How to kill unfinished stations 101

[EmperorDragon]

Did something change in 2.2? Normally when you use this workaround, the empty build storage is left behind indefinitely and doesn't despawn with the station wreckage. Only way to remove the build storage is by deleting it from the save file that can become rather tedious. Does the build storage despawn with the station wreckage now when using this workaround? Not good to have an increasing number of static build storages across the universe.

This is a real nasty bug for empire builders and conquerors, I actually had to put a hold on my game because of all the unfinished PAR stations all over the place, things just got too messy. And when I do manage to destroy an unfinished station and delete the build storage, they just place down a new station plot in the middle of my empire without even bothering to try and secure the sector first.

Still no word from Egosoft and nothing in the patch notes, I guess we have to start looking at a modfix for this - if possible.

[Karmaticdamage]

Empires will place plots even if you exterminate them from the game. In my game the HOP and xenon are dead yet will still pop up new plots if I destroy the old ones. They don't contest ownership of the system but are an eye sore. That's the end game, every faction dead but you, the khaak, and a bunch of unbuilt plots everywhere.

[Karmaticdamage]

Seems theirs a lot of people posting about stations being indestructible again so I'm footballing this post.

[MakerLinux]

Seems theirs a lot of people posting about stations being indestructible again so I'm footballing this post.

Which stations in particular? I am using 2.2b2 and I was just able to destroy the Xenon shipyard in the scale plate green sector, after it has "conquered and wrecked" the sector or something (lots of fragments of ships there with lots of Xenon, to the point I had to kill them just to improve the FPS because it was nearly unplayable).

One of the modules of the station was being built, but by using the targeting tip and shooting with the ship I was controlling did the job, and turned the station gray (dead).

[Karmaticdamage]

It's more that the method has been forgotten as this post got buried. We need a sticky post with tips and guides for getting around problems like this. Their are functions in the game that people won't know how to do as its not explained in game, like switching two captains between two ships without firing one of them, blowing up incomplete stations, building stations without physically connecting the modules, etc.

[EmperorDragon]

It's more that the method has been forgotten as this post got buried. We need a sticky post with tips and guides for getting around problems like this. Their are functions in the game that people won't know how to do as its not explained in game, like switching two captains between two ships without firing one of them, blowing up incomplete stations, building stations without physically connecting the modules, etc.

Because using this workaround method to destroy incomplete stations causes the attached build storage to bug out (it still has an incomplete build plan loaded and therefore does not despawn with the destroyed station). I have warned about this plenty of times, in this very thread as well.

Using the workaround method is not advised and causes irreversible consequences that can very well break your savegame if orphaned build storages grows too numerous. It has therefore fallen into obscurity and got buried whilst people rather await a much needed fix from Egosoft.

[Karmaticdamage]

Some people want to play conquest without waiting for a patch to come down the road. When the problem is fixed, all those extra storage scaffolding structures will be removed from the game. This method has not broken my game or effected is performance in anyway. No mods have stated this. If you are so afraid this will break things, you could simply destroy the incomplete defense module of the incomplete station so it doesn't contest ownership, then leave the rest until the problem is fixed. Other then being eye sores, these incomplete stations contesting ownership of the sector is preventing the npc factions from advancing. PAR and ANT won't try to take holy vision until the sectors next to them are flipped to their ownership.

[EmperorDragon]

I simply delete orphaned build storages from the savefile if they are in troublesome locations but, there are people that prefer to avoid the *modified* tag. I see no problem in warning people about consequences of using workarounds and there's also no solid guarantee that a patch will remove bugged build storages.

[badbane]

Okay just i just took an two hours losts 8 destoyers and 3 carriers and finally took out the xenon wharf and i have 3 administrative platforms in sector aaaaaaaannnnndddddd. There is a stupid partially build defense station so I can't take over the sector. I can't target it with my ai ships. Even though the modules aren't there why not put a placeholder object there and swap it out for the final module once it is "finished" and give it partial health so that the ships have something to shoot at. Just and empty transparent box roughly the size of the module so it can be attacked. Right now the modules exist but you can't target them or at the least have your ai ships pummel it out of sector.

[Karmaticdamage]

Okay just i just took an two hours losts 8 destoyers and 3 carriers and finally took out the xenon wharf and i have 3 administrative platforms in sector aaaaaaaannnnndddddd. There is a stupid partially build defense station so I can't take over the sector. I can't target it with my ai ships. Even though the modules aren't there why not put a placeholder object there and swap it out for the final module once it is "finished" and give it partial health so that the ships have something to shoot at. Just and empty transparent box roughly the size of the module so it can be attacked. Right now the modules exist but you can't target them or at the least have your ai ships pummel it out of sector.

Turrets won't target an unfinished module unless its at least 1% built. The only other solution is to destroy it yourself with main guns while in sector. Get a Nemesis with 5x torpedo launchers installed, park point blank with where the station is suppose to be. Then fire a volley of torps, then seta, then torps, and so forth until its destroyed. The AI will always put more plots down though even if they don't exist in the game world anymore, so once the system has been flipped from xenon control, theirs no more reason to continue killing the new plots. If you want to avoid taking so many losses against a wharf in the future, snipe off its defense platforms with one of your destroyer's main guns first, then send in the bashing fleet.

[kilmore7466]

Whatever the cost, I applaud your ingenuity in finding this solution. We really should have a medal achieve for people that figure this out before all of us give up the game for being to hard for the sandbox.
Kudos

[photomankc]

I simply delete orphaned build storages from the savefile if they are in troublesome locations but, there are people that prefer to avoid the *modified* tag. I see no problem in warning people about consequences of using workarounds and there's also no solid guarantee that a patch will remove bugged build storages.

How do you identify and cut them out? I have some I'd like to get rid of.