Boarding parties question

Freyland · #1 January 21st, 2001, 07:04 AM

Is it just me, or does it bother anyone else that you can board any ship, no matter how "intact", as long as the shields are down? How do you board a ship whose engines are intact? And since the AI doesn't seem to build ships with security stations, even the baddest dreadnought is easily removed once its shields go down.

Of course, the AI is not considered a big deal for the next patch, so.......

Jonathan

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How does he type with his hands over his ears?

Jubala · #2 January 21st, 2001, 08:04 AM

In my experience that's exactly how boarding works no matter how few or many boarders you have. The more and better boarders you have the greater the chance for succes. I have failed to board ships sometimes. If you want to board more than one ship, bring more ships with boarders.

FYI, I don't really like how boarding works, but I can live with it. To make it work like I want it to crews would have to be added along with a bunch of other stuff.

Baron Munchausen · #3 January 21st, 2001, 04:45 PM

It is a bit annoying that you cannot choose to use just one boarding party at a time. I'm not sure how you could arrange this, though. If you want boarding to be a "special" function controlled seperately from standard weapons you cannot put the BPs in the weapon list with the others. They would be used on the very first ship that had its shields down. But having only a simple button is disappointing. Maybe it could pop-up a dialog and ask how many boarding parties to use?

Barnacle Bill · #4 January 21st, 2001, 06:16 PM

I have not used boarding parties, so I don't know the details of how they work. However, reading this topic raises the question in my mind "what if you board a transport whose cargo holds are full of troops?". Logically, you should be in trouble.

That brings up another idea. What if boarding parties were not a component but a type of troop? You would build them & carry them in cargo holds.

Zanthis · #5 January 21st, 2001, 08:36 PM

Actually, I really like the idea of using the existing troops for boarding, Bill. I'd still like a "boarding" component that allowed you to perform the boarding action in the first place. Maybe the rating indicates how many KT of troops can be transported to the enemy in a single boarding "attack" and then resolve it just like attacking a planet. Should probably give ships some "free" defenders, like planets have, based on their size (rather than pop).

pathfinder · #6 January 21st, 2001, 11:41 PM

Not sure but maybe the boarding party simulates breaching pods?

with the security station being the area where onboard marines/security personnel work from also house their armory?

Baron Munchausen · #7 January 21st, 2001, 11:53 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Zanthis:
Actually, I really like the idea of using the existing troops for boarding, Bill. I'd still like a "boarding" component that allowed you to perform the boarding action in the first place. Maybe the rating indicates how many KT of troops can be transported to the enemy in a single boarding "attack" and then resolve it just like attacking a planet. Should probably give ships some "free" defenders, like planets have, based on their size (rather than pop).

That's a very interesting idea. What it amounts to is changing "Boarding Parties" to a launch bay for troops. The component itself would represent some sort of aparatus for attaching to another ship and breaching the hull, I guess. If you've got one, you can "fire" some troops at enemy ships. If you don't have one, you're just a troop transport. Would it be worthwhile to have 'warships' with a boarding units like this, or would everyone start using troop transports for boarding attacks?

The cargo space might be better used for weapons in true warships.