Ship Capture Guide: X2 Version 2 (Updated for 1.4)

General discussions about the games by Egosoft including X-BTF, XT, X², X³: Reunion, X³: Terran Conflict and X³: Albion Prelude.

Moderator: Moderators for English X Forum

Al
Posts: 11996
Joined: Mon, 11. Nov 02, 10:26
x3tc

Post by Al » Thu, 20. May 04, 19:23

Well I just wait and see what fate leaves me.

Al
X2 Capture Guru - X3:TC Noob :D
X2 Capture Guide

Jha'dur
Posts: 1211
Joined: Sun, 21. Mar 04, 17:13
x2

Post by Jha'dur » Thu, 20. May 04, 19:30

Sometimes fate neds a hand. And I was just wondering if there was some reward for being faster than the bailing pilot.
+++ Divide By Cucumber Error. Please Reinstall Universe And Reboot +++

Al
Posts: 11996
Joined: Mon, 11. Nov 02, 10:26
x3tc

Post by Al » Thu, 20. May 04, 19:31

:lol:

Not my style but I do like it :D

Al
X2 Capture Guru - X3:TC Noob :D
X2 Capture Guide

(/\)arped
Posts: 2605
Joined: Wed, 24. Mar 04, 18:54
x4

Post by (/\)arped » Thu, 20. May 04, 19:32

87%...

I'll have to remeber that.

I use a similar way to capping as your guide AI, and it works for me pretty damn well. (Honest I didn't read your guide first!) I capped a boron m3 with max weapons and shields the other day. If that's not lucky, tell me what is!

Al
Posts: 11996
Joined: Mon, 11. Nov 02, 10:26
x3tc

Post by Al » Thu, 20. May 04, 19:34

Yeah you get the odd gem in amongst the rest. Had a few Orinocos with weapons and shields and maybe a Xenon L.

87 is a very good number to remember but if you are mass capturing, say from a pirate base or Xenon transport mission, dont be too fussy about getting it bang on. Anything below will do.

Al
X2 Capture Guru - X3:TC Noob :D
X2 Capture Guide

Jha'dur
Posts: 1211
Joined: Sun, 21. Mar 04, 17:13
x2

Post by Jha'dur » Thu, 20. May 04, 19:39

Mmm, PSG's...
+++ Divide By Cucumber Error. Please Reinstall Universe And Reboot +++

User avatar
Tsar_of_Cows
Posts: 9966
Joined: Sat, 31. Jan 04, 14:38
x4

Post by Tsar_of_Cows » Thu, 20. May 04, 19:39

way! Thanks for explaining capping! I have managed to cap 4 ships. and i was wondering how i managed it, since recently all Ive managed to d is destroy them! This explains it all! thanks! :D

(/\)arped
Posts: 2605
Joined: Wed, 24. Mar 04, 18:54
x4

Post by (/\)arped » Thu, 20. May 04, 19:39

Ahhh... Okay.

I usually, ahem, invite myself into to pirate bases. THROUGH THE STATION HULL!

It usually attracts a lot of orinocco attention.

User avatar
GoateeCat
Posts: 1184
Joined: Mon, 10. Mar 03, 23:50
x2

Post by GoateeCat » Fri, 21. May 04, 00:22

Great guide, bloggaramus!!

I have something to add. I use an Ion and A/BHEPT in an M3. I can usually get shields and hull down to the required levels on the first attack run then keep the shields off with an occasional bullet to the hull.

My big advice is, if a capp-able vessel doesn't bail on the first three runs using the above method, just whack it and find another target. Fighting for half an hour to get one fearless ship isn't as effective as destroying 10 fearless ships but capping another 10 cowards.

kinein
Posts: 397
Joined: Thu, 13. May 04, 12:14
x2

Post by kinein » Fri, 21. May 04, 06:20


Jha'dur wrote:
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.


Have done this several more times, but maybe I just grab some drones that wouldn't have been destroyed anyway, and you can only manage to take the stuff at the top of the freight-menu. But it still intrigues me that I can see all the gear for half a second after the bail.
I'm still confused about this. Do you mean that when they bail you check the ship Info ??

Jha'dur
Posts: 1211
Joined: Sun, 21. Mar 04, 17:13
x2

Post by Jha'dur » Fri, 21. May 04, 08:24

No. You know when a pilot bails, he destroys most of the upgrades and equipment, so that even though the ship was fully upgraded with shields and weapons before, what you get is perhaps a few tuning, a SETA and if you're lucky, shields or weapons. But most often you get nothing in the way of equipment with the captured ship.

What I always do, is to check the new ship with the Transporter device beofre I send it to a shipyard\TL, just in case it had something valuable and it gets blown up on the way. And because I hear people say that equipment sold on ship do not get full prize.

The trick here is that if you're really fast, once you hear the bail-message, you immideately press "enter" (assuming you have the bailing ship targeted). Then, while he's still talking, move to the menu with the "command"-option. You will see that the "freight beamer"-option is not there, as it doesn't show up until the pilot stops talking and the ship is properly yours. Then as soon as it shows up, press Page Down and enter the freight-beamer menu. Sometimes you can here actually see the weapons and shields in a split second, before the pilot destroys them.

That's what made me wonder if anyone else had seen this and maybe managed to get something. I have managed to get three fighter drones, as they were at the top of the menu. I justclicked the arrow-button and enter. But I don't know if those drones were going to be destroyed or not, so it's hard to say.

It's an intriguing thought, but I doubt it's possible to be fast enough. You have perhaps half a second to enter the menu, choose an item, click the arrow and then enter.
+++ Divide By Cucumber Error. Please Reinstall Universe And Reboot +++

gdawson
Posts: 350
Joined: Thu, 6. May 04, 21:07
x3

Post by gdawson » Fri, 21. May 04, 11:17

Jha'dur wrote:It's an intriguing thought, but I doubt it's possible to be fast enough. You have perhaps half a second to enter the menu, choose an item, click the arrow and then enter.
Could it be scripted? Would that be quick enough?
Heh heh heh... :)

Jha'dur
Posts: 1211
Joined: Sun, 21. Mar 04, 17:13
x2

Post by Jha'dur » Fri, 21. May 04, 11:29

I suppose one could script in just about anything, but that's beside the point. I'm relating to the game as it is, and don't really see any need for scripting.
+++ Divide By Cucumber Error. Please Reinstall Universe And Reboot +++

Kieren_the_vexed
Posts: 99
Joined: Sat, 24. Apr 04, 01:07
x2

Post by Kieren_the_vexed » Fri, 21. May 04, 12:00

If you have a ship you need disposing off but don't want to do it yourself. Annoy it so it'll chase you then fly through a Xenon sector (that you havn't cleared) they'll do the job for you.

I discovered this when I was clearing out a Xenon sector & accidently annoyed some of the freighters already stupid enough to be in there.
Better to let everyone think your a crap pilot than to get in a ship & prove it.

User avatar
SpinningCone
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue, 25. May 04, 00:01

Capping caps

Post by SpinningCone » Wed, 26. May 04, 03:02

currently im capping in my Nova L with 2 Ion D's and 2 BHEPT's . i usually have a *slow* stream of pirate ships puttering towards the nearest dock. not a bad living. have some questions/suggestions for the guide tho

ive heard that you can capture a Xenon K , presumably only in BBS missions (guess the sector ones never bail?) if a K is capturable are all cap ships capturable? if so it might be interesting to hire a TL to a distant sector then try and cap it. ir maby not even as big as a TL an M6 would be some sweet booty too :-D

if all cap ships are capture fodder it would be a nice addition to the guide, as im sure different strategies apply. 2 Ion D's will eat 600k shields of a pirate base without much problem but in a pirate base you can sit inside the "ring" and be all but completely invulnerable and just let rip. continually hitting a cap ship is a different story. even if only the K is capturable adding good ship/weapon combinations and stratigies for getting one would be a nice addition to the guide.

would be nice if there were a way to get some hard numbers on how captures are calculated. not likely to get them tho

(i really want a K those suckers are so fast! turn fast (for an m2) with better acceleration/speed than an M4 ) *drool*

x2newbie1
Posts: 520
Joined: Mon, 22. Mar 04, 06:25
x3

Re: Capping caps

Post by x2newbie1 » Wed, 26. May 04, 03:11

SpinningCone wrote:(i really want a K those suckers are so fast! turn fast (for an m2) with better acceleration/speed than an M4 ) *drool*
Yeah they're nice. And once they fix the docking, you can even carry up to 5 fighters (or goner ships) with you. Not sure if 1.4 fixes this though.

greg90
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu, 12. Feb 04, 18:05
x2

capturing

Post by greg90 » Wed, 26. May 04, 18:33

Just to go back to an earlier point, I believe that there is a relationship between the race , how scared you make them and how quickly they bail out.
The Teladi for instance take over 30 mins sometimes before they get out whereas all the others are fairly quick in comparison.
Also if you fire say 10 shots of a b-hept it rapidly goes to about 80% and then if you strafe them at full speed fireing your ion cannon I think it really puts the wind up them and they bail.

About Pirate bases, the best tactic is to try and dock then get so close to the entrance that anything leaving the entrance sees you first. They will then try to avoid you smashing into the sides and it only takes about 1 shot to kill them.
Ive done this several times and only about 1 ship in 10 manages to make it out whole. Meanwhile you are B-hepting and ioning the base to death.

User avatar
SpinningCone
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue, 25. May 04, 00:01

Capping caps

Post by SpinningCone » Wed, 26. May 04, 19:33

Me gain . tested some capturing ideas. about weapons and shields still being there. i think its not a result of the captain bailing but the ion D's destrying them . ive never been hit with an Ion D but i presume that it stops the enemies weapons not by disabling them (how ouwd you repair a weapon) but simply destoying them . so if you have to chase a fighter for 10 min with two ion trails up his tail then likely your detroying all the eq. i belive this because recently ive capped 3 ships inlike 4 4 seconds. i was intending to destroy hit them to like 80% in a second or to then suddenlyt hey bailed , had lots of goodies onboard. where as ALL of my long ion capps have nothing and ALL of my short caps have had stuff. the long kills prob last so long because the pilot is holding out till his shields collapse completely .
will have to test just using my BHEPT's and waiting for the shields to regen and carfully lowering them without further damage to see if i get more eq instead of ion capturing.


also about capturing capitol ships. from other threads its aparantly pretty easy to get a K if you have the right ship and are at the rank to make them apper (why the xenon sector K's arnt capturable is beyond me) . as far as i can tell hired TL's arnt capturable. scince the split hated me already i killed a few pirated hired an elephant to a remote sector . moved it to position . flew inside it between the "box" and the hull and sat there with my ions. first time they surrounding escort nuked thir own ship to get to me and it blew up . 2nd try after like an hour of carful ion fire (letting shields regen when the missile warning came up) they still didnt quit. conclusions:


1) they arnt capturable at al
or
2) they can be captured but HIRED ones cant
or
3) hired tl's or otherwise can be captured it just takes a very long time
or
4) despite kicking its A$$ my nova just wasent "scary" enough to make them want to bail

i'd try an m6 but thyre kinda hard to get out in the open awy from M2's and a whole sector of angry fighters

e3j1c1
Posts: 29
Joined: Mon, 24. May 04, 09:56
x2

Post by e3j1c1 » Sat, 29. May 04, 02:12

This is an excellent guide. I read it a little over two weeks ago and since then have raised enough money to buy a M2!!
I have been using my M2 to capture ships since i have purchased it. I load it up with IonD and other low powered weapons and set it in front of a pirate base (just out of range from my front turret). When a pirate ship pops out my guns go to work. Usually I am very lazy and leave it there to capture ships while im away but this kinda takes the fun out of it. When i get back there is usually a whole fleet of pirate ships i command to dock at nearest shipyard. If your partial to mandalays don't do this because it usually blows them up. In 4 hours my M2 captured 26 ships: 11 Pirate Ship, 7 Orinoco, and 8 Bayamon. Not very fast, but if you have to be away somewhere...

Next, I'm going to see if it will still capture ships if i hop out of it and fly away in a different ship. That would be way too easy.

DragonsClaw
Posts: 308
Joined: Tue, 18. Feb 03, 09:08
x3tc

Gj!

Post by DragonsClaw » Sat, 29. May 04, 03:15

Nice work, AL! The only things I miss are:
1. PSG's (Shockwave Generators) are as good for capturing as are the Ions.
2. If u want to have the equipment aboard a ship and not the hull for selling, it makes much sense to use heavy weapons to bring down shields and hull at once and dont use any Ions or PSG's at all (since those usually destroy equipment).
3. Rename captured ships so their name reflects what cargo is still aboard.

I also dont like to trade, so I finance everything mostly through capturing. Best capture so far (not in terms of hull, but equipment aboard) was a Xenon L which still had 2 AHEPT's, 3 25 MW shields and 8 of its hornets. Hull was at about 70+ %. Captured with PSG's (I prefer those since I never need to switch weapons if I decide to destroy the target and also never need to worry about missiles). About that L, I really laughed my ass off there, the only thing I could figure WHY that thing bailed was that I destroyed one of its hornets :lol:

Post Reply

Return to “X Trilogy Universe”