View source for Talk:Asp Explorer/@comment-104.245.77.23-20150317012521

I don't agree so much with the "downside" segment. Yes, it's more expensive, but there's a reason. You can trade with the T-6, but it can't fight at all; it has all the punch of a Sidewinder and none of the moves. You can fight with a Cobra, or kinda-trade, but you can't do either one as well as the Asp. It can take a lot more hits than either, and out-turn the T-6 in its sleep. Its combination of cargo space, hyperdrive range, normal-space speed, AND the ability to fight off the random pirate, make the Asp about the most efficient ship there is for reaching those widely-spaced systems with rare goods and gathering large numbers of them to make huge amounts of credits; with any larger ship, you're moving more into the range of carrying larger numbers of regular goods. The Asp also makes a great ship for the very rough trade of mining; more and better internal modules for a refinery than a Cobra, without sacrificing the firepower to survive pirate-rich asteroid fields. In fact, the role that the Asp shows the LEAST improvement on is exploration--you can go farther faster and with less refueling stops, but once you get to the area you wanted to explore, it still takes just as much time to schmutz around in supercruise scanning all the junk. So, I see the Asp as a step up in versatility for those who have put in the time and earned the credits, and have gotten bored of just exploring; it makes it really easy to branch out and try new things, and it's also a stepping stone on your way to the seriously expensive ships, as you get back almost all the credits you put into it and the gear for it when you trade it in. If you trade it in.