Gray Wedge of Death (Dreadnaught)

This evening I started a new pilot file and am being a double agents (UE-Voinian) I complete Parren Station and took out Pariah for the UE and haven't done much besides a couple raids for the Voinains. I was wondering where I can get the Dreadnaught string started. The cloaking device is very handy, it's pretty much the only reason I bother doing this missions for the UE. The only other reason I play UE is the chance to capture the Dreadnaught, 😃
While on the subject of Dreadnaught capturing, I was wondering if anyone knew what ship has the largest amount of crew. So I can have one of those plus 6 more of those ships as escorts to maximize my chances of capturing the Dreadnaught. As my ship of choice is the Voinian Cruiser, I'm used to the "sluggish" speed and manuevering. But I'm willing to settle with those for the sheer power. It will also come in very handy when I become a triple agent in the Crescent.
Anyway, where does the Dreadnaught mission start and is there any mission prereqs I need? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

------------------
-- Greg Anderson
-- Member of Green Eye's Storyline Developement Team
-- AIM Screenname: DrowninInReality
-- E-Mail: foodvelocity@mac.com

(list=a)
()Consider installing the 'keep cloaking device' cheat plug, if the cloaking device means a lot to you. You'll lose it any time you change ships.
(
)Since you probably don't have access to the UE Cruiser yet, your other choice for a vessel with a large crew complement is the Voinian Cruiser... but if you haven't done much for the Voinians, you may need to capture one.
()The size of crew your escorts carry doesn't make any difference to the percentage capture chance.
(
)The % of shields that you have left does influence capture chance.
()I have never seen the Dreadnought offer better than 1% capture odds.
(
)A captured Dreadnought loses its 'enhanced' weapons - they revert to normal equivalents.
(*)It's still a fairly nice ship for novelty value, though. Good luck.
(/list=a)

------------------
(url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/evodude2001/home.html")Old & Unimproved: Cerberus Station!(/url)

Quote

Originally posted by VoinianAmbassador:
**
The size of crew your escorts carry doesn't make any difference to the percentage capture chance.
**

I'd swear you're wrong...

------------------
Word.

Quote

Originally posted by VoinianAmbassador:
**
(*)Since you probably don't have access to the UE Cruiser yet, your other choice for a vessel with a large crew complement is the Voinian Cruiser... but if you haven't done much for the Voinians, you may need to capture one.

**

So the UE Cruiser has more crew than the Voinian Cruiser?

Quote

**
(*)The size of crew your escorts carry doesn't make any difference to the percentage capture chance.
**

I remember reading in the documentation that came with EVO stating large escorts will help you in capturing ships, and have experienced these effects myself, as well.

Anyway, does anyone recall where the mission string for the Voinian Dreadnaught and/or the UE Cruiser starts? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

------------------
-- Greg Anderson
-- Member of Green Eye's Storyline Developement Team
-- AIM Screenname: DrowninInReality
-- E-Mail: foodvelocity@mac.com

It starts on any UE planet with a certain percentage rate it helps to have completed parren station by flyign around and getting all the "UE: DEVLIVERY TO PARREN SATION" missions from the mission comps.
Good luck with the dreadnaughty,....your gonna need it 😉

------------------
Tachyon is coming...

It starts on any UE planet with a certain percentage rate it helps to have completed parren station by flyign around and getting all the "UE: DEVLIVERY TO PARREN SATION" missions from the mission comps.
Good luck with the dreadnaughty,....your gonna need it 😉
If you really want it so bad use RES-EDit so you can buy it 🙂

------------------
Tachyon is coming...

Quote

Originally posted by gazza_2001:
**
If you really want it so bad use RES-EDit so you can buy it:)
**

That would be cheating. And besides, if I wanted to do that, it would be done. I want to "earn" the Dreadnaught, not cheat to get it. If getting it legit means trying the mission hundreds of times, I'll do it. Gotta love the Star Destroyer of the EVO World.

------------------
-- Greg Anderson
-- Member of Green Eye's Storyline Developement Team
-- AIM Screenname: DrowninInReality
-- E-Mail: foodvelocity@mac.com

Quote

Originally posted by Wedge Antilles:
**So the UE Cruiser has more crew than the Voinian Cruiser?
**

No... but it's generally considered to be a better (more widely useful) ship. Most folks prefer a UE cruiser, since it's faster, has good shields and is almost as big. Personally, I think the Igazra is the best of the 'Big Three', but there you go.

------------------
(url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/evodude2001/home.html")Old & Unimproved: Cerberus Station!(/url)

The answer to your question about the mission string (and many others besides) can be found (url="http://"http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/dsghosh/evosite/missionsuemil3.html#dreadnought")here(/url). While I'm harping about my site, I should probably also mention that all the (url="http://"http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/dsghosh/evosite/missionsind.html")human independent missions(/url) have now been posted ... 🙂

</shameless plug>

------------------
Visit my EVO web site at (url="http://"http://www.evoverride.com")http://www.evoverride.com(/url)!
"It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by lightning bolts." -- Calvin, Calvin and Hobbes

Wedge, you are my new best friend! This is my favorite thing to discuss in the world of EVO. I myself have captured the Voinian Dreadnought so i am not just some random person off the street, if you drift my catch. 😉

Once you get up to the UE carrier area, crew really doesn't seem to matter to me. And COME ON GUYS! Res-edit? Luck? What is this, the world of the impossible? Wedge, you don't need luck, because it is not a hard accomplishment. You just need determination. Know that it is the hardest capture you will ever experience in the world of Escape Velocity, until perhaps Nova, but I can't say yet because I don't know. You will find yourself driven insane, but hey, if you are trying to capture the Dreadnought, you can't really have your sanity intact in the first place, can you? 😄 Tell me how you do. It took me millions, if not billions of tries. VoinianAmbassador is completely right though. When you capture it, you will lose the Enhanced Neutron Turrets aswell as the Salvo Rocket Turret. This is because, while they are weapons, an outfit resource was never written for it, so you can't own it.

While i dispise using Res-edit to get things that are hard (which is why i would never do that gazza_2001) I did go into EV-edit and create outfit resources. I will tell you why. IF, in real life, you did manage to capture a ship like the dreadnought, with advanced weapon enhancements like these, it is entirely feasable (spelling?) that they would remain intact once the ship was under your control. The only reason they wouldn't be would be if there was a program that self-destructed or fried the weapons. Since there is nothing about it in the storyline, i find it perfectly acceptable to correct those mistakes.

Why do i call them mistakes? Simple: Matt most likely did not expect you to try to capture the dreadnought (being as you have to abort the mission so that you can board it) and therefor didn't bother.

------------------
Ace Battlepilot
<mercenary for hire>
"We were doomed from the start. Our sensors were jammed and rockets tore us apart from every direction. I couldn't see a damn thing but one thing's certain. There's something out there, and it is much worse than any fed..."

(This message has been edited by Ace Battlepilot (edited 01-13-2002).)

Quote

Originally posted by Ace Battlepilot:
... did go into EV-edit and create outfit resources. I will tell you why. IF, in real life, you did manage to capture a ship like the dreadnought, with advanced weapon enhancements like these, it is entirely feasable (spelling?) that they would remain intact once the ship was under your control...

Sounds reasonable to me. What's the Grey Doorstop From Hell like with its original weapons? Sounds like a machine you could capture the Council Station with...

------------------
(url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/evodude2001/home.html")Old & Unimproved: Cerberus Station!(/url)

Quote

Originally posted by VoinianAmbassador:
**What's the Grey Doorstop From Hell like with its original weapons? Sounds like a machine you could capture the Council Station with...

**

I gotta say my favorite part is the armor. It's so heavy on this baby you just can't help but add dospect (thats right) and max out on shield enhancements. The Salvo Rockets are really nice, REALLY nice. What i do is i change the ammunition to heavy rockets, which are a bit more accessible. It makes it a little cheap considering that, since it's one launcher, each rocket counts for three. I haven't got around to fixing that yet. I'm still deciding the best way to go around doing that. But either way, those bad boys are insane.

They have about 12 turret and gun slots, and only 6 EN. Neutron turrets (which by the way have 30 reload rather than 25, 50 count, rather than 45 and do 40 energy damage rather than 30). Get the picture? That means I add Phase, Emalgha, Blaze, the works, and by the end, it looks pretty funny but it's a force to reckon with. Now all I need is to find me some fancy escorts.

I'll usually start capturing Voinian Cruisers at this point. To give you an idea of their capabilities, The Dreadnought has a crew of 2080. The Voinian Cruiser has 891, the UE carrier has 413, the UE Cruiser has 609, and don't even bother with the crecent ships. They are designed to function with a small crew, usually under 100...

God I hope those were correct statistics. In the days after EVO, I've messed around so much. 😉

------------------
Ace Battlepilot
<mercenary for hire>
"We were doomed from the start. Our sensors were jammed and rockets tore us apart from every direction. I couldn't see a damn thing but one thing's certain. There's something out there, and it is much worse than any fed..."

Quote

Originally posted by Ace Battlepilot:
**Wedge, you don't need luck, because it is not a hard accomplishment. You just need determination. Know that it is the hardest capture you will ever experience in the world of Escape Velocity, until perhaps Nova, but I can't say yet because I don't know. You will find yourself driven insane, but hey, if you are trying to capture the Dreadnought, you can't really have your sanity intact in the first place, can you?:D Tell me how you do.
**

Damn, you were right. But I finally did capture the Dreadnaught. And not only that. I also managed to get myself 6 Dreadnaught escorts! It took me forever, but at least it is done. Now my fleet of dreadnaughts tears through the galaxy, and nothing, and I mean NOTHING can stop us.
Oh, and even without the default armament, it's still a kickass ship. And, my escorts get to keep their weapons, so it's all good. Ah, 7 Dreadnaughts, what a fleet.

------------------
-- Greg Anderson
-- Member of Green Eye's Storyline Developement Team
-- AIM Screenname: DrowninInReality
-- E-Mail: foodvelocity@mac.com