a guide to capping xenon K

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rate my guide

exelent ive treid of your sugestions and they work
13
8%
good confirms what i already knew
7
5%
looks ok but i havent reached AoA 1st yet so i cant ry it
111
72%
poorly written good content
8
5%
just plain crap
10
6%
someone already wrote a guide for capping Ks you moron
5
3%
 
Total votes: 154

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Ravenlord
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a guide to capping xenon K

Post by Ravenlord » Mon, 28. Jun 04, 14:51

Hi I like to think of myself as an experianced pirate throughout my game I have captured huge numbers of ships, far more than I can use. While i was setting up the beginings of my factory empire I suportded my self on capping and selling the ships, however as my empire grew capping became less profitable than my empire and I gave up doing it for profit and didit just for fun which is why I have about 50 fighters sitting in presidents end . The point is for anyone who has a few stations capping is a hoby not a profession. So this guide is for everyone who wants to take on something a little bigger.

As I have sucesfully capped over 100 Ks and havent seen any other in depth guide to how to cap them I figured Id give it a go and share what I know. First off all the general stuff you should already know. You can only cature Ks in a certain BBS mission. You need to be Ace of Aces 1st grade in order to get Ks apearing in the BBS mission where someone is pursued by xenon (you have to be AoA 1st but the mission requrment can be lower). These missions can be hard to find personaly i made cloudbase soulth east my K hunting ground i rarely have to check the BBS in all the stations in that sector more than twice before I get a mission and with a maxed peggy it doesnt take long. Also its ushual for more than one K to apear be sure to seperate them before you try capping as the one you havent caped will destroy an unsheilded capture.

OK now for the good stuff what gotta do and what youl need. Ive listed a few methods to try and suit as many fleets and bank accounts as I can bellow, some better than others but ive tried them all and suceded so pick one that seems best for you.

Method 1 : The safe way
by Ravenlord
I call it the sledgehammer
This is the safest way to capp Ks and there is not much work involved its basicly just shoot it and hope. My prefered destroyer is (before i had a K) was an odyseus basicly i equiped it with 3 GPSG in the front turret got close to a K and opend fire the initial bombardment is enough to take out theKs sheilds and do some hull damage ( there is a fair chance it will give up now). Then take of the psg and fill ONLY the front turret with ppc and hammer the K till it gives up. This method can work using a ppc equiped m2 if you stay close enough, the problem being after the K surenders it has no sheids and the ppc blasts will still be heading towards it. This is a safe method but not an efficient one. the Ks will end up dead more often than not. And you will spend most of your time looking for missions.
Because you are in an m2 you are well sheilded and in an m2 using a strafedrive you are not in much danger so you just need to wait till one K edges away from the others to try it. I would expect most people who reach AoA to have an m2 but if you dont have an odyseues i dont suggest doing it this way.

Method 2: the cheap way
by Ravenlord
I call it suicide
This is the most dangerous method but for any one low on cash who thinks their a skilfull pilot might like ago fort this you will need asplit dragon and a fast fighter that can mount atleast 2 ion Ds I use a baracuda (a nova is to slow). Equip the dragon with mass drivers and get the mission started. Fly around and hit the Ks with mass driver fire and bring their hulls down to 87 % trying not lo piss of the Ls as you do. Then fly north as fast as you can into P.E and switch to your fighter armed with ion Ds. Send your dragon to move to position above the north gate while you wait at the soulth (the xenon will be rarther pissed of at it by now). As soon as a K comes through the gate hit it withas much ion fire as you can but be aware the short range of the ion d and the fact that it has to hit the center of the target means its to dangerous to try and hit it form the front or rear. I like to hover above it an use the strafe drive to avoid fire. Its possible the K will be faster than you and escape , if this happens have the dragon ( they will still be following it) flyin a circle to lead the K back to you so you can try again.
This is the hardest and most dangerous way cause you have to take on posibly mutiple destroyer at once in an m3 which in some cases can't out run them. It is posible to tackle one K at a time by hitting its hull with mass drivers then using the dragon to lead it away from the sector center but if you dothis DO NOT jump the dragon out of sector when you switch, I sent it to argon prime not realising the other ships that i hadnt hurt yet would try and folow i lost 23 mercurys and a centaur in ore belt.

Method 3: the easy way
by Ravenlord
I call it fun
( it looks like a lot of text but its just rarther detailed as there are 1or 2 fine points i want to get across but the strategy is realy simple)

This is a very simple method but of the ones so far its the most effectve and almost as cheap as the last. All you need is a nemesis holding hept and psg weapon load outs. Get the mission and take the passanger to his destination. Then fly in your peggy to your nemesis. Equip hepts and set turrets to atack my target. Then atack one of tke Ks you wont have the firepower to hurt him but that doesnt matter yet all you need to do is annoy him. Then fly away form the sector center match your speed to the K and try and maintain a gap of about 5 K . (the fastest Ks i have encounterd had a top speed of 252 a nemesis has a top speed of 260 so you will always be the faster). Once yo are far enough out so both u and the K are not visible on the sector map unless you zoom out swithch to psgs and hit the K with all you got. I find the best thing to do is unload my front gun energy then turn so both my turrets can hit the K while my front gun recharges and keep repeating the process. Once the sheilds are down run like hell your rear turets should get a few shots in and knock the k below 87 % hull if they dont turn round and send out a few waves till it is then get out of its range. At this point let it recharge its sheilds and examine it in ship details (needs freight scanner) to see if it has lost any guns or sheilds. If it has be aware it cant take as much hits anymore and try to keep in its weak spot where the gun is missing. For the next stage match speed with the k and keep it a short distance above you and let your turret do the work, if it has all its sheilds you may want to help bring them dowm by getting close enough so the edge of the waves from you front gun hit it. Once its sheilds are around 5 % retreat and let them recharge.
This methodisnt 1100 % effective there will still be some Ks that you miss judge its shields and fire to many shots and end up killing it or get bored of and dont wanna wait for it to surrender anymore, but this a effective cheap and quick method that I would recommend for people new to K capping. I dont recommend replacing the nemesis with an osprey for the better weapons and sheilds the whole point of using a nemesis is it has just the right balance of firepower, oh and the osporey is to slow to lure the k away from the rest of the pack .

method 4 : the best way
by Ravenlord
I call it expensive
this is the most efficient way cap Ks I have a 100 % success rate using it the only problem is i had to buy a destroyer to do it, which cost the equivelant of 1 1/2 to 2 Ks. For this method you will need an argon titan. Basicly this combignes both parts of method 2 in to one ship, the titan ( the most versatile ship in the game if you ask me) . Equip the titan with all mass drivers and hide it in the sensor obscuring nebula in the north west of the sector. Thats the grey one it can lower sheilds but it it doesnt affect hull stregnth BE WARNED the purple nebula to the soulth is hull eating. Once its hidden go off in your peguses and get the mission. Complete it and then fly to the Ks at top speed its easyer with a strafe drive its not to hard without what you need to do is shoot the fastert of the Ks check the all out on the sector map before you get there. The K should target you and folow you once you have hit it then fly at about 300 toward your titan (get out of the Ks firing range before slowing down) this will alow it to follow you. Dock with your titan and the K or Ks folowing you willl lose intrest (they lose target lock on the m5 when it docks and the nebula makes sure they cant see the titan) the K you shot at in your peggy should be the nearest, the Ks will split up and atack the local traders and stations.you should take the first opertunity to fire on your targeted K and if necasery lead him away from the sector center using strafe drive to avoid his fire (a titan will always be slower than the K so be sure to take them on one at a time) use mass drivers to reducehis hull to 87 % then pull away. Despite your lack of speed you will get a minute or to out of the Ks firing range because it wont turn to chase you immediately.Remove all your mass drivers and fit ion Ds into all the turets you can (titan can have ion Ds in front and side) then chase the K I find it best to stay to one side of it and let my ions broadside him strafing upand down to avoid as much fire as i can. Whenever your sheilds get low pull a way for a while and examine the target to see what guns he has lost and keep to his weaker side if he has one. Just keep hitting him with ions and eventualy he will surender like any other cap. The difference is with 18 guns and 5 sheilds to lose it may take a while longer i once striped a K of guns completely and all but one sheild and it was another 10 mins before it surrendered.
As I said this is the most efficent method not only does it give you a 100 % succes rate (if you do it right) but the Ks you cap will have high hull values and be worth more (at least 50 million). Just be aware you are slower than the Ks and keep an eye on your sheilds. Oh and dont be tempted to folow behind the K when your hitting it with ions because of the weaker rear guns.if you cap it and dont react fast enough youl run in to the back of it ( learnt that the hard way)

Method 5: The ray way
as writen by johnstrt

Fit your Ray with IonDs all over, but then put one PPC in each of the front/left/right turrets (& one in the top, if you like. Don't put one at the back). Set your turrets to "Attack my target". Pick your K, and approach it at full speed. It's important to get close quickly, as you'll take heavy fire on the run-up, so better to approach head-on if you can; don't come in from behind. Slow down once you're very close (c.1.5k), and angle yourself so that it takes your PPC and IonD fire. As soon as the hull starts to go down, turn away and run as fast as possible; lag permitting, turn your turrets off (oh, for a hot key to do this ...). It takes some practice to avoid taking a lot of hull off, but I often manage 85%, and 75% is easy. Lure the K out into space, swap your PPCs for more IonDs, and then cap as normal. The next bit is where the Ray comes into its own: you can pretty much fry the K with all those IonDs, and caps are usually pretty quick. If it won't give up when you simply keep knocking the shields down, try the following: turn to face the oncoming K; when it chickens, follow the turn and rush at its belly. Just before you get there, turn to run alongside it and lower your speed to match the K's (they normally cruise at 90 under fire). You should be able to get several of your turrets zapping it, and if you're close enough (about 1.2 - 1.6 out), it won't be able to bring enough of its own turrets to bear to hurt you. Now you can just cruise alongside keeping it under constant fire until it bails.

This is similar to method 4 and the rays speed helps, however using ppc will mean the Ks hull will vary depending on how fast you break off.

Method 6: The new even cheaper way
by Ravenlord
Its possible to capture a K using nothing but a properly equipped Iguana, surprised ? I know i was. recently i have been testing more unusual methods of capturing Ks. After reading in a post about the iguana being good at normal capturing because it could front mount 3 ion Ds i thought, hey thats the same amount of firepower you use with a Titan in method 4 so decided to have a go, heres what i came up with. Forget being in a peggy to complete the mission before going after the Ks there is no need as an iguana has a top speed of 308 (faster than a K).simply accept the mission fly to the destination and drop of the passenger (don't stay there to long i don't know if the station can be destroyed while your in it). As soon as you exit the station scan all the Ks and target the fastest (if more than one have the same speed pick the nearest) fly at it and spend a mizura or to buzzing around blasting it with Gpacs (strafe drive essential) then after you are confident fly out of its weapon range. Once out of range drop your speed to match the Ks and fly away from the sector center. once of the map equip all ions including your turret. Charge the k and fire as soon as your in range. Maneuver yourself to the rear of the K stay in close and match its speed, uses strafe to avoid fire, Once its shields are gone switch one weapon to Gpac and keep firing the ions will keep its shields down and the pac will do hull damage. Keep doing this till it is below 87% hull then switch back to all ions and fry him till he jumps ship. If at any point your shields go critical fly away as fast as you can till they are recharged and then make another attempt. It takes a while to get a feel for this method and you are far more likely to die than when using a destroyer. However this method yields Ks with high hull values and certainly makes things interesting
Other usefull tips

1 NEVER LEAVE THE SECTOR WHILE KS ARE TARGETING YOU trust me nothing ruins your empire faster than a rampaging group of destroyers with a grudge
2 never take you eyes of your sheild gauge
3 stay close, no matter what method you use stayclose to the k when fighting
4 buy a police licence since your gona kill xenon anywayyou mayaswellget the free cash
5 for all pirates out there you can steal the xenon ships and the government thanks you
6 If the mission is on the BBS when you first arrive in the station you can reloading your autosave and get a different number (between 1 and 8 ) of Ks to spawn. that is if you agree with reloading (i dont)
7 You can sometimes pick up another mission while the first is still going on - check the BBS at the destination station. This makes life very interesting ...
8. carry some spare 125 shields you can beam these across to the Ks and keep them safe


hope this helps now go forth an STEAL

if anyone has any other ideas id be glad to add them into this post just pm me a copy of what you want put in
Last edited by Ravenlord on Wed, 2. Feb 05, 19:24, edited 8 times in total.
manganate
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Post by johnstrt » Mon, 28. Jun 04, 15:06

Thanks for this. Can I suggest another method? Similar to your Titan one, but use a Boron Ray, equipped all over with ionDs: swap in a couple of PPCS to take down the hull, then swap back to IonDs. You need to be at close range to keep taking the shields down with ionDs, so the Ray's speed helps. You can also get most of them to surrender by flying parallel but at 90 degrees to their belly, matching speeds: if you're about 1.2 to 1.6 km away, they cannot hit you properly, and you can just ride along for a while zapping them constantly.

Three other points:

1. If the mission is on the BBS when you first arrive in the station, you can usually change the number of Ks by reloading your autosave. The number varies between about 0 and 8, and I don't think it's fixed until you have read the message.

2. You can sometimes pick up another mission while the first is still going on - check the BBS at the destination station. This makes life very interesting ...

3. If you're using an M2, carry some spare 125 shields: you can beam these across to the Ks and keep them safe from the Ls/ Khaak/ pi**ed-off locals.

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Post by dr. lomax » Mon, 28. Jun 04, 15:10

3. If you're using an M2, carry some spare 125 shields: you can beam these across to the Ks and keep them safe from the Ls/ Khaak/ pi**ed-off locals.
Good tip, i always carry a spare anyway, in case one goes bust whilst fighting in xenon sectors. Shows you how good i am :oops:
So it's come to this, I told you this would happen Ani! The fanboys are taking over!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

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Ravenlord
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Post by Ravenlord » Mon, 28. Jun 04, 15:14

I have tried using a boron ray with a single ppc to get the hull down but it doesnt work too well in my opinion with ppc there will aways be shots in the air when the sheilds are down and the hull isat 87% so you do unecasery extra damade and end up in the 60-70 % range . the rays greater speed gives it an advantage over the titan but in my opinion the ability to get the hull down to 87% precisely with mass drivers is much better. and the results of using aray with ppc ion ds and 1 ppc were not much better than those from method 3 andit tookalot longer so i decided it was not worth including.
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Post by Sir Crashalot » Mon, 28. Jun 04, 15:24

I wrote a mini guide to capturing a K with a Nemesis about 2 1/2 months ago, and again about a month ago. lol

The trouble is, it will take you a week of looking to find them so keep writing those guides. ;)

Maybe one day a mod might even put a link to it in the FAQ thread but don`t get your hopes up....
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Post by b-b-q » Mon, 28. Jun 04, 15:57

Nice post. One thing I don't understand :

Are you saying that a K at 87% hull will surrender to you even though you are hitting it with ONLY Ion D blasts? I thought they fixed that in 1.3 requiring you to have something other than Ion D or they 'know' you somehow can't damage them? (That fix was mainly a discussion about capturing Nova and things)

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Post by Ravenlord » Mon, 28. Jun 04, 16:00

yes a k with 87%hull or less will surender when only being hit with ion Ds i knowthis is the case with pirates and most ships as well but i dont know about novas
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Post by OutSane » Mon, 28. Jun 04, 16:02

i use a nova with dual IDs all the time to cap
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Post by b-b-q » Mon, 28. Jun 04, 20:38

ravenlord wrote:yes a k with 87%hull or less will surender when only being hit with ion Ds i knowthis is the case with pirates and most ships as well but i dont know about novas
Okay guys this didn't work for me before and I just tried it again and but absolutely no luck (capturing orinocos and bayamons, not Ks). So I had knocked the pirates' hull to below 87%. I switched to both Ions and took de-claw my Nova's turret. I shot the thing again and again and again with only ions, killing all the internal equipment and they just won't bail. I thought I read somewhere when 1.3 was first released that this tactic won't work anymore. What am I doing that is so different than you?

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Post by OutSane » Mon, 28. Jun 04, 20:41

patience BBQ patience

ID's seem to increase the length of time you gotta mess aroundwith your target (VERY rarly will they quickly surrender)
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Post by GaddyG » Mon, 28. Jun 04, 20:42

it works for me on most things... mabye you're just unlucky?
not that i've tried K's tho cos im still only Ace 1st Grade :(
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Post by b-b-q » Mon, 28. Jun 04, 21:09

OutSane wrote:patience BBQ patience

ID's seem to increase the length of time you gotta mess aroundwith your target (VERY rarly will they quickly surrender)
On the average how long do you guys spend on pounding a K with Ion D before it surrenders? What about M3's?

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Post by johneh77 » Mon, 28. Jun 04, 21:09

Its tough getting in behind them with the Osprey because of its so slow but it does work if you hang in there(best I have tried so far but havent tried another destroyer). What I'm doing now is going in with GHEPT and getting the shields down as soon as I see the hull is damaged a bit I retreat in a direction where nothing is in the way. I sometimes have to use the GHEPT a few times to get thier shields down before I get them far enough to use the BPSG(when they come at me I charge and dodge to get in behind them again and get thier shields down then run again they dont follow till thier shields are up again). Once I have him where I want him I switch to the BPSG and take my top and bottom turret guns out to prevent damageing the hull to much. Just get in behind them and keep knocking the shields down till they give up. Have gotten some with 9 GPPCs and some with Shields some with BPPCs and some with the three APPCs. Obviously the majority are empty though.
A word to the wise save VERY often I often save after getting one(starting another one) and then as soon as I get the next one to under 87% shield saves lots of flying in that slow Osprey.
After practiceing a bit I am able to capture most of them with over 80% hull. and useing PSG you are more likely to get a little equipment left on it. Thier is ocasionaly one that just dosent want to give up either reload or blast him ;)
I've lost count but think I have capured over 20 buy now. I started trying to do it with the Nemisis and gave up on it the Osprey is much better in my oinion.
If you stay realy close to the rear the Appcs cant quite knock your shields down just try to stay clear of the more powerful ones.

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Post by OutSane » Mon, 28. Jun 04, 21:22

never seen a K so ill go with a L for my example

anywhere from 10sec. to 15min (by which point i will state that the ship was not actually coptured but blown too little bits in frustration :headbang:
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Post by terrabyte » Mon, 28. Jun 04, 21:24

  • Nice post, :x2:

    Well done, I’m only Ace of Ace’s third grade, so looking forward to it . 8)
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Post by Ravenlord » Mon, 28. Jun 04, 21:28

ive had some Ks that gave up as soon as their sheilds were down with ions but others that took 15mins its the same with other ships. i recomend string up a swarm of pirates and hitting one till your on low energy then moving onto another eventualy they willall give up but the stuborn ones take ages

johneh77 mind telling me how many times you have died using the osprey ? i reckon at that speed its quite possible for you to be stuck fighting more than one k which is dangerous and worse the first k you cap would likely be killed by the other k. do you simply reload if this happens or have you been able to avoid it ?
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Post by johneh77 » Mon, 28. Jun 04, 21:32

As for useing Ion D I use them mostly on the Assination missions to capture the escorts since its the only gauranteed way to getthem without killing them(unless your trying to get a super ship then PSG give you a better chance but you will likely kill some of them no mater how careful you are). Sometimes your surprised how fast they bail sometimes you get so sick of it you feel like takeing a break from the game. But I havent tried them on Ks dont see any reason to.

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Post by johneh77 » Mon, 28. Jun 04, 21:37

Dont know how many times I have died I rarely piss off more than one at a time though if you do its very tricky and you will likely die but I have done it. If my sields get realy low I will bug out for a sec and try again. The last couple times I dont think I died at all. Just takes practice.

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Post by Xeon Tempers » Mon, 28. Jun 04, 21:39

I think you guys are all spending way too much cash, personally, in my current game I just wiped out the xenon with a falcon + 2 apsgs, its simple to kill a k with this ship.

fly towards it, dodge its shots with strafe drive, at 2km start firing, then manouver to the top of the ship with your srtafe drive, and keep a constant stafe going, and like this its turrets can't hit you, et voila dead k.

just my bag'o chips on the matter ... :P

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Post by Ravenlord » Mon, 28. Jun 04, 21:43

firstly we dont want to kill it we want to cap it
2nd we can aford to spend alot of money cause a capped K at 80 odd% hull is worth 50 million
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My guide to capping Ks

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