Getting the Earlking & VIG faction gain (from -14) in 7.5

[Naraz79]

Question 1: How do you go about getting the Earlking in 7.5 short of wiping out the station/declearing war on the entire sector it's in or destroying the Earlking & getting it via research?

I have gotten it in previous versions which was a while ago & the only thing that was hard: The actual boarding operation, getting enough skilled marines.
Out of sector boarding is not allowed, you get a quest that cannot be abandoned if you try to board the Earlking. You must personally destroy the turrets as all attack commands on the Earlking are rejected. I remember having some fights & the boarding but nothing like this: Getting close to the station sets my rep to -30, calls every VIG fighter in the sector & makes the station open up enough plasma to make the death star look weak.

I have tried to sneak kill the ships guarding it but that does not work, more ships constantly keep getting called. (It does not matter if I shoot down distress drones)

I tried a full on attack with the VIG fighters in strategic positions trying to pull small amounts away from the station with a small fleet (yes I'm still early game) 1 carrier (Zeus E) 10 destroyer + fighters, drones, laser towers, mines... Nope...
They just keep coming until I'm overwhelmed. Fighters in the hundreds. I remember deleting the entire VIG faction with 1 raptor + fighters in a earlier versions...

Ok so time to get creative, I wait until the VIG sent fighters to fight the TEL & try to sneak kill the turrets. Nope... Just makes the station rain enough hell to melt half the Earlkings shields in the first volley & somehow some fighters started coming anyway.

Ok so time to get even more creative. Sneak in with space suit & space bomb the turrets. Again: Your not allowed to even look at the station funny/be close or it will rain plasma & send drone swarms. It's funny to actually die from some random plasma being able to go straight through the Earlking as I hide below it's structure while it still has shields. Should have been an achievement with the picture of the death star firing on a guy in a space suit trying to hide...

This leads me to question 2: I figured I would improve my rep with the VIG then try some stuff again... I'm at -14 maybe that's the issue.
Ok so no criminal traffic. That has already been written about dozens of times in the forums. Lets try some MISSIONS like the devs say.

So I have been driving around for hours and got some repair & place satellite missons but nothing. No REP gain. A few hours/missions was not even enough to bump me to -13.
I finally got some khaak & pirates to spawn next to one of their stations that actually attacked one of their ships but again: Nothing.
So question nr 2: How do you get rep with the VIG in 7.5? I have done missions & even helped fending off some pirates + khaak but I gained nothing. Getting from above-20 to positive for the other factions is complete easy mode.

Anyone got any ideas? At this point I'm thinking it's time to return with a fully decked raptor & some Starwars music.

[TheDeliveryMan]

Question 1: How do you go about getting the Earlking in 7.5 short of wiping out the station/declearing war on the entire sector it's in or destroying the Earlking & getting it via research?

I usually load a couple of L freighters with 328 one star marines and set it to follow the Erlking. When they arrive, I initiate boarding from out of sector. There are two settings (I don't remember what they are called), I set them both to "Very Strong". Then I stay OOS for a while and do something else. Eventually I get notification that the boarding OP was successfull.

So question nr 2: How do you get rep with the VIG in 7.5? I have done missions & even helped fending off some pirates + khaak but I gained nothing. Getting from above-20 to positive for the other factions is complete easy mode.

Look out for signal leaks outside of Teladi stations, some should spawn missions for VIG.

[Feloidea]

I don't know if anything changed since 7.5 but in 7.10 I could simply fly up to the Erlking and start a boarding operation with a bunch of marines who took it without much fuzz whilst I led the VIG who aggro'ed on me on a merry chase around the sector as I waited for the boarding to complete. I've never had the station fire on the Erlking after I had taken control over it but this may have changed since then.

[...]
So I have been driving around for hours and got some repair & place satellite missons but nothing. No REP gain. A few hours/missions was not even enough to bump me to -13.
[...]

That seems odd. At -14 you should see some noticable reputation gain from doing a bunch of missions. Are you sure the mission givers were VIG and not RIP or other factions? If these were VIG missions and you did a bunch of them without seeing any reputation increase, I'd start suspecting something whacky with your game (either a bug or perhaps a modification messing with stuff if you run a modded game).

[Casishur]

the Erlkönig is not fully armed and has a few blind spots. you have to position your ship far enough so that no defense guns can attack the boarding pods on approach. This way you can still keep a good distance.

Look out for signal leaks outside of Teladi stations, some should spawn missions for VIG.

But you should be careful not to inadvertently start a small war with the Teladi and the Ministry of Finance.

All missions are specifically related to the Teladi and the Ministry of Finance
None are generated for the Riptide Breakers

In addition, the reputation gain is vanishingly small

So question nr 2: How do you get rep with the VIG in 7.5? I have done missions & even helped fending off some pirates + khaak but I gained nothing. Getting from above-20 to positive for the other factions is complete easy mode.

Shooting down enemy ships near the Vigor stations and Riptide Breakers will not work due to the missing “protective” flag


I have been with the Vigor Syndicate -30 since 2023 and almost started a war against the Teladi/MIN because of the signal leak missions.
and got at most to -28 / -29 with over 100 signal leak missions.

Due to the fact that they repeatedly attack me and also stations, it drops back to -30 relatively quickly.

[Blaze1st]

Pretty sure I did it just before 7.50 patch, so not aware that they changed anything with regards to the method I used, but I just sent two Shuyakus with VIG marines to park near it.

Then I teleported to the first and did a fly-by boarding action then got the freighter out of dodge.

As I recall that first one got wiped out. So then I teleported to the second freighter, did another fly-by boarding action and captured it.

[Naraz79]

Question 1: How do you go about getting the Earlking in 7.5 short of wiping out the station/declearing war on the entire sector it's in or destroying the Earlking & getting it via research?

I usually load a couple of L freighters with 328 one star marines and set it to follow the Erlking. When they arrive, I initiate boarding from out of sector. There are two settings (I don't remember what they are called), I set them both to "Very Strong". Then I stay OOS for a while and do something else. Eventually I get notification that the boarding OP was successfull.

So question nr 2: How do you get rep with the VIG in 7.5? I have done missions & even helped fending off some pirates + khaak but I gained nothing. Getting from above-20 to positive for the other factions is complete easy mode.

Look out for signal leaks outside of Teladi stations, some should spawn missions for VIG.

And that's my problem: OOS = No longer allowed. Trying to board the Earlking in or out of sector now triggers a mission where the first step is to disable 2 turrets. No matter the fleet composition or orders given the fleet will just fly around the Earlking & wait for turrets to be disabled. You HAVE to kill the turrets personally and for that you HAVE to get near the Earlking personally in a ship or space suit. That triggers the station. Giving ships any order to attack the Earlking/target turrets does not work.

About the signal leak I have found & done 3x VIG missions so far but that was not enough to give me even a point.

[Naraz79]

I don't know if anything changed since 7.5 but in 7.10 I could simply fly up to the Erlking and start a boarding operation with a bunch of marines who took it without much fuzz whilst I led the VIG who aggro'ed on me on a merry chase around the sector as I waited for the boarding to complete. I've never had the station fire on the Erlking after I had taken control over it but this may have changed since then.

[...]
So I have been driving around for hours and got some repair & place satellite missons but nothing. No REP gain. A few hours/missions was not even enough to bump me to -13.
[...]

That seems odd. At -14 you should see some noticable reputation gain from doing a bunch of missions. Are you sure the mission givers were VIG and not RIP or other factions? If these were VIG missions and you did a bunch of them without seeing any reputation increase, I'd start suspecting something whacky with your game (either a bug or perhaps a modification messing with stuff if you run a modded game).

Do you remember if you got a mission in 7.1? In 7.5 trying to board the Earlking starts a mission that cannot be abandoned. If I do it from OOS the boarding team just sits there and waits for me to personally do the mission steps. If I get close to the station myself in ship or space suit the station triggers & faction goes to -30. I also considered trying to kite the VIG fleet but with the station guns + drone swarm & the way the VIG ships behave I don't really see it as an option anymore. Also this is a completely fresh start & non modded game started in 7.5. I did not carry anything over from previous playthroughs. About the rep I have done 3 missions so far. All listed as VIG. Station repair signal leak, repair satellite & place satellite. I could see some rep gain in the log but it was not enough to even bump it up a point.

[TheDeliveryMan]

And that's my problem: OOS = No longer allowed. Trying to board the Earlking in or out of sector now triggers a mission where the first step is to disable 2 turrets. No matter the fleet composition or orders given the fleet will just fly around the Earlking & wait for turrets to be disabled. You HAVE to kill the turrets personally and for that you HAVE to get near the Earlking personally in a ship or space suit. That triggers the station. Giving ships any order to attack the Earlking/target turrets does not work.

I started my current on 7.50 RC 1, I own the Erlking and I certainly was not near it during the boarding OP.

[thedavid]

I did this recently with 7.50. You start with -5 rep. You get a fast ship and set it to repeat orders. The ship buys 1 medical supplies from a Vigor station. It sells the 1 medical supplies to another Vigor station on a loop. Get your rep up to at least plus 11.

At plus 11, you can OOS board the Erlking. Unlike with 7.1, with 7.50 it will shoot at your marines. You might lose some but with enough luck or reloading you can get it.

Or, another method is to OOS blow up the Erlking and build a new one. The research only requires energy cells. That is a cheaper option. The Trinity from the Hyperion DLC has the range on its main guns to destroy the Erlking without ever getting into range for the Erlking to shoot back.

Once the Erlking is destroyed, you will drop from +11 rep to -9 rep with Vigor. That is ok. Your guy on repeat orders will quickly raise your rep again and get it all the way to 30.

If you try to be in sector to either attack or board the Erlking, a lot of ships will come after you. For every ship you destroy defending yourself you will lose rep with Vigor until you are all the way down to -30. So if you insist on doing this yourself, wait until the part of the Northriver plot when you are at war with Vigor. Then you can lose rep and it will reset if you do the story mission right.

[TheDeliveryMan]

I did this recently with 7.50. You start with -5 rep. You get a fast ship and set it to repeat orders. The ship buys 1 medical supplies from a Vigor station. It sells the 1 medical supplies to another Vigor station on a loop. Get your rep up to at least plus 11.

OP is at -14 rep, they have to get to -9 before they are allowed to dock and can use trading to gain more rep.

[Naraz79]

the Erlkönig is not fully armed and has a few blind spots. you have to position your ship far enough so that no defense guns can attack the boarding pods on approach. This way you can still keep a good distance.

Look out for signal leaks outside of Teladi stations, some should spawn missions for VIG.

But you should be careful not to inadvertently start a small war with the Teladi and the Ministry of Finance.

All missions are specifically related to the Teladi and the Ministry of Finance
None are generated for the Riptide Breakers

In addition, the reputation gain is vanishingly small

So question nr 2: How do you get rep with the VIG in 7.5? I have done missions & even helped fending off some pirates + khaak but I gained nothing. Getting from above-20 to positive for the other factions is complete easy mode.

Shooting down enemy ships near the Vigor stations and Riptide Breakers will not work due to the missing “protective” flag


I have been with the Vigor Syndicate -30 since 2023 and almost started a war against the Teladi/MIN because of the signal leak missions.
and got at most to -28 / -29 with over 100 signal leak missions.

Due to the fact that they repeatedly attack me and also stations, it drops back to -30 relatively quickly.

The problem is that the mission now forces you to take out the turrets personally. That triggers the station & the range of the plasma + droneswarm is huge. I will try another tactic & see if I can take out the turrets super quick & then wait for the station aggro to cooldown then do some OOS stuff. Thanks for confirming that these factions lack the protective flag for faction gain & the VIG rep gain being super slow. That's in line with my own findings having done a bunch of missions now and still no -14 to -13. I will also check TEL stations for VIG missions.

[Naraz79]

And that's my problem: OOS = No longer allowed. Trying to board the Earlking in or out of sector now triggers a mission where the first step is to disable 2 turrets. No matter the fleet composition or orders given the fleet will just fly around the Earlking & wait for turrets to be disabled. You HAVE to kill the turrets personally and for that you HAVE to get near the Earlking personally in a ship or space suit. That triggers the station. Giving ships any order to attack the Earlking/target turrets does not work.

I started my current on 7.50 RC 1, I own the Erlking and I certainly was not near it during the boarding OP.

So your telling me you could just board the Earlking completely unchallenged from OOS with a bunch of freighters & doing so did not trigger a multi step mission that starts with take out 2x turrets? That does not work for me. I started with 7.5 (553255)

Edit: I guess it's like one of the other ppl posting said: You can do it OOS if your rep is 10+

[thedavid]

I did this recently with 7.50. You start with -5 rep. You get a fast ship and set it to repeat orders. The ship buys 1 medical supplies from a Vigor station. It sells the 1 medical supplies to another Vigor station on a loop. Get your rep up to at least plus 11.

OP is at -14 rep, they have to get to -9 before they are allowed to dock and can use trading to gain more rep.

OP also said this was a fresh game, so not that far into it yet. If he's already in the hole, maybe it's best to back out and try another strategy.

Or, if he wants to stick with this and just accept that Vigor rep is a lost cause, then he Asgard his way through it.

Build some Asgards. Set some of the turrets to shoot all enemies. Set some more to attack capital ships only. Set the turrets to disabled. Fly it and point the main gun at the station. With quick timing activate the turrets, teleport out, and then sell the ship to the Ministry of Finance. You get paid for the ship and then the Ministry can fight it out with Vigor, destroying some of their station modules. With enough Asgards you'll eventually have the whole station destroyed.

[Casishur]

I did this recently with 7.50. You start with -5 rep. You get a fast ship and set it to repeat orders. The ship buys 1 medical supplies from a Vigor station. It sells the 1 medical supplies to another Vigor station on a loop. Get your rep up to at least plus 11.

OP is at -14 rep, they have to get to -9 before they are allowed to dock and can use trading to gain more rep.

OP also said this was a fresh game, so not that far into it yet. If he's already in the hole, maybe it's best to back out and try another strategy.

Or, if he wants to stick with this and just accept that Vigor rep is a lost cause, then he Asgard his way through it.

Build some Asgards. Set some of the turrets to shoot all enemies. Set some more to attack capital ships only. Set the turrets to disabled. Fly it and point the main gun at the station. With quick timing activate the turrets, teleport out, and then sell the ship to the Ministry of Finance. You get paid for the ship and then the Ministry can fight it out with Vigor, destroying some of their station modules. With enough Asgards you'll eventually have the whole station destroyed.

if you destroy the asgard's engines, the ship remains in position and does not fly away.

The Asgard tactic is the most effective, but it works with any ship.

The only thing the Asgard and all other ships won't use are the main guns

I don't have to worry about the Vigor Syndicate anymore, because the Argons have taken over the sectors and are beating each other up there.

Buuuuuut how is it that suddenly a mission comes up that you have to destroy 2 turrets of the Erlkönig to board the ship?
Who came up with this crazy idea?

[Feloidea]

[...]
Buuuuuut how is it that suddenly a mission comes up that you have to destroy 2 turrets of the Erlkönig to board the ship?
Who came up with this crazy idea?

Is this actually a new thing specifically for the Erlking acquisition or did you perchance set the launch criteria for your boarding action that you'll launch at X% combat effectiveness which might result in you needing to disable some turrets to meet the set parameters?

[Blaze1st]

And that's my problem: OOS = No longer allowed. Trying to board the Earlking in or out of sector now triggers a mission where the first step is to disable 2 turrets. No matter the fleet composition or orders given the fleet will just fly around the Earlking & wait for turrets to be disabled. You HAVE to kill the turrets personally and for that you HAVE to get near the Earlking personally in a ship or space suit. That triggers the station. Giving ships any order to attack the Earlking/target turrets does not work.

I started my current on 7.50 RC 1, I own the Erlking and I certainly was not near it during the boarding OP.

So your telling me you could just board the Earlking completely unchallenged from OOS with a bunch of freighters & doing so did not trigger a multi step mission that starts with take out 2x turrets? That does not work for me. I started with 7.5 (553255)

Edit: I guess it's like one of the other ppl posting said: You can do it OOS if your rep is 10+

Yes having a bit of rep sounds about right, I would definitely have had at least 10 since I sent a trader out to each faction at the beginning of the game (untested scientist start so didn't have to work off negative rep at all except with pirates).

[Kannibal666]

Pre 7.5 I managed to board the Erlking while OOS using Live Stream view on my boarding ship (Rattlesnake or Barbarossa, I don’t remember) with a « Shoot to disable » order. Once the turrets are gone and the pods are launched, you can leave the Live Stream view and get your boarding ship out of there.

Apparently, live stream view does not count as being in sector, so the VIG station and ships did not turn hostile.

Then I got the Erlking back to my shipyard for retrofit and completely forgot about the VIG Keepsafe station. Much later, I happened to fly too close to the station, and it sent me a final warning and turned hostile although the Erlking had been gone a long time already.

So no big fight for me.