Those Danged Outlaws (spoilers...maybe)
 

Okay, is it even possible to capture the major outlaws alive? There's no way to knock them out as far as I can see, and Bolamites don't work on them. Even killing them seems just barely possible. I had to get the Looten Duke by dropping him into those fans. When I tried to face him in a fair fight he wasted me.

Is there some sort of secret capturing them alive? I would very much like to know it.

Well i think the best method i've found is to hit them with a thudslug, which knocks them down. when they're down hit them with a charged zapfly just as they're getting back up. then whack them with another thudslug. your goal is to wear out their STAMINA bar and not their health bar. so if you keep going at this thudslug/zapfly combo, the early bosses won't even get a hit in on ya and you'll completely deplete their stamina. when it get low enough, they'll hit the dirt unconcious and you can suck 'em up for the live bounty.

Thanks . . . although Filthy Hands Floyd comes before you can use thudslugs. What would you recommend using for him? And how long should I expect the thudslug/zappfly combo to be effective? Like, which boss should I start using a different tactic on?

It works on all of them. Filthy Hands Floyd is bolamite material, though. I can PM any specifics or you could post in the Help section if there's some serious trouble. I'd feel wierd listing the weaknesses of all the bosses here.

Thank you very much. I'll probably have more questions as I progress throughout the game, so it would be good if this thread could stay open. Maybe I'm not as video game-savvy as I thought, but somehow the mechanics of bringing down those boss dudes aren't as intuitive as one might think. OWI might have included a few more helpful hints within the game itself.

It's pretty simple. Just the Zapfly/Thudslug (and sometimes Boombat) theory. Oh, and both Filthy Hands Floyd and the Looten Duke can be taken down by a Bolamite. Looten Duke breaks out quicker though, you have to bag him right after you shot him.

I managed to take Looten Duke alive by using fuzzles and zapflies.

I caught them all alive, and it was far from the impossible task that most magazine and online reviews would have you believe. You've simply got to know which ammo to use. Thudslugs, Boombats, and Zappflies are the three that usually do more stamina damage than they do health damage.

As for the Lootin' Duke, I bagged him by climbing one of the towers and sniping him with Thudslugs and Zappflies.

The only Outlaw boss battler that I didn't bag alive was Tiny, the armored guy that Meagly McGraw rides. He just dies automatically, I believe.

And actually, if you die two or three times at a boss, a hint will actually come up to help you out with a strategy.

Yeah. You can't bag Tiny.

If you don't know your plan though and your using boombats and their stamina comes back you can get their health too low where if you try again you just kill them.

This takes a long time and thank god I've never had to do this, but if you just can't get a boss alive get them dead and later hit the clakkers and take their money. I don't know if they run out after a while or not but it's worth a try. Also check out the thread easter eggs to find places packing a ton of money.

i can tell you this, if you slap around to many clakkers they WILL start shooting. This will make going back to town a real problem.

Well I've never done it before I just thought it was something to try.

Does anyone think Tiny can be bagged? His stamina goes down, and the later bosses that can't be captured alive have immobilized stamina bars. The bar might just refer to Meagly, but it seems possible there might be a secret to bagging him. But its probably just a tease. Capturing Tiny alive is mostly wishful thinking.

Edit: if you wait for a while between smacking the clakkerz around you can keep doing it indefinitely. But you have to wait quite a while.

Here's a great one:

After you beat beat Boilz Booty, wait for all the townsfolk to gather around you. As they're praising your name and thanking you, WHACK 'EM with a spin attack! TONS OF CASH! And you can do this up to 3 times, I think, and they'll still be grateful enough to not run away.

I still think the first action if you desperatly need money though is once again check out what they have to say in the easter eggs thread. Then if none of that is enough try hitting the clakkers but no matter what it's going to take forever

Like the pokemon, eh?

Huh, I've never played any pokemon games.