I’ve done a lot of explorer hunting in bombers, Strats and Asteros and have concluded that the Strat is the worst choice if that’s your focus. Small explorer frigs scamper away too often before you can lock them. I’m currently using a Manticore bomber with a SeBo for pure explorer hunting. The lack of targeting delay plus fast lock time mean that it’s virtually impossible to escape. It’s also cheap (about 70m isk). It can’t handle a combat fit Astero, but those seem pretty rare in exploration sites. My next favorite is a dual rep Astero. The only way you can lose that is when a bigger hunter decloaks next you after you’ve jumped a target. Again, not common. It has the added benefit of being great at running sites.
I certainly got plenty of explorer kills in my Strat, but it’s best reserved for chasing ratters in my opinion.
I don’t explore in my stratios except for the combat ladar sites. I run DED sites in one and hunt in the one I mentioned in the post above. Stratios is a poor hacking ship because its slow and easy to lock…,plus gimped by the loss of at least 1 mid. Also my hacking astero is the bomber nightmare…dual rep with dda…I will wreck a solo bomber.
I misunderstood…I thought you were using it to hunt explorers in exploration sites and hacking some of the more valuable cans yourself.
As for Asteros and bombers…yep. A combat fit Astero will destroy a bomber every time. There is no bomber fit that can kill an Astero rigged for combat. But 95% of the Asteros you see in WH and null are rigged for exploration only. Plus, you never decloak without checking their killboard first. That obviously goes for any cloaky hunting.