Boarding...

[gapper4]

Hi guys,

Got to the point where I have 50 recruits and 5-Star Marine officer. I've completely disabled a Titurel and fail to capture it, no matter how often I reload. Is a Titurel too hard for this bunch ? What should I try instead ?

[Alan Phipps]

Are you checking the target boarding defence points versus your Marine Officer's attack points?

Are you destroying surface elements and hull on the target to get the latter points mentioned above to be greater than the former?

Are you keeping it that way throughout the boarding operation? (Engineers on the targets keep repairing stuff and raising the defence points.)

Are you successfully achieving all the boarding assistance tasks that Yisha gives you and in time before the next task is given?

[gapper4]

Are you checking the target boarding defence points versus your Marine Officer's attack points?

Are you destroying surface elements and hull on the target to get the latter to be greater than the former?

Are you keeping it that way throughout the boarding operation? (Engineers on the targets keep repairing stuff and raising the defence points.)

Are you successfully achieving all the boarding assistance tasks that Yisha gives you and in time before the next task?

Err.. I've destroyed everything on the surface of the ship before launching marines, so there are no tasks. About hull, no I boarded with the hull at 82 percent. Should it be lower ? That could explain it. I'll give it a shot.

[Alan Phipps]

I'm thinking you need the hull to be a lot lower than that. Also if you have a hacker drone, Yisha should be giving you some hack tasks that can improve your chances if successful (or worsen them if failed).

No need to guess about when to stop hitting the hull, check the attack vs defence points balance - and remember to keep the hull from being repaired too much while still boarding.

[gapper4]

I'm thinking you need the hull to be a lot lower than that. Also if you have a hacker drone, Yisha should be giving you some hack tasks that can improve your chances if successful (or worsen them if failed).

No need to guess about when to stop hitting the hull, check the attack vs defence points balance - and remember to keep the hull from being repaired too much while still boarding.

Thanks for the hints Alan. All I had to do was keep pounding the hull until it was about 20% and I captured the ship while loosing only 3 marines out of 50 recruits. Now if I could only figure out how to get the ship repaired.... The engineer I placed on board fixed the hull and a couple of engines, but the ship doesn't seem to want to move, and I'm not sure how to fix the rest...

[Alan Phipps]

A 5 star engineer will eventually 100% fix the hull and everything attached such as jumpdrive, engines, drone bay, turrets, shields, radar, etc - so not the destroyed drones or wares/ammo/fuel. Having green CURVs flying about it (even without a working drone launcher) speeds things up.

You can see what the engineer is currently working on in the Engineer details screen, and the repair progress for hull and engines (and whether you have a working jumpdrive and drone launcher) shows in the ship details screen.

Lower star engineers fix less hull and then do the rest more slowly (I think).

The problem with the ship not moving is probably that damaged ship engines are very inefficient, slow to start moving and do turns, and cannot boost very well. Engines are typically the last items to be completely repaired and you may need to visit a shipyard dock to get the last 10% done if you are in a hurry.

Repairs do seem to go much faster if you go OOZ relative to the captured ship though. Typically I drop off its crew, give orders for it to go somewhere safe such as an unknown space zone, shipyard or refuelling station, and then leave it to get on with it.

[Ezarkal]

The engineer I placed on board fixed the hull and a couple of engines, but the ship doesn't seem to want to move...

Did you assign a captain to the ship?

Otherwise, check the ship status window. As soon as the engine got a few percentage health, it can move. It will move and maneuver extremely slowly at first, though. Titurels got a lot of engine and they take a while to repair.

I recommend you going oos, as it speeds up repairs. If you're afraid your ship will get attacked, you can always ask it to get to an empty space location, where there should be no NPC traffic. Even if it's engines are only partially repaired, it will slowly limp to wherever you ask him to go to finish it's repairs.

[gapper4]

All great info guys, thanks a lot !

One last question, there is a "quest" for the Titurel to equip it with 5x cargo drones but the shipyards won't show that option -- the Titurel doesn't appear in the list of ships to be upgraded with the drones. I realize that it's a pirate ship and therefore perhaps not recognized by shipyards, but is there actually a way to buy drones for it or is this a bug or game oversight ?

[Reprisal]

You can't equip drones on the Titurel because you destroyed the drone launcher. It will repair eventually but it takes quite a long time.

Either wait or repair it at a shipyard.

[Ezarkal]

Drone launcher is the last thing that gets repaired, which is a pity. If it was any higher up the list of priority, you could equip the ship with construction URVs to speed up repairs. But it looks like it was intentionally programmed to be broken the moment Yisha decides to target the drone bay. (Yeah, I have a "minor" grudge against that specific game mechanic.)

[Alan Phipps]

If you don't destroy the 'hostile' CURVs flying around the target trying to repair the ship while you are boarding it, then a short while after successful capture they individually turn green and become yours. They will help your installed Engineer with ship repairs even with no working drone launcher. You just cannot add any more CURVs to the ship until the drone launcher is fully repaired.

[Ezarkal]

If you don't destroy the 'hostile' CURVs flying around the target trying to repair the ship while you are boarding it, then a short while after successful capture they individually turn green and become yours. They will help your installed Engineer with ship repairs even with no working drone launcher. You just cannot add any more CURVs to the ship until the drone launcher is fully repaired.

Thank you for the tip!

[gapper4]

I think there's a bug about this although, frankly, I should have paid more attention to the sequence of events. Here's what happened:

Fired up the game today and went to an XL dealer. There was an option to both repair and/or modify the ship. The Titurel appeared on the list. I bought 10 x Cargo Drones for it and thought the problem solved. A looooong while later, I check on the Titurel and the blasted quest was STILL not resolved, meaning the ship never got the drones. I go again to an XL dealer, and this time, there are no options to repair and/or modify the ship ! What gives ? Am I doing something wrong or is that a glitch ?

[Alan Phipps]

What orders does the Titurel Captain show? If the last dock order is still in force then you cannot give another.

Make sure it is not in your or another ship's squad as that can confuse things too.

Capitals sometimes becomes 'stuck' if you are in zone with them during a transfer. Try going OOZ and see if that helps, if not sometimes leaving for a different sector helps too. This aspect was improved in a later patch though.

You could have instead transferred the drones 'as drones' while in space from another more agile ship, perhaps one holding the drones as cargo wares if not all as active ones. That is often much quicker than a slow ship docking at a shipyard.