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How Do I Salvage a Ship That Takes Off with Me Aboard?

Bobwalt

Active member
There are times I just capture a ship to salvage it but this does not seem possible if I don’t get to the cockpit before they take off. Is there something specific I need to do or is it just not possible?
 
This isn't possible, because otherwise you would be stranded in space - we block home ships from being salvageable. Capturing/piloting ships automatically makes them your home ship.
 
So if a ship is on the ground and it takes off with me on board I can not salvage it? Just out of curiosity, could you enable a work around where one could mark the ship for salvage and then fast travel back to your home ship on the ground? It would simulate landing the ship near where you parked your home ship and getting back on board it.
 
So if a ship is on the ground and it takes off with me on board I can not salvage it? Just out of curiosity, could you enable a work around where one could mark the ship for salvage and then fast travel back to your home ship on the ground? It would simulate landing the ship near where you parked your home ship and getting back on board it.
What method are you using to capture ships that have landed? I have captured many on the ground and I was able to set them for salvage. I have never had any of them take off with me on board. I use the mod Sit to Add Ship to Fleet: https://www.nexusmods.com/starfield/mods/6493 This mod allows you to capture ships and add them to your fleet without making them your home ship. You can also choose to not add them to your fleet after capturing them. However, if a grounded ship takes off with you in it, you're still screwed. Once that captured ship enters orbit with you in it, it becomes your home ship until you land somewhere with a ships tech or a landing pad with a ship builder console.
 
I storm the ship right after it lands and sometimes I can’t get to the cockpit fast enough to kill the pirates in there before they can takeoff.
Are you talking about capturing a vanilla ship like Crimsom Fleet, or Watchtower ships? Vanilla ships tend to take off if you engage the landing party in a firefight as they leave the ship. That tends to trigger the landing bay to close behind you and the ship to take off into orbit. What I do for the vanilla ships is to try to approach the landed ship from the side or back where the landing party doesn't see me right away. Then I'll rush the landing bay and enter the ship without getting into a firefight with the landing party. You'll still hear the claxon inside the ship, but usually it doesn't trigger the ship leaving for orbit. You then have all the time in the world to hunt down and either kill or capture the enemy crew. You can then capture the ship and set it for salvage. I'll then leave the ship and track down the landing party. For the Watchtower ships which always land a good distance away and then leave as soon as the landing party exits, I use this mod to control time: Slow Time SFSE https://www.nexusmods.com/starfield/mods/2952 . If you're worried about mods messing with achievements, there are several mods on Nexus that fix that problem. So far, I've never had a Watchtower ship go back into orbit with me on board. As far as salvaging any ship that has gone into orbit, I think you're screwed on that one. It seems hard coded into the games engine that once you have to pilot a ship in space, it becomes your home ship. If you can pilot the ship, you simply land somewhere with a ships tech or a landing pad with a ship builder console. Then you switch back to your real home ship.
 
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Are you talking about capturing a vanilla ship like Crimsom Fleet, or Watchtower ships? Vanilla ships tend to take off if you engage the landing party in a firefight as they leave the ship. That tends to trigger the landing bay to close behind you and the ship to take off into orbit. What I do for the vanilla ships is to try to approach the landed ship from the side or back where the landing party doesn't see me right away. Then I'll rush the landing bay and enter the ship without getting into a firefight with the landing party. You'll still hear the claxon inside the ship, but usually it doesn't trigger the ship leaving for orbit. You then have all the time in the world to hunt down and either kill or capture the enemy crew. You can then capture the ship and set it for salvage. I'll then leave the ship and track down the landing party. For the Watchtower ships which always land a good distance away and then leave as soon as the landing party exits, I use this mod to control time: Slow Time SFSE https://www.nexusmods.com/starfield/mods/2952 . If you're worried about mods messing with achievements, there are several mods on Nexus that fix that problem. So far, I've never had a Watchtower ship go back into orbit with me on board. As far as salvaging any ship that has gone into orbit, I think you're screwed on that one. It seems hard coded into the games engine that once you have to pilot a ship in space, it becomes your home ship. If you can pilot the ship, you simply land somewhere with a ships tech or a landing pad with a ship builder console. Then you switch back to your real home ship.
Ships take off all the time with me onboard still killing crew. I know about the issue with killing crew on the ground so instead I void form and walk right past, board, alarm goes off, and I VERY regularly hear the engines fire up and I’m off into space. Well over 50% of the time.
 
Ships take off all the time with me onboard still killing crew. I know about the issue with killing crew on the ground so instead I void form and walk right past, board, alarm goes off, and I VERY regularly hear the engines fire up and I’m off into space. Well over 50% of the time.
You're having problems that I'm not. I very rarely have a ship go into space with me on board. You might be trying to capture vanilla ships that are scripted to take back off as soon as they drop the landing party. The Watchtower ships are scripted to do that as well, but they never take off once I enter them. They also usually don't have a crew aboard them either.
 
What is supposed to happen is grounded ships sound an alert over the PA when you enter, they will take off, you kill the crew, make your way to the cockpit, and then sit in the pilot's chair. You should not need a mod to make this work correctly. If it doesn't there is a bug. I have a Watchtower bug right now that has my fleet destroy the target ship while I'm attempting to subdue the crew and get to the cockpit. My WT fleet destroys the ship while I'm aboard before I even get to the cockpit.
 
What is supposed to happen is grounded ships sound an alert over the PA when you enter, they will take off, you kill the crew, make your way to the cockpit, and then sit in the pilot's chair. You should not need a mod to make this work correctly. If it doesn't there is a bug. I have a Watchtower bug right now that has my fleet destroy the target ship while I'm attempting to subdue the crew and get to the cockpit. My WT fleet destroys the ship while I'm aboard before I even get to the cockpit.
The vast majority of the time, I can enter a grounded enemy ship and kill the crew and gain ownership of the vessel without it taking off. If I engage the landing party in a firefight before I enter the ship, that'll trigger the ship to take off. Sometimes I'll make it on board and sometimes I'll get left behind. Vanilla ships that are scripted to drop the landing party and immediately take off will always take me into space if I get on board in time. If your WT fleet is attacking the ship you're aboard before you get to the cockpit, it's probably because your haven't gained ownership of the vessel yet and your fleet has it still marked as an enemy ship.
 
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The vast majority of the time, I can enter a grounded enemy ship and kill the crew and gain ownership of the vessel without it taking off. If I engage the landing party in a firefight before I enter the ship, that'll trigger the ship to take off. Sometimes I'll make it on board and sometimes I'll get left behind. Vanilla ships that are scripted to drop the landing party and immediately take off will always take me into space if I get on board in time. If your WT fleet is attacking the ship you're aboard before you get to the cockpit, it's probably because your haven't gained ownership of the vessel yet and your fleet has it still marked as an enemy ship.
I have hundreds of hours in game and clearly understand the mechanics. I don't engage ground troops before entering a ship that I wish to capture. I've done so many, many, times. The ships that have deployed a ground crew always takeoff. On very rare occasions I will come across a landed ship without ground troops present that allow me to conduct the shipboard combat while still on the ground. But this opportunity is astonishingly rare. The problem is that my Watchtower fleet ships will attack a vessel I'm trying to capture while aboard, even when it is the only "enemy" ship in range. Effectively the only way I can capture any "enemy" ship is to dismiss all my Watchtower fleet ships and run solo. I consider this a bug, my fleet should know I'm aboard and not destroy the ship in question. My fleet will always destroy the ship I've boarded before I can fight my way to the cockpit to claim ownership.
 
Well, I think technically the Watchtower ships on the ground are marked as inaccessible and you have to use a mod (or console command) to be able to board them. At least that has been the case for me. I personally use Ship Management Tools (Hack Call Teleport) to do this. You can use this to add ships to your fleet with this mod without making it your home ship (same as with Sit to Add Ship to Fleet)

In that case, you are overriding the intent of the developers as they marked the ship as not available for a reason(I assume).

I have not tried to mark one of those Watchtower ships taken over on the ground as salvage .. as when I am taking one of them I just assumed I wouldn't be able to do that (since they were initially inaccessible) . I instead captured two of them to put into my fleet. I edit them in ship builder to max out Engines, Grav Drive, Shields and weapons and assign them to my fleet.

And every time I have been lifted off on a ship (it happens frequently), once in space and you have actually sat in the pilot seat, you have to make it your home ship. You have to land somewhere and that makes it your home ship.
 
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What is supposed to happen is grounded ships sound an alert over the PA when you enter, they will take off, you kill the crew, make your way to the cockpit, and then sit in the pilot's chair. You should not need a mod to make this work correctly. If it doesn't there is a bug. I have a Watchtower bug right now that has my fleet destroy the target ship while I'm attempting to subdue the crew and get to the cockpit. My WT fleet destroys the ship while I'm aboard before I even get to the cockpit.
I think you could set your ships in the fleet to Defensive rather than Offensive and they will only attack after you have fired on a vessel or after it attacks them.
 
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