When is boarding decided?

[Jimmy C]

I'm trying to find out when the game decide what remains in a ship that you boarded. I know it isn't at the end of the sequence like AP. I've had the outcome change once when I reloaded to before I fired the pods. But not in several attempts since. At this point, I'm considering waiting a minute or two before firing the pods and see if that makes a difference.

I am also... disappointed that ships with marines don't drop them after your marines clear all decks anymore. That was what made boarding self-sustaining for me in AP. Getting enough marines to board Xenon ships is going to be tough.

[Da-V-Man]

There's a pretty comprehensive guide on baording on the AP wiki. As far as I know, I don't think much has changed with the mechanics aside from an increase in marine capacity. If you look at the "Recommended Save points" section it seems that it's decided once they enter the ship. I tend to save when the shields are down but before I fire the pods, as I think that's the most flexible checkpoint; I find so far I don't need to reroll too much on boarded ships, but mind you I haven't tried taking on a Xenon Capital yet.

[Jimmy C]

I boarded several hundred, maybe even a thousand or two, ships in AP. I'm quite familiar with how boarding works in that game. In AP, the contents of the captured ship were decided just before the ship was turned over to the player. That made it very fast to reload and try to maximize the prize of the capture.
In FL, I've already seen it isn't decided at the last second. Not only the contents do not change between reloads, the cargo hold size is unchanged as well. That actually changes between reloads in AP!
I really want to find out how to maximize the prize in FL. Need something to make up for the loss of the marines.

[Da-V-Man]

In FL, I've already seen it isn't decided at the last second. Not only the contents do not change between reloads, the cargo hold size is unchanged as well.

I did not realize you were referring to the captured cargo/equipment. I was referring to Marine losses. Anecdotally I don't think I've seen the captured cargo change either between attempts.

I really want to find out how to maximize the prize in FL. Need something to make up for the loss of the marines.

I'd say the best way is to try and avoid losing marines in the first place. I've captured a lot of pirate TLs with only 10 marines and boarding pods (via the Maru) without taking any losses. They seem to be pretty good boarding target practice, and they sell for more than an M6. I would suggest focus on training fighting on TLs, frying any internal sentry lasers if they exist, and then rotate out some 100 Fight marines for fresh recruits every so often. That should keep your losses low until you get 25+ 100 fighting marines.

Also, get a Guppy and some Drone Extendeds from Atreus. You can use those to repair captured ship hulls so they sell for more.

[Jimmy C]

I haven't lost any marines yet. From what I've seen, even Internal Security Lasers weren't an obstacle to my weak marines. The problem has been the Hull Polarization plus Cargo Bay Shielding. Ships with that combo have been unboardable to those with low Mech levels, even with pods.
Right now, I'm working on getting everyone's Mech level up to 20 at least and see if that's enough.
And yes, I got a Guppy. I'm recycling the captures for materials to build TOAs.

[Hwitvlf]

I've boarded several hundred ships in FL and all I can say is that my observations agree with the top post. Marine losses as well as final equipment seem to be fixed and decided before the boarding pods are launched. Some Xenon will consistently kill off ~20 maxed marines and others only about 4.

I suspect the surving equipment is derived from a formula based on the boarding and defending ships as well as your combat rank- just because that would be the most sensible way to set a fixed result, but have never tested that theory by changing the marine squad / boarding ship.

If you're looking to pick up high level marines, you might keep an eye on Black Hole Sun. The Rapid Response fleets sometimes launch marines against xenon capitals. You can pick them up before they reach their destination.

[Agimar]

I've boarded several hundred ships in FL and all I can say is that my observations agree with the top post. Marine losses as well as final equipment seem to be fixed and decided before the boarding pods are launched. Some Xenon will consistently kill off ~20 maxed marines and others only about 4.

I suspect the surving equipment is derived from a formula based on the boarding and defending ships as well as your combat rank- just because that would be the most sensible way to set a fixed result, but have never tested that theory by changing the marine squad / boarding ship.

If you're looking to pick up high level marines, you might keep an eye on Black Hole Sun. The Rapid Response fleets sometimes launch marines against xenon capitals. You can pick them up before they reach their destination.

How long will I've to wait for such an event in Black Hole Sun? Sounds great!!!

I can confirm, if you use an M2 (Brig for pods) or M7M, you'll get a lot mor stuff than using a smaller ship. No matter, if you cpature or blow it. Ok, capturing is, for some obvious reasons, allways preferable.

[Hwitvlf]

That's good to know about large ships like the Brigandine.

Rapid Response boarding seems to be fairly rare. I saw it happen about 10 times in AP and only once in FL, but I wasn't looking for it. Mostly it was with M1/M2s and I think they need to be pretty close to the target. The best method I can figure is to place a satellite which is set to alert when Xenon capitals enter, and jump to the sector when RR ships are engaging.

[Jimmy C]

Trouble is, satellites don't last long in that sector.

[Jimmy C]

I suspect the surving equipment is derived from a formula based on the boarding and defending ships as well as your combat rank- just because that would be the most sensible way to set a fixed result, but have never tested that theory by changing the marine squad / boarding ship.

I got the opportunity to change out the marines doing a boarding, and your guess is right, it does change the outcome. I was boarding an M6 with relatively weak marines and several died. Turns out Internal Lasers plus marines was able to deal with them. I was fortunate my Sirokos was docked where I was training marines and several completed their training during the course of the battle. So, after reloading, I waited a bit for those marines to complete training and changed out the weakest ones on the ship before boarding again. This time, no losses.

This won't work against Xenon though. You'd only board those with maxed marines. They'd all have the same stats, so it wouldn't change the outcome.

[Cycrow]

your marine skill doesn't effect whats left.
its actually independent of the boarding operation and works the same as for ship capturing.
it uses a random seed to demine whats left, these seeds are pre-generated throughout the game

[Hwitvlf]

Thanks for the info. So is the seed is 'attached' to a ship when it spawns and nothing on the boarding ship affects the remaining loot. Maybe the differing outcomes noted by Jimmy C were due to equipment being fried before the boarding completed.

Does the player's combat rank affect the surviving loot? I seem to get a much better stuff now than I did in early game.

[Cycrow]

no, they are not attached to the ship, a number of random seeds are generated, the first one in the list is used when ever boarding operation is complete. These seeds are also replaced over time. So if you capture or board another ship first, you will get a different one the next time. Or if you leave it long enough, the current ones will expire and new ones will be generated

[Jimmy C]

The last differing outcome I was referring to was how many marines died on the boarding.
Speaking of which, is that dependent on the seed too? I'm referring to Hwitvlf's observation that boarding a Xenon ship can consistently kill the same number of marines even if you reload. AP doesn't do that, reloading changes the death rolls.

[Hwitvlf]

Just to clarify, I didn't mean that a set number of marines die regardless of their combat stats. Just that if you try the boarding again with the same marines, the same number seem to die on each deck. It can actually be exploited if you want to waste time with save-spam, as you can reload knowing how many marines to send in as reinforcement.

I like FL's system much better than AP as it was stupid that you could lose your half your maxed marine squad if the Random Number Generator rolled bad.

[Jimmy C]

The same number dying on each deck would be a holdover from AP. It's probably the exact same marines dying. Do you lose the same number of marines even if you reloaded to before you launched them to try again?

[Hwitvlf]

Yes, same number if reloading to before marine launch, not like AP where it seemed to be set when the pods and was based on some randomizer. The only variance I've seen in FL is when I launch reinforcements, thus changing the total combat skill of the boarding party.