What's important when trying to maximise capture odds...

Having shields with as little damage as possible (ie shields at 100% is best), or

Having a large amount of shield points left, but some damage.

For the purposes of this question, I'm not interested in crew size at all.

So which is better:

Ship A, with 35 of 50 shield points remaining (described as 70%)
Ship B, with 20 of 20 shield points remaining (described as 100%)
Ship C, with 10 of 200 shield points remaining (described as 5%)

Does anyone know the actual formula by which capture odds are calculated? There seems to be a lot of folklore surrounding this subject.

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I could be wrong, but I don't believe that relative shield strength has any bearing on your capture odds. I believe that the crew size is the only relevant variable.

Quite honestly, I don't think that shields really do anything capturing-wise. Once I heard that somebody thought they counted, but then some other guy says they didn't. So, I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that shields don't matter.

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Quote

From the FAQ:
The larger the number of crew in your fleet, the higher your chances of capturing an enemy ship. Shield strength also makes a difference when your capture odds are calculated.

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Hah! My Azdara eats Voinian cruisers for breakfast
Uhm, perhaps not, but still.... The shield strenght has a lot to say

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Originally posted by VoinianAmbassador:
Ship A, with 35 of 50 shield points remaining (described as 70%)
Ship B, with 20 of 20 shield points remaining (described as 100%)
Ship C, with 10 of 200 shield points remaining (described as 5%)

My opinion is that it would be Ship A, since it has the highest shield level. 35 shields is stronger than 20 shields, no matter how what the total shield value is (ie: 35 of 40 is still higher, value-wise, than 20 of 3000). What happens between 35/40 and 35/3000, however, is still up in the air.

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Quote

Originally posted by Opalius:
Hah! My Azdara eats Voinian cruisers for breakfast
Uhm, perhaps not, but still.... The shield strenght has a lot to say

That's because I think the actual amount of shields an Azdara has is slightly less than a CF. It's just got really fast recharge.

But y'all knew that I'm sure

Az

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"...And Alexander wept for there were no more worlds to conquer."

Ahh...there were days when the first person to answer this would know. This time it took three tries for the truth to come out, and the second should have known better! <grins>

I'd say it's %, but I'm not sure, of course. It's just that there seemed to be too much difference between 0% and 100% shields for capturing ships with a Voinian Cruiser.

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Word.

I still think it's the amount of shields you have up- not just the %. It'd kinda make sence as a way of making it easier for large strand ships with a relatively small crew to capture other ships. It's a question of game balance... Possibly.

Az

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"...And Alexander wept for there were no more worlds to conquer."

It's probably an illusion/hallucination, but I got the impression that the more you beat down on a ship's armor after it's disabled, the better the odds are.

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Quote

Originally posted by Khoth:
**It's probably an illusion/hallucination, but I got the impression that the more you beat down on a ship's armor after it's disabled, the better the odds are.

**

I've half held that theory for a while now, but it's hard to prove. It could be while you are shooting up this ship your shields are restoring or something...

Az

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"...And Alexander wept for there were no more worlds to conquer."