(X3TC) Collection of short summaries

[Tanuden]

Enter the Dragon

The Jaguar Raider was moving very slow, having around 1% of her hull left. I don't know how that had happened, and I had seen it before in another sector. Perhaps if I had remembered that I would have picked a better first target. 4 PRGs made short work, and there wasn't even time to issue a distress call.

The Viper was the next closest. I had visions of her bailing, and I figured either the Viper or the Mamba would present the best opportunities for a salvage claim because of their hull size. Alas, no such luck. The Viper did last a while, and she did get a distress call off which was initially reflected in my loss of standing with the Split. After that, it was a quick jaunt over to the Mamba Sentinel. She seemed rather less aggressive than her namesake, which I felt was extremely odd. After a few bursts, she became shrapnel like the other two ships.

STILL no alarm on the Dragon?? Hmm, well best I make the most of it. I plotted a course towards the SpecWeap complex while a rather large force arrived. IFF showed "friend". Time to look at the observers:
Pirate Carrack
Blastclaw
2 BCP
Several other smaller ships

The whole point of choosing Olmancketslats Treaty was to avoid situations like this cropping up. I had done some freight scans for various stations, and I had also dispatched a few small pirate ships that were initially harassing the SpecWeap Complex when I set up the op. This group showed friendly, but how do you know? I decided the best option was to do a couple scans and see what they said, which was not much. My freight scan reputation had preceded me, and no shots were fired. However, what happens when the Dragon comes calling? For that matter, will they give me the time to pull the op?

Only one way to find out. I docked with the Complex, swapped to the Heavy Hydra (I am going to name her Nightcrawler after all for reasons about to be discussed). As I turbo'd toward Gold Wing I made the following changes:

Turrets OFF
Group 1 = 4 IPGs
Group 2 = 2 Ion Ds
Group 4 = 1 IPG

The previous scan of the Dragon had not fully revealed the whole picture, and during my Satellite replacement mission I scanned her again to be safe. I was immediately glad I had:
400g shields
5 ISR
1 PBE
4 Paranid marines

I had some ideas on how to do things, and the enemy marines sort of put me in a quandary. I sure couldn't put my team on board after a spacewalk against a prepared defense. The Paranids would have to be dealt with prior to the boarding, and I hoped my Ion Ds would do the trick. There were no software, sentry lasers, or firewalls to worry about.

Arriving at Gold wing's muster point, I checked the sector. Now the Dragon was interested, and she was heading right for me. I turned into her and went head on about 25 km out. At about 15 km I ordered Gold wing into a shield attack. Now it was all up to my collective crew and the plan.

IPGs have a range advantage over most corvette weaponry, and I used it. At 3.9 km I opened fire, with several salvos hitting the Dragon before she was able to respond. When she did, I kept up a withering fire, still charging in but strafing down with the thrusters. This threw off my aim and the Dragon's, and in the end I made out. Her shields were down to about 70%, and both the Dragon and I entered a turning fight. As she turned back toward me Gold wing attacked and stripped the shields down to 0 in about 15 seconds.

Part one of the plan had been a resounding success. I switched to the Ion Ds as I brought my nose around. Although I was 34 m/s slower than the Dragon, I was able to turn inside and close to within one km, and since the Ion Ds simply need a lockon I let go with them as the Dragon and I closed to 700m. Another quick scan showed quite satisfactory results as the Paranid marines were no more. THAT little trick is going to be part of my standard playbook now. I knew that Ion Ds would work against systems; I had no idea they worked against beings.

Part two done, now the hard part. While a speed disadvantage can be worked around for gun combat, it is a really big problem when trying to board. I knew I had to get in front of the target, and that was proving to be a big issue. Gold wing kept the shields down as the Dragon and I went around another loop. Then I saw my chance as the Dragon momentarily slowed, then kept up the turn. I turned the Hydra inside and issued the commands as the nose of the Dragon came into view.

"Ready, team?"
"Let us at it boss!"
"Boarding team away!"

Airlock opened, the marines jetted over to the Dragon, almost immediately making contact. The radio reports were garbled, and it was clear there was some fighting going on. Meanwhile, I ordered Gold wing out of sector, and then grappled with my autopilot which was not keeping me close to the Dragon. I turned back around and closed to within a couple km when the good news arrived.

"Sir, we got her! The ship is ours!"
"Casualties?"
"One unfortunately. He strayed into the team's line of fire. Other than that, we are in good shape."
"Roger that, congratulations! Take the Dragon over to the SpecWeap complex and relax. I'll be there shortly. Drinks, dinner, and decisions to come. Food and booze on me. Well done!"
===============================================

Discussion

Up to this moment I had read just about every document I could find about spacewalk boarding. I had even managed to pull it off once (out of 15 or more attempts) in my save on my desktop PC using an Express Hauler on a Pirate Centaur. That was a station defense mission in Scale Plate Green, and there are all sorts of issues with big rocks and autopilots in that sector.

So I went back to school (so to speak). I reread all the documents and gave the whole thing some real thought. My first three attempts were all fails. I found it to be physically impossible to fly the ship (even in classic mode) with a window on screen, and I couldn't execute the keystrokes fast enough to get the marines to the target efficiently. The fact that I am playing on a laptop (a well spec'd one, but still a laptop) probably added to the ergonomic issues.

So I figured there were probably two ways around this. As with most things IT, you can either toss coding or hardware at a problem. I went with hardware, and bought a G13 keypad made by Logitech. Two immediate advantages:

1. A small joystick so I could fly the ship for the approach without the mouse or keyboard
2. Macro functionality on up to 25 keys

I am still learning the nuances of the device, and the initial results were what I wrote about. I have since tried the save about 20 or more times, getting successful results just under half. I am still tuning the macros to see which I like best. So far results are impressive. Best part, the G13 fits in my laptop bag so I can take it on the road.

The other big handicap is the Heavy Hydra. Stripping shields is no issue as the IPGs do a good job, although I may want to play a bit with the armament. She is very heavily shielded, and this is again a good thing with spacewalk boarding. The huge problem is the speed. The Dragon is the fastest Commonwealth M6 per Roguey's site, making the act of closing into position and kicking out the troops one of frequent frustration. Common scenarios:

1. Collision with Dragon - me scuffed, Dragon destroyed
2. Marines inevitably behind the target
3. Some marines make it and either die, or in one rare circumstance succeed
4. Marines remain on board using C5 because the autopilot isn't in position to release them

Item #1 is just me flying like an idiot, and in at least one instance I avoided the Dragon by strafing. I may map these keys to the G13 going forward to help alleviate the issues. Item #2 I solved by chasing the Dragon around the circle, and when she approached the marine clump I would send an IPG round into her to give her a very temporary speed dump. This was for the most part not really worth it; the hull would be a bit more chewed up and the speed loss was not enough to do anything reliably. Item #3 was interesting because in one case I had two groups of marines on two different decks. In another, I had one marine clear deck 3 and complete the hack solo.

I am tempted to try using the Express Hauler but this would require another ship change. In other words, execute the above plan, but have the troops on the Express and switch ships before Gold wing chews up the Dragon too much. I would probably have to burn out the PBE with Ion Ds first though because the shielding is much less than the Hydra.

Any other thoughts or ideas? I think about two dozen people are actively reading (or have at least read once), so feel free to chime in on writing style, comments, ideas, etc. Thanks very much.

[stealthhammer]

Sorry for the lack of post Thursday and Friday. I typically post during my breaks, and work did not allow much time last week. So without further adieu, here comes a double post and some further information. I would be exceptionally happy for feedback on the latter; you will see why shortly .

I know I spend 13 days working with out a break at work...

Story sounds nice, I might post my adventures but right now there slow going... no time to play.

[Tanuden]

Might be able to play tonight or tomorrow, with a post afterwards. For the next month and a half I am doing a fair bit of traveling so posts will be few and far between. Thanks all for reading, and please feel free to comment. Even a "you stink because..." gives me some feedback to improve

[stealthhammer]

Well, detail everything