AP - Boarding changed somewhat?

[xiriod]

Been absent for some time, but returning because of AP and looking forward to making some new scripts. Playing AP for a while first to get in the mood and notice that I pretty much can't board anything larger than a M6 with a marine team of 5 that has 3-5 stars in fighting skill.

After the changes in XTC I went through the progression of training by capturing TP/TMs until my marines had at least 2 stars in fighting. Then I progressed to M6, and when my marines had 3-4 stars in fighting I could take on a M7 missile frigate to be able to board larger ships and TLs.

While getting inside the ship now ain't so much of a problem, they usually die on deck 2 even when the enemy has no countermeasures or marines with them. Using Cycrows cheat package I decked myself out with max star marines and with 5 of those I could take out a M7 from my M6. But training a marine to max takes a very, very long time. Money ain't the problem, but time is a major factor.

I wanted to make a Yaki/Pirate mod/script, and be able to have a full pirate career. But I wonder if that would be too difficult now seeing as I would have to resort to old fashioned trading to finance it all and wait that long time until I could do what pirates do best, plunder and board.

Well, long intro. I just wonder if AP has made boarding harder in some way, or if it is just me somehow. Also, is it possible through editing the default script or by adding a new one to increase the number of marines launched from a M6 to the actual 8 it can carry and not just the odd 5 leaving the three left trying to catch up?

[Vim Razz]

Welcome back! More a gameplay thing, but it sounds like you're just undermanned. Send more guys.

The top link in my sig has more low-econ AP spacewalk stuff, including links to Cycrow's comments on what was changed.

Also, it sounds like you're over-training your marines for simple jobs? I've got kind of a rambling, partially-coherent post on minimal training here. It saves time when you're getting up and running.


More related to S&M, Improved Boarding is well worth it, first for the hotkeys, but more importantly (!!) for NPC Ship Marines.

Marines will often bail if you stomp them hard enough in AP, and by picking them up and saving the good ones you can save days in training time. NPC Ship Marines gives you lots of great "recruits" this way, without having to raise your fight rank high enough to spawn marine-bearing M6s from missions first.

You might not want to switch it on ~right~ away, but by the time your basic crew is all 4-5* fighting it can be a huge bonus.


And if you've got the cash to spare, LV & DrBullwinkle's Quantico Marine base can save a ton of time on training, too.

[xiriod]

What I am doing is like I did in X3TC, except now I launch 8 (5+3) from my M6 against a M7 as an example. I've removed countermeasures from enemy ship, and it has no marines to counter mine.

First of all what happens in a 5+3 scenario is that the latter 3 arrives too late. I've done 47 tests and only two times did they all land at the same time but the last 3 didn't manage to cut the hull and thus were discarded. 5 went in, and they died on deck 2 usually. One time three made it to deck 3 and died once they got there.

These five marines that got in, 3 of them had four stars in fighting and 2 had three stars.

Point is, in X3TC I with a five man properly trained crew in Eng/Mec/Hack (3 stars) and 2-3 stars in fighting launched from a M6 would have a good chance on taking out a M7 with no defences. In AP, with these 47 tries, on different targets as well, not a single successful board of an M7.

It seems, but I can not be sure, that it is now harder for a 5 man moderately ranked crew to take on a M7 compared to X3TC. So I am wondering if these scripts have been changed or if I have just been plain unlucky for 47 times in a row?

And, as I mentioned above, since M6 now have 8 marines is it possible through altering a script to make all 8 launch at once? Kinda wish they had 10 so one could launch two teams of 5 marines, but I guess that is hardcoded in the .exe or something because I haven't found where to mod that.

Well, I've been at it for 18 hours now. Need some sleep, and maybe I can think clearer later on.

[Vim Razz]

Did you play TC prior to patch 2.5? After 2.5, things were made a bit harder, from what I've heard.

The kind of operation you're describing (one-shipping an M7 from an M6) is a lot easier in AP than it is in the current TC release.

If your 2nd team is bouncing off the hull, you need another skilled mechanic. Launching from an M6, you need at least 4 with sufficient skill (~75, for reliable cutting vs commonwealth capitals) to cut though the target's hull.

And if the team's aren't landing together, you might be trying to drop them too close, causing them to "scatter" in random directions away from the target because of the collision-avoidance box.

Still, the easier option is just to send more guys.

The 5 marines-per-launch team is hardcoded, though. You wont find a script to change that.

Anyway, good luck!

[xiriod]

[Cycrow]

[DrBullwinkle]

[xiriod]

[Cycrow]

[xiriod]

[Cycrow]

no its not possible, as the commands will split the marines up into groups of 5.

so its actually better for the scripts to split them up then it can choose the best teams to use rather than being randomly split up.

however, it might be possible if you monitor the boarding process, and when the first lot of marines are through, you tell the other marines left in space to join.

[xiriod]

[xiriod]

OOOOkeey, so after millions of credits and heaps of time I kitted my Cobra with a full sett of twenty 5-star marines and wanted to cap a Q like I've done before in X3TC. Nice, setting my Hyperion to attack shields while I Flail a little and successfully launch pods that connect at the same time, cutting through the hull and start fighting together.

I speed away from the Q, leaning back in my chair waiting for my prize. I expect heavy losses in the 60-70% range, but what.....9 marines die before deck one is cleared. On deck two the remaining 11 marines are slaughtered. This Q has no internal weapons either.

I reloaded several times, hoping for some weird randomness that caught me but every time is the same.

Everyone knows Xenon ships are a pain to catch, but I've capped several Q's in my time in X3TC. Did Xenon get a boost or something in AP?

[DrBullwinkle]

Twenty Marines has never been enough to capture a Q, AFAIK, in recent versions of TC or AP.

(Maybe... if you were very lucky. Maybe.)

But probably not.

Try 30 marines; launched in two waves. The Sirokos was born for the job.

See Marine Tips for more info.

.

[xiriod]