Game is too easy with this boarding policy

[shinral]

I played every x game, even rebirth and I think this x4 is just too easy if you like boarding.
From the game start look for minotaur raider pirate ships and make the pilot bail, or go in war zone and ask some damaged gorgon or cerberus to surrender and reclame ship.
now with one or two m ship look for a behemot pirate destroyer and board it.
Repeat 5-6 times and you should have a mighty fleet of destroyers and can rule the galaxy in 1-2 hours of gameplay.

You lose permanent reputation only if destroy a faction ship, and they aren't full of marines, so just follow an L freighter and when it stops, release boarding pods without shooting and run away. When you have a Selene or a shuyaku you can easy board any capital or XL ships.

I Think getting hands on M frigates should be a tougher goal, not just asking to bail like in small S ships.
L and XL ships should be full of expert marines, even pirates (in beta 3, marines are tougher), and a boarding action should be permanent penalized at least in controlled sectors. Boarding a capital ship and killing every crew member without penalty in front of argon prime shipyard is just ridiculous.

[Wehrwolf_10]

All my Behemoths were boarded and I did it with one eclipse + one any m-ship. Capture would be harder if every Behemoth had a fighter wing and trained marines with weapons (as I suggested here: viewtopic.php?f=146&t=421889&sid=dbb215 ... 4678eb76c9). Another solution would be a ban on surrender for m-ships (boarding only). Perhaps it is also worthwhile to increase the cost of the marine by 500-1000%.

[Shuulo]

I totally agree with this.
Boarding should be considered on the same level as ship destruction, please Egosoft add severe rep penalty for it.
I personally do not like boarding that much but because its so effective and without major negative consequences I am (kind of) forced to do it, otherwise i feel dumb not to do it due to its efficiency.

[shinral]

All my Behemoths were boarded and I did it with one eclipse + one any m-ship. Capture would be harder if every Behemoth had a fighter wing and trained marines with weapons (as I suggested here: viewtopic.php?f=146&t=421889&sid=dbb215 ... 4678eb76c9). Another solution would be a ban on surrender for m-ships (boarding only). Perhaps it is also worthwhile to increase the cost of the marine by 500-1000%.

Yes, a destroyer should be a feared opponent, but lonely pirate behemots are easy prey for M ships and they spawn in every major sector.
The surrender ban for m ships is a good solution, I like boarding, but it feels like cheating.

Pirates generally should not use destroyers to assault stations and freighters, but only for pirate base defence.
M frigates with high cargo, like new teladi cormorant ship should do the big job, maybe with some kestrel escort.

[Imperial Good]

or go in war zone and ask some damaged gorgon or cerberus to surrender and reclame ship.

Known exploit I have reported for a long time. There should be a reputation cost if a ship surrenders, or the option should not be available for ships that are not permanently hostile.

now with one or two m ship look for a behemot pirate destroyer and board it.
Repeat 5-6 times and you should have a mighty fleet of destroyers and can rule the galaxy in 1-2 hours of gameplay.

Another known exploit. The pirates get their ship stocks replaced for free with spawned ships. As such they provide an infinite source of free ships as long as the player is willing to micro obtaining them.

I Think getting hands on M frigates should be a tougher goal, not just asking to bail like in small S ships.

This is kind of by design. One can literally pick up an abandoned Osprey in Company Regard within in a few minutes of starting.

L and XL ships should be full of expert marines, even pirates (in beta 3, marines are tougher), and a boarding action should be permanent penalized at least in controlled sectors.

Pirates are pirates and should not be a well oiled crew. They should not even have so many destroyers to begin with...

I agree that faction ships such as carriers should have 20-40 4-5 star marines on them.

Boarding a capital ship and killing every crew member without penalty in front of argon prime shipyard is just ridiculous.

Another known exploit. One should lose reputation similar to ship loss when killing crew. Loss of life is a much greater reason to lose reputation than loss of property. Like wise destroying surface elements should lose very little reputation as they are replaced for free at the cost of just some time.

[radcapricorn]

In 3.0 boarding of large ships will create a lot more problems with police and reputation if done carelessly, so there's an improvement coming at least in that regard. But that's for faction ships, pirates don't seem affected, which kind of diminishes the improvement since lots of nearly "free" destroyers remain up for the taking. And yes, S/M bailing is ridiculously easy.