Blog » X3AP » Advanced Capture Guide Part 1 Fighters

Posted by JoelNussbaum on Saturday 4th August, 2012   ·   2 comments

For people like me capturing ships is my primary source of income in the x universe. Now every guide I've run across is the same thing: missile boat torpedo flail flail flail. This works of course, but it has no details further than what I mentioned. In this guide I will not only discuss the capture of capitol ships but strategies on the capture of capitol ships and fighters. This guide will cover capturing fighters. Methods Strategies and dangers.

Fighter capture is much cheaper than capitol capture and some fighters when repaired can sell for as high as 1.6 million credits a pop. There are 2 strategies in the "liberation" of enemy fighters. There are things you want to avoid when capturing enemy fighters.

1 Dont use 1-hit kill weapons. If its going to drop the fighter in 1-shot you might want to consider canning the ppc for something a bit less death-happy.

2 Do not use an overpowering ship. Same concept as #1 if you are in a Terran Osaka, with its 300 batteries even if you put a low power cannon in its turrets, you are still firing several shots at it. Not to mention it handles like a school bus which makes for longer space suit trips to claim your new prize (or whats left of it)

3 Capture chances are low and random. Ive gone 22-23 ships before I got a bail out, then there are times where 2-3 pilots have bailed in a row. Be patient be vigilant the money will come.

The tools for the job: The 5 races have several weapons at their disposal while Terrans are quite limited. Stuck with their Electromagnetic Plasma Cannons which are respectable weapons but are a little overkill. Grouping is a must for EMPC.

IRE Impulse Ray Emitter (all except paranid): The cheapest of the preferred capture weapons low damage, rapid firing, rapid moving and average range of all the capture weapons.

PRG (Argon Weapon) Phased Repeater Gun: It has a longer range and fires very rapidly so faster ships are no problem winging at the range. One of these is more expensive than a battery of IRE.

MD Mass Driver: (Split Weapon) About the same price as the Phased repeater gun, but it has 2 unique qualities. First it uses ammunition instead of reactor energy. Second, it bypasses all shields. Its very rapid fire, and has less range then the IRE.

PBE Pulsed Beam Emitter: (Split Weapon) Similar range to the mass driver, and its homicidal on shields. Not as bad on the hull so its more useful for capping ships. My opinion its the best of the ship capture weapons. It is second most expensive of all the weps in this guide.

IPG Ion Pulse Generator: (Boron Weapon) Longest range, slowest moving, slowest firing, most expensive of all the capture guns. It does massive shield and system damage plus it slows down the engines of the enemy ships.

Fighter capture shopping list:
Ship: m6 or m3/m3+ that is well shielded and fully upgraded. Having a defensive turret or a few for missile defense is plus. (2 mil to 20 mil)
Weapons: Low damage rapid fire weapons IRE PRG PBE MD IPG (20k-4 mil)
Optional: High yield missiles non area of effect for thinning out the fighter wings.
Total 2.5 mil to 25 million

Targets: M4 M4+, M3 M3+, TS, M8

Strategy: Ok its very simple here find ship you wanna capture line up on it get in range and fire. Line up then lay down an unrelenting stream of fire onto the target until they bail or the ship is destroyed. If the weapon you selected is too destructive and its killing them too quick hot-key set 1-4 of them on key 2 so you aren't firing all 6-8 of them at a time.

Targets: There are places where hostile ships are that races wont miss or ruin your reputation. If you are a Terran then go nuts. But as a member of the 5 races and being a goodie two-shoes like me you gotta look for those pirate sectors. There is one in Maelstrom which is 2 sectors south of Grand Exchange. Several sectors of typically lightly guarded ships exist north of Cardinal's domain that have few heavy ships and several wings of pirate fighters. Xenon are harder to capture BUT are very prevalent in Grand Exchange. Also the mission defend (insert factory name here) are great at grabbing ships. (nothing better then them coming to you)

Dangers: In X3 danger and prosperity go hand and hand. The more dangers and the more things that can go wrong typically the more lucrative the capture typically is. There are several things that are unavoidable that will send you to the game menu like that random missile hit that 1-shots your ship. There are other things that you can take action against to up your chances of survival.

1 M8 ships: While being a great lucrative capture target that can net 5 million a pop they do have their downsides. Those cute lumbering tomahawks can blow up a capture ship in 1-2 hits. Plus for rear attacks, they typically have twin heavy guns. The strategy is simple avoid avoid fire from the tomahawks while pounding the ship itself. With your short range weaponry. Maybe you can claim one of these gems for your collection.

2 Pyro ships: Basically ships that mount that plasma burst generator. Most pirate M3 fighters have these as their armament. They always travel in groups. The best way to deal with them is to barrage them at range to thin their numbers, then go after their reduced numbers but keep an eye on your shields. Also using PRG and IPG are preferred over IRE and PBE because they can hit the pyro ships out of range of their PBG

3 Bigger ships: We all know that a M3 cant really stand up to a battleship (M2) unless they are clip glitching. This is especially true when your little M3/M6 is outfitted to capture ships and not kill them. If you see a juicy fighter or that one you are looking for to complete your collection but its escorting a ship that makes yours look like a clown car its best to avoid it.

Conclusion: Capturing fighters is a great way to expand wealth rapidly. The investment in fighter capture can be lower than you'd pay for a space station or can easily top the most expensive station. You don't necessarily get what you pay for either. Just because you spent 25 million on a m6 pimped out capture ship does not mean you are guaranteed success. Using what compliments your skill set is instrumental learning to thrive the X-Verse.

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