Asp ExplorerMining

The Asp Explorer is a deep-space hull first and a miner second, but the two overlap more than you'd think. Its two medium and four small hardpoints fit a complete mining toolkit — lasers, a seismic charge launcher, an abrasion blaster, sub-surface missiles — and its long, easily-engineered FSD means the remote painite or void-opal hotspot that everyone else has to grind toward is one or two jumps away for you.

Where it falls down is everything after the rocks crack. Its optional internals top out at one class-6 and one class-5 slot, so once you've fitted a refinery, limpet controllers, a scanner and a light shield there isn't much room left for ore — a practical hold around 70t, a fraction of a Type-8 or a capital miner. Its shield is modest and there's little space to harden it, so a determined pirate is a real threat rather than a nuisance. The Asp mines well enough to learn the loop and bankroll a better hull; it isn't where a serious miner stays.

Three things make the Asp a serviceable miner — and one thing holds it back:

• Mounts the whole toolkit. Two medium hardpoints take mining lasers and a seismic charge launcher; the four small mounts cover an abrasion blaster, sub-surface missiles and a defensive gun.
• It reaches the rocks. A class-5 FSD that engineers long means distant painite, platinum and void-opal hotspots are a hop away — no slow plod out to the ring.
• Cheap and rank-free. ~6.1M Cr, no permit, no rank — the easiest serious miner to put in the black.
• But the hold is small. One class-6 and one class-5 optional, shared with refinery, limpets, scanner and shield, leaves only ~70t for ore — well short of the dedicated miners.

A cheap, long-legged medium-pad miner that mounts the full toolkit but hauls only ~72t of ore behind a thin ~450 MJ shield, capping it at 64.

The 64/100 headline is a verdict against the mining role's priority-ordered factors. Each factor carries a weight (its share of 100); this hull earns part of each based on how it performs against the whole field. The points sum to the rating.

Both tables rate ships for mining specifically. The role column is the maximum cargo capacity in tonnes — though practical ore capacity is lower once the mining suite (refinery, limpet controllers) is fitted.

Same class — medium-pad miners

Among mediums the Asp sits in the middle: it out-ranges and undercuts the Kraits but holds far less and can't fight, while the Type-8 buries it on tonnage. Its edge over the cheaper Type-6 and Cobra Mk V is the full tool set and the long legs to the rocks — not the haul home.

Other classes — the dedicated and capital miners

Every hull here out-hauls the Asp several times over — that's the whole point of upgrading. The natural next step is the medium-pad Python: it keeps the same pad access, holds twice the ore, and actually fights pirates. The Asp's case is purely price and reach; once credits allow, you move up.

At ~6.1M Cr the Asp is the cheapest credible miner on a medium pad — no rank, no permit, no expansion gate. A full mining fit (tools, refinery, limpet controllers, ore racks, a light shield) brings the all-in figure to roughly 18M A-rated, ~25M with engineering — a fraction of what a Python costs to outfit.

That low buy-in is the entire argument for mining in an Asp: it pays for itself in a session or two and bankrolls the dedicated hull you'll actually want. Per tonne of ore it is not cheap — the small hold means more trips — but the entry cost is unbeatable.

A complete mining fit for laser and core work that keeps a gun and a light shield for self-defence. Initial is buy-only; A-rated is the mining baseline; Engineered focuses on range, mobility and what shield the hull will carry — the mining tools themselves are not meaningfully engineered.

Buy the hull, fit one mining laser and a class-6 cargo rack, and go laser-mine a nearby hotspot — the cheapest way to learn the loop and earn the rest.

Add a refinery and a prospector/collector controller as soon as you can; an Abrasion Blaster and the Pulse Wave Analyser turn surface deposits and hotspot-hunting on.

A-rate the power plant and distributor early so the lasers and limpets run without browning out, and keep one small mount free for a multi-cannon. Leave the stock Lightweight Alloy hull alone — a miner wants mass off the frame for jump range, not armour bolted onto it.

A-rating priority for a budget miner that has to reach the rocks:

• 1Power Distributor → A — Lasers, abrasion, seismic and limpets all drain WEP; A-rate first so the suite runs. ~2M Cr
• 2Power Plant → A — Run tools, limpets, shield and a gun together. ~3M Cr
• 3FSD → A (SCO) — The Asp's signature: long jumps to distant hotspots, faster in-system travel. ~5M Cr
• 4Shield + refinery + controllers — A light bi-weave for survival and the heart of the mining loop; twin Heavy-Duty shield boosters in the utility mounts stretch that shield against ring pirates. ~3M Cr
• 5Thrusters → A — Reposition on a rock and run when a pirate is too much. ~2M Cr

Mining engineering is light and focuses on the ship, not the tools — the mining hardware itself isn't meaningfully engineered. Felicity Farseer (maxed) carries the FSD; pin blueprints for remote G1→G5 application.

Recommended order

• 1FSD Increased Range first — the Asp's whole edge as a miner is reaching distant hotspots, so maximise range.
• 2Low-Emissions plant keeps heat down through long mining sessions and frees power for the suite.
• 3Bi-weave + Heavy Duty boosters — squeeze what defence the hull will hold; it can't be a tank, only survivable.
• 4Leave the mining lasers, limpet controllers and refinery stock — they don't benefit meaningfully from engineering.

Approximate progression across the three states (figures are representative, not exact rolls):

Engineered, the Asp mines a ~72t hold and jumps 55+ LY to reach the rocks — the range is where it pulls ahead of cheaper rivals, not the haul. Twin Heavy-Duty boosters lift the bi-weave to a survivable ~500 MJ but never to a Python's level, and the hull stays Lightweight-engineered to hold that range rather than chasing armour; treat the FSD, not the hull, as the reason to fly it.

• Mine high-value materials — void opals, painite, low-temperature diamonds. With a small hold, value per tonne matters more than raw tonnage.
• Don't engineer the mining tools — they don't benefit; put the materials into FSD range and what shield the hull will carry.
• A-rate the distributor and plant so lasers, limpets and a gun all run together.
• Treat running as a defence. The shield is light; if a pirate is too strong, high-wake out rather than trade blows.
• It re-roles instantly — the same hull explores or trades, so a mining detour costs you nothing but a module swap.