Bug: Captured Watchtower Ship not showing up in Fleet Management

[grizbane]

A Watchtower Battleship landed sufficiently close to me that I was able to rush its landing bay just as it touched down. There were a few Watchtower NPCs in the landing bay as it opened, but I ignored them and rushed the interior door and was able to board the ship. Once inside, there were no crew so I simply walked up to the pilot seat and took control of the ship. I have observed two issues as a result:

1. The option to mark the ship for salvage/add-to-fleet did not appear when I went to the pilot seat - only the option to "Sit"
2. While the ship shows up in my inventory of owned ships, when I go into the Watchtower Fleet Management interface, this ship does not show up

It is possible that capturing a planet-side Watchtower ship is supposed to be impossible - every Watchtower ship that I've seen land disgorges some patrol and then immediately takes off again. There is a timing-hole bug in Starfield that has been around since day-zero where one can capture Starborn ships if they land sufficiently close that one can rush the hatch as it lands. Apparently if one is fast enough one can activate the hatch door before the landing script that locks the hatch can fire. Perhaps I was only able to board the Watchtower ship because of a similar timing hole with the hatch door on the Watchtower ships.

 

[Bobwalt]

I wonder if it is caused by it being an M class ship? In any case, am jealous of you as I have wanted to capture a Watchtower ship since I started the mod! Indeed, I am at the final quest and have been putting it off in hopes that one will land somewhere near me.

 

[grizbane]

I'm a idiot... The Battleship III was in the fleet management console, but it was on a 2nd page (I failed to notice that there was more than one page)

Regarding capturing the ship planet-side, it was definitely the timing-hole bug that one can use to capture Starborn ships. Another Battleship III landed near me but it took me a couple seconds longer to get to it. The bay had fully opened this time and the door inside was now locked. So it does appear to be a matter of getting into the bay just as it starts to open.

Don't know why I don't get the "Salvage" option when capturing the ship, but I would guess that the scripting for that is not enabled on planet-side ships as they are not supposed to be acquirable.

The Battleship III is not a Class M ship, it has a Pinch 8Z class-C reactor.

 

[Lostinwhere]

I capture them all the time, even though you're not supposed to be able to. I use this mod to slow time and increase my in game speed: https://www.nexusmods.com/starfield/mods/2952 . You may have to sit down and then get back up in order for the salvage option to appear.

 

[grizbane]

Don't need any mods to implement the planet-side capture. One can use the same techniques used to board Starborn ships - combination of Aurora and other time-dilation/speed-enhancement drugs to blitz the ship before the hatch can be locked. In my case, the ship landed so close to me that I could simply fly to it in my flying bubble vehicle before the hatch locked - didn't even need any time-dilation to make it work.

I was able to capture and pilot Watchtower ships in space before the Gren dialogue saying that I could do so by simply leaving the ship when it said it was "too unusual" and then reboarding and trying again. So far, that did not work for trying to tag the planet-side Watchtower ship for salvage.

 

[Lostinwhere]

I've never once had a planet side or space encounter with Starborn except during the initial quests and going to the various temples after going through unity. I've gone through unity twice and the only encounters with Starborn are directly after exiting a temple. So not once have I ever had the chance to capture a Starborn ship. Not a big deal really. That is an obvious glitch in my game. I've never used Aurora or any drugs within the game. As far as Watchtower ships landing planet side, they've always been quite a distance away. Any time-dilation or speed enhancement drugs would have to have quite a long duration to work or taken multiple times. I tried to use the one Starborn power to slow time, but very short duration the Watchtower ship was on the ground made that useless.

I also use this mod: Sit to Add Ship to Fleet https://www.nexusmods.com/starfield/mods/6493 . This might be allowing me to capture and salvage planet side Watchtower ships. That mod is definitely not necessary for capturing them in space. In a previous thread I had with twolargepepperoni, she stated that Watchtower ships that land are not intended to be captured.

 

[Kevin]

I've never once had a planet side or space encounter with Starborn except during the initial quests and going to the various temples after going through unity

Where are you storing the artifacts? I carry them with me and it's nearly consistent that after landing on a planet that a Starborn ship lands shortly after. They don't attack me directly but they do land close enough that I know they're there and can go after them if I want to.

Here's some info: https://gamerant.com/starfield-where-should-you-keep-the-artifacts-best-place-to-build-armillary/

 

[Lostinwhere]

I have no choice but to carry them with me. I have the full set and if I build an armillary either on a ship or at an outpost, I get set to Unity as soon as I attempt to grav jump. There is no storing them anywhere but in my inventory. I don't know whether my game or save is glitched, but once I finish visiting all the temples, I have absolutely zero contact with any Starborn.

 

[Bobwalt]

I see Starborn ships all the time but they do not seem worth the effort to capture them. I do wish the Watchtower ships were just as easy or almost as easy to capture on the ground as all the others. I don’t want to use nonachievement friendly mods in my game and I am also not a fan of using drugs like aurora. If that is the only way then I guess I won’t capture them. Then again, if the Watchtower ships never show up then it is a moot point.

 

[grizbane]

I see Starborn ships all the time but they do not seem worth the effort to capture them. I do wish the Watchtower ships were just as easy or almost as easy to capture on the ground as all the others. I don’t want to use nonachievement friendly mods in my game and I am also not a fan of using drugs like aurora. If that is the only way then I guess I won’t capture them. Then again, if the Watchtower ships never show up then it is a moot point.

I believe that the Watchtower ships are not supposed to be boardable planet-size, but due to Starfield's timing hole bug if one gets to the landing bay just as it starts to open one can get into the ship before the hatch is locked. In my game I did not require any drugs, mods etc simply because the ship just happened to land sufficiently close to my position that I could get to the ship in time. But it does require luck to pull it off.
One can capture ships in space, but it is challenging because the rest of one's fleet will typically blow everything to kingdom come before one can disable the engines and board. Currently I have reconfigured my fleet to have almost no weapons that do hull damage - just shield and EM - in the hope that the Watchtower ships will last long enough for me to board.

 

[Lostinwhere]

Twolargepepperoni confirmed a while back that Watchtower ships that land are not intended to be boarded or captured. If you have one that lands close to you, that's probably a fluke. Last night, I captured three near one listening post that landed one right after the other. The attached photo shows the distance between each ship. My ship, which isn't visible, is an equal distance away. With careful use of MeridianoRus's mod, I was able to capture and set all three for salvage. After capturing the third ship, I went back and looted all three and their crew. After completing the main mission, you don't need to run a fleet at all. Before I completed the main mission, I didn't use the built in fleet management tool, instead I used Korodics Fleet Commander mod. After one or two huge battles that froze up my old computer, I deactivated the fleet and just used my home ship. To capture ships in space, I run a highly modded JJ U.S.S. Enterprise with one set of weapons modded for just EM damage only.