Can't cap Carrack with my Cerebus

[Cycrow]

For the Mechanics, the best 2 in each group are used to cut through the hull. So ideally, you need 2 in every group of 5.

But it depends how you are actually starting the boarding process. If you just fire off the pods manually, they will usually be filled with random marines. So its possible all your best mechanics can end up in the first pod leaving none for the others.

If you use the boarding commands however, then the mechanics are distributed evenly in the pods.

If the target does not have any defenses (HPD) and is not a Terran/ATF. Then you shouldn't need much in the way of mechanics skill when using Pods, as the Pods give a bonus. Spacewalking is another matter though, as you dont get the bonus, so need better mechanics

[EagleTwoThreeX]

For the Mechanics, the best 2 in each group are used to cut through the hull. So ideally, you need 2 in every group of 5.

But it depends how you are actually starting the boarding process. If you just fire off the pods manually, they will usually be filled with random marines. So its possible all your best mechanics can end up in the first pod leaving none for the others.

If you use the boarding commands however, then the mechanics are distributed evenly in the pods.

If the target does not have any defenses (HPD) and is not a Terran/ATF. Then you shouldn't need much in the way of mechanics skill when using Pods, as the Pods give a bonus. Spacewalking is another matter though, as you dont get the bonus, so need better mechanics

I have not even used one pod yet, but that will happen the next time I try to capture a ship. I'll have to figure out placing certain marines in certain pods for skill balance before hand so it's quick/natural when I go to actually cap.

[Jimmy C]

Rather let me say that you're coming across as a bit of jerk, but being helpful at the same time.

Well, pardon me, but I got the same impression of you earlier too, because you didn't seem to be responding to suggestions of trying something else when spacewalk boarding didn't seem to be working for you. So, I wasn't feeling too kindly after you appeared dismissive of my advice. I'm relieved to see that might not be the case after all.

but I DO need them for the 'shady business' plot.

That... depends. If you've made a certain decision in that plot already, yes, you do need to hunt for them. You would have been told right away if you didn't.
If you haven't and you're just reading ahead in Rougey's guide, I'll give you a hint, he didn't make the optimal choice. Said choice saves you the need to look for spaceflies too.

Same thing with the missiles, although I have not memorized the bigger targets' shield capacity, so I'll be glancing at the stats when I see a ship for boarding.

Memorizing the stats doesn't help. Ships do not always spawn with maximum shield capacity. Check your target's information page and scan it too. After all, you need to know its max speed as well as its defenses anyway.
Since you're going after Pirate ships (my kind of targets too) I'll share with you the amount of missiles needed to knock down their max shields.

M7 Carrack- 2Gj, 3 Flail barrages + 3 more Flails
M1 Galleon- 4 Gj, 6 Flail barrages + 6 Flails
M2 Brigantine- 6 Gj, 1 Hammer barrage + 1 Flail barrage 10-12 seconds later. Actually needs some more Flails along with the barrage, but it's hard to tell exactly how many ahead of time. My rule of thumb is one Flail barrage for every 9% and 2.5 Flails for every 1% that remains.

The trouble with the Brigantine (and any M2 for that matter) is that it can shoot down your Hammers, singificantly reducing the strength of your barrage, even with the Flails hopefully confusing it. This is not an issue with the Carrack and Galleon because you won't need Hammers on them. Flails are harder to shoot down and it doesn't matter even if you lose a few out of the swarms.
You could also throw 9 Flail barrages at the Brigantine (plus extra) But I consider that excessive and prefer to just reload if too many Hammers get shot down, so I don't know the optimum number of extra Flails you'd need.

If you engage SETA before the AI has decided which of your missiles to kill, you can cause it to "go dumb" and not shoot at as many missiles as it otherwise would. Some consider this cheating though.

If you target mission-spawned ships (like I do) you'll find that they may swap out one of their shields for one that's one size weaker. Carracks could be 1,200 Mj instead of 2Gj and so on. Ships "in the wild" can be even more variable than that. That's why you must always scan your capture targets before attacking them.

When knocking down shields, you only need to get them down to 3% to permit a boarding. Learn to issue the Launch All Marines command fast and follow with some Flails immediately to keep the shields down long enough for them to penetrate the hull. I find that 1 Flail per 1% for M7s, 2 per 1% for M1 and M2s to be sufficient. At this point, using one fewer Flail than you think might be necessary is not a bad idea if you're uncertain. If there's 3% or more shields still left after your marines and Flails hit, you may need to fire more.

Lastly, save often. Otherwise, accept excess damage, extra missile usage, lost marines, unsatisfactory loot and even outright failure. Best points to save are: before your initial barrage on the target, before launching the pods, before the marines penetrate the hull, on the last deck before the Core, and just before hacking is complete. Guides recommend a dozen SI for a capture operation. I just buy 1000 and use them until I need more.

A warning with savegames. It is said that if missiles are flying when a game is reloaded, it will cause newly fired missiles to go crazy and buzz around the target without actually hitting it. I've seen this happen a few times when I didn't think there were missiles flying around too, so beware! M7s and larger are so big even those crazy missiles will eventually hit, but that delay throws off the calculations for the number of missiles needed. From my experience, all I can say is "probably" less than 8 Flails extra.

Well, good luck and good hunting!

I'm really only game to board pirate ships, so not sure many pirate TL's spawn.

Unfortunately, there are no such things as Pirate TLs.
Also, you say you're in it to let your marines gain experience. I repeat my suggestion of taking combat missions to get capture targets. You can get practically everything from them. Including more marines for free. Heck, you can even sell the no-stars and less skilled marines (depending on your standards for "skilled") along with the ship.

I'll have to figure out placing certain marines in certain pods for skill balance before hand so it's quick/natural when I go to actually cap.

Like Cycrow said, the AI will try to distribute the talents evenly for you if you use the Launch All Marines command, you just worry about launching them as soon as the shields are weak enough.

[EagleTwoThreeX]

Yeah, definitely 'failure to communicate'. I didn't reply to your initial posts because I read them, and just nodded, 'yup', he knows what's going on, exactly.

I was on to keep trying what I was doing because I had the ships I had, and the target was juicy and right there all alone, and I wanted to learn/get experience. I am a bit bummed in that I feel there is 'one way' to cap (pods), and with 'one ship' (cobra), but I'm at the point where I'm going to try to find some success with that combo, then experiment later if I feel like it.

[aside] I was using Roguey's guide whenever I got stuck with the plot, but whenever it comes to decisions on multiple choice questions, I do what 'I' think is best, not necessarily what the guide says. When I chose Strong arms, and then noticed I had to say 'yes' to make them choose to stop spacefly hunting to move the plot forward, otherwise I was just losing rep for killing ship after ship, I knew something was up. I thought though, that maybe if they stop hunting, it will be easier to find the flies. Nope. I tried many 'asteroid rich' sectors of different types (normal/pirate/unknown) but NEVER saw any spaceflies when sitting still and waiting. I even thought I was being clever once when I followed a 'spacefly hunter', thinking he might lead me to rich spacefly hunting grounds. Nope. He just flew back and forth between two stations with no cargo onboard. I did notice that some pirates dropped one when I killed them, hence I was hunting pirates to catch flies. I have 3 of the required 10 right now.[aside over]

I will have to read through the rest of what you said a few times until I can remember it. I understand it, but remembering is another thing. I've got time, since I am constructing the flail/hammer facs now, so it'll be some time before they have enough to be useful. Other than that, I'm good to go.

If I do the mission to kill/patrol, and cap a ship instead of killing it, do I lose rep?

[Doktor Teufel]

I am a bit bummed in that I feel there is 'one way' to cap (pods), and with 'one ship' (cobra), but I'm at the point where I'm going to try to find some success with that combo, then experiment later if I feel like it.

That's X for ya, for better or worse. There are superstar ships in each class, meta-gaming is an important part of AP if you want to succeed, and while there is some wiggle room, there are quite a few that go almost entirely unused by advanced players.

The Skirnir's a bit slower than the Cobra, but far more survivable. It should be a viable choice. Most of the M7Ms are faster than most M2s, so there's that.

This conversation made me curious, so I calculated the average top speed of capital ships by class, minus the Valhalla, Kha'ak, Goner, and deca ships (no need to skew the averages):

M1: 87.8 m/sec
M2: 56.58
M7: 115.5
M7C: 124.64
M7M: 83.17
TL: 104.35

Yep. M7Ms are the second-slowest capital class, slower even than TLs and M1s, balanced around being slow, vulnerable bombers. I imagine that's why the Sirokos exists as a dedicated boarding craft, but the Sirokos is far too fragile and expensive to be worth the bother given it can only launch boarding pods, increased marine payload notwithstanding.

In my view, the Sirokos should have at least double the survivability and cost half of what it does. "Good for Xenons" is way too niche.

[jlehtone]

The speed of the ship that carries the Marines is not important, if nobody is chasing it.

The AI ships chase the foe that has hurt them. Maim them with Cerberus and they forget the looming doom by the merry men in those TP/M6/M7M ships.

Fortunately, closed-loop Flail complexes are among the cheapest, most compact, and least-demanding (in terms of sun %/ore/etc.) weapon complexes you can set up, although not the most profitable if profit is the goal.

Every weapon Forge consumes ECells, Ore and Food.
Ore is made from ECells. Food is made from Bio and ECells. Bio is made from ECells.
If your "production line" has Mines, Bio and Food, that one Forge effectively consumes 3600 ECells per hour.

Every weapon/missile/shield Forge consumes exactly the same amount. Equally demanding.

[Doktor Teufel]

The speed of the ship that carries the Marines is not important, if nobody is chasing it.

The AI ships chase the foe that has hurt them. Maim them with Cerberus and they forget the looming doom by the merry men in those TP/M6/M7M ships.

If you've got another ship with sufficient firepower, then the boarding vessel's specs are less important, sure. The focus of the conversation thus far has been on capping primarily with the M7M itself, though—not necessarily strictly solo, but doing the work of both stripping shields and screening/launching boarding pods.

Personally, when I finally get back around to capping (halfway through Loose Ends, currently; I want that HQ before I start "getting serious"), I doubt I'll attempt it with just one M7M. As you suggest, I'll probably be sneaking the troop carrier in as quiety as possible, while using Smart Turrets (Capture) on a support ship to strip shields and "hold aggro."

Still, some ships within a class are more capable than others at conducting high-end operations when controlled by the player, and it's most often because of superior speed. That's why the Springblossom is considered super-OP and the Poisoned Paranid start is so popular. Throwing more ships at the problem is a solution, but it can be an expensive and fiddly one.

I continue to believe that the game's single dedicated boarding vessel with absolutely no "glass cannon" offense (the primary reason M7Ms are slow and fragile) should have more going for it than just speed and +10 Marines, especially since it NEEDS support in order to be viable, but it is what it is.

Every weapon Forge consumes ECells, Ore and Food.
Ore is made from ECells. Food is made from Bio and ECells. Bio is made from ECells.
If your "production line" has Mines, Bio and Food, that one Forge effectively consumes 3600 ECells per hour.

Every weapon/missile/shield Forge consumes exactly the same amount. Equally demanding.

You're absolutely right. I'm not sure what caused me to think otherwise. I was using Xadrian to test out various complexes, and I was plugging different sun/ore values into the calculator. Bright sun and/or too-rich ore can throw off the calculations when using the auto-fill wizard, so that's probably what fooled me.

Thanks for the correction.

[Jimmy C]

I am a bit bummed in that I feel there is 'one way' to cap (pods), and with 'one ship' (cobra), but I'm at the point where I'm going to try to find some success with that combo, then experiment later if I feel like it.

It's not only "one way" but it's the "optimal way" to get the most done with the least amount of effort. There are spacewalk boarding experts who would scoff at those of us who need pods and M7Ms for boarding, that's them and we're us.

I did notice that some pirates dropped one when I killed them, hence I was hunting pirates to catch flies. I have 3 of the required 10 right now.

Loot drop from kills is entirely random. You were very lucky. The Strong Arms HQ supposedly stocks Spaceflies regularly, but it means you either have to check regularly or deploy a CLS trap there to catch them. A better prospect would be newly spawned Pirate Bases. But you'd have to be very lucky to catch one early. And you have to be early because goods at docks (like Pirate Bases) gradually disappear even if no one buys them. It allows the economy to flow.
Lastly, spaceflies are legal in Split space. See if you can find a Split ship with the needed amount of spaceflies and "convince" them to drop their goods.

If I do the mission to kill/patrol, and cap a ship instead of killing it, do I lose rep?

You do lose rep. But most combat missions throw hostile races against you, the Pirates, Yaki and Xenon.

The Xenon are always hostile, things can't get any worse with them. But capping their ships comes with a heavy price, so I don't take Xenon combat missions with the aim of capturing their ships.

If you wish to have good relations with the Yaki, you might want to avoid missions involving them. Yaki also always shoot at their marines after they eject during your boarding attempt. I capture ships for those marines and prefer not to go through the hassle of trying to keep them alive against their ex-host. It's bad enough when it occasionally happens with a Pirate ship. I don't need it with the Yaki.

You're already going after Pirates, so rep with them is a nonissue. Also, building (and rebuilding) Pirate rep is very easy. First, you have to hack Pirate stations to gain access to them. But hacked stations stay hacked regardless of your rep level with them, with only the Anarchy Port as an exception. Take a few missions from Pirates (you will be able to tell they're pirates from their comm portraits eventually, Yaki use the same portraits) and Pirate ships stop being hostile to you too, making them easier to hunt. While they may be anywhere, you're most likely to be able to find Pirate missions in Pirate sectors.

Take enough missions against pirates and they'll eventually go hostile to you again. I can't tell if it's supposed to happen or is actually a glitch, but it's easy enough to deal with. Just take one mission from a Pirate, even a Very Easy one, and they'll be neutral again. I have one satellite in Gaian Star that survived multiple flips in rep while my sats in the adjacent Pirate sectors died. It's how I check if they've turned hostile to me.

But there are missions that can throw Major Race ships at you. Killing or capping those will cost you rep as expected. However, the possibilities are limited and can be anticipated and avoided.

The first is Defend Station missions from Pirate stations. You can tell it's a Pirate station by the "I" at the start of their alphanumeric ID code. Not all stations in Pirate sectors belong to Pirates and combat missions in Pirate sectors are the least likely to have someone else try to kill your prize before you capture it. So knowing the difference is important.

The second are Kill missions. These could feature Terran targets if you get a human name for the target, or Argon if offered by a Terran. If it's an Escaped Criminal, you'll just have to take your chances (or reload or abort) If it's a Revenge mission, they'll tell you which Race the target is.

Note, only Terrans or Argons can can come up specifically in kill missions. You get names from any other races, it's either Pirate or Yaki.

One other thing about Combat missions. In Defend Station and Kill missions, the targets are supposed to be hostile to you. But they can only do so if they can enter the sector without being seen by you. For example, if you took a Defend Station mission and the Gate the hostiles enter from is outside your sensor range and not covered by a satellite, the big ships will be hostile to you when they enter the sector. The same thing happens if you enter a sector to go after a Kill target.

But, if you have the Gate where the target is supposed to appear covered and you're friendly to the race it's from, they're neutral to you when you first see them. On sensors, but that's the only way to know what you're up against before you or they enter the sector anyway. I have sat coverage of every Gate possible in the universe and I didn't notice this until I took a Defend Station mission where the attackers entered from a sector I had no coverage in.

The Skirnir's a bit slower than the Cobra, but far more survivable. It should be a viable choice.

But it can't use pods, so it's useless for capture operations on its own.

The speed of the ship that carries the Marines is not important, if nobody is chasing it.

If you put it that way. But my capture strategy relies on me being chased, so I need the speed.

[RainerPrem]

Hi,

Comments in blue.

Thanks Rainer, it does help/confirm what I've seen.

1 Yeah, I'm aware of the ambiguity in the ship classing. I'm using a combo of Rogueys, encyclopedia, and x3tc.net to get the real info on the ships available. I was pinning on the cobra since you can actually buy it of the M7M's in game, and it had laser turrets to help with pesky fighters and missiles, with MDM of course.

Laser turrets are nice, but with missile defense Moskito you've got a better tool at hand. You normally don't have to care for fighters, because your mark's escorts stay with it if you are far enough away (NB: Did you notice that hammers and flails have a very large range?)

2 Same thing with the missiles, although I have not memorized the bigger targets' shield capacity, so I'll be glancing at the stats when I see a ship for boarding.

Use a quick ship with a freight scanner before starting the boarding action to learn about the mark's real shields.

3 All of the marines I buy are at least 2 star fighting, but I was going to train them on M6's. It sounds like TL's are a better target to start with, although I'm really only game to board pirate ships, so not sure many pirate TL's spawn. I'll keep an eye out.

If you are enemy of the Yaki, you can get a lot of their TL in Ocracoke.

4/5 I also trained a portion of the marines I have to two star mech, and another portion to 2 star hack. From what you're saying, both need an upgrade, yes?

Exactly. Four stars are the smallest number I consider to qualify as "specialist". Note that you can find highly trained marines on TMs, which are sold second-hand. In AP you can also find them drifting in space after a Quick Response M7M tried a boarding action.

6 Every marine I have is 2 star eng.

It's no problem to train them up further, but I'd like to at least let them practice to get their fight skill up first. That's why I'm after soft targets such as M6, and TL as you say, before finishing their training for the harder M7/1/2 targets.

First the skills training, then the fighting. You need to be patient...

Thanks for the help.

cu
Rainer

[Dreez]

Now that I'm swapping the Cerberus for a Cobra, I'll need a few Flail/Hammer Facs, but that's no problem.

Once you get your Cobra+flail/hammer complex running, it will be all downhill from here.

Try to locate Heaven's Assertion, it's pretty far down on the map, Paranid,
south of that sector are the Duke's. Good huntingground for free Zeus.

Another tip i can give you is that once you start getting Capitalships as targets in Assassination-missions, or defense.
Always save before you accept a mission and have your Cobra prepared.

I've capped and sold many Brigantines this way, jumping in and killing the escorts then boarding the Brigg to sell it .
It's also free fighting xp.

Good hunting o7

[jlehtone]

If you are enemy of the Yaki, you can get a lot of their TL in Ocracoke.

\begin{pedantic}
You don't have to be an enemy of a race in order to capture their ships.

However, you will probably become their enemy if you have a boarding spree.
\end{pedantic}

Defend Station missions provide (Pirate) ships to capture. No more attackers == Mission complete; death is not required.


Three bits of boarding:

• Compulsory: You have to take the target's shields down. Guns, missiles, drones, ramming ... anything goes.
• Compulsory: You have to deliver the Marines; pods or walk; TP, M6, M7M, ...
• Optional: Destroy equipment of the target before the attack.
  • Burning the weapons means that (a) you get less shot at, and if you destroy all weapons (b) a combatant target most likely stops (for unarmed ships do not attack).
  • Burning internal defences decreases the chance of boarding failure.
  Equipment destruction is IonD's forte. However, one primary reason to board is to get hands on equipment that the target has: Jump Beacons, IBLs, etc.

[Doktor Teufel]

Terran Commander start begins the game neutral to the Yaki and able to dock with their border stations, I discovered, which includes their shipyard. I imagine this is unique to Terran starts, but I'm not sure.

Although building rep with them is a minor pain due to their small number of stations and the difficulty of destroying their enemies in their space, it's probably worthwhile thanks to those tasty Yaki TLs.

[jorganos]

I guess I'm late to the party...

I reserve spacewalk boarding for ownerless, M7M and M6 targets (slowing the latter to below 110 m/s, or the marines will suffocate before the target gets anywhere near their capture range). I haven't ever gone after TMs - they have nasty guns in their turrets, and guns in turrets need to be fried unless you want to have your marines fried. That's what makes Minotaurs and Kraken rather nice spacewalk targets, emptying their missile stores is just a matter of tenacity, MDM, jump energy, or speed. (Getting them hostile is easy.)

Civilian TLs (Casinos, Hospitals, Arenas, Atmospheric Lifters) make excellent boarding targets, given their lack of turret guns. Occasionally nasty extensions need to be fried or likewise nasty patrols or rapid response ships make themselves priority targets, but that latter effect is a bonus rather than a problem. Unfortunately, spacewalking is usually ineffective against TL hulls, so you need to have an M7M with pods, or two.

I only fly M7M myself when scouting the unfocused jump drive sectors for something resembling a big yellow cigar. Otherwise, I order them to fly to some position that ought to be just out of weapon range of the target and do their job from there while my shield-killing ship (and its drone swarms) prepare the feast.

Fighter wings are easier to command than swarms of drones, but way more expensive, and only slightly more durable, so I usually go for drone complexes early on - my merchant hulls are happy about that, too.

Wasps are great for spamming missile defenses and keeping down the shields from outside of flak range. IREs aren't, so I rather take PRGs, EBCGs or ISRs for that task, unless I leave it entirely to basic fighter drones. Flak and even worse SWGs or PBGs will cause high attrition, though.

Spacewalking under such conditions is only slightly slower than ejecting the cargo life support system from an M7M carrying them.

In other words - pick your targets according to your method of boarding. Capturing station defence mission Carracks or Akureis shouldn't be much of a problem with pods. Without pods, it's a real challenge.

Patrol mission enemies are a lot harder - they cooperate. If you can sit out their missile load and wear down their escorts (nuking them is easiest, repeated passes with anti-fighter armed turret ships are relatively easy, too), this is another kind of boarding fodder.

Stolen ship missions on capitals are fine, too, provided you reach the target with enough time left to finish the boarding. Assassination missions used to be fine in TC if you could board capital escorts of the assassination target before someone (preferably you) ended the hunt (as soon as the primary target is killed, capitals would jump out). In AP, the rapid response force bombers and M7M have made that gambit obsolete, and all too often they interfere with station defense missions, too. One big advantage of pirate sectors... also you get standard race attackers on pirate owned stations.

I don't know if it is a bug, but occasionally, pirate owned stations attacked by commonwealth expeditions turn indestructible, and you can watch them accumulate marauding M6 and M7 and their escorts hammering uselessly against their 86% or so hulls. These attackers are ripe for the picking, but when they come in packs, you have to slow some down if you want to capture them all (I usually want to...).

War zone survivor capital ships are just the same, capping them while the conflict still is going on is risky as some enemy may ruin the hull while your marines are active inside. If you're lucky, that M1 will survive with 5% hull, if not, write an epitaph for 20 marines (before reloading). Survivors of your own side might be easiest. Just alter your personal friend/foe preferences, your M7M or M8 will believe your settings above the real attitude of the targeted ship. (They get hostile to you soon enough.)

(Conversely, I found that this had an effect on patrol missions, too - after shooting one or two ships so the patrol would pay the full nominal price, I decided not to take any more rep damage with the invaders and to let the system defence forces take the rest of them. I switched off the friend-foe criterion "show as hostile if they attack you", and the entire surviving invasion fleet ceased to be part of the mission. Sector completed, go on... never mind the ongoing shoot-out.)

So, TL:DR:
Spacewalking is safest on targets without active turrets and manageable hull strength. Anything else probably is worth the pods you are burning (using the piracy command or the launch all marines extended command, no empty pods will be fired, unlike with the missile barrage command) or not worth risking your fully trained marines on. It's fine to burn off free marines disembarking during a boarding operation, especially those with abysmal combat ranks. Low mechanical ability will force you to put those into pods, too.

[Nanook]

...I am a bit bummed in that I feel there is 'one way' to cap (pods), and with 'one ship' (cobra)...

That's not good information. All of the five Commonwealth races have M7M's and any one of them will do the job just fine. Speed is NOT that big an issue, despite comments to the contrary.

Here's my typical boarding technique. I usually use two ships, the M7M, and my personal ship of choice. For boarding M1's, M2's and M7's, my personal ship will be large and heavily shielded. I use it for lowering the shields and keeping the target occupied. Your Cerberus will probably work just fine. If it's a TL or an abandoned return ship, I can use an M3 or M6.

At the start of the boarding process, I issue the M7M the Piracy command (look in the M7M's command console). This command will automatically send out the marines as soon as the target's shields drop below a certain point. All you have to do at this point is keep the target's shields below 5% and the pods will land and start the boarding process. If you're worried about the target shooting down your pods, launch a couple dozen fighter drones to keep the turrets occupied.

So as you can see, the speed of the M7M is irrelevant since it can stand well off the target and your personal ship will attract the target's undivided attention. I have near 100% success rate using this technique.

[Cursed Ghost]

Honestly I'm not sure why you are having issues because boarding is actually pretty easy first and for most never do spacewalk boarding because that is a nightmare that will only end in frustration.

if you must do space walk boarding then space walk board a Sirokos unless you are rich enough to buy one the reason I say a Sirokos is because it cant shoot back as it only has a single turret and cant use missiles plus it can hold more troops then a standard m7m which makes it a really easy target to capture via space walking and the bonus is that if your troops are all 5* then they will kick any troops that are onboard so you get some free troops to boot.

If you are doing space walk boarding make sure the troops deploy in front of the target and then lead the target into your troops there are other methods but I found this one to be the most straightforward.

How ever you do it once you have a Sirokos with 21 5* troops and a quantity of boarding pods its time to go hunting.

Once I find a target I go get my Sirokos fill it up with 21 5* star marines and pods then I jump into my Hyperion and have my Sirokos follow once I get with the vicinity of my target I'll have my Sirokos hold position about 20 km away from the target while I deal with the escorts that’s far enough that its not going to get shot but close enough that the pods will only take about 30 to 60 seconds to arrive.

Once I have the target alone, I'll maintain a distance of about 3km switch to 8 CIGs and use a combo of CIGs and Typhoons to drop the shields to about 5% while simultaneously strafing the return fire

Once I get it to 5% shields I'll accelerate away till I get to about 5km to 10km away depending on how quick the target is and depending on what guns the target has in the case of a Carrack its best guns are CIGs usually so about 5 km to 6 km should be enough to give you time to launch the pods any way once I'm out of firing range I'll order my Sirokos to launch pods then turn round and head back in again I'll maintain a distance of about 3km and use a combo of CIGs and Typhoons to drop the shields and keep them at about 1% / 2% while simultaneously strafing the return fire

Once I get the message that my people are through the hull then I'll retreat to a safe distance and wait for them to do there thing.

If I don’t care about captioning equipment and I just want the ship I'll jump in to my Heavy Centaur Prototype / Griffon with Ion Ds in all the turrets and main guns and I'll keep blasting it until it's been completely disarmed this should only take a couple of mins because once there shields drop that constant fire from Ion D's will shred there equipment in moments sometimes you can get unlucky with RNG and it can take a bit longer but I've never had it take more than about 5 mins to completely disarm a ship unless it’s a m1 or m2 due to the quantity of guns they carry they can take a little longer to completely disarm but honestly using a m7m and pods completely disarming a ship is unnecessary and wasteful and you are loosing thousand and thousands of credits worth of valuable weapons any way once ive disarmed the ship I'll switch main guns to Pulsed Beam Emitters / Ion Pulse Generator to control the shields depending on whether I'm in a Heavy Centaur Prototype or a Griffon and I'll disable my turrets to stop them from frying my troops and then I'll conduct the boarding as normal once the shields are at 1% / 2% I'll order my Sirokos to launch pods and I'll keep blasting with short bursts to keep them down until the troops are through the hull

The simplest method for boarding is to use something like a cobra blast the target with flails to drop the shields then launch pods from the same ship followed by a few more flails to keep the shield down while the troops cut through the hull

Are you saying using IonD will not be needed as long as the marines 'fighting' and 'hacking' skill is 5 star?

With 21 marines at 5* in everything internal defences become meaningless for most commonwealth ships on Terren ships at least the hull polarization device needs to be removed or you wont get through the hull even with pods and 5* in hull cutting not sure if this is true for Terren m7s but I know it is for m1s and m2s

With reguards to your question I have taken ships with 20 marines and internal defences without loosing a single units because all my 21 of my troops where at 100 in everything although attempting this does increase the risk that the boarding will fail so its still advisable to remove enemy troops and internal defences if you want to have a 100% success chance without taking any losses and without damaging your prize.

If you are trying to take Xenon capital ships be prepared to take heavy losses because trying to take Xeon capital ships is like trying to take a ship the has 21 5* marines and internal defences its hard and you will if you are lucky only loose about half your squad if you are unlucky you will looses all your troops repeatedly

[EagleTwoThreeX]

Just as an update, I have the Cobra now, and enough flails/hammers to give it a try.

I found a lone pirate M6, so I went at it.

The first 2 tries, I let it get too close. It was my first time using the Cobra, and I didn't realize it can't turn. You have to send a direction change request in the mail, and in a few days, it comes back and the ship changes direction. So I learned you cannot let the target get near you, or will not be able to shoot it to keep its shields down (not to mention larger targets will rip me apart if I get too close).

The next 3 tries, I threw too many flails at it, as my paranoia on keeping the shields down was high. I ended up destroying it.

The 6th, and successful attempt, went ok, I lost 3 marines (ok since only lvl 2 fighting), but I made some mistakes:

1. I didn't adjust well for the timing of the flails as the target got closer. I ended up launching them too often, and so did hull damage.

2. He launched 3 missiles (typhoon) at me when at about 3km, so I shot a flail at each of the incoming missiles. I think my mosquito MD got one or two, or one part of the flail got the missile, then the rest went after the M6. Oops. That took a lot of the hull down. Next time, I'll have to hold off on the flail, and let the MMD take care of them...unless it's a high yield missile that I don't want hitting me.

3. In trying to keep track of flails still 'out there' that had not hit, I tried to use the googles to see them. The goggle control is annoying. I wish you could just press/hold until zoomed enough, then press again to go back to unzoomed. Not a big deal. Experience will fix this.

I was going to post the video, but there's a bit of swearing, so not going to bother.

Two questions:

1. How does missile damage relate to shield damage? Is the missile damage listed on Roguey's listed in KJ? e.g. if you have 1GJ of shields, and get hit by one Firestorm (1,000,000 "dmg"), will you have no shields left? e.g#2: If I'm flying my cobra, and I fire one flail, that's 5000kj x 8 warheads = 40,000 kJ. If target has 1GJ of shields, I need to fire 25 flails to take down his shields (assuming no regen in between hits). So Jimmy C's "3 flail barrages + 3 more flails" involves 3 barrages of 15 each via the barrage command (thought they took this out for flails), plus 3 individual trigger launches to take down 2GJ shields.

2. Just to be completely clear, I need to get the target shields below 3%, and keep it below 3%, until the marines are in the hull. Once they are in, shields don't matter. Right?

[jlehtone]

It was my first time using the Cobra, and I didn't realize it can't turn. You have to send a direction change request in the mail, and in a few days, it comes back and the ship changes direction. So I learned you cannot let the target get near you, or will not be able to shoot it to keep its shields down (not to mention larger targets will rip me apart if I get too close).

You can shoot missiles to all directions. If you point your bow at the target, the missiles fly quite straight. If you fly away from target, then the missiles do a near 180 right after launch, but go to the mark eventually.

All big ships are a bit "sluggish".

1. How does missile damage relate to shield damage? Is the missile damage listed on Roguey's listed in KJ? e.g. if you have 1GJ of shields, and get hit by one Firestorm (1,000,000 "dmg"), will you have no shields left? e.g#2: If I'm flying my cobra, and I fire one flail, that's 5000kj x 8 warheads = 40,000 kJ. If target has 1GJ of shields, I need to fire 25 flails to take down his shields (assuming no regen in between hits). So Jimmy C's "3 flail barrages + 3 more flails" involves 3 barrages of 15 each via the barrage command (thought they took this out for flails), plus 3 individual trigger launches to take down 2GJ shields.

Ingame you can see some units. Unfortunately some of them (at least were) off by 1000.

Firestorm and 1GJ of shield sounds right.

One missile turret launches 8 missiles, so two make 16, not 15. 3 barrages + 3 is thus 51. Yes, that is a bit over 2GJ with Flails, on simultaneous hit with no recharge and no heads shot down.


IIRC, the exact limit depends on target's type. Shields have to stay down until the Marines have breached in and have started to fight.

[EagleTwoThreeX]

Jlehtone,

Hm, in the first tussle where I got so close that the target went behind me, I hit the fire button to launch a flail, but nothing happened. I'm pretty sure he was still targeted, but I'll check out the firing when he's close, but not visible in the future. What you said makes sense.

I may have something configured wrong, but when I'm in the Cobra, and choose the flails, and hit fire, only one goes out, so 8 really. It sounds like two should go out, so 16. I'll check that out as well. As you said, that's the source of my calcs being off, so that makes sense now too.

Thanks!

[jlehtone]

On a barrage a turret launches 8 missiles. One Flail has 8 warheads, so the Auxiliary ship command "Missile Barrage" fires 128 Flail warheads, or 16 Hammer torpedoes as one "barrage".

Manually launching missiles sends off one only.

[Jimmy C]

Not much time right now, so I'll be brief.
If you're going after an M6 (or TM) equip your M7M with a Turbo Booster MK2. Heck, just equip it. It'll be useful for capping M7s as well.
With it, you can let the target chase you and still keep ahead with short boosts.

If you would like to try with your current resources a few more times, do you have an M6 lying around? I find that suppressing the target's shields with one ship then commanding the M7M to launch pods works better with smaller ships like the M6 and TM. It's what I do to capture Ps and PXs.

I need to get the target shields below 3%, and keep it below 3%, until the marines are in the hull. Once they are in, shields don't matter. Right?

You need to get the shields to 4% or less before you're allowed to issue the Launch Pods command. 3% is a good number to decide if you should launch more missiles because they need time to get there, time in which the shields might rise enough to cook your marines.
And yes, shields don't matter once they're inside.

Lastly, one good way to keep track of missiles is to switch to Target View, F3. You can watch as the missiles you fire actually hit the target, or get shot down. However, it's all but impossible to control your own ship in this view. That's why I prefer having my targets chase me. No more need for manuevering, just go straight.