Ship Capture Guide: X2 Version 2 (Updated for 1.4)

[CBJ]

They just do shield damage. Just to confuse matters, though, when the game performs out-of-sector combat calculations it doesn't take this into account and hull damage will occur.

[fchopin]

I like to share some of my experiences I had with 3 assassination missions I did the last two days, also I have a few questions.

I am playing a new game as a pirate and I don’t buy any ships, just what I cap.

My first assassination mission was against a Nemesis and 4 Perseus,s, I was using a capped Nova with one BHEPT and one Ion, this is the first time I tried using Ion’s for capping.
I killed the Nemesis and then went after the 4 Perseus ships, I killed 2 and capped the other two. This was my first attempt using Ion’s to cap so I think I did ok.

The second assassination mission was against a Dragon with 4 Mambas, I killed the Dragon very easily and then getting more confident I tried to cap all the Mamba’s.

I got the hull to about 87% for one Mamba and then went after another till I got all the Mamba’s to about 85% to 87%, then I just used the Ion and capped all 4 Mamba’s.
One of the Mamba’s I capped had shields and 86% hull.

The 3rd assassination mission was against another Dragon and 4 Mamba’s.
The same story, I capped 4 Mamba’s, two were with shields.

The questions I have are the following.

From reading old posts I though that you don’t cap ships with shields if you are using Ion’s, obviously this is wrong as I have done this, is this correct or have I been reading the wrong posts?

The second question is that some ships never bail is that correct?

I have capped over a 100 ships in my new game but any ship I want to cap always bails if I use Ion’s, and it also bails pretty quick.

I would also like to know if all M6s die so easily against a Nova using Ion’s and a BHEPT?

[pjknibbs]

You cannot cap a ship using ONLY Ions--they have to have taken some hull damage first. Once the hull is at 87% or lower then frying with IonDs only will eventually result in a capture, given luck and a following wind.

As for some ships being uncapturable--pass. Only the writer of the assassination missions (Apoch) knows that for sure (unless you want to try figuring out what his script code is doing).

[Airship]

I praise this guide!! My Cuda has been collecting dust in my SPP ever since I kept killing my ptential caps! I really hope it works, gonna try it today. Hope it works!

[Al]

Glad you like it. If you have any problems then just post and someone will help you out.

Capturing is basically about a bit of skill, getting the targets hull below 87% and patience

Al

[Gorn919]

Hi,
how i can capture the karrk bigest figter (with 3 lasers)?

[grays]

fchopin

From reading old posts I though that you don’t cap ships with shields if you are using Ion’s, obviously this is wrong as I have done this, is this correct or have I been reading the wrong posts?

Ions give you less chance of equipment but I have a Herc full of odds and ends from Ions captures. I think my avarage for shields is about 1 in 15 from around 800 caps, so you are doing O.K.

However It tends to be random, and IIRC I went through real droughts followed by ships full of equipment.

[Al]

Hi,
how i can capture the karrk bigest figter (with 3 lasers)?

Provided you havne't bought the Khaak specs which become available at the end of the plot you should be able to capture them in the same way as any other ship. this is a bug as it shouldn't be possible to capture them before buying the specs.

Whether you get the equipment is down to random luck. Of course if you use Ions then the chances of equipment getting destroyed before the capture is greater and hence there is less chance of anything being left on the captured ship.

If you have bought the Khaak specs then you have to be of a high combat rank and then be very lucky as capturing Khaak ships is very rare. This is how it was meant to be implemented.

HTH

Al

[jukebox]

have to agree wiyh what you said regarding the capture of ships (very brave to use a discoverer)i personally prefer to use a nova (ions x2 beta heptx2)have great fun and annoyance at trying to catch the Kha'ak ships how ever if you use a Kha'ak ship(fully armed)you can take out almost any oppostion.providing you use a jump drive when the battle hots up.(the advanced range of the weapons means you can pick off the emeny before they can get close enough to you any real damage). have sent 3 Kha'ak ships to attack a split dragon (the battle lasted all of 16 seconds)the dragon was toasted!

[Dhore]

Capturing Khaak seems pretty damn easy to me.

LAst night in less than I an 20 mins I capped 2 khaak (I already have 1 with 3 weaps - I added the shields.). The first Khaak I got 67% hull left and 3 weaps. The 2nd I got 3x25MW shields and 32% hull. Got both within 20 mins in one sector. I landed both ships at the nearest plankton farm I think, xfered the shields to the one with the weaps and sent both to Cloudbase SE shipyard wharf for repair. Alas the poor 32% hull that I left without shields and a great 26speed got hit by another khaak in PE

So now I have 2 maxed out Khaak M3s with weaps. And Ive sold 4 Khaak M3s in my game session yesterday ( -1 that got killed )

This is how I cap all the ships I get (and I get alot now Ive fine tuned it).

I am lazy and cant be bothered with a ID light waltz for 30 mins. If it dont surrender in 5 mins - I kill it. And I dont use IDs that often.

I use my trusty Nova with max weaps GHEPTs.
Khaak M3s - 3 methods
1) Find an M3 attacking a station or another ship - creep in behind - match speed (or 1 or 2 slower). Then hit it with all I got - it will usually turn before u get it to hull damage. Repeat keeping the thing in front of u no less than about 200m in front and no more than 400m. once I get some hull damage - I slow my fire rate (still using GHEPTs) letting the shields creep up slightly. I still do some hull damage too. If it hasnt surrendered by the time I get to 30% ish hull I kill it and move on. Its easy to find more.

2) Find a lone khaak M3 floating around not doing much. Head directly for it max speed. At about 8km it usually spots me and heads directly for me. At 4.2Km (ish) I unload both GHEPTs at it without a break in fire till I use up my energy. Now usually it gets my shields pretty low - about 30% remaining. But with luck the load of GHEPT fire hits it hard and gets slight hull damage ( -87%) and he bails as it is still heading for u. If not then get in behind - match speed and repeat method 1.

3) The cluster. Still in my nova. yes this is risky so I use a Salv I (well I do b4 engaging any khaak anyhow.) Head straight at the cluster firing a single *fast* misslie at about 4km if it hasnt broken up yet. As soon as it breaks - give a *spread* of fire usually taking out 3 - 4 M5s. Then get in behind the still dormant (just about) M3 and do method 1. The rest of the M5s barely touch me and the M3 cant fire at me cos Im always behind him. Sometimes my turret takes out a few of the M5s along the way.

My favourite and most prosperous is method 2. If I kill it - theres plenty more M3s to jumpdrive to....

I only restarted after about 8 months last week - ive got a few centaurs on Sector def - but I just love capping in a maxed nova.

[Al]

Capturing Khaak is only possible at low ranks due to a bug. Capturing them as it was intended is very rare.

Al

[jukebox]

I like the first method of capture ing the m3 khak....personally my way is similar to your third method with the exeption of I'm a chicken when it comes to head to head with a m3 khak so i usually look for the nearest asteriod an play hide an seek ! Because the khak tends to charge after me... when it gets to the asteroid its has to change course as soon as i see it move left or right I'm in there like a rat up a drain pipe i 'm on his six and he's mine!

[Torias]

I tried to cap a couple of pirate ships after reading your guide (I have 1.4), but I hit a couple snags...

First, now anything in a convoy or even in the same sector will rush to the aid of any ship I target, rear or not. Definately not fun in a Disco when you have 5 wasps barreling down on you plus another 10 sets of lasers...

And second, when I did find some lone mandalays and bayamons I tried fighting them exactly as you said, but the fights went on for over 10 minutes each and not once did they ever bail.. I must've taken each ships' shields down dozens of times once the hull was below 87% but I had no success getting one to bail Am I doing something wrong, or is there something else I need to be doing in the process here? Do you have to let the shields fully recharge every time or just a little?

[pjknibbs]

It doesn't matter in the slightest. The chance the pilot will bail is random, and it's entirely possible to get unlucky and find one who won't bail unless you spend hours "persuading" him. You really just have to keep trying and hope you find an easy one!

[Torias]

So... the shields don't have to fully recharge before you wail on them again?

[Torias]

Do they? o.o *has been waiting a day for the answer*

[Elerium-155]

Hey AI, I have another way which I did the game.

Start the game with an M5, and start trading until you get some credits to extend your cargobay (depending on your setting). Do Mission 1, (Fixing the crystal fab).

Now, buy some wasp missles and head on to the split sectors, i honestly have no idea at what triggers the Khaak invasion yet, but anyways, ambush some mambas, fire the wasps at them (saving the game before hand) and sell off the mambas when they eject. If you have a good find, take the ship


Then set up a SPP in Kingdom end, using the money from the mambas hehe.

[Al]

So... the shields don't have to fully recharge before you wail on them again?

Correct

Al

[???]

That is how you SHOULD do it but in reality with a disc... GOD LUCK... I´m trying it right now and against a pirat ship even with missiles it´s almost impossible, against a mandalein it´s very hard (to ceep on its tail at least) BUT im flying with mouse so if you guys fly with stick it explanes something.... With gamma ire you dont do so much... I hear u all talk about some plasma or other guns YES they suerly rule BUT u need first a bigger ship then the disc... so are there yeasy ways (and cheap ways) to capture? I some times come betveen 2 ships but if the other one is a m2 it usually dosn´t work...

(This is my anwser to the first post here )

[pjknibbs]

Actually, Al, who wrote this guide, is well-known for flying his ship with nothing but the keyboard--no joystick or mouse involved at all!