Life Cycle of the Hyperion ?

[Bill Huntington]

I've taken some time to explore the capabilities of the Acinonyx. I'm impressed with what it can do. I've also noticed that it can't take a Tiger with just 8 marines. It can capture a Atmo Lifter but not if it has Internal Sentry or Hull Polarizing software.

The Hyperion is an excellent target for the Achy. Most of the other M6 targets have an entourage of M8s and M3s. In AP they use their missiles and other weapons. In TC not so much. The Hype puts up a decent fight but it's usually by itself, without an entourage.

I've noticed that the Hype shows up in two areas. One is the area consisting of Trinity, Wisdom East Gate, Pontifex Realm, Priest's Refuge. The other is Duke's Citadel and Pontifex Seclusion, with some presence in Friar's, Cardinal and Spring. They move around once they spawn but don't seem particularly fast doing it. I've heard that there are usually two Hypes in the game at one time. But I've only seen one at any single time. I've seen them in other areas but I don't have the sense that they spawned there. I'm not sure of its route once it starts moving. Probably the Trinity Hype goes either North or West to Paranid Prime. Perhaps the Duke's Citadel Hype cruises through Friar to Cardinal or Spring. I haven't followed them because if I'm looking, it's to board them.

Any pilots observed items in the life cycle of the Hyperion?

Any interesting targets taken by the Acinonix?

[RAVEN.myst]

... it can't take a Tiger with just 8 marines.

How so? I've taken several Arans (in separate games, of course) using 8 marines from an Aci, and that one has 5 decks to the Tiger's 4.

For taking out defensive installed systems (ISL, HPD, AFS), you could try fit PBEs - negligible damage to capital ship hulls, yet highly effective at stripping off subsystems. I use PBEs for this role whenever I play as Paranid or Split and therefore don't have access to IonDs (I limit myself to ships, factories, and marines, of whatever faction I'm playing.)

I agree that "The Hyperion is an excellent target for the Achy." - or perhaps the other way around: the Acinonyx is an excellent tool for capturing the Hyperion. It has the speed to be able to actually position itself for the launch (as well as doing any requisite softening) instead of sitting relatively motionless (compared to the Hyper!) and trying to lasso it as it gallops past...

[fireanddream]

The job file specifies how many copies of each type of ships can exist at the same time in the universe, excluding those owned by the player of course. If any of them are destroyed they'll respawn after a set amount of time.

For example, for each type of purchasable capital ships there are usually four copies per race, Boron Ray, Boron Ray, Boron Military Ray, Boron Military Ray. For ships that are not mass produced like the Agamemnon or Hyperion there are two of each in sectors owned by the respective race. They have no apparent purpose whatsoever and just wander around.

[RAVEN.myst]

They have no apparent purpose whatsoever and just wander around.

Apparently, their purpose is to serve as ripe juicy plums for the picking

[SirNukes]

Slight clarification, there appear to be 3 Agamemnons flying around, but yes to only 2 Hyperions. These ships do short range patrols, the Hyp patrolling through up to 2 sectors at a time, the Aggy up to 5. This means the Hyp shouldn't be crossing between the major Paranid sector clumps, but the aggy sometimes will (I caught my first one in Gunn's). Their initial spawn points are random in paranid space. If they cannot find a paranid sector to patrol to within their range, they can fly out to non-paranid sectors instead if finding somewhere with security level 1 in range (I think that might mean a Core sector?). This could lead to a ship wandering around outside of Cathedral of Xaar; I forget which sectors up there have good security.

[UnknownObject]

The Acinonyx is capable of capturing (if you manage to lower the shield) of any: Commonwealth/Pirate/Yaki ships (without internal sentry lasers, if not M6/TM); Terran M6, TM, M7, TL; Xenon P and PX.

[Bill Huntington]

Thanks, all, for the replies.

I tried the Tiger three times with the Achy. The first one had HP so the marines didn't even get in. Most CW ships just make you wait longer with HP. Not the Tiger.

All three an intense barrage of serious capital weapon fire. I was close to use the Ion Shard weapons to get it's shields down. I had to stay close to keep them down to allow the marines to get inside. The Tiger's barrage tore me up.

I found a Tiger with no HP and no IS. My marines got inside and still had casualties. I reloaded a few times and got the same thing. Boarding failed.
I conclude that I can't take the Tiger with 8 marines. I've taken a number of TLs with the Achy. I've also taken a few Arans. But I can't the Tiger. I was hoping to hear how other pilots did. No one says they did. So I have to wait to have 15 marines with 100 in Fighting and 100 in Mechanical; then the Cobra can go to work.

[RAVEN.myst]

I found a Tiger with no HP and no IS. My marines got inside and still had casualties. I reloaded a few times and got the same thing. Boarding failed.

Albion Prelude, right? (Must be, as we're talking Acinonys here) The reason I ask is that the point at which a reload and try again is effective was changed in X3AP - if I recall correctly (not 100% sure because I tend not to do this - nor even do a whole lot of boarding, anymore), you can no longer (in X3AP) save at ever deck (as was doable in X3TC) - the result is predetermined at some point at the start, so if you want to reload and try again, you need to save before you start... Also, even if reloading before the result is calculated, a few attempts is insufficient to draw any conclusions from (and if you saved too late, the point is moot - the result WILL be the same over and over and over...) Back when I DID engage in lots of boardings, I wanted to see just how consistent (or not, as it turned out!) the results were - I had cases where a success only happened after some 20 attempts; conversely I also had cases where a similar number of successes were followed by failure; and I also had very "on the fence" results were fairly evenly split - in some cases, all on the same test sample! So it may simply be good ol' RNG being itself, nothing more, with a moderate degree of difficulty.

[Jimmy C]

The result of the boarding is rolled before they start fighting. I use a savegame when they reach the hull. If I take casualties, I reload that game. Then, I have a savegame on the deck before the core, just in case one of my marines gets kicked overboard during the last phase. Finally, one last savegame before the capture is complete, so I can reroll for better loot.