Capping, stealing, boarding and carjacking ships in X3 Terran Confict - THE HOWTO

[Aragosnat]

I just finished my first boarding with M7M (after several unsuccessful attempts with spacewalking, found it very hard and confusing) and my first ship capped ship was Megalodon (great ship, one is enough to clear all Xenon sector by using 19 PPC in the front and right at the same time, just by angle of the ship).

I followed you walkthrough for capping with M7M, but I think it is very complicated and there is no reason to keep your M7M in huge distance of the edge of radar and try to (elaborately) find the way how to unify the different speed of Flail/Hammers/Pods all this huge distance, with waiting for a lot of time, if all they reach the target at the moment you need....

I did it very simple – keep the M7M just behind the (friendly) target, switch the race to Foe, fire several Hammers, switch to Pods and fire it immediately, then switch to Flail and fire 3-4 of them and then ...Jump to safe to the gate of the sector, savegame. That’s all folks, it takes 20 seconds.

Cutting the hull takes about 30-40 seconds, that’s so little time the shield of capital ships cannot be recharged to 6 percent, so there is no reason to fire other missiles to keep the shiels down.
As I did not find a way how to apology (Albion) when marines are inside (the target refuses it), there is no necessity to have nearest jumpgate in range of 25 km.

I hope it helps with capping by M7M, which is very, very easy by this way...

While in general you're right. But, there are problems. Hull Polorization, number of Max sized shields upand running and Xenon Ships.

Hull Polorization increases the time it takes which means you will need to keep the shields down longer. Think it was 50% longer time?

If the target has less shields or mixed sizes (not likely I know on the big caps, M6's and TMs are most likely) then shields strength will reach 5% faster then with max shields strength. Less shields is mainly from IonD actualy getting through to the target and shaving off one of those shields. Also some ships like they Aggy have decent shield regen rates.

Xenon: Ah the dreaded machine plague. Well they are in a little class of their own. Due to the know fact that they will need x number of marines to be alive and kicking at each deck and before they reach the core otherwise it is an autofail.

Basicly this guide teaches you how to cap Xenon ships with multiple waves of in bound boarding torps. As you will need to know how to keep those shields down for the 100+ marines it may need to take one Q with (very true for a DiD game).

[Earth Ultimatum IV.]

I got 20 top-skill marines, loaded in my Cobra, another 20 in my Phantom, flails, hammers aboard. I managed to capture many Ryus, the Aran and some Caravels. However Iam having problems with M2s, no matter what I do my Hammer Heavy Torpedoes always get shot down. With some luck, two or three hit the target, but if I hit only 3 from every ten shots, I run out of hammers in seconds.

Need some help, I tried shooting the flails before, and after shooting torpedoes, yet they always get shot. Looks like my target ignores flails and shoots only torpedoes!

EDIT: god damn it, sorry. I necro-ed another thread.

[DrBullwinkle]

no matter what I do my Hammer Heavy Torpedoes always get shot down.

Is this in AP? The improved turret scripts do a better job of defending their ship. They will also target boarding pods aggressively.

This is a [Think] challenge. The solution lies in overwhelming the target's defense turrets. For example, try fighter drones to suppress shields (and give the turrets a distraction).

Or, if Hammers don't work, then use Typhoons (or Wraiths). Or guns -- which is what I do. I often pilot an M7 for shield suppression, and command the M7M remotely.

(If you do not mind modding your game, then changing boarding pod type to "Fragmentation" will help with the next problem, which is getting the pods to your target.)

[Earth Ultimatum IV.]

I always forget that I have drones.

Yes, I want to cap a M2 so I can use it to kill shields. I also have Barracuda to fry cargo life support systems and anti boarding equipment.
Iam thinking of starting a war with commonwealth race. The first blood will be capping a M2 before they start being aggresive. But I think Iam not prepared.

No way Iam paying for M2, they die too easly.

[aXeldk]

I was attempted being boarded by the Rapid Responce!!

[Earth Ultimatum IV.]

I was attempted being boarded by the Rapid Responce!!

Is that even posible? Lucky that I got Hull polarisation and Advanced firewall on my Galleon.

[Alan Phipps]

No it is not practical for Player ships to be boarded in vanilla X3AP despite what any audio warnings may say. I expect what he could have seen and heard (boarding music) were marines flying away in their suits to escape from a destroyed RRF capital that had previously held them. Rather than running away from them to avoid being boarded, he should have run into them with a ship with spare capacity to pick them up. They become free Player marines after that! Thread.

(This incident also demonstrates the problems of discussing X3AP in an X3TC Boarding Guide thread since the games are rather dissimilar in some respects.)

[psyclon]

Hello!

Before i started reading guides and information about boarding i purchased about 30 marines without looking at their stats. Now i have 30 marines with 5 stars in the three tech categories, but with 0 stars in fighting.

My question is - is it even possible to capture a ship with those marines (i even tried with a hired TL, but they failed miserably), or should i just forget about the bajillion credits spent on training and throw them away?

Subsequently i purchased and trained marines with some fighting experience and yesterday i got my first successful boarding - a Carrack. Yay!

[Alan Phipps]

@ psyclon: Basically, keep the well-skilled rookies and mix just a couple in with more experienced fighting marines on simple boarding jobs where losses are unlikely (scan for and avoid deck defences and marine crew). Rotate more rookies in as the others become experienced. That way you keep and benefit from their skills training and they will all survive to become experienced fighters with time.

[psyclon]

I tried that - upon penetrating the hull they cry "We are meeting resistance" and jump out of the ship, leaving the others to die.

Maybe it's because i put too many rookies (8 out of 20). I will try with just 2.

Thanks!

[Alan Phipps]

Heh, if you use 20 marines and they fail then you aren't boarding an easy target!

[psyclon]

Well, could you define "easy target"?
The last time i tried and failed it was against a Centaur. I figured M6s are at the bottom of the food chain. Guess i was wrong?

[Cycrow]

I tried that - upon penetrating the hull they cry "We are meeting resistance" and jump out of the ship, leaving the others to die.

Maybe it's because i put too many rookies (8 out of 20). I will try with just 2.

Thanks!

usually they'll meet resistance if the ship has the HPD.
if they are bailing out while cutting the hull, then its likly they dont have the skill to go through.

there are only 2 times when they will bail out, one is when if they cant get through the hull, the other is the hull is too damaged.

once marines have entered they join up with all the other marines and are no longer seperate teams

[Alan Phipps]

If you used 20 marines against a Centaur then no wonder so many jumped out again! An M6 can only hold 6 invaders in TC and 9 in AP. (Normal marine capacity + 1). I guess all but the rookies had the sense to leave early!

Use only the number appropriate with just one or two rookies included.

[psyclon]

Heh, did not know that there was a limit to the invaders, that clears things up.

Thanks again!

[Cycrow]

ah centaur, didn't notice that. now it makes sense

if the marines cant fit into the target then they will bail.
althou unless the ship had alot of defences, or the marines that made it on were all really low, u should have still been able to claim the ship (if its AP)

simply going on the type of ship is not really good enough, you need to scan the ship and check for any marines or boarding defences.

[anneking]

I notice this “how to do it” refers to version TC v2.1

Pre patch 2.5 how many marines should you use to capture an M1?

Should you always go for the max the target can hold or were 5 marines sufficient to take most ships in early versions of the game ? (say trained to 4*)

[vr01]

Regardless of game version, use as many as you can / have vs what the target can hold.

A mixed squad or excellent fight rank / poor fight rank will actually help the poor one's get through and in the process improve their fight rank - it's called 'training'.

Re v2.1
The only time you need max everything is for boarding Xenon. Terran / ATF targets benefit from having high mechanical for the hull cutting. Pods are almost essential. A Terran ship with HPD is 50/50 chance of boarding commencing even with max mechanical and pods (although this might be v2.5?)

[Earth Ultimatum IV.]

Xenon ships are hell damn hard to cap!

[Cycrow]

I notice this “how to do it” refers to version TC v2.1

Pre patch 2.5 how many marines should you use to capture an M1?

Should you always go for the max the target can hold or were 5 marines sufficient to take most ships in early versions of the game ? (say trained to 4*)

sending in as many marines as you can will always help, regardless of the version. As its the combined fighting skill that matters. The higher your attack and the lower thier defence, the bigger the advantage you have.

but in earlier versions, technically it was possible to send in a single marine and capture the ship (except for xenon ships)