Propping up an AI shipyard

[grapedog]

If I have a faction that was pushed to the brink, and they've slowly built themselves back up into mediocre territory... I'm trying to feed their stations a bit, and I've got a few factories pumping goods their way.

Is another option to board and sell other factions ships? Say I go around and capture L ships from a rival faction, then sell that ship to the shipyard i am trying to prop up.... how much does that actually benefit ware levels on the shipyard? They get 50% of the wares back by deconstructing the ship? Is it more, is it less, or nothing at all?

[Imperial Good]

You can also prop them up using your own ship building facilities. If they cannot order ships from their own ship building, they will buy them, and then use them, from yours. If they are not buying ships regularly from you then that means they have fully recovered.

[grapedog]

While valid, most of those suggestions don't work with the limits i place on myself to maintain a challenge.

I was looking for alternative ways to help them. I just dont know enough specifics on how NPC stations are affected by ships sold to them, outside of the basics.

But thank you for the input.

[pref]

Since they have huge budget anything that you can provide them for cash is quick help.
Giving them ships won't help as they won't use those, and it's more effective to provide the wares for them via trade (if they recycle at all).

I'd drop a claytronics/hullpart plex on them so they can build their own stations (with electronics/turret components case there is any danger). Then release some ships on their sectors to distribute wares.
Though with repeat orders you can just maintain a distribution centre without any additional production if you already have ample supplies.

If they need ships to defend themselves then the only good way is to sell them ships directly from a shipyard with no enemy territory in between (and which doesn't sell to their enemies) so they can fly back home safely.

If you prefer a pirate approach then you have better means to disable their enemies then help territorial expansion. For the latter you need lots of hull parts and some claytronics or the ter equivalents and that won't happen without extra player output.

[jlehtone]

If I have a faction that was pushed to the brink ...

I had ZYA almost there in 3.30. (NPC recycling did not exist back then?)
All I had was freighters (and couple miners) hauling wares to them (mostly from ARG, their enemy). Pure MORT, nothing "auto".

If they did offer missions to build stations for them, I took some and made them "fat". It did not took long before their Yard and Wharf had no more orders in queue; their jobs were "full". Then they went on rampage and I left them to their own devices.