abandoned ships problem

[jcjordan]

Ok newbie to the game & I'm sure I'm missing something just don't know what. I had a report of abandoned ships to investigate so I sent a ship to do so & was able to get a couple of ships out of it but others I couldn't get so only choice was to destroy in that instance. I've had a couple more times where I get word of abandoned ships & sent someone to take a look but only option I get is to destroy (ie target for attack is only option I get using the rmb). By destroy I mean I don't get the popup that asks if you want to board etc, I get nothing other than target ship icon. I've tried cntl-rmb & brings up ship options & tried moving it to ship X but it just moves there. This is has been all under ver 1951. I've only been able to get a couple of abandoned ships on the very first mission & none since - what am I missing here as I'd really like to add some free ships or send them back to be dismantled for those I don't want to keep[&:]

[JCVocke]

If the Abandoned ships are damaged enough you need to send a constructor to repair them before you can take control of them. If you have a Constructor repairing the ship then it will automatically take control of the abandoned ship once it is back in semi-working order. But its best to put a military ship there too because even if your constructor is the one repairing an abandoned ship if there is a nearby military vessel they will take priority in who actually gets the ship.

And yes you can use this to "Steal" abandoned ships from empires who start repairing them before you.
And yes, this includes World Destroyers.

[jcjordan]

I'll give that a try. I guess on the first mission the 2 ships I was able to get were in decent enough shape to fly home but all others encountered aren't.

[JCVocke]

Most likely, you can generally find a couple of completely intact ships in a Debris Field.