" style, rather than forcing me to go "trader" or "combat" or whatever.

Thanks for the input!

Ah right. Well really it depends on what you want to do. If you want to keep mixing between trading, combat, smuggling and exploration you really want to keep to the multirole ships which are pretty expensive after the ASP so upgrading probably will keep you more interested as you get credits:
http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Multipurpose

If you want fast money either look at the dedicated combat ships like Vulture etc which will pretty dramatically increase your income in RES zones if you upgrade it right. Or look at a Type 6 for trading or rare goods trading.
Either way the worst thing to do is buy a ship and sell it shortly afterwards since you loose about 20% of the value. If you can stay sane doing just combat or just trading they'll give you more profit than a multi-role but I personally can't do one thing for more than a week before I have to re-spec or change ship.


Personally I upgraded each ship I had all the way before upgrading simply because I wanted to experience the max potential each ship had to offer. Sure I lost a few credits but I've learnt a lot about outfitting and what weapons work best that i'd have missed otherwise. (things like class 1 cannon bullets travel faster than class 2 and so on).

 

[Feldspar]

Your obvious paths of upgrade are to the Imperial Clipper or the Python, both of which have their individual strengths and weaknesses compared with the Asp and both of which require a large outlay.

Any ship after the first few is never a straight upgrade and requires a compromise. What are you going to find limiting about the Asp? It's jump range is better than anything except a stripped Anaconda, it handles well and carries a decent load, change ships and you will have to compromise in some department

 

[waimser]

If you want to keep doing a little bit of everything, then youll most likely end up sticking with the Asp. Your next upgrades for multi purpose, I think will be the Clipper then Python. I cant speak for the Python, but Ive been in a fully upgraded Clipper and come back to the Asp.

The two things I can think of where you will reach your limit with the Asp, are bulk Trading, which you only really need if you want to start making crazy profits, and combat. Even with combat you can go a long way in the Asp. You have power to burn, so you can have shield boosters and cells coming out the rear and still run all the weapons you need. The only thing currently in the game that an Asp cant handle is a hostile SSS and trying to take on the security forces at a station.

If you decide you want to really concentrate on any one thing, then its worth upgrading soon, but if you want to keep flitting about wherever you want, then the Asp is so dang good. The Python gets nothing but praise, even after its nerf, so I think that is going to be the next thing you want, in the mean time, its worth upgrading the Asp to the max and just enjoying it.

 

[Dunkel Reynolds]

Ah right. Well really it depends on what you want to do. If you want to keep mixing between trading, combat, smuggling and exploration you really want to keep to the multirole ships which are pretty expensive after the ASP so upgrading probably will keep you more interested as you get credits:
http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Multipurpose

If you want fast money either look at the dedicated combat ships like Vulture etc which will pretty dramatically increase your income in RES zones if you upgrade it right. Or look at a Type 6 for trading or rare goods trading.
Either way the worst thing to do is buy a ship and sell it shortly afterwards since you loose about 20% of the value. If you can stay sane doing just combat or just trading they'll give you more profit than a multi-role but I personally can't do one thing for more than a week before I have to re-spec or change ship.


Personally I upgraded each ship I had all the way before upgrading simply because I wanted to experience the max potential each ship had to offer. Sure I lost a few credits but I've learnt a lot about outfitting and what weapons work best that i'd have missed otherwise. (things like class 1 cannon bullets travel faster than class 2 and so on).

Sounds like we have similar play styles. Yeah, I like the profits from trading, for instance, but I can't just sit there...flying back and forth between stations...over and over again...

And yeah, if you have that build info you mentioned earlier, I'd love to take a look at it.

 

[Surly_Badger]

I'm going slow; I don't sell a ship once I buy it. So I still have my Hauler (set up as a miner), my T-6 (fast rares runner), my Cobra (conflict zone romper), my Asp (explorer) and my Clipper (bounty hunter) .. Next up: trading. I think the Asp is a great explorer ship, and with the other ships I've got that's where it's staying.

I could get bigger ships faster if I sold my old ones. But that'd be mean.

 

[Alex Brentnall]

This is the explorer setup I have running now which gives a ship sale value of around 21.3mil Cr:

http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=60g,0Wg0Wg0Wg0Wg,2-4s6u7_6u2C8S8I,52M0Nc0KU0KU7Q42jw2UI
There's very little need for any more gear, even with a C class fuel scoop Im having no problems keeping the tank topped up. - Didn't really need the shield but may be worth it when I return. I hope this will see me to Elite in Explorer and net me a tidy bunch of credits to get a Python or Anaconda (or both).

I did also do rare trading an RES hunting to get a fully upgraded Clipper but obviously went back to ASP to do exploring.

EDIT: As an FYI the Clipper upgrades are very expensive but a fully A class ship can get into the top 5 CMDR's on combat community goals if used right. My Clipper has a resale value of 100mil at the moment so you can imagine the amount I've poured in
I'd say to enjoy it you need a minimum of around 40-45mil to cover the 21mil base cost and key upgrades.

 

[49rTbird]

Well, I certainly don't mind putting money into it if it's a worthwhile investment. I don't want to throw money away making something marginally better if the money is better spent on upgrading to another ship entirely. I'd like to hold onto it for as long as I can.

And what I meant by the last part was...at what point does the Asp lose it's value and force me to buy a larger ship? And when I hit that point, what is the logical successor to the Asp that will allow me to keep my sorta "jack of all trades" style, rather than forcing me to go "trader" or "combat" or whatever.

Thanks for the input!

- - - Updated - - -



Yeah, I'm a little disappointed in the smuggling aspect so far, but I know I'm not alone in that. Hopefully they do something about that in the future.

I was kinda looking at the Clipper...I've seen people discuss it as another all-around type ship. Currently grinding up Imperial rank, so we'll see where that goes.

And FWIW, I don't mind dumping 20 mil into it if I'm actually getting my money's worth out of it.

You don't waste money when you upgrade a ship as you get it all back when you strip the ship down before you sell it. You will get back dollar for dollar spent on equipment. You only lose on the price of the ship itself at this time.

 

[Dunkel Reynolds]

You don't waste money when you upgrade a ship as you get it all back when you strip the ship down before you sell it. You will get back dollar for dollar spent on equipment. You only lose on the price of the ship itself at this time.

Well, I just meant...if I dump 20 mil into this, will it significantly improve the performance of my ship? Vs spending the 20 mil on another ship that will improve my overall performance even better.

 

[Rubbernuke]

An A rated Asp with a B rated power plant is a joy. I really struggled to decide to sell it when I sold mine for a Python. The Asp is a fantastic swing role ship once upgraded to the max. If you have 20mil do it and see.

 

[Dunkel Reynolds]

I've got about 10 million in it right now, including the purchase price. It's done everything I've asked it too so far, although it only became more effective in combat after my recent shield and shield booster upgrades. With combat in mind… I've also been wondering about the best weapons load out. Currently running for multi cannons and two pulse lasers...is there anything else significantly better?

 

[Jole]

Used this loadout for quite a while as a combat-explorer: http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=60g,0...7OX7OX,2-7_887_6u6Q7_8I,7Uc50o05U0Ko7fE2jw2UI

Then I also thought about what should come next. Fiddled around and came up with a reasonable cheap (41 million) Clipper layout. However, that layout only had a jump range of about 20 Ly which would only decrease once I added more stuff etc, so exploring would be out of the question. Basically there's no real competitor when it comes to exploration except for the Anaconda. After some reddit advice I then decided to buy a Vulture to take her RES hunting and stored my Asp for the time being, seeing how I was not in a mood to go exploring. Can't say I regretted it. The Vulture is a totally different ship (and much better in Combat I'd say) and can be had for as few as 10 million bucks.

So I'd suggest to bite the bullet: Keep your Asp but buy another ship that suits whatever playstyle you currently prefer (Vulture for combat, some cheap freighter if you want to go trading). It's not that bad actually. Sure, those other ships can't do everything at once, like the Asp, but switching ships isn't so bad - only drawback is that you will need to find some kind of home system or base.

Here's hoping that 1.3's Diamondback will be awesome and offer a viable upgrade option in regards to the Asp (slim as that chance might be).