How to Capture Your Own Republic Cruiser!

This is a step guide to capturing your own mighty Republic Cruiser or even the behemoth Carrier! Bare in mind, this method is very costly and may take a couple of tries to succeed.

Legend/Key Implementation

Before we start, I would first like to introduce the legend/key implemented on this guide page.

Bold = The core information of step
Non-Bold = Tip or further explanation of step

With that in mind, let's begin.

15 Steps to Success

1. Have 40 million credits to spare. You can start with as low as 20 million, but that is risky as "Death Benefits" can bite a large chunk of your bank, plus the hassle of paying your crew will make you broke in no time.
   
   
2. Visit the Epsilon Leonis system, which is in "The Deep" region up north.
   
   
3. Buy the "Bactrian" ship. Its ability to load massive amounts of crew makes it an obvious choice to fight and capture a Republic capital.
   
   
4. (Optional) Remove all your weapons and turrets, and replace them with 6 "Laser Turret" and 4 "Sidewinder Missile Launcher". This weapon build is capable of damaging the Capital ship at a consistent rate.
   
   
5. Remove the ship’s "Ramscoop". The device will regenerate your fuel, which you do not want while trying to bait your prey.
   
   
6. Travel to the "Sargas" system, further down south, in the "Free Worlds" region.
   
   
7. Buy 245 "Fragmentation Grenades", enough to arm your whole crew. It is not recommended to use "Nerve Gas", since you’ll be journeying throughout the Republic sector.
   
   
8. Hire a full crew of 245. Lowering the amount of crew may reduce your "Crew Salary", but it will also decrease your chances of capturing a Capital ship.
   
   
9. Travel to a Republic sector. I strongly suggest the "Sol" system as it will most likely have Capital ships patrolling the area. Make sure your fuel bar is empty when you arrive.
   
   
10. Wait for the ship you're looking for. Once found, speak to them (Press “T” while the ship is selected).
    
    
11. “Ask For Help” and once they start following you, move away from the middle. Sometimes, they might have smaller ships (such as a Republic "Gunboat") escorting them. They will stop following the Capital ship once you're far enough from the middle. This method is called "Bait and Switch".
    
    
12. Start bombarding the Capital ship. It shouldn’t be too hard if you start fighting it before it refuels your ship. The Capital ship is boardable once its hull is lower than 1/4.
    
    
13. Press “B” to board it. Then “Attempt Capture”. It should be easy since you will most likely out-number and out-gun its crew.
    
    
14. Travel to another system with a "Spaceport" and land. A good technique to prevent your captured ship from getting destroyed is to command it to "Hold Position" ("H" for default controls) at your current location, then jump to another system. Clear the system of hostile forces and once its safe, press the command "Hold Position" again so that the captured ship follows you.
    
    
15. Celebrate! You have captured a Republic Capital ship!

Extra Info - Important!

Similar principles can be applied to capture other non-hostile ships. E.g. Hai (Friendly) faction ships, Merchant ships etc.

Be wary; capturing Republic Capital ships will heavily damage your reputation with them... If done too many times, they may become hostile, making it impossible to capture one again.

The technique called "Bait and Switch" was from Efefay's guide, "The Pirates Manual".

[Jocus]

I do know this is an old guide, but you can get Republic ships semi safely in the freeworlds campaign, and once you are done with the campaign, their reputation towards you returns to friendly.

[LogicLover]

I have managed to capturre a carrier once

[bennyg]

I think an Ion Cannon and anti-missile loadout is better as this increases survivability by 100x (against every enemy even Korath Raiders) and without energy the carrier can't return fire or escape. The trick is to circle your target with Ions as the force of repeated blasts in one direction can start moving the ship further than you can chase it and give it time to recover and jump away.

A good hunting ground is also the northernmost pirate sectors - you can buy up on Nerve Gas up there for capping then sell the Nerve Gas (for the exact same amount that you bought it for) before you go back to civilised space.

[Turkju]

nvm

[Turkju]

xD
ive put a solid 42 hours into this game and i cant figure out how to finish it

[Turkju]

how to finish campaign?

[Izzy]

That shouldn't be a problem if the guide is followed correctly. I've done this method several times already after the campaign and It works fine. It doesn't really matter what the ship is carrying. Fighting it is A LOT easier if you don't allow it to refuel your ship.

[Hekkura]

problem is later in the story some republic cruisers are upgraded with atomic engines and electron beams (instead of particle cannons and heavy lasers), those things will outgun and outspeed a bactrian with just laser turrets and sidewinders.