Atmospheric Lifter has shields go from 0% to 100%

[Tohron]

I'm trying to board an Atmospheric Lifter in Jupiter using a Cobra (the one that travels from the Logistics dock toward the planet), but this is made basically impossible by a bug I've encountered.

Essentially, I launch a hammer torpedo, followed by a few Flails, then switch to boarding pods as the last few Flails are impacting, only to find that right as the shields go to around zero, they suddenly get reset to 100%.

I'm guessing that this is the result of some sort of code that resets the ship if it takes any hull damage (perhaps a leftover of the Rapid Response code?) - but at any point, it's ridiculous and bringing my gameplay to a halt. Hoping that someone can figure out what's going on and get a fix in the pipeline, because I'm now pretty set on capping that ship.

[Carlo the Curious]

iirc, that happens when a freight drone docks with the Lifter.

[Alan Phipps]

Yes as Carlo says, a known happening when a drone and its freight is taken into cargo. Your boarding timing needs to take drone arrivals (they can be destroyed before docking instead) and the ensuing TL power up into account.

Moving to Universe forum.

[David Howland]

Yes as stated, your timing needs to change, I had difficulty with the same thing. Its tempting to wait where you know the ship will stop to unload but I found it much easier to lay adv.sats on the path it takes and attack on-route.
Another point is, it is important to scan these ships before boarding as defences can vary. For instance an Atmo with 1 or 2 shields is more difficult than a fully shielded ship because the shields recover a lot quicker, needing less energy!

[gecos]

Yes as stated, your timing needs to change, I had difficulty with the same thing. Its tempting to wait where you know the ship will stop to unload but I found it much easier to lay adv.sats on the path it takes and attack on-route.
Another point is, it is important to scan these ships before boarding as defences can vary. For instance an Atmo with 1 or 2 shields is more difficult than a fully shielded ship because the shields recover a lot quicker, needing less energy!

This is a valid point across the board. The sweet spot from my experience is around 2-3 GJ, fairly quick to bring down with corvette weapon fire and requiring only a maximum of an additional salvo after shield regeneration to 5-6%. Anything less and it's babysitting work, especially when HP is a factor. Anything over and it's likely better to use missiles since the target ship is likely also heavily gunned too.

However, once you bring the shields fully down on a 6 GJ+ for example you can launch pods, save before hull breach, move away from target and might as well go take a coffee break, there's no need to worry about shield regeneration.

[Triaxx2]

Atmos are tricky. It takes so long to get them into position. I've noticed that if you can hit them as the drones start towards the station, you can hit the ship and it will start to run.

I find it easier to shoot it in the back as it runs straight away from me.

[Tohron]

Didn't know freight drones caused shield resets. Are there any plans to patch this?

Anyway, I ended up just shooting it with my Springblossom while the cobra fired pods using the piracy command. All 19 marines survived, so at least it ended well.

[David Howland]

It is not likely to be altered! The Atmo shield-freight drone reset, is well known and probably necessary to avoid risk of landing drones destroying the Atmo with no shields?
Congratulations on your Atmo.! When I took mine, I found the prep. necessary, made it convenient to take three in one session. The first was tricky and I did lose marines, the next two were much easier with no marine lose?

[Abkhaaker]

How many marines do you need to capture the atmospheric lifter?

I tried it with 14 - 4 star marines, but they can't get through the hull.
In TC it was way easier to capture one.

EDIT: Done, 14 marines were not enough.

[David Howland]

Sorry if I have missed it but we need to know which game you are playing to give detailed info on marine numbers?
I am playing TC and always use M7M with pods, for large ships I launch 20 marines, all fully trained in everything but fight skills. The problems with beginners using the bare minimum are:-
1. The board will be more difficult and complicated than need be, probably involving more saves and reloads, than otherwise!
2. Using less men will involve more marine loses than if the max. number is used! The amount of credits and time spent marine training makes losing more than necessary, horrendous.

[Abkhaaker]

It's X3:AP.

I used a Scirocco with pods and 20 fully trained marines and it worked.
But finding an unequipped atmo lifter was difficult, too.