Monday, October 27, 2008

Capture ships instead of destroying them

One of the strategies that is suggested in chapter 2 of my Art of War series is:
Where possible, force the ejecting of enemy pilots in order to take their ships whole. Enemy pilots who eject should be allowed to live, to provide incentive to eject again in future.
How often does this happen? I've never heard of it happening at all, unless it's an accident, where the 'noob' accidentally ejects from their ship in a panic.

There's a lot of pilots with very expensive implants that they really don't want to lose, and would rather not get podkilled. So once you've locked them down and damaged their ship into structure, stop firing and offer to let them go in exchange for their ship (if you have the time and safety to do this, of course).

They might be hesitant because they'll lose the insurance, but if you really want the ship then offer to pay them for it. Make it worth their while, of course. Maybe just less than the cost of the ship, not including fittings. If they have implants they want to keep, they'll likely jump at the opportunity.

Of course, it would only work if you can fly their ship, or you have someone nearby that can fly it for you. You would also need to have someone there to protect the ship from anyone else wandering by...

You could warp to a safe spot or dock, eject from your ship, and go back and board the new ship you've just claimed, taking it to a station and docking.

This would be better than looting a wreck... you get the whole ship and all its fittings to add to your war or combat efforts. And the victim gets to keep their implants.

Give it a try, you might just find yourself stocking your hangars with new ships and fittings that you can use or sell. You'll still get enough kills from those that refuse to eject.

4 comments:

  1. Considering most people don't eject, I don't see this happening except in piracy.

    Theory is sound though.

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  2. You're right, of course. It would be pirates who don't have implants because they die so much so they'd never eject. They'd go down fighting. But the non-pirates who don't want to die because they have implants, they're the ones that might be happy to let go of their ship if they can save the implants...

    I'm going to start trying it out and see if it works. :)

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  3. My alliance mates in Decon have had a lot of success in getting people to eject out of ships as a form of ransom. Personally, I don't get why anyone would do it. I'm pretty sure I could get my pod out, so I'd make them kill my ship before giving it to anyone.

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  4. I fell for this scam just last week. The guy who pulled it wasn't real clear that he was taking my ship, and I figured he'd blow it up anyway, so I'd get the insurance. I had no implants so even getting pod killed wouldn't have been the end of the world. So I lost my ship and got nothing to show for it.

    But I panicked. The worst reaction possible was what I did. Panic (and mortification that I was so stupid as to get into this predicament in .4 space.

    I'm over it now, but man was I PO'd at myself Thursday night.

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