Thoughts on the ASP

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Do u use 2 class 1 beams? Then the class 2&1 multis?

[Xebeth]

Do u use 2 class 1 beams? Then the class 2&1 multis?

Yes, spot on

[Roger Wilco Jr]

I bought my second Asp yesterday, and it is great to be back in an Asp. With upgrades it cost north of 25 million credits, and it does cost a load to repair, but I do love the view through all that glass, and I think it makes the best fighter, and is good for exploration and trading. I prefer 4 beams and 2 mulits so I almost never need to reload ammo, but have the multis as backup of the beams overheat (and I do enjoy the multis - on occasion). I haven't really tried any combat since I upgraded to mostly A rated components, so I'll have to rectify that!

[Telengo]

Just a quick question for the Asp pilots out there. Just having a play around with the shipyard site, does a fully equipped Asp sit higher Mass wise than the optimal mass for the 5A shield? If so, do we know how much shield strength it loses? Or it is not something to worry about?

Cheers

[Roger Wilco Jr]

Short answer - Yes.

I don't think it's something to worry about, but I still don't get what some of the numbers really mean. For example, the C5 and A5 shields have all the same ratings except power draw, with the A5 requiring more power. Does that mean that the A5 shields are stronger? I assume so, but it would be nice if the numbers could make it more clear.

Here are a couple screen grabs:

Asp1.jpg (168.43 KiB) Viewed 4968 times

Asp2.jpg (157.12 KiB) Viewed 4968 times

[Roger Wilco Jr]

After some extensive combat testing, about 150 kills, I've changed my mind. Four small beams take too much power and take too long to take the hull down. You need 4-pips in weapons and have to constantly switch more power to engines for maneuverability or to systems to recharge the shields. Then I tried 2 medium beams and 4 small multis. This worked really well and I could keep the pips balanced, and a little extra in engines didn't hurt. But it still seemed to take a little long to take down a hull with the multis. The four small multis were about the same, or maybe just a little better, than two medium multis. Then I tried Xebeth's suggestion of 2 small beams in the chin mount, but I use fixed beams, and gimbals for the remaining 2 small and 2 medium mounts. The beams will take down a Cobra's shields in one pass, and the 4 multis gives the most bang against the hull. I didn't try 6 multis or 6 beams.

You can do it with using just beams, maybe with multis as a backup, but it takes a lot longer. I can probably get 3 kills using beams & ammo for every 2 kills using just beams. So that might be an extra 100,000 Cr/hour for 10,000 in ammo costs. But for exploration, I'd probably switch back to 4 beams - in case I run into any Thargoids.

[Telengo]

Thank you very much for your detailed reply. I too am a bit confused about all these numbers, and only stumbled across a thread on reddit or something. It was on then I looked in more detail at the shipyard and wondered if the in game figures were correct. You are correct in that Frontier really need to provide more information to what all this really means in terms of game play and whether or not you have a weak shield, a stronger shield. If a D does the same job why send all the money for A parts. Really needs to be a big advantage in paying 5 million credits.

Also nice post on the weapons, having finally got my Asp, I will be giving your weapon layout a try. Already have the two beams and multi's from my Cobra as a buyback so just need to get two more multi's.

[de Carabas]

Like others I also have been up to a Clipper before getting horrified by the running costs and coming back to an Asp. It's a great all rounder and is certainly my favourite so far - let's see what the two new ships in 1.2 have to offer!

For weapons load-out I was using the two medium beams (the 0.5 million gimballed ones) and 4 small gimballed multi-cannons. Yesterday I tried a new layout of the 4 small gimballed beams and two medium rail-guns. It might take a little longer to strip the shields but it is SO satisfying to see the hull damage on a Python etc from the rail-guns. The challenge here is that for small ships the rail-guns are hard to target but so far I've found that anything small is no match for the 4 beam lasers anyway, so I only need the rail-guns for the big bad guys.

Word of warning - even with fully rated power unit it is close to the wire on power consumption, so I had to down grade something to ensure that I didn't have systems powering down in flight, I chose the Kill Warrant Scanner. I could have tried playing with module power priority I know but I'm ok with it for now.

[CMDR_Takoda]

I love my Asp for one primary reason: RANGE

It is so easy to establish a highly two stop trading route that can net you 2500 cr round trip per ton. (or 280,000 round trip in a fully trader equipped Asp)

I don't need to point out that almost a million in 3 trips is a ticket to the larger classes.

Sure the insurance costs are high, but with this capability they are a pittance. (ie grind for 20 min and you have an easy padding for the unexpected)

Plus with that range you can quickly trick out your asp for any role. Personally, I modified mine for reputation grinding/combat. (heh, I nicknamed my ship "The turtle". Re-enforced armour, 2 fixed med class beam lasers, 4 gimbaled cannons, top of the line power, thrusters, shields, and shield cells make "the turtle" a force most Anacondas have trouble dealing with.

[Telengo]

The range is amazing, even when running high with equipment. I need to get looking for a good trade route, like you mention. I think rares are not bringing it in anymore. And I need to push for a bit of capital, so I can fit it out for the more un aspect of owning an Asp. Really want to improve my combat and exploring, plus get moving on ranks.