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.

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kinein
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Post by kinein » Sat, 29. May 04, 04:39

e3j1c1 wrote: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.
Can you include some detail such as.

-Which M2 you used in your situation.

-Distance from Pirate base so you were out of your main guns range.

-Also what weapons you armed?

e3j1c1
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Post by e3j1c1 » Sat, 29. May 04, 06:29

I used the Titan, but I think the Boron M2 is able to mount IonD (and more of them). I use about as many IonD as i could. I mount 2 on each turret that is able to mount them. And 1 GPAC for the other gun. On the turrets unable to mount IonD, I used a combination of PAC and IRE. On the PAC and IRE combo turrets i try not to put too much firepower since if 1 of the guns on that turret hits, the others likely will too.
I sit in front of the Pirate Base opening, just under 3.00km away. If needed, i can jumpstart the base (get pirates to come out) by getting in the front turret and firing Ions at it. Ions hit the base at 3km but dont seem to hit ships....weird. Anyway, thats basically it. As Al noted; you seem to have a greater change of capturing the ship if its targeted. So if your partial to any kind of ship, keep them targeted.
Also, i have not had much trouble with other pirates killing my captured ships. Its usually the cloud in Atreus' Clouds that gets them while passing to a dock. Other than that they have a safe journy.

If you get out of your destroyer and fly away in another ship you won't cap any ships. In fact, I'm not too sure it will kill any either. I went on a equipment run, gathering guns and shields for my fleet. When i came back there were about 30 pirates swarming my Titan. Besides being useless to get out and leave the ship sitting there, i also had a continuous loop of "Attention: One of your ships is under attack". Very annoying
Last edited by e3j1c1 on Sat, 29. May 04, 09:01, edited 1 time in total.

Rex
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Post by Rex » Sat, 29. May 04, 08:21

Thanks Al :)
CYBERSPACE THE NEXT FRONTIER

mercurior
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Post by mercurior » Sat, 29. May 04, 12:18

something odd happened to me yesterday.. i have a boron mako.. with a gpac and a ion d, and i had some fighter drones, so i thought i'd zap a pirate ship with my iond and set 2 drones on him.. i capped him in less than a minute.. and he had most of his stuff with him.. (i set the drones going first.. to attack target. then zoomed in got him with ion d's 84% damage.. launced the drones within 5km then i moved fast) will try again..

dont know if it takes ur drones damage as yours.. just wondering if anyone else has tried this.. could be a fluke.. but.. u never know

Edit: i did something very evil.. ;-).. u know the sheild destroying nebula. well i dumped a trail of e cells.. through there, and hovered on the edge of the cloud,, and a ship came along picking up my dumped cargo and i nearly captured him, (he rammed me .. just wondering if anyone thought to do that as well

Jha'dur
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Post by Jha'dur » Sat, 29. May 04, 12:29

:lol: That'll teach 'em to go after your stuff.
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mercurior
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Post by mercurior » Sat, 29. May 04, 12:35

:lol: yup serves him right.. :lol: (unfortunatly he decided to commit suicide by ramming into me and destroyed my jump device.. luckily i had saved it b4.. argh... :roll: )

he was an ordinary mercury.. but its interesting if it does work ;-) ::lays some bread crumbs.. and waits.. ) :twisted:

Gregoriano
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Post by Gregoriano » Sat, 29. May 04, 13:28

hmmmm wheres a good place to get ions then? so far i've been capturing in my maxed nova with lasers and have a rough capture rate of about 2 ships for every 4 (Buster, nova and orinoco classes only)

mercurior
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Post by mercurior » Sat, 29. May 04, 13:32

kingdom end the ion d forge, and couldbase north west ion d forge, you can buy from kingdon end equipment doc, but if u go to the factory u can get it for a few thousand less.. and u may be able to sell it if u have no need for a few extra pennies ;-)

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

Acidic wrote:I object. Al is a pawn to the combined capturing skill of the UNCC.

I challenge AL TO A DUEL, where we shall see who can capture each other's ship.

Do you accept?
My money is on the 'Guru'....No Contest......Nice post Al,something in it for all.new and old alike.....I seem to remember that Al does it all by keyboard only? Joystick Jockeys and Mouse Men take note!
Kachi wa saya no naka ni ari
[Victory comes while the sword is[still]in the scabbard]

Gregoriano
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Post by Gregoriano » Sun, 30. May 04, 17:45

Ok, gave the ion approch a try, 100% capture rate though it is a shame that in almost all cases shields and weapons are lost (Though I did get a nova with its rear turrent left, and a manderley with shields and all weapons).... so far on one run I've made about 2-3 mil so its definatly a better tatic then my previous one.



Question: I've noticed if you get the first volley into the front of the ship, theres a better chance of them bailing sooner, then attacking from the side or back, anyone else found this?

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Wonder*Chimp
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Post by Wonder*Chimp » Sun, 30. May 04, 17:50

I've also found that the more vocal they are (ie. constantly taunting you) the more likely they are to bail.
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Mailo
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Re: Gj!

Post by Mailo » Tue, 1. Jun 04, 13:59

DragonsClaw wrote: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:
The Xenon AI runs under Windows, the poor L just got a blue screen and froze ... and we all know that happens even when everything should be going alright :P

Nice guide, thanks, helped me quite a bit.

Al
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Post by Al » Tue, 1. Jun 04, 18:58

Lord Hachiman wrote: I seem to remember that Al does it all by keyboard only? Joystick Jockeys and Mouse Men take note!
Yeah still on the old keyboard, but I do have an old joystick and throttle sitting gathering dust which I've never tried out. Need to get a ps2 convertor for one of the inputs when I can be bothered :D

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

kahnindustries
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Post by kahnindustries » Thu, 3. Jun 04, 14:16

Just a quick question, are you guys capping under 1.3? Just asking because I started using this technique and caught loads of ships, 100% success rate. Then I realised I had cocked up my update and was still running in version 1.0. updated to 1.2 the 1.3 and now it takes ages to cap a pirate.

Also I had just started having fun capping Novas when I updated, I decided to go to Antigone Memorial after I updated to 1.3 and all Argon turned red against me before I even capped my first nova :( . I reduced the hull to 80%, waited for shields to rechage and dove in wih ions, rince and repeat. Then I noticed that each pass was making the Argon hate me 10% more :shock:

Does this still have the same effect on your ranking if you do it in a non-argon sector? what non-argon sectors can you find Novas? could I hire a TL, lead it out to a pirate sector and then capture it and its escort?

Al
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Post by Al » Thu, 3. Jun 04, 19:16

Yes version 1.3 and its significantly harder than the earlier versions. You need patience, and plenty of it!

First check what your Argon rating is. If its low then they will all show up as red. If its still ok then try checking your global Argon Friend Foe settings to see if its been set to foe.

You shouldn't lose too much rank for capturing ships. However if you kill the ship or an ejected pilot it will plummet. Also killing fighter drones counts are killing ships, which aint good.

You cant capture TL class ships but you could capture its escorts. The best thing to do is continue capturing in the race sectors but between every capture or 2 kill some pirates, Xenon or Khaak to build your rating back up.

Either that or stick to pirates and Xenon ;)

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

(/\)arped
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Post by (/\)arped » Thu, 3. Jun 04, 21:50

AI uses a keyboard?

Maybe I don't need a joystick to rise to greatness after all. :wink:

Keyboards Rock!

Al
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Post by Al » Thu, 3. Jun 04, 21:55

Actually my keyboard sucks. Cant stand typing on it and its probably only because I'm used to it for gaming that it doesn't drive me round the bend....

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

(/\)arped
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Post by (/\)arped » Thu, 3. Jun 04, 21:58

I'm used to it for gaming that it doesn't drive me round the bend....
Maybe I will get a joystick after all...

This is the only game where I don't use a mouse/ mouse and keyboard combination.

Al
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Post by Al » Thu, 3. Jun 04, 22:00

I actually like using the keyboard its just the one I use that I seriously dislike :roll:

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

(/\)arped
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Post by (/\)arped » Thu, 3. Jun 04, 22:02

I actually like using the keyboard its just the one I use that I seriously dislike
:?

Yeah... That makes LOADS of sense...

You're losing it AI... :P

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