Hatch Breaker Limpets Getting Destroyed

[Yure]

Alright so the day before yesterday I was in a liberation mission. The target was a T-9.

I blow out it's drives, and it begins spinning wildly. I send out hatchbreaker limpets and they start getting schwacked! So then I figure I'll blow out the cargo latch. It goes all the way down to 0 and only a few packages come out. I check the manifest, this ship has... I don't know... A frak ton of cargo remaining. So then I try slowing it down by going full shields and trying to get in the way of its rotation. It doesn't work.

Then as by this point in the close driving crash I feel I could perhaps keep rotating with it, a'la Interstellar and send out limpets. But they keep dying before they even touch the t-9. I check the sub targets again thinking I might have missed something. Only thing he had was an ECM (no point defense), which was already half health and even at the rate I was firing them, a few should have gotten through. But nope I kept seeing getting destroyed by nothing.

I thought maybe the shield was destroying them... But that didn't make sense as I previously was able to use the limpets through shields. But no worries... Shields down... Nope limpets still get shwacked.

So my question is this? Is there anyone here that does constant pirating or hostage rescue missions against npc's - If so what are your strategies?

Two is it a bug for limpets to be destroyed prior to making contact with anything?

 

[Drelthar]

Would need a video.

Suspect they are bashing off the type 9's hull.

 

[Yure]

I promise they are not. However besides YouTube any particular spot I can upload a video or a GIF ?

 

[Jukelo]

The only reason I can think the limpets would be destroyed in the absence of point defense or ECM, would be if they impacted with the ship's hull as it was rotating... but my experience of hatch breakers is that if the target is rotating too fast they will simply orbit for a while, simply to find a way to attach rather than ram into the target stupidly. Eventually of course they will expire. Other than that, a video might help to figure it out.

As for your other questions: a target spinning out of control at ludicrous rates is a common issue, and the solution is none other than what you have tried. It's quite easy in the case of the Type 9 because of how wide a ship it is, so you can apply much torque by pushing at the far ends. Still it is a massive ship, so you'll need to apply some proper force in the right direction, or use an equally massive ship. Similarly if the ship is drifting away at speeds in excess of ~25m/s, you'll want to slow it down or else collector limpets wont let you collect the cargo coming out.
In either cases you should make good use of FA off.

I see you mentioned a common mistake regarding the cargo hatch too: counter-intuitively, you shouldn't shoot it to 0% integrity. The thing is that the cargo hatch will start to release some cargo every time it receives damage (however small the damage) once it is past 80% integrity. At 0%, it will no longer work this way and your only option to extract more cargo is to rely on limpets. I don't know if a 0% hatch will malfunction on its own like an otherwise damage one can.
The trick to shooting the cargo hatch is then to use something weak and deal as little damage to it as possible to maximize the total amount of cargo it will drop. Typically a small pulse laser does the trick fine.

 

[Redan]

Does the target have an ECM?

Those knock out limpets.

Does the target have point defenses?

I can't remember if the current iteration has been made to target and destroy limpets or not.

Solution to both:

Missiles after stripping shields.

A better method of piracy is to also equip an ion disruptor mine launcher. This module will disable the drives of the target vessel.

NPCs fly with Flight Assist ON, so when they are hit by an ion disruptor mine their ship comes to a complete halt. If you time destroying the drives (after stripping shields) with when the ship is at a stand still, the NPC won't be able to move at all.

From there, it's a simple matter of taking out any modules that harass your limpets.

Good luck.

 

[Yure]

It did have an ECM. But the rate the my limpets were popping was insane... Cheating almost. So I reasoned it could have been the ECM, but just with a ridiculous recharge rate...

Thanks for everything guys.

Currently I Am rolling with a dropship with x4 Flechette launchers and a size 3 laser... which helps when going up against point defense since flechettes become worthless.

 

[CMDR KRITIKOSK8]

Alright so the day before yesterday I was in a liberation mission. The target was a T-9.

I blow out it's drives, and it begins spinning wildly. I send out hatchbreaker limpets and they start getting schwacked! So then I figure I'll blow out the cargo latch. It goes all the way down to 0 and only a few packages come out. I check the manifest, this ship has... I don't know... A frak ton of cargo remaining. So then I try slowing it down by going full shields and trying to get in the way of its rotation. It doesn't work.

Then as by this point in the close driving crash I feel I could perhaps keep rotating with it, a'la Interstellar and send out limpets. But they keep dying before they even touch the t-9. I check the sub targets again thinking I might have missed something. Only thing he had was an ECM (no point defense), which was already half health and even at the rate I was firing them, a few should have gotten through. But nope I kept seeing getting destroyed by nothing.

I thought maybe the shield was destroying them... But that didn't make sense as I previously was able to use the limpets through shields. But no worries... Shields down... Nope limpets still get shwacked.

So my question is this? Is there anyone here that does constant pirating or hostage rescue missions against npc's - If so what are your strategies?

Two is it a bug for limpets to be destroyed prior to making contact with anything?

Aim for his pp, when he gets out of power keep close and fire HB , then collect with collectors, (good shield tank is required) , repeat after reboot, check if enemy has point defenses or ECM,that's probably why your stuff is being destroyed. (this tatic is very efficient to pirate NPCs)

 

[SharkBiscuit]

So my question is this? Is there anyone here that does constant pirating or hostage rescue missions against npc's - If so what are your strategies?

couple of good threads for you.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/436695-Pirate-strategies-in-3-1

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/442786-Am-I-so-bad-in-pirating

Also, checkout WiggyB's youtube channel.

 

[SharkBiscuit]

Aim for his pp, when he gets out of power keep close and fire HB , then collect with collectors, (good shield tank is required) , repeat after reboot, check if enemy has point defenses or ECM,that's probably why your stuff is being destroyed. (this tatic is very efficient to pirate NPCs)

Shooting pp to 0% hasn't worked for piracy for a long time. No longer disables the ship. The new way is to kill FSD, then all weapons & point defence. eventually the ship will give up and submit (on LIVE, sadly I think this is now broken in the Beta )

 

[wakko151]

I hate to say this but all of you are wrong.

NPCs are very predictable. If you simply stop moving, fire once at the target, he will hover at 1.2k off you and shoot you over and over again without ever trying to leave or even move. If they do not have ecm or point defence you can simply fire hatch breakers and collector limpets while standing perfectly still. Once the target has no cargo you leave. It is literally that simple.

Don't believe me? Here is a pic of my almost 1bil from selling stolen diamonds.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1537842015

 

[SharkBiscuit]

I hate to say this but all of you are wrong.

NPCs are very predictable. If you simply stop moving, fire once at the target, he will hover at 1.2k off you and shoot you over and over again without ever trying to leave or even move. If they do not have ecm or point defence you can simply fire hatch breakers and collector limpets while standing perfectly still. Once the target has no cargo you leave. It is literally that simple.

Don't believe me? Here is a pic of my almost 1bil from selling stolen diamonds.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1537842015

yeah, I know this one too, but choose to forget it - where's the skill or fun in that? you're no longer playing the game, you're gaming the game (exploiting a dumb npc ai behavior). Requires a more shield tanky build, and good luck with that vs Hostage/Liberate mission targets - ones I've tried always have point-defence.
Each to their own I guess. Sorry i forgot that one OP.

 

[60mm]

NPCs are very predictable. If you simply stop moving, fire once at the target, he will hover at 1.2k off you and shoot you over and over again without ever trying to leave or even move. If they do not have ecm or point defence you can simply fire hatch breakers and collector limpets while standing perfectly still. Once the target has no cargo you leave. It is literally that simple.

Don't believe me? Here is a pic of my almost 1bil from selling stolen diamonds.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1537842015

Sounds fun . . . [zZzZz][zZzZz][zZzZz]

 

[rekurzion]

a few things...

• what is the max amount of limpets you are allowed with your current controller? if you are using a class 1 controller of course you will only be allowed a single limpet active at a time
• there is a bug on collector limpets where if you launch an additional limpet before the previous limpets launch animation has completed, the newly launched limpet will be destroyed (presumably this is because you are attempting to launch a limpet from a single launch bay so this may not be a bug but an accurate representation of what would occur)

as for your challenges with moby might i suggest a different strategy...

1. fit a frame shift wake scanner
2. take out their shield generator (optional, if your not using torps then i wouldn't bother)
3. take out their weapons
4. take out their frame shift drive
5. bring their hull to under 10% (this is debatable, sometimes this is required sometimes this is not)

follow the order of these steps. if your are able to accomplish all steps before the target jumps then come to a full stop. let the white whale limp off for a bit until it comes to a complete stop, then mozy up to the beast and plunder away.

otherwise you will need to chase them around a bit (hence the wake scanner) and piece meal the strategy.

there will be some variation to this depending on your targets skill level. needless to say a harmless T-9 will lay down pretty quickly while an elite npc will make you work for it.

just remember not to destroy them and bring plenty of limpets.

 

[Yure]

Yeah, I had another go at it yesterday. Man gotta say this is frustrating as hell. Ill try taking out fsd next time.

Point Defense is running a mock on my flechettes.

Question, is there a maneuver to get "under" enemy ship? This t-9 in particular had all point defenses on top, so was trying to get under it. But somehow despite my best efforts we just kept spiralling each other.

I tried lasering the point defense but I just couldn't even scratch it seemed, perhaps it lacked penetration?

What weapon can effectively take out point defenses? Or ECMs? (Not missiles or torpedoes as I find myself out of ammo prior to accomplishment of task).

 

[GunnerBill]

Yeah, I had another go at it yesterday. Man gotta say this is frustrating as hell. Ill try taking out fsd next time.

Point Defense is running a mock on my flechettes.

Question, is there a maneuver to get "under" enemy ship? This t-9 in particular had all point defenses on top, so was trying to get under it. But somehow despite my best efforts we just kept spiralling each other.

I tried lasering the point defense but I just couldn't even scratch it seemed, perhaps it lacked penetration?

What weapon can effectively take out point defenses? Or ECMs? (Not missiles or torpedoes as I find myself out of ammo prior to accomplishment of task).

Missiles, reload them with synthesis. Missiles are the best at taking out Hardpoints and Util's.

 

[rekurzion]

Missiles, reload them with synthesis. Missiles are the best at taking out Hardpoints and Util's.

packhounds are even better.

but missiles are the only way to accomplish what you want in a decent time. you are not taking out external modules with any other weapon with the efficiency of a guided missile. that's what they were designed to do.