Also if possible try to scan the target ship beforehand to avoid any anti-boarding equipment beyond the skills of available player personnel (Internal Security Lasers are the worst as they act as 2 permanent 100 Fighting Skill marines). It is advisable to attack enemy ships to gain their attention before luring the targets past the map bounds (30% past the normal system radius) so it no longer has any nearby friendly ships to help it. A poorly planned boarding can easily bring players down from +10 Race Reputation to -2 or lower (Valhalla, Colossus Hauler, Galleon and Shuri are bad for this). With friendly Races, the more ships that need to be killed to board and evacuate a ship, the greater the reputation loss. With hostile Races where the player does not have an Advanced Satellite network it is advised that the player saves and then scouts ahead with a fast and durable ship (like a Springblossom or Hyperion Vanguard) to find a suitable and preferably undefended target. With friendly Races the player can order a cheap M5 ship to follow a target ship until it is alone and preferably in a sector owned by a different race (player gets a larger reputation loss if boarding in sectors owned by the race whose ship is being boarded). Turbo Boosters are optional but can help.įirst the player needs to find a good target.
Once off purchases of Freight Scanner, Special Command Software, Fight Command Software MK1, Fight Command Software MK2, Bioscanner, Transporter Device and Jumpdrive.
Alternatively getting a TM ship to follow the boarding ship allows for a Jumpdrive to be transferred to the captured ship and then shuffling a second Jumpdrive from a docked fighter back onto the TM allowing all ships to escape. This means jumping in a fast and probably sacrificial M5 to transfer a Jumpdrive onto the captured ship while the player ship provides the Energy Cells, allowing the captured target ship to jump to the nearest safe sector, leaving the M5 alone to try and find a safe route home. Freshly captured ships lack most of their equipment and may already be at a low percentage of their hull so are in no state to fight enemy fleets meaning an evacuation plan is needed.
Boarding allows the player to obtain free ships worth several million credits, obtain ships and stations of enemy Races and obtain ships and stations that are not available for purchase.īoarding is performed either by a Spacewalk or by using Boarding Pods. To capture larger ships (TM/TL/M6/M7/M2/M1) requires them to be boarded.