Capturing ships with drones

TexSteel · Post by **TexSteel** » Thu, 12. Mar 15, 16:07

Is it possible to capture a ship without losing all of the drones on board? My first step in ship capturing is always to destroy the drone launcher so as to reduce the boarding defence; but I may be making a mistake because I never seem to be able to capture a ship that has more than 4 drones after its all said and done.

Vandragorax · Post by **Vandragorax** » Thu, 12. Mar 15, 16:23

The drones add a HUGE amount to the calculation of boarding defence and unfortunately there isn't a lot you can do to save the drone cargo until you level your marines and boarding officer up to be able to counter with increased boarding strength.

You can however usually capture a few repair drones by waiting until they launch and then blowing up the drone bay. Once you cap the ship, the repair drones which are circling the ship should turn green and be yours, then dock when the repair bay is fixed.

This helps get the ship up and running again enough to take it to a shipyard and install some cargo drones or others if you want

Snafu_X3 · Post by **Snafu_X3** » Thu, 12. Mar 15, 16:24

If your boarding strength > their boarding defence you should be able to capture the ship with all drones aboard.. provided you're lucky & Yisha doesn't tell you to destroy the drone bay

If the drone bay is destroyed (not sure about hacked) any drones still on board the target will also be lost. If you're lucky & the target has construction URVs then they may register as 'in use' once the target's hull & engines have been reduced. This means they're outside, repairing the ship, & won't be lost with the drone bay

TexSteel · Post by **TexSteel** » Fri, 13. Mar 15, 00:17

So you have to leave the drone launcher alone to capture the ship with the drones... That makes sense. Does anyone know what the maximum boarding strength you can get to on the player ship? I thought the boarding defense with the drone launcher on was usually 100+

Snafu_X3 · Post by **Snafu_X3** » Fri, 13. Mar 15, 00:43

Try looking here: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php? ... 54#4470954

It's a bit old (& therefore some of the constants may be slightly out), but it's fairly accurate

IIRC the results show a max boarding strength for the skunk of around 150-200 with fully upgraded everything

Since ES have (oddly) included non-combat drones in the boarding resistance (1 point per drone, IIRC), the target's BR will drop dramatically if you kill the drone bay or any deployed drones.. but so will its value & time to repair

wwdragon · Post by **wwdragon** » Fri, 13. Mar 15, 02:42

Snafu_X3 wrote:Since ES have (oddly) included non-combat drones in the boarding resistance (1 point per drone, IIRC), the target's BR will drop dramatically if you kill the drone bay or any deployed drones.. but so will its value & time to repair Smile

I too find this very odd.

As to the OP: My marines are around half vet and half elite.

The easy way to capture the target, without destroying drone bay, is just to strip everything but drone bay and take hull down to ( and keep it below) 25%.

TexSteel · Post by **TexSteel** » Fri, 13. Mar 15, 18:58

Thanks for the tip; I tried that last night, but no matter how many times I quicksaved and reloaded; Yisha still asked me to destroy the drone bay before I could complete the boarding! Does the boarding options mod help with that?

Snafu_X3 · Post by **Snafu_X3** » Fri, 13. Mar 15, 19:34

If you reckon you have enough BS to take the target without destroying the drone bay, your best bet is take all its guns down to below 25%, then take out the cap shield generator(s). If the guns are below 25% they are disabled & can't be used against your boarding pods, but they're still valid targets for Yisha's 'suggestions'

Then it's simply a matter of quicksave after each stage of completing Yisha's targets, reloading if she gives you the drone bay. Since Yisha's targets are not ignorable (at the penalty of losing 20% of your boarding party) it's best to give her as many choices as possible to make the drone bay less likely to be presented

birdtable · Post by **birdtable** » Fri, 13. Mar 15, 21:18

@TexSteel .... Use the Boarding Options mod ... vastly superior with regard to enjoyment ..... you take charge of the boarding not Yisha.
Highly recommended ....