Non-Pod boarding questions

[wolfee]

I got a "retrieve ship" mission and headed out with my Zeph (no marines), not realizing I was going to have to board the ship. I brought all shields down, and Hull down to practically nothing and the pilot still wouldn't bail, then I realized this thing was too big and had to be boarded. I called in my Iguana with marines on it, switched ships, told the Zeph to attack shields, then tried to move the Iguana next to the target.

I tried a number of times to issue a board command but the marines would never eject. The target kept changing directions and it was a pain to try and get close enough w/o slamming into it. Eventually my Zeph blew the thing up and I just reloaded to last auto-save. What's the right technique here?

I read up on "boarding" and it seems pointless to try and board w/o a frigate with boarding pod. If you eject marines, then each marine works on its own to try and get in and cap the ship. That seems pretty pointless, especially since it takes hundreds of thousands of coin to train the marines, which is probably more than the ship they're capping is worth. I don't have a frigate yet, so was wondering if I should just wait until I can use pods.

I thought I could practice/train marines in fighting via these retrieve missions but you can't use marines unless the ship is M6 or higher, which pretty much means you need pods to have any success. I'm sure I'm missing something but this first attempt (wasn't ready for it I guess) was a disaster. Any help/advice appreciated.

[pref]

I only do spacewalk boarding once in each game if possible, when i get my M7m

But it usually works if you have the enemy ship chasing you, and drop the marines like that. If some wont connect, you can still collect them later (unless they get shot). In AP it works pretty reliably, in TC not so much (but still doable this way iirc).

[Alan Phipps]

I still do lots of space-walk boarding from M6 or TP in vanilla X3AP and it is great fun. If the target's agility and speed will not let your launch ship get close enough into the sweet spot to release the marines via the 'Piracy - Board' menu option, then position your ship well ahead in the likely path of the target and use Ship Command slot option 'Launch all Marines'.

Now use your ship to lure or block the target so that it flies into the area of your marines. You do have to keep its shields down and make sure its turrets don't open up on the floating marines. Lots to plan and think about but it all adds to the fun of the operation and to the joy in your eventual success.

There is one almost cheat mode with some faster targets (eg Nemesis M6). Just almost stop and let them come towards your ship (dodging any fire using strafe and shooting down missiles). They will then start circling closely around your ship and are normally unable to get their main fixed weapons to bear on you - but you can whittle down their shields just fine. Just as they are about to circle behind your ship, release the marines.

Space-walking marines in X3AP hunt in groups of 4, each with a leader who has to hurry to get close to the target and with 3 seemingly-slower followers who can get left a bit behind the leader. It is the leader's position relative to the target that is important for an operation.

[ajax34i]

Basically, marines in space have the same speed as you in spacesuit = 14 m/s, and every single ship out there is faster than that. So, as explained above, the target has to somehow fly through the point in space where the marines are, because the marines will never catch the ship otherwise.

I usually fly an M3 during boarding ops, with the TP with the marines on standby. I attack the target, it goes red, I shoot the shields down and cut into the hull quite a bit to make it slower and destroy some of the weapons, and then pretend to run away, dragging the target into the TP (I fly past the TP with the target on follow). Target flies right into the deployed marines.

The Piracy -> Board command places the TP in an autopilot maneuver that tries to T the target (for the same reason, to launch marines in front of it). However, the autopilot is still the same beloved autopilot we all know, so it only succeeds if the target has been so damaged that it's slower than the TP.

Which is why I order the TP to "sit here" and I bring the target to it.

[Geek]

Basically, marines in space have the same speed as you in spacesuit = 14 m/s

IIRC marines use an advanced spacesuit, which is a bit faster than the player one.
Still slower than most ships, sure, but it helps.

[Jonzac]

Cycrows improved boarding mod. Best thing ever

[Sovereign01]

Just to be clear, is this a mission where the target ship has been stolen and you have to get it back, or one where the ship has been abandoned and you just need to claim and return it?

[Nanook]

Basically, marines in space have the same speed as you in spacesuit = 14 m/s

IIRC marines use an advanced spacesuit, which is a bit faster than the player one.
Still slower than most ships, sure, but it helps.

Yup. Marines can go a blistering 28 m/s.

[Honved]

Just to be clear, is this a mission where the target ship has been stolen and you have to get it back, or one where the ship has been abandoned and you just need to claim and return it?

He stated in the OP that it was maneuvering, so it's not an abandoned ship. If it were, he could simply eject, fly up to it, and claim it.