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Alternatively select the abandoned ship and then right click it to order a Marine working as crew onboard the player ship to go and claim the craft using a boarding pod . The used marine will then be placed as (<playership> crew must have at least 1 marine assigned to use this option); the Marine will become the Pilot of the new ship once ownership has been transferred. If you intend to keep the ship, finding at least a one-star pilot is recommended to replace that random marine.. or you could set them to 'explore' for several hours to level up their piloting skill..
Marines will cause damage to onboard systems while boarding, so expect losses of (eg) weps, shields etc on <target> once claimed via marine. Personal <player> boarding via 'hacking' the signal leak may not cause (as much) damage..[needs further testing to establish what skills required to minimise remote & personal dmg to which systems - Snafu]
Capturing Larger Ships
L and XL ships and stations need to be boarded to be captured. Boarding requires sufficient Marine crew on the playership. To prepare for boarding, the target needs to be nullified (taking out the engines, turrets and shields). To initiate boarding, select the playership and then right click the target and order Marines to board the target.
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Administrative Centre modules, when completed completedat a player station, grant ownership of an unowned sector on a first come first served basis, revealing all ships and stations in the sector and imposing the illegal wares list of the owning faction. If the Administrative Centre module is destroyed, sector ownership will change over to the next faction with an Administrative Centre. Warring NPC factions are constantly playing a turf war to replace the Defence Platforms of their enemy with one of their own. Once the player has acquired Blueprints for an Administrative Centre, they too can conquer entire sectors if they are willing to defend it.