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JackScratch wrote:There is definately an undocumented 'scare' factor. PSGs seem to have a very high 'intimidation' ability.

I think that's just the usual thing of PSGs doing heavy shield damage and light hull damage. So long as you're shooting with them the enemy is constantly losing hull integrity and is probably more likely to bail thereby.

Very good, I didn. read it all but then, when it comes down to it it's all about luck. I like using my Nova, sneaking up on a ship, matching speed then unleasind with two Ion Disruptors to destroy it's shields. Then i switch to one ID and one BHEPT I've caught loads of Orinocos with 60%+ hull damage. Pirate ships with 70+.

But, like i say, i didn't read it all, so you may already have included this.

APSG\IonD is my capture-combo, works well. The reason, unless I'm mistaken, is that it does a tiny bit of hull-damage a lot of times, because of the shockwave. And as seems to be agreed upon, hull damage increases chance of bail.

Just an observation and question from someone new to X2.

I have found that I can use my strafe drive to steer clear of turrent fire from large ships, and if I get it just right, can stay out of the fire arc while keeping my weapons trained on the target. It works OK for me, but after reading what you guys have posted makes me think I am going about everything the wrong way. I'll work my way up to a ship that can mount a disruptor (still using my Disco at the moment) and give it a go.

Is it me or is there a racial modifier to the bail chance? I've never had a Teladi bail on me - ever. Split bail all the time as do Boron. I've had the Argon ones occasionally bail.

Damn Teladi fight to the last flaming rivet. They never surrender....

I suppose all that profit lost is an anathema to that race. Actually it kind of makes sense...Boron are peaceful (normally) so would bail easily, Split seem to be kind of more tied to their family than any pirate organisation. Argon are, well, human so could do anything really...

If I see a Teladi pilot I dont bother wasting time capping them any more - just blow em to hell. I wonder if it was like that in WWII with the Japanese. Scary....

This is a great guide. And knowing Al, it will not stop here....

Great guide Al, I have one question though:
Some people say it's best to let the shields of your target fully recharge before blasting with Ion-Disruptors again, is this true?

The Nova is a dream for going up to pirate bases and shooting them. It can easily take out laser towers with a BHEPT and ID, then none of the ships will dent your hull. Plus, you don't have to worry about missiles because of the rear turret.

Constipated_Vigilante wrote; It can easily take out laser towers with a BHEPT and ID, then none of the ships will dent your hull.

Laser towers need to be tougher and do more damage. As they are, I do not even waste credits buying them for station defense and never fear them when going up against a pirate base.

Shadow Walker wrote:Great guide Al, I have one question though:
Some people say it's best to let the shields of your target fully recharge before blasting with Ion-Disruptors again, is this true?

I haven't managed to prove any connection between letting the shields recharge and getting capture. One thing that might make it seem like this is the way that the player gives the ships time to recharge. If the player flies away in a straight line then you'll find the following ships will form an approximate line behind the player and hence when the player turns and goes back through the pack, you hit more ships that you would if you just flew in between them waiting for the shields to recharge.

I've got to agree on the hull damage. It definitely makes a difference. For a laugh last night I put on 2 Alpha PSGs (with 2 Ions)and simply hammered the base and everything coming out of it. I had 5 captures as the ships launched, 4 of which were subsequently destroyed as I never stopped firing the PSGs.

I'm going to try a similar tactic with a single PSG and perhaps an Ion. Watch this space for the results

Al

PSG's work well - I have 4 BPSG's in the Osprey (I am trying to get my combat ranking up so kill / capture makes little odds)... Getting quite a few captures - although it tends to fry the Mandalays, but then again they are worth Peanuts so who cares.....

Yup Mandalays are the biggest threat to me when capturing so I generally take them down first as a couple of wasps up the tailpipe and its all but over for me in my Bayamon.

Al

Al wrote:Yup Mandalays are the biggest threat to me when capturing so I generally take them down first a couple of wasps up the tailpipe and its all but over in a Bayamon.

Al

Yes, I've starting taking out the Mandalays, as they seem to like going for my NavSats or captured ships.

Al wrote:If you cant capture after trying whats in the guide let me know as its obviously lacking something.

I haven't been out in my Disco recently so prehaps the guide might need a little fine tuning.

Let me know how you get on.

Al

Hi,

Finally got round to picking up a Mako and fitting an IonD to it (just the one, credits are a tad tight at the moment). Anyway, maxxed the speed and took it for a spin. And what do I see before me but a convoy of 2xBayamon and 2xMandalay. What the hell, I thought, let's have a go....

First target, a Bayamon. A couple of minutes of frantic keyboard activity and lots of swearing, and out he jumps. My first ever capture.
Second target, the second Bayamon. More swearing, and he fires off a missile, I hammer the keyboard, hard left, and there's a big explosion off my port bow. Now, either I slammed into one of the Mandalays or the missile hit it, but 'no ship is worth this', and the Mandalay pilot bails. My second capture and I never even shot at it. Meanwhile the Bayamon was being a sticky little bugger and I got fed up and it was late and, well, he's in a better place now... (the other mandalay disappeared).

Results
1x Bayamon captured, 74% hull, no equipment
1x Mandalay captured, 85% hull, no equipment
My ship at 67% hull which will cost me to repair, but I'm only doing a reload if I die, so I will take the hit to the bank balance.

Anyway, thanks for all the advice Al. An excellent guide, and it has genuinely helped my game.

Gracias.

Glad its helped. Best advice I can give is to strip the Mako and install everything on the Bayamon, repair and max it out and you have the best M4 in the game IMHO.

Al

Some people say it's best to let the shields of your target fully recharge before blasting with Ion-Disruptors again, is this true?

I don't have a lot of experience in X2 (Captured the Perseus in X-T though). I have thus far captured about 10 Orinocos and around 10 Bayamons in X2 and am about 27 hours into the game. I haven't yet done mission 2.

However, I have tried both ways with ION Disruptors, and I don't think it matters which way you do it. I personally like to keep on their 6 and vary it, sometimes I hit them every few seconds and then sometimes I wait until they have around half shields.

Funny thing is, when I go in all angry and hot headed, twisting like mad and hitting them quick, they seem to bail much quicker - I am sure they can sense that I mean business! I have also tried growling like a mad dog when firing the first few shots and that seems to have 100% success rate (just joking, but you get the idea of how I go in sometimes).

I just thought of something, don't know if this has been looked at (probably has, but I haven't seen it).

If you use something small to get the hull down to 87%, fx an AIRE, instead of just a few shots of a GPAC, the ship will have taken a lot more shots before they reach 87%. Will they then bail faster once the hull is down to 87? I was thinking along the lines of a buildup of bail-probability or somesuch.

Am I totally off track? Yeah, probably, but I thought I should bring it up just in case.

Another thing, don't know if it's been mentioned, but I've found that sometimes I can reack the Freight Beamer-menu before the bailing pilots scraps most (all) of the ships equipment. I'ts been a while since I first saw this, but today I manage to nab three (of 7) fighter-drones in the splitsecond before all the stuff disappeared.

how often do they decide to bail. I've basically restarted the game entirely 4 times and so far have not passed brennan's triumph nor captured a ship. Right now trying to capture Pirate Bayamon's. Brought them past 87% but nothings been happening. Is it a percentage chance that they'll react? There's always 2 together. Should i kill the first one then try to capture the second one?

Great guide Al.

I have been playing for a while now and got my first M2, a Titan. I have been hooning around the universe looking for things to do with it, and I came up with this idea:

Capitol Capping for Capitol Gain.

- I flew up to a Pirate base and wiped out the Lasertowers from 4.5km away with the GPPCs.
- I hit the base a bit to unleash the horets nest of ships.
- I then removed all of the Titans gun and install Ion Ds in the Front, Left and Right turrets (the others wont accept them.)
- Next I dropped out in my Nova and use 2 Mass Drivers to reduce the hulls to less than 87%.
- Lastly I pooped back onto the Bridge of the Titan and turned the Turret on and let the 9 Ion Ds do their thing.

I got a Pirate ship, Orinoco, Bayamon and two Mandalays in about 30 mins. I could have got more, but it was late.

I did have to chace some ships down as they seamed to loose interest in me, perhaps because i was not hurting them. Next time it will try having each of the three turrets with 1 Alpha IRE and 2 Ion Ds.

The other hassle was that I ran into many ships even though I was going slowly.

Gersh