To capture larger ships (TL/M6/M7/M2/M1) requires them to be boarded.   Boarding allows the player to obtain free ships worth several million credits, obtain ships and stations of enemy Races and obtain ships that are not available for purchase.

Boarding is performed either by a Spacewalk or by using Boarding Pods.   Both methods have their own advantages and pitfalls.

Preparation

Supplies For Boarding

• The player will need to buy and train Marine/Mercenary personnel to perform the boarding operation.   How high the skills of the personnel need to be is dependent on the class and type of ship being boarded as well as the presence of anti-boarding equipment and the numbers and skill of enemy personnel.   The player will need a minimal of 6 Marines/Mercenaries with at least 2 stars in the Engineering and Fighting skills while at least two marines need 3 stars in the Mechanical and Hacking skills.   In general try to board with as many marines as the target ship can be boarded with as that reduces losses.
• Missiles are needed to reduce the majority of the shields of the target ship and swat any non-target enemy ships.   The number of missiles needed depend on the type of ship targeted and how many enemy ships are in the same sector as the target.
• Fighter Drones (MK1/MK2/Keris) are used to supress enemy shield regeneration (number depends on the type of drone and ship being boarded), draw fire from the target (if not softened by ion weaponry) and distract other enemy ships once the target is captured.   30 is usually enough.
• A fast M5 or TM with spare Jumpdrives and Energy Cells.   Freshly captured ships lack most of their equipment and may already be at a low percentage of their hull so are in no state to fight enemy fleets meaning an evacuation plan is needed.   This means jumping in a fast and probably sacrificial M5 to transfer a Jumpdrive onto the captured ship while the player ship provides the Energy Cells, allowing the captured target ship to jump to the nearest safe sector, leaving the M5 alone to try and find a safe route home.   Alternatively getting a TM ship to follow the boarding ship allows for a Jumpdrive to be transferred to the captured ship and then shuffling a second Jumpdrive from a docked fighter back onto the TM allowing all ships to escape.
• Once off purchases of Freight Scanner, Special Command Software, Fight Command Software MK1, Fight Command Software MK2, Bioscanner, Transporter Device and Jumpdrive.   Turbo Boosters are optional but can help.

Footwork

First the player needs to find a good target.   With friendly Races the player can order a cheap M5 ship to follow a target ship until it is alone and preferably in a sector owned by a different race (player gets a larger reputation loss if boarding in sectors owned by the race whose ship is being boarded).   With hostile Races where the player does not have an Advanced Satellite network it is advised that the player saves and then scouts ahead with a fast and durable ship (like a Springblossom or Hyperion Vanguard) to find a suitable and preferably undefended target.   With friendly Races, the more ships that need to be killed to board and evacuate a ship, the greater the reputation loss.   A poorly planned boarding can easily bring players down from +10 Race Reputation to -2 or lower (Valhalla, Colossus Hauler, Galleon and Shuri are bad for this).   It is advisable to attack enemy ships to gain their attention before luring the targets past the map bounds (30% past the normal system radius) so it no longer has any nearby friendly ships to help it.   Also if possible try to scan the target ship beforehand to avoid any anti-boarding equipment beyond the skills of available player personnel (Internal Security Lasers are the worst as they act as 2 permanent 100 Fighting Skill marines).

Softening the target (Optional)

The Ion Disrupter and Ion Cannon weapons of the Boron not only do high shield damage but also have high chances to destroy weapons and equipment allowing the player to strip a target ship down to a defenceless hull.   This is recommended if trying to board Rapid Response ships as destroying the Jumpdrive prevents the ships from fleeing when their shields run low and destruction of the Cargo Lifesupport removes any enemy personnel (which tend to have high skills).   Skilled players can even perform the softening of targets using some boarding ships (Angel, Pleco and Magnetar), otherwise use Argon Eclipse or Boron Skate/Thresher ships.

Spacewalk Boarding

The advantage of Spacewalk boarding is the low cost of equipment needed to board and how quickly it is possible to perform from starting a new game however, the chances of losing personnel are a lot higher.

With this kind of boarding the player uses Wildfire and Silkworm missiles (Wasp and Dragonfly missiles also work) at a long range to lower the shields of the target if no softening is performed before launching the drones.   Drones are launched at a distance of 6-8Km from the target and ordered to Attack Shields of the target.   Once the target shields are <10% the player can either start flying away from the target and uses the Launch Marines command to allow the target ship to fly into the cloud of Marines while being far enough away from the player ship that it is not actively firing towards the player and oncoming Marines (this is where you will pointlessly lose your personnel) or the player can try and fly underneath the target ship and launch the marines just as the ship flies overhead that all marines instantly contact the target hull (player is more likely to take damage with bigger targets but more synchronised boarding and lower losses however, fatal collisions with the target ship are more likely).   Ships recommended for spacewalk boarding are the TP class ships, Geochen (Teladi) (high shielding for a TP), Ocelot (Split) (has enough speed to dodge incoming fire) and Angel (Boron) (has Ion Disrupters to help reduce target shields and soften them up) and the Argon TM class ships (only good for non-Xenon M6 ships but can carry all ships and equipment needed for clean boarding and escape tactics) Zephyrus (high shielding) and Magnetar (Has Ion Disrupters to help reduce target shields and soften them up).   It typically takes 50 missiles for a boarding operation of an M6.   The Mechanical Skill of the personnel used limits what ship classes can be boarded with this method

Boarding Pod Boarding

The safest way to do a boarding operation but requires capital intensive M7M ships and the compatible missiles.   This tactic is recommended for tougher target ships as Boarding Pods are less likely to be shot down and give better synchronisation of boarding personnel.   Boarding pods also give an equivalent of +50 to the Mechanical Skill of personnel allowing bigger ships to be captured with less well trained personnel.

At a distance of 6km from the target launch enough drones to be able to supress the shield regeneration of the target (3-8 for M6, 5-10 for M7 and 8-15 for M1/M2) and use the Autopilot>Command Console>Broadcast To My Ships In The Sector>Broadcast: Sector: Fighter Drones to order all drones to attack the target.   Launch enough Hammer Heavy Torpedoes/Shadow Missiles (use 1-3 Missile Barrage commands for larger targets)(takes about 2-3 missiles per GJ of shielding) to reduce the target shields to minimal values and destroy any heavy escorts.   Immediately switch to Flail/Ghoul Missiles and launch one every second at the target while also launching some at any nearby hostile fighters (this distracts the target turrets so the high damage missiles have a higher chance to hit).   Once the target shields are at <5% order the boarding M7M to use the Launch Marines command and keep launching a Flail/Ghoul Missile every second until the Boarding Pods make contact with the target.   Order any supporting boarding ship to jump to a nearby safe sector and turn away from the target and move away from it at the same speed the target moves (drones should keep the target shields fully supressed).   Once the player owned personnel reach the final deck turn around and use the Turbo Booster MK2 to get close to the target as it should belong to the player by the time the distance is closed.   Also order the fighter drones to Attack All Enemies in the sector to provide a distraction while the new ship is evacuated.   Exchange the Jumpdrive and Energy Cells to allow the target ship to get to safety and then either shoot a safe passage or get a spare Jumpdrive from a following ship and jump to a safer sector.   The ship best suited for this kind of boarding operation is the Split Cobra as it can out speed any targets that could threaten it.   Typical boarding operations of this kind can take up to 120 Flail Barrage Missiles, 80 Hammer Heavy Torpedoes (more Hammer Heavy Torpedoes in Xenon sectors) and 2-8 Boarding Pods.

Boarding Xenon Ships

Xenon (and to a lesser extent some Split ships) have a high innate boarding resistance making them mince boarding personnel (even without the Internal Security Lasers equipment).   This means only use personnel with a Fighting skill of 100 and even then casualties can be expected.   Xenon computer cores also have a unique feature that if too few marines make it past the final deck to reach the requirement, then the boarding operation will automatically fail (allegedly due to running out of ammo).   Always board with one more marine than the capacity for the ship class (9 for M6/M6+ and 21 for M7/M1/M2) as this greatly reduces casualties.   For the Xenon P/PX do as stated in the Boarding Pod Boarding section but just use 9 personnel to board with and expect up to 1 loss of personnel.

For Xenon capital ships use an Argon Sirokos to follow the player ship and launch the first wave of personnel as it can launch a full 21.   Once the first wave is launched order Sirokos to jump to safety and use the Player ship (probably a Cobra) to do the rest.   The player can then luck manipulate by saving in the middle of each deck and loading until the next deck goes well or the player can send additional marines at fixed intervals.   For the lowest predictable casualty number launch +1 personnel every 20-30 seconds for each deck so that the new +1 personnel cuts through the hull to replace the 1 personnel that is almost always lost from the full 21 at each deck.   Alternatively at deck 3-4 (depends on how far the player ship is from the target) launch 5-6 personnel so 15-16 make it to the core.   Typically expect to lose 4-9 fully trained personnel to capture a Xenon capital ship.

Recommended Save points

For players not doing the Suicidal Squid starting scenario it is advised to have at least 9 Salvage Insurance to be able to save at key moments of a boarding operation on the off chance something goes wrong and a reload is needed.   For most ships saves 3-8 can be skipped but for Xenon ships it is recommended.

1. The Approach: Save once the player has gotten within range of the target but before opening fire (in case it becomes a good idea to abandon the plan)
2. Ready to Board: Save once the target shields are down and before the personnel are launched for the boarding operation
3. Hull Contact Established: Save if all personnel make it to the hull.   This allows reloading until all personnel synchronise fighting on Deck 1 for lowest casualties (a must for Xenon ships)
4. Middle of Deck 1: Too late to change the fate of those fighting on Deck 1 but the outcome of Deck 2 has not yet been determined
5. Middle of Deck 2: Too late to change the fate of those fighting on Deck 2 but the outcome of Deck 3 has not yet been determined  
6. Middle of Deck 3: Too late to change the fate of those fighting on Deck 3 but the outcome of Deck 4 has not yet been determined  
7. Middle of Deck 4: Too late to change the fate of those fighting on Deck 4 but the outcome of Deck 5 has not yet been determined
8. We Are At The Computer Core: Save to be able to reroll what the new ship has ware wise once ownership is transferred (good for getting Jump Beacons)
9. Victory: Save once both the captured ship and player ship are evacuated to a safe location    

Boarding Operation Mechanics

Personnel Training

Ship Innate Boarding Resistance Table

Boarding Resolution Algorithm

Hints/Tips

• Rapid Response M7M ships will waste their personnel by launching it in Boarding Pods they spawn with at any enemy boardable ship that loses shielding.   If these missiles are shot down by the player they have a 50% chance to drop several 4-5 star Marine personnel for the player to collect.  This makes the south gate of Circle of Labour a good early source of highly trained personnel (assuming the Argon are not shooting holes in the player ship).
• Cloudbase South East, Montalaar, Heaven's Assertion, Great Reef, Ocean of Fantasy and Senator's Badlands (add more) are good sectors for boarding TLs since there is almost always a TL present and seldom more than 3 fighters to defend the sector.
• Use Return Ship and Return Abandoned Ship missions to train the fighting skill of personnel (can spawn M6/M7 ships if the player has a Trade Rank of (insert)).