X3TC: A How-to for capping the #deca in Vanilla TC without cheating

[kurush]

The amount of resources needed to build a #deca
E-cells 11,199
Teladianiun 394
Cloth Rimes, Crystals, Q-Tubes and Computer Components 116
Ore 466
Sillicon wafers 349
Rastar Oil and Micro Chips 233
Credits 3,303,998

So, they actually lowered the price of it in some patch? Cool, I tried it on an earlier patch and it was more than Aran. I guess it is time to build a fleet of #decas.

[Nagittchi]

"You can board it anytime after the plot ends"

I believe you meant to say You CANT board it after the Terran plot ends... because you cant.

Oh well. Not like I'll have the will to try and grind a bunch of Gamma Kyons in khaak sectors.

[kurush]

I believe you meant to say You CANT board it after the Terran plot ends... because you cant.

I meant to say exactly what I said. deca stays boardable indefinitely now if you managed to board it during the plot. If you fail and let the script claim deca for terrans, it won't be boardable. You have to complete plot on one of the latest patches though, specifically the one that fixed invulnerability for captured deca. If you can't board it, answer the following questions:
1) Did you complete the terran plot on the latest patch?
2) Did you actually board deca or did you just wait for terrans to do it?
If both answers are "yes", deca should be boardable.

[greypanther]

Please forgive a stupid question, but do you mean with your own marines or the ones given you to control?

My memory is not so good on the Terran plot.

[kurush]

Please forgive a stupid question, but do you mean with your own marines or the ones given you to control?

They are not given you to control, they are just given to you You keep them after the mission ends regardless of the outcome. With the marines they give to you capturing deca could be problematic. It is a Xenon ship after all and they have some nasty defenses against any organics trying to sneak in. I used my own marines trained for this purpose with low fight rank but high mechanics and hacking.
It shouldn't matter what marines do you use as long as you manage to capture it. Just don't use 20 5*5 marines because they might all survive and second capture will become problematic because of that.

[Nagittchi]

I believe you meant to say You CANT board it after the Terran plot ends... because you cant.

I meant to say exactly what I said. deca stays boardable indefinitely now if you managed to board it during the plot. If you fail and let the script claim deca for terrans, it won't be boardable. You have to complete plot on one of the latest patches though, specifically the one that fixed invulnerability for captured deca. If you can't board it, answer the following questions:
1) Did you complete the terran plot on the latest patch?
2) Did you actually board deca or did you just wait for terrans to do it?
If both answers are "yes", deca should be boardable.

Yes I did board it... but probably failed.

Considering I was an utter noob at that point (day 2 of playing X3, only thing I owned was a Cutlass and a Vidar), all I had were 10 0-1 star marines from the two scabbards they gave me. I most likely threw them out of the airlock with the piracy command and they all failed because of spacewalking and probably the deca had HPD.

[kurush]

Yes I did board it... but probably failed.

This would be the reason why it is not boardable for you. You won't be able to board it with the marines given to you during the plot (may be with hundreds of reloads). And the invulnerability flag only gets cleared if you succeed in this boarding operation.

[Nagittchi]

Yes I did board it... but probably failed.

This would be the reason why it is not boardable for you. You won't be able to board it with the marines given to you during the plot (may be with hundreds of reloads). And the invulnerability flag only gets cleared if you succeed in this boarding operation.

If I manage to board it during the plot... wouldnt control turn over to me?

If so, why would I need to board it again AFTER the plot?

[kurush]

If I manage to board it during the plot... wouldnt control turn over to me?

Nope, control will go to Terrans along with all your marines used in boarding.

If so, why would I need to board it again AFTER the plot?

To get it for yourself of course.

[Nagittchi]

If I manage to board it during the plot... wouldnt control turn over to me?

Nope, control will go to Terrans along with all your marines used in boarding.

If so, why would I need to board it again AFTER the plot?

To get it for yourself of course.

Oh, well now I understand why you said it'll be boardable after the plot.

Sucks to lose all those initial marines though.

[5150]

Assuming one meets all the criteria to cap it after the mission is over (correct patch level and that you boarded it) is there any advantage/disadvantage to doing it later?

e.g. Do you have to attack and friendly ship to make it hostile and take a rep hit?

/edit
Is it possible to time your boarding action so that the AI caps its first saving you a first wave of marines?

/edit 2
On a semi-related note, the original post says that the OP used this method on the Goner TLS (the Ozias I presume) the capture it before realising you get it as a mission reward. Has this been changed as I've just read the Goner walkthrough and the only mention of a ship reward is the Truelight Seeker?

/edit 3
Ignore me I just realised I'm confusing the Goner TL class ship with TLS (True Light Seeker) DOH!

[victornun]

Heres my advantage, for leaving it till a bit later ( after initial cap for the terrans ), if you mistakenly think your main group of marines can handle a deca at their current level, you can go and train them up and come back with more mech stars or w/e.

Also, with letting the terrans cap, although it might be possible, it wouldn't be great as the terran tyr m2 starts pounding it when the terran marines are boarding. I had the deca die a few times from that

[Sovereign01]

Well it looks like I'll have to cheat to get the deca, I completed that plot long ago, at least a year so there's no way back for me given all I managed to accomplish since

[TBV]

Well it looks like I'll have to cheat to get the deca, I completed that plot long ago, at least a year so there's no way back for me given all I managed to accomplish since

Personally, I wouldn't bother as it's not really a very good ship. But if you're
going modified anyway - what the hell.
If you want a savegame to see what it's like to fly/use first then give me a shout.

[kurush]

Personally, I wouldn't bother as it's not really a very good ship. But if you're
going modified anyway - what the hell.
If you want a savegame to see what it's like to fly/use first then give me a shout.

It is a decent ship as far as I remember. Now when somebody said here that it can actually be produced on HQ I might actually try to do this and produce another #deca for overtuning. As for benefits of capturing it latter, I think the main one is that you don't have to go through those ridiculous steps to time your second team. I don't think there is any disadvantage of doing it later either - afaik deca is flying all alone and without shields or escorts after the plot.

[Eddis]

Assuming one meets all the criteria to cap it after the mission is over (correct patch level and that you boarded it) is there any advantage/disadvantage to doing it later?

e.g. Do you have to attack and friendly ship to make it hostile and take a rep hit?

/edit
Is it possible to time your boarding action so that the AI caps its first saving you a first wave of marines?

/edit 2
On a semi-related note, the original post says that the OP used this method on the Goner TLS (the Ozias I presume) the capture it before realising you get it as a mission reward. Has this been changed as I've just read the Goner walkthrough and the only mention of a ship reward is the Truelight Seeker?

/edit 3
Ignore me I just realised I'm confusing the Goner TL class ship with TLS (True Light Seeker) DOH!

Yes, notice how I snuck in the abbreviated (T)rue (L)ight (S)eeker there? I like to keep you on your toes

I havent tried that plot since upping to 3.0 so I cant say for sure. I havent heard any mention of it up to now.

I can say that a Invincible TLS with 2 PALC's is a fairly efficient gate guard tho - especially OOS. IS is cool too, its like a jedi disco lightshow

Gonna update the guide now.

[J-M v2.5.5]

I'd just like to confirm that it is indeed possible to board and take over the #deca at a random moment after you've successfully captured it the first time for the plot.

I captured it a few minutes after I got it for the plot, and while I did lose 15 out of 20 of my good marines (2-3 stars fighting, 3-4 everything else) and 15 out of 20 of my great marines (2-3-4 stars fighting, 3-4-5 everything else), it was worth it.
And I managed to get a Xenon L, a Xenon LX and a Terraformer #deca.cefa to bail in the fight that preceded the confrontation with the #deca, so I guess that sort of compensates my losses.

Edit: D'oh, it was already confirmed. Sorry :x

[5150]

Is it normal to take several big rep losses during the second capping?

[kurush]

Is it normal to take several big rep losses during the second capping?

It depends whether you actually hit something other than #deca. I don't think I got any reputation loss with Terrans... In my case all terran ships were very far away from #deca though.

[rwhiteruff]

Is it normal to take several big rep losses during the second capping?

I took a huge rep loss during the second capping yesterday. I was waiting at the spawn point, so I didn't have to fight or worry about any other ships during both boardings. I apologized to the Argon police as well, so no loss there. The reputation loss was very obviously coming during the marine boarding, as that's when Betty was giving me reputation loss messages.

I ended up a Terran citizen, and did missions afterward to improve my rep. I'm still just a whatever of Io though.