Ghost ships left behind after a race dies

from Stardock Forums
I traded many techs and trade goods to a minor race for it's sole planet and even though there were no ships indicated in the ship window when the trade was being constructed there were two ships that appeared beside the planet after it became mine.

The ships were owned by the now absorbed race and didn't budge. If I went to attack them a pop-up would appear that stated "Do you really want to go to war with X" where X was the race name.

The same behavior occurs when there are ships visible in the trade screen but only the planets are traded for.

Cari, if you still have the save game I sent to you this morning there should be one or two example of these ghost ships hanging about in that save game.
201 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
For awhile, we had changed it so that the AI players didn't die until you killed all their ships, but that was a pain, so we changed it back. But apparently we forgot to scuttle the ships. :)
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Hrm, what about a compromise -- the computer players stay alive until all their colony ships and transports are destroyed? That would make things interesting....
Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
The compromise doesn't account for when a race either trades itself out of existence or surrenders to another race. In that case the ships should either disappear or be turned over to the other race.

The other issue is that, as I stated in the original message, in this case there weren't any ships listed as being owned by the races in question and yet there they were after the trade was finished.
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
Umm....were you at war with the race? If you're at war with the race, it doesn't show the alien ships.
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
I was at peace with the race.
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
Were they constructors? Constructors and starbases don't show up in the trade list.
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
They were a colony ship and a warship.
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
I suppose someone could have given them to the race...I think that even in 3a ships were not being scuttled when a race was declared dead, so unless the AI isn't remembering to check for the player being dead, that could be what happened...guess I'll have to look at that code.