Aran ???

[Bill Huntington]

It's been a while since we're had any Aran posts. It became a quest in TC. ??? It's a great storage ship.

Is it too easy to board now in AP?

Is it because it doesn't have usefulness as a combat ship?

[ubuntufreakdragon]

It's easier to find in AP, but wont respawn once boarded, the boarding itself is as easy as in TC, filled up with m6 and Lasertowers it can do some damage, but it's also usefull for unusual things like to bypass gates with a Valhalla.

[RainerPrem]

Hi,

I had the impression that the average effort of repairing the hull prior to boarding is higher now. At one time I needed a full hour of repair-lasering before it survived.

cu
Rainer

[RAVEN.myst]

I've never had to repair it prior/during boarding (and between TC and AP, I've grabbed me quite a few Arans - dozens in TC, in fact, given that they weren't unique back then) - very simple solution: 100% engineering skill on all the marines ("DON'T - SHOOT - the thermonuclear device!") In fact, I aim for this as soon as possible in any case - cuts down on post-capture repair costs, or increases resale value if that's the object (it never is for me, anymore, though.) It's possible that variations in required repair time are more likely due to differences in your boarding parties' engineering skills; also, the Aran's hull points on any given spawn seem to be randomised on each occasion, and I've seen it range quite broadly, from perhaps as little as 7% (or even less - I forget specifics) up to 14% (or perhaps even higher - again, memory does NOT serve! heheh)

@OP: ubuntufreakdragon covered the important bits. An additional note: with X3AP's revision of marine capacities, it is now possible to board with a corvette carrying a squad of a few (very!) good men - they pretty much need to be 100% fight veterans, and very high cutting and hacking skills are highly desirable in any case. Given the vagaries of spacewalking, however, the Acinonyx Prototype is the only corvette that's likely to prove practical and realistic, given its boarding pod compatibility. Alternatively, it could also (though I have not tried this - but it seems plausible) be possible to spam a full-40 out of a TP. In either case, you'll want your men to be well-drilled in not causing collateral damage (ie. engineering skill maxed out.)

[SirNukes]

The Aran hull varies 3% to 30%, which appears unchanged from TC to AP.

[RainerPrem]

I've never had to repair it prior/during boarding (and between TC and AP, I've grabbed me quite a few Arans - dozens in TC, in fact, given that they weren't unique back then) - very simple solution: 100% engineering skill on all the marines ("DON'T - SHOOT - the thermonuclear device!") In fact, I aim for this as soon as possible in any case

...

I did the same for my marines, but wasn't patient enough to wait for all of them reaching 100 before going Aran-hunting.

cu
Rainer

[jlehtone]

I did start Aran boarding with 3-star marines, and naturally failed due to lacking hull integrity. Over dozen times, in hopes that they would at least learn to fight. They did not. Back to engineering school.