Are defense platforms not really in the universe when under construction?

[user1679]

The story so far...

So I've been having a problem getting my ships to clear out a Xenon defense platform that is under construction. I have a L ship with 2 M ships as subordinates. I ordered the L ship to attack the defense platform and it fired a couple shots from it's main weapon then went in reverse (-5 km/h) for about 10 minutes without firing another shot, like "poke the bear, then slowly back away". Also, none of the turrets activated because it wasn't close enough. The subordinates, they just hung in the sky calling it a "piece of junk" and threatening to "erase you" but they never fired their main weapons. Although one time (at band camp) my subordinate's turret hit the other subordinate and they made a joke about it. So that was fun.

The only way I could destroy the thing was to put my L ship right next to it so the turrets would activate. The L ship was able to tank the damage because the platform was only about 80% built and didn't have all its weapons finished. It took a ridiculous amount of time to kill it with just turrets. So, does the AI struggle to target a defense platform under construction because it isn't technically in the universe yet? I noticed they also struggled to "fly and wait", they always went past the platform.

[SirConnery]

Sounds like a bug to me. I haven't had that experience.

[dtpsprt]

The under construction part of the station will stop most shots and have no damage of it's own. to "eradicate a station it either needs to be fully built or at the initial 15% which means actually only the built storage exists.

In the latter case you have to eliminate the build storage (not an easy feat by itself). in any case you have to put a watch to destroy any coming S ships with supplies to the station or else there is no end to it...

[LameFox]

Ships don't (in general) seem to have issues shooting partially complete stations for me. However, there are every so often bugs with station attacks, like when the turrets refuse to shoot from certain angles.

[Treycore]

It works better out of system bc there is technically nothing for them to shoot at at the beginning of a construction

[user1679]

Thanks for the replys, it seems I left the build storage behind (oops, I blame my subordinates) so I guess I'll get to try this whole thing again .

When I first found it in Hatkivah's Choice it had the "defense module" portion partially finished with about 5 or 6 weapons that worked. The "tail" was being constructed. When I expanded the map entry, it showed 31 minutes to complete the "defense module". That was the part I started attacking. Another interesting fact was the "tail" that was under construction I couldn't target, not by clicking in space or on the map... but when my ship finally destroyed the "defense module" its turrets automatically started firing at the "wireframe" part of the tail. It was destroyed in a few seconds but had no animation for the explosion. It literally replaced the wireframe model with a "melted metal" model.

In hindsight, as I type this, I wonder why I even bothered. None of the ANT / ARG fighters that flew by on patrol seemed to care. They didn't even assist.

[Alan Phipps]

Yes, the 'station death' sequence is far less spectacular than the 'module death' sequence. At least it allows you to hunt down that elusive very last regenerating station module (the demise of which will finish off the station) in complete safety from any module explosion.