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I noticed that when a constructor repairs an abandoned ship (from a ship graveyard), after the investigate popup, control of the ship is transferred a nearby AI empire.

This seems to be a bug. If this is "working as intended" then there should be a message to this effect, and constructors shouldn't try to repair ships near enemies.

edpovi wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 8:17 pm I noticed that when a constructor repairs an abandoned ship (from a ship graveyard), after the investigate popup, control of the ship is transferred a nearby AI empire.

This seems to be a bug. If this is "working as intended" then there should be a message to this effect, and constructors shouldn't try to repair ships near enemies.

Just a thought, but it seems like in the delay between finishing repairing and your claiming the ship, it is up for grabs. If an opponent has a ship nearby they can snipe it out from under you. If this isn't a bug, it is bad design.

This is a bug, I'm very familiar with it.

Option 1: When one of the salvaged ships is about to finish, use one of your Constructor ships to take a shot at your opponents Constructor ship. This will a) result in all their Constructor ships abandoning their repair jobs nearby and b) allow you to finish whatever you want in peace, including ships they'd been salvaging.

Option 2: Turn off the setting that prompts you to search ships and have the AI just do it by default. The popup you're getting just before you notice the bad guy just got your salvage seems to be the buggy popup and this setting eliminates that popup.

I noticed the same bug in all my game.
Sometime to my advantage, sometime to the AI advantage.

mmhh .. strange ... have salvaged ~20 ships (in my , empty or enemy territory) ... never have this probleme ...

SpacePerson wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 10:02 pm Option 2: Turn off the setting that prompts you to search ships and have the AI just do it by default. The popup you're getting just before you notice the bad guy just got your salvage seems to be the buggy popup and this setting eliminates that popup.

I can confirm that setting your Policy under Exploration > Investigate Abandoned Ships When to "Investigate Report Major" will result in my empire getting control of the ship, but if it's set to "Prompt" it will result in the ship being controlled by an AI Empire (if they have nearby ships).

Firmly in the BUG category IMO.

Thanks for that work-around.

While I normally don't let any alien constructors work at my future vessels, this question arose on Steam:
Why do things I repair gets given to the AI?

Underdog wrote:Sometimes I repair these abandoned ships or whatever, but the damn AI gets them everytime. Why? I haven't traded away any secret locations or anything.

After a few exchanged thoughts I independently came up with a simple setup to prove what

Cyclopsslayerr wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 8:24 pm[...]
Just a thought, but it seems like in the delay between finishing repairing and your claiming the ship, it is up for grabs. If an opponent has a ship nearby they can snipe it out from under you. If this isn't a bug, it is bad design.

suggested. See #17 if you're interested in the details. In the end it's exactly how it works, any nearby alien ship, that has the opportunity, will take control over the newly repaired ship. Maybe some swift mousatronics will be able to click faster than the AI can change bytes, but the standard Human player, released during the last few decades, won't.

edpovi wrote: Wed Apr 06, 2022 2:24 pm

SpacePerson wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 10:02 pm Option 2: Turn off the setting that prompts you to search ships and have the AI just do it by default. The popup you're getting just before you notice the bad guy just got your salvage seems to be the buggy popup and this setting eliminates that popup.

I can confirm that setting your Policy under Exploration > Investigate Abandoned Ships When to "Investigate Report Major" will result in my empire getting control of the ship, but if it's set to "Prompt" it will result in the ship being controlled by an AI Empire (if they have nearby ships).
[...]

I can not stress this

edpovi wrote: Wed Apr 06, 2022 2:24 pm[...]
Firmly in the BUG category IMO.
[...]

enough.


You may argue, that you can change the policy, that you have thought about this. But the default setting is hurting players and some are even complaining heavily, see #18 of the linked Steam thread.

edpovi wrote: Wed Apr 06, 2022 2:24 pm[...]
Thanks for that work-around.

That's exactly what it is, a work-around. Any "Investigate" option takes away the manual decision from the player and makes it an automatic one.



I almost forgot the solution:
Whoever finishes a repair takes control over the ship or base.
There is no need to ask, the intend was clearly made when the constructor was ordered to do so.