Enemy FTL with no pilot

[01daniel10]

i was getting 2 of my main mantis boarders some melee skill by harrasing a ship and it tells me thier gana FTL so i fight in thier pilots area so they dont have a pilot but they ftl anyway and thier goes my best fighter :/

[boa13]

As soon as an enemy ship is ready to jump (working engines and working helm), as soon as an enemy enters the helm, even if a fight is going on, the ship can jump away.

Note that you can do the same to enemies that board you. You can jump away even while fighting in the cockpit.

[UltraMantis]

It is unfortunatley not explained well. To prevevnt the enemy ship from escaping you must disable/damage their Engines or Helm. As long as they are both operational and the Helm is manned, the enemy can jump away.

The unexplained bit is that Helm is considered manned even if your fighters are attacking the pilot. Don't feel too bad, we all learned that the hard way.

[Number43]

If you want to delay an ftl jump with boarders, it's best to send them in the shield room, as that gives the best chance that the pilot will leave his room to fight them.

[Matthew]

Number43 shows an expert level knowledge of the AI

[Derakon]

The game really needs a jump indicator for the enemy ship that shows whether or not they're capable of jumping. It needn't show progress towards jump completion, just whether or not they're able to press that button. Base it on the player's jump button so people are likely to figure out what's going on.

[Number43]

Note that this is the same for both you and the enemy. If your pilot is fighting enemy boarders your ftl drive continues to charge and you don't lose the dodge chance. That only happens if the pilot leaves the room.

The game really needs a jump indicator for the enemy ship that shows whether or not they're capable of jumping. It needn't show progress towards jump completion, just whether or not they're able to press that button. Base it on the player's jump button so people are likely to figure out what's going on.

The problem is that once they are able to press the button, they do so immediately. Unlike for the player, it doesn't start charging until it gives you a "they are trying to escape" message, and once its done charging they leave.