Quick guide to infinite riches... and more! - improvements in upcoming update 1.2

[Jimmy C]

ok got my first jump beacon this way. but what do i do after i depleted their hull to 5-7% and despite shooting with ID they dont jump? is there a trick like waiting till shield refills and then shoot?

Normally, yes. But at that low hull, you have very little margin left to work with. From what I heard, the game makes a check to see if the pilot is willing to bail once every 30 seconds or so after it meets the criteria for checking. I suppose the shield recharge can be thought of as a timer for this.

[Sovereign01]

There is a hidden 'morale' stat that's set by RNG when the ship jumps in that affects its chances of bailing and thus difficulty. Because of the timer that means it won't bail the first time you knock out its shields if its hull is >90% and you won't get another chance for at least that long. Lowering the hull increases chances of bailing, the ideal value being <2.5% which is easily accomplished by use of Mass Drivers.

The vanilla Scorpion (you get to build one during the plot) can mount six but it's best to only fire a couple as the Sabre's thin hull means it's very easy to overkill otherwise. Damaging the hull before the shields means you have a chance of getting a bail first time.

The Mako is the recommended choice for using IDs to get the ship to bail because of its speed, however if the Sabre is sufficiently damaged beforehand it'll be slow enough for any ID equipped craft to catch. Just make sure whichever ship you use is equipped with System Override Software so you can claim it before it self-destructs. Because the software has a very short range, the slower the Sabre is the easier it is to stay close enough once you open up with the Ion Disruptors.

And using a third ship as a carrier to transport the other two to the gate and to offload collected beacons makes the logistics easier, you do get several minutes between Sabres which is more than enough time to reset and go again.

[mhooma]

There is a hidden 'morale' stat that's set by RNG when the ship jumps in that affects its chances of bailing and thus difficulty. Because of the timer that means it won't bail the first time you knock out its shields if its hull is >90% and you won't get another chance for at least that long. Lowering the hull increases chances of bailing, the ideal value being <2.5% which is easily accomplished by use of Mass Drivers.

The vanilla Scorpion (you get to build one during the plot) can mount six but it's best to only fire a couple as the Sabre's thin hull means it's very easy to overkill otherwise. Damaging the hull before the shields means you have a chance of getting a bail first time.

The Mako is the recommended choice for using IDs to get the ship to bail because of its speed, however if the Sabre is sufficiently damaged beforehand it'll be slow enough for any ID equipped craft to catch. Just make sure whichever ship you use is equipped with System Override Software so you can claim it before it self-destructs. Because the software has a very short range, the slower the Sabre is the easier it is to stay close enough once you open up with the Ion Disruptors.

And using a third ship as a carrier to transport the other two to the gate and to offload collected beacons makes the logistics easier, you do get several minutes between Sabres which is more than enough time to reset and go again.

i use a heavy centaur. it can mount both in front. i just need to switch channels. its easier then switching ships.

i now have 3 beacons. i save after i reduced the hull to around 5% before i knock shields down. i figured out its faster to reload if the pilot doesnt bail on the initial knock down of the shields then to fly behind him and continue to shoot with IDs to get him to jump later.

ever tried cargo bay hacker in this situation?

[Jimmy C]

Cargo bay hacker takes too long. The Sabre may have Cargo Bay Shielding (doesn't show up on scans) that make it immune to hacking. By the time you find out, it's too late to claim the ship. That's why the best method is SOS to claim the ship quickly and eject the beacon right away. Unless there's hostiles around, it should be quite safe to do so.

[DanKara]

Cargo bay hacker takes too long. The Sabre may have Cargo Bay Shielding

Obtaining Jump Beacons would be far easier, if those Sabre's could spawn without the CBS. Never had one without. No, I think they are always fitted with one.
For me, the cargo bay hacking was much faster than SOS/freight transfer. I switched methods after I had the CBS on the SABRE surving the bail much to often...

[DanKara]

ok got my first jump beacon this way. but what do i do after i depleted their hull to 5-7% and despite shooting with ID they dont jump? is there a trick like waiting till shield refills and then shoot?

For me, bails happened at 86% (with the SABRE not even getting red) and 0% (at one digit hull numbers).
But never ever did I had a bail on (any) ship, whose equipement was reduced to just one shield by weapon fire (or IonD-usage).

[mhooma]

ok got my first jump beacon this way. but what do i do after i depleted their hull to 5-7% and despite shooting with ID they dont jump? is there a trick like waiting till shield refills and then shoot?

For me, bails happened at 86% (with the SABRE not even getting red) and 0% (at one digit hull numbers).
But never ever did I had a bail on (any) ship, whose equipement was reduced to just one shield by weapon fire (or IonD-usage).

yes thats why i found out its faster to just reload when it turns red after first MD salvo + ID salvo to 0% shield instead to continue firing ID on it after it doesnt bail at this point. also i never could reduce it tech with ID. yesterday i had a 1 hour try to bail one where i scanned at the start and after a hour and it stil had the same equipment.

[DanKara]

... also i never could reduce it tech with ID. yesterday i had a 1 hour try to bail one where i scanned at the start and after a hour and it stil had the same equipment.

Argh... I forgot about the CBS (mostly) preventing damage to equipement.
I had bails from IonD-usage on the HephCorp-Sabre, but those were rare and in no way predictiable. After all its just RNG. At one time I was so frustated on that mini-game, that I used 2x CIG on a Sabre to get rid of him - and much to my suprise he then bailed.
(I have next to no expierence with MassDriver+Combos, as my usual playership (Hyperion, Maru) don't support those. My usual escape pod (BlastclawProto) does, but rarely has the weapon or ammo. No luck the few times I tried.)

Thought myself patient, but I would never have toyed with one Sabre for a whole hour (in the same load-session?). I think, the longest took me around 45 min (with multiple re-loads) and I averaged mostly at 10-minutes-sessions. My 'point to save' is the moment the sabre appears in sector. Might be superstition, but I think even the first contact (to get his aggro) makes a difference...

Additionally, now that you have atleast one jump beacon , you can multiply it via Memory Hacking .

[mhooma]

... also i never could reduce it tech with ID. yesterday i had a 1 hour try to bail one where i scanned at the start and after a hour and it stil had the same equipment.

Argh... I forgot about the CBS (mostly) preventing damage to equipement.
I had bails from IonD-usage on the HephCorp-Sabre, but those were rare and in no way predictiable. After all its just RNG. At one time I was so frustated on that mini-game, that I used 2x CIG on a Sabre to get rid of him - and much to my suprise he then bailed.
(I have next to no expierence with MassDriver+Combos, as my usual playership (Hyperion, Maru) don't support those. My usual escape pod (BlastclawProto) does, but rarely has the weapon or ammo. No luck the few times I tried.)

Thought myself patient, but I would never have toyed with one Sabre for a whole hour (in the same load-session?). I think, the longest took me around 45 min (with multiple re-loads) and I averaged mostly at 10-minutes-sessions. My 'point to save' is the moment the sabre appears in sector. Might be superstition, but I think even the first contact (to get his aggro) makes a difference...

Additionally, now that you have atleast one jump beacon , you can multiply it via Memory Hacking .

well i listend to a 6 hour podcast of richard medhurst. i literally fought 1 sabre prob. more then 1 hour until i ws interrupted by pirates. i was interested to see when they bail thats why i literally continued to shoot at him. sometimes continues fire. sometimes wait until his shield reloads. at least i can see, i could not fry his techs. thats why i said i reload brings more. the bail change is def. not determined by entering the sector, or else my save reload would not work!

[mhooma]

... also i never could reduce it tech with ID. yesterday i had a 1 hour try to bail one where i scanned at the start and after a hour and it stil had the same equipment.

Argh... I forgot about the CBS (mostly) preventing damage to equipement.
I had bails from IonD-usage on the HephCorp-Sabre, but those were rare and in no way predictiable. After all its just RNG. At one time I was so frustated on that mini-game, that I used 2x CIG on a Sabre to get rid of him - and much to my suprise he then bailed.
(I have next to no expierence with MassDriver+Combos, as my usual playership (Hyperion, Maru) don't support those. My usual escape pod (BlastclawProto) does, but rarely has the weapon or ammo. No luck the few times I tried.)

Thought myself patient, but I would never have toyed with one Sabre for a whole hour (in the same load-session?). I think, the longest took me around 45 min (with multiple re-loads) and I averaged mostly at 10-minutes-sessions. My 'point to save' is the moment the sabre appears in sector. Might be superstition, but I think even the first contact (to get his aggro) makes a difference...

Additionally, now that you have atleast one jump beacon , you can multiply it via Memory Hacking .

well i listend to a 6 hour podcast of richard medhurst. i literally fought 1 sabre prob. more then 1 hour until i ws interrupted by pirates. i was interested to see when they bail thats why i literally continued to shoot at him. sometimes continues fire. sometimes wait until his shield reloads. at least i can see, i could not fry his techs. thats why i said i reload brings more. the bail change is def. not determined by entering the sector, or else my save reload would not work!

on another note: i gone on a boarding spree in yaki territory. to my surprise and to my failure the captured ships failed to move to the next sector or shipyard. i commanded them to move to the next paranid shiphyard and they moved down further into yaki territory?!!!?

[Jimmy C]

yesterday i had a 1 hour try to bail one where i scanned at the start and after a hour and it stil had the same equipment.

That's due to Cargo Bay Shielding. If you blast a de-shielded ship with IDs for a whole minute and it loses no equipment, it's got CBS. Forget the IDs and switch weapons if you still want to bail the ship.

Another thing about IDs, they supposedly reduce the chance of a bail. I'd save IDs for boardable ships, use them against equipment to improve the odds for weaker marines. Or Terran large caps with Hull Polarization Device.

[Cycrow]

The ID doesn't really reduce the bail chance. Its just that unlike other weapons that trigger the bail check on every hit, the ID doesn't. But the ID hits more often than other weapons, so it will trigger a similar amount to fast firing weapons anyways

[UnknownObject]

The ID doesn't really reduce the bail chance. Its just that unlike other weapons that trigger the bail check on every hit, the ID doesn't. But the ID hits more often than other weapons, so it will trigger a similar amount to fast firing weapons anyways

Does that apply to all games since X2?

[Cycrow]

I believe it was in X2 although not sure, its been at least like that since X3 Reunion

[Betelgeuse97]

I believe it was in X2 although not sure, its been at least like that since X3 Reunion

Damaged ships (at or below 87.5% hull) zapped by ID can still bail in X2. It's in X3 Reunion and later that nerfed that strategy.

[Cycrow]

They still bail in x3 too, I don't beleve it was ever nerfed

[BrigandPhantos77]

If someone feels like digging in the forum to find it, the code that governs the bail chance is actually in the X2 section somewhere. Either search in there or through Google, it should come up. In AP and before you had a hidden Morale stat "will show if you turn the script editor on" assigned to all NPCs and this influenced whether they would actually bail or not. Add in the new honor stat now, this could be why soo many people find it hard to get bails.

[Sovereign01]

Mass Drivers are very handy for increasing bail chance by shredding a target's hull to almost nothing then switching to Ion Disruptors, bail chance is at its highest.

[BrigandPhantos77]

What also helps is having extra ships hitting NPC ships. For some reason I have great luck with Xenon fighters. If only I had this luck on AP for that Beryll Research mission. I've also found success lobbing mosquito missiles at targets currently being pounded by other AI ships who happen to be into hull damage.

And if they are super rare to bail for you, try to remember to take your new forced passenger aka prisoner's with jobs, to there requested destination instead of the training barracks or pirate base for enslavement.

[Sovereign01]

What also helps is having extra ships hitting NPC ships. For some reason I have great luck with Xenon fighters. If only I had this luck on AP for that Beryll Research mission. I've also found success lobbing mosquito missiles at targets currently being pounded by other AI ships who happen to be into hull damage.

And if they are super rare to bail for you, try to remember to take your new forced passenger aka prisoner's with jobs, to there requested destination instead of the training barracks or pirate base for enslavement.

I had one whose destination was a silicon mine in one of my complexes because it was one of the Duke's freighters in a sector I was claiming. Docking at the complex hub didn't cut it so my next stop was the training barracks!