How are you supposed to board enemy ships?

[Fatum]

I've heard a tale that you can shoot out the engines of an enemy ship and board them...but when I do it, 75% of the time the ship explodes before the engines do.
The few times I have, I take out their engines and they sit there, but no matter how close I get no prompt to board pops up. They just float there shooting at me.

[DANEDANGER]

Your going to need a skill *Targeting* in order to be able and actually target engines specificly. You may want to use a weapons that also has EM damage but if your a beam build your fine too.

You wait for the lock to happen, then you openup the targeting menu and select engines with the arrow keys. Start shooting, there wil be a blue bar, a sort of shield you have to break, after that blue bar is cleared you wil loose lock for a bit. Reaquire target and start hitting the engines.

Once the engines are down fly close too the enemy ship * 500mtrs* and a button to dock it wil show up. Press it and you find your self in the enemy ship. Keep in mind there wil be npc here for you to shoot.

Clear these npc and take a seat at the pilots seat of the enemy ship, you can check it stats while sitting in that chair and then you go too ship menu. Here it wil show the stats of the ship you are sitting in.

Do you find it a bad ship and you do not want it simply use the Board button to get back into your own ship, when you want to keep it you just undock and fly away with the captured ship.

I recommend you go too the Den in the Wolf system in order to sell any contraband the ship may contain. DO NOT USE THE DEN SHIP TECHY!!

Once you are sure the ship is contraband free you can go to any location that has a ships techy on a planet and you register the captured ship. After register you are the full and documented owner of the ship and you are allowed to make changes too it or simply sell it

[The92Ghost]

Yep, Danedanger summarized it pretty good. You need the targeting to concentrate on a ship and then move the targeting over the engines, once done, and the engines are down, you can then approach the ship and board it. I recommend doing it from below the ship and not from the front because the ship might continue shoot you with lasers and rockets if you are in front of it when approaching for boarding.

[Fatum]

yeahp..got all that but still most often end up blowing the ship up (over all damage) before the engines are down. Maybe it'll even out more at higher levels. I suppose right now I'm just blowing them out of the sky too fast?

[DANEDANGER]

Originally posted by Fatum:

yeahp..got all that but still most often end up blowing the ship up (over all damage) before the engines are down. Maybe it'll even out more at higher levels. I suppose right now I'm just blowing them out of the sky too fast?

Then you might be overpowered, you put out too much damage. This is why the EM weaponry is handy, these do little hull damage but more electical.

[Doombringer]

Some ships have engines with very high hp relative to the ships hp and EM weapons are pretty much required to capture such ships in space.
Personally I find it much easier to steal landed ships.

[Hobo Misanthropus]

Use EM weapons in targeting mode

[StormhawkV]

You unlock the first decent EM weapons at level 12. Use those in targeting mode.

[SrWonka]

I can`t board them even with targeting. NG+

[PrahanaHazGutz]

Originally posted by SrWonka:

I can`t board them even with targeting. NG+

You have to either use EM weapons, or take their engines down to almost destroyed. Fly by slowly and you should be given the prompt to board (r on PC).

[katzenkrimis]

Electromagnetic.

Same as the hand weapons they stun, not kill.

Originally posted by SrWonka:

I can`t board them even with targeting. NG+

Can't help you, then.

There must be something that you are doing wrong.

Post a video.

[Cheetahbird]

You have to use only EM weapons in targeting mode when you want to disable ships. Ballistics, lasers and missiles destroy the ships too fast.

[PrahanaHazGutz]

Originally posted by birdstwin:

You have to use only EM weapons in targeting mode when you want to disable ships. Ballistics, lasers and missiles destroy the ships too fast.

That isn't true.



I have never used an EM weapon and I have boarded plenty.

edit: Not saying it isn't easier with EM. And that may be of help to the OP.

But they are not necessary

[tkwoods]

I would suggest lowering the power level of the weapons. Use targeting and hit the shield then the engines. Stop when the engines go red. You should get a message about boarding at that point.

[PrahanaHazGutz]

Originally posted by tkwoods:

I would suggest lowering the power level of the weapons. Use targeting and hit the shield then the engines. Stop when the engines go red. You should get a message about boarding at that point.

Yes -- I forgot to mention that. I do this as well. Shield, then engines.

[tkwoods]

Originally posted by PrahanaHazGutz:

Originally posted by tkwoods:

I would suggest lowering the power level of the weapons. Use targeting and hit the shield then the engines. Stop when the engines go red. You should get a message about boarding at that point.

Yes -- I forgot to mention that. I do this as well. Shield, then engines.

I also would state that you need to drop out of targeting I think to do the docking.