combat Asp Explorer

[ReallyStinkingPig]

To any experienced combat pilot out there: is the Asp Explorer any good at combat?

Let me share a little encounter I had the other day.

I have bought an Asp Explorer to replace my rusty, trusty Type-6 mainly for the higher jumps and bigger cargo cap. Bought 4 small gimballed pulses and two medium rail guns as an afterthought, I did not plan on any fighting, but it looked fun to carry these things around. I have a 3D shield, 5D thrusters so this shows I wasn't serious about combat at all.

Then of course I had the odd unidentified signal coming my way, and without waiting for the scan, I jumped inot it to see whats what. It was of course a combat one, with a wing of CobraMkIII boss and two Sidewinders as mates. "Oh ♥♥♥♥ oh ♥♥♥♥" situation, as I had so far zero hours in the ship. Not wanting to run away just yet, brought the guns online (why else am I lugging them around if not to use I have asked myself) and well, killed them, with 60% hull left even. This tub is slow to turn, and looks like a hell of a big target, but the lateral thrusters are surprisingly good and make the turns quick, so I was actually able to keep the boogies under fire with my rail guns.

So how this big thing fares in combat?

[Dread Lord]

Asp is like a smaller Python... its very cappable at combat! And really offers a myriad of templates with 6 hardpoints!

I keep one for experimenting and have her modded. Durable, fast, agile, 6 hardpoints!
A fun ship to modd and play around with. I kinda like her sounds too :)

Beef her up, you will enjoy it!

[Dread Lord]

oh and a really good thing about the ASP is I can switch modules with my Python.. same shield generator 5A prismatics and same FSD... made it easy early on.. now she has her own modded FSD though.

[funkynutz]

AspX is actually quite a capable combat ship. It's reasonably quick, not bad agility, reasonably tough. If you start hitting power issues, try swapping to 2 small rails in the middle below the cockpit and put multicannons in the medium hardpoints. The aim point of the 2 central small hardpoints is lethal with rails, as it usually puts them both pretty much on the same spot ;)

I prefer the Vulture for combat. But then I prefer the Vulture for everything that doesn't need lots of cargo space or huge jump range.

[Agony_Aunt]

Its a bit of a big target though for its shields.

I used my Asp (engineered up) in combat, and it was pretty decent, but those shields.... ugh. Maybe hull tanking is the way to go with an Asp. Fill up some of those internals with Module and hull reinforcement packages.

I hate to suggest it, but maybe the Asp Scout might be what you are looking for. Its about the same size with similar shields strength, but its one of the most agile ships in the game and faster than the Explorer. It loses two small hardpoints, but otherwise, by the accounts of a few people i know who have flown it, its highly underrated.

[Dread Lord]

mine has a bit over 600mj with very good resists and one 6A SCB its nothing to underestimate...

Hull tanking could be cool too yeah.

[Dread Lord]

Asp explorer is faster than Asp scout as far as I can tell Agony... not sure what you mean?

[ReallyStinkingPig]

Im starting to feel a little more respect for this ship, thanks guys! The six hardpoints are indeed attractive, and I will try it with 4 rails and two beams next time, also will install 5A thrusters and shield, and give her a little more attention

Not gonna lie - I see the Vulture much more potent, as a combat ship, but the Asp Explorer obviously not a tailor made combat ship, so I should not look at it that way.

[Ottomic]

2 beam lasers, 4 rapid firing cannons. glorious.

Not super effective, will slide all over the place, not the best shields, but *glorious*.

[One Eye Jack]

OK......I guess I am off to mod my ASPX now.

Combat ASP, never expected to hear that.

With the excellent view the ship has this will be very cool when I get my Occulus.

Looking forward to using it for something other than exploration.

And as I have most of the engineers unlocked this shouldn't take too long.

[Dread Lord]

Publicado originalmente por astroknott58:

OK......I guess I am off to mod my ASPX now.

Combat ASP, never expected to hear that.

With the excellent view the ship has this will be very cool when I get my Occulus.

Looking forward to using it for something other than exploration.

And as I have most of the engineers unlocked this shouldn't take too long.

trying out all the cockpits in VR is soo much fun! I fell in love with the sidewinder! There is somethign magical about sitting in that thing in VR! :)

[One Eye Jack]

Just 2 or 3 weeks from now......Yeah buddy!

[Dread Lord]

:D

[ReallyStinkingPig]

Publicado originalmente por Dread Lord:

Publicado originalmente por astroknott58:

OK......I guess I am off to mod my ASPX now.

Combat ASP, never expected to hear that.

With the excellent view the ship has this will be very cool when I get my Occulus.

Looking forward to using it for something other than exploration.

And as I have most of the engineers unlocked this shouldn't take too long.

trying out all the cockpits in VR is soo much fun! I fell in love with the sidewinder! There is somethign magical about sitting in that thing in VR! :)

Publicado originalmente por astroknott58:

Just 2 or 3 weeks from now......Yeah buddy!

/me jealous :-D

Publicado originalmente por Ottomic:

2 beam lasers, 4 rapid firing cannons. glorious.

Not super effective, will slide all over the place, not the best shields, but *glorious*.

Wow, just tried the little girl with this setup, and I'm impressed! Actually it turns out to be more fun, than the Vulture. Seems to have more staying power in combat for some reason. Running this config:
https://coriolis.io/outfit/asp/0pftfF3lidfsnf50r0r1i1i1i1i0000030l2d4a2929292727.AwRj4y1EZI==.Aw18WQ==?bn=combAsp
Fairly simple, as I only have unlocked one engineer and did not have time to look him up yet. Also have ran out of cash :)

Interesting little ship is this. Will keep experimenting.

[Dread Lord]

I would use that one 5er slot for a 5A Shield Cell bank and turn the 2 chaff and the kill warrent scanner into shield boosters...
I alwyas found the normal money you get from bounty hunting sufficient I rather had that utility slot for more defense...

[ReallyStinkingPig]

Good advice. The kill warrant scanner was just a PITA anyway.
So got this one:
https://coriolis.io/outfit/asp/0pftfF3lidfsnf50r0r1i1i1i1i040403044h5j2929292727.AwRj4zNMg===.AwhMJBGad5IiIA==?bn=combAsp
Not bad..thanks for the tipoff, DL!

Well... this ship kills just as fast as my Vulture did. Am I right in thinking that two medium beams are equal to one large beam, and four small cannons == one large cannon? Or they deal different damage to ships (have different modifiers for example)? Because to me it seems the two ships are similar in dealt out dakka.