Boarding and Elite Marines

[TexSteel]

I recently had an odd experience with boarding... Over the past two days that I've been playing I've been boarding Taranis and Arawn cap ships to beef up my DeVries defences to attempt to keep all of the 6 NPC stations built that are spawned during the plot. So far I've only seen three of them (fiendish moloch, extinct torch, and forty-two).

Nonetheless, I've been boarding ships where I had an attack strength of around 88 - 92. The defence strength of the ships were usually 55 - 80 by the time I beat them down. I wanted to save as much of the ship as possible and I wanted a challenge for my boarding crew as I thought maybe the boarding crew would get more promotions from tougher fights. About 6 boarding events later I was still sitting with the same 4-5 elites, 1 rookie, and 44 veterans.

Yesterday on a whim, I took a cargo carrier because it had fusion reactors I wanted. I beat the freighter down to a boarding defence of 10 just to make it quick and painless. I received 5 promotions from veteran to elite in one boarding fight... Has anyone had similar experiences? Do you get more promotions from boarding a ship that's much lower than your attack strength? Is it related to the time that the boarding event takes perhaps?

[Goobers]

I got three letters for you...

RNG.

[birdtable]

Same 3 letters ... RNG

[Luanda]

Same 3 letters ... RNG

the usual way is that RNG has set limits based on other parameters. if there isnt in XR, thats pretty bad

[Goobers]

Same 3 letters ... RNG

the usual way is that RNG has set limits based on other parameters. if there isnt in XR, thats pretty bad

Having a near guaranteed chance of promotion due to succeeding at a tough boarding, versus a near zero chance when failing an "easy" target, is still a chance. It ain't called luck for nothing.

[Vyrebird]

From JoeTheDestroyer's Boarding Mechanics post, I thought it was a simple chance-on-victory, with no parameters other than "You successfully took the ship" being considered.

Sure, some other modifiers on top of that could make sense, but that doesn't seem to be the case. 3 2% successes in one go is some nice luck, though

[TexSteel]

From JoeTheDestroyer's Boarding Mechanics post, I thought it was a simple chance-on-victory, with no parameters other than "You successfully took the ship" being considered

Thanks, I was aware of this, however did not have the exact calculations. So as far as the community is aware; there are no modifiers to this promotion rate, purely random... Got it

[Snafu_X3]

I've not tested this, but ISTM that the chance of a promotion decreases as the marine rises in rank, so greenie -> vet has the best chance, vet -> elite has a lesser chance. Otherwise we'd be seeing elites turn up in more or less parity with the vets & this doesn't seem to be the case

[UniTrader]

did you read the previously linked Topic?

After Success
The ship ownership is transferred and a "boarded signal" is sent. (This signal appears to be handled internally, so I have no idea about things like reputation loss in open space.)

Each surviving marine has a chance at promotion. A rookie has a 25% chance of becoming a veteran. A veteran has a 2% chance of becoming an elite.

The officer may level (increasing his boarding skill only).

[Snafu_X3]

Yes, UniT, when it first came out.. seems as though I'd forgotten it

[solntcev]

It is purely random and calculated when Marine officer tells you that ship is yours.
You can boost your elite marines count by little save-scumming:
Quicksave right after 5 boarding stage. Reload if you did not receive 1-2 marines promouted.

[werewolves?]

RNG is terrible, after a while I just opened the save file and edited in some more elites. Don't have time for that rubbish.

[Mahi Ma]

Why can't we just buy them? Or train them? 3mio$ for an veteran and 8mio$ for an elite? Training may be cheaper but takes time and so on?

Oh wait @egosoft i don't want to imply you to include a marine training minigame. No stupid minigame. No never never no no ever! (hint: training for cash, got it?)

[wwdragon]

Boarding xp IS completely random.
That's one area where I think it needs improvement.

The other being that the total boarding defence numbers should be lower.

[Goobers]

Why can't we just buy them? Or train them? 3mio$ for an veteran and 8mio$ for an elite? Training may be cheaper but takes time and so on?

Oh wait @egosoft i don't want to imply you to include a marine training minigame. No stupid minigame. No never never no no ever! (hint: training for cash, got it?)

I guess you haven't read the patch log... I think it was with 3.5, they changed from being able to buy all three levels of marines to just recruits.

[Nanook]

Why can't we just buy them? Or train them? 3mio$ for an veteran and 8mio$ for an elite? Training may be cheaper but takes time and so on?

Oh wait @egosoft i don't want to imply you to include a marine training minigame. No stupid minigame. No never never no no ever! (hint: training for cash, got it?)

I guess you haven't read the patch log... I think it was with 3.5, they changed from being able to buy all three levels of marines to just recruits.

Do you maybe mean 2.5? I started with 3.0 and it's always been just recruits.

[ubuntufreakdragon]

@Marinies now they are "learning by boarding"

[Vyrebird]

Why can't we just buy them? Or train them? 3mio$ for an veteran and 8mio$ for an elite? Training may be cheaper but takes time and so on?

Oh wait @egosoft i don't want to imply you to include a marine training minigame. No stupid minigame. No never never no no ever! (hint: training for cash, got it?)

I guess you haven't read the patch log... I think it was with 3.5, they changed from being able to buy all three levels of marines to just recruits.

That's essentially the complaint - Mahi Ma wants to be able to just buy them, exchanging a premium of credits for reduced hassle, but they removed that ability (as part of the 3.0 boarding revamp).

[Goobers]

Do you maybe mean 2.5? I started with 3.0 and it's always been just recruits.

I just remember seeing it somewhere in the patch notes.

That's essentially the complaint - Mahi Ma wants to be able to just buy them, exchanging a premium of credits for reduced hassle, but they removed that ability (as part of the 3.0 boarding revamp).

Viewing it as how it affects my experience of the game... Either method (or even both) make sense and can work.

But my guess is that Egosoft wants a little player challenge/reward with recruits and promotions, than simply flat out buying up only elites and then players complaining boarding ridiculously easy.

[Mahi Ma]

But my guess is that Egosoft wants a little player challenge/reward with recruits and promotions, than simply flat out buying up only elites and then players complaining boarding ridiculously easy.

It's only easy because it's limited to 50 men (let's say price point per elite 10mio ... isn't rediculous easy i think). You could be forced to call more ships with marines to sucessfully board. Or the A"i" could call for help so you're required to distract them or board far away from help ... there are so many ways!

But hey! We got the minigame for boarding instead! It's only optional - thank you jesus!

What is this Phoenix exploit by the way? You can earn more money you can spent after 3 hours gameplay just by boarding - you don't even need to find a good target!