Boarding is randomly triggered when the crew destroy a ship with a boarding map, but can be forced by an admin. This will make an announcement about the ship maintaining its integrity while its reactor overloads, giving the crew the option to board the ship while its crew are still alive. Exciting!

Mentioned above, the ship will be able to dock with the ship once it is available, and appears on the FOB Shuttle's computer for docking. Simply clicking it will bring you close to the ship. Their shields will remain up for a few minutes, preventing you from rushing the defenders while they fight over items. You have little time to work, and there are some angry people on the ship who want to take out their anger on the people who nearly killed them, therefore it is a good idea to coordinate with Military or Security and make sure they're ready to board and sweep the ship. Of course boarding isn't limited to Military and Security, but it's a good idea to let them handle it since they're the ones with the guns. Daredevil Salvagers and their kin might be able to pick up some valuable loot from a vessel if they hurry.

If a bunch of armed angry idiots wasn't enough for you, the ship's self-destruct will be active – forcing you to either disarm the core or just smash and grab. To disarm the self-destruct, simply click on it with an open hand and wait.

A very dangerous risk to battle is not knowing what the battlefield looks like, and who knows what enemy ships have in them! Traps? Drugged up crew? BOLOGNA SANDWICHES?! The fact of the matter is you and your team have to keep your eyes open and scanning everything and anything, mention blind corners and areas that could be used to stage an ambush. Listening is also key to awareness; maybe you heard a defender slip around the corner, now you know they're there! Of course, you could just go full lethal and kill everything that moves and get it over with, but perhaps using non-lethal methods could yield a new crew member? Or living ammo for the MAC, up to you.

Boarding is designed to take ghosts and put them into the bodies of the defenders to give the whole scenario life and challenge. This role is designed to fail, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for roleplay. In order to join as a boarder you will have to have the Be Syndicate antagonist player option enabled, and you will soon be placed on the ship to defend. Good luck!

When the defenders spawn, the captain starts with an uplink with 20 telecrystals. Each additional defender starts with five telecrystals to give their captain.

todo: table of uplink items

You're almost certainly going to blow up, no matter what, but it's better to take a few names and keep their grubby capitalist hands from touching your equipment! Suppression - firing on a position where the enemy is believed to be - will keep boarders from advancing on you, buying you time to do other things, or move elsewhere to stage a better defensive. Maybe you don't have much to defend with, so use guerrilla tactics: hide in closets, dark corners, anywhere that they might not investigate too well, then attack from there. Leave interesting items around for them to wander towards, right into a trap. Your strength lies not in winning a gunfight fairly, so plan the unexpected.