Fractal Softworks Forum
Starsector => General Discussion => Topic started by: Muffalopadus on February 16, 2012, 06:24:51 AM
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...basically, how does it work?!
I'll sometimes be able to board fighters/bombers that escape...but sometimes I can't board them. I've never yet been able to board anything bigger than a single person ship. I've tried to be really careful about killing a ship, trying to leave it with as little hull as possible...but they'll stay aggro'ed and I'll be forced to blow up the ship.
So...halp! I want to be able to capture bigger ships but I can't.
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its based on a behind the scenes algorithm basically you have a very small chance to be able to board anything that is not destryed during combat its just a lot of luck right now i would say.
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I find that every time a fighter hulk remains it is boardable (almost every time anyway). Anything bigger, it either has to surrender or become board-able by luck, which is very rare.
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It's random. VERY random sometimes, haha.
EDIT: What I mean is, anything that is not outright destroyed has a chance to be boardable. I dunno if it's the same across the board or not, though. Just assumed. (shrug)
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It seems the more intact armor segments, the higher likelihood it will be boardable.
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It seems the more intact armor segments, the higher likelihood it will be boardable.
If true, this would be very important to know, hmm. Interesting, that'd change optimal tactics a bit for sure. Although, I suppose that it is always optimal to focus fire a small area of the armor. ;D lol
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It seems the more intact armor segments, the higher likelihood it will be boardable.
Hmm, have you actually tested this out? That seems like a reasonable thing to have to watch for.
EDIT: What I mean is, anything that is not outright destroyed has a chance to be boardable. I dunno if it's the same across the board or not, though. Just assumed. (shrug)
Destroyed...like, when they blow up or when you shoot the wreckage too much? I'm probably as confused as you are, lol.
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I read in the manual that if your goal is to attack instead of holding ground then you have a higher chance to board enemy ships that retreat; I'm not sure about ones that are destroyed in battle.
http://www.fractalsoftworks.com/starfarer/docs/StarfarerManual.pdf
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EDIT: What I mean is, anything that is not outright destroyed has a chance to be boardable. I dunno if it's the same across the board or not, though. Just assumed. (shrug)
Destroyed...like, when they blow up or when you shoot the wreckage too much? I'm probably as confused as you are, lol.
Destroyed meaning you shoot the wreckage too much. Anything that still has a hulk has a chance to be boarded, though it's supposedly very slight.
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Destroyed wrecks will visibly blow up in the field of battle
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It seems the more intact armor segments, the higher likelihood it will be boardable.
Wait, really? You've tested this?
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I did a rather lot of testing on this subject recently, and my findings are thus: The only thing that really matters is the disposition of the enemy fleet. If you attack, and they escape, any ship not in the fight when you win surrenders. I got 3 onslaughts this way.
As for actual boarding operations, I spent a few hours trying to kill stuff very softly. Nothing seems to matter. I tried not using missiles, I tried not using kinetics, I tried not using beams. I tried focusing 100% of all fire into one spot on the ship. I tried spreading the impacts all over the armor. As best I can tell, if any of that has any effect, it's not a very big effect.
One thing has popped up as interesting though, It appears that fighters and bombers that survive being disabled, but have only 1/3 their total ships left, are almost always boardable. IE: Thunder bombers get disabled, but 1 of them isn't destroyed. After the battle you have a superb chance of boarding this ship. Which kinda makes sense. If you were the pilot of a fighter, disabled and your carrier fleet is dead... you'd ask for a ride too.
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your relative fleet strength compared to the opponents factors into the after battle "surrender" chances. if your fleet is smaller or approximately the same power as your opponent then even if they were escaping before combat and retreated in combat and still had ships left to deploy you wont necessarily get a free ship after the battle.