TPs are infact genuinely useless (a rant best heard in C#)

Kobura · Post by **Kobura** » Fri, 21. Oct 11, 23:43

So after spending about four hours trying to figure out TP boarding on a lonely Boron Casino, after deciding I wasn't just going to cheese straight into swiping an M7M, I've decided that no, it's not hard.

It doesn't require expertise.

It doesn't require luck. It IS IMPOSSIBLE.

Total contents of the Orca: 5x200 shields, duplex, jumpdrive. Shields never even hit 5% after I initiated. All marines 3* in all departments or better, using a full Scabbard of them.

I wasn't even trying to win. I was just trying to learn the process. How to manage shields, how to get marines out of a transport, how to position the TP so it'd do ANYTHING even under my direct control.

I only got the Marines to eject twice (out of four hours, perhaps a dozen or two different tries at this) and only the last time did //ANY// of them pop out close enough to catch even the sluggish 40m/s casino.

Not even he with his fifty-something skill in Mechanical could get through the unpolarized hull. He decided it can't be cut and popped off.

I'm done with this. Screw ***modified***, cheat scripts here I come. This crud has delved lower than "challenge", lower than "difficult", lower even than "cult-of-achievers" status. Someone at Ego needs to get their head on straight and never let this happen again.

Right up there with the X2 cutscenes, PBG, and X2 Khaak Fighters as far as things nibbling the fun out of otherwise fun series. If I hear even wind of something like this going on in Rebirth, I'm leaving and not looking back.

And to think I only gave half a damn about boarding because it's MANDATORY...THREE TIMES... and I was trying to be a good little prepared Boy Scout. Shame on me.

StarSword · Post by **StarSword** » Fri, 21. Oct 11, 23:57

Once you go M7M, you never go back.

Your first mistake: boarding a TL by spacewalk. TL hulls are extremely hard to cut through regardless of HPD. (Some here theorize that TLs are in fact retired M1s converted to cargo duty, which neatly explains the thickness of the armor and the similar visual design.) Pods are pretty much de rigeur for TLs.

From what I can tell, TP boarding is only any good against TM, M6, and M7. (That's how some players acquire their first M7M, incidentally.) Everything else, use an M7M with pods.

Spoiler

Show

Incidentally, the only time boarding is actually a plot requirement is during the HQ plot. All three other times (Vidar and #deca during Terran plot, and Truelight Seeker during Goner plot), they'll give you the ship for free after a bit.

P.S. Why is this rant best heard in C#?

brucewarren · Post by **brucewarren** » Sat, 22. Oct 11, 00:01

Got my first M7M on a "Return Ship" mission.
They wanted to give me a couple hundred grand to return a 30 million
credit ship? No chance.

StarSword · Post by **StarSword** » Sat, 22. Oct 11, 06:04

brucewarren wrote:Got my first M7M on a "Return Ship" mission.
They wanted to give me a couple hundred grand to return a 30 million
credit ship? No chance.

Same here. I've bagged two M7Ms and three M7s from Return Ship missions, along with many, many M6 and M8. Pretty much any time the ship is worth more than the paycheck, I'll either sell the ship or keep it.

pjknibbs · Post by **pjknibbs** » Sat, 22. Oct 11, 08:20

Boarding is not mandatory in the two Terran plot missions you're no doubt thinking about--you don't need to launch a single marine and they'll still have the same outcome. The other one I'm not so sure about, but that happens at such a late stage in the game you ought to be advanced enough to have an M7M anyway!

Spacewalk boarding is unfortunately broken--it used to work in an earlier patch, but it's extremely difficult (if not impossible) to do it now. I don't know if this is a deliberate nerf by Egosoft because it was so easy to capture expensive ships back then, but whatever the reason, you're best off saving your pennies for a missile frigate and doing it that way.

Triaxx2 · Post by **Triaxx2** » Sat, 22. Oct 11, 10:24

Marines not ejecting sounds like the broken Piracy Command. Give it another shot with Launch all Marines.

BDK · Post by **BDK** » Sat, 22. Oct 11, 11:26

I gave up on space walk boarding a looong time ago. Now I only roll with boarding pods because they actually work every single time I use them. So yeah, grab an M7M (I like the Cobra myself) and rejoice

Prophet1 · Post by **Prophet1** » Sat, 22. Oct 11, 11:30

@StarSword: C# so your voice can break glass while ranting

garv222 · Post by **garv222** » Sat, 22. Oct 11, 11:32

I doubt it'd be easy to take a TL with only one TP full of marines even if all your marines made contact at the same time with the hull. I did manage to take a m7m with 10 marines out of a TP once, but I was very lucky and their were only 1 or 2 survivors after that.

I'd say space walking marines is an excellent way to enhance your appreciation of boarding pods and that's about it's best feature.

brucewarren · Post by **brucewarren** » Sat, 22. Oct 11, 11:43

C# as in pitch? I thought the OP meant C# as in the programming language

Infekted · Post by **Infekted** » Sat, 22. Oct 11, 12:32

StarSword wrote:Your first mistake: boarding a TL by spacewalk. TL hulls are extremely hard to cut through regardless of HPD. (Some here theorize that TLs are in fact retired M1s converted to cargo duty, which neatly explains the thickness of the armor and the similar visual design.) Pods are pretty much de rigeur for TLs.

From what I can tell, TP boarding is only any good against TM, M6, and M7. (That's how some players acquire their first M7M, incidentally.) Everything else, use an M7M with pods.

That is completely and utterly untrue.

StarSword · Post by **StarSword** » Sat, 22. Oct 11, 16:55

brucewarren wrote:C# as in pitch? I thought the OP meant C# as in the programming language

Likewise.

Infekted wrote:
StarSword wrote:Your first mistake: boarding a TL by spacewalk. TL hulls are extremely hard to cut through regardless of HPD. (Some here theorize that TLs are in fact retired M1s converted to cargo duty, which neatly explains the thickness of the armor and the similar visual design.) Pods are pretty much de rigeur for TLs.

From what I can tell, TP boarding is only any good against TM, M6, and M7. (That's how some players acquire their first M7M, incidentally.) Everything else, use an M7M with pods.
That is completely and utterly untrue.

How so?

Infekted · Post by **Infekted** » Sat, 22. Oct 11, 17:36

Regardless of whether you use pods or space walking, if your marines fail to breach a commonwealth TL it is due to not having enough Mechanic training.

Ofc, pods means the required amount of training is lower, but that is not to say that spacewalking will autofail.

The only other thing is that with pods you only need one decent mechanic per pod, whereas spacewalkers all need to break in solo.

I am ignoring the other difficulties and frustrations of spacewalking vs pod boarding here! Purely from a maths point of view as it were.

Skillzfire · Post by **Skillzfire** » Sat, 22. Oct 11, 19:21

really i dotn see why people hate space walk boarding, its not that hard you jsut have to control the TP personaly, run stright at the target then do the launch all marines hot key, boom done

eldyranx3 · Post by **eldyranx3** » Sat, 22. Oct 11, 22:13

Ambush an unescorted M7M with three TP's full of marines while the frigate is trying to go through a Gate. While you are pecking away at its shields, the M7M will keep evading, usually below 30m/s. Watch as 30 marines converge on the toothless beast and wait for your prize.

Although, return ship missions are much easier. Depending how you ditch the police, that is

Morkonan · Post by **Morkonan** » Sun, 23. Oct 11, 00:17

On boarding pods :

Are there no Terran ships that are compatible with Boarding Pods?

x3tc.ru search

StarSword · Post by **StarSword** » Sun, 23. Oct 11, 00:49

No. Next question.

Technically, there aren't any Terran M7Ms at all. (The Skirnir is an ATF model.)

Morkonan · Post by **Morkonan** » Sun, 23. Oct 11, 01:27

StarSword wrote:No. Next question.

Technically, there aren't any Terran M7Ms at all. (The Skirnir is an ATF model.)

Grrrr... No Terran TM Assault Carriers.. No Terran M7 "Attitude Adjusters" capable of carrying Attitude Adjusting Boarding Pods full of... Non-Terran Marines.

Terra got the short end of the stick on ship choices. But, the ships they do have are pretty darn tough. Just not a lot of options.

Spoiler

Show

As an aside, I do have a compliment of Terran Marines on a Scabbard reward ship from the Terran Plot. But, because of their uniqueness, I think I'll hold them out of action.

eldyranx3 · Post by **eldyranx3** » Sun, 23. Oct 11, 01:34

Morkonan wrote:
Spoiler
Show
As an aside, I do have a compliment of Terran Marines on a Scabbard reward ship from the Terran Plot. But, because of their uniqueness, I think I'll hold them out of action.

I can't help you on the Terran M7M, (though Cadius' ship pack can) but if you are looking for more Terran Marines check my sig.

Morkonan · Post by **Morkonan** » Sun, 23. Oct 11, 01:47

eldyranx3 wrote:..
I can't help you on the Terran M7M, (though Cadius' ship pack can) but if you are looking for more Terran Marines check my sig.

Oh, I already bookmarked it a few days after I installed the game.

I'm just going to do as much Vanilla as I can before trying out mods. I think it's far better that way and affords me more time to learn and understand the actual impact of specific mods on the game. (Any game, for that matter. I'm a big fan of mod-communities of all types.) I'd hate to rush into a mod without understanding how its play (or mechanics) differs from the base game. In X3, the only way to really do that is to dive into the vanilla game and play. There are painfully few quality resources out there for X3 discussions and info to do otherwise. The manual is.. terrible and most other info, strats and discussions that are available are either too difficult to find (Even on this forum.) or simply nonexistent.

So, it's play the Vanilla game, first. Then, load up on some juicy mods (Like yours) and see how it goes. After that, maybe a couple of fun mods on my own. (I'm a 3D modeling enthusiast and can work with simple game scripts, in a pinch.)

egosoft.com

egosoft.com

TPs are infact genuinely useless (a rant best heard in C#)

TPs are infact genuinely useless (a rant best heard in C#)