TC- Cappin Spaceflies and how I did it

[maniczombie1]

So, I wanted to get the fly swatter steam acheivment. After hours of reading in the forums and going back and forth to my spacefly hunt, I finally found a swarm. It was in an unfoccused jump drive sector. I had 2 ships. A Hyperion vangaurd with an Otas M3 Venti docked on board, (because the Hyp can't equip ion D's.) I has 2 Id's mounted in the front and one in the back. And of course the fly collector. I jumped into my Hyp, Unfoccused jump, undocked the Venti, flew to a spot and just sat there. I then set my seta in the game options to 5x instead of 10. (harder to miss the lil buggers that way)

I didn't see them right off but noticed my Venti began to turn in all directions in seta. Thinkin maybe my joystick was actin funny I jumped in the rear turret w/ the ion D mounted. I figured if all i can move is the turret in seta and not the ship, it would rule out joystick malfunction. Still not seein anything my ship begins to move around again. Then, getting frustrated i pull the trigger. And wouldnt you know it, i had stunned 12 spaceflies. Upon closer examination i saw mostely yellow ones wit 2 or 3 green ones. Male female? The small bugs showed up as the lil blue triangles like for an M5 fighter. Then the little pop up came up saying I got the acheivment. After about 20 minutes of doing the same thing, (sitting and waiting in the same spot) I have accumulated 35 flies in my cargohold. SAVE. Then I figured I'd post this before I went back to hunting. Seems I was not the only one having problems finding the bugs from what I have read in the forums. It seems that they do not run out when you find a hotspot. They just continue to spawn in. I think I'll give this theory a try until I get bored w/ it or my HYP cargo hold is full. I hope this helps those would be "spacefly Hunters" out there

Was slow and tedious work but yet somehow addicting. The time consumption seems to make a certain mission where you have to come up with a LOT of microchips go by a little bit faster.

I also loaded 5 marines 100 in all skills into my Hyp just in case I stumbled upon the

Spoiler

Show

Aran

. Would be a big pity to miss such a cap hunting little insects.

[TransAmSLP350]

I never really hunted spaceflies before, however I have noticed them a lot over in Split Fire, almost right in the middle of the sector..

Didn't know there were different colors though, thought they were all yellow.

[Snafu_X3]

I don't think tha spoiler ship can be taken with only 5 marines, but I'd like to know if I'm wrong

[maniczombie1]

There may be a good chance. They are all 100 in fighting and every other skill. But you have made me think. Maybe with a bunch of reloads? I have capped the ship in another savegame with 10-5 star marines in a TP. I wasnt Hunting for spaceflies at that time then. I figured I'd kill 2 birds w/ one stone with all them unfocussed jumps. The ship has no internal defenses that im aware of other than the regular unseen default ship defense. Didnt the first time anyways.

[Insatiable]

Possible to capture with 5 marines, but difficult.

About the space flies, it sounds like you couldn't see them until after you zapped them. Is that true? Also, have you ever found them in a regular sector?

[Rogue]

I've seen a swarm in a regular sector, Chinns err I mean Ronkhars Clouds I had a ton of them thwack off my windshield once. I never see em on the minimap or gravidar but you always no they're around you from the hum they make.

Not sure if they're spawns are set or random. If you go by their decription asteroid heavy sectors should have a better chance of spawns.

I need to verify that tho.

Flyswatters next on my list, I'm also collecting large numbers of Chips/ore/Teladianium for some inknown reason. So may be worth a shot.

[Omini]

I tried capping an Aran with 2 5-stars and 3 4-stars. They were all dead by just after the start of Deck 3. One was severely lacking in fighting (2 star) but the rest were 4/5 stars in everything. So perhaps with a lot of reloads and saves you can take an Aran with 5 marines, but it would be difficult.

[Rogue]

If m6's could fire boarding pods and carry 10 marines we'd all be kings of the universe

I really need to get that m7m.

[Tormbo]

I actually managed to get the steam archievement without actually actively hunting the buggers. I probably hit some with stray fire somewhere.

The odd thing is, I don't think I ever mounted ion weapons on a ship yet.

[zazie]

As ever, observations from a game (X3TC-3.0 Vanilla), no evidence that every game acts the same. But:

I think you can find Spaceflies in every sector with Asteroids.
But you have to give them time to "show up".

I don't know if Spaceflies are spawned right when you enter a sector. I do see them quite often, but always after I have spent long time in that sector (several minutes realtime, sometimes with SETA 10x on).

Typical situation: I am in the middle of a sector with asteroids, do not move because I am micromanaging ships/stations/OOS-fights or what ever, and suddenly I see Spaceflies as little yellow dots flying at middle distance round my ship. They mostly fly further, do not circle around my ship (btw. I never hunt them. In all my years of X3-gaming i have NEVER bought a Spacefly Collector. I would join and support any "Spacefly Liberation Front" ).

Another speculation: I have played X3-games on different PCs/Laptops. I am under the impression that the spawning of Spaceflies is related to the specs of your machine. In other words: I see most Spaceflies when playing on the best of my machines.

[maniczombie1]

Luckily, all 5 of my marines are 100 in every skill including fighting. So, maybe my odds will be pretty good.

[Insatiable]

Luckily, all 5 of my marines are 100 in every skill including fighting. So, maybe my odds will be pretty good.

[Triaxx2]

1) I'm pretty sure it's possible to cap anything with 5 marines, provided you've got the patience to keep reloading.

2)The Iguana and Iguana Vanguard both mount IonD, and carry 10 Marines, + Missiles.

[Baddieus]

The fly swatter achievement was one that took me some time as well.

I found clusters of spaceflys in Freedoms Reach by sitting still and zooming in on asteroids until I saw them cross my viewing path. Then it was a matter of flying in front of the direction they were going at the moment and hoping I got in the right place at the right time. All in all it took me just over an hour to finally swat a whole group of them.