My Little Boarding Brigantine

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delray
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My Little Boarding Brigantine

Post by delray » Sun, 23. Apr 23, 18:44

One Brigantine.

4x Ion Cannon up front.
Ion Pulse Generators in all other slots.

Hurricanes (or Wasps, but Hurricanes are better) to deal with the little fighters.
Tempests to deal with heavier ones.
Typhoons to deal with everything else.

Boarding Pods to do the boarding. And Marines of course.
Pandora engine and rudder tunings, so you fly like an M6 (at least). More the merrier.
Turbo Boost 2 because it's fun and pretty useful for the final stage of the boarding itself.

You hop into a sector, quickly use missiles to clear the skies from smaller ships. Then you locate your target (say, an Akuma). You pepper your target with Typhoons and your frontal ICs until shields are low, then you do the fly-by of death. You basically turbo boost and launch yourself to fly like 100 meters from your target's hull at full speed. When you're the closest you can be to him, you (this is important!) use your mouse to click the target and select "launch marines" from the menu. This will launch the boarding pods instantly and while you're very close to the target, so they touch the hull very quickly.

Then you just circle around your target, use IPGs in turrets or smaller missiles to keep the shields down until your marines get inside. Then you just fly away and wait for the computer to get hacked. Transfer JD and ecells, jump the target out, repeat.

I never had such a blast boarding from any other ship in the game. Used Vidar, Acinonix, Kogarasu, even Skirons and other corvettes for hundreds of boarding ops. Burnt through hundreds of Flails trying to board from M7Ms, burnt through hundreds of Wasps trying to board from Hyperion and Sirokos. I even used to board quite a bit from M3 and TP in the olden days.

This Brig build is probably the easiest and quickest I've ever taken an M2 in X3. You guys should give it a shot. Maybe you can even improve on my design somehow.
Where is it?

Agimar
Posts: 251
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Re: My Little Boarding Brigantine

Post by Agimar » Mon, 24. Apr 23, 11:01

You missed the Karack. Sorry. :wink:

Equip it with Plasma-Beam-Guns left & right (8 total) and let them primary fight your goal-target shields.

The other turrets are on self-defence.

The Karack ist quick enough (only one Pandora crate => 160m/s).

Burn the shields from a rather comfortable disctance with Plasma-Beams, then get as far away that your enemy stops firing.
The send enterpods, wait till they reached und send 10-20 Wasps (you should be 8-10km away) to keep the shields down.

With 20 good Marines you can board everything (maybe except Xenon or RRF-Ships depending on their Marines).

===

Don't get me wrong, I like the Brig. But it's rather dirty to use for boarding, especially with your loadout.

delray
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Re: My Little Boarding Brigantine

Post by delray » Mon, 24. Apr 23, 18:32

Well. Brig is sturdier than a Carrack, more shields, more hull, more cargo space, more missiles, more laser energy. It carries 25 marines, which means you can send a full component onto any M1 or M2 you wish to board, rather than going understrength with 20 from a Carrack.

For sure I'll try Brig with PBCs from far away, this could be the safest way to deal with targets that FLAK you to death when you get to close.

I won't be firing boarding pods from far away ever again though. Doing a full-speed fly-by and launching them at a very short distance using mouse click menu -> launch marines is just way more reliable, they touch hull without any losses pretty much every time I do it.
Where is it?

Agimar
Posts: 251
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Re: My Little Boarding Brigantine

Post by Agimar » Tue, 25. Apr 23, 07:40

delray wrote:
Mon, 24. Apr 23, 18:32
Well. Brig is sturdier than a Carrack, more shields, more hull, more cargo space, more missiles, more laser energy. It carries 25 marines, which means you can send a full component onto any M1 or M2 you wish to board, rather than going understrength with 20 from a Carrack.

For sure I'll try Brig with PBCs from far away, this could be the safest way to deal with targets that FLAK you to death when you get to close.

I won't be firing boarding pods from far away ever again though. Doing a full-speed fly-by and launching them at a very short distance using mouse click menu -> launch marines is just way more reliable, they touch hull without any losses pretty much every time I do it.
You‘re wrong again, sorry.

It works 100% reliable my way. Those 20 4-5* Marines get their job done. Every time.
And if you handle the Karack efficient and correct, her shielding and firepower is sufficient.
There‘s no need, to get lot‘s of hits cause the Karack ist small, agile and fast.

But hey, it‘s more fun with the Brig, when you like it dirty.

delray
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Re: My Little Boarding Brigantine

Post by delray » Tue, 25. Apr 23, 19:04

I guess you're just a better pilot. :-)
Where is it?

Agimar
Posts: 251
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Re: My Little Boarding Brigantine

Post by Agimar » Wed, 26. Apr 23, 06:57

delray wrote:
Tue, 25. Apr 23, 19:04
I guess you're just a better pilot. :-)

Naaa I don‘t think. It needs some practice. Just try it with the Karack. :wink:

BrigandPhantos77
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Re: My Little Boarding Brigantine

Post by BrigandPhantos77 » Tue, 16. May 23, 20:41

I get your guys probably don't like the missile frigates for the task, but the M7M aint so bad if you load it right.

Here is my method which I have used repeat against Pirates, Yaki, Duke, Xenon, Split.

I use the Kraken as I like the cargo bay the best of them. And its speed while not top, is certainly decent.

My "starting and build-to" loadout is as follows, along with the uses.

20 Boarding Pods
425 Flails (Anti Fighter Use)
97 Hammer Torpedos. (3 to pop an M6, 3 for each 1 GJ of shielding on target).
250 Fighter Drones (Keep the shields down Use at least 50 at one time).
- shift + 8 orders drones to attack
- shift + 0 orders drones to return and dock in cargo bay.

At least 100 Mosquito Missiles (Anti Missile Defense)
1400 Energy Cells
5 Jump Drive Installation Kit
(These should be self explanatory)
28 Marines

My method is simple, and works against pretty much everything. Though ships that jump out need additional thought (IE Rapid Response).

Once you have your targets attention - starting at about 30km. Destroy escorts up till about 24km. Lasting Vengeance is my example here. (Duke's).
It will always respawn a Zeus, and randomly up to 2 of the 5 main M7M from the main races. (Not Yaki).

When your target is crossing the 24km mark you need to have 3 Hammers per 1 GJ of shielding on there way to the target. It will likely take some hull damage. This is fine. As your hammers launch open the freight and deploy fighter drones. I only use the Mk1, the MkII may be better for you. Be prepared to lose some. It's the cost of the operation.

The next part is crucial use SETA to accelerate things. It will stunt the response of the targets anti missile capabilities. Also, switch to Boarding pods immediately. When timed right both the fighter drones and torpedos will do there jobs and the shields will stay down. As soon as the shields vanish launch your pods. 5 pods for an M1/M2. For an M7M you can go all out with 28 marines. As soon as the pods launch hit SETA again. You should hear the we've begun the cutting hull phase. Open your property with R and start watching the progress. Also, begin turning away from the target at this point.

Quick note: Flails are a bit over powered, but if you find the shields going up a little too quickly then fire about 8 volleys of flails. It should hit and reduce the shields long enough so that they don't cross the threshold of fried marine stew.

Once boarding combat is underway try to match your speed to the target, but let it close to about 8km distance. Any closer and you will likely take hits from the front firing turrets of the target. When the marines start the core hack, be ready to turn back towards your target.

Lasting Vengeance is off the south gate in Heavens Assertion. I keep a M7D and TL there with supplies to conduct my operation. Once you capture the ship, transfer 40 energy cells and 1 kit to it. Then pull your marines back. Activate and jump it to the repair ship. Takes a couple minutes to repair, but once that is done you can either sell it at the shipyard, and celebrate that you liberated a Zeus and returned it to Paranid hands, or give it more energy cells from the TL and jump it to HQ for refit, reverse engineer or recycling.

An Ozias is a perfect choice for the TL, since it docks TS class. Just keep quick TS handy that can outrun M6 ships that spawn. (Recommend using Follow Me and Return Home commands a lot with Jump Drive configuration set to jump at min 1 sector distance for obvious reasons.)

Anyway, I felt compelled to place an argument for the missile frigates here. So if you can use this cool, if not, well thank you for your time. :D
Peace is a state of mind!
War is absolute!
~ Phantos ~

Agimar
Posts: 251
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Re: My Little Boarding Brigantine

Post by Agimar » Wed, 17. May 23, 17:03

You‘re right with M7M. It was my way if boarding in X3AP.

But now in FL I‘m a pirate ! :D

And I don‘t need to produce all that missiles.

BrigandPhantos77
Posts: 517
Joined: Wed, 27. Dec 17, 05:47
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Re: My Little Boarding Brigantine

Post by BrigandPhantos77 » Fri, 19. May 23, 13:56

Agimar wrote:
Wed, 17. May 23, 17:03
You‘re right with M7M. It was my way if boarding in X3AP.

But now in FL I‘m a pirate ! :D

And I don‘t need to produce all that missiles.
lol, who said anything about producing? :P

Teladi got the perfect place for instant duplication. Boarding pods, Hammers and Flails all in the same location.

I get what you mean though. Cheers!
Peace is a state of mind!
War is absolute!
~ Phantos ~

OrionTaltos
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Re: My Little Boarding Brigantine

Post by OrionTaltos » Sat, 19. Aug 23, 15:13

delray wrote:
Sun, 23. Apr 23, 18:44
When you're the closest you can be to him, you (this is important!) use your mouse to click the target and select "launch marines" from the menu. This will launch the boarding pods instantly and while you're very close to the target, so they touch the hull very quickly.
This is a handy tip!

Because one thing that is rough is how long I have to keep my Brig in cuddle range to cycle through the boarding pod launcher. Will the Launch All Marines hotkey also do this or would they send them spacewalking?

Though I do wish your own ships wouldn't fire on something without shields being boarded by marines. That makes micro hard when I need my team to keep off reinforcements without killing my target. I don't have full ions yet, so I have to shut down my own weaponry until I get out of range. And because the panicking enemy likes to unload firestorms that are going to get sniped against their own hull :lol:
Arrow + Auto-Pillok + SETA = White Knuckle Terror

Sovereign01
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Re: My Little Boarding Brigantine

Post by Sovereign01 » Sun, 20. Aug 23, 03:46

I'm relatively old-fashioned when it comes to boarding, using 2 ships- a Sirokos to launch the pods (owing to its speed which is considerable) and depending on the target I fly either an M2 or the Kogarasu Maru. I know the Maru can also launch pods but using the Sirokos lets me combat train more of my marines at once, and both ships are fast enough to escape weapons range once the marines are aboard.

There's only one ship I have left to board, I just need to get the Woden to spawn :lol: Hopefully if I can raise my combat rank I can do that.

letwolf
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Re: My Little Boarding Brigantine

Post by letwolf » Sat, 27. Jan 24, 17:16

If you like challenge, you should try boarding with TP and a lot of fighter drones.
I got used to it when I set myself a challdnge of staying ,,Harmless,, combat rank for the entire game ( dont like autoleveling in any games) So, I had to use ,,other hands,, for doing all the dirty job.
The. hands. of. tiny. malicious. DRONES!
Hoards of fighter drones work wonders on even big targets - launch 50-100 of mk.1 and 10-20 of Mk.2 and they will chew through the m2's shield after awhile, while you are IN srctor.
If you are out of sector, an army of 100 cheapest mk1 drones can wipe an average enemy flleet pretty fast. Use it for nullifying any unwanted escorts.
The drones do: 1) keep enemy turrets occupied so they dont shoot your marines 2) chew shields while they dont do much damage to hull while you in-secrtor 3) fry all unwanted equipment like hull polarizer

nlseven
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Re: My Little Boarding Brigantine

Post by nlseven » Mon, 29. Jan 24, 11:45

OrionTaltos wrote:
Sat, 19. Aug 23, 15:13
delray wrote:
Sun, 23. Apr 23, 18:44
When you're the closest you can be to him, you (this is important!) use your mouse to click the target and select "launch marines" from the menu. This will launch the boarding pods instantly and while you're very close to the target, so they touch the hull very quickly.
This is a handy tip!

Because one thing that is rough is how long I have to keep my Brig in cuddle range to cycle through the boarding pod launcher. Will the Launch All Marines hotkey also do this or would they send them spacewalking?

Though I do wish your own ships wouldn't fire on something without shields being boarded by marines. That makes micro hard when I need my team to keep off reinforcements without killing my target. I don't have full ions yet, so I have to shut down my own weaponry until I get out of range. And because the panicking enemy likes to unload firestorms that are going to get sniped against their own hull :lol:
Launch all marines command on the brig will shoot out all the pods at once to cover all the marines you have on board! Much better than going pod-by-pod manually.

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