Great question! Thanks for asking it. You're right that it's best to send as many as possible. There might be a couple exceptions, though. If the target ship is very low on hull, sending a huge number of pods might destroy it. Or, in the early game we might only have a handful of marines. A dozen or so marines sent together on boarding missions several times won't end up with equal experience levels. So as far as the experience gain, I don't know for sure that all the marines get experience, or that the experience pool is evenly split up. The same can be said for Service Crew experience gain. I'll have to watch that more closely, and get back to you. I was trying to show in this video that we don't need a massive boarding party to capture a Large ship.
Ok, so I did a test... I loaded an assault ship with 16 two-and-a-bit star (in boarding skill) Marines with similar morale, and used them on four SCA Heron E freighters one after another, with no time spent between capture and coming back to the assault ship. All captures were done at the same boarding settings. I ended up with a spread in boarding skill stars from almost four stars, down to two-and-a-bit stars. It looks like experience gained is not an even split. During the four captures, there were Marines that didn't get a boost to their boarding skill, but they may have received some morale boost. Again, I don't know how the experience pool is awarded, but I hope this gives you an idea about what I see. Thanks again for your question!
It can be maddening when Ministry of Finance shows up mid-way through boarding an SCA Phoenix, destroying the prize. When I'm still in early game with just a fighter, I capture a few SCA Minotaurs as Marine staging platforms. Buying marines at the VIG wharf then bringing in the minotaurs following the video's capture example. The minotaurs are also handy for leveling up Rep as fill shortages traders.
@scintilion This is a brilliant strategy. I try to keep three minotaurs with full crews of 2 star marines. I send them out for several back to back trades with the marines set to Service Crew, which boosts their Engineering and Morale. When doing a drive-by boarding of a "friendly" ship, if the first boarding attempt fails, I get a fresh crew transferred in from a Minotaur, so I can board the diminished target ship again. After that, any Marines transferred to the new ship as Service Crew will get morale and engineering experience while the ship repairs itself. Great input, @scintilion !
As we get closer to v.7.0, some things in capturing L friendly ships is rumored to be changing. Most notably, I've heard the immunity to reputation will be nerfed (causing rep loss), and ships with our boarding party on them will no longer be targeted by enforcement authorities. The reputation loss was from a user that ran the beta, the authorities holding back is listed by Egosoft as a change. I guess we'll see.
Quick heads up for you. I did a flyby board on an SCA, and locals showed up to destroy it, even with my Marines inside it. Then, I tried a flyby on a friendly, and took a reputation hit for boarding it. They called it "misconduct". lol
It happens, sometimes. Usually, if we bang on the hull until it's below70%, they eventually start to bail. If not, taking the hull down by 10% and keeping the engines and shield beat down for five or ten minutes could get them going. I've taken hulls down to ten percent this way and still had to board against a "full" crew, though. Not sure how much difference it makes, but removing all the turrets and S/M shield generators could help. And keep killing the engines as they start to repair.
At -5 reputation with SCA, they don't just open fire until they've been fired on. Watch for the red color on the ship's name/surface elements. Even after the ship turns hostile, it takes time for weapons to turn and fire. Doesn't sound like you've played the game at all, yet.
I got the game and still trying to get into it, but realistically, doesn't make any sense whatsoever that even with a super reputation you can just approach a big ship and no warnings and no defense flybys? Even when you shot the drone noth8ng happened. I would consider that a very boring takeover without any risks.
By that logic, we should be swarmed every time we approach a station. @Thiniking EDIT~ I think I understand what you're saying about a capital ship not having strong defenses and escorts, but a ship doesn't know our intentions until we make them known. The SCA faction is a loosely formed group of pirates that will pillage our trading ships. Most of the sectors where they have their own stations are "lawless" sectors. They don't defend each other, so their stations won't provide protection, even if we target an SCA ship docked at an SCA station. Duke's Buccaneers (BUC) faction are also pirates. They also pillage our traders, but are a tighter knit faction. They will travel with escorts, much like our stronger allied factions do, but no faction always has escorts accompanying every single ship they have. The videos I make are meant to show the mechanics of the game, and how we can accomplish more than the obvious in the game. Is it realistic? Is it fair and balanced? I don't make that decision. It's a game that someone made.
Thanks for the explanation. Devs should really think about this more. Any ship that approaches another should get some signal acknowledging they can be that close depending on the status. Any funny business, they should defend themselves and I would imagine bigger ships have drones and other smaller ships they could launch to defend themselves. One thing I love about Elite Dangerous (even though I hate a lot of the grind) is how if you get too close to stations, you have to ask permission to land or keep distance. It just feel unrealistic and borderline boring to just disable a ship without so much as a scratch.
@@Thiniking Maybe I made it look too easy. That ship was one that would gladly let us dock and wander around inside it. Once we show hostility (shooting an engine), they do turn offensive. That particular ship had no escorts, so it launched a defensive drone, and it's turrets were actively targeting us. It takes time for them to turn, though, depending on the type of turret, and only starts turning when we are in line-of-sight. If it had been armed with smart missiles and launchers, it becomes a different fight. Overall, X games are geared more for trade and economy, instead of military tactics. If you haven't yet, I suggest you liberate a ship and sell it at a wharf. Might change your view a bit.
