Out of System boarding

[Hwitvlf]

I just got around to trying boarding out-of-system (launch all marines). It seems to work very well. Has anyone tried it for Xenon ships? I suspect you could fire extra marines without worrying that they would be ejected into space and killed by Xenon turrets.

[iXenon]

Was you able to get onboard more marines that ship can take? (The number of marines it can carry plus one)

[Hwitvlf]

I didn't try more than 20 marines because it was just a Valhalla. I was going to board a Q next, so I'll see if it can hold the +1 OOS.

[Jimmy C]

I didn't try more than 20 marines because it was just a Valhalla.

M1 and M2s have a max marine capacity of 25, not 20. Something to remember when you try board a Xenon large cap.

[Hwitvlf]

M1 and M2s have a max marine capacity of 25, not 20. Something to remember when you try board a Xenon large cap.

Absolutely! For non-xenon I've found 12 marines to be enough for any capital without Internal Lasers/marines.

I just tried OOS boarding a Q and it worked very well. For some reason, the Launch All Marines command kept leaving some marines behind so I had to enact it repeatedly.
Loaded 21 marines on the M7M and 10 reserve onto a TP set to 'follow' the M7M.
Jumped the M7M into a sector with a Q and its fighter escorts and fired 1 barrage of Shadow/Hammers - left the Q at about 1/2 hull.
Used 1 barrage of Boarding Pods to launch all marines. It only consumed the 5 pods for the 21 marines. Transferred 5 extra from TP to M7M and launched them at 'deck 2'.
Ended up with 21 marines at the core hack and 2 extra spacewalking.

The Q's fighter escort didn't attack the captured Q or the floating marines long enough for me to jump in and destroy them. Pretty clean method all things considered!

[Sovereign01]

It's also possible to board Xenon without needing to send marine reinforcements if you're prepared to save scum just before the marines finish cutting their way in. Losses are unavoidable whatever you do but one wave can do it. It's also advisable to destroy every Xenon ship except the target first, since you're going to be reloading you don't want to have to destroy the same ones over and over.

Losses are worse the bigger the target, for me the I cost 7, the K 6, the J 5 and the Q, 4. The P and PX were both without losses. Used Terran and Yaki ships for boarding to give my marines combat experience. Most of the ships I only boarded one of each for REing, except the Skirnir and Valhalla which I boarded two of each, one to keep one to RE. Neither of which I intend to actually build more of mind, I just want the blueprints and in case of the Valhalla would be insane

[iXenon]

Tried OOS boarding and couldn't understand how it's supposed to work. The main problem is the target shields. The attacker ship wants it to be lowered down somehow, so I can't just order Piracy -> Board Ship, because it will do nothing then. I tried to use Hammer Heavy Torpedo but it kills targets like Xenon PX, while Flail Barrage Missile doesn't hit it enough OOS, not sure why. Even 10 barrages of FBM (160 missiles) remove the shields by half when the target has 4x200MJ. Tried also to Combat -> Attack shields of... on Kogarasu Maru, but it kills target in the process.

[ubuntufreakdragon]

If you fail at shields try a swarm of combat drones.

[Hwitvlf]

...Hammer Heavy Torpedo but it kills targets like Xenon PX, while Flail Barrage Missile doesn't hit it enough

I'm not sure it would work on a ship as small as a PX because the shields regenerate too fast. The Q is the smallest I tried. Flails don't do enough damage OOS to lower shields, but they might keep shields down (which have been lowered by other means) long enough to let Marines get through the hull.

I think you can drop/transfer all but a couple Hammers and still use the Barrage command OOS without doing the full damage of a regular Barrage. One Hammer might strip the shields from a PX without destroying it. Also, Missile OOS damage appears to be somewhat randomized so outcomes differ.

[Sovereign01]

That's because M7Ms are generally worthless against M6s, they're agile (especially the P) and have enough guns to shoot down hammers and are strong enough that it takes more than one hit to destroy them. It also means it takes many, many flails to do the job. I used the Maru to suppress the shields on the P and PX and the Sirokos for the actual boarding.

[Hwitvlf]

This is about OOS boarding so different rules apply. During OOS, flails seem to be seriously nerfed versus In-System.

In-System, I find it quite effective to just board P/PX with the Maru by firing boarding pods point-blank just like you would a regular missile. There's a cooldown between boarding pods but the second wave will usually join the fighting before loses are calculated.

[iXenon]

I used the Maru to suppress the shields on the P and PX...

Btw, how does it work?
When I use "Combat -> Attack shields of..." it looks it works in that way:

• The ship starts to attack the target shields. It may succeeds, who knows, but:
• The target responds
• The ship starts to fight with the target

In result, the target gets killed. Does it works for you in a different way?

[DanKara]

In-System, I find it quite effective to just board P/PX with the Maru by firing boarding pods point-blank just like you would a regular missile. There's a cooldown between boarding pods but the second wave will usually join the fighting before loses are calculated.

With X3FL it is possible to set up a HotKey for the AdvancedCommand to 'Send All Marines'. By this my MARU sends both/all BPods at the same time at point blanc. Makes Boarding such a breeze... need no other ship for boarding 'any' ship (except for K/J/I ofcourse).
The hotkeyed command seems to depend on distance lower than a few hundred meter - i have never made this work while flying M7 (Carrack) or M2 (Brigantine) because my distance to target is too far.

[Hwitvlf]

With X3FL it is possible to set up a HotKey for the AdvancedCommand to 'Send All Marines'.

Didn't know this, thanks! There sure are lots of improvements in FL. Yet again, I 'tip my hat' to the craftsmanship the FL team put into their work.

I've been trying X4 again and it reminds me how many problems Egosoft games like X3 had before modders tweaked them. If I were Egosoft, I'd put the FL team on the payroll to work the same magic on X4. In my uninformed opinion, the Egosoft engine has so much potential, but they seem to only utilize a fraction of it - putting tons of effort into developing in the wrong direction while missing glaring severe issues. I think Fl is the first time an X game came close to realizing its full potential.

[rudi_pioneer]

With X3FL it is possible to set up a HotKey for the AdvancedCommand to 'Send All Marines'.

Didn't know this, thanks! There sure are lots of improvements in FL. Yet again, I 'tip my hat' to the craftsmanship the FL team put into their work.

I've been trying X4 again and it reminds me how many problems Egosoft games like X3 had before modders tweaked them. If I were Egosoft, I'd put the FL team on the payroll to work the same magic on X4. In my uninformed opinion, the Egosoft engine has so much potential, but they seem to only utilize a fraction of it - putting tons of effort into developing in the wrong direction while missing glaring severe issues. I think Fl is the first time an X game came close to realizing its full potential.

Absolutely this - I can't wait for X4 to have "modder" pass like X3FL did. Lots of QoL in X3FL I'd love to see in X4 (deconstruct for blueprints, diplomacy, keyboard friendly gameplay...). With mention that X4 might have signed mods, I feel hopeful about this too.

X:R was also extremely improved by mods - I got into it last year, and I'd be screwed without the mods.

[Sovereign01]

I used the Maru to suppress the shields on the P and PX...

Btw, how does it work?
When I use "Combat -> Attack shields of..." it looks it works in that way:

• The ship starts to attack the target shields. It may succeeds, who knows, but:
• The target responds
• The ship starts to fight with the target

In result, the target gets killed. Does it works for you in a different way?

All I do is turn off my turrets and use the main battery to knock down the shields and keep them down manually without damaging the hull too much, the Maru is sufficiently durable to soak up the return fire long enough for the pods to reach the target and get on board, and fast enough to quickly get out of range while the marines do their thing. I just have to remember to turn the turrets back on once the job is done!

[iXenon]

I used the Maru to suppress the shields on the P and PX...

Btw, how does it work?
When I use "Combat -> Attack shields of..." it looks it works in that way:

• The ship starts to attack the target shields. It may succeeds, who knows, but:
• The target responds
• The ship starts to fight with the target

In result, the target gets killed. Does it works for you in a different way?

I recently realised what the problem it was. The ship that attacks the shields has to have proper settings. It should be configured to 'Flee' in case of being attacked, not to 'Defend'. And if the ship has missiles then it may make sense to set up the chance of launch them to 0. Anyway, it doesn't help a lot in case of M6, because shields are regenerated too fast, so the boarding team may not get in time. And if the attacker ship stays a bit longer at the target it may get destroyed by the target.