Best Defense against ship capture?

[Enigma]

What is the best defense agaist ship boarding parties. I read on the FAQ that if you have a ship self defense device then the boarding ship will not board. Is this still true.

Can boarding parties capture a ship with a Master Computer? I know the Allegiance Subverter is defeated by the Master Computer, but what about boarding parties?

Thanks

[NullAshton]

If you have a self destruct device, then when your ship is successfully boarded, both ships self-destruct.

I THINK the master computer has to be destroyed before you board a ship with it on.

The best defense would be security parties. That's what they're there for. Security parties can defend against a larger amount of boarding parties, you'd need only about half as many security parties as your enemies boarding parties.

Shield regenerators might be good, since your shields have to be down before you're boarded.

[Caduceus]

Repulser beams can be used as well as those listed above... I'm usually the one doing the capturing in my solo games and haven't gotten far enough in PBW against a human to comment further...

[douglas]

For support ships, a single shield generator is probably enough. Depending entirely on self destruct devices, especially with designs that depend on lots of armor instead of shields, leaves you vulnerable to suicidal boarding tactics (one boarding escort for one big dreadnought warship is a really good deal for the guy with the escort, and the AI will ignore the SDD's presence). Master computers have no effect on boarding. For primarily armored warships, security stations are the best defense.

[Fyron]

Enigma said:
What is the best defense agaist ship boarding parties.

The self-destruct device is the greatest defense against boarding parties. Security stations are too big and expensive for mass use in the stock game.

Enigma said:
I read on the FAQ that if you have a ship self defense device then the boarding ship will not board. Is this still true.

No. Confounded patches.

Enigma said:
Can boarding parties capture a ship with a Master Computer?

Yes. Master Computers offer no protection against boarding parties.

[Parasite]

At one point a SelfDestruct device would effectively prevent capture (If it was not destroyed) A boarding action would not even be tried on a ship so equipped. This has been changes. The current version SEIV 1.91 DOES allow boarding in stategic mode when the target has a SD Device. Both ships will be destroyed in this case.

A master computer has no effect on boarding parties. In fact they make a ship easier to capture as there are no inate defenses from the crew quarters.

Shields, while they exist, will prevent boarding. Security stations will also work wonders against a determined foe. One SS lvl5 will stop more than 2 lvl5 BPs. See the FAQ for exact numbers.

[douglas]

Imperator Fyron said:
Enigma said:
I read on the FAQ that if you have a ship self defense device then the boarding ship will not board. Is this still true.

Yes.


Wrong. I just double checked, and it's not just a foible of the simulator. Boarding ships will attempt to board ships with self destruct devices in strategic combat. They will not attempt to board ships with too much defense for them to capture.

[Parasite]

Sorry IF, but in stock SEIV 1.91, a BP will try to board a Selfdestuct ship and both will be destroyed.

[Edit below]
In past versions, it was true that a BP ship would stay away from a Self Destruct ship. No longer. It was quite a shock to me when it started happening as well.

[geoschmo]

Imperator Fyron said:
Enigma said:
I read on the FAQ that if you have a ship self defense device then the boarding ship will not board. Is this still true.

Yes.


I thought this was changed with the last patch and that your boarding ships will now try to capture and get themselves blown up in the process. Otherwise, what's the point of cheap boarding ships to attack expensive ships with SDD to get them to blow themselves up? I'm pretty sure I read someone posting here that they use that as a tactic.

Assuming I'm correct, then it does make some sense to use Security stations instead of SDD. They are only 10Kt bigger and not all that much more expensive. I also use boarding parties in some cases as boarding defense on ships without setting them with boarding strategy. They will just act as defensive protection, but if I see the enemy doesn't have any protection I can switch the ship strategies to board without having to retrofit my ships. They don't give as much protection as security stations, but added to the crew compartments, they are usually enough to hold off boarders.

[Fyron]

Confounded patches. *eagerly awaits the next post explaining that this was changed in the last patch*

[geoschmo]

Imperator Fyron said:
Confounded patches. *eagerly awaits the next post explaining that this was changed in the last patch*

Ah, the curse of being a slow typist. When I started my post noone else had commented, by the time I finished 3 others had. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[douglas]

Imperator Fyron said:
Confounded patches. *eagerly awaits the next post explaining that this was changed in the last patch*


I was going to post the line from history.txt in response to this, but it was apparently an undocumented change.