Other empire's cargo at my base?

[Uncle Lumpy]

Hi all, I was looking at the cargo on one of my starbases and noticed it was holding cargo for a rival empire. I scrolled further down the cargo list and found it also was storing cargo for two pirate factions. What's up with this? I know a colony and its spaceport "share" cargo storage, but now I'm storing cargo with an empire I probably will be at war with in a short time and two pirate gangs I'm in the process of exterminating. There seems to be no way to access or gain control of this cargo. Can I do so if I'm at war with the rival empire or does it simply sit there? Also noticed components being stored and reserved there?! How does that work? Man, this game keeps going deeper, and deeper. [:)]

[Shark7]

Trade system at work, nothing to be concerned about. IIRC, if you go to war with any of those empires, you will *appropriate* the cargo back into your empire.

[Uncle Lumpy]

Thanks SHARK7! So even though I'm battling pirates I cannot "appropriate" their cargo on my spaceport because I not in a declared war with an empire. I'm guessing the stored/reserved components (assault pods, thrusters, etc.) are for ships being constructed at the colony/spaceport.

[Shark7]

Yep, components are for your own shipbuilding purposes.

[Uncle Lumpy]

Makes sense when you think about it. Guess I never anticipated the game would turn out to be so intricate, detailed, or subtile. Wow!!

[RemoteLeg]

As soon as a ship sets course to your space station to upgrade, that station immediately reserves resources for the upgrade. Similar things happen whenever a ship goes for refueling.
This prevents freighters taking away stuff you need.

You must be on very good terms with your neighbors if they can reserve resources on your space station. You're obviously playing as a "nice guy" instead of the "war-mongering b*stard" that I play. [:D]

[Uncle Lumpy]

Perhaps not quite so nice. To keep in practice, I still attempt to apply some of the basic ideas of the Sun-Tzu in my game. The whole "If you are strong, appear weak. If you are near, seem far away." thing. I do realize my opponent is AI and not human. Like I said, I like to stay in practice for other games I play against human opponents. So, if I'm playing "nice" for now, it's only so I can lure the wee beasties in closer to kill more of them. There's all sorts of sneaky b#stards in this game. And I know/like the type I am. [:D] Happy trails, RemoteLeg. And good hunting!

[Shark7]

Hmm, I 'play nice' while I stabilize my economy and build up a fleet. Then I pick the weakest nearby enemy empire and conquer it. Then its simply a matter of rinse>repeat till I conquer the entire galaxy or the Shakturi crash my party. [;)]

[Tehlongone]

I don't really like playing nice I prefer arrogant isolationism refusing to budge even a little then fighting everyone who has a problem with it. That sometimes involve desperate defence of my homeworld but at least I was honest about my opinions and it usually works out in the end. It tends to give an excuse for later grudges at least.

Are you sure the resources are appropriated if you go to war with them? I could swear I had resources of enemies at some of my stations but I guess it might have been an unofficial war/skirmish.

[Uncle Lumpy]

Quick follow up. I did go to war with an empire with cargo on my space ports. I was not able to "appropriate" the cargo. It seemed to stay as part of the other empire's resources. The same with pirates. When a pirate fraction was eliminated, its cargo remained on the space port and ownership was registered by a blank white box instead of a flag.