Ship Stealing Glitch

## Foreword

For quite a long time, the subject of this page was not allowed to be discussed. Thankfully, this is no longer the case. The information on this page is now available to the public and can be discussed at length in the comments.

## Overview

The Ship Stealing Glitch is a noticeable bug in the game, where the player can take control of a capital ship previously owned by any other faction permanently. While this may be considered as cheating, it is a quick way for a faction to gain power.

***1.7 Alpha Tester Note***: This is now fixed in our Testing Version.

## How to perform the glitch

When fighting a ship that has docking bays, either an Overlord or a Magnus, you can bring it down to extremely low hull health, then either cloak or call peace, then wait. Keep scanning the ship until it says that it's moving to a station for repairs (NOTE: Factions with the "Aggressive" personality DO NOT GO FOR REPAIRS. I have yet to see one of these factions attempt to save their ships in this manner. Don't pick a fight with them if you want to steal ships). When the ship finally does say it's moving for repairs, force dock with it (see the Known Game Problems page). Exit your ship and wait. When the ship finishes repairs and undocks, you will be in control of it. It may or may not go back under control of the faction that once controlled it. To stop this, assign the ship to a fleet, then unassign it quickly. You now have complete and permanent control of the ship. Since they do not have docking bays, you cannot obtain the Creon, Thunder, or Ares class vessels in this manner.

Note that you can merely find a trader that is going to dock to trade and dock with it and exit your ship before the main ship docks and take control of the ship anyway, or find one that is already going for repairs. You do not have to be the reason it is docking.

## Glitch Theory

I have some theories about the glitch. One is that it was a mechanism by which the developer gained credits rapidly while testing the game (this is what I think the Equipment Dealers are for). You can quickly gain a large amount of credits by stealing ships and selling them, or even using them as your own trading ships. Magnus EQ class vessels are the easiest to steal, as they usually have reduced weapory, though a Magnus EQ+ class might have enhanced weapons. Always scan before initiating a fight.

## Possible uses

This glitch can be used in many ways. Firstly, it can be used to simply bolster your fleets with the captured ships. This will increase your power relatively quickly if performed repeatedly. Secondly, you can sell them once captured. This will *rapidly* increase your cash on hand, allowing you to quickly rise in the ranks and allow you to expand your fleets and stations, though this somewhat defeats the purpose of the game. Thirdly, you can order a ship to attack any station and not suffer repercussions if you order it to do so before you assign it to a fleet. Simply target the station you want to destroy, open the Orders tab, order it to "Attack my target," and exit the menu *without assigning it to a fleet*. You cannot have assigned it to a fleet before this point in order for it to work. Fourthly, the incomplete version of the SSG mentioned above can also be used to deploy abandoned stations around the universe, though a good purpose for this has yet to be determined.