First targets for boarding

Lortex87 · Post by **Lortex87** » Sun, 28. Jul 13, 01:37

So I am trying to figure out this boarding feature, checked a few guides and got myself and Angel full of trained marines, 3 M3's on shield suppression duty, and a Centaur packed with Hornets and IonD's. Got a Hyperion drawn out to the outskirts of preachers void and attempt to board. I failed so many times at this, with either the Hyperion wrecking my fighters, my marines floating in space, or Hyperion gets blown up. Am I shooting too high for my first boarding and if so what should I practice on?

ajax34i · Post by **ajax34i** » Sun, 28. Jul 13, 01:52

No, you're not shooting too high. Hyperion can be boarded with 1 TP and 1 M3 (it's almost impossible but it can be done).

The problem is that the ship is just too damn fast for any TP or marines to catch it. It's also very well armed, and can kill TP's or your other ships very fast, as 8 CIG + 4 HEPT + 6 PAC is a lot of firepower.

So what you need to do is:

- Don't fly the TP. The piracy command involves the autopilot taking over the ship in order to fly it in front of the Hyperion and position it for the marines to board. So let the autopilot do that and you fly one of the M3's or the Centaur, so you can control the Hyperion's behavior. It tends to get pissed off at you, rather than your other ships.

- Shoot the Hyperion past 0 shields and as low as 50% hull. You need to do damage to the hull in order to reduce its speed and also hopefully destroy some of its weapons. Forget the IonD's and Hornets, they are AoE weapons that can cause trouble with neutrals and/or zap your marines. You just need straight up single target firepower, with ships that you're not flying ordered to attack shields. But make sure that you personally go past just shields and damage the hull quite a bit.

- Positioning matters. You can order the TP to start boarding when the Hyperion is still blue and flying idly about; the TP will wait for you to agro it. So agro it, take its shields out and some hull, and then "run away" heading back the way you came and drag it past the TP so it flies right into position into the waiting arms of the marines. You kinda need to remain a target, so don't get out of range, just strafe and zig-zag to avoid being hit too much but fly past the TP and it should launch the marines pretty fast, with the Hyperion coming right at it.

Lortex87 · Post by **Lortex87** » Sun, 28. Jul 13, 20:05

Thanks for the advice, it still took a few tries, apparently the Hyperion kept committing suicide with a firestorm torp. My turrets would take it out as soon as it was launched and the blast would take out the Hyperion. In the end I took it at 23% Hull, only one 25MJ shield left, and one marine lost.

Now that I got one, what's a good balanced loadout for it, including missiles?

darth_adversor · Post by **darth_adversor** » Sun, 28. Jul 13, 20:16

Wow nice job. I took my Hyperion with a Heavy Centaur Prototype and 5 well-trained marines. I can't imagine how frustrating it would've been while trying to command multiple ships, so my hat is off to you.

As for the loadout, well...PAC's on the rear turrets is your only real option. I went with HEPT's on the front turrets, and either CIG's or EBC's on the mains, or a mix of both.

The Hyperion is cool because it can use Wraith missiles. *If* you can get your hands on some, those are great. Otherwise, I imagine some wasps and typhoons would work well. Maybe some firestorm torps if you're hunting capitals. Just make sure they don't get shot down near you, as you've already witnessed how that turns out.

biohazard15 · Post by **biohazard15** » Sun, 28. Jul 13, 20:45

Lortex87 wrote: Now that I got one, what's a good balanced loadout for it, including missiles?

That depends on game you're playing.

In TC, you need to balance your loadout to meet generator's limit. As said, CIGs and\or EBCs are good.
As for missiles - Wraiths are damn good, but tricky to use and hard to get (you'll need to produce them yourself).

In AP, the Hyperion is a beast with almost never-ending energy pool - you may install any weapons you want.
Wraith was nerfed to the ground in AP, though - now it's 8 cargo units instead of 1, and (IMO) it struggle to hit anything faster than a station (you can actually dodge them in M7 using strafe)

Lortex87 · Post by **Lortex87** » Sun, 28. Jul 13, 21:12

I am playing TC, so I got PACS in the rear and HEPTS in the front turrets. For the main battery I can't decide between CIG's, EBC's, and ISR's. Don't have much experiamce with the last two. Any advice?

darth_adversor · Post by **darth_adversor** » Sun, 28. Jul 13, 21:52

Purely in terms of their offensive capability, I like ISR's...but the problem is, they have a higher RoF than CIG's and will subsequently drain your reserves in no time. EBC's, in my opinion, sometimes give me the feeling I'm shooting BB's at my target. They neither look nor sound very impressive, but it's a solid weapon. Being ammo-based, the main advantage is that you can hold the trigger down for as long as your ammo holds out. The main disadvantage would be...it's ammo based.

The Hyperion has a good laser generator, so as long as you don't go 8x ISR's, you should be fine. Me personally, I carry 8x CIG's and 8x EBC's, and swap them out in various combinations depending on what I'm fighting, and my mood. I've found the extra range of the CIG helpful when fighting M7's, so that's the rare occasion where I actually use all 8 at once.

Imgran · Post by **Imgran** » Sun, 28. Jul 13, 22:00

In other words, a balanced loadout of ISR's and EBC's works well.

I'm starting to really favor the idea of ammo based main weapons reserving weapon energy for defensive turrets. Seems a great way to maximize firepower while being able to manage your ammo consumption. It's the big reason I stepped away from my early favorite M6 (Skiron) in favor of the Centaur.

heratik · Post by **heratik** » Sun, 28. Jul 13, 22:39

I used to run with 6 EBC and 2 PBG in a separate weapon group, for close encounters!

Turrets were a mixed bag of PAC and FBL

And 2 Falcon Sentinels with EBC in it's hangar, I know, a wholly inappropriate choice as they were so slow compared to the Hype V, but hey, I make a lot of bad choices in this game, but I have fun making them...

darth_adversor · Post by **darth_adversor** » Mon, 29. Jul 13, 00:24

Imgran wrote:In other words, a balanced loadout of ISR's and EBC's works well.

Or CIG's and EBC's. Or EBC's and PBG's...

There is no right or wrong answer. Just experiment and find something you like. Even though I like the ISR, I still prefer the CIG. PBG's are overpowered in my opinion, so I self-impose a 'no PBG' rule on my game.

@heratik: you actually used FBL's? I tested them out early on, they didn't seem to really do...anything.

Although I wouldn't say the Falcon Sentinels were a bad choice by any means. Yeah they're slow, but with 8x EBC's and 400MJ shields, they're basically like mini corvettes. I put a turbo booster on one of mine and now use it as my personal general use fighter.

heratik · Post by **heratik** » Mon, 29. Jul 13, 00:32

darth_adversor wrote:
@heratik: you actually used FBL's? I tested them out early on, they didn't seem to really do...anything. Although I wouldn't say the Falcon Sentinels were a bad choice by any means. Yeah they're slow, but with 8x EBC's and 400MJ shields, they're basically like mini corvettes. I put a turbo booster on one of mine and now use it as my personal general use fighter.

Yeah, I don't know if the FBL actually made much of a difference, but my Hype still tore a new @%£$ in most enemies lol

That was my thinking with the Falcons, mini corvettes stashed in my corvette, 16 EBCs between them sure chewed up any M6 that messed with them!

Imgran · Post by **Imgran** » Mon, 29. Jul 13, 01:52

darth_adversor wrote:
Imgran wrote:In other words, a balanced loadout of ISR's and EBC's works well.
Or CIG's and EBC's. Or EBC's and PBG's... There is no right or wrong answer. Just experiment and find something you like. Even though I like the ISR, I still prefer the CIG. PBG's are overpowered in my opinion, so I self-impose a 'no PBG' rule on my game.

I made the same determination after a squadron of PBG mounted Tenjins went after a Kha'ak scout, and the casualty list totaled 1 Kha'ak scout and 2 fratricided Tenjins.

darth_adversor · Post by **darth_adversor** » Mon, 29. Jul 13, 02:36

That sucks about your ships. I had briefly considered, in spite of my intense dislike for them, getting friendly with the Yaki. Loom's Legacy isn't cranking out the IBL's quickly enough, and I was also toying with the idea of setting up a small Tenjin wing for my Tokyo.

But then I capped 2 Akumas. Something tells me that's not going to help the diplomacy effort much. But I digress.

firestorm79 · Post by **firestorm79** » Mon, 29. Jul 13, 18:16

I just cannot find a suitable m6 target for my first boarding! I almost boarded a TL, but I'm trying the TP spacewalk technique and my marines (who are all very well trained)... Just go AWOL, despite my Maverick style flying skills...

Post by **Nanook** » Mon, 29. Jul 13, 19:04

Look around for a Boron Angel, escorted by a Hydra and a couple of fighters. These are my favorite 'soft targets' when I go for M6's. Take out the Angel and the two fighters and the Hydra is basically a sitting duck waiting for you to board. As a bonus, you may even get the Angel or one of the fighters to bail, too.

ahddib · Post by **ahddib** » Mon, 29. Jul 13, 20:08

Ok, my absolutely favorite loadout for Hyperion is this:

Main:
4 Pulse Beam Emitters
4 ion shard railguns

Front Turrets:
4 High Energy Plasma Throwers

Back turrets:
6 Particle Accelerator Cannons

About 100 Wraith Missiles and 300 Mosquitos (for missile defense)

The HEPT fronts actually help when nailing foes with the ISRs Believe it or not the ISR is quite effective against large targets as it drains their weapon energy. Just ask the local Xenon Qs what they think if mine XD

ISR is also effective at nailing m3 and m3+ as it doesn't push enemies around like the CIG so less misses = faster death imo.

The PBEs are great for m5-3 as well. I find I have a higher bail rate using those. As a ship blueprint collector that is important to me.

Infekted · Post by **Infekted** » Mon, 29. Jul 13, 20:11

Rear turrets: PACs
Front turrets: EBCs
Mains: 4xISR+4xPBG

ajax34i · Post by **ajax34i** » Tue, 30. Jul 13, 00:38

I just go 8 ISR vs M6, or 8 PBG vs. M7. Wraiths vs. bigger, typically in an "I'm dragging mines" attack, where I fly by and the slower missiles impact just as I'm past the target.

Against M3 or smaller I just aim the ship and the front HEPT turrets do the job. 9.1 RPM turning.

brucewarren · Post by **brucewarren** » Tue, 30. Jul 13, 00:47

Is that the one from Galaxy Quest?

It never occurred to me to try that in an X game

Just as a matter of interest how engine tuned is the hyperion. I presume you need to stay ahead of the missiles for this to work

ajax34i · Post by **ajax34i** » Tue, 30. Jul 13, 04:09

I just have a 230 m/s from the PP start. Most of the big missiles are 190 or less. Listen for the b-b-b-b-b-b-boom boom. Enemy turrets will be busy trying to kill you and won't even have time to switch to missile defense. It's fun.

egosoft.com

egosoft.com

First targets for boarding

First targets for boarding