Observation on Capping

[Bill Huntington]

Just an observation about capping. The number for the first bail check is hull 87.25. Then there's a medium to long delay before the next bail check.

Here's the observation: the first bail check doesn't always come with the first eligible shot. It could come on the first one but it could come a little later too.

I noticed it with Goner Rangers. I stopped firing at 86 as usual. Usually I wait for a time before resuming firing. Once I fired again by mistake without the delay and the Goner bailed at 85. I checked and it happened a few more times out of many caps.

Hmmm. I've had a good number of ships bail at 87 and many more at 86. That's the number that shows. Sometimes the shots were already fired so I always assumed that I'd gotten the bail at 87.25.

I knew the other bail checks were at a flexible time, that the bail check doesn't have to happen because it can. Now it appears that the first one is that way too.

It doesn't make sense just to keep firing with this in mind. The whole idea of the delay is to have the best chance to cap the ship. Firing when it's eligible to bail does that; getting it with more hull is a plus too.

But it makes sense to take the first bail attempt down to 85 or so, to give yourself the best chance.

Any other pilots have capping observations?

[Timsup2nothin]

I haven't the brain power to apply. My only theory on capping is "Ya blast a lot of ships, ya get a lot of caps. Ya get a lot of caps, ya get a lot of good ones."

I just blast away and if they happen to bail, good. If they happen to bail and I manage not to blow up their ship, better. If they bail real quick and I get a ship in good shape, best.

[fireanddream]

For me I'm too lazy to wait for a second bail check.
I just blast their hull to about 80%, anywhere below 85%, and if the pilot doesn't bail I reload.

[Cycrow]

bails checks happen every time a weapon hits the hull (when shields are down)

However, there is a delay between checks. So once a check has happened, another one wont happen until after a set amount of time.

So if you fire alot of shots quickly, there may only be one check from the first shot, whereas if you fire slower, you may get checks at each shot

[Bill Huntington]

Thanks for the replies, all.

And thank you, Cycrow, for all the good things you've done for us over the months and years.


Correct me if I have the mechanism wrong. There's a shot after the shields are down and the hull is 87.25 %. The program checks the RNG to see if there's a bail check. If no, it checks the next the next shot. Until there's a bail check. It can still be successful or fail. If either one happens, there is set delay until there is another bail check.

Or is there an automatic bail check at the first possible shot? If it's not successful, then the delay happens until the next check?

Getting a bail at 85% argues for the first position. And it seems that bails come at different times, not the same place every time. But it's AP; there's a lot I don't know for sure.

[MrFiction]

I haven't the brain power to apply...

Says the guy who manages to write a novel about the inner workings of CLS2, painstakingly describing details, issues and manages to fit it all in one of the more comprehensive X guides out there