How to take over a Sector without losing Reputation

[Goldbear]

This works for a sector owned by a faction with one Defence Platform

Ingredients
Friend or Foe Mines
1 Spacesuit bomb
Any small ship

Method
Start building your own Defence Platform in the sector, first. Place the Administrative Centre module, then add a dock and weapons to taste.

Approach the faction platform and use long range scan to identify the modules.

Go to the map view and select the platform. Find the defence modules and target the Administrative Centre. Fly very close and park. Press F2 for an external view. Go to the map view, select your ship, information, deployables, then mines. Deploy mines, pressing steadily at quicker than one a second. 25 should be sufficient. Watch your ship and wait until all mines have stopped moving before pressing F1 and move your ship a short distance away.

Get into your spacesuit and go over to the mines. Select your bomb, target one of the mines, not the station and eject. Do not detonate yet.

Get back into your ship. Target the bomb and reverse or fly at least 3km away. Trigger the bomb. This will detonate all the mines as well, destroying the Administrative Centre.

If there is only one faction defence platform and yours has not been built yet, ownership of the system will fall vacant. Once yours is built, the sector automatically becomes yours. The faction will rebuild and so there is a race to see whose is built or repaired first.

Issues
Your mines will clump together. Although it looks weird, a sort of cactus glowing from within, this is necessary to maximise the damage. You do not want them to disperse.

It’s not hard to blow yourself up.

If a criminal or similar traffic flies by, the mines may track them or detonate, with you as well, if you haven’t moved away. The critical stage is between laying your last mine and moving away.

This works with the Teladi. I have taken 3 sectors from them, so far.

However, if they have a Trading Station in sector they do not give up. Also, Teladi Trading stations do not have an Admistrative Centre module. Other factions appear to, as do Shipyards, Wharfs and Equipment Docks. I had 2 of my own platforms in sector, none for the Teladi. That does not seem right.

It is only necessary to destroy the Administrative Centre module. Not the whole station. The exception seems to be the Teladi, if there is a Trading Station, in sector. To test this, I took it as far as completely destroying the defence platform, then taking out all the other defence modules in the Trading Station, before giving up.

Provided you are at least 2 or perhaps 3km from the nearest part of the platform, it does not turn enemy/red and you do not lose reputation.

If you have wiped out most of a Trading Station, the safe distance grows considerably. I used travel mode and went > 40km before triggering the bomb. That works.

Different modules need more or less mines to destroy. I have tested 25 for the Administrative Centre. Perhaps fewer would work.

As I intend to take over the sector, I don’t usually pay the licence fee when building my own platform.

After taking over, I have been offered some fun missions:
‘Go over to DP1 and kill 10 criminals’ DP1 is mine. I took the mission, but there were no criminals and I didn’t want to shoot myself.

‘Build a defence platform to this specification x for 15 million credits’ I wish I had taken that one. It would have paid for 2 of my own platforms, plus 3 million profit.