Am I missing something with boarding?
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Am I missing something with boarding?
Ok so I have two missile frigates one with 30 Marines the other with 20 I'm trying to board a xenon Q. Now on to strategy I load up from my save warp to where I know the target is, scan it no anti boarding equipment no marines. Load back up warp back engage same ship from about 20km out drop shields to 0% launch 30 marines(these are fodder 1 & 2 star fighting 4 star everything else) all pods land successfully they breach clear level one, I fire the next 20( heavy hitters 3-4 star fighting 4-5 star everything else) they all hit and enter ship they clear level two hold and boarding operation failed. So 50 in total one Q 0 success. It's infuriating. Am I missing something shields go 5% at the highest. This is x3ap 3.0 any tips would be greatly appreciated
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Bill Huntington
- Posts: 2493
- Joined: Mon, 2. Feb 09, 17:34
Boarding a Q
Q is an M7. A maximum of 21 Marines are allowed on board. If you sent extra, they drop off into space. If you had some marines already on board, the next wave would have added to those, with the excess doing a spacewalk. The low value marines would still be there. If they are all dead, then why send them in the first place? So you don't have enough boarding points for a number of reasons.
My experience in TC was that Qs were harder to board that J and K, mostly because of the shields coming back before the marines entered. In any case, Xenon are harder than anything else. The J and K required all marines to 4 x 100. Anything less and the boarding would fail. J and K took me 27 marines 4 x100 marines. I think I was lucky once and did it with 24, but never lower. I believe 17 marines 4 x 100 in the hacking phase was the magic number. The extra marines had to be added after the first wave got it in. I don't know the numbers for the Q.
With boarding in AP, a result is set when the first wave lands on the target or when it enters the ship, one or the other, I'm not sure which. Saving on each deck doesn't help, until you get to the last deck. Getting 21 on board in the first wave is ideal; I don't know if it is essential. A second wave would help when the hacking phase comes. That is when we needed the right number in TC. You might help us find the numbers in AP. I've found boarding much harder in AP, but it's still do-able.
The main point: your marines have to be much higher in fighting.
Good luck! Keep us informed with your efforts, please.
My experience in TC was that Qs were harder to board that J and K, mostly because of the shields coming back before the marines entered. In any case, Xenon are harder than anything else. The J and K required all marines to 4 x 100. Anything less and the boarding would fail. J and K took me 27 marines 4 x100 marines. I think I was lucky once and did it with 24, but never lower. I believe 17 marines 4 x 100 in the hacking phase was the magic number. The extra marines had to be added after the first wave got it in. I don't know the numbers for the Q.
With boarding in AP, a result is set when the first wave lands on the target or when it enters the ship, one or the other, I'm not sure which. Saving on each deck doesn't help, until you get to the last deck. Getting 21 on board in the first wave is ideal; I don't know if it is essential. A second wave would help when the hacking phase comes. That is when we needed the right number in TC. You might help us find the numbers in AP. I've found boarding much harder in AP, but it's still do-able.
The main point: your marines have to be much higher in fighting.
Good luck! Keep us informed with your efforts, please.
Bill in S.F., enjoying the game
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MarvinTheMartian
- Posts: 1561
- Joined: Wed, 5. May 04, 19:52
I'll be watching this topic as I've yet to board anything other than a Hyperion in AP. Well there was that Tiger but I didn't keep it.
In TC, which I understand is not as hard as AP (or at least different), I wouldn't have attempted boarding a Q with less than 21x 4x100 Marines as even though I might have won the prize I wasn't prepared to take any losses.
Not tried the waves-of-Marines approach and hoping I don't have to although I might reconsider when it comes time to claim a jump beacon or Xenon I
Heed Bill's wise words though, 3-4* fight skills are not going to make the cut when it comes to boarding anything Xenon, go practice on the 3-eyes to get them skilled up
and tell 'em Marv sent you 
In TC, which I understand is not as hard as AP (or at least different), I wouldn't have attempted boarding a Q with less than 21x 4x100 Marines as even though I might have won the prize I wasn't prepared to take any losses.
Not tried the waves-of-Marines approach and hoping I don't have to although I might reconsider when it comes time to claim a jump beacon or Xenon I
Heed Bill's wise words though, 3-4* fight skills are not going to make the cut when it comes to boarding anything Xenon, go practice on the 3-eyes to get them skilled up
and tell 'em Marv sent you Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!
X3AP 3.1 Printable Universe Sector Map
X3AP 3.1 Printable Universe Sector Map
Re: Boarding a Q
Bill, you are right. Also, the Q is harder because he will catch up with your M7M no matter which one you use, unlike J, K or I and will eat up your shield in a matter of seconds.Bill Huntington wrote:My experience in TC was that Qs were harder to board that J and K, mostly because of the shields coming back before the marines entered.
Now speaking of Xenon boarding in AP. I have managed to board the next ships with the following losses:
I - lost 4 of 21
K - lost 3 of 21
Q - lost 4 of 21
J - lost 1 of 21
Basically what I did is quite simple. I launched all 21 marines 5 stars in everything from a Sirokos using Piracy command, kept the shield down and I saved 3...5 sec. before pods hit the ship.
After that it comes the most difficult part. I used reload then SETA until I managed to get the ship. I strongly do not recommend this to anyone since it could be frustrating after a while but for me losing 10 or more 5-star marines was totally unacceptable considering how long it takes to find and train the marines. So you'll have to chose between losing some (more) marines or reload for a while until you get the lucky number. After all, it's just a RNG...
As a side note, my friend managed to get Q using the same technique and only 4xreload without any loss. But that is like winning the Q lottery in my opinion.
I hope this helps.