Several of the ship classes can be captured by shooting them hard enough they get scared so hard for their own life they give up ship in exchange for sparing their life. These classes are: M3, M4, M5, M8, TP, TS (exceptions apply).
- Get yourself a ship that can mount 4-8 Mass Drivers (the more the better, don't forget the ammo!), M3 or M6 will do fine, but don't go below that. You want to carry also some conventional weapons. Suggestions are 2 PBE and 2 IRE.Can you give more details? - Yes, click meShowYour ship needs to be "stronger" in shield/hull/combined weapon power than the opponent to get an increse in bail chance. You have a free Mamba in LooManckStrat's Legacy, compatible with such weapons. You might also want to grab a bunch of PBG to clean up escorts, available at the same sector. When you earn enough for an M6, you might want to consider that instead. Argon, Split and Pirate M6 can mount Mass Drivers. I'd go with the speed of the Split, but up to you. Personally, since I've started Poisoned Paranid game, I've been using just the Mamba at the beginning, and after I finished Poisoned Paranid mission, I kept the Mass Drivers on the Mamba along with a Docking Computer, and used the Hyperion Vanguard for the second part.
- Choose your target from one of the mentioned classes.
- Don't attack any other ships in sector, go straight for your target. If you did have combat activity there, or not sure, leave the sector and return back.Why? What if the target has escorts?ShowThe game has a hidden timer which prevents you from capturing many ships in a row. The timer is reset when you enter the sector. The timer is not that long, but if you keep fighting inside the same sector, the chance to capture a ship goes down with every iteration. That's why your best bet is to go for the very first ship you personally attack in the sector (you can still order your other ships to attack, only the ship you are inside when the damage is being done counts).
If the target is not alone and you can't lure him without provoking the others, you can kill off his buddies, leave the sector and return. You can also try something like luring the whole group to attack you and then capturing the fastest one while his buddies lag behind, or fly in large circle so you can catch the slowest of the bunch by getting behind him. - Save just before attacking the target, thank me later.
- Inspect your target and look how much maximum hull that ship can have. Divide that number by 40. Carefully use only Mass Drivers to put his hull just below that mark (2.5% but your GUI only shows integer values so it will show 2% for you, but you can inspect the target again by pressing U to get the actual reading). You might want to switch to single Mass Driver for the last few %.Why Mass Drivers? Why 2.5%?ShowThe condition for the ship to bail are met as soon as the ship has (almost) no shields and his hull is below 87.5%, but actually the chance of a successful capture increases further if the ship hull is much more damaged than that. The highest bonus is when the hull is below 2.5% when the shields are depleted. Attacking the ship normally would trigger the no-capture timer as soon as we hit 87.5% and attacking him further would not trigger another bail check for another minute. That is why we use Mass Drivers. This weapon deals damage straight to the hull, and as long as the shields are not 0%, the bail check will not occur allowing you to make use of the "low hull bonus" later. If you can't afford / not a huge fan of Mass Drivers, you can also use one of this alternative methods:
- Damage the ship to 2.5% normally, then leave sector and return.
- Damage the ship to 2.5% quickly (within 1 minute), stay in SETA for a while and go for it (repeated attempt penalty applies)
- Have other ship you're not personally flying deal damage and make him stop at around 2.5% (can be tricky but can be done)
- If you're happy with your "hull preparation routine", save again at this point.
- Switch all of your Mass Drivers off now. Use your conventional weapons to reduce the shield of the target to around 5 or 10% mark.
- Save the game at this point, but only if you're absolutely sure enemy shields never went all the way down to 0%. Most of the time 10% will be safe enough, unless you're confident, but then you wouldn't be reading this, right?
What's so important?ShowThe moment of truth happens as soon as the shields reach below 1MJ of total charge. If the ship's shielding is less than 100MJ, 1MJ could be potentially a pretty high value, in these cases 1% value is used instead. Which is actually the case for the most ships you will be hunting for using this method. At this point, the game considers all the requirements for a "capture attempt" to be met, the game rolls a dice and if you're lucky, the pilot will bail, but if not - the no-capture timer will silently start and your only way of knowing is by not letting the shield drop below this point.
- Once you saved, proceed to remove the rest of the shield in gentle, controlled bursts. If the target starts taking damage to the hull but still no surrender dialog happening, you can safely reload your last game and try again.
Are some ships more stubborn than others? What's morale?ShowDefinitely. All the AI pilots in the game have a hidden Morale value. The higher it is - the less likely the pilot will surrender. Using this method here you can convince any pilot to surrender with the probability of between 8% and 38% depending on the pilot's morale. The Kha'ak ships have an additional penalty to your capture chances based on your fight rank. Bravest of the Kha'ak ships won't surrender at rank below Fighter no matter what, and I definitely won't recommend going for one of them at below Assassin, unless you're a masochist.
- If you're persistent enough the ship will eventually bail, I recommend saving immediately after he turns blue. You never know what might happen around the ship with 2% hull and no shields.
[1.2.1] Pirate Pirate Ship (bails).mp4
[1.2.1] Boron Marlin Hauler (bails).mp4
[1.2.1] Messing with Merc Medusa Prototype.mp4
[1.2.1] PALC.mp4
[1.2.1] Xenon P (bails) B.mp4
[1.2.1] Split Enhanced Jaguar (Terran plot).mp4
[1.2.1] Kha'ak Corvette (bails).mp4
[1.2.1] Kha'ak Fighter (bails).mp4
[1.2.1] Xenon K (bails) B.mp4
[1.2.1] Kha'ak Carrier (bails) part1.mp4
[1.2.1] Kha'ak Carrier (bails) part2.mp4
[1.2.1] Xenon J (bails) part1.mp4
[1.2.1] Xenon J (bails) part2.mp4
[1.2.1] Kha'ak Destroyer (bails) part1.mp4
[1.2.1] Kha'ak Destroyer (bails) part2.mp4
[1.2.1] Kha'ak Destroyer (bails) part3.mp4
[1.0.1] Xenon P (bails) A.mp4
[1.0.1] Xenon P (bails) B.mp4
[1.0.1] Xenon LX (bails).mp4
[1.0.1] Xenon K (bails) A.mp4
[1.0.1] Xenon J (bails).mp4
[1.0.1] Merc Medusa Prototype (not claimable).mp4
[1.0.1] PALC.mp4
[1.0.1] Kha'ak Destroyer (bails).mp4
[1.0.1] Kha'ak Carrier (bails) part 1.mp4
[1.0.1] Kha'ak Carrier (bails) part 2.mp4
[1.0.1] Crazy Xenon patrol.mp4
[1.0.1] Crazy Xenon patrol 2.mp4
[1.0.1] Crazy Xenon patrol 3.mp4
[1.0.1] Kha'ak Corvette (bails).mp4
[1.0.1] Boron Marlin Hauler (bails).mp4
[1.0.1] Terran Cutlass, Split Enhanced Jaguar (Terran plot).mp4
[1.0.1] Kha'ak Destroyer (bails using another Destroyer).mp4
[1.0.1] Argon Nova Prototype (bails).mp4
[1.0.1] Teladi Falcon Prototype (bails).mp4
[1.0.1] Argon Mercury Prototype (bails).mp4
[1.0.1] Teladi Toucan Hauler + Goner Ranger (bail).mp4
[1.0.1] Argon Express Hauler (bails).mp4
[1.0.1] Boron Barracuda Prototype (bails).mp4
[1.0.1] discovering a Pirate Base.mp4
[1.0.1] Demeter Prototype (bails).mp4
[1.0.1] Teladi Toucan Prototype (bails).mp4
[1.0.1] Argon Advanced Express (bails).mp4
[1.0.1] OTAS Notus Hauler (bails).mp4
[1.0.1] Flight School Barracuda defends sector.mp4
[1.3] Cloning Teladianium.mp4
[1.3] Cloning Teladianium 2.mp4
[1.3] Susanowa Prototype & company (PHQ plot).mp4
[1.3] Yaki Akurei Hauler, Yaki Kariudo Hauler (boarded during PHQ mission).mp4
[1.3] Orca (boarded during PHQ plot).mp4
[1.3] Pirate Brigantine, Pirate Galleon (boarded).mp4
[1.3] Pirate Carrack (boarded).mp4
[1.3] Pirate Caravel (boarded).mp4
[1.3] Headquarters Cloning.mp4
[1.3] Multi-PHQ play.mp4
[1.3] Return stolen ship - overview.mp4
[1.3] Return stolen ship - stolen. Raptor boarded.mp4
[1.3] #deca.mp4
[1.3] Vulture Prototype (bails).mp4
[1.3] Pirate Ship (bails).mp4
[1.3] Pirate Ship + all escorts (bail).mp4
[2.6] #cafe (boarding failed), Property UI glitch (1).mp4
[2.6] #cafe (boarding failed), Property UI glitch (2).mp4
[2.6-3.4] Agamemnon (boarded), Property UI glitch (1).mp4
[2.6-3.4] Agamemnon (boarded), Property UI glitch (2).mp4
[2.6] Kha'ak Scout (bails in UFJD sector).mp4
[2.6] Nemesis (failed to board); Odysseus, Zeus (boarded).mp4
[2.6] Repairing Yaki rep.mp4
[2.6] Terran Osaka (boarded).mp4
[2.6] Yaki Shuri (boarded) + rep repair.mp4
[2.6] Yaki Akuma, Ryu, Chokaro (boarded).mp4
[2.6] #cafe insanity (1).mp4
[2.6] #cafe insanity (2).mp4
[2.6] Kha'ak Fighter (bails in UFJD sector).mp4
[2.6] Fail at #cafe hacking.mp4
[2.6] Aran in 1 hour challenge (boarded from Hyperion).mp4
[3.4] ATF Prototype Crusher (bails in Balance of Power).mp4
[3.4] Fenrir, Mjollnir (bail) and finishing Balance of Power.mp4
[3.4] Derelict run.mp4
[3.4] Odin (boarded).mp4
[3.4] Skirnir, Vali (boarded).mp4
[3.4] Tyr, Aegir, Atmoshperic Lifter (boarded).mp4
[3.4] Treasure hunt plot - boarding Elephant, X-shuttle. Bonus HCP, Hyperion boarding.mp4
[3.4] Falcon Prototype (bails).mp4