Elite: Dangerous. I broke down.

[Jarhead0331]

To anyone who put this down due to the long grind in building up income, I recommend you jump back in at this point. I was able to make over $3,000,000 last night running standard delivery missions. On the average, each run net me between 300,000 and 500,000 in credits. Lucrative missions are much more common now.

My big decision now is whether to buy a tricked out vulture and get back into the bounty hunting business, or go with an ASP and continue armed trade runs, which so far, have been quite doable in my Cobra...

[SirAndrewD]

To anyone who put this down due to the long grind in building up income, I recommend you jump back in at this point. I was able to make over $3,000,000 last night running standard delivery missions. On the average, each run net me between 300,000 and 500,000 in credits. Lucrative missions are much more common now.

My big decision now is whether to buy a tricked out vulture and get back into the bounty hunting business, or go with an ASP and continue armed trade runs, which so far, have been quite doable in my Cobra...

The Vulture is a lot more fun than the Asp.  But, if you're going to go armed trading the Asp is the best ship you can do it in until you get a Python.  The Cobra is a lot more maneuverable than the Asp, but you'll appreciate the extra cargo space the Asp has to offer.

What I ended up doing was trade in the Asp until I could afford a tricked out Vulture, and then just had both.  After a while I traded both in for a Python, but I really miss flying the Vulture.  It's an insane little murder machine when maxed out.

[undercovergeek]

my next purchase will be the Asp to fend off bad boy pirates whilst moving ilegal s*** around the galaxy

[Jarhead0331]

To anyone who put this down due to the long grind in building up income, I recommend you jump back in at this point. I was able to make over $3,000,000 last night running standard delivery missions. On the average, each run net me between 300,000 and 500,000 in credits. Lucrative missions are much more common now.

My big decision now is whether to buy a tricked out vulture and get back into the bounty hunting business, or go with an ASP and continue armed trade runs, which so far, have been quite doable in my Cobra...

The Vulture is a lot more fun than the Asp.  But, if you're going to go armed trading the Asp is the best ship you can do it in until you get a Python.  The Cobra is a lot more maneuverable than the Asp, but you'll appreciate the extra cargo space the Asp has to offer.

What I ended up doing was trade in the Asp until I could afford a tricked out Vulture, and then just had both.  After a while I traded both in for a Python, but I really miss flying the Vulture.  It's an insane little murder machine when maxed out.

I've done a lot of research and the Vulture and it pretty much universally seems to be regarded as the meanest ship overall in the game. Apparently, its two large hardpoints are capable of destroying the largest ships in the game in under a minute.

[Jarhead0331]

I went with the Vulture, and yes, it is AWESOME. Tears everything up. I went straight to a high intensity resource zone and hunted for bounties. I ripped everything to shred. Accumulated over 400,000 in federal bounties. Tangled with a ing towards the end and took all three down, but I did get beat up a bit. The Vulture not only has a bite, but it can take a few punches on the chin too.


Now for the REALLY annoying part. Was headed back to to dock...error message, "failed to connect to transaction server." When I reloaded, all my bounties were gone of course, but my ship was still beat up. EXTREMELY annoying! First technical error I have had with Elite in as long as I can remember.

[mikeck]

I was thinking about the vulture but I got an Asp instead. Wanted to fight and carry cargo. Almost like a beefed up cobra

[Jarhead0331]

That was my thinking too, but honestly, I was doing everything in the cobra that I would have been doing in the asp. I had enough cargo space to turn a regular profit and enough firepower to defend myself in almost all interdictions.  I didn't see any reason to invest 6.6 million in an asp, when a cobra is so much cheaper and just as capable really.

[mikeck]

That was my thinking too, but honestly, I was doing everything in the cobra that I would have been doing in the asp. I had enough cargo space to turn a regular profit and enough firepower to defend myself in almost all interdictions.  I didn't see any reason to invest 6.6 million in an asp, when a cobra is so much cheaper and just as capable really.

Well, I wanted a ship that could take more punishment (asp can vary much better shields), had more firepower (two more hard points on the asp) and had better range. I still wanted to be able to trade. So really, it is an upgraded cobra but I think it's a pretty substantial upgrade. I wouldn't recommend it if one was going to mainly bounty hunt...vulture is better. But I can load up a ton of cargo and fly forever...even taking a bounty or two.

I think my next ship will be the Python

[SirAndrewD]

That was my thinking too, but honestly, I was doing everything in the cobra that I would have been doing in the asp. I had enough cargo space to turn a regular profit and enough firepower to defend myself in almost all interdictions.  I didn't see any reason to invest 6.6 million in an asp, when a cobra is so much cheaper and just as capable really.

Well, I wanted a ship that could take more punishment (asp can vary much better shields), had more firepower (two more hard points on the asp) and had better range. I still wanted to be able to trade. So really, it is an upgraded cobra but I think it's a pretty substantial upgrade. I wouldn't recommend it if one was going to mainly bounty hunt...vulture is better. But I can load up a ton of cargo and fly forever...even taking a bounty or two.

I think my next ship will be the Python

The Asp is a great armed trader for just the reasons you say.  It's not a good bounty hunter gunship because it has no large hardpoint and has a really hard time keeping up with either the faster or more nimble ships.  Its insane range makes it the best rare trader in the game though.  I certainly liked the Asp, but haven't considered going back. 

My Python is a money printing machine.  It isn't as good as the Vulture or Fer de Lance at Bounty Hunting, or as good as the dedicated trade ships for trading, but it's the best ship for doing a little bit of everything. 

The Python's biggest advantage is that it can land at outposts, this makes it very easy to find solidly profitable and fast trade routes.  I was breaking 4mil an hour with one route trading Imperial Slaves and Beryllium.  The only reason I could run that route the ability to dock at outposts. 

The Python is also a more than fair Bounty Hunter when tricked out for it.  Its jump range is so so, but its firepower is massive, and the class 7 power plant lets you do insane things like mount medium beam laser turrets that can essentially fire all day. 

[Jarhead0331]

Yeah. I want a python too.

[undercovergeek]

Can the asp land at outposts?

[smithcorp]

To anyone who put this down due to the long grind in building up income, I recommend you jump back in at this point. I was able to make over $3,000,000 last night running standard delivery missions. On the average, each run net me between 300,000 and 500,000 in credits. Lucrative missions are much more common now.

Last time I played I got sick of regular interdictions by NPCs - is it any better in 1.04?

[Jarhead0331]

They still happen, but not with a frequency that I find annoying. I would say on the average, each delivery run is 25 to 40 ly, requiring approximately 3 to 5 jumps. I would say out of five delivery runs. I may get interdicted three times. However, I don't mind them at all, unless I'm carrying a valuable load, I will always permit the interdiction, fight and collect the bounty from the criminal who ends up becoming my prey. It breaks the game up and adds some excitement to the trade game.

[smithcorp]

Ta - I think I need to get better at combat, rather than submit and boost.

[SirAndrewD]

Can the asp land at outposts?

Yes.