MoneySpinner: Xenon Q capping

[Kalah]

Having already made a small guide of how to make tons of cash and ships from Kha'ak Frigate capping, I thought I'd add another one, since I don't really have much else going on in my life.

Location: Near Xenon sectors (see below)
Target: Xenon Q (M7)

In XTM 0.7.5, there are regular patrols of Xenon ships, some more powerful than others. The regular patrols emanating from Scale Plate Green usually consist of several fighter craft led by a single P Raider, while some patrols pack even more of a punch than that. Some patrol parties are built up from one or two Ps along with several fighters, led by the Xenon Q. The Xenon Q are quick, exceptionally powerful OOS and also quite valuable. You can therefore capture them and sell them at the nearest shipyard, or you can use them as efficient patrol ships. Note: If you decide to keep a Xenon ship, make sure you dock it at a station so that its software can be "reformatted". If you don't, it will eventually revert to Xenon control.

The process is simple enough: find a Q, get rid of its escort ships and capture it with the Otas HCF. Detailed instructions to follow. First, though, where to find them.

The Q patrols can be found travelling between all Xenon sectors, but some are more frequent than others. Veteran players will tell you that the most likely places to find a Q are in Getsu Fune and Menelaus' Paradise (they are patrolling between Xenon sectors 534 and 597), Lucky Planets (from Xenon 352) and Nopileos' Memorial (from Xenon 101). If you can clean out Xenon sector 347, there will also be lots of Qs coming out from the core sectors. Generally, though, they can come out from any Xenon sector and travel through space in patrol-like fashion, so it's a good idea to place advanced satellites in all Xenon-adjacent sectors to monitor their travels.

The cap: The Qs never travel alone. The have at least one P and usually more than one LX travelling with them - possibly some smaller ships as well. Obviously, you can't have these ships attacking you during the cap, so you'll need to get rid of them before starting. You can use your HCF for that, but your shields are likely to suffer in the process, so I recommend using a quick corvette (I use a Reaper) to take out the smaller ships first (using a capital ship is not recommended, as it can easily kill or damage the Q, which is not what you want). Also, since everybody hate the Xenon, you might have some sector defenders trying to kill them. Wait until they're dead so you can get the Q all to yourself. Then initiate boarding action.

The Q is fast, and equal to your HCF in both shielding, range and firepower. It is therefore a more difficult cap than the Kha'ak Frigate, but far from impossible. Speed is the key, and since your HCF can do 196 with Pandora engine tuning, you have control of the engagement. Maneuvering properly, you should be able to lower the Qs shields in just a few minutes. I recommend the standard maneuver: reversing while firing at the Q as it comes straight at you, then doing a 180 (or half a loop, strictly speaking) and moving away. Do this until the shields are almost gone, then approach to let the ion disruptors finish the job. Send over the troops, and keep a distance of 4-5 km while maneuvering so it doesn't hit you (roll/strafe simultaneously). I usually use ca. 500 Split mercenaries. It is possible to increase efficiency by mixing troop types. Just make sure you send more than enough, though. The rest can be beamed back when you have taken control of the ship.

The moneyspinner: Here's the secret to making endless amounts of money from the Xenon pest: They never run out of ships. And when you cap a Q, a new one will travel from one Xenon sector to another soon after, as if trying to balance out the recent loss. That means you can just keep on going ... it also means that you'll need a steady supply of troops, e-cells and Mosquito missiles, so keep a TS (with a cargo life support system on board) loaded with these goods and use it as a replenishment ship.

Result:
Equipment: varies, but is usually worth ca. 10-15.000.000cr
Ship: 32.400.000cr
Alternatively: The best M7 patrol ship in the 'verse

+ Frigates in endless supply, coming quite quickly
+ Lots of cash the fun way
- Slightly more difficult than tha Kha'ak Frigate cap

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[The L0ne Gunman]

Something else I have found in my capping career, Kalah, and worth mentioning here. Q's (as well as other cap ships) often carry with them a supply of heavy missiles - Firestorms, etc. Unless you get them to exhaust their supply of them, you may find that it launches one at you when you are reducing the shields and, if the shields are already reduced enough, this will mean a premature and unsuccessful end to your capture. *ka-bloooey*

I usually park my HCF a good way off and harass the Q with a fighter (normally my overtuned LX) until it launches a Firestorm. If the Q's shields are fresh, you can proceed to detonate the missile from distance and help your subsequent cap or, if the shields are already depleted, wait until the missile is some distance from the Q and then fire on it. If you are a halfway decent pilot you can get close to the Q to scan it and determine what missiles, and how many, it has on board.

Once the missiles are depleted, bring in your HCF, transport over and begin the cap.

Just for kicks, I also like to take on capping Q's with an untuned HCF - makes the battle more exciting!!!

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[Kalah]

In my experience, the Q rarely uses Firestorm torpedoes, and I think the reason is that the torpedo is much slower than the ship is ... Pirate ships, on the other hand, Carracks and Galleons, use them all the time, and they are quite similar in speed, so the torpedo never really gets away from them.

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[Draxis]

Good post I like it. Makes me miss some of the old capturing techniques. I just hope we see some HCF style boarding ships in XTC. I'd love to have a TM that can cap freighters this way or something.

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[Kalah]

Another note: As support ship you can use a big mothership like the Castrum, but then you'll need shuttles for that as well. I usually use a TS, and like always in the world of transport ships, it is a balance between speed and cargo space. I use the Dolphin Super Freighter XL, with a capacity of 14.000. It's very slow, though (speed 54), and a better compromise might be the Mercury Super Freighter XL - with a speed of 72 and a capacity of 11.000.

It depends on your needs, of course. I need lots of cargo space, since I jump the TS in and station it far away from the ecliptic, leaving it there until I am finished and ready to leave the sector. I also like to send the TS around to various troop producers, purchasing everything they have in a single go.

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