A little Khaaks capturing guide
Posted: Mon, 26. Jul 04, 16:02
I'll share my experience on capturing Khaak fighters with you folks. Clearly, there are many ways to approach this so my way isn't the only way. Thus far I have 20 KM3, 20 KM4, 50 KM5 all fully equipped after several days of capturing. I'll explain what I did and depends on your budget you can modify my approach to suit your style and purse :
Equip an Ody with 6 B-PSGs, set ONE (no more than 1) B-PSG on each of the six sides. Don't use G-PSG they are too powerful and tend to kill your new ships. This leaves 12 empty weapon slots. Don't worry you won't need them.
Jump the Ody to a Khaak sector of your choice. Fly straight up off of the ecliptic plane. 100km due "up" is fine. The point is to get far away so you won't have chance encounters with the Khaak capital ships. You are here to capture, not to raise your combat rank.
Come to a dead stop when you are sufficiently far away off the center. You probably have a string of Khaak fighters running after you. Don't worry 6 B-PSGs will be sufficient to keep you alive. Out of several days of doing this, the shields of my Ody had reached as low as 20%, but only just once. Most of the time it stays between 80-60%.
Now, press "." to open up the sector map. Place your "cursor" on your ship and get ready. You'll need a quick finger and fast reflex. The existing Khaaks plus an endless spawning of M3/4/5 will continue to charge toward you to commit suicide. Watch your map, and AS SOON AS you get a green ship (indicating a surrender), train yourself to hit this combo as quickly as possible : <Down Arrow> (To select the new ship) + <C> (bring up control console) + <Enter> (Select Navigation) + <2> (Select Dock At) + <Enter> (Select current map) + <Enter> (Select your Ody).
Unlike a Carrier or a TL, docked ships are "hung under" a M2. This means there is no long wait time for the silly docking port to open. There is no long wait time for incoming ships to line up to dock. Yes, an Ody can only hold 4 ships at a time (will talk about this later), but this "hung under" arrangement allows ships to dock extremely quickly! This means you can quickly scoop up a new ship before it gets attacked or your own B-PSG vaporizes it.
Now, note that MOST of the time newly surrendered ships will be destroyed. I average about being able to save 1 ship in 6-8 surrenders. Most of the time, even with just 1 B-PSG each side firing, M5's are so fragile that they simply don't last. And the Khaaks will have no problem of targeting your newly acquired price. However, since new enemies will continuously spawn around you, you can afford the 1:6-8 ratio. The sheer amount of enemies means that they WILL surrender, and it is a matter of quick reflex and pure luck for you to scoop one up.
Now, I mentioned that an Ody can only hold 4 ships, so unless you don't mind jumping back out once you have captured 4 ships, you have two options. First, if you have a carrier you can jump that in. Arm it well with HEPTs or PSGs and send it at your direction. You want your M2 to be even further off the ecliptic plane than you, and at least 10-15km away from your Ody so the random spawns around your ship don't go after the carrier. Once your carrier is in position high off the plane, it will RARELY get attacked. Whenever your Ody is full, simply send 4 ships as a batch to the carrier. As soon as you send them off, MOVE AS FAST AS POSSIBLE AWAY FROM THE CONVOY. Move 10 km away from your convoy until they all dock, then return to your previous position. I would save the game first before sending them off because the spawning frequency is totally random. Khaaks will spawn around YOU (the player), and your prize are likely slow, damaged and unshielded so they are easy targets. As long as you are far away enough they will never spawn around your carrier or the convoy.
However, after a while you will have way more Khaak ships than you can equip, so I end up doing this : Forget the carrier. Do your capturing and quick-docking as usual, but once you have a ship docked, transferred the guns and any missles to your Ody and set the ship loose. It will get destroyed but hey, B-Kyons and good missiles are quite frankly a lot harder to find than the ships themselves. You can just keep the KM3 and dump the KM4 and 5 after a while.
Alternatively, if you have a transporter device you can beam any missiles and weapons off and don't even bother with docking, but the key strokes for beaming cargoes is a lot more complex than the quick-dock method I posted above so the longer your ship is out there, the more chance it will get whacked. Because of the ratio of enemy ships, you will end up with a ton of M5's and M4's and lots of A-Kyons. The real prizes are the B-Kyons...and missiles. 1.4 causes the Khaaks to be extremely missile-happy so it is rare that you will find many high end ones.
Finally, know that MOST of the surrendered ships will get destroyed, either by the Khaaks or by your PSGs. My success rate varies a great deal, I could be sitting around and not able to scoop up a single ship in 15 minutes, or I will get 3-4 surrenders out of one swarm. So be prepared and don't be bothered when your ships die. They will, and frequently. The upside is that there is an endless stream of incoming ships and with perseverance you will get way more Khaak ships than you could use.
When you have enough, try flying a KM3 yourself and have 8 others in X formation around you. Go watch how quickly your little dead squad can shred M6's and M1's in assassination missions without friendly fire (but lots of lag).
(PS: I had MAJOR CTD problems when I was in the Khaak sectors so be warned or you might end up pulling your hair.)
Equip an Ody with 6 B-PSGs, set ONE (no more than 1) B-PSG on each of the six sides. Don't use G-PSG they are too powerful and tend to kill your new ships. This leaves 12 empty weapon slots. Don't worry you won't need them.
Jump the Ody to a Khaak sector of your choice. Fly straight up off of the ecliptic plane. 100km due "up" is fine. The point is to get far away so you won't have chance encounters with the Khaak capital ships. You are here to capture, not to raise your combat rank.
Come to a dead stop when you are sufficiently far away off the center. You probably have a string of Khaak fighters running after you. Don't worry 6 B-PSGs will be sufficient to keep you alive. Out of several days of doing this, the shields of my Ody had reached as low as 20%, but only just once. Most of the time it stays between 80-60%.
Now, press "." to open up the sector map. Place your "cursor" on your ship and get ready. You'll need a quick finger and fast reflex. The existing Khaaks plus an endless spawning of M3/4/5 will continue to charge toward you to commit suicide. Watch your map, and AS SOON AS you get a green ship (indicating a surrender), train yourself to hit this combo as quickly as possible : <Down Arrow> (To select the new ship) + <C> (bring up control console) + <Enter> (Select Navigation) + <2> (Select Dock At) + <Enter> (Select current map) + <Enter> (Select your Ody).
Unlike a Carrier or a TL, docked ships are "hung under" a M2. This means there is no long wait time for the silly docking port to open. There is no long wait time for incoming ships to line up to dock. Yes, an Ody can only hold 4 ships at a time (will talk about this later), but this "hung under" arrangement allows ships to dock extremely quickly! This means you can quickly scoop up a new ship before it gets attacked or your own B-PSG vaporizes it.
Now, note that MOST of the time newly surrendered ships will be destroyed. I average about being able to save 1 ship in 6-8 surrenders. Most of the time, even with just 1 B-PSG each side firing, M5's are so fragile that they simply don't last. And the Khaaks will have no problem of targeting your newly acquired price. However, since new enemies will continuously spawn around you, you can afford the 1:6-8 ratio. The sheer amount of enemies means that they WILL surrender, and it is a matter of quick reflex and pure luck for you to scoop one up.
Now, I mentioned that an Ody can only hold 4 ships, so unless you don't mind jumping back out once you have captured 4 ships, you have two options. First, if you have a carrier you can jump that in. Arm it well with HEPTs or PSGs and send it at your direction. You want your M2 to be even further off the ecliptic plane than you, and at least 10-15km away from your Ody so the random spawns around your ship don't go after the carrier. Once your carrier is in position high off the plane, it will RARELY get attacked. Whenever your Ody is full, simply send 4 ships as a batch to the carrier. As soon as you send them off, MOVE AS FAST AS POSSIBLE AWAY FROM THE CONVOY. Move 10 km away from your convoy until they all dock, then return to your previous position. I would save the game first before sending them off because the spawning frequency is totally random. Khaaks will spawn around YOU (the player), and your prize are likely slow, damaged and unshielded so they are easy targets. As long as you are far away enough they will never spawn around your carrier or the convoy.
However, after a while you will have way more Khaak ships than you can equip, so I end up doing this : Forget the carrier. Do your capturing and quick-docking as usual, but once you have a ship docked, transferred the guns and any missles to your Ody and set the ship loose. It will get destroyed but hey, B-Kyons and good missiles are quite frankly a lot harder to find than the ships themselves. You can just keep the KM3 and dump the KM4 and 5 after a while.
Alternatively, if you have a transporter device you can beam any missiles and weapons off and don't even bother with docking, but the key strokes for beaming cargoes is a lot more complex than the quick-dock method I posted above so the longer your ship is out there, the more chance it will get whacked. Because of the ratio of enemy ships, you will end up with a ton of M5's and M4's and lots of A-Kyons. The real prizes are the B-Kyons...and missiles. 1.4 causes the Khaaks to be extremely missile-happy so it is rare that you will find many high end ones.
Finally, know that MOST of the surrendered ships will get destroyed, either by the Khaaks or by your PSGs. My success rate varies a great deal, I could be sitting around and not able to scoop up a single ship in 15 minutes, or I will get 3-4 surrenders out of one swarm. So be prepared and don't be bothered when your ships die. They will, and frequently. The upside is that there is an endless stream of incoming ships and with perseverance you will get way more Khaak ships than you could use.
When you have enough, try flying a KM3 yourself and have 8 others in X formation around you. Go watch how quickly your little dead squad can shred M6's and M1's in assassination missions without friendly fire (but lots of lag).
(PS: I had MAJOR CTD problems when I was in the Khaak sectors so be warned or you might end up pulling your hair.)