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Click on the ship you want to be the follower to select it, then right click on the ship you want to be the leader and select from the context menu a role to assign it as (usually defend for a typical squad). You can also multiselect ships in the first step and all assign them in one go.

Illegal / Pirate gameplay / Capturing

How do I claim a ship?

In a fight sometimes your opponents may all leave the ship. Usually this happens shortly before the ship would otherwise explode. Stop firing immediately and fly close to the ship. Exit your ship in the spacesuit and fly even closer. Somewhere on the ship you will find a data leak. Fixing it will help you taking control of the ships security systems. You can now order it to open its doc and float in to pilot it yourself. Make sure you always have a spare pilot with you, so you do not have to leave the ship behind.

What is the difference between claiming and boarding?

Large capital ships (L and XL type) have so much crew, that simple claiming does not work anymore. Here you have to start a proper boarding operation to take them over. Boarding is initiated from the BOARDING menu, which is accessed from the right click menu BOARDING action. Your ship, or other ships in your squad, need to have MARINES. The more marines and the higher their skills, the better your chances through the three phases of boarding. To get a good idea of your chances you should SCAN a ship (scan interaction from right click menu from very near by). The three phases of boarding then take time and offer you to support the boarding effort. In phase 1 you can destroy turrets or engine and other surface elements of the target ship so that your boarding pods are not destroyed on approach. In phase two the HULL of the target must be below a threshold you set so the marines do not have to cut through the entire hull. In phase 3 the marines fight inside the target ship against the ships crew and marines. This is where the defending strength comes in.

Why are there many floating containers near a station?[

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To collect a deployed lasertower, mining probe, navigational beacon or satellite, first select it then use right click to disable/turn off, then you can fly into it to collect it.

Space suit

What if I get abducted by an NPC ship?

Well if your ship has a pilot you can ask him to pick you up.
Thats also why the game always suggests you get a pilot even for your very first ship. THAT and the fact that you may claim a ship in empty space. You can also leave the ship into a spacesuit and ask your other ships to pick you up there. Then you can of course unlock teleportation at which point this is very easy to solve.

How do I get EMP bombs?

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