Because it's fun! There's not much more in TBG more satisfying than winning a battle. And unless you're a pirate, hunting aliens is the best way to achieve this (those people in FSP really are missing out on all the fun). Contrary to popular belive, killing aliens isn't the best way to get new modules. The ones you get are generally in poor condition, unless you're lucky. However, you can make money by selling any cargo you manage to steal during battle, and you will be able to aquire rare artifacts.
There are basically two ways to meet aliens - lurking at stars, and heading straight for the homeworld. Needless to say, you'll need some weapons.
What I mean by this is, combatting an alien away from it's home planet. When you meet a friendly alien under these conditions, you don't have to worry about the alien exploding, but you usually get away with far less treasure
Away from the homeworld the alien will usually try to run away, right from the beginnning of the fight (if it is not already your enemy). The alien will "favour fleeing" as it's combat strategy. Of course, it will still shoot back at you.
Only target the modules that you really want - the combat will be so short, you won't have time to shoot off much. (The most i've ever got from combat like this is about 5 modules). Protect your most valuable modules - any that get shot off will be reduced in reliability. "Demand" the module that you want the most - this will mean it is targetted first. Set your preferred range to adjacent - the closer you are, the more damge you will do per round, and the harder it will be for the alien to escape. With any luck, the alien will escape after 5 or so rounds, and you will be left with some nice treasure.
Combat at homeworlds is much more difficult. When an alien is protecting it's homeworld, it can self-destruct to inflict massive damage on your ship. However, at the homeworlds, combat is ususally far more predictible and with the right tactics, easy to gain some decent treasure from.
The alien will favour it's engines, trying to get as close to you as possible. The higher the aliens cloaking factor, the closer it will be when combat commenses. The higher it's impulse factor, the faster it will close range during combat. When the alien's impulse percentage is lower than your own, or when the range is ajacent, the alien will explode. the damage done by the alien when it explodes is equal to 70 at adjacent, 60 at short, down to 10 at remote, per module - multiplied by tech level.
You may need to prepare your ship before the fight. Cloaks are useless (you want to be as far away as possible) and impulse drives are worse than useless (as soon as the alien's impulse% is lower than your own, it will explode). You'll need some sensors (to ensure long range combat) and some weapons - one very long range weapon and one short range weapon seems to be a good starting combination.
Choose remote as your ideal range - this will give you all important time to shoot off some of the aliens modules. Protect your favourite/most valuable modules, in case the alien tries to shoot them off. Never protect your pods - you'll get them back at the end of the fight anyway, and they don't take damage. Demand the alien's weapons/shields. Demanding weapons will stop, or at least reduce, the damage the alien can do to you before it explodes. Demanding shields will mean that the alien loses it's modules faster in combat. It's your choice, really.
Combat will begin at long range, and the alien will slowly move towards you, impaling itself on your weaponry. You will chip off it's modules, one by one, until it either reaches adjacent range, has a lower impulse% than you, or the alien loses all it's modules (or if you've really messed up, when you flee, or even worse when your ship gets destroyed.) With any luck you'll now have some nice treasure.
The treasure you claim from an alien encounter will consist of three types: Modules, Artifacts and pods. Pods do not take damage during combat, and the the cargo is not destroyed. Any pods you claim from combat will be prefectly usable afterwards. Artifacts have one bless, some curses and some stargate keys. Artifacts will also be perfectly usable after combat, however the artifact will gain an additional curse to the ones it had before combat. Modules gained from combat however, will all be unusable, and the reliability of each module will be reduced. Generally, the reduction in reliability will increase depending on how far down the "loot" list it is, i.e. warp drivews and impulse drives will suffer the least reduction in reliability, and weaponry modules will suffer the greatest reduction in reliability. This effectively puts a limit on the amount of modules that you can gain from combat.
The key thing to notice in both these battles is what the players target first and last. Remember, the only mods that you can control when you shoot them off are the first (demand + target) and last (only one not targetted).
This guide was written by Neil Harvey, of the starship Dragonblade. For more info, trade deals, etc. e-mail me at: starship_dragonblade@hotmail.com
Doug's Notes: Artifact curses cost 75 each to remove, and reduce your factor by 50%. They are also implemented before blesses. If you can't afford to have your factors (ship %'s) reduced, then don't pick up an artifact. Artifacts also cost 5 favor per turn, or they break.
Also, only pick fights that you can win easily. Don't get greedy, or your ship will be reduced to scrap quickly. Make sure you get lots of fighters and sensors, and if you can't start at remote, it is generally inadvisable to fight if the alien is large. I know. My last ship was laden with lots of (U)'s, both mine and alien's because of unnecessary risks, and it took me a hundred turns to get everything in order.
You can email me or Dragonblade for a more detailed analysis.
